Good Morning Travel Bugs!
Today all the emotions were flowing from the moment I woke up! I couldn’t believe that the thing I was dreaming about since high school was happening. Live and in person I was actually about to get on this ship! (Ahhhhhhhhh *insert little happy dance). I was more than ready for this adventure of a lifetime!
After getting ready for the day and packing up all the last minute things I was ready for the wildest adventure yet! I am not sure if it is the same for every voyage but on mine Semester at Sea reserved rooms in the Springhill Suite in San Diego and then used this hotel to host all the check-in processes. My family chose to stay here because it was in a great location and it was very convenient for me only having to take the elevator down a few floors when it was time to leave. (I could also see the ship from my hotel room… how cool) When I arrived on the fifth floor it was the weirdest feeling ever being flooded with other students more ready than ever to get on this ship!
SAS was supposed to give us our luggage tags the night before but since they didn’t there was an extremely long line waiting to get their tags and check in all of their luggage. Along with this long line, all of the buses were behind schedule so everything was a bit slow this morning. When I finally got through the line I waited for my bus to be called! I was bus G leaving at 7:20 am but since they were running so late I didn’t get out of San Diego until 8:30! Everyone is assigned a bus letter departing at different times (it goes alphabetically) and when you check in you get a name tag with your bus and room number on it so if you don’t know who your roommate is ahead of time you may be able to spot them on their name tag.
When they finally called bus G everything from there felt like a dream. I grabbed my bags and I was off! As I boarded the bus to travel to Mexico (where the ship was ported), it still didn’t feel real. I had been planning and preparing for this trip for so long it felt like it would never be here and now that it is, its all felt like a blur. I sat next to a girl I was originally going to room with and I met a few other people along the way as well! The bus ride was about an hour and a half and it honestly went much faster than that.
When we hit the boarder we all had to get off the bus with anything we had brought and get our passport stamped and give them the visa that SAS had already filled out for us. Then they screen our stuff and we were ready to get back on the bus when it was done being inspected.
The ride down to the port was much more gorgeous than I was expecting. We drove along the water which was so gorgeous and on the other side of the bus were a ton of mountains and tiny towns along the way.
Pulling into the port parking lot and seeing the ship was once again so surreal. When we got off the bus I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had a bag on my back and one on my front as I approached the first table that we turned in our passport at and got our ship Id. We gave the id at the door and i officially steped onto my home for 4 months. When boarding we had to go up a few flights of stairs and to the main room with all of the red chairs and the huge chandaler that is the main place in all of the pictures and videos ive watched before this voyage. It is the place that I pictured my self having the time of my life in for months prior.
They had tables set up all around the room. After making our way around the room we arrived at the last table. The one that was the most exciting, getting our room key! I am in a saver cabin which means that I am on the third floor and it is not decorated at all. These cabins are left over crew cabins that SAS sells at a cheaper price.
Arriving at my room my bags were sitting outside my door and opening it for the first time was the most exciting thing ever. It is much smaller than I was expecting and the closet is going to be a tight squeeze if you know me but I am so excited to be traveling the world!
After starting to unpack a bit I went and grabbed lunch and sat with some girls who were super nice but it was all a blur now and I have no idea who I sat with or talked to since I met so many people throughout the day it was so overwhelming.
After lunch, I finished unpacking which is the toughest thing ever because it is so hard to get organize and find where to put all of the things that I brought. I didn’t know my roommates ahead of time so as we all unpacked we got to know each other and figured everything out!
We then had a life boat drill and a bit of orientation things in the student union (the big red room) The ship is so much smaller than I had been pictureing. I thought it was a giant cruise ship but it really isn’t that large but don’t be fooled the first day I can’t even count how many times I got lost.
After finishing dinner and all of our meeting I was so exhasted it was straight to bed for me! I’m so so ready for the next four months of crazy stories and adventures!
See You Soon!
xoxo Gina
Join the Travel Bug Tribe
Insta: @thedestinationdiary_
Tiktok: @thedestinationdiary
Youtube: Gina Kerscher