Hello, I blog!

I was on a short cruise trip with my parents and Dayna last weekend on board Royal Caribbean’s Mariner of the Seas.

It was a fantastic trip on the whole – excellent weather (which we totally lapped up by spending more than half our time on board on the top deck), free-flow desserts (ooh-la-la) and excellent company.

More on the trip later in a second blog post. Today, I’d like to share about this little impromptu project I was up to while I was on board, which I call #onboardpostitproject.

After boarding the ship, I suddenly became curious about the livelihood of the crew who worked on board. I had some free time in between and thankfully, 3G connection (was still in Singapore’s waters then) so I managed to read up a little online.

Was pretty disheartened to discover about the cramped living conditions (below the waterline, no less) and the long hours put in by the lower-ranked crew (particularly the housekeeping and dining room crew) and began racking my brains about how I could minimally, add a smile to their day while I was on board.

The post-it project came about randomly as I was walking down the long corridors to our stateroom. Initially, I thought of pasting random post-its on my fellow travellers’ doors to say hello. Then, I decided it’d be too creepy. Then, I remembered what I read earlier that day and realized, hey – why not direct some of those cheerful/funny messages at them instead?

Upon arriving in Kuala Lumpur on Day 2 – I began my mission of scouting around for post-it notes and markers. Seached several stationery stores in The Pavilion but to no avail. Daiso eventually came to my rescue when we were at Sungei Wang (another shopping mall).

Back on board the ship later that day, armed with a stack of post-it notes and a packet of markers, I gleefully set about #onboardpostitproject.

Not all the post-its are documented, unfortunately. About 3 of them were left unphotographed because I forgot. And I was “testing the waters” with the first couple of post-its, so I just stuck them on … and scooted off quickly (just in case anyone saw me).

The first target was obviously, our stateroom. I’m pretty sure our housekeeper laughed when he saw this.

[Written at 7.18 A.M. (27th May) Singapore time, 4.18 P.M. (26th May) Vancouver time.]

It was Grandma’s first trip to Alaska! (Well, it was the first trip for the rest of us too … but the emphasis of this entry will be on grandma, non?) We embarked on a 7-day long cruise to Alaska (Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan) last Wednesday and it was beyond awesome.

For most of us, it was the activities on the cruise, the shopping and amazing scenery that dominated our memories from that trip.

For grandma, it was a slightly different story. I’m pretty sure she still has vivid memories of almost being toppled off her wheelchair and wheeled into walls, pillars and what-have-yous. There’s more where that came from, which I will elaborate further in this entry.

Considering the events of the past seven days, I wouldn’t be surprised if my grandma develops a permanent phobia to her wheelchair. Erps.

Note: My grandma can walk perfectly well. It is just that she’s fast approaching ninety and tires easily, which is why we let her ride on a wheelchair most of the time – occasionally letting her walk around so that she has some exercise.

Gran’ and her wheelchair. The airline tag on the wheelchair reads
‘priority baggage’. Teehee.

Being the funky grandmother she is, she takes everything in her stride. Her face turns pale with fright when the various incidents happen … but bursts out laughing (along with the rest of us) later on.