Cargo

This is slow travel, an Atlantic crossing the old way. No phone, internet, ice sculptures or dinner show with comic host. This is an account of what occurs when Jack convinces Meridith, instead of flying, to take a cargo ship home from Europe.

She didn't know what clothes to wear. He said it didn't matter, they weren't working their way, they were riding. They had books to read, the ship's officers and crew to meet, and a lot of sea to see on their way to America.

The journey begins in Rome Italy as they make the arrangements for the vessel. They spend a few days in Holland, then board the Polish cargo ship Isadora. They enter the world of commercial shipping, meet the men of the sea and hear their stories as they voyage through the heavy vessel traffic of the English Channel, onto the Atlantic where they endure stormy seas. After the length and the locks of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, they make it to Lake Erie and their destination, Cleveland, Ohio. It is a journey of nautical miles, knowledge and insight, good food, abiding friendship and transformation. Come aboard.