First Impressions on Some Ocean Explorer I Passengers

      What a crazy assortment of people are wandering around the world with me on this ship!  There are 620 of them (and a crew of 240).
       First of all, I'm constantly surprised at how "traveled" many of them are.  I'm one of the few novices that I've met so far, who has l) never taken a cruise, and 2) hasn't already traveled around the world, at least once! Many have circled the globe multiple times! One woman I met a few days ago has taken 64 cruises---but I have to add that she's the retired Travel Editor of the Portland Oregonian and was that for 13 years.
       Then there are two couples I've already met--and I know there are more) who intend to travel "forever" and actually have no home. They are probably in their late 30s;she was a travel agent when two years ago she met her "soul mate, a guy who has exactly her habits and LOVES TO TRAVEL."
Fortunately for her, he is "independently" wealthy and has never worked a day in his life.  They are among the 20 people taking all three world cruises--southern hemisphere, around the equator and northern hemisphere-- around the world on this ship---for the whole year!. And for good measure, her father is on the Board of Directors of Delta Airlines! She says that after this year's three voyages, they fully intend to keep right on traveling on ship after ship, without stopping.  (But when asked how they manage their "affairs," she said they each have a secretary with whom they keep in touch!)
      My good friend HWA is another. I met her in the line at JFK to fly to Athens. She became a good buddy.  Of Vietnamese extraction, but American, she is 54 years old and her husband who was in the military died a year
and a half ago.  She decided to take this trip to change her life.  She seems to have sufficient money to never work again---she did this by working 14 years as the manager of a delicatessen section of a supermarket in Naples,
 Florida. So much for working in higher education. So she's staying in the same stateroom for a year.
       At least one other couple has sold out their entire home and belongings to take off on this world trip.  They intend to just "keep going until they drop."
        But more common are many people who have sailed extensively on many cruises, and often around the world, on first class ships---this ship is definitely not the cuppa tea for a number of them.  Some have are good natured and making the best of it.  Others our real complainers, bitching every minute of every day about everything from the food to the entertainment to the staff and you name it. They are really the "ugly Americans" in every way.
      Yesterday one very lovely woman who was born in Trieste--told me a story about her very demanding husband (American).  Everyone here is having trouble getting money from the purser, and certainly exchanging American
 dollars into the currency of the country we are visiting.  Her
husband (very wealthy) had ten American dollars in Cape Verde and wanted local currency. They got off the boat around 11:30 a.m. and went into town, right near the dock.  They found the bank and got in line, but one woman ahead of them took a long time changing her money.  The wife said, I bet they close down the bank for siesta just as we get there. That's exactly what happened.  The teller closed her space.  The American went crazy and started ranting and raving and demanding to see the president of the bank.  He yelled and
yelled and everyone in the bank heard this.  Finally, to appease him, the president of the bank came out and agreed to change the $10--but he gave him the GOING RATE--worth $4 dollars in American money. The guy was furious because obviously he lost $6 dollars.  But he and the wife went out to buy postcards and mail them.  BUT it was siesta and everything was closed, including the post office.  He couldn't buy anything and couldn't mail anything. He was so mad that he was stuck with $4 in Cape Verde pesos (or
whatever they are called) that two hours later he walked back to the bank and stood in front of the bank waiting for someone who wanted to change
 pesos to American Dollars. Somebody came along, and he said, "You want pesos? I got them.  You give me dollars."  So, at the bank rate he changed his $4 back into $10 American dollars!!!!
       But others are spending money more freely. Lots of people are buying stuff in each port, and one lady in Morocco bought two very expensive (several thousand dollars) Berber rugs to decorate her stateroom with. I met a man yesterday from Massachusetts who has an insurance company that has been in his family for five generations.  It's a small company, he said, but it insured "the first automobile in America!"
      I'll write about others as we go.