International Travel by Boat

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does anybody know about the practicality of say, hitching a ride upon a huge tanker headed to Japan or some such? Is this a viable or (even possible) alternative to air travel? I assume if it were possible, it would cost less than the 2k plane ticket, so i am eager to see if there is any insight on this matter. also added is the adventure of being on the high seas, i guess. i'd also assume it's much more dangerous, but what's that matter anyway?

― peter doolan (somewhat slightly), Friday, 22 December 2006 08:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Noisy, smelly, boring, shit food....

Travel overland instead. By bike.

― Rumps (Rumps), Friday, 22 December 2006 08:16 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.freighterworld.com/

― Ed (dali), Friday, 22 December 2006 08:22 (seventeen years ago) link

http://www.geocities.com/freighterman.geo/mainmenu.html
http://www.noflytravel.com/
http://www.freighter-travel-review.com/

― Ed (dali), Friday, 22 December 2006 08:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Travel overland instead. By bike.

To Japan?!?

― nathalie (stevienixed), Friday, 22 December 2006 08:31 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah, for real. i'm as big an advocate of bicycling and ambulation as anyone, but i've got oceans to cross!!!

― peter doolan (somewhat slightly), Friday, 22 December 2006 08:42 (seventeen years ago) link

Well, Kayak over there then.

― editio princeps (pato.g27), Friday, 22 December 2006 09:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Shit sorry, I take back what I said.

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~louear/Cycling_France_2001/water2.JPG

― nathalie (stevienixed), Friday, 22 December 2006 09:25 (seventeen years ago) link

One of Mister Monkey's colleagues did this recently. He took a ferry to Canada. It was expensive and you have to have a physical exam before you go because there is no doctor on board and if you get sick there's basically nothing they can do to help you. And he was delayed by two days because the ferry couldn't leave port in Liverpool for some reason. But I think he reckoned it was worth it.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Friday, 22 December 2006 09:40 (seventeen years ago) link

thanks for those links, Ed. I'd looked into this in the past and hadn't ever found anything as helpful as those. Philly to Antwerp!

― jergins (jergins), Friday, 22 December 2006 17:27 (seventeen years ago) link

Couple of blogs to read:

http://www.verysmallarray.com/ is traveling around the world took a trans-Pacific freighter east to west.

http://www.2600.com/travel/index.khtml?post=2005-09-14 went around the world and went west to east across the Pacific. Lots of photos and details about freighter life.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Friday, 22 December 2006 18:31 (seventeen years ago) link

Someone I know got a freighter berth from California to Australia. I think it took 4-6 weeks? Something like that. She stocked up with books & video games. (Long story short, it was just after Sept 11, 2001 and she refused to fly but was going to Oz to be w/ future husband.)

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 22 December 2006 18:37 (seventeen years ago) link

freighterworld.com: Informality reigns on freighters. Passengers are not required to dress for meals.

― Adam Moultin (Crummy Chair), Friday, 22 December 2006 23:35 (seventeen years ago) link

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