So, I spent 4 years in the US Navy and I want to talk about how that has impacted my travel style. Our ship was undergoing repairs for like 3 of the 4 years I was in, but I deployed at the end. We were able to visit ports in the following countries: Guam, Singapore, India, UAE, and Jordan (although we weren’t allowed to leave the base for Jordan). After deployment, we also went to Victoria, Canada. 

Some things you should know about when a US Navy ship visits a port: 

• We often only had 1-3 days in a port, and depending on the size of the ship you likely would be standing “duty” at least one of those days, meaning you didn’t get to leave the ship for 24 hours. Therefore, we didn’t always have the opportunity to have an overnight hotel stay on shore. Sometimes, if your duty day lined up the right way though, you would be allowed to stay out overnight. 

• Ports aren’t guaranteed, and they can change. We learned this the hard way when it was announced that we would be stopping in Hong Kong, and we all rushed to the extremely slow, limited number of computers to research Hong Kong Disneyland. We did not end up going to Hong Kong. 

• Regardless of rank, you must sign off the ship with a “liberty buddy.” This is for everyone’s safety, and it’s ingrained in you that you are responsible for your liberty buddy. If your liberty buddy does something to get into trouble, you’re in trouble too. If you get separated from your liberty buddy or leave them behind, you are in deep, deep trouble. 

• There isn’t personal wifi while at sea, we had internet but it was very slow and limited to work computers. We were allowed to check email and go on the internet but you’d often have to wait your turn and not spend a ton of time on it. Therefore, you’re really cut off from communication until you hit a port. 

There definitely were some pros and cons to this type of travel. 

Pros: Transportation cost was $0

Cons: Everything else. 

I’m just kidding. Actually, it was really cool to be able to experience some of those countries with the friends I’d made while on the ship. I know it’s not everyone’s experience, but I did end up getting really close with quite a few people on the ship, so getting to explore places with them was kind of like having very small trips with your best friends. There’s a type of closeness you get with people when you eat, sleep, work in the same areas as them, day in and day out, and you’re cut off from most types of technological communication. We didn’t have phone calls underway either. 

So, how did that impact how I travel now?

One of the things that I think I brought with me into how I travel now is based on the fact that we would get a presentation/information on things like cultural norms, laws and etiquette of the countries we were visiting. That’s something that is still important to me, having some knowledge/awareness of how those countries might be different than the United States, and how to avoid causing offense or bringing negative attention to yourself. 

Because we sometimes didn’t have a lot of advance notice or access to do a lot of research before visiting a country, I do feel like I missed out on some experiences and historical knowledge that could have resulted in a deeper understanding or connection to the locations we were visiting. Now, I spend extra time researching the history and understanding what historical locations I might be able to visit or learn more about while I’m there. We did end up relying on recommendations from folks who had been there before, which I also still really value. Even for locations I’ve personally visited before, I appreciate the insight of others. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s made me partial to cruises as well. I do still really enjoy the idea of just having to “unpack once” and see multiple locations without dealing with multiple hotel check ins/check outs.