January 7-14, 2001
The Southwest Chief (part 3 of 3)
I caught up with the Southwest Chief again the next day, taking it overnight
to Los Angeles. My friend Steve picked me up at Union Station and was
probably as horrified as I was to find out (via e-mail) that my cargo ship
voyage had been moved from January 12 to January 16.
There was leeway in my schedule, but it wasn't good to start eating away at
it right off the bat.
I checked my e-mail later in the day to find that my ship had been moved to
the 13th.
Union Station, Los Angeles
Booking the cargo ship voyage had been frustrating. I had located several
agencies that specialize in freighter travel, but none of them had taken me
seriously as my plans were "too ambitious." Only one had given me a real
response, so I went with that agency, The Cruise People UK. My original
booking agent had left the company shortly after I booked the trip. Her
replacement, an efficient woman, had first had an unexplained accident and
then left the company for India. I had bounced around after that, with no
single individual responding to me more than once, but finally, one guy had
taken up my case. He was the fellow who was e-mailing me daily updates now.
Meanwhile, I had located a woman at the shipping agency and was corresponding
with her to get more concrete details. She told me that the "Direct Kiwi" was
docking at 2000 on Saturday night at berth 302 on Terminal Island, and that
it was likely to leave at 0300/15. I inquired further, trying to find out
when I should arrive at the boat, and was told to talk to my travel agent.
My travel agent, meanwhile, suggested I contact the shipping agent and then
the line went dead as their e-mail server went down. I called the number
they'd given me. It was wrong. I called 411, got the correct number, and was
told that everyone in the shipping office had left for the day, even though
it was not yet 5p.m. on Friday.
What to do now? I checked various "real-time" shipping schedules on the web,
and everyone agreed... the "Direct Kiwi" was leaving on Sunday the 14th. This
kind of fit with the 0300/15 information, as that put departure time at very
late Sunday night.
How Marie will spend most of her time. Waiting.
I conferred with my L.A. hosts and we agreed to go to Terminal Island at
mid-day, thereby hedging our bets. Then, the worst that would happen was that
I would have to wait all day to get on the boat. We hope. If the boat has
already left when I get there, I'm not quite sure what to do next.
Suggestions are welcomed.
NEXT: 20 Days at Sea (hopefully).