“They found a dead body in the bushes.” This somewhat weird text message from home reached me while I was sailing on a container vessel on the Baltic Sea.
Two hours later, I received the following text message: “Neighbour’s mother-in-law deceased.”
Just to be perfectly clear: the authorities did find a body in my hometown, but it wasn’t that of the mother-in-law.
How did I end up on that cargo ship in the first place, you may ask? My intention to travel with a cargo or container vessel had already existed for a long time. A sightseeing tour in the port of Antwerp a few years ago made this desire grow stronger. In that ensuing period, I contacted several of the port’s major shipping companies, asking them if I could join them on a round trip. It was anything but a success. I waited for an answer for weeks. I did send some reminders, but unfortunately I got no responses either.
