Tomorrow, at 4am GMT, we will be boarding the CMA CGM G. Washington in Xiamen bound for Los Angeles. The time and effort that have gone into arranging this, not to mention the money spent, will finally pay off. We’re very excited. From what we’ve read and been told it should be an extremely relaxing experience. With no internet or telephone access provided to passengers we will be truly cut off from the rest of the world for the entirety of the 15 day voyage. As part of it we’ll cross the international date line, living the same day twice, and join the Domain of the Golden Dragon. Traditionally sailors would have golden dragons tattooed on themselves for achieving this, we’re on the fence about that.

As far we know we’ll have a twin bed cabin to ourselves with all meals and drinks provided. There is a gym and a common area with TV and DVD player. We plan on entertaining ourselves with books (we have a small library of 5 paperbacks, as well as several novels on Rosanna’s kindle), learning some Mandarin and catching up on some TV shows that aired while we’ve been away. To make the journey as cheap as possible we’re boarding at the last port of call in China and disembarking at the first stop in the US so there won’t be any port stops for us to get off and stretch our legs. You can see more information on the ship, including where it currently is, by following this link: Marine Traffic – CMA CGM G Washington

This also means that we will finally leave Asia. We arrived here on May 5th and have remained here for almost 7 months. Before we left we hadn’t planned to spend quite as many of those months in China but after a few weeks this country demanded our attention. We’ll have been here for just over 3 months by the time we leave and there’s so much of it we’ll have to leave for our next visit.

Our rough plan for the US is as follows: Los Angeles – Phoenix – New Orleans – Memphis – Miami – New York – [as much of New England as possible, maybe Toronto too] – Philadelphia. From Philadelphia there is a cargo ship that will take us to Antwerp. If anyone reading this will be in any of those cities, or near them or the routes between them please get in touch, we’d love to meet up!

21 thoughts on “Entering the domain of the Golden Dragon

  1. I have managed to get satellite tracking of the ship (by stumping up some cash) and will report their position. Three hours ago, they were at latitude 38°37′ north, longitude 151°00′ east.

      1. Thank you for those entries, Lesley. Only had time just now to look at map and find their positions. It is great to see and realize the real distances involved! If you need to contact me at all in future my email is connievk@hotmail.com

    1. Saturday 16th December 07:31AM – 33°16’N, 121°58’W. Heading 70°, speed 16.4 kn. They are now back on land based tracking and you can watch them on marine traffic again. ETA 22:00 today!

  2. Oh Mischa and Ros- you are both absolutely amazing – I’m still loving your stories. I’m in Australia at the moment on a bit of a ‘journey ‘ myself. BIG BIG hugs and loads of love Pen ?????

  3. How exciting! You know how much I love Boston – you must try and make a visit when you’re in New England!

  4. This part of your travels, and your write up, is very evocative; bringing pictures to mind of the boats ‘ discovering New Worlds’, with historical figures like Columbus, the drive to explore, being out there on vast oceans…and returning home where loved ones are waiting on the quai. Oops, I am getting ahead of myself! Enjoy this slow travel and time to reflect.

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