Summer 2024

PW on her way to her summer home, high and dry.

We left Positive Waves in the middle of July, just as the heat and number of tourists in the western Mediterranean was rising exponentially. We split the time between Vermont and Sweden, camp and family, and Hans spent four weeks working in Texas and Wisconsin. The most common response we got from other boaters about our summer and early fall plans is, "it's always nice to have a boat break." Sometimes it is. No more endless dishes. Lots of on demand fresh water, and hot water. Space! But we left the boat when we were having a great time. Friends, great sea and air temperatures, good food both onboard and ashore. We were excited for our summer plans, but also not feeling like we needed a boat break. Of course, land life and spending time with friends and family was great. It's nice to spend more than a weekend with people, especially when we only meet up once a year, or less.

We flew into JFK and spent our first night in the US at the iconic TWA airport. It was like stepping back in time. The old TWA terminal has been repurposed into a hotel and they kept it as true to its original vintage as possible. It was easy to imagine when airline travel was a big event and not the mass people-moving business it is today.

The rooftop pool overlooking the runway was spectacular.

Vermont: Freja basically spent the whole time at camp save for a few days before and after. It is her home away from home and essential for her 13 year old brain to get some solid peer time, away from her family. Matilda spent two weeks at camp this summer and very bravely tried a new camp. She has expressed a lot of interest in acting so she attended an arts camp in Connecticut. She got to live like a boarding school kid for two weeks--living in a dorm, eating in the dining hall, and finding her way to class throughout the day. She missed her sister but had a great time on her own and we are so impressed with her courage to break out on her own.

I bounced around between my family and friends and spent a fair amount of time attending all my annual doctors appointments including mammography and eye exams. A majority of cruisers get their medical care outside of the US for obvious economic reasons. This makes sense for acute conditions like a broken bone or infection, but I find that I like to keep my preventative care in the US where I can communicate fluently with my providers and maintain the same care team from year to year. Also, it's hard to find preventative health care in Europe without being a registered resident of a specific country.

Hanging out with my college roommate Laura in DC and then driving up to Massachusetts together.

Dinner with Angela, Chase, and my dad before watching Freja in the camp musical.

Freja was cast as a sailor and showed all the other campers that real sailors only wear crocs.

I spent a few days with my childhood friend Allaire. Some walking in the woods, swimming in the rain, good food, and also witnessing first hand affects of climate change--repairs being made to a washed out road, stopping all traffic for at least one hour.

Matilda at camp drop-off. So excited.

camping with my mom--matilda had her own one-person tent.

An impromptu dinner with other college friends as they drove across Vermont after dropping their son off at summer camp in Maine.

Matilda and her camp bestie when we dropped Freja off at camp.

Teen girls, "camp girlies" reunited after a year of daily texting and weekly facetimes.

Setting up her bunk.

Grampy trying boba tea for the first time.

post-lunch photo opp with Grampy and Jeane on the Dartmouth green.

Swimming in fresh water for the first time in a year; at a lake just 5 minutes from my mom's.

Chase giving us a tour of his fire station.

Aunt Angie's sous chef.

I took Matilda to Billings Farm and Museum, a real Vermont experience and a required field trip for most Vermont kids.

Measuring Meme's sunflowers.

Matilda's heaven.

Dying purple streaks with Jeane.

Sweden: We traveled directly from Boston to Holmsund, a small town outside of Umea, way north of Stockholm. It's where the family's summer cottage is located, a super special place where the rest of the world sort of falls away. I feel almost as disconnected at stugan as I do on passage. Since we were late in the season, the weather was more like fall weather than summer. We had some sunny days, but we had more blustery and rainy days. Hans and I got very busy with projects in the yard and on the buildings: painting, repairing, replacing. The kids relocated and improved their treehouse and, unfortunately, were on their screens far more than we wanted. It was a daily struggle, parents v kids, parents v screens. The dopamine hits and easy entertainment are hard to compete with and it seemed like they kept getting pulled back inside, back to the screens. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as we felt it was, and we don't want to be luddites, but we kept feeling like the kids should have been up in the woods building a fort or getting lost, or something, anything! After northern Sweden we took a week trip to the west coast of Sweden where we reunited with cruising friends we met in 2020 and 2021. There was a new baby and we spent hours upon hours talking boats, cruising, and future plans. Hans left Sweden and went back to work for two weeks and the kids and I embarked on a one week train journey through Europe, from Stockholm to Rome.

I do not recommend a 6 hour layover after a red-eye to Europe. Ugh.

Back in Sweden!

We had a few gorgeous sunsets.

And quite a few rainy days.

Lots of work.

Lingonberry sorting after Matilda went on a marathon picking spree with Farmor.

Smogen, and specifically where we were docked for months in 2020-2021.

Beautiful west coast scenes.

We surprised the kids with a trip to Liseberg, Gothenburg's epic amusement park. They've never been on such big rides and they absolutely loved it. We all did!

After the first ride, soaked from the barrel plunge.

The view from the airbnb, Freja and Chewey bringing food down to grill at the boathouse.

We stopped at the Gota Canal on our way across Sweden and I made the kids pose.

Stockholm

Vasa Museum

Trains through Europe: Matilda has wanted to take an overnight train ever since we traveled from Florida to Vermont on an Amtrak sleeper car back in 2017. I wanted to see the Alps. Freja mainly wanted to go shopping and get back to the boat. Leg one was overnight from Stockholm to Hamburg. We arrived in Hamburg on October 3, Reunification Day. Everything was closed. There didn't seem to be much in the way of celebration or remembrance--the city was eerily quiet and the only thing open was Miniatur Wunderland, a couple restaurants, and Starbucks. Bad timing. We boarded the next train on the same day and traveled from Hamburg to Innsbruck on a new Night Jet train with capsule sleeping compartments. We spent a few days in Innsbruck and got very lucky with the weather. Leg 3 was Innsbruck to Verona; a few days in Verona where we ate amazing food, toured an impressive Roman arena and Freja scratched her shopping itch. Leg 4 was Verona to Rome where we were reunited with Hans and were finally back on the boat. Home at last!

Goodbye Sweden!

Getting settled in our private cabin. The beds were uncomfortable, to put it mildly.

Hamburg's central station

We visited the remains and shadow of a cathedral in downtown Hamburg that was bombed by the Allies in WWII. The massive steeple remains and a few of the exterior walls. It was a moving experience, especially with the fighting in the middle east, and again made me question why humans behave the way we do. Over 30,000 people killed and 90,000 displaced when the Allies bombed this area of Hamburg.

The warehouse section of Hamburg that has been converted to multi-use space.

A scene from Miniatur Wunderland--Oktoberfest!

Our cabins on the Night Jet train from Hamburg to Innsbruck. They provide sheets and a blanket and each capsule has its own ventilation and lighting controls. And they turn off the announcements overnight so we were actually able to sleep well and uninterrupted.

suitcase and shoe storage for each capsule.

Breakfast in bed!

Crossing the Kiel Canal.

Arrival in Innsbruck

The view from the airbnb

We took a funicular then two cable cars to reach the highest peak in Innsbruck, Nordkette. The stations were designed by Zaha Hadid and were otherworldly in appearance.