The Silent "I"

Room 77: Trip Planning Made Simple

 

 

Country Inns & Suites Hotel Room

Last week, I took an overnight business trip to Nashville, Tennessee for a meeting. It's not the most glamorous or exciting way to travel, especially when you're in and out in one night.  My office is very mindful of budget issues and we try to save money whenever possible.  So, how do you plan for a trip that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and provides the creature comforts that you need to work?

Enter Room 77.

Room 77 is a new hotel search website that allows users to find excellent deals gleaned from the top hotel search functions, narrowing the searches by specific parameters set by the user.  Need wifi? No problem. Room 77 finds the cheapest options in the locations you want with free wifi.  Want a free breakfast? Narrow your search to only include those that include breakfast in the price (a great feature for families who travel).  You can also search for special rates, like AAA or Senior discounts if you want to. You can narrow your search by the amenities you want, the star-rating of the hotel, and the Trip Advisor score. 

What I really liked about Room 77 is that all the information is displayed on one page, and shows Room 77 deals along with deals from other vendors like Expedia and Orbitz. Instead of searching through ten different sites for the very best deal available, Room 77 does all the work for you, showing the best deals first.  I have used other search engines that do this, but open ten different windows at a time, which was way too much seizure-inducing activity on my screen. I liked Room 77's clean, easy user interface.

In addition to narrowing searches by amenities and price, Room 77 also allows users to research hotel layouts and room views, and availability of parking and shuttle service as well.   They also offer an exclusive Room Concierge service  with fast checkout on 4 to 5-star hotels or stays more than $400. 

Whether you're planning an extended family vacation or a quick business trip like I was, Room 77 will give you all the tools you need to plan your trip and choose a hotel that is right for your needs and within your budget. Room 77 also has a convenient iPhone app, so you can make plans right from your phone.

Never wonder whether you’ve gotten the best deal on your hotel room again. Check out Room 77 when planning your next travel adventure!

 Disclosure: I was selected for participation in this campaign as a member of Clever Girls Collective. I received compensation for the post, but all opinions are my own.

Toyota USA Museum: Past, Present & Future of Cars

Bloggers Demonstrate the Toyota Jump

During my trip to TWIN Camp, one of the trip highlights was a visit to the Toyota USA Automobile Museum in Torrance, California.  Driving through a business district in Torrance, it would be easy to miss the museum if you weren't specifically looking for it.  It's a fairly nondescript-looking gray building that appears more like a dealership than a museum on the outside. On the inside, it's jam-packed with  hundreds of representative models of Toyota's unique and distinctive contributions to automotive history, or at least as it has evolved in the United States. It's like Alice slipped down the rabbit hole and right into Cars Land.

An Early Toyopet, the Hello Kitty of Cars

Inside, we learned about the history of Toyota in America.  Toyota Motor Sales, USA was founded in 1957 in Hollywood, California.  The first Toyotas to hit American soil were called Toyopet and were sold in a handful of dealerships beginning in 1958, along with the Land Cruiser.  The Toyopet, which I thought was completely adorable, was smaller and more expensive than most American-made cars and didn't really fit the US market.  Toyota decided to pull the line in 1961 and focus instead on the sturdy, all-terrain Land Cruiser until 1965, when the Corona arrived.  Toyota introduced the economical Corolla in 1967, which has become the world's best-selling passenger car of all time, with over 27 million sold in 140 countries around the globe.  The rest, as they say, is history.

Inside the Toyota Museum, you can see examples of all of these models from the past, and some special, futuristic eco-friendly cars as well.  One car was so small that it looked like my eleven year old son could drive it.  In fact, I think I have purse larger than that. 

Minority Report Lexus Concept Car

The Lexus branded concept car from the movie "Minority Report" is on display, along with some memorabilia from the move.  The car was all sexy rounded shapes and slick design, in a dark red tone that I'm sure I have a lipstick to match.  I'm not a Tom Cruise fan, but regardless of who would be driving it, this is one hot-looking car.

 

Jenny & Jill Show Off Their Toyota Jumping Skills

 

Along with a hundred or more cars, there are displays on Toyota's advertising history, with some familiar slogans like "You asked for it, You Got It...Toyota!" and "Oh, What a Feeling" with the famous "Toyota jump" in the ads.  Jenny from Mommin' it Up and Jill from Diaper Diaries showed us how the Toyota jump should be done.  Later, everyone else got into the act and demonstrated the Toyota jump.

About large bookcases line one wall of the museum and display row after row of quality and service awards that Toyota has won over the years, including JD Power & Associates Quality Awards.  It was an impressive sight to see so many trophies lined up in one place.

After viewing all of these fine vehicles, displays, and awards, I was sorry that my husband and son didn't have a chance to join me at the Toyota USA Museum.  I think my son would have loved the race cars, and my husband would have enjoyed seeing a pristine version of his beloved and dearly departed 1981 Corolla on display.  During our visit, quite a few Facebook and Twitter followers of the TWIN campers expressed extreme jealousy at our being so near to some really special cars.

Maybe on your next trip to Disneyland to see Cars Land, you can stop in at a real land of cars and enjoy the view.

Toyota Tailgate

 Note: The Toyota USA Automobile Museum is open by appointment only. If you are planning to be in Torrance, California, it's worth planning a trip to view the cars.  For an appointment to see the museum, call Susan Sanborn at (310) 468-4728 or email her at susan_sanborn [at] toyota.com.

Disclosure: I was selected for participation in the TWIN community through a program with Clever Girls Collective. I did not receive any compensation for writing this post, or payment in exchange for participating. The opinions expressed herein are mine, and do not reflect the views of Toyota.

Photo Credits: All photos are © Glennia Campbell 2012.

Food, Glorious Food: What to Eat in St. Lucia

 

St. Lucia offers a variety of food options to suit just about any palate, from the gourmet to the gourmand or the mac-and-cheese-addicted child.  Freshly-caught fish and seafood abound, combined with locally-grown seasonings, vegetables and traditional Caribbean preparations, making for healthy, delicious, and unique culinary experiences.  Some popular dishes are found in different forms on other Caribbean islands, but St. Lucia puts its own twist on food. Even if you think you know what Callaloo or Shark & Bake tastes like, you haven't tried it until you've tasted it here. 

Green Figs & Salt Fish

The national dish of St. Lucia is the dynamic duo known as "green figs and salt fish".  The "figs" are actually unripe bananas, peeled and sauteed with garlic, onions, celery, and peppers.  If the combo of bananas and garlic don't sound appealing, never fear.  Unripened bananas are not sweet and taste more like potatoes than the yellow bananas we're used to putting in cereal and eating as an on-the-go snack.  Unripe, the bananas are much starchier and harder, with less banana flavor. Green Figs & Salt Fish also features salt fish, rinsed thoroughly to drain out most of the salt, then flaked and sauteed with the bananas and vegetables.  It is a hearty, filling meal for lunch or dinner, but I even ate it for breakfast while I was there.  Bananas, green and ripened, are abundant on St. Lucia and are the island's primary crop for export.

Floats & Bakes

"Bakes" are a popular form of bread in St. Lucia, made with a round of plain flour dough that is bake or fried.  When baked, it has a taste similar to English muffins, not sweet, but dense, chewy and hearty.  You can eat them on their own, or with a variety of fillings to form a handy sandwich-like snack. Add a little powdered sugar or jam, and you have a breakfast treat.  Much of the street food sold at markets and stands in St. Lucia has a bake filled with a meat or fish filling.

Shark & Bake

The same dough recipe can be deep-fried to create a "float", a popular base for St. Lucian street food like Shark and Bake.  Shark and Bake, as the name connotes, is a mixture of fish and stewed vegetables eaten as a sandwich.  I'm not sure if the fish meat was actually shark or something else, but it tasted good.  Other islands may have originated and popularize this version of the fish sandwich, but St. Lucians have adapted a version all their own.

Callaloo

Callaloo is a dark green leafy vegetable that comes from the leaves of the taro plant.  St. Lucians use it in place of spinach or kale, and when cooked up, it produces a smoky-flavored addition to fish or seafood dishes.  Combined with mashed dasheen (taro root), the leaves form a thick, green, flavorful soup base for crab or other seafood.  It reminded me of the Seaweed Soup my mom makes, both in taste and texture.  My travel companion, Julia, tried the Callaloo crab soup, which was a little hard to eat since the crab meat had to be extracted from the tiny crab legs.  She said it was worth the effort, even though some of it ended up on her lovely white dress.  I had Callaloo and Snapper at one meal, which was a mixture of snapper sauteed with callaloo leaves.  The leaves were similar in taste to cooked chard or kale, with none of the bitterness. 

Places to Dine

Street Food

Throughout St. Lucia, there are open-air stands selling a variety of ready-to-eat local delicacies, like shark and bake, roast pork, and bakes.  Grab a foil-wrapped Shark & Bake for an inexpensive, hearty meal on the go.  On Friday nights, Trios Restaurant at Bay Gardens Beach Resort offers up their parking lot to a food and music festival called "Calaloo Fridays" with food stands featuring typical street food, the ubiquitous Pitons Beer, music and Carnival bands showing off their elaborate costumes and dance moves. This is a fun and inexpensive way to try out a variety of St. Lucian delicacies. 

Caribbean Fusion

For a fine-dining experience with a pan-Caribbean flair, check out Trios Restaurant at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort in Rodney Bay.  Featuring locally grown fresh vegetables and fresh fish dishes from the sea, Trios offers excellent seafood, jerk-style chicken, and hearty vegetarian dishes in a romantic, tropical setting frequented by locals and visitors alike.  I enjoyed the Crab Chowder served in a coconut shell bowl, with large chunks of crab and vegetable in a coconut-based broth.  The Trios Snapper was served with three sauces that all complemented the fish and mashed sweet potatoes well.  For dessert, try the Fruitcake, which is more the color and consistency of gingerbread than the Christmas doorstop that we think of as fruitcake.

Pumpkin seem to be a favorite ingredient among St. Lucian chefs, who use it for a spicy soup, a base for vegetarian dishes, and for dessert treats like pumpkin pie. 

Indian Food

St. Lucians share a long history of trade with India, and nearly 40% of St. Lucians have some Indian ancestry.  It's only fitting that one of the top new restaurants in St. Lucia is the acclaimed Spice of India. Spice of India offers tradional Indian food served with a dramatic flair.  We had what seemed like a suptuous 90 course meal at Spice of India, and no one at the table could stop eating. From the luscious, creamy butter chicken to flavorful deconstructed samosas to perfectly-grilled tandoori chicken to the deep-fried chocolate cake at the end, every bite was a new twist on some familar Indian dishes.  This is not your mother's chicken tikka masala, and you might not ever want to go back to it after dining at Spice of India.  This restaurant was voted #1 by TripAdvisor, and for good reason: the food is simply out of this world.

If you just can't take all this exotic goodness, and have a hankering for some good old American fast food, there is a KFC, a Domino's and even a Subway in Rodney Bay.  McDonald's, however, has not made it into St. Lucia yet, so you'll have to wait to get to the airport in Miami or New York to get your Big Mac on.

 

 Creme Brulee, Fruitcake & Pumpkin Pie

 

“Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life - and travel - leaves marks on you. Most of the time, those marks - on your body or on your heart - are beautiful.”

                                                                                                        -Anthony Bourdain

 Disclosure: Food and accommodations for my trip to St. Lucia were paid for by Bay Gardens Resorts. I did not receive any additional financial incentive or compensation for writing this post.  All opinions expressed are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Bay Gardens Resorts.

Photos: Copyright Glennia Campbell/The Silent I. All Rights Reserved.

Exit the Highway to White Sands National Monument

One of my favorite places in our travels across the US has been the White Sands National Monument, near Alamogordo, New Mexico.  This summer, our friends at Toyota have partnered with the Audobon Society to encourage everyone to exit the highway and visit beautiful, off-the-beaten-path places like White Sands.

The White Sands National Monument rises up out of the scrubby brown New Mexico desert like a far off  dream.  You might think you're seeing the purest, whitest snow imaginable, but get closer, and you realize that it's a hot, dry white powder covering the landscape for as far as the eye can see, rimmed by mountains on the horizon line. The fine, white dust covering the landscape looks like a million tiny hands clapped chalk-laden erasers to form undulating dunes of glistening white fairy dust.

 

When my husband suggested we go there on our trip to Texas in December, we had been driving through the California, Arizona, and New Mexico desert for several days.  My initial thought was, "another sand dune. Big whoop."

 

Bay Gardens Hotel & Bay Gardens Inn: Affordable Paradise

 Looking for a budget-friendly, charming place to relax in sunny St. Lucia? Check out Bay Gardens Hotel or Bay Gardens Inn.  Both locally-owned and operated properties are part of the same group as the ultra-fab Bay Gardens Resort, but a little farther from the beach and a little easier on the wallet. A great place for solo travelers, honeymooners, a friends' retreat or a family vacation, Bay Gardens Hotel offers a comfortable accommodations and two lovely pools in a lush, green garden setting.

I had the chance to tour Bay Gardens Hotel on my trip to St. Lucia and have a sumptuous lunch at the on-site Spices Restaurant.  Walking into the property, I immediately loved the fun, tropical atmosphere of the chartreuse-colored buildings named after tropical trees like "Pawpaw" and "Sugar Apple".  The courtyard surrounding the pool was bursting with tropical flowers in red and yellow hues.  It's a bright and cheerful place, to say the least. 

 

The lovely travelers: Jordanne Hunter, Donna Owens, and Julia Landry

It was hot and humid when we arrived, and we were all sweating within minutes. Even the calm and collected Miss Waltrude Patrick, the Hotel & Inn's General Manager, was starting to feel the heat after walking around the grounds.  My traveling companions, Jordanne, Donna, and Julia, couldn't resist dipping their toes into the cool and inviting pool at Bay Gardens Hotel.  Miss Patrick later treated us to a Frozen Lime Squash, a non-alcoholic drink made from freshly-squeezed limes and frothy crushed ice. I am not sure what else was in there, but it was a wonderful treat on a hot day.   I am normally not a fan of the sourness of lime, but this was as refreshing as a dip in the cool pool.

 Lunch at Spices was equally delightful, with fresh, locally-grown salads, fruits, and vegetables and a variety of entrees to please any palate.  I had a dorado fish prepared Wellington style, a perfectly cooked-through filet of hearty dorado wrapped in a light puffy pastry shell. The pastry sat atop fresh vegetables on a flavorful, light curry sauce.  My travel companions dined on Pumpkin Soup, a local specialty, and a Caribbean curried chicken that they declared to be "delicious." 

We were joined by the owner, Mrs. Joyce Destang, and other members of the management team.  The hotel is run mostly by women, and their commitment to customer service, quality, and hospitality is evident in everything they do.  I found that St. Lucians are reserved when you first meet them, but are warm and charming and go from strangers to friends quickly.  We started lunch with formal introductions and handshakes; by the end, there were hugs all around.

Bay Gardens Resort & Spa: St. Lucia Hospitality At Its Best

Walking into the Bay Gardens Resort & Spa, you immediately know one thing: You're on vacation.  One of St. Lucia's premiere luxury resorts, Bay Gardens Resort is situated on lovely Rodney Bay, not far from the capitol city of Castries, but in a world all of its own. If you're planning to visit St. Lucia, Bay Gardens Resort should be on the top of your list of accomodations for a fun family vacation, romantic getaway, or a honeymoon trip for memories that will last longer than most marriages.

Step inside, where you'll be greeted by the friendly desk staff, a huge tropical flower arrangement (more like a giant, colorful bush), photos of the flora and fauna of the island, comfy wicker furniture, a gift shop stuffed with island memorabilia and gear, and a delicious island breeze wafting through, and you will quickly realize that it's exactly the way a tropical vacation ought to be. In fact, it would be nice if life were like this all the time. Ever.

I was part of a trio of bloggers and journalists invited to visit Bay Gardens hotels last week as part of a press familiarization tour.  I am not sure how I got so lucky as to be invited, but I'm not one to look a gift horse or a trip to a luxury resort in the mouth, so there I was, a little dazed and confused from the flight, but excited nonetheless.  We were met at the airport by Richard, Activities Manager and Jack-of-All-Trades for the hotel.  Richard had us fill out cards in the van so we didn't need to check-in, gave us our keys so we could go directly to our rooms when we arrived.  He had icy cold bottles of water and fruit for the 1 hour drive to the hotel, located on the opposite end of the island from the airport.  Our friendly driver, Charles, stopped along the way to let us stretch our legs and enjoy the scenic views, and gave a running commentary of what we were seeing along the way.

Bay Gardens Resort  is a 4-star, all-suite luxury resort that is part of a trio of hotels owned and operated by the Destang Family, but this is no mom-and-pop operation.  The Destangs are local St. Lucian's with a long history of investment and involvement in St. Lucian business enterprise. Mrs. Destang was honored by Queen Elizabeth II and named as an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her service to the tourism industry, an honor slightly below Knighthood.  St. Lucia is a British Commonwealth and very few people have this distinction.  After an hour or two at any of the Bay Gardens properties, you understand why these hotels would be fit for a queen.

St. Lucia: Island of Dreams

I spent last weekend as a guest of the Bay Gardens Resorts & Spa on the lovely island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean.  I had not really heard much about St. Lucia before the trip, but what I found there was a little slice of paradise.  I've taken many sunset photos over the years, but this one is one of my favorites.  The sky was not particularly dramatic, but the sun was a bright, golden orb over a tranquil bay.

While waters of the Caribbean were calm, the island teemed with color from the golden, delicate hibiscus to the hearty ginger stalks bursting with vibrant pinks and reds.  Brightly painted houses dot the lush, green tropical landscape, surrounded by the turquoise waters of the Caribbean on one side and the Atlantic on the other.  It's a place that lingers with you long after, a place to dream of when real-life stress and obligations become a little too much. I'm already planning a trip back.

I have a great deal more to say about the fabulous Bay Gardens hotels, the food, the people and more, but this little Photo Friday entry will have to do for now.

Wishing everyone a blissful, dreamy weekend and a little slice of heaven in your own backyard, or wherever you may roam on this big, beautiful planet of ours.

For more virtual travels, check out Delicious Baby's Photo Friday line-up.

Photos: Copyright Glennia Campbell/The Silent I. All Rights Reserved. Taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR.

Disney California Adventure Cars Land Opening: Seeing Stars

Disney California Adventure' s new Cars Land opened recently, and I was fortunate enough to be part of the media corps of bloggers covering the grand reopening of the park as a guest of Disney Parks & Resorts.  It was an exciting, memorable event that included a red carpet with celebrity guests, thousands of media folks from television, radio, print and online news sources, and a chance to experience Cars Land firsthand before the eager public arrived.  As usual, Disney put on a thrilling show, featuring the opening of Cars Land, an entrance reimagined to look like Walt Disney's Hollywood of the late 1920's, and a brand new techno-night party called the Mad Hatter's T-Party. 

 

Larry the Cable Guy, voice of Mater in "Cars"

The first night featured a red carpet with some of the voice talent from the movie "Cars", including the voice of Mater himself, Larry the Cable Guy.  Larry is a very friendly guy, much like Mater in the movie, and joked around with everyone from the mombloggers to the TV broadcasters to the Radio Disney correspondent on hand.

Larry's co-star, Bonnie Hunt, seemed a little more shy, and was hiding under a baseball cap.  I didn't realize it was her until she was halfway down the red carpet. Owen Wilson was nowhere in sight.

Real Housewives of Cars Land Carry Prada

John Ratzenberger, the Pixar "good luck charm" who appears in some capacity in every Pixar movie, was seemed to enjoy the attention. Ratzenberger's date was carrying a very interesting Cars-adorned Prada bag.  I didn't see these on sale in the gift shop.  Apparently, only the Real Housewives of Cars Land know where to get these.

RIP Lonesome George, Last Pinta Island Tortoise

Lonesome George, the face of the Galapagos Islands conservation efforts, passed away yesterday.  He was well over 100 years old, and may have been around to meet Charles Darwin when he landed there in the 1800s.  He was the last of his sub-species of Pinta Island tortoises and marks the extinction of his kind.

We had the privilege of meeting Lonesome George on a trip to the Galapagos in 2006.  He was a friendly, albeit slow-moving fellow, who munched on greenery and seemed nonplussed by the amount of tourist attention being lavished on him.  At the time, his caretakers had introduced four female tortoises into the pen with him, but he didn't seem at all interested in mating with them.  He was a confirmed bachelor to his dying day.

We joined the Galapagos Conservancy on behalf of our son, largely because of meeting him and understanding the importance of preserving the unique, spectacular wildlife found in the Galapagos Islands.  Even though Lonesome George didn't leave any offspring behind, it is important that we do our part to preserve these islands for our own kids and their kids.

Farewell, Lonesome George.  You were truly one of a kind.

The Accidental Tourists

On Monday, June 25, from 9-10 pm Eastern (6-7 Pacific), I'm participating in a Twitter Party with the wonderful women of Traveling Mom, sponsored by Travel Guard North America a leading travel insurance plan provider.  Travel Guard's Gold Plan covers kids 17 and under for free, and is definitely worth checking out for additional peace of mind for your summer and adventure travel plans. You can RSVP at Traveling Mom to register for prizes during the Twitter Party.  Join us on Monday night to share your adventure stories or your dreams of adventures-to-come!

We're generally not the rugged outdoorsy types who enjoy rock-climbing, mountain biking, and other dangerous activities.  To be honest, my idea of "roughing it" is a motel with no room service.  Some of our trips have led to some unexpected adventures, and this story about our trip to Greenland in 2007, is one of my favorite examples.

On our second day in Qaqortoq, Greenland, we got up early to catch a boat to the Norse ruins at Hvalsey. I had been reading Jane Smiley's historical novel, The Greenlanders, which is set during the 14th century and the waning years of the Norse colony in Greenland.  The book follows the fortunes and misfortunes of one family of Norse settlers, and the toll that disease, famine, and climate change take on them over the years. Most of the book takes place in the fjords near where we were staying, and I was curious to see how the modern scene compared to what was described in the book.  It's a terrific book, one that I highly recommend if you are interested in what might have happened to the Viking colonies that settled Greenland for 500 years, then just disappeared. 

We were supposed to meet our boat at the small dock at the bottom of the hill, and when we got there, there was a small cabin-cruiser waiting for us.  We waited to see if a guide would join us, but didn't see anyone, so we just boarded the boat on our own.  There was a thirty-ish Greenlandic woman on-board, a Danish man, and the captain, a handsome young Greenlandic man who looked a little like a weather-beaten Keanu Reeves. 

As we were getting ready to leave, two older men wearing painting overalls came aboard with buckets of paint and tools.  I wondered if they were doing some work at the ruins, or if we were dropping them off en route. No one except the captain spoke English.  The three men had an animated conversation in Danish, as cigarettes dangled from their lips.  I hoped none of the bottles of paint thinner they were carrying would burst into flames, but I tend to worry like that.

I asked Frank, "Are you sure this is the right boat?" just as the captain untied the boat from the dock. 

"I guess so.  It's 8 am, and this is the only boat here."  He showed me the e-mail confirmation of the time and the name of the boat landing.   We figured they would probably let us know if they weren't expecting us.

Captain Keanu invited us into the cabin and graciously offered us coffee.  It was cold and misty outside, so we welcomed the chance to be inside the warm cabin.  The Greenlandic woman stoically sat outside in the back for a while, but as we sped through the fjord, she got cold and came in.  She didn't speak to anyone on the boat the entire time, so I figured she was most definitely not the tour guide.

We were on the boat for about an hour and made a turn up another fjord, this one full of ice chunks and icebergs of varying sizes.  We could hear the ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk of the boat hitting the ice.  This sound scared me during the first boat trip we took through the icy waters of Ilulissat.  By now, I was used to the sound and no longer feared that the ice was ripping the hull of the boat to shreds and that we were going to sink at any moment, like a mini-Titanic with no band.

As we got further into the ice-covered fjord, Frank noticed a town up ahead, so he asked the captain, "When do we get to Hvalsey?"

Captain Keanu looked at him blankly.  "Hvalsey?  This boat goes to Narsaq."

"Narsaq?  Do we go to Hvalsey Church after Narsaq?" Frank replied.

"No.  We never go to Hvalsey.  Only Narsaq.  I normally don't drive such a boat.  I work on the passenger ship," the captain offered.

"When do you go back?" Frank asked.

"July 11.  Next Tuesday," was the reply.  Frank turned beet red and I thought he was going to have a stroke or a coronary right on the spot.  Now I knew why we kept seeing ambulances parked at the docks. I started to worry.  We pulled into the dock and the workers, the Greenlandic woman, and the Danish man got off, along with all the painting supplies.

I decided to pipe up,"So, when will this boat go back to Qaqortoq?"

"I don't know.  You can get off if you want. Maybe the other captain will take you." 

"Who is the other captain?" I asked.

"The other man who was here," he gestured to the seat at the table where the portly Danish man had been sitting.  "Maybe he take you.  Are you sure you won't get off?" 

I said, "No, thanks." There was no way I was getting off that boat without finding someone to take us back to Qaqortoq.  I had a vision of Captain Keanu and the Danish captain each grabbing one of my legs and trying to pull me off the boat while I dug my nails into the starboard side.  At this point, hijacking the boat and ka-chunk-ing it back through the icebergs myself would not have been out of the question.  Frank looked worried and mopped his brow.