Cruise, booze and ooops.

Wednesday was Love and I's three year "anniversary", but I was working and he was in Stavanger doing a job, so we didn't get to celebrate it. But it didn't matter, because we had gotten cheap "left-over" tickets for a Oslo-Hirtshals (Denmark) and back cruise from thursday to friday.
Now don't get me wrong, it's not a real cruise boat, it's just a fancy ferry with tax free, restaurants and a tiny swimming pool in the very bottom of the boat. And mostly families with small children going on holiday.
But it was an opportunity to have a little get-away for not that much moolah, so we grabbed the chance we got.

First I have to say we were lucky with our cabin. There's both seaside and ordinary cabins, and the ordinary ones unlocks my claustrophobia, and make me feel absolutely uncomfortable. But we got a seaside one. On deck 6, which was the highest cabin deck. Not too shabby! :)

The most exciting part of these type of trips, is of course the tax free shopping. All the booze, candy and tobacco you can ever dream of. Except I don't smoke, and don't drink much alcohol either. We grabbed a cognac for Love's parents and a tiny Bailey's bottle for me, and that was all of the sinful stuff we bought.
But the candy... oh goodness! First off, it's a lot. Like, a. lot. of. candy. in. jumbo. packages. It's the candy dreamland of any child. Our equivalent of the Harry Potter world's Honeydukes.
And it doesn't go very well with my no-candy policy either.
But we behaved ourselves and didn't splurge like we might have done. We bough Haribo winegum (my favorite!) to take home, and a couple of chocolate bars to eat while on the boat, and that was it.
No perfume and no make up either. Well, perfume wasn't such a big surprise, as I have three different kinds I alternate between, and I don't need another one. Make up? I dunno... I didn't see anything that struck my fancy. I'm not a make up girl. Sure, I know what to do with eye shadows and mascaras, but show me a tube of foundation or some fancy lotion, and I'll blank out completely. I've never gotten used to using foundation, I keep thinking that if I leave my skin alone, it won't get back at me for something I did. Sure, I use lotions, but I don't smear goo on my face unless I have to.

A fun thing happened when we were almost out of the Oslofjord. A P&O cruise ship (a real cruise ship *lol*) sailed past us, and this was around... eleven at night, so it was dusk outside. All of a sudden several blitzes went off behind the P&O windows. WTF? Love and I joked about it being the Posh People taking our picture to show their Posh Friends how Poor People do cruises. Well, probably was anyway!

We arrived Hirtshals the next morning around 8.30, after having a lovely breakfast in the buffet restaurant. Good thing we did! Let me explain... The ship would sail back again at 10, so we had a little over an hour to walk into town and have a look. And we decided to go for an ice cream, because it was sunny and absolutely gorgeous out. Well, the kiosk didn't accept visa, so we sniffed out an ATM and tried to get some cash. But only got a message saying that the card had reached its max limit for use that day. WTF? We hadn't used it all day! It was only around 9 still. So, feeling slightly panicky, Love phoned his bank. Oh. Shit. There was no more cash! We were skint! Fuuuuuck!!! So, OK, what did that mean? We had already eaten a great breakfast, so that would last us a couple of hours (me thanking my lucky stars we actually had had that breakfast), but we couldn't live off winegum for an entire day! I mean, I love winegum, but you know there's a limit to how much winegum one can eat before it swells in ones tummy and makes one want to puke ones guts out. So... Besides food, we were actually good, but no food and nothing to drink all day? Bah... Well, I did what I had to do. While cringing at the embarassement of it. Called my mum. Explained the situation and how effing off guard it had caught us, 'cause Love was sure he had enough cash on it. I asked him to check before we left home, but he was so sure... I had that gut feeling I sometimes get when I just... sense something... but it isn't always strong enough to make me actually listen to it. I feel like an idiot... But, at least we got to lend some money to keep us fed for the weekend. Thank goodness payday is coming up!

Well, that naturally put somewhat of a damper on both our spirits for the journey home. Our plan was originally to spoil ourselves rotten the whole trip, and instead of yummy mexican food, we got icky cafeteria dinner on the return trip. Flung on a plate by the ship's equalent to the chef Cookie in the Beetle Bailey comic. Ick! And fries that tasted... Nothing, actually.
But, disregarding the embarrassement of having to desperately beg mum for money (and those tasteless fries!), we had a good trip. I won't say wonderful because the whole skint-issue did ruin a lot for me, but it didn't ruin the experience completely.
It was very nice to get away for a while with Love and just be lovey-dovey, holding hands while walking out on deck, spraying each other with perfume and sniffing in the tax free shop and tap in on that holiday spirit that filled the boat.

And, something else needs to be mentioned. My "anniversary" gift? Love has ordered all the books on my wish list. Even the maybe ones. He's completely bonkers, and I would have preferred that I could have ordered them myself when I got my paycheck, but of course, he's just... adorable. I am exctatic about getting the books, I tell you! But I need to remember not to want something too loudly. Because my generous, but unfortunately not very money-wise (nor am I to be honest!) boyfriend buys it for me, even when he really shouldn't.
But I love him anyway.