Moments you never forget

It is now a few days since we landed back in Germany. The conversations, however, still sound as if we were still travelling. The memories remain in our minds and everyone has taken their own very personal highlight away from this trip.

But let us simply start at the beginning:

The early bird catches … oh no, the early bird comes to the office. Although on this day nobody had to get up so early because of overtime, but because we were meeting to begin our trip together. Some had not slept at all out of excitement, others were still tired with tiny eyes. But one thing was certain:

Everyone was looking forward to it and was excited in their own personal way, some more and some less.

After we reached the station and a few latecomers joined us, it was time: D'r Zoch kütt! The excitement grew and grew when Frankfurt Airport came into view and everyone had checked in their suitcase. Now it was clear to all: it was no joke, we really were going to the USA. But before reaching the USA we first had to find ourselves in Paris – no, it was not an emergency landing or a stopover with a trip to the Eiffel Tower. As we flew with Air France we simply had to change in Paris to a long-haul aircraft. Without any stress you could stroll through Paris airport and stock up on sweets for the flight or buy something to eat. For the smokers among us Paris was the last chance to adjust their nicotine level before that would be possible again in the USA.

The flight was long, the seats were no longer comfortable after eight hours, but we made it. Miami International Airport, here we are. Now for immigration. From stories you know that entry checks in the USA are very strict and that border control officers are not the friendliest. For precisely that reason some in the group were afraid of the officers and grew more and more nervous the closer we got to the counters. As some of us had already been to the USA before, we were separated and only found each other again at baggage reclaim. And straight away came the first conversations and laughter about entering the country: “What did he ask you?”, “What did you have to answer?” and much more. Entering the country is fun after all when you hear the stories about the officers right afterwards and have to laugh.

After all the rooms had been allocated and everyone had freshened up, we set off for our first evening in Miami. And what do you do when you want a bit of a buzz in Miami? Exactly – we went to Ocean Drive. We walked; we had underestimated the distance a little, but after a long flight a 45-minute walk did us good. Arriving at the northernmost point of Ocean Drive we immediately looked for a nice place to eat, because let us be honest: the food on a plane is no match for a freshly grilled burger or a burrito. After the meal our eyes slowly grew smaller and the conversations quieter, the plans for the evening trickled away into the sand and we all decided to go back to the hotel to be in top form for the next day. One of us, however, had that idea before everyone else and complained of thigh pain from sitting – how does that work? That remains the secret of the trip; the fact is that at SK-Office, if you are the first to leave the table and go to bed, you are known as a “sleepyhead”. As nobody wants that reputation, ever new creations appear as to why one has to lie down without really being tired. Be that as it may, we all found our way back to the hotel and closed our eyes. Although there were also people who listened to the sound of the waves for a while and sat down on the beach in the darkness and quiet of the night simply to take in their impressions and enjoy the sea.

Good morning, Miami Beach! The weather was good, our hunger was great and we bombarded Instagram. There was plenty to eat and the surrounding scenery sweetened the morning completely. The food had barely settled when the first of us went to the beach for photos and staged a proper little photo shoot. But it was not allowed to last too long, because we all had to be back in the lobby with bag and baggage. A hotel for one night? Yes, because our journey continued. Now it became exciting and even more thrilling: a black bus pulled up and everyone got in. Terminal A1 is the destination – no, we are not back at Miami airport, we are at the port. The huge Royal Caribbean terminal presented itself to us in all its splendour and everyone checked in smoothly and full of joy. The Mariner of the Seas was our final destination and nobody could stop marvelling as this huge colossus towered up in front of us. The suitcases had to be handed in, so we only had hand luggage with us and could explore the ship before going to our cabins. But stop – before going to the cabins there had of course to be a cocktail first, to mark the start of the cruise properly. Once in the cabins the balcony was inspected first and you could literally see the happiness in people's eyes. Now it was time to unpack the suitcases. There is one thing you should know: on a ship the suitcases do not come off a baggage belt. They are brought to the respective cabin and you have to wait for your case to reach it. All the suitcases arrived – well, almost all … three cases unfortunately did not make it with the others and you had to wait and hope that yours would still turn up. The others did it right and made the most of the weather straight away. Swimming trunks and bikini on, towel and sun cream, and off to the pool. Sun, pool and a drink – that makes the first day perfect and unforgettable. Meanwhile those who had to wait for their cases got to know the ship even better and walked from deck 6 to deck 9 in the hope that the case had merely ended up on the wrong deck. From deck 9 to 8 to 7 to 5 … all unfortunately without success. The Royal Caribbean crew could not really help either, so it really did mean: waiting. Minutes turned into hours, but then – three hours after the others' cases had arrived, the remaining suitcases arrived too and everyone could relax. Oh no, there was one more thing: the ship's safety drill. Standing in line while the ship's sirens sounded. Once we had ticked that off our list, everyone could relax and let the day end comfortably – in the casino or on the shopping mile or simply, classically, in one of the ship's many bars.

New morning, new destination. We had docked at today's destination very early with the ship, and shortly after the alarm clock rang everyone was in good spirits and ran straight to the balcony and flung open the curtains. But the smiles instantly fell from our faces, because what happened was what you do not expect in the Caribbean: it was raining cats and dogs … So the morning had already taken a knock and at breakfast you looked into long faces. CocoCay, today's destination, had a huge sign at the berth reading “Perfect Day”, which at that point nobody was counting on any more. But we had to make the best of it and, after the captain gave clearance, we left the ship. Two items were on the day's plan and everyone had been looking forward to these events, but when the weather does not play along such an event can fall through. That was unfortunately the case with our jet ski trip: because of the extreme swell and the bad weather no jet skis could go out, which gave us another knock. Nevertheless we still had one highlight of the trip up our sleeve. We. Swim. With. Pigs. When we announced that, back in Cologne, eyes grew wider and wider. And this event was not going to fall through, but we had to go to another island. And how do you get to another island in the Caribbean? Right: by boat. But there are some people in the group who have considerable respect for small boats – or let us say, fear. And with a swell like that a small boat turns straight into a rollercoaster. Arriving on the island the little piglets came running straight up, sniffed everyone and wanted to be stroked. The cuteness of these little pigs took many people's breath away and they could not stop grinning. After a short but precise briefing the time had come: we were allowed to swim with the pigs. Even though the water was cold and the weather was not the best, everyone clearly had fun and did not want to leave the island at all. But everything comes to an end, and after the wonderful time with the pigs we unfortunately had to go back to CocoCay. And so we had to say goodbye to CrispyBacon and the other pigs. And what do you do when you have been swimming with pigs and worn yourself out? You eat something – but everyone was thoughtful and took beef rather than pork. After that came a little stroll around the stalls on CocoCay before returning to the ship, where the next event was already waiting. SK-Office had signed up for the football tournament and was confident of victory. Unfortunately we had forgotten that football is not as widespread in the USA as in Europe, and we had to be split up, as otherwise no tournament could have taken place. Even so, SK-Office managed to take both the bronze and the silver medal. And with such success we took part in the next tournament straight away: dodgeball. Briefly put: one throw, one hit, and SK-Office takes precious metal again, this time silver and gold. Sweaty, we then celebrated with a drink and laughed. In the evening we ate together again and the evening ended comfortably with drinks, stories and laughter. Although “evening” is an understatement here – let us rather say the night was brought to an end.

Bahama Mama,

that was the motto of the day, because we had docked in Nassau. In the middle of the Bahamas, and the weather was magnificent. Even in the morning the sun shone so strongly that we all needed sun cream – and that at eight in the morning. At check-in for the day trip everyone came together again and went through the necessary documents, at which point some noticed that something had been left in the cabin. And so you saw a few from the group running back to their cabins and returning. One of them turned it into morning exercise straight away: to the cabin and back, noticed that something else was still missing, and back to the cabin and back again, and because all good things come in threes it was repeated once more. Once everyone had all their documents together and some were out of breath from all the running back and forth, we finally set off for the Atlantis water park. On arrival everyone turned into little children again and wanted to get into the water immediately and enjoy the day. Lock up your things, find a lounger, T-shirt off and into the water. There is nothing more to say about it. A dream-like turquoise beach was part of it too and you could not get enough of this breathtaking scenery. In short, it was simply wonderful. A few eagle eyes then spotted jet skis after all, racing through the waves along the beach, and wanted all the more to ride a jet ski now, since it had fallen through the day before. No sooner said than done: a few people rented jet skis and raced through the blue waves and had their fun – because who can say they have ridden a jet ski in the Bahamas? But what would an SK-Office outing be without complications? Something had to go wrong with the jet skis amid all the fun. But nothing worth mentioning. There was a collision between two jet skis … oops … But undeterred we carried on and everyone still had fun. Things went quite differently meanwhile at the water slides. The first aiders had to treat a few grazes, as someone had fallen off a car tyre – pardon, a rubber ring – and bumped into rocks in the wild river. All in all, though, everyone came out of the park safe and sound, even if the odd injury was visible here and there. Sun, sea and beach – the day could not have been better, and everyone was so overwhelmed by their impressions of the Atlantis resort that there was still a lot to talk about in the evening. After dinner everyone gathered once more and had a drink together to let the evening fade out. On this day there was also a casino ban for the first time, because we all wanted to do something together and not just hang around at the slot machines or at black jack. As tempting as it all was – some had turned 1 dollar into 100 straight away or had winnings of 1,400 dollars in total – we wanted to celebrate the last evening on the ship all together and let the trip come to a fitting close. What we did not know, though, was that the ship's DJ was, well, let us say not the best. We celebrated anyway and made our own party out of it before, at some point late in the night, we went back to our cabins and closed our eyes.

With one laughing and one crying eye we had to say goodbye on this day, because the ship had docked in Miami again and we had to leave it completely. This time, though, we were allowed to take our suitcases straight away and did not have to wait for them. But the laughing eye was thinking of the fact that we still had a whole day in Miami and could look around the city, or everyone could do whatever they wanted. Once at the hotel we checked in again and banished the suitcases to the rooms. Then it began: some took a hop-on hop-off bus through Miami in order to have seen the most important spots, such as Venice Beach and Little Havana. Downtown Miami is worth seeing too. Others, by contrast, first devoted themselves to shopping and explored Miami on foot. Still others used the day to explore the beach and the sea. Everyone was able to gather their own impressions once more and used the day for themselves. In the evening, however, everyone came together to round off and wind down the whole trip on Ocean Drive one last time. Here, modest as we are, we settled into a cocktail bar and drank cocktails containing 1.5 litres each. So the evening became funnier and funnier with every sip – although with a 1.5-litre Long Island iced tea the fun can occasionally turn into nausea. But that was not the case with practised drinkers like us. And in the end everyone closed their eyes safe and sound back at the hotel. For the last time in the USA, unfortunately.

The time has come: every journey has an end, and the farewell to Miami follows.

On the way to the airport everyone looked at their photos once more or took new ones to capture the impressions of this city and of the trip. We experienced a lot and saw a lot. We gathered memories and created moments that we will never forget. The flight home went via Detroit and then back to Frankfurt Airport. Long flight, long faces, long journey. There is nothing more to say about it. Nobody really slept well on the plane or felt fit. Everyone just wanted to get to Cologne – but there was still something … Right, we had decided to work on the day of our arrival. Whether that was a good decision? But first we had to get back to Cologne with bag and baggage. And from Frankfurt Airport that is best done by train. Unless, of course, you are as lucky as we were and the carriage you reserved is cancelled. So we got to stand or sit on the floor for the whole journey … What a way to start the office day, right?

Once at the office everyone devoted themselves to the work that had piled up as best they could and in the end only looked forward to home, where they wanted to greet their own bed and their own sofa.

But we must not forget to say THANK YOU: thank you to Stefan Krüger, who made the trip possible and put his own time into organising it. Thank you for allowing us all to be part of the big SK-Office family, and many thanks for this unforgettable trip and the memories we gathered. We will all talk about it often and think of you and SK-Office every time.