Maria StaalTime Zones, Containers and Three Square Meals a Day

Read this book if you have ever fancied roaming the seven oceans as a passenger on a container ship. Maria Staal takes you with her on her journey from Italy, through the Suez Canal to the Middle East, to Singapore and South Korea, then back again to the Mediterranean and all the way across the Atlantic. But the highlight of the book is not so much the colorful ports of call as the crew of the container ship with whom she shares this adventure. Consisting of five or six German officers and twenty-odd Philippine crewmen, the story of how Maria creates her own niche and routine in their midst, and how they learn to accept and embrace her as part of their world makes fascinating reading. There is the cook, Rodel, who has quite a challenge suiting the culinary preferences of these thirty people from various countries. Every Saturday he reaches out to the German officers and serves Eintopf, a kind of stew, the only dish Maria can't stand -- but by the end of the journey she has grown to like it. There is the Captain, who has a surprisingly soft heart and finds himself paralyzed by indecision when one of his fellow officers experiences a personal crisis that puts everyone on the ship in danger. Travel books always involve a quest, and Maria's quest in this story is to compile a kind of guide-book for the passengers who ride this container ship to help them find their way in all the different ports of call. The shipping company has offered her free passage if she will put together this book. Along the way we learn how containers are loaded on and off the ship, and how dangerous the job can be. Another thing that was new to me was the concept of "ship lag," the idea that travelling across time zones and resetting your clocks day after day disturbs your sleep patterns. Having never taken a ship myself but having flown across the ocean many times, I had always thought travelling by ship would be a nifty way to avoid jet lag altogether. Wrong! While reading this book I kept hoping there would be some action, a real crisis, maybe an encounter with modern-day pirates or something. But the level of excitement never rises above the excitement of another thousand miles covered, or the sighting of dolphins, or returning to the ship just in time before it was due to weigh anchor. Maria moves from one day to the next and from one ordinary shipboard event to the next, over a period of three months. She develops a friendship with nearly every member of the crew, and with the other passengers, and we see these friendships develop as they eat and talk and work together. We are conditioned to expect suspense and action in books and movies and television, so when a book comes along that is completely lacking in it, it stands out. I realized the lack of suspense and action was completely intentional and it ultimately became a great part of the attraction of the book. This was a very special book, and I am looking forward to reading the sequel.

The author's 3 month travelogue on a working container ship. Chronologically straightforward stories sailing from Italy to Saudi Arabia to Malaysia to Singapore to Hong Kong and back again to Italy. And from there to the US ( New York, Norfolk, Savannah), then back again to Italy. The author writes simply and clearly and the prose flows along well. Her day to day interactions with the few other passengers and ship workers really contrast the difference between a container ship and a tourist cruise ship. Container ship life is monotonous with long working hours and very short port-of-calls for passengers and crew. Amenities are spartan and it falls to the passengers to entertain/occupy themselves during the long voyages. Too bad the author doesn't tell more about the ship and the type of cargo she moves and the average trip fare from one port-of-call to another. All in all a decent book but for me , the author should have said why she likes container ship travel over any other type travel. The author comes off a bit remote.

Maria Staal, hired by a shipping company to write a guide book for passengers on their container ships, also produced Time Zones, Containers and Three Square Meals a Day describing her experience. Her payment for her work was a 3 month long voyage traveling almost 30,000 nautical miles with a few other passengers and the Filipino and German crew members and officers.Maria writes engagingly about the ship and the various people and ports she encountered. The voyage took her to Italy, UAE, Malaysia, Singapore, S. Korea, China, Hong Kong, France Spain and the eastern coast of the United States. She traversed the Malacca Strait, Gulf of Aden, Yangtze River, Suez Canal, Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean.If you have ever considered this unusual means of travel, the book provides a nice view of what it is like. A departure from the large resort-like cruise ships, you will find container ships to be comfortable, but without the frills. Advantages include the opportunity to become more intimately acquainted with crew and other passengers, as well as the ability to visit smaller ports, often inaccessible to larger ships.There may be some inconveniences, such as weather issues, concern about pirates at times, limited food choices, and no organized entertainment. Passengers can, however, enter parts of the ship usually off limits on the large cruise ships such as the bridge, engine room, fo’c’sle, and monkey deck, and passengers eat and relax with crew members and officers.It is puzzling and unfortunate that names of ships and the shipping company had been changed. I would have liked to have known the company she was writing about as they seem interested in carrying a few passengers on their container ships. Nevertheless, the book is easy to read, interesting, and makes such travel sound inviting to those of us who may be looking for something more cerebral, without the resort-style amenities and enticing excitement of some other modes.

Try as I might I cannot recommend this appallingly written book. The English is sub 10 year old essay writing.It's repetitive ,wallows in a lack of self confidence and ill informed miss information. Compared to the Rose George 'Deep Sea and Foreign Going' this is a sadly lost opportunity.Container ships deliver about 90% of everything- and I mean everything- we eat or use --and that includes you wherever you live - consume.Their world is secretive (understandably so considering they are terrorist targets not only for PFR but also KFR. Their crews-mostly from 'the third world' in many cases are usually badly exploited despite the efforts or some major container line owners.So what saddens me is the lost opportunity - where many great writer would give anything to access the opportunity given to Miss Staal..and she completely wastes it.As both Miss George and Miss Staal are vegetarians at least this proves that being a vegetarian is not cause of bad writing and amateur reportage.Check out the Rose George book.

An unusual travelogue which focuses more on the time aboard ship than the places visited. Readers will enjoy the hilarious anecdotes about the crew members and life on board, and get a real feel for the life of a working cargo freighter, something which I imagine isn't readily documented elsewhere by an independent witness. The author uses a very honest style, not exaggerating events to provide more drama, giving a diarized feel to the work which will appeal to readers who enjoy a more journalistic approach to auto-biographical works. A fascinating read, and a must for all hardcore travellers.

"I have finished this book" I said to my wife, " did you enjoy it ?"she replied, "yes and no " I said, "why? " said my wife, " because I think conversational writing is just lazy and drags the paragraph out " I replied.I would have liked to have had a more colourful description of the surroundings, not that I could have done any better

I was always toying with the idea of doing a cruise on a container ship and this book gave me a good insight into travelling like that.

I really enjoyed this kindle book as it brought back memories of trips as a passenger on Container ships. Though the names are fictional the events ring true