7 Reasons

Tag: ship

  • Guest Post: 7 Reasons Cruises Are More Fun That You’d Think

    Guest Post: 7 Reasons Cruises Are More Fun That You’d Think

    When you think of cruise holidays, what do you think of? One too many blue rinses? Families of chavs dive bombing the swimming pool every five seconds? You wouldn’t be alone in thinking this, but in reality cruise holidays are a lot of fun and today we will provide you with seven wonderful reasons why.

    7 Reasons Cruises Are More Fun Than You’d Think

    1.  Food glorious food. Holidays, my friend, are for eating, and if you opt for a cruise you will be surprised by the quality and sheer amount of food on offer. Breakfast buffets piled high with croissants, fresh fruit, yoghurt, not to mention the wonder that is the ‘omelette station’ – and that’s just breakfast! Try and save room for the evening’s fine dining – the food served of an evening on certain cruise ships can rival even the fanciest Michelin star restaurants. Dine on salads before you go, because we guarantee that you’ll still be able to wear anything that doesn’t have an elasticated waistband by the end of your trip!

    2.  A chance to be fancy. On what other type of holiday do you have the chance to don your finest glad-rags each and every evening? Exactly. One of the best things about cruise holidays is just how formal the evenings are – fine food, wine and company teamed with an excuse to wear that ball gown that’s been hanging in the back of your closet for years.

    3.  Everything is within your reach. Nowadays cruise ships have every activity that you could possibly want to try, all on one gigantic floating city. Whether you fancy a spot of golf, trying your hand on the surf simulator or scrambling up the climbing wall – you won’t have to venture far from your cabin to do it. For those of you who don’t like anything this active, there will be swimming pools and sunbeds galore (no matter how many Germans are on your ship to get there before you!) and you can also while away a few hours in the on-board library or cinema. There is something for everyone.

    4.  Avoid the perils of packing and unpacking. No-one enjoys cramming all of their holidays essentials into one tiny bag and jamming it shut via the use of all of your body weight! This is a task that should be repeated only once or twice per trip max. The joy of a cruise is that although you are visiting multiple destinations – you only have to unpack once! Splendid.

    5.  See multiple places. Admit it – airports are annoying! Cruises eradicate the need to face stern-faced security officials menacingly telling you to remove your belt, and that’s before we even get on to the horror of aeroplane food! Phew. On a cruise you can literally wake up in a different place every day without the hassle that comes with getting yourself there.

    6.  Superb service. Let’s be honest, the service that you experience in that Costa del Sol all-inclusive hotel is, more often than not, more Faulty Towers than First Class! Not so upon a cruise ship. The staff are typically interesting folk who have seen the world, and the performers wouldn’t be out of place on the West End stage.

    7.  Booze is included. If you want to start the day with a Bloody Mary, casually move into late morning Pimms, afternoon Champagne and evening cocktails – you can do so! Just try to avoid drunken walks on the deck!

  • 7 Reasons to Follow @MongolianNavy on Twitter

    7 Reasons to Follow @MongolianNavy on Twitter

    In February we discovered that Benicio Del Toro was on Twitter and brought you the news in 7 Reasons to follow @BenicioDToro on Twitter.  We weren’t sure whether it was him or not, but we thought the Twitter account was interesting anyway, and we had a big reaction to the post.  Firstly, many unhinged people descended on our comments section and began calling each other names (we eventually had to referee this) and secondly, someone stole the piece and reposted it elsewhere without our consent until – after we’d threatened legal action more than once and they’d removed it and re-posted it a few times – their web hosts intervened and shut them down.  In all, it was a whole lot of irritation and hassle. So let’s do it again.

    Great news, 7 Reasons readers!  The Mongolian Navy are on Twitter!  Here are seven reasons to follow them.

    The naval fleet of Mongolia in port
    Swim for your lives! It’s the entire Mongolian Navy! Really.

    1.  They Won’t Swamp Your Twitter-Feed.  I mean, how much news can a navy with one boat, seven sailors (only one of whom can swim) and no sea generate?

    2.  Comparison. Have you ever felt really down?  Have you ever felt pangs of existential angst?  Have you ever questioned what you’re doing with your life?  Have you ever felt that you’re getting nowhere and that you’re just going round in circles?  Well the Mongolian Navy are stuck on the landlocked Lake Hovsgal so they actually are going round in circles.  All day, every day.  Who doesn’t feel better about themselves now?

    3.  War Is Hell.  I watched the Dreamworks mini-series The Pacific recently and a brilliant, absorbing, and appropriately reverential bit of television it was too.  But it was a highly confusing in places because there were many, many characters and they were all dressed identically.  The Mongolian Navy has only seven sailors though, so there should be little of that sort of confusion in their Twitter feed.  In time, you’ll probably get to know and love the entire Mongolian Navy, which is a lot less time than in would take you to get to know and love a larger navy.

    4.  Learn About Mongolia.  How much do you really know about Mongolia?  That’s a question I’ve asked myself on several occasions recently, and in my case, the answer is very little.  I imagine that by following the Mongolian Navy on Twitter I’m going to learn a great deal more about Mongolia.  After all, they’re landlocked, so it’s not like they’re going to be tweeting about anywhere else.

    5.  Because You Love An Underdog.  Yes you do!  You can’t help it.  And surely, in naval terms, a navy with only one vessel (a tug) is the biggest underdog of them all.  Or the littlest underdog, perhaps.  After all, it’s hard to feel any sort of empathy with large modern navies with their state-of-the-art destroyers deploying smart torpedoes and missiles against enemies that don’t stand a hope-in-hell’s chance.  But the Mongolian Navy’s epic quest to tow other boats around and keep their lake free from better navies* is something we can all appreciate and get behind.

    6.  Because They’ll Follow You Back.  I’ve looked at their Twitter page and it seems that they’re following the people who are following them back.  And who wouldn’t want to be followed by the Mongolian Navy (if you’re going to be followed by a navy, the Mongolian one seems like the best option)?  It seems that the Mongolian Navy are as curious about us as we are about them.   Let’s tell them what things are like where we live.  Near the sea.  Or tweet swimming tips, I think they’d like that.

    7.  Show Your Support.  Because no one in Mongolia loves them.  As we pointed in out March, Mongolia has a National Men and Soldiers Day, but not a National Men and Sailors Day.  This seems deeply unfair.  Let’s show them that people out there do care about them.  Let’s show our support for by following @MongolianNavy on Twitter.**

     

    *Which is all navies.  Even Birmingham has a better navy than Mongolia.

    **As this doesn’t seem like too much of a commitment.