Embarkation, Orientation, and Toodling Around the Gulf of Thailand

TRAVELOGUE Jan 2 through Jan 12 2026:

Jan 2: Boarded the MV World Odyssey in Unithai Shipyard, Laem Chabang
Jan 2 - 4: All-day Orientation Workshops
Jan 4: Sailed back to Bangkok in the nearly-empty ship
Jan 5: Students boarded
Jan 6: Student orientation
Jan 7-13: Sail to Vietnam (mostly sitting still in the Gulf of Thailand)

[PHOTOS BELOW TEXT]

On the morning of January 2, Jennifer and I bade temporary farewell to our friends at the Guest House and rode a taxi two hours on very nice freeways to the ship in Laem Chabang. It wasn't in a port but rather a working shipyard getting maintenance, and our driver had a very hard time finding it. It was wonderful to see the familiar ship, although Jennifer tripped on a loose piece of plywood and hurt her knee in the process of boarding.

We were super happy to be "home" again, to greet our fellow voyagers and the familiar crew. By the end of this voyage we will have spent nearly a year aboard the M.V. World Odyssey! We know every nook and cranny. Our cabin is identical to the one we had last time, so we already know where everything goes and it was wonderful to unpack! The gigantic rolling duffels we've hauled from Fort Collins have been great but wow -- so heavy and bulky. Super nice to have our stuff on hangers, cubbies, shelves, and in a bathroom instead of luggage.

Living in a working shipyard for three days was pretty wild. Huge ships surrounded by even huger cranes and gantries and machinery. A 20-story machine rolled along our ship with people and machines and stuff hanging down onto the top, carrying out repairs. People were sanding and painting and welding and banging all the time while we sat in over-air-conditioned rooms doing our required 3-day orientation.

Next to our ship was a dry dock. This is like a canal where a huge ship can pull all the way in, and then a gate (lock) closes behind it and they drain all the water out so people and machines can repair the hull and systems beneath the waterline. Kind of daunting, but all quite fascinating to watch.

It's also weird to be on the ship without students. All our familiar haunts and crew members but oddly deserted, without the normal chaos and bustle of hundreds of 20-year old running around.

After 3 days of boring orientation workshops, we were excited to pull out of the shipyard on January 4 and sail back to Bangkok! It took us about eight hours sailing in the open sea to reach the outskirts of the city. Then we sailed right up the Chao Phraya River where we'd been over New Year's, but now inside our home away from home. It was fun!

We were allowed off the ship for the evening in Bangkok and took a Grab rideshare to a gigantic WalMart-equivalent store to pick up some last-minute items. Super busy and commercial. We found lanyards and coffee and snacks. Then back to the ship which we won't leave again until Vietnam on January 13.

On January 5, 485 students embarked! All of us were stationed in different parts of the ship to welcome them, provide directions, and help them get settled. Lots of emotion and excitement and extremely flustered, jet-lagged students.

Finally, on the morning of January 6, we sailed back down the Chao Phraya River for the last time, and out into the Gulf of Thailand. Ten days and more than 10,000 miles after leaving Colorado, we're finally at sea!

Our first day underway was entirely devoted to an all-day student orientation, kind of a mini-version of the 3-day workshops that faculty and staff had to do. A powerful sense of anticipation and some butterflies, but whether we're ready or not HERE IT COMES!

Our Global Studies Team of three professors and two incredible Instructional Coordinators spent much of the day putting final touches on the course, updating the syllabus, linking all the readings on the course website, etc.

Global Studies is the ONLY shared academic experience for every voyager. We facilitate the entire shipboard community in composing the STORY of our voyage, a narrative through line of the whole semester. It's a privilege and an honor to be in this role, and it's also a COLOSSAL amount of work!

Our GS Team is fantastic. Prof. Andrea Duffy is from Colorado State. She's an environmental historian who's sailed as Global Studies Director in 2019. She's traveling with her spouse John who's a professor of psychology and neuroscience and their adorable 5-year old daughter Freya. Prof. Juliane Mora teaches Communications Studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane. She's the most gifted facilitator of engagement activities in very large classes that I've ever met. Dr. Karen Rattenborg is Professor Emerita of Human Development and Family Studies at CSU and has twice before served as Global Studies Instructional Coordinator. Our other GSIC is Dr. Chris Lah, who has taught at universities as well as having a very successful career as a hospital executive. Just an incredible group, and I'm absolutely delighted to be part of it!

The first days of class have gone very well. I have one section of Global Studies at 9:30 in the morning and another at 2 PM (1400). Each section has about 300 people, because in addition to every student we teach all the other faculty and staff, plus spouses/partners/companions, LifeLong Learners, and even ship kids.

The weather has been relentlessly hot, humid, and sunny. This is the heart of the dry season, and the sun just beats down all the time at 10 degrees north latitude even though this part of the world gets well over a meter of rainfall in May-September. We eat breakfast and dinner outside and watch the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, but avoid the top deck at lunchtme because of the inescapable heat.

Normally, it's only about a 1.5 day sail from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC, also known as Saigon). We’re doing it in seven days (!) because we have to get the students started on their classes and prepared for our 6-day sojourn in Vietnam. So far from “full speed ahead,” we’ve been barely moving.

We had some small-to-mid size swells the very first day of classes, and some people got seasick. We’re drifting or sailing at under 1 knot in the Gulf of Thailand, a relatively protected body of water between the Malay peninsula and Cambodia/Vietnam.

Off the east coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea there’s an area of much bigger waves, around 16 feet. Since people were getting sick in 4-foot seas here, the Captain has wisely moved into the wind-shadow of the Cambodian coast where it’s almost dead calm. We’ve been here for days and will then dart around the point at the south end of Vietnam on January 13, hug the coast to stay out of the waves, and then sail up the Saigon River into HCMC.

Yesterday we suddenly sailed to Phu Quoc island where a student was evacuated for medical reasons. Even from the sea, the island is beautiful. It’s a famous resort, kind of like the Hawaii of Vietnam. We all wish the student well and trust that she’s receiving great care. SAS provides a medical doctor to stay with her as a liaison to the local health system and is constant touch with the ship as well as the home office.

Then back out into international waters in the heat and humidity. Everybody is very eager to disembark and begin our explorations in Vietnam. We will be in the country from January 13-18 before going on to Malaysia.