24 hours to Ceylon: My first taste of cruise culture.

“Voyage upon life’s sea,
To yourself be true,
And, whatever your lot may be,
Paddle your own canoe.”

— Sarah Bolton

When you think about the fact that from tip to tip, India and Sri Lanka are only twenty miles apart, and that a direct flight from Trivandrum to Colombo would have taken merely an hour, it does sound rather ridiculous:

It took 24 hours to sail to Sri Lanka.

Yes, from our two o’clock check-in on Friday at the ferry terminal, to finally sitting down in my Colombo guesthouse on Saturday at 2.30pm, it had taken a full day to reach the island. But strangely, I was far less annoyed than I should’ve been.

A five-hour delay [something about the loading and unloading of trucks–we never quite figured out who the culprit was] meant we didn’t leave port until eleven that night…but I was too busy revelling in my neat little berth, socialising with other passengers at mealtimes and saying to myself, “So this is what a cruise is like,” to notice.

At dinner over tomato rasam, rice and papadum [and other Indian delights], I talked to a twenty-something Sri Lankan guy named Sharbeen, who now works in Dubai for his family’s tea export business. “You like the ferry?” he asked me. I told him I did, very much in fact, and turned the question on him.

He made a face and said, “No, it is not like the ones in Europe.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the reversal of opinions–the South Asian disappointed at the seeming lack of Western standards, and the Westerner pleasantly surprised by the high level of South Asian service.

Because seriously, it was high–and here’s some photographic evidence of why:

The room:

The food:

The view:

Trust me, we’re not talking sleeper class here, folks. So as we pulled into the wide blue harbour of Colombo–five hours later than we should’ve been–with a white stupa visible on the horizon next to colonial-era buildings, I thought about how simple a flight would’ve been…and how much I would’ve missed.

As Seneca himself said:

“Voyage, travel, and change of place impart vigor.”

Want sail to Sri Lanka yourself?

You can visit Flemingo Liners’ website for more information on their service from Tuticorin to Colombo (and vice versa). Here’s the important stuff:

• Fares start at 2,695 Indian rupees each way–that’s just over $50 for a single berth, which includes a non-alcoholic arrival drink (read: fruit punch), afternoon tea, dinner, and breakfast.
• The ferry departs Tuticorin on Tuesdays and Fridays at 6pm, arriving in Colombo at 8am the following day. It returns from Colombo on Mondays and Thursdays, following the same timetable.
• Online booking isn’t available yet, so you have two options: you can visit their offices in either Chennai or Tuticorin in person, or you can book over the phone, provided you email them a copy of your passport and visa and transfer your payment to them.
• Chennai office: Flemingo Liners Pvt. Ltd.
  Old no 16A, New no 35
  1st floor, KV. Apartments,
  Poes Garden, Chennai – 600 086
  Tel – +91 44 24994438, 43144736
• Tuticorin office: 1st Floor, Vilson’s Plaza,
  A3, World Trade Avenue,
  Harbour Estate,
  Tuticorin – 628004
  Tel – +91 461 2353600, 2353700

Have you ever taken the long way to somewhere new? Did it make you appreciate your arrival differently?