Around the World Twice With Semester at Sea: 1984 and 1998

In January 1984 I took one semester off from Colorado State University and went around the world on Semester at Sea. Fourteen years later, in September 1998, I went around again, this time as the photography instructor on board.

Semester at Sea is a floating university. Students live on a ship, take real college classes between ports, and then step off in a new country every week or so to see the places they have been reading about. Brooks Institute of Photography, where I graduated in 1993, was the organization that arranged the photographers who taught on board. So after Brooks I was asked to teach photography on the fall 1998 voyage, and of course I said yes.

Before I share my own stories, here is a video that gives a great glimpse into what a Semester at Sea voyage is all about. It was made by Deirdre Chapman on the spring 2018 voyage. I have watched it many times, and every time it brings back my own memories and the enjoyment of traveling the world in 1984 and 1998. The ship is newer and the cameras are better, but the feeling is the same.

We left Fort Lauderdale in January and came home to San Francisco in May. I was 21 years old. Here is the route we took.

All the ports were good, but a few stand out for me even more than 40 years later.

Kenya was the one I had been waiting for. I so wanted to see the wildlife on an African safari, and I did. It was brief, because we only had five days in Kenya, but seeing those animals out in the wild for the first time is something I have never forgotten.

If you like wildlife stories, you might also enjoy The Day a Lion Named Joseph Ran Straight at My Camera.

From Hong Kong, I flew to Beijing to see the Great Wall. It was spectacular. It was also winter in northern China, so it wasn't very hospitable, but we did see it.

I will also say the food wasn't particularly good. This may have just been 1984, but the Chinese food there was nothing like what we think of as Chinese food here in the United States. It was very different, and I recall it not being very tasty, so we drank more beer than anything else.

From Madras, I flew to New Delhi and then on to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. It is one of the most dramatic places in the world, and in 2007 it was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

While I was in Agra, I walked into a craftsman's shop where the artisans were setting jade and other precious stones into marble. It was exactly the same inlay work I had just seen on the Taj Mahal. I went in knowing I wouldn't be tempted to buy anything, because I didn't have my wallet with me. They did a great job of explaining that I could write down my bank account and pay with an international wire transfer.

So I did. I was so enthralled with the quality and beauty of one marble table, octagon shaped and roughly 12 to 14 inches across, that I bought it. I signed my name in pencil on the back and told them that if I didn't get this exact piece, I would be sending it back. That was kind of a joke at the time, because shipping a marble table back to India in 1984 would have cost me a lot of money.

But it did arrive. I turned it over and there was my signature on the back. I still have that table today.

In Japan I was amazed at how automated everything was, and again, this was 1984. I bought a train ticket, got on the train and went from Kobe down to Hiroshima without really speaking to a person. It was all done electronically.

Hiroshima was a very emotional experience. I stood near the T-shaped Aioi Bridge, which was the aiming point for the atomic bomb, and I was probably 50 or 60 yards from the Atomic Bomb Dome. The dome sat almost directly below where the bomb exploded. It was one of the very few structures left standing near the center, because the blast came down from nearly straight above and the building did not take the full force pushing outward from the sides. I also recall seeing faint, hard-to-make-out shadows of people who had been standing there, burned into the stone by the blast.

But the Japanese are so friendly and kind and patient and honoring. It was a beautiful place and so efficient, because that is who they are. I just loved being in Japan. I was back in 1998 on the second voyage and once more passing through the airport, and I would definitely go back again.

Fourteen years later I was back on board, this time teaching photography. We sailed from Vancouver in September and finished in Miami in December. Here is the route for that voyage.

In Vietnam I was impressed by how kind and friendly the Vietnamese people were. One day I hired a driver, I think for $50, and just had him drive while I told him when to stop. We went north of Ho Chi Minh City on roads that wound around and went wherever they went.

We came upon a family that looked like rice harvesters. It was easily over 100 degrees and very humid. I was sweating and very hot, yet they were out harvesting rice dressed in what I believe were purple silk shirts. Very elegant. Not white T-shirts or old work clothes. It made a huge impression on me how regal and well dressed they were out in that heat.

I also visited the Cu Chi tunnels and was able to walk down into them. They were not designed for someone like me. I am 6'2", so there was a lot of bending down, mostly bending down in fact, and at times crawling through them.

The Vietnamese lived in these tunnels literally for years during the Vietnam War. After being down there, I fully understood why they were so determined. They would live in these tunnels and fight in a way we just couldn't defeat.

When the ship docked in Haifa, it was actually my second time in Israel. I love Israel very much. Because I had been there before, I explored Jerusalem pretty much on my own without a guide. It was great to see the Western Wall and the city of Jerusalem again, and then I took a bus back to Haifa, I believe.

I have been to Israel four times in all, and it is one of the best places I have ever been to explore the most important places of the Bible, where Jesus was and where he spoke. The most compelling place for me is the house of Caiaphas, the high priest. Down in the basement is a cistern cut into the rock, where tradition holds that Jesus was held overnight before his trial the next day and his crucifixion. We all stood in that cistern and contemplated what Jesus felt in being abandoned and ridiculed and eventually killed.

All in all, my experiences with Semester at Sea were over the top. I went once as a 21-year-old student and once as a 36-year-old instructor, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Traveling the world that way showed me how big God's creation really is, and how much good there is in people everywhere. The patience of the people in Japan. A family harvesting rice in their finest clothes in Vietnam. An artisan in Agra who trusted a young American to wire the money for a marble table. Those are the things I remember most.

If you have places you still want to see, I shared mine in My Top 10 Bucket-List Travel Destinations. And if you have travel stories of your own, a blog is a wonderful place to keep them. I write mine by simply talking them out with AI, and I show people how at chaseswift.com/voice.

Feel free to leave a comment below and tell me where you have traveled. I very much appreciate you reading, and I wish the best for you and your entire family!

Chase Swift

Video by Deirdre Chapman, "My Experience - Semester at Sea Spring 2018 Voyage," used via YouTube embed. Destination photos courtesy of Unsplash, with each photographer credited under their image. Featured photo by Alien eyes on Unsplash.