I’m still undecided whether or not to blog during this holiday or not, so you may be reading this after I return depending on what I choose to do. I’m going to write the blog post anyway and upload it when I get chance… We started off in Southampton where I discovered a new energy drink. SoBe Pure Rush Energy Drink was found at WH Smith in Southampton Airport Terminal. Before I continue, yes, I am on holiday therefore I will be discussing the new energy drinks I find. As usual should you wish for a more in depth commentary of our holiday then you should read Robbins’ Rambings instead. Right, back to plot. Pure Rush is not a Red Bull clone. It tastes like pineapple, orange and fruit stuff so fits the ‘Tropical Twist’ flavour descriptor nicely.
There’s also a gadget angle to this post too because now we’re on board the Azura we discovered the gym. Located at the front of the ship with running and cycling machines facing out over the ocean it’s quite an experience using them. I opted to use a TechnoGym running machine. An awesome bit of kit – I’ll try and get a photo for my next post. It has the usual speed and incline controls, heart rate monitor and emergency stop, but what sets this apart from the rest is the built in touch screen computer complete with an iPod dock, headphone socket and access to the ship’s TV feed. I ran my 5k whilst watching the ship information plotting our progress across the Bay of Biscay. I could have chosen the feed from the camera mounted at the front of the ship, but as I was already looking at that view out of the window in front of me I saw little point. Using a running machine on a ship is strange when taking the swell in to consideration with the occasional momentary shifts in gravity making you feel slightly off balance. Similar problem if you close your eyes in the shower on board too – it’s a bit like being slightly drunk. The gym also has some VR bikes – exercise bikes connected to a computer with a simulated 3D cycling environment. You can go mountain biking without moving. I hope to try them out tomorrow and will let you know what they are like.
The ship’s TV system is a nifty bit of kit too. Our room has two 22” flat screen, each one connected up with an Ethernet cable providing a (heavily compressed) digitised stream from satellite as well as a number of on-demand programs, ship information pages and your account breakdown.
So far on board we’ve managed to successfully dump the kids in the kids club allowing us to try our luck at the music quiz. With it being Joseph’s birthday today (the day I type this which is not necessarily the day I’ll publish it!) they sang him happy birthday and I’m assured he’ll be given a cake later. His birthday present off us is certainly a hit. It’s the Leapfrog LeapTop, effectively a toy laptop which can be customised with Joseph’s name and some pretend emails and tunes. You have to hope that the name you require is in the list of available names within the software but it seems pretty comprehensive. It loudly states ‘ Hello … Joseph’ when switched on.
UPDATE: I’ve just paid for a few minutes on the satellite internet connection so I will be posting when I can until that runs out.
Sadly on that second point I was not very successful. They stocked the usual Red Bull in all locations, as well as the common Monster flavours. What I did managed to pick up was another can of Dark Dog (as found in France last year) and a can of Euro Shopper Energy Drink from the supermarket. Not very inspirational so I took a photo of them balanced on the railing of our cabin balcony with a faint outline of mainland Greece (or Albania – the actual country associated with that particular bit of land is in dispute with The Wife) in the background.
