We have about one month left to cruise around the world. For the most part, this journey has amazed us. We have docked in some breathtakingly beautiful ports and we’ve seen untold eye-popping gorgeous landscapes.

But, we’ve also experienced our share of “ooh, gross” ports. Sometimes I think I’ve seen enough container ships to last a lifetime. I shouldn’t be surprised. Apparently, about 60,000 container ships currently reside throughout the world, with 5,000 or so of them loaded and roaming the seas at any one time. Considering each ship can carry up to 12,000 containers, it’s only logical that we have seen a lot of ships with their containers!

We’ve also seen floating garbage barges in Thailand. We’ve spent the day docked next to a tuna processing facility in the Seychelles where they process up to two million cans of tuna PER DAY. It smelled so bad, our ship had to cancel the “dine under the stars” event for that evening. Believe me when I tell you that a tuna processing plant stinks.

It might seem strange to experience this much unpleasantness during a World Cruise. I mean, we are paying a lot of money for this fancy (and long!) vacation. It reminds me of the time we stopped in Sint Maarten during a Caribbean cruise shortly after a major hurricane had hit the island. As we walked along the roadside toward the beach, we marveled at the sailboats piled up like kindling on the shore. The devastation was enormous. Taking a rest, we sat on a park bench. I struck up a conversation with a woman who was also sitting on the bench. She was very upset. I thought she was empathizing with the residents who lost so much during the storm. But, no. She was upset because, in her words, she “didn’t come on vacation to see this mess.”

So, here is my take away on all of this. We live in a hot mess of a world. Therefore, it only makes sense that when going on a World Cruise, one should be prepared to see the world. The whole shebang of the world. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Yes, we have explored beautiful islands. We’ve watched spinner dolphins leaping near our ship. We’ve zip lined through a rain forest. We’ve walked next to Komodo dragons. We’ve been up close and personal with volcanoes in the Canaries. We’ve seen untold tear-worthy sunsets.

But we’ve also seen piles of gunk, a gazillion containers (the mode of transportation for over 80% of the world’s goods), poverty in the extreme, and more stinky fish being processed than I ever need to see again. That’s the world. And, here’s the thing. I’m glad to see a snippet of it all.

Henry David Thoreau said, “The world is but a canvas to our imagination.” Thanks to this World Cruise, I can at least begin to paint a more realistic landscape of our planet.