He always enjoyed relating to patients, and he now uses those same communication skills when interacting with people around the world.
He tells the story of a Cuban cab driver who was driving the Herzigs to a restaurant in a vintage 1954 Ford Fairlane with a stick shift. “I turned to the driver and said, ‘Ya know, the very first car I drove was just like this,’” Dr. Herzig recalls. “The driver looked at me and said, ‘You must be really old.’”
The Herzigs started their journey in December in Miami. They sailed to Cuba, Costa Rica, Panama, the Panama Canal, Guatemala and Mexico before stopping in Los Angeles to pick up additional passengers. Since then, they have traveled throughout the South Pacific, touring beautiful, lush islands, including Nuku Hiva, Fiji and Tonga. The Viking ship carrying 930 passengers and 466 crew members then sailed to New Zealand and Australia. In the months ahead, the ship will head toward Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. The couple will also spend six days on land in India, before sailing to other countries off the Arabian Peninsula and Mediterranean Sea. Their journey ends in London.
Meanwhile, Dr. Herzig says he’s learning many interesting facts about the world around him. He found it surprising that the literacy rates in Cuba, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica, which fall between 97 and 99%, are higher than in the U.S., where 37 million adults can’t read above a fifth grade level, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
So far, the Herzigs have felt welcomed everywhere they go. He says his knowledge of geology and geography has expanded enormously. He finds the cultural disparities most interesting. For example, he says, the Hispanic culture in Central American countries is very different than the South Pacific culture, which is unlike the New Zealand culture, due to its British roots.
“You don’t know what it’s going to be like when you visit a country, whether they’re going to accept you just because you’re walking around with a few dollars in your pocket or if they’re truly friendly,” says Dr. Herzig.
He says people living on South Pacific islands are very much in tune with ecology, specifically the rising ocean levels. On the island of Tonga, for example, he says homes built on low-lying areas are now being flooded during high tide, so the government is relocating families to higher ground.
Dream Come True
Back on board the boat, he says a centuries-old ceremony was held for passengers crossing the equator for the first time to appease the sea gods. They had to kiss a (fake) fish, jump into the ocean with their clothes on (actually, it was a swimming pool) and drink a shot of aquavit, a potent Norwegian liquor. Even the crew joined in, he says, since this was the ship’s maiden voyage across the equator.
