Free Hotel Suprise

“If it was up to me, I would want to live that moment over and over again”

Chapter I: Adventure time starts.

Masuria is something special for a Polish sailor. Many lakes in the area, connected to each other or with the help of a water sluice. Unfortunately, money is a need for hygiene and docking a boat in a port, but my friends and I found a way to avoid that.

Small waves made by sailing and motorboats, were hitting our broadside, causing tiny banks to our yacht. It was calming. My whole crew. made up of my long-time friends and a cox, whose name was Ania, was sleeping except for my friend, Simon and I. We were getting ready for a morning three-km run. At 6:50 both of us came through a companionway to the cockpit to exit the boat to land. Wearing sport sneakers, shorts, and a T-shirt, we left the boat and started heading towards the gate, where the trail was starting. During our walk, many yachts were docked and tied with a Cleat Hitch to the cleat on the quay. All the boats looked the same; they had a sixteen-meter tall mast and were thirty feet long, only the model was unlike. “Do you want music?” I asked. Simon nodded his head and said “Yes”. We turned on the speaker and ran through the trail, which was in the village we were at.

Once we came back, we smelled really bad. Looking at each other we decided; a shower is essential. There was one fault in our thought; both of us forgot to bring coins of five Zlotys. There we were, standing in front of the yacht trying to solve our problem, when our friend Franek was awake and figured out our problem “I can borrow you money if you want, I have a lot of these coins. But next time we are in town exchange your bills.” Relieved and happy, we quickly grabbed our towels and went to the shower. Meanwhile, on the boat people started waking up and getting ready. Living on a yacht isn’t easy. Each member has chores that aren’t optional. We divided into three groups; one that does kitchen work, one that cleans, and another which washes the dishes, and those groups changed daily. Simon, Victor, and I were in one group and had to complete them or the rest of the crew is going to be mad at us. That day it was our turn to cook. Unfortunately, in the bathroom, there was only one working shower. A day earlier, my friends and I were messing with each other; we were putting shampoo on each other’s hair through the wide hole in the top of the shower, screaming and playing music. Now I’m pretty sure the owners closed the other ones due to that. Luckily I was before Simon because he took a long while. Being in a hot, small room with no benches is painful, and although it was five minutes I could feel the inside of me boiling. 

When we finished, we rushed to the caboose (kitchen on a yacht). Before we reached it we saw everyone outside in the cockpit sitting and waiting. One moment since we went inside, Me, Simon, and Victor took out the ingredients from a small locker. We started making french toast. Once again three people inside with a pan on a gas burner in ninety-degree weather is not a good combination. All three of us were boiling inside it was almost like the heat was eating all of us from the inside. At 8:00 we were supposed to leave, unfortunately, our squad was never punctual. At that time, everybody around was shouting ”Prepare for mooring! Slack away the stern line! Let go the stern line!” I felt like we were at a military base. 

Chapter II: Calm sea

Finished and almost ready to swim away we had one more task to do, well not us but a group in our crew. The girls’ named Maria and Malina (Raspberry, yes that’s a name) had to wash the dishes. The boys and I were preparing all the lines for us to take off and were waiting for the girls. After a while, Franek shouted “Girls are here!”, suddenly everyone came outside after a long time and we sailed away.

The feeling I get when I’m on the water is unspeakable, hard to describe. Having a light breeze on my face, small banks tilting the yacht right and left, and music… Ohhhh… the music gives total relaxation. Our team was coordinated, fun, and everything positive and joyful. Basically most of the time we were joking around but when it comes to having responsibilities we are dependable. Sitting on the head of the boat, girls looked like Top-models. Their hair was waving towards the steering wheel, with bright faces expressing calmness and relaxation. “Prepare to set the jib/main” Ania shouted. Immediately all the distractions became invisible and the girls came back to the back of the ship. All of us had one aim: get ready for the sails to go up. Simon and Jacob (other Jacob) got their gloves, or they actually shared one pair, because Jacob took one, so they took one each. And waited for the command from the cox. “Set the jib on the right side.” Simon quickly pulled the line until he couldn’t anymore; immediately one sail was ready. “Set the main!” Jacob did the same thing; We are swimming with the sails. 

A couple of hours later, it got even warmer. The boys took off their shirts and jumped in the water with a circular-shaped object connected with two knots to the main boat.

Chapter III: Hotel

A couple of hours later we reached our destination. A big quay appeared in front of us. One second we were waiting for the girls, another we almost docked, as if we teleported. An empty port, easy to find a place except our place was among the rest of the group, my crew was swimming with. “Over here” a cox of another crew shouted. At once, with the sails down, Ania turned the engine to the right. After a while of shouting, we docked, had dinner, and talked. Three of us, out of eight, again Simon, Victor, and I wanted to shower and use the bathroom, but in this quay, it was really expensive, compared to all the others we have been at. One thing came to our attention. The biggest hotel in Poland, Hotel Gołębiewski. My group became curious about it and we started wondering if we could go in, and so we did. Right after the quay, there was a park, which was connecting to the entrance of the hotel. It was full of life, the tall trees, birds chirping, and squirrels running around. After walking through a happy park, we entered the hotel, and right as we entered we saw a bar, an entrance to the aquapark, and reception. Although at first for a walk, we then became tourists, walking around the red carpet in each hallway, which had a thousand doors. It was easy to get lost but luckily for us, we didn’t. “Why don’t we go to the roof?” Simon asked. Victor and I said “why not?” and went to a cube elevator that was supposed to go to the roof, but we were disappointed. The sixth, the final floor wasn’t going to the roof but after we exited the elevator there were stairs headed even more up. One moment after trying to go up, a security guard bothered us and asked us whether we were guests or not. ”umm… We are waiting for our parents to check-in, and we decided to go check out the hotel” This was an obvious lie but we hoped he believed it. Him trying to be nice said, “Go down if you aren’t guests here.” And so we did. But when exiting the hotel we noticed bathrooms and decided to go in there. Without actually trying to do anything, we just had a need. The moment we came into a mirror-wall room with a ceramic floor, we were stunned by the elegance and cleanness. In the bathroom, we saw showers and given our position and free showers we already knew what to do. “Quickly go back to the boat get our towels and come back, don’t tell anyone,” I said to Simon. 

After he came back, we did our routines for free and did not say anything to anyone but each other. Even though what we did was sneaky and greedy, I think it was a fun experience. And we kept our secret until the end of the camp where together with other crew full of girls sat and flexed about it then. If it was up to me, I would want to live that moment over and over again.