Chapter 1

"A day with friends"

It’s Christmas Eve. Nick and Anne are excited because John and Catherine, their classmates and friends, are staying at their house tonight. After having eaten their favourite food, having played a lot of board games and having watched their favourite movie, they are getting ready to sleep.

-Hey, guys, listen! John whispered, wouldn’t you want to be on our ship now? I mean, how cool would it be if we celebrated Christmas on board?

-Come on, now! Not our ship! We’re not captains, Anne answered.

-Yes, but we have adopted it. So, it’s our ship too! Catherine stepped in.

-Shhhh! Nick said. They will hear us talking. We were supposed to be sleeping already.

The children covered themselves with their blankets and after some time with muffled laughter and whispering, they fell asleep. 

Chapter 2

"Morning Awakening"

John was the first to wake up and the moment he opened his eyes, he jumped up and bumped against the ceiling. How did he end up on the top of a bunk bed? What room was this? 

He leaned over the bottom bunk and saw Nick sound asleep. He got down beside him and then he saw it: A porthole! And the sea outside! He shook Nick hard.

-Wake up, wake up!

-But what are you shouting about first thing in the morning? Nick yawned.

-We're in the cabin of a ship! Look outside!

-What? Ahhh!!!! How did we get here?

The boys were looking at the sea and their cabin when there was a knock on the door. They looked at each other and then John went hesitantly to open it. The girls were standing outside and when they saw them, they said in one voice:

-We're so glad we found you!

-Do you have any idea what's going on? asked Nick.

-No. We also woke up in a cabin like this one, said Catherine.

-I have an idea but it's a bit crazy, said Anne.

-Considering where we are now, let's listen to it, the others agreed.

-I think we are...in Tharros, Anna sputtered.

Chapter 3

"Exploration"

The children came out of the cabin and started walking through the corridors of the ship looking for the captain. The captain was so analytical, kind and gentle in his letters that they felt as if they knew him. After a few minutes they found themselves outside the officers' dining room. 3 men and 1 woman were sitting at a table in their formal uniforms, chatting while eating a delicious breakfast. They were speaking English but just as they were about to clink their glasses, the greeting "Merry Christmas" was heard in Greek. 

-We are definitely in Tharros, look! It's the Captain and the Chief Officer, Mr. Angelos and Mr. Manolis.

-Let's go talk to them, maybe they can explain what's going on.

The children went in and said "Good morning, Merry Christmas" but no one turned to look at them, nor did they answer them. John went over to the captain's side and greeted him but again, it was as if they were invisible. 

-Are we ready to disembark in Barcelona? said the first engineer.

-Yes, said the Captain. Bogdan, Vladimir, Daniel and Eric will stay on board and Jordan will help our cook, Danilo, prepare our Christmas dinner.

The children stood still and looked at each other.

-Well, said John, Christmas in Barcelona. Not bad.

Chapter 4

 "Christmas in Barcelona"

"Dear parents

We live a fantastic adventure. We are in Tharros and yesterday we disembarked in Barcelona. Do you believe it? It's one of the most beautiful cities we have ever seen. We walked La Rampla, which is a huge street full of shops, museums, little restaurants called tapas bars and it reaches the sea. We ate a delicious seafood paella and then we continued our walk at Guell Park, designed by the famous architect Antoni Gaudi, whose buildings we saw everywhere in the city and were amazing. Before we returned to the ship for the Christmas dinner, we walked past the Sagrada Familia and we remained speechless. They've been building it for 153 years (!!!) but they believe it will be finished next year. I wish we could go inside but we had ran out of time. Our Captain and Natalia have been to Barcelona many times before, so they were our guides. " 

When we returned to the ship, the crew members who had stayed on board, had prepared many things. Danilo, the cook, had prepared roast turkey, salads, rice, potatoes and the rest had prepared a barbeque with delicious meat and vegetables. We ate all together and then we celebrated with some Christmas traditions from the countries of origin of the crew. Those from Phillipines had decorated the dining room with "parols", a colourful, star shaped Christmas ornament made from bamboo and cellophane. At the dinner table, we had left an empty seat because this way in Croatia people honor those who have passed away. It was very touching to see, I was thinking of grandpa and I almost cried. The Romanians sang their traditional carols and the four of us sang the carols from Ikaria island. We slept like logs at night and in the morning we woke up and our ship had sailed for the next port of her course, the port of Settubal, Portugal. I will write again soon. Hugs and kisses! Anne"