After a double mastectomy, this inspiring TikToker embarked on a 9-month world cruise
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The world's longest cruise, as some have called it, set sail just a little over a week ago.
With 650 guests on board, Royal Caribbean's Ultimate World Cruise departed from Miami on Dec. 10. The 274-day itinerary was scheduled to stop in more than 60 countries, including Antarctica, China, Oman, Spain, Mexico and French Polynesia.
One passenger, Angie Linderman, has been chronicling her journey on the world cruise on TikTok as @angielinderman – and viewers are loving it. Since she boarded the Serenade of the Seas, her followers climbed from 100 to more than 103,000 as of Tuesday afternoon.
This cruise has "felt like the light at the end of the tunnel” for the Oregon-based social media manager.
This past year has been a whirlwind for Linderman, who had a preventative double mastectomy, including reconstruction surgery. In 2021, she learned she inherited the BRCA2 gene mutation, which put her at a higher risk of developing breast, ovarian and skin cancer.
Being proactive in taking all the preventative measures possible was also spurred by her mother's death the same year as her diagnosis.
Linderman’s mother died from breast cancer at age 65 in August 2021. Her father died at 65 from prostate cancer in 2013.
Her genetic predisposition made her aware that for some people, "someday may never happen, (so) I should do all the things I want to do now," Linderman said.
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Deciding to carpe diem
It struck Linderman how her parents died around the age people usually retire and finally take the time to cross items off their bucket lists.
Now in her mid-30s, there was no time like the present to see the world. "I’ve always really loved to travel and always wanted that to be how I spend my time and money," she said.
Enter the world cruise.
At first, she joked about it with her brother and sister-in-law, but it became a reality in August 2022 when she contacted a travel agent to finalize the booking.
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When she had her double mastectomy, Linderman said, she didn't feel like herself, and the trip became something to look forward to, like celebrating the new year in Rio de Janeiro. "I'm going to buy the craziest, most disco ball-y kind of dress to celebrate," she promised herself at the time.
"It was nice to have those moments when I was recovering and not myself to know this trip was happening and to be looking forward to all those experiences."
Although she has traveled extensively and lived abroad, Linderman went on her first cruise after booking the world cruise and surprisingly enjoyed herself.
"I always thought cruising for retirees or people with kids because of the many activities onboard," she said, but she liked how she could see different countries without having to pack her bags and move to a new hostel each day.
"It's nuts to see the itinerary," she said. "I’m so excited. There are places I maybe wouldn’t have to traveled to as a female solo traveler." To her, the cruise option makes visiting these places "more doable" and removes the hassle of figuring out logistics.
Getting ready to live on a ship for nine months
"This is more of a marathon than a sprint," Linderman said of the nine months she's spending in a cabin. On Tuesday afternoon, the ship is sailing from Bonaire to Barbados.
Because Linderman's brother and his family of five are on board as well, she calls herself "a hybrid solo traveler." But one of the reasons she chose such a long cruise was to find community.
"You'll make friends, you'll make these connections with people as opposed to a seven-day or 10-day cruise where you just smile at people." She already has met several fellow solo travelers and attends a women's knitting group that meets every sea day, and several parties.
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Thankfully, living in a small cabin is familiar to Linderman. About a decade ago, she lived in West Africa with Mercy Ships, a nonprofit that offers free medical care from a hospital ship. Although she lived on the ship, it was always docked. Regardless, it gave her a sense of what it could be like on a ship 24/7.
Still, Linderman doesn't want to burn out on such a long trip and still anticipates those "low" days that happen in regular life on land.
"It's balancing normal life things when you’re in a cool spot and trying to balance how to make the most time when you’re in a new place," Linderman said. She said she wouldn't force herself to be the first person to disembark and the last to return to the ship.
She's focused on building "good habits and good routines," including going to the gym in the morning and working on sea days. Right before Thanksgiving, she gave notice to her job to reduce her hours and work remotely.
"I don't view this as a 9-month vacation. This is my life."
Sharing her journey
Linderman started posting TikToks in February, sharing her BRCA2 journey as "a way to process" and encouraging others to do genetic testing. Not knowing many others who also had the genetic mutation, she also posted for others going through something similar to have someone to relate to.
On Nov. 7, she posted her first cruise-related TikTok sailing around the Northeast, and from there, her videos took off. Her views went from several thousand to more than 4.5 million.
"It is mind-blowing," she said.
Though she knew people would be interested in a trip as intriguing as a 274-day-long world cruise, Linderman "never anticipated this level of interest."
She said she has gotten a plethora of responses from "women who are BRCA-positive women" and "people who have lost people to cancer as well."
"We don't wait for things. We do them now ... we do all the things we want to enjoy now."
Has a life event inspired you to travel? How so?
Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: This inspiring TikToker shares her journey on a 9-month world cruise