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New England & Canada cruise

Only a month late! We joined the ship a day late in Portland, Maine as opposed to Boston. There were 10 others boarding in Portland so we didn’t feel too unusual. Once onboard the Holland America Zaandam, we had the opportunity to look around Portland again - one of Dianna’s…

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Philadelphia

Other than my tragic airport experience at the end of June, I had never been to Philly. Dianna had a double layover which made it worth me tagging along, so I did. It was the first time I’d been on a flight that Dianna was working and it goes without…

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Alaska Cruise pt 3

Whoops! Only six weeks late. I forgot to mention that Alaska’s capital, Juneau is the only state capital that cannot be accessed by road. Rumour has it that there is one flight per week from a Canadian city which gives Juneau International Airport the international bit. The next stop was…

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Alaska Cruise pt 2

The next stop was the Alaskan town of Sitka which we had visited the week before. It hadn’t become any more interesting in the interim. I went to shore for a couple of hours and decided to go into one of the local bars. Ernie‘s Bar is one of the…

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Alaska Cruise pt 1

I’m now on the final stretch of this epic 46 day cruise. We are now fully booked with 2000 passengers. After leaving Vancouver we had a sea day heading up the coast with Vancouver island on the port side and British Columbia on the starboard side. We will be taking…

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Tokyo- Vancouver Cruise pt 2

After a week at sea we arrived in Seward, Alaska - my first time in this state. It was a little cloudy but the scenery was magnificent. We were surrounded on three sides by snowcapped mountains. I’d been up since 5 am for the sunrise and sail in - didn’t…

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Tokyo – Vancouver Cruise pt 1

This is the third or four segments on this 46 day cruise. After leaving Tokyo Bay, we had a sea day heading north to Aomori. I hadn’t seen much of Georgia on the last segment because she was finishing her university work whenever she had any free time. This segment…

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Tokyo – South Korea Cruise pt 2

After South Korea we had three more stops in Japan before arriving back in Yokohama. First up was Nagasaki. The sail in to Nagasaki was highly scenic and as the sun was shining everything looked better. I abandoned ship and hopped in a taxi heading toward the Atomic Bomb Museum.…

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Tokyo – South Korea Cruise pt 1

It was change-over day on Monday with a number of people getting off a new persons just getting on. I’d booked it as a separate cruise for fiscal reasons and was lucky enough to have the same cabin, so I didn’t have to pack. We docked in Yokohama which is…

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Tokyo-Taiwan Cruise

After boarding the Cunard Queen Elizabeth I met with Georgia in the rather splendid, Garden Lounge. It was fabulous to see her. Being a paying passenger, she’s allowed to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with me, if shifts allow. Georgia works in a team of four and there are only…

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Tokyo

This was my first flight on Japan’s flagship carrier Japan Airlines (JAL), and it was rather pleasant indeed. I was seated in 1K for a 14 hour flight to Tokyo - the longest flight I’ve ever taken. Anyway, I needed a little luxury, and anybody who thinks I was being…

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Las Vegas & Scottsdale

March/April Better late than never with this blog. Spending four nights in Vegas at the Golden Nugget was the prelude to a family holiday in Scottsdale, Arizona. There were three highlights of Vegas. Firstly the Mob Museum just a short walk from my hotel. It chronicled the Mafia in the…

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Cyprus & Rhodes

Wednesday 1st - Cyprus Another splendid day weather-wise. Not a cloud in the sky, reaching a high of 76°. We had travelled 170 miles from Israel to Limassol in Cyprus. I had developed a cold in the last few days and wasn’t sure what I was going to do ,…

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The Red Sea to the Dead Sea

Monday 27th - Ashdod, Israel Only the second ship tour I’d booked on, I was heading for the Dead Sea and Masada. Luckily my poker buddies were on the same tour. It’s nice to know a few people on the bus, even if I do my own thing for the…

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Jordan & Egypt

On Wednesday we reached the Jordanian city of Aqaba at the northern end of the gulf of Aqaba. From the ship we could see across the gulf to Eilat in Israel and then Egypt a little further south. Israel only has a few miles of coastline on the gulf. I…

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Dubai to Oman

Monday 13th I had cruised overnight from Dubai to Abu Dhabi with MSC, and now I was getting a taxi back to Dubai to board a Norwegian (NCL) ship. It’s only 90 minutes away but my hapless driver made it more like two hours by getting lost. The Norwegian Jade…

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Four Sea Days

We now had four sea days heading south along the coast of Yemen before making a sharp right at the Horn of Africa (Somalia). Then heading northwest past Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Sudan and Egypt towards Jordan. This is the high risk areas mentioned by the captain. Yemen coastline The…

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Dubai

Wow! My only previous trip to Dubai was 20 years ago when Katy and I stopped on the way back from the Maldives. She didn’t like it much because they treated women as second-class citizens. You can imagine how that went. With two full days in Dubai and perfect weather,…

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Oh man!

Thursday 9th This was my first trip to Oman and we arrived at Port Qaboos in the capital, Muscat, nice and early. My unplanned late night in the casino meant that I missed the sail in. Completely unplanned you understand. It was a beautiful sunny day and the white buildings…

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Abu Dhabi Cruise

Well, the airport experience was rather acceptable although Heathrow’s terminal 4 did feel like I was in a different country. A lot of international flights not involving “caucasians” is all I can say. This was my first flight on Etihad, the airline of Abu Dhabi and I was looking forward…

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