Bahamas
There’s nothing starting a new year with a cruise, so here we are in the Caribbean again, struggling by. We are cruising with some friends of Dianna's, Randy and Susie who run a ranch/ wedding business out near St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up, Randy (56) was best friends with Dianna’s…
Caribbean Cruise
Only two weeks late...A day after moving in to our new house in Florida we were due to go on a Caribbean cruise. Terrible timing however I didn’t complain for very long. After a four hour drive we boarded the Celebrity Equinox in Fort Lauderdale and the ship was almost…
Baltic Blog part 2
Gdynia, Poland was our first day of the cruise without something organised so we took advantage of our new found freedom and didn’t leave the ship until almost 11am. All aboard was 2:30 so this was going to be a whirlwind stop. Have you ever been to Poland, someone may…
Baltic Blog part 1
After arriving at Gatwick and printing out our boarding passes and luggage tags and then affixing the tags to our bags and peeling off the receipts, we were asked to load our bags on the conveyor belt and scan them. Between us we were allowed 4 bags of 20kg each…
Bruges, Belgium
After Oslo we had another sea day before arriving in Bruges and it was a wonderfully sunny day in the North Sea. A bit parky though. The astonishing moment of the day came at breakfast when bananas made their first appearance on this cruise. Astonishing because Norway is not known…
Hamburg, Germany
We set off on Saturday for our chaps cruise, minus Jim. Simon (Evans) and I arrived in good time at Southampton about ten minutes before Simon (Bull). The taxis seemed reluctant to go anywhere near the cruise terminal because of traffic so we decided to walk the 0.7 miles with…
Ga, Tn, Al, NYC
After our mammoth road trip, Dianna came out of semi-retirement and went back to work on a three day trip meaning I was free to explore a little more. I drove north of Atlanta and based myself in Alpharetta, one of the more salubrious neighbourhoods where the lawns are manicured…
Oslo, Norway
Our second stop was in Norway’s capital city, Oslo, and we were all taken by the cleanliness, the laid back feel and the sheer number of electric vehicles. Oslo was founded in 1040 and has a population of around 650,000. The day started with a stroll to Oslo Cathedral which…
25 Day Road Trip
Our 25 day road trip has now come to an end after covering around 2,800 miles, visiting 12 states and two countries. The journey started in Georgia and our first stop was at Lake Oconee east of Atlanta. I’d bought a road bike so we were able to go on…
Windstar Caribbean Cruise
Dianna and I flew from Atlanta to Saint Maarten a day early and stayed at the overpriced Simpson Bay Beach Hotel. The following day we didn’t have to be on the ship until 4pm and they were kicking us out at 10am so after dumping the bags at the port…
Atlanta & Hilton Head
The romantic reunion at the airport didn’t quite work out as I’d planned. The flight came in early and with global entry and priority bag evacuation I was through before the scheduled arrival time and Dianna was nowhere to be seen. I waited outside for fifteen minutes and she picked…
Thailand with Georgia
I know, I know. I should have taken Georgia to a nicer part of Thailand than Pattaya but hey, it was her first time so it’s best she sees the seediest part first. The advantage of Pattaya is that it's only a 90 minute taxi ride away from the airport…
Auckland, NZ
Auckland has to be one of the most convenient places to dock with the port right in the heart of the city. I’d been there in 2016 so I was able to contain my excitement. I ventured out alone and traipsed round the city for a while before finding Albert…
Tauranga, NZ
Our penultimate stop was in Tauranga on the northern coast of the North Island which is New Zealand’s busiest port and sixth largest city. It was very pretty indeed with some very expensive coastal houses. Cruise ships have become a welcome boost to the economy with 94 ships arriving in…
Wellington & Napier
Wellington is on the North Island and has been the capital of New Zealand since 1865 when it replaced Auckland. It’s the second most populous city with 420,000 people and officially the windiest city in the world. It experiences 173 days of wind above 37 miles per hour which makes…
Christchurch & Picton
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island with a rather minuscule 380,000 people. It was another magnificent sail in with cloudless skies and stunning scenery. The city is still recovering from a 6.2 magnitude earthquake which struck in February 2011. 185 people were killed and 1500 buildings were…
Dunedin, New Zealand
Our first stop of this cruise was at Port Chalmers which serves the city of Dunedin on the South Island. Dating back to 1848 when a Scottish settlement was established, its nicknames are the Edinburgh of the South or “Dunners”, which I can only assume was first coined by a…
Cruising to New Zealand
We left Sydney on Wednesday evening and had a breezy passage during our two days in the Tasman Sea before reaching New Zealand. I hope it's better on the return as nobody wants a breezy back passage. This is my first cruise where I’m no longer single but I went…