How I spent my Summer Vacation (or the Summer of Much Work, Some Fun and Really Good News)

This time tomorrow we’re on our way!

Every year (Every.Single.Year!) when we return home in late winter, it feels like we have limitless time to accomplish all the things that we want to before we leave again in the fall. And we immediately get busy and we stay busy and we do get a lot done.  Then, every year (Every.Single.Year!), we eventually accept that some things will just have to wait until we return home again. But, as I’m typing this, I’m looking around at the very obvious progress we made in the past eight months, and I have to admit that this was a pretty productive year. 

In fact, we were so productive that I was feeling a tad bit Cinderella-ish by July 4th.  Of course, part of me understood that this was the price to be paid for our four month vacation, but, darn it, everyone was going somewhere fun and I...wasn’t. Receiving texts from Iceland and summer cruises on the Caribbean Princess, perusing all the travel blogs I follow and reading every Live From on Cruise Critic to get my fix, it was my turn to travel vicariously through others. Then just about the time I was feeling particularly put upon, we packed the car and headed out for a road trip (FOUR days this year!) that provided just the attitude adjustment I needed. I love that mid summer getaway! 

And there were a few other fun times. I spent a week with my mom in August, and again we laughed at YouTube videos while we waited for doctors, but, thankfully, this year’s appointments were just normal check ups. I had another extended stay with my guys (I was spared the math homework this time and instead assisted with essays) and watched them compete in sports camp basketball games and football scrimmages throughout the summer. And then there were the countless sunsets G and I watched from the deck, which turn every day into something special. In the end, it was just another normal summer for me, but it was memorable for what it didn’t include: more medical appointments every week than there are fingers on one hand. 

Yes, I did get good news in March that the Disease that No one Wants that had hung like a dark cloud over last year’s Summer of No Fun was no where to be found. One down, four to go. In retrospect, the very best thing we did last year was get the heck out of town as soon as my treatment was complete. I stopped being a patient, and returned to being...just me, and largely forgot about everything health related until March. Once I received the news this year, I emitted a sigh of relief heard round the world, shed a few tears of gratitude and set my sights firmly on Season 9. 

When it came to trip planning, one of the first things I needed to get a handle on was visas, and I quickly learned they fall into one of four categories: 1) not required (Singapore, etc ); 2) required, but granted upon arrival for free or a small fee (Indonesia); 3) required, but the application could be completed and submitted online and the visa itself was either a piece of paper we printed at home (India) or an actual passport page that was Fed Ex’d to us (Vietnam); or 4) required, and we had to send our passport and completed application in to a consulate or embassy (China).

Naturally, the visa we acquired first was the one we will not be using (India) ;-), but I next turned my attention to Vietnam. The Princess website says that it can be granted upon arrival at a charge of $56, but that caused some confusion regarding how long that visa was valid; we were re-entering Vietnam again a week or two later. Calling Princess yielded two different answers (shock!), and, in the end, we decided to just get a multiple entry one month visa ahead of time at a cost of (I believe) $135pp.  We learned our lesson in Nice two years ago; plans change all the time, and it's nice to have some flexibility if they do.  A few days later, FedEx delivered our visas; they are the same size as two passport pages, have our photos on them and will fit inside our passports.

The China visa was the toughest, and most expensive one to get ($140 each plus processing fees), and, as with Vietnam, there was some question about whether we actually needed one. China offers a 144-hour exemption if travelers are exiting the country directly to another country in that time frame.  Since we had booked our original outbound flights through Tokyo, and would be flying there directly from Shanghai, I figured we were safe.  Then we changed our flights, which halved their cost (a good thing) but we were uncertain if they meant we needed a China visa (a bad thing).  Finally, our common sense kicked it; it's risky to go to China without a visa, regardless of length of stay.  We decided to go all in and get China visas good for unlimited multiple entries of not more than 60 days each stay for 10 years.  It's the sure way to encourage us to return.

I already had been granted a China visa for a trip in 2004.  It had obviously expired, but China still wanted to know its number and the date it was issued.  That required me find that expired passport, not an easy task, but (72 frantic hours later) it eventually turned up. I got the info I needed and we submitted our passports and applications that same day.  The China visas were delivered 8 days later, and visas were behind us.

As for planning excursions in the ports...with 40 ports, it's a nearly impossible task, at least with everything else that needed to be done around here, but progress was made. Even when plans aren't firmly in place, we have some idea of what we'd like to do and see.  I focused on Europe and Dubai, booked a couple of things through Princess (we're waitlisted for one of them), and spent less time on the Asia ports. I think we'll be taking Princess excursions for some of those; getting local currency to do things on our own might not be worth the effort.  I'm leaving home with several guide books on my iPad, and a starter set of GBPs, Euros and Dirhams (for the UAE), and the rest of our season will be more spontaneous. Are you shocked?  I didn’t think so. ;-)

After we had the big change in plans (around mid-August), it was immediately obvious that, with all the moving around we’ll be doing, we need to minimize our packing. I looked at each airline’s baggage allowance, and that of the National Express bus we’ll use to get from Heathrow to the Victoria Coach Station in London to find the pinch points, and they are a 44-pound limit on our large suitcases (National Express and Air China), and an 11-pound limit on our carry ons (Air China).  

Our usual carry ons weigh 6 pounds and 8 pounds empty; the 11 pound limit left us almost no room for any contents.  We’re leaving them behind and are instead taking small rolling backpacks we use when we fly Space A(vailable) on military aircraft where we’re limited to 12 pounds total. Mine just barely holds my medications, minimal jewelry, all my electronics and charging paraphernalia, paper confirmations and the few things I'll need in London. We actually had a dry run with our large suitcases in early September to see if this was even going to work and still accommodate G’s tuxedo for formal nights, and, amazingly, it will.  The biggest issue will be on the NCL cruise (no free laundry service and no passenger laundry), but I think we’ll survive. The cooler weather will certainly help, and we'll buy detergent in London to do periodic hand laundry.

Because people always ask, this is what's in my suitcase:

•         Two pairs of slacks (plus I’m wearing one)
•         Two long-sleeved T-shirts (plus I’m wearing one)
•         One maxi travel skirt that can be balled up in a backpack for mosques and temples
•         Four tops for dinners
•         Two silk jackets for formal nights
•         Three pairs of shorts (all quick dry)
•         Three short-sleeved T-shirts (all quick dry)
•         Two neck scarves (after all, it’s Europe!)
•         One hijab that can be balled up in a backpack for mosques and temples
•         My Goretex jacket (I’m wearing a fleece and travel vest)
•         Headband, wool hat and gloves (we remember Europe from two years ago)
•         Two pairs of sandals (plus I’m wearing sneakers)
•         A number of unmentionables I won’t mention
•         Two small purses I use on board 
•         My Tilley hat
•         Two swimsuits (one will be eaten by the hot tubs and will never see Hawaii)
•         Rash guard for sun protection
•         Umbrella
•         Walking stick
•         Travel Kite

I closed the suitcase and weighed it...35 pounds, leaving me 9 pounds for toiletries (my weakness). And then, in a separate lightweight bag, I started gathering those, in order of most importance, weighing as I went along. The ‘picking and choosing’ part of that was tough -I want to take everything I use at home, which is impossible- but, after adding the chosen items to my suitcase, it weighs in at 42 pounds and my backpack at 11 pounds.  Do you believe in miracles?

The boys were on fall break last week, and we squeezed in two meals out and some driving practice in addition to their sporting events. That’s right, I said driving. They turned 15 last month, and, armed with their learners permits, are looking to get as much time behind the wheel as possible. So it was ‘Driving Miss NeeNee’ as we practiced left turns, lane alignments, parking in a single spot and navigating neighborhood streets. I loved it (they said I was very chill). The years of afternoons at the pool and hours spent building with Legos are far behind us. Now it’s meals out and driving lessons and tying their ties for their first high school dance (because their dad was on a plane). Time marches on, but, oh boy, am I blessed to have them in my life. 

Not Sweet Tomatoes, this year, but a spicy Mexican lunch I felt the rest of the day. 

Yep, time marches on.  ;-)

G and I had promised each other that we would finish major projects around the house by the end of September, and we just made it, building a technology wall in the family room with floor and wall cabinets and finishing the installment of ten feet of countertop the last day of the month. Preparing the house for winter, and getting through our ‘last 2 weeks’, ‘last week’, ‘last 3 days’, ‘last day’ lists followed the usual (very) busy, sometimes frustrating pattern, and only the ‘last morning’ list remains to be completed. The suitcases are in the foyer and I’ve done a final quick clean of the house. One more sleep and we’ll be on our way. 

Why do I feel like a starter's pistol is about to be fired? ;-)

FAQs, round 3

Our approach to spending winters at sea has noticeably changed over the past few years, so I thought it might be time for another FAQ post. You can find the first two FAQ blog posts here and here. When we’re home I frequently receive emails from people who are curious about what it’s like to do extended travel, and this post will address their most common questions. First, though, I really can’t say any longer that we spend “winters at sea”. Lately, we spend autumns at sea, and part of our winters in Hawaii. That’s why I started calling them our “seasons” of cruising. 

We used to spend all your time in the Caribbean; lately we’ve done more world travels. Did we get bored?  What changed?

No, we didn’t get bored. My very favorite vacation still involves swimming at a different beach every day, and it’s hard to top the Caribbean for that. And we always keep the Caribbean in mind as a backup in case our more complex plans fall through. Even during The Summer of No Fun, we took great solace in believing that, at a minimum, we’d get to the Caribbean for a few weeks of cruising.  

But three things changed that motivated us to go further afield. First, we became more comfortable with preparing our house to be gone for several months at a time. When we began doing extended cruising in the Caribbean, we were real novices at winterizing our home, and we appreciated being a quick flight(s) away in the event of an emergency. Thankfully, we’ve had some great luck and wonderful neighbors, and grew more confident each year in being away. 

Second, technology has advanced exponentially. We used to think it was a wonder that we could pay all of our bills from our iPhones, but we’re way past that now. We monitor and control everything at the house, inside and out, on our iPhones. Lights and sound control, furnace thermostat temperature and fan speed, alarm notifications, audio and visual security cams...they're all in the palms of our hands wherever we are. USPS’ Informed Delivery app even shows us a photo of each piece of First Class mail that’s delivered.  Technology has been a game changer for travelers in a thousand ways.

And, finally, my mom is now safely and contentedly ensconced in her own apartment in a retirement community. Gone are the days when, still living alone in her house, she would email me in the morning to let me know she was okay, and I would log onto ship WiFi as soon as I opened my eyes to check for that email. When I wouldn’t receive one, I’d phone her over the internet. If she didn’t answer, I’d phone her neighbor, and too often there was bad news. Now, I know she is looked after, she doesn’t have to go out in the snow, and if I don’t hear from her, it’s generally because of her busy social calendar.

And, really, it’s not just my mom’s health that we need to consider. G and I know we have a current window of opportunity to travel as we do, but that window naturally narrows a little every year. And I’m fairly certain that we won’t want (even if we’re able, 'cause this kind of travel is work!) to do this ten years from now, so we are making the most of today. I’ve said in the past that we are not getting any younger, the flights are not getting any shorter and the world is not getting any safer. The time to go is now. 

How do we choose which itineraries to cruise / regions to visit?

This has been different for each of our past four seasons.  Sometimes the ship has driven our choice; other years it’s been the itinerary. A couple of lucky years, it’s been both. We both decided last year that being gone for four months is just right, not too long or too short. In a perfect world we’d leave home by the end of October and return by the end of February, so we focus on cruises offered within those dates and adjust a bit when necessary. And, obviously, we're not big fans of sea days. Some people are sea days people; we like them too, but only occasionally and only when we’ve exhausted ourselves after several port or travel days.

Four years ago we chose French Polynesia on the Pacific Princess because…well, it was French Polynesia! And we loved French Polynesia and the Pacific Princess so much we repeated the itineraries again the next year, initially intending to do the full South Pacific season (Vancouver back to Los Angeles) the second time around. In the end, we dropped two cruises and added a week on both Easter Island and Rarotonga, and that will forever be my favorite season of cruising. However, leaving home so early (September 4) was difficult, and the preparation really cut into our summer. 

Two years ago it was all about the Pacific Princess. That ship was in the Mediterranean, so we started there, endured the December transatlantic, reveled in the holiday cruise on a small ship in the Caribbean and actually added 17 more days through the Panama Canal when the weather at home was so wintry. That was also the first time we stayed in Hawaii for an extended period of time, unsure of how we’d like it. We loved it.

Last year, our choice was all about the itineraries. I think that Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific are our favorite destinations that Princess currently offers. Had it not been for the fact that this year Sydney is the home base only for the Sun Princess and the Majestic Princess, neither of which particularly appeal to us, we’d be down there again. We love Aussies! We love cruising out of Sydney! (We love Grand Class ships when we can't be on the Pacific Princess!) And we really enjoy it when we can do back to back cruises and get some variety in their itineraries, like we did last year.

And, once again this year, our season has been itinerary driven.  In fact, it’s been so itinerary driven that we are cruising on three different ships to shape our season to our desire. 

I think that taking a cruise simply to be on a ship is really not our goal right now. It has been in the past, and probably will be again in the future. But right now, the ports are what are compelling us to cruise. If we survive this year’s pace, I can see us possibly bookending our seasons with Princess cruises, and then doing some exploring on our own in between them, allowing us to get to places unreachable by ship. We are huge fans of Princess’ Flexible EZ Air, and beginning and ending our season with a Princess cruise allows us to book international flights at a fraction of their commercial rates, and not pay for them until final payment. We are flying from home to London and from Shanghai to Honolulu for far less than half the cost of our Venice to Dubai and Dubai to Singapore flights. That’s the beauty of Princess' Flexible EZ Air. 

What’s the best part of extended traveling?

Without a doubt it’s the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the areas we’re visiting. They say that cruising is traveling wider, not deeper, and that’s true. But by staying longer in an area and visiting places multiple times, we like to think we’re doing a bit more than scratching the surface. And hand in hand with that goes the opportunity to meet crew members and fellow guests and locals from all over the world. Nothing pleases us more than returning to a port and being greeted with a hug by someone who remembers us from last month or last year. We love getting on a Princess ship and being surprised by all the familiar faces we see among the crew.  And, though it happens far less on cruises outside the Caribbean, other passengers will come up to us and remember exactly when they last cruised with us (we might be able to pinpoint the ship and year, but the specific cruise often eludes us).

And, naturally, being waited on hand and foot for several months on a cruise ship is pretty darn nice, too!

What’s the worst part of extended traveling?

I used to say I missed people and high speed internet (in an order I wouldn’t admit to) but those have both eased a lot. The boys are freshmen in high school and, between school, two sports and activities, they maintain a schedule that boggles the mind. During the school year, I see them mostly at their events, and while I horribly miss watching them compete while we’re away…well, they’re teens, and leaving them is not as angst-ridden for any of us as it was eight years ago.

Having the T-Mobile cell phone plan with its unlimited free 2G data and texting virtually everywhere in the world has been a game changer. It may not be fast data, but we can reliably count on having free internet access in just about every port.  It’s a huge stress reducer, and it has made it exponentially easier to stay in touch with friends and family, too. 

What I miss most now, ironically, is having a normal life when I’m home. Really, our travels overshadow everything, and it is never far from our minds that we will be leaving again in ___ days. (In fact, G first announced our departure this year when the countdown clock hit 200 days, and my stomach literally clenched). There are a lot of things we can’t or don’t do because we either can’t commit or time is short, so there is no point in making the effort. Our winter travels change the way we live our lives year-round. 

One example: I used to love having big planters of flowers and herbs on our deck, but it required a lot of time to set them up in late May and then empty them, clean them and pack them away for the winter. I started doing that earlier and earlier each year to get the task out of the way, because we’d be so busy just before we left, and eventually there were only three or four good weeks between the time the plants got really beautiful and when I was emptying them out. Then the year we left for French Polynesia in early September, we just skipped them altogether, and haven’t had them since. I miss them.

It’s a small thing, and certainly the trade off is worthwhile, but it is important to point out that the mindset is definitely different from taking a one or four week vacation. Instead of being people whose heads are at home but who travel occasionally, it feels more like we’re people whose heads are traveling, but we’re home occasionally. 

Have I always had the travel bug?

Haha. Sometimes I wonder if I have it now. To slightly paraphrase the saying about boat ownership…the two best days of a trip are those when we leave home and when we return home.

So, acknowledging the fact that there is no place like home (because there isn’t), I guess I don’t ever remember a time in my life when I wasn’t looking for my next adventure. When I was young, we almost exclusively camped, and I think I had seen most of the states east of the Mississippi by the time I was 11. I loved it, but was becoming increasingly aware that there was a lot more world out there to see. My Aunt Mary went to Hawaii when I was about 9 and I was absolutely gobsmacked by that, as it was the first time that I remembered someone I knew actually flying somewhere, let alone some place as exotic as Hawaii. 

Then I graduated from college and my new boss called me to tell me my first day wouldn’t be in the office; I should meet the audit team at the airport. It was my first flight ever and I was over the moon…for the first month or so. Sadly, adding "business" to "travel" subtracted most of the fun (though I managed to squeeze in a lot of nice weekends over the years at company expense), and working long hours didn’t help. I wanted nothing more than to spend any time off in pressure-free days at home.

Fifteen or so years into our marriage, the desire to travel returned in earnest, and we spent three weeks in Hawaii and took our first cruise to Alaska.  Unfortunately, the Army was still telling G where he’d be traveling, but I made several trips on my own, or with my mom, or with friends I’d met along the way. I was fitting travel in around doing some consulting until I finally decided to spend some of the money I’d been making and get more serious about seeing the world. And when I wasn’t traveling, I was reading about it. I would literally read guide books front to back, even when I had no plans to visit that destination.

Then, we both retired, and G came up with this crazy "winters at sea" idea, and…well, you know the rest of the story. I remember years ago being told that, in choosing a life partner, it was important to be of the same religion, the same background and with the same spending habits.  Hogwash. While I'll firmly agree with the one about spending habits,  I would say the others are that you equally enjoy watching sports (particularly football) on TV and have the same desire to travel, whether that means frequently, infrequently or not at all.   

I’ve long been fascinated by how kids teach us so much, and it happened again last May. The boys and their family (including their two older sisters) went to Iceland for a week. The night before they left, I was talking with McGee and he said, “NeeNee, I just have no idea what to expect”. And in that moment, I realized that is what I love most about travel. I wake up every morning having no idea of what the day might bring. It’s hard to match that excitement at home. It also explains why I have become a bit more of a "travel by the seat of my pants"-type person in recent years.  

How much longer will we do this?

On this one, my answer is unchanged. I really don’t know. In our ninth year of extended cruising, we’re visiting so many new ports that it’s clearly a capstone year for us. After this, with the exception of Antarctica (G still refuses to go but I promise I will get there eventually), we’ve been everywhere we can go during our winter months (we traveled to South America and Africa before I started blogging). In the future, we may have the opportunity to see a few new ports but if we cruise, we’ll definitely be repeating regions, not that we’ve ever been bothered by that.

I am fairly certain we have one more year in us after this (10 is such a nice number), but we honestly don’t know until June or July what we’ll be doing in October. I am always in awe of people who can book a cruise 18 months in advance and never have a change in plans. They book flights 330 days in advance and have independent excursions in place and know precisely how they’re getting from the airport to the ship, and even what they’ll wear on which night of their cruise at least six months ahead of time. Meanwhile, I’m currently watching the weather forecast in London to get some idea about what we might be doing a couple of days from now. 

You can see why predicting if and where we’ll be cruising a year from now is a futile effort. ;-)

Do we still pack all that stuff when we cruise?

Well, we would if we could. If we were flying Southwest with its two free checked bags per person to Fort Lauderdale and cruising in the same cabin on the same ship for months at a time in the Caribbean, we would definitely take floats and coolers and a beach tarp and snorkel and maybe even dive gear. We were a lot more comfortable when we could do that, and, boy, did we have some fantastic times. But the more complex the travel arrangements, the less we take with us. 

This year we’ll be traveling for four months through several climate zones, and we’re each taking one checked bag weighing less than 44 pounds and one small carry on. That means we’ll no doubt run short of clothes and/or shoes, and also that we’ll be doing some toiletries shopping at Sainsburys as soon as we get to London. By the time we return home, our clothes (and possibly luggage) will be trashed but that’s fine…by then we’ll be sick of them anyway. 

How do I prepare my blog posts, and how long do I spend writing them?

I get asked this a lot, because, to my delight, more and more people are writing travel blogs, and I love reading them during my long, travel-deprived summers!

For the past few years, I’ve been using an iOS app called BlogTouch Pro to write and publish my blog posts. Since Google abandoned the Blogger app, BlogTouch Pro is the only app I have found to manage a Blogspot blog on a mobile Apple device (and I refuse to travel with my laptop). However, upgrading to iOS 12 on my iPad Air 2 threw a wrench into the app. I hate iOS updates just before we leave each fall! I'm never entirely certain until the last minute if I'll even be able to publish blog posts from my iDevices. I did a screen recording that showed what I was doing when the app crashed and sent it off a week ago to the app’s developer, Alexandru Denk.  Just Sunday morning, Alex emailed me that an update was available on the App Store. And that's the best thing about BlogTouch Pro; it is supported and updated on a frequent basis. Alex has also incorporated a few changes I suggested in the past, and for that I thank him very much. 

How long I spend writing depends completely on what we did that day and how much energy I have after doing it. People have told me I’m dedicated, and that’s very kind, but undeserved. Dedication is something one has toward far loftier goals (like coaching Michigan to a win over Ohio State this season, Jim Harbaugh!).  Actually, I’m just doggedly dutiful after 12 years of Catholic education (those nuns). I can’t draw, I can’t dance, I certainly can’t sing, but I can write.  Helpfully, it’s also how I decompress and process things at the end of each day. 

In the interest of getting a few more minutes of sleep each night, I’ve promised myself (and G) that my posts will be shorter this year. I mean, all my posts after this one will be shorter. ;-) but I’ve made that promise before and...well, we all know how that worked out. I definitely won’t stressing myself uploading photos from the ship. They'll get added eventually, probably from Hawaii.  That worked well (at least for me) the last two years. 

Do I blog while I’m home?

No, not usually. I did blog during My Summer of No Fun (which was very therapeutic), but, trust me, my life at home is pretty un-blog-worthy. However, G keeps a diary with one photo a day while we’re home. Between the two of us, we have daily life covered. 

What other travel apps do I recommend?

We really make use of our iDevices all the time, but especially when we travel. They are the most valuable items on our packing lists. However (and this is my disclaimer) -  it’s vital to fully understand your phone and its settings before using it outside your own country.  

A word of advice...unless you have an international plan (and, even if you do, to save your battery on a full day of sightseeing), keep your phone in Airplane Mode as much as possible.  Turn off automatic updates and cellular data unless you are familiar with what your plan covers and their affect on your battery life.  I'm afraid I'll get an email one day from an unhappy reader who used these apps and incurred a $1500 cellular bill while on a cruise. At the same time, don't be afraid to take advantage of the many travel aids that exist on smartphones. We have used our iPhones overseas for years and never incurred a cent in unexpected additional charges.

The first thing to know about travel apps is that some of them work in the absence of an internet connection and some of them don’t. Regardless of whether you have internet access in a port, unless you’re on a ship with unlimited WiFi (lucky you!), you won’t have it for free on the ship.  I used to spend a lot of time before we’d leave home putting my phone in Airplane Mode to simulate what it would be like on a ship, and to determine which apps I could still use.

In no particular order, these are my favorites:

• The apps for the airlines we’ll be flying on each season.  This year, that means United, Emirates Air, Singapore Air and Air China. I download the apps, set up a log in and password (if required) and fingerprint/facial recognition log in, add our flight(s) to our profiles, and make sure our seat and meal selection is still on the record. It’s easy to check these daily in the weeks leading up to the flights. It’s also easy to complete our online check in when the time comes. 

• Flight View. This is an oldie but a goodie. I add our upcoming flights to my profile, and each day check their arrival and departure times from the previous day. For our original flights from Shanghai to Honolulu, this saved us from potentially missing our connection in Tokyo.  I had booked flights through Princess EZ Air, and then, checking them daily in Flight View, realized that the flight to Tokyo was never on time, and that meant we’d have to overnight in Tokyo and arrive in Hawaii a day late. We changed to a different routing, with an unusually long layover in Beijing, but our chances of making our connecting flight improved dramatically. 

• Google Translate.  We didn’t use this much last season (except in New Caledonia), but I have a feeling it’s going to be invaluable to us this year. 

• Maps.me.  This app is perfect for visiting a city in the absence of cellular data. Though we now have unlimited international data, it’s still slow, and I download the maps ahead of time on Maps.me to have as a backup.

• Units Plus.  This app took the place of a couple I used in the past for currency, weather, distance and weight conversions.

• CityMapper.  I just discovered this one this year, so I haven’t actually used it yet, but the trial runs I’ve done at home lead me to believe this is going to be a game changer. I have long used Google Maps for routing on public transit, but CityMapper takes that one step further with even more detailed directions (such as moving from one subway platform to another in the same station). Google Maps just assumes we’ll find our way during those connections. Not all cities are included in the app, but, fortunately, many that we'll be visiting this year are.

• Hotels.com. We are big fans of Hotels.com, not only for their great customer service but also because of their ‘one free night after 10 nights’ rewards policy. We’ve booked all of our hotel nights this season on Hotels.com.  We easily manage to earn one free night at least every 12 months (based on the average price of the 10 nights), and, next year, after our stay in Dubai, that’s going to be a mighty nice perk. 

• Visit a City.  This app is great for providing the highlights of a city based on the length of your visit and your desired activity level. Sure, their primary focus is to sell sightseeing tours, but you don’t have to use it for that.  I love having all the ‘must sees’ provided to me; I can figure out myself how I want to get to them. The plans are also handily downloadable for offline use.

• And, finally, I have the usual transfer apps (Uber and Lyft) and well as similar apps specific to the cities in which we’ll be traveling; the Trip Advisor app; and my favorite weather app, Accuweather.  This one provides a 25 day extended forecast, and I’ve been checking the weather in our ports as far out as possible.

What are some of my favorite travel websites and blogs?

There are many, but these are the ones that keep me going during those long months at home:

•  SV Delos
About 15 months ago, I came across the online media presence of SV Delos, a sailing yacht crewed by a variety of people who basically spend their lives traveling around the world.  I found them by searching YouTube for videos of cruising in Australia and New Zealand, and after watching a few and checking out their website, realized they actually started this adventure in Mexico years earlier.  The quality of their video editing and photography has grown exponentially since the beginning, so let yourself get hooked somewhere around the time they're in the Philippines or SE Asia.  Their diving videos are among the best I've ever seen outside of commercial photography.  They just spent six months in Brazil (incredible) and are making their way up to Grenada for hurricane season (on the videos.  In real life, they're about to leave Grenada to go...somewhere).  Just search on SVDelos in Google or YouTube and you'll find their stuff.  It's addictive and heartwarming and sometimes just plain raucous fun.

• Tom's Port Guides
Again this year, I downloaded Tom's port guides for the Mediterranean ports we'll be visiting.  I used these extensively when we were in the Med two years ago, and their level of detail can't be beat.

Source:  https://www.tomsportguides.com/

•  Captain, who's driving?
I mentioned this one last year, by Captain Jonathon on Holland America's Amsterdam.  He's the captain for their World Cruises, so his posts are a great resource for that, but he also just returned from Alaska.

•  Fungirl Across America and Beyond
I'm never sure whether I should keep the bookmark for Fungirl in my "Just for Fun" folder on Safari or in my "Travel" folder. Get ready to laugh; she could be a comedienne.  I've met her, and she's even more fun in person.

•  Deb's Days
A little bit of travel, a little bit of crafting, a lot of heartwarming ideas for life.  Deb blogs nearly daily year-round, and for that...so much respect.

• Two to Go
I've never even communicated with Ellen and Pete, but, if they're reading here now, they'll know I'm a fan.  They write like professional writers (I suspect they are/were) which is admirable, but they do it "on the run" while they're traveling (which, trust me, is much harder to do). Again, so much respect.  I love that their blog isn't a diary-al listing (no, wait...that’s not quite right) of what they do each day; instead, its more reflective and emotional.

• Vickie and Bernie Travel
If it's about Princess Cruises, Vickie has it covered.  She's also blogs about planning and packing tips, which are very helpful.

•  My souvenir memories
Mary writes wonderful posts about her cruises on several cruise lines, accompanied by lots of great photos.

•  Travel Snippets and More
Good, all around travel advice, and not just cruising-related.

•  David Cross International Travels
David travels...all the time, everywhere. I discovered his blog three years ago when I was researching Easter Island.  Great adventures, great photos.  This one is a real keeper.

Does extended travel like this still excite us?  Is taking one long cruise better than several shorter ones booked back to back? Are ten cruises in a row ten times as much fun as taking one cruise?

To the first part, yes, definitely. G has been raring to leave for months. My excitement level runs in cycles, but I will admit that sleep has been hard to come by lately. Part of it is nervousness about not forgetting anything (we’re leaving so much behind that my lists have proven to be fairly useless this year), but most of it is sheer anticipation. Of course, the closer we get to leaving the less I want to go...until I’m on my way to the airport. And then I’m all in and leading the charge. (Transitions are tough for me, but you already knew that!)

We may be unique in this, but we much prefer several shorter cruises to one long cruise.  Sure, there is some disruption on turnaround days, but embarkation days bring happy new cruisers full of excitement and politeness and good cheer.  In our experience (granted, based mostly on our Transatlantic and Transpacific crossings), some people get a bit grumpier and more territorial the longer they are on a ship, and long strings of bumpy sea days just exacerbate the issue.

To the final question...no, ten weeks of cruising are not ten times as much fun as one week. They can't be. I remember how crazy with excitement I would be just before a one or three week cruise, but I don’t think the human body can appreciate or even cope with that level of euphoria for an extended period of time. I know that many people really believe that they would love to do a World Cruise or wish they could just live on a cruise ship, but we have found the reality to be quite a bit different than a single, shorter cruise - still wonderful, but different. Extended cruising is a calmer experience, an exercise in moderation.

Usually.  This year, with 58 port days out of 80 days, I think it will be an exercise in endurance. 

We’re ready for it. We’re excited. 

Life is good. :-)

Season 9: Around the world in 1?? days!

Welcome back!  Thank you for joining us again for our ninth season of extended cruising! Regardless of whether you’re following along to escape reality for a few minutes each day, or to get information about the ports we’ll be visiting, or find out about living (temporarily) on a ship, or even just to see what disaster befalls us this year ;-), I’m so happy you’re here.

When was the last time we did something for the first time? This year, when we will literally travel eastward around the world by plane and by ship. I’m not entirely certain how long it will take (after all, it’s us), but, as God is my witness, even if something happens (after all, it’s us) and we have to fly home the long way from Europe, we’re gonna do this! We’ll be covering a lot of new territory, and I know it’s going to be a challenging experience, but there is something very exciting about visiting so many new and exotic locations, and at the same time very comforting about seeing most of them by ship. 

Sources: below

Do you know how we’re always changing our plans mid-trip, extending and re-arranging and sometimes incurring financial penalties to cancel future travels because we discover how much we’re enjoying our current one?  I’m not certain it’s an improvement, but this year we changed plans before we even left home. Our original plan was simple: board the Sapphire Princess in Southampton, England on October 21 and disembark the ship in Shanghai, China on January 5. 

Though we've loosely talked about traveling in Southeast Asia for years, this adventure was not on our radar until we were cruising on the Golden Princess last season. As we talked with our fellow passengers, most of them from Australia, a 28-night repositioning cruise from Rome to Singapore on the Sapphire in November, as well as the nearly identical one from Singapore to Rome last March, came up time and again. We also heard lots of good things about the ports in Southeast Asia (which, as you can tell from looking at the map below, is as close to Australia as much of the US is to the Caribbean). It sounded promising, and G and I discussed it for a few days. I checked cabin availability and he ran around the Golden looking at the location of the same cabins on that (nearly identical) ship to determine which we might like best. After about a week of consideration, I booked five back to back (B2B) Sapphire Princess cruises one evening while sitting in the Princess Theater waiting for a show to start.

I thought we were done with cruise booking then, and by early summer I actually started spending time on port planning (yes, me!). Things were progressing nicely; we had made our first final payment and I had even gotten two of our required visas when G took a long hard look at that 28-night repositioning cruise and balked. I knew change was imminent when the first thing he said to me the morning before that cruise’s final payment was, “Are you okay with all the sea days on that cruise from Rome to Singapore?” For those not married to men, let me translate that for you. What he was telling me was that he was NOT okay with all those sea days (17 out of 28) on the repositioning cruise and he was looking for me to agree so that changing our plans would be a mutual decision. Frankly, though there were a lot of sea days, I was more concerned with the limited amount of time we’d have in Dubai, which, based on the research we’d already done, was turning out to be the big draw of that cruise for us. 

That’s how we found ourselves just hours before our second final payment was due spending day and night figuring out what else we could do to fill 28 days. Our first thought was to spend some time in Europe, then stop in Egypt to see the pyramids, then spend a few days in Dubai and finally fly to India to see the Taj Mahal (since we already had the India visa) before re-joining the Sapphire Princess in Singapore.  After reading several reviews, it became apparent that, for what we were willing to spend, our Egypt and India visits would involve too little sightseeing and too much of being escorted from one buying opportunity to another. We’re on the downward side of accumulating stuff; shopping trips, even exotic ones, are not for us. 

It was sheer luck when a quick check of the website CruiseTimetables.com showed us a perfect solution. The pieces fell into place and we canceled one cruise and booked two cruises, two overnight flights and a stay in Dubai in its place. Instead of 11 port days and 17 sea days, we’ll have 25 port days and just three sea days. The budget was busted and we may kill ourselves in the effort but the end result was tailor-made for us. 

In a few days we’ll fly to London, spend two nights in the city and then, on Sunday, October 21, take a shuttle about two hours south to the port of Southampton. There we’ll board the Sapphire Princess for a 10-night cruise that will take us down the west coast of Europe and into the western Mediterranean to Civitavecchia, the port for Rome. We’ll disembark the Sapphire and spend one night in Civitavecchia and the next day board the Norwegian Spirit for a 10-night cruise to the Greek Islands. We’ll return on the ship to Civitavecchia where that same day we’ll board the (pinch me!) Pacific Princess for a 12-night cruise ending in (pinch me again!) Venice. We’ll next fly to Dubai where we’ll enjoy four days before continuing on to Singapore. There we’ll re-board the Sapphire Princess for over five weeks of cruising in Southeast Asia and disembark in Shanghai in January. From Shanghai, we’ll fly to Hawaii for several weeks (and sleep for at least one of them, I suspect), and complete our around the world adventure when we finally fly home. 

Whew!

58 port days (plus Hawaii), 41 different cities, 22 sea days, 20 countries, 5 overnight flights. 

Crazy ambitious, or just plain crazy?

Source:  MapCustomizer.com

As thrilled as we are with our new itinerary, we understand what we’re in for. Especially in Asia, this will be big city cruising, where the pier is often more than an hour away from the city centers. Languages, currency, certainly the cultures will make this season much more difficult than our months in Australia and New Zealand last year...but infinitely fascinating too. We are also facing the reality that we are quickly running out of cruises during our winter months that go to places we’ve never been. The fact that everything between Rhodes, Greece and Shanghai, China (as well as a few ports in Europe) will be virgin territory made these cruises especially appealing. 

European ports 

Dubai, UAE (24)

Asian ports

 

We’re excited to be back on the Sapphire Princess, a mid-sized ship very similar to the Golden Princess. I took a 31-night transpacific cruise from Los Angeles to Sydney on the Sapphire in its inaugural year, 2004, and we did the same cruise in reverse on its identical sister ship, the Diamond Princess, in 2006.  I thought the ships were particularly beautiful (I’m anxious to see if my favorite Asian music box/sculpture is still just outside the Lotus Spa), and, of course, we loved the Terrace and covered Calypso Pools. While we are firm fans of small ships like the Pacific Princess, we felt very comfortable on the Golden last year. With about 2600 passengers, these ships are large enough to feature lots of dining and entertainment options but are not oppressively sized.

Sapphire Princess

Source:  https://www.penguincruiseparking.co.uk/cruise-ships/sapphire-princess

The Norwegian Spirit is a new ship for us. In fact, we’ve only taken one NCL cruise in the past, and it wasn’t a favorite, but we are intrigued by the Spirit’s port-intensive Greek Islands itinerary (9 ports in 10 days!), and the ship’s smaller size (carrying about 2000 passengers).  In a sense, the ship will be like a ferry, carrying us from Greek island to Greek island while we sleep.

Norwegian Spirit

Source:  https://www.seascanner.com/ship-norwegian-spirit

And, finally, have I mentioned we love the Pacific Princess?  I know I have, but have I mentioned it lately? We can’t wait to see the refurbishment that was completed on the ship during last year’s dry dock. Stepping on the Pacific Princess is exactly like coming home, and to be one of its just 680 passengers is a real treat. It’s cruising the way it used to be (and the way I wish it always was). 

Pacific Princess

Source:  me!

As for where we’ll be staying in Dubai...well, you'll have to keep following along. Just one hint: our 35th wedding anniversary was last month, and unless you consider our working together to set up our new iPhones that day to be romantic (I don’t), rest assured we’ll be making up for that in a special way while we’re in Dubai. 

I think I’m most looking forward to that.

Around the world and a milestone anniversary...

Life is good. :-)

Sources:

1) https://www.visitlondon.com/

2) https://www.booking.com/hotel/ae/burj-al-arab.html

3) http://www.singapore-guide.com/

4) https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/qs-best-student-cities/paris

5) https://www.worldtravelguide.net/guides/asia/thailand/bangkok/

6) http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/main_cities/athens

7) https://www.iexplore.com/destinations/hong-kong/travel-guides/far-east/hong- kong/overview

Some BookBub recommendations for travelers

Here I am again, between seasons, recommending book deals from BookBub.com, where Kindle e-Books are available at greatly discounted prices for short (sometime very short) periods of time. Ive mentioned in the past that I learned about BookBub from Cruise Critic, and it is among the most valuable of all the information I’ve picked up on that site. These books are usually free, or $1.99, and I can never be certain how long they’ll be available at that price. Also, you don’t need a Kindle to read them; any tablet or even a smartphone with the free Kindle app installed works just as well.

4.5 stars out of 5 stars on Amazon; $2.99 on October 26, 2018.

4.5 stars out of 5 stars on Amazon, free on October 17, 2018

4.2 out of 5 stars on Amazon, $1.99 on September 29, 2018

4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon, $2.99 on July 16, 2018

4.5 out of 5 stars on Amazon, $1.99 on June 27, 2018

4.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon, $2.99 on June 16, 2018

655 4-Star reviews, $2.99 on May 27, 2018

Free on May 2, 2018

The Italians is entertaining, in the way that Bill Bryson books are. 

Great overview of Italian history and culture. 

I wish I’d read this before our visit to Malta. The day would have been much

more meaningful to me.  It also provided insight into what we saw in Rhodes, Greece. 

After four months of travel, we’re home!

After flying overnight Friday night, we returned home yesterday to wicked cold weather and snow. It’s a harsh adjustment...and a good reminder of why we leave for several months every winter. But for all the obvious inconveniences and the work that lies ahead (it will take us a week to feel things are somewhat under control, but we’re used to that by now), there is something innately comforting about home. 

In retrospect, we had one of our most fantastic winters ever, and everything- the cruise itineraries, the Golden Princess, the weather (mostly) and our stay in Hawaii- couldn’t have gone more smoothly, with bonus points for arriving home to not a single issue with the house. Our successful season should make us anxious to look ahead toward next year, and though we do have some very tentative plans in place, right now I just want to keep my mind in the now, and home and friends. (And getting through the mail and restocking the refrigerator and pantry!). But we know ourselves; by late March and April I’ll start putting together spreadsheets and laying out our options...and the countdown to next winter will begin. 

Thanks so much for again following along with our adventures, and for putting up with my grammatical and spelling errors, all around typing fails, photo-less posts and nightly rambles. It’s funny...when we begin our trips and I prepare those first few blog posts, I am always convinced I’ll never be able to keep it going for several months. But your encouraging emails get me past that initial hump, and once I get in the groove, it’s all good. And then, during the months we’re home, when I go back to re-read my posts with an eye toward correcting the most embarrassing errors, I am reminded, over and over again, of what a fantastic experience we had, and those memories are there to enjoy in large part because of you. Thank you!

And, as always, the biggest thanks goes to my husband. The opportunity and ability to travel is good fortune. To have a partner who wants to travel, too, is the best gift.

I am fortunate. I’ve been gifted. 

Life is good. :-)

Walt Whitman

 Song of the Open Road

Source: Wildwords Collectif on Amazon