Trip archive
2024 Europe
The 2024 Europe trip, with the surviving photo archive migrated to the new site. 62 entries.
Entries in chronological order
All tripsCosta Rica
On Monday we visited the small town of Puntarenas, Costa Rica. It was New Year’s day so nothing was open but we took a bus ride to another town — where nothing was open either. But of course that didn’t matter to us…
Cabo
We docked in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, right by the iconic rocks which seemed to draw people like magnets. But since we aren’t water sport people we took the bus trip to nearby San Jose del Cabo and enjoyed a leisurely…
USA
Our last two stops have been in the USA, at Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. Not very exciting. We experienced the traffic for which LA is known but that was about the extent of our “tourism” there 🙂 We took a ride…
Sea Days
Well, we’re on the 4th day of our current 5 day run of sea days on our way to Hawaii. The temperature is rising and the ride is sometimes rough but we are keeping busy. It was very rough at first so the captain took…
Honolulu
We spent 2 days in Honolulu but didn’t do what I assume are the normal activities there — no beach, no fancy restaurants, no trip up Diamond head. We went to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial yesterday. The…
The Islands
I find it hard to believe that I haven’t written since Hawaii! The sea days speed by with lots to do but not much that’s photo-worthy so I’ll give you what I have and you’ll just have to imagine the rest. We attend…
Moorea
On Moorea I took the morning “Jeep” ride in an open back truck around much of the island and then in the afternoon Dale and I both did a boat ride. From every angle the island was lovely and well cared for. It has a…
Tahiti and beyond
Tahiti was a non-event for us. We didn’t plan to go anywhere and we didn’t. We were docked in Papeete, a city of about 140,000, which doesn’t look a thing like the island paradise you might imagine, and it rained a…
Bay of Islands, NZ
Our first port in New Zealand was the Bay of Islands. It was a lovely day for enjoying the water and that’s what we both did. After walking around the town of Paihia, near the ship, Dale went with Bob and Brenda on…
Auckland
We’ve been docked for three days now in Auckland, right down town where you can walk to everything. Well, not exactly everything because this is a city of 1.65 million people and it’s very much like any other city…
Tauranga
Docked in Tauranga, NZ, we were looking at Mt Maunganui, an extinct volcano which Dale remembered walking around many years ago when he thought he’d like to live in a place like this. He walked over by it today while…
Napier, NZ
Our day in Napier was delightful. We got to sleep in a bit as we didn’t dock until noon. Then Dale and I took a tour of a goat and sheep farm. For you farmers it probably wouldn’t have been very interesting but for…
Wellington, NZ
We woke up to an overcast day with lots of wind — par for the course for the “windiest capital city in the world” — and before anyone disembarked the captain was telling us that we had to change course due to a big…
Melbourne, Australia
We docked last night and this morning it was immigration! Try to imagine all 900+ people having to get off the ship and go through immigration before anyone could get back on the ship! Then it was off on my excursion…
Phillip Island, Australia
We have such a nice lot of friends here on the ship and last night Henry invited twelve of us to celebrate his 84th birthday with him. It was a lovely time in a private dining room and we laughed together all…
Eden, Australia
We enjoyed our day in Eden, a small town with a big history of whaling. We could have believed it was named after the biblical Eden because it was so beautiful but we were told that wasn’t the case. We took a…
Sydney, Australia
Sydney is a lovely city — modern, clean, has everything you could want. What else can I say? It’s a city and I prefer the landscapes so I guess that’s why it gets fewer pictures than little Eden got. We came in early…
Sydney #2
On our second day in Sydney we enjoyed a very long trip to the Blue Mountains, about 60 miles from Sydney. The bus ride was uneventful on the Great Western Highway, one of only a few major highways around the…
Brisbane, Australia
Brisbane was a clean, modern and very nice looking city, except for its very dirty looking river. We took a three hour bus tour of this city of 2.5 million. That’s all we did. It’s a city; what can I say. The…
Islands of Australia
We’ve been traveling up the northeastern coast of Australia and have stopped at two sets of islands, both of which were lovely to look at and not very populated; the kinds of places that cause one to wonder what…
Thursday Island, Australia
Thursday Island, one of the 274 islands in the Torres Strait above Australia’s mainland, is small, with a population of just 3,000 people, almost all of whom are of the group of original inhabitants called Torres…
Komodo Dragons
Although these donuts appeared at breakfast a couple of days ago I thought I’d show them to you today when the subject of the day was less than lovely. I didn’t have any donuts but they were sure enticing and quite a…
Bali, Indonesia
As we sailed into Bali I thought that what I saw matched what I had always imagined Bali to be, which I now know is only what Bali would like us to believe it is. It turned out to be very different. I’m actually…
Bali continued
On our third day in Bali Brenda and I went on a 4×4 LandRover trip for 8 hours while Dale and Bob took a day off. Our trip went into a rural area where we saw a bit of natural beauty, agricultural practices and lots…
Java, Indonesia
Our one day in Semarang, Java, showed us a part of Indonesia a bit different from Bali. We found Java to be more modern in some ways but in others it was just like Bali. I tried to take pictures of both sides of the…
Saigon, Vietnam
We cruised up a muddy river this morning to find a city of nine and a half million people which was much more modern, clean and organized than those we saw in Indonesia. Although it is now officially Ho Chi Minh City…
Mekong Delta, Vietnam
Today’s excursion to the Mekong Delta was long but wonderful because I got to see the country side. The houses and businesses that I got to see from the bus window were similar to those we’ve seen before and most of…
Koh Samui, Thailand
Koh Samui is the second largest island in Thailand, and known for resorts and spas and lovely beaches. We didn’t see any of these. My tour went to a Buddhist temple, a “sculpture” (made of cement and ugly) garden and…
Singapore
We’ve been in Singapore (Lion city) for 3 days and we’ve learned so much about this fascinating place that it is going to be hard to convey it all to you so I’ll have to make some generalizations. And on top of that…
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Although we docked in Port Klang, over an hour away from Kuala Lumpur, that is where we spent our day today. It was HOT, as expected, but not quite as hot as it could have been, for which we were thankful. Our…
Langkawi, Malaysia
Langkawi island is a “tropical paradise” of mangrove swamps and tourism and like other parts of Malaysia it is a developing area. Here’s the pretty view out from the ship. We didn’t see much of the tourism side of…
Penang, Malaysia
Early on our last day in Malaysia we cruised into George Town on the island of Penang where things were much the same as in the rest of Malaysia which we have seen. Developing. But Penang may be doing so a bit faster…
Phuket, Thailand
I enjoyed the day on Phuket island because it was all about agriculture and nature and even though I have seen all of the things I saw today already at other places on this cruise I learned a few new facts. I have…
Colombo, Sri Lanka
The ship docked in Colombo for two days but since we were leaving for India before dawn on the second day we could only do one tour there. So we chose the tea plantation because “Ceylon” is, of course, famous for…
India! Delhi, day one
We arrived in Delhi, from Colombo, before noon and since we were so tired from the early departure we checked into the Eros Hotel in New Delhi and took a nap before our evening tour around town. Our group consisted…
Delhi, day two
When we woke up Delhi was already busy doing the wash and riding the train to work. Our first tour was to Humayun’s Tomb, the first garden tomb in India, commissioned in 1558 by this Mughal Empeeror’s first wife and…
Old Delhi
We began our day in Old Delhi at the Jama Masjid mosque, built high up from the city streets with a huge courtyard in front. I donned the required garb and took off my shoes but stayed in the courtyard to people…
Agra, India
We left Delhi early this morning for Agra — the highlight of the trip for most people. The road to Agra was long and rural and since we went mostly by highway it was hard to take pictures for you. We saw hundreds of…
The Taj Mahal
On our way to the Taj we stopped at Agra Fort, (where Shah Jahan was imprisoned for the last years of his life, peering dolefully out at his masterpiece — the Taj Mahal). This immense fort made of red sandstone in…
Raj’s home
We had told Raj that monuments were interesting to us but that we liked even better seeing the way people lived and the current culture of India. So, today, before we left Agra, he gave us the best treat of the week…
On the way to Jaipur
It was about 4 hours to Jaipur and as always I enjoyed the opportunity to see the countryside. We saw more small fields being harvested, many more small brick factories and of course, many small villages. When we…
Jaipur, India
Jaipur, called the Pink City because it was once painted pink for a royal visit, is an ancient city with beautiful gates and palaces and it has a distinctive look about it even in the streets and market places of Old…
Ranthambore National Park
We left Jaipur early and drove all morning to our hotel near the Tiger Reserve at Ranthambore NP. This is not the hotel — it’s more of the countryside along the way:) Along the way from Jaipur we stopped at a rest…
Gqeberha, South Africa
I never thought I would be thanking God that one of my dear friends had dysentery but that was the case yesterday. It has been quite a week! Since we returned from India many of us who went have been sick in one way…
Cape Town, South Africa
We were delighted to wake up and find that not only had we been able to get in to the port of Cape Town (which because of the weather was questionable) but we got in early. The weather was not good, however, and…
Walvis bay, Namibia
It was a very foggy morning! But by the time we arrived in Walvis Bay it had cleared and we could see the beautiful dunes in the distance. We haven’t been off the ship since Cape Town, missing our first scheduled…
Life aboard ship
Since we are not going to be getting off the ship for a while (7 days in total) I thought I’d show you a bit of what I do on such days. Every other sea day we have our men’s and women’s Bible studies and on the other…
Dakar, Senegal
We docked this morning in what looked like a modern city and Dale got to see more of the new and modern on his excursion. Here’s Dale and his good friend, Henry, contemplating the day. My excursion was quite…
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
We went to breakfast early today and got to see the moon go down and the sun come on the lovely, modern city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife before we were finished eating. Dale saw more of the city on his tour today than…
Sea legs
We are really rocking today! The captain said we’re in near-gale-force winds and they are coming in the direction that makes for the most rolling of the ship, even with the stabilizers working their best. So we are…
Agadir, Morocco
I thought we’d never get to Morocco so I was happy to wake up this morning and see that we were actually here. I went on another 4×4 excursion and this time we actually went off of the pavement — Yeh! I heard from…
Casablanca, Morocco
Dale and I took an excursion together today! We toured the beautiful, modern, capital city of Rabat as well as part of Casablanca. As we cruised in this morning, and again just now as we left, we enjoyed lovely views…
Tangier, Morocco
Dale and I enjoyed our day at Cape Spartel, the African mainland’s northernmost point, where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic come together, and in the kasbah of Tangier. Tangier is a very clean, beautiful, modern…
Seville (Cadiz), Spain
We docked in Cadiz this morning and were greeted by the view of a church instead of a mosque. It’s been a long time for us since that happened! We headed out of Cadiz and drove for an hour an a half through the…
Lisbon, Portugal
We’re docked in the old part of the city where we have a nice view but the city is really very modern. This aqueduct was built starting in 1713 and is still operational but they aren’t using it. Its main course…
Obidos from Lisbon
Today I travelled up the coast to the medieval city of Obidos with its 14th century crenellated walls and narrow streets and whitewashed houses; in other words, a “touristic” village. It was lovely and I enjoyed…
Leixoes (Porto) Spain
We docked this morning (Was that just this morning; it seems so long ago?) in Leixoes, in the vicinity of Porto, from which area all port wine comes. After leaving the city we drove through beautiful agricultural…
The end of the world
We docked in A Coruna, Spain, this morning and the forecast was for rain all day. It didn’t disappoint! We drove an hour through small villages which had an interesting feature, horreos, which are traditional…
St Malo, France
Before I talk about today’s adventure I must show you some pictures of the elaborate brunch that the ship put on for our last sea day. Actually I didn’t try a single one of the things pictured but it was fun looking!…
Paris, France
We docked this morning in the lovely town of Honfleur. I didn’t get to see Honfleur except through the bus window because what I really wanted to see was Paris. And Paris is three hours from Honfleur so it was…
Dover, England
I hadn’t realized how much history there was in Dover and Canterbury but we got a quick overview on our tour today. We cruised in and docked under the White Cliffs of Dover, made of chalk, and “an icon of Britain”…
Almost home
Yes, today we are all thinking of home. It has been a great cruise but our hearts and minds are already home. We’re cruising toward Greenwich right now through heavy weather. We plan to get out and walk to the Naval…