Aqaba Excursion Description This ‘easy activity’ tour begins with a short drive to the South beach of Aqaba then back into the town center. Aqaba is Jordan’s only outlet to the sea and has grown to an impressive port and resort town. Surrounded by a chain of purple mountains and groves of palm trees, the […]
Muscat is the capital of the country of Oman. This port city presented quite a contrast to Mumbai. To make up for the disappointing experience when we docked at Mumbai, Captain Jonathan sped up the ship so passengers could have time in Muscat the evening before we were originally scheduled to dock. Passengers happily disembarked […]
Here is the description of our daytime tour of Mumbai: Depart from the pier for a panoramic drive past some of the most significant sights of Mumbai, including the city’s most famous landmark—the Gateway of India. Built in 1911 to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary, this archway was originally conceived as an […]
Colombo, Sri Lanka was a port that offered a new adventure. Mary and I seized the opportunity to visit an elephant orphanage! In 1975 a group of people decided to rescue seven orphaned baby elephants. Those elephants not only survived but thrived! (I was going to say little elephants but someone would say that was […]
Port Klang was place I had never heard of but we were going there. I had heard of Kuala Lumpor because a few years ago Toastmasters International held their Annual Convention there. Kuala Lumpor has a melodious name as does the country of Malaysia. I have learned on this world tour that no […]
Singapore is superlative. I did not know what to expect and I discovered that I really liked what I saw. Singapore is a clean, prosperous and modern island nation. The symbol of Singapore is the Merlion which is half-lion and half-fish. The top half is lion, the bottom half is mermaid. Our […]
Vietnam was a dramatic shift from Hong Kong. There is a non-scientific term for a psychological state that occurs when something that happened in the past affects you in the present. The term is “emotional baggage.” As a citizen of the United States and as a family member, I am still carrying emotional baggage about […]
Chinese junk as coming into dock Before I describe my experience of Hong Kong, I thought I might pause and write about the many excursions offered by Holland America. Of course, passengers are free to do whatever they want when they go ashore but there are certain advantages to going on an excursion which […]
I suppose if you opened a travel magazine and the title of an article was “Surprising Shanghai” you might think the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce had hired the writer to promote tourism. Well, I am not getting paid for this but, I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with Shanghai. It is true that […]
I have been contemplating what I could possibly say about a country as huge in size, population and economy as China. It is a daunting task and I am daunted. I have been thinking to myself, “What if someone from China visited the United States and sent a message back that mentioned only the Statue of […]
When you sign up for a world cruise, you have to sign a lengthy agreement that basically says, no matter what happens, you won’t get your money back. Things that might go wrong are spelled out. We had already passed up Saipan due to bad weather conditions. Once again, we learned we were going to […]
The term “Bucket List” is commonly used to refer to things people hope to do before they die. It is understood that the ‘bucket’ reference is a euphemism for dying. Christa wanted to see the Eifel Tower from the time she was in grammar school. I was fortunate to be able to send Christa to Europe […]