Wordless Wednesday

Mini Cruise Disasters

No, none of them involve the sinking of a ship. Anyone who has traveled has experienced the realization at one time or another that you've forgotten something. It's inconvenient at the least but when you're cruising it gets much more challenging. For instance, the first day of the cruise is usually at sea and there's no guarantee that the ships sundries shop will have what you need especially if it is something unusual, specific to your needs, a prescription.

An article on Cruise Critic, 17 Epic Cruise Fails, brought a chuckle here and there learning about other peoples woes. My own panicked experience on one cruise was that I'd discovered my mistake in not packing a new set of contacts to replace the ones I was wearing in a couple of weeks when they needed to be changed. Luckily the first several days of our cruise was along the East Coast of the USA and I was able to find a place that faxed my eye doctor for my prescription. They offered me a sample pair they had on hand. It wasn't my prescription exactly but it was close enough to get me through without having to resort to using my glasses for the end of the cruise. And they didn't charge me!

My other epic fail was on the first day again of another cruise. Bob brings some adapters for the 220 volt outlet in the stateroom in order to charge electronics. I knew that I needed a special converter for the hair dryer. I just wasn't thinking until I plugged into one of the adapters and turned on my hair dryer/curling iron. It was a lovely blue flash, an ugly smell, and I spent the rest of the cruise using the brush from my dryer and trying to style my hair with the ship's dryer. Ah, the lessons we learn.

Check out that article at Cruise Critic. It'll bring some smiles if not some laughs. Maybe even a been-there-done-that moment.

You've Won A Vacation!

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Good philosophy and one my hubby sticks to. Ever get one of those phone calls where they tell you that you have won a free vacation? It's usually in the Bahamas. Sounds good but. . .

We had some friends who took the bait. What the "free vacation" caller didn't say was that you had to find your own way down there. When you got there, you were bombarded with sales pitches for the property's time shares, etc. Not terribly relaxing and the travel cost them more than a booked getaway would have through a travel agent.

We have sat through time share talks. If you have time to kill and would like a free dinner or some other perk it's okay. The time shares all start out sounding really good until you do some checking. The fees are a killer and if you can't find renters to fill in between your stays then you are paying a whole lot more for what you are getting. Go online and check out how many are for sale. There's a reason so many are trying to get rid of them.

Now we have some family and friends who have some time shares and have learned to use them really well. It takes a lot of researching, calculating, and smart planning to get your money out of them.

Maybe it's the wanderlust in me but I'd rather go where I want to go, when I want to go, and have the freedom of more choices.

If you're still curious about whether or not a time share is right for you, here's an article from the Federal Trade Commission about looking into buying one.

Valentine's Day is for Sweet Hearts

Valentine's Day is primarily considered as the day for sweethearts to express their love for each other. Today I would challenge you to look at it in another way. How about making the day a time for sweet hearts? I know. It's a play on words but stay with me.

A sweet heart doesn't necessarily need a "significant other" as a special love interest is called in today's terms. A sweet heart reaches out to others rather than looking for what will be received from others. Look around you today and see where a sweet heart might brighten another's day. Is there a shut-in nearby? A family member or friend who's lost a spouse? A neighbor who could use a helping hand or just a reminder that they are cared for?

The receiving is in the giving. Try a random act of kindness or two or more. A sweet heart will enrich your life as well as the lives of others.

There was a reason Jesus said, "Do to others as you would like them to do to you." The thought is not only golden, it's sweet!

Through My Lens - A Bird's Eye

The Fear of Travel

So many people we meet are awed by our daring to travel to so many distant and unusual places. Many are afraid to travel. With that thought, I figured there must be a name for fear of travel and sure enough, it popped right up in my search engine. At first glance I thought it said hobophobia. The fear of traveling hobos? But no, it is actually hodophobia. Who comes up with all these names?

What keeps people from a great travel adventure? Many times it's the fear of not knowing the language of the region. There's an easy way around that. Stay in the tourist areas. Most people in the tourist areas of a country speak enough English to at least be able to get along. Most speak very well. Many restaurants have menus in different languages including English. And if you happen to be in Japan, you can point to the pictures on the menu or the fake food plates in the display case.

Speaking of eating, if you are leery of getting some bad food, the kind that might make you sick, stick to restaurants in hotels or use TripAdvisor to choose your dining spot. There should be some choices on the menu that are more desirable to the palate of one who doesn't like to experiment with new foods. A simple rule to follow is to never eat raw fruits or vegetables in a place where water quality may be a concern. If they are washed in the water they could have contaminates. Cooked foods should be hot. Cold types of food cold. Simple rules that you would follow at home. Also be sure to wipe the bottle of water you purchase before drinking from it especially if it's been in a tub of ice.

Of course one of the greatest impediments to setting out on a travel adventure might be the fear of flying. There are some professionals who can use therapy techniques to help you overcome that but there are still lots of places to go without having to fly or even some clever ways around it. We met a couple recently who cruise to the places they want to go and since there are ports on the East and West coast, they can get from one side of the country to the other with a little ingenuity and a good travel agent.

In this day and age of terrorism I'm sure there are many who will use that excuse not to venture out. Remember that even in our own neighborhoods the potential for danger is present. Keeping inside our homes and not venturing out (I think that's called agoraphobia) is truly not a great option. Using common sense at home for your safety is the best way to cope and is the best advice for when you travel. Don't go out alone at night in places you are not familiar with. Pay attention to your surroundings. Don't leave your hotel door ajar to run to the ice machine. Keep your wallet in your front pocket or money in a security pouch in your waistband. If you have a fear of traveling to some areas of the world, don't. But do enjoy the areas that you feel more secure in exploring.

And then there was the cruise where one of our tablemates cried every night because she couldn't connect with her grandchildren each day. Today she might have been better off since internet connections and wireless phone connections are so much improved. So if you fear not being connected, take heart. We've facetimed with family several times on trips to sing happy birthday to grandkids. It may be a little slow in some places but chances are you will be able to stay connected and post all those great pictures to Facebook.

Wordless Wednesday

Coastal Birds - Roseate Spoonbill

The Florida Wild Bird Center is just down the road from where we are spending the season as they call it here. That's January through March when the area is populated with the species called "snow birds." We stopped in again this year for a walk about and were treated to an up close view of the beautiful Roseate Spoonbill.

The last time we visited, the spoonbill that hangs out there was in the middle of a salty pond and hard to see. This time he was fishing one of the creeks that runs through the preserve. The pink and salmon colors of his plumage are beautiful especially in the sunlight.

His bill from which he derives his name is handy for finding the tidbits he likes to dine on. He walks along and moves his bill from side to side to scoop up his meal. While he likes to dine on crustaceans he also enjoys little bait fish which were plentiful in the creek he was wading through.

The spoonbill is found in marshes often where there is brackish water and lots of mangrove trees. He is common in Florida as well as in parts of Texas and Louisiana. He's related to the iconic Florida ibis. The University of Miami chose the ibis over the spoonbill. It probably was a good idea. A football team dressed in pink might not be the best choice.

Through My Lens - Who?

Books For The Road - Peony by Pearl S. Buck

Once in a while I get out of my mystery-suspense-detective mode and switch to something a little more literary. Peony by Pearl S. Buck popped up in recommended reading on my library page and I decided to give it a go. So glad I did.

Peony is set in Kaifeng, China, in the 1850s. My first surprise was that the prologue pointed out that while the story was fiction, there actually were colonies of Jews that had settled in China after fleeing persecution in their own land. Peony is actually a bond servant (read slave) in the household of some very wealthy Jews who make their living by bringing foreign goods into China for sale and trade. As the story progresses you are introduced the the conflict of trying to keep true to their religion and yet blend with the Chinese culture.

Peony is sort of caught in the middle and we see the conflicts of culture and religion through her eyes. She is attracted to the son in the home with whom she has known since they were both children growing up together. Her love for him is as pure as it can be despite her deep desire to be his wife or concubine. And when David discovers his feelings for her the love conflict deepens.

It is an amazing story told by an author who has a sensitivity for the culture of China since she spent so many years there. It's a great book for the road and a lot of food for thought.

Wordless Wednesday

Those Hotel Booking Challenges

When our son is on the road heading to our house or his in-laws, he loves the challenge of using Priceline for booking his night's stay. Thank goodness his family is adventuresome because they pull into the parking lot and go online on his smartphone to book. They have gotten some great deals and some not so great. Bob and I, on the other hand, are not quite so adventurous when it comes time to where we are going to put our heads to rest for the night.

If you are a plan-ahead type one of the best ways to assure a good room is to join the chain's loyalty program. When you book on their website and use your loyalty card you usually get a better choice of rooms. One article I read said that the Priceline and other low price sites to book through get the "ice machine" rooms or basically whatever is left. With our booking we have even been able a couple of times to choose our own room. Of course that's not always best if you don't know what side the freeway is on. Just sayin'.

If you have any special requests or concerns, you can always call before arriving to be sure your room is what you expect. For example the king size bed rather than two doubles and certainly a smoking/non-smoking preference.

Use a credit card rather than debit or cash. You have a lot more recourse if you are wrongly charged for something. Besides, the right credit card can earn you points toward more travel.

Double, make that triple check that you have the right hotel in the right place when you are booking online. For that matter make sure you have the correct date as well. We booked the wrong night once and arrived to find we did not have a room reserved until the next night. Luckily there was a room available but it had us scurrying to check the rest of our reservations for that trip.

And probably something I should have started with is to check reviews and compare prices of different hotels in the same area. Reviews are especially important. Those online pictures may show some wonderful amenities and property views but the tale is told best in the reviews you can find online at places like TripAdvisor.

While booking on the fly night by night might be a great adventure, I prefer to know where I'm getting my Zzzzzs ahead of time.

Staying Healthy And Active While Traveling

We joke about the freshman ten pounds when our kids go off to college but what about the vacation ten pounds that looms up as we kick back to enjoy some time exploring this great world of ours? Here are some tips for getting around that and maybe staying a little healthier while we're at it.

Road trip? Either pack a cooler or  buy a soft sided cooler bag at the local grocery when you arrive at your starting point. A few zip lock plastic bags for ice which can be had at hotel ice machines will keep items fresh for you during the day's journey. Stop at a local grocery for finger food like carrots, celery sticks, cheese bits, fruit and nuts. Eating light by snacking on these will keep you more comfortable on the road. Often times there are healthy choice sandwiches you can pack along as well for lunch and avoid the burgers and fries with all the salt and grease.

Be sure to make a stop midday that allows some time to get out and walk for twenty to thirty minutes even if it's just around a parking lot. A little research ahead of time usually yields some good spots to stop along the way.

Plane ride? A short plane ride as well as a long one can be even more uncomfortable if you grab greasy fast food to eat on the way or before you board. Avoid carbonated beverages as well unless you enjoy feeling like a giant balloon. Water is preferred over alcoholic drinks but I know some people feel they need a drink to get through their flight. I've read that fasting 16 hours before a flight helps with jet lag but I'm not a "faster" so I'll leave you to decide that.

If you can't get out of your seat to walk a bit, be sure to do a little exercise by flexing your feet at the ankles. Try to flex the calf muscles several times and if you are able maybe even draw your knee up a few times just to keep blood circulating. The plane's magazine usually has some exercises outlined in it.

Cruising? Ah, now here's where the rubber meets the road. Not a good metaphor but you get my meaning. Oh, those food opportunities. The key here is to plan ahead. Love those dinner choices? Eat light for lunch. Stick to the fruit or salad choices at the buffet or eat in the main dining room and only order a light meal. No matter how much that waiter pouts, if you've had enough and are trying to save calories, do..not..order..dessert. If you must, stick to a fruit plate. Or if you want dessert, plan ahead and don't have an appetizer. Make good choices.

All ships have some kind of gym but one of the best exercises is to skip the elevators when you are moving about the ship and use the steps. Can't do steps? Find that promenade deck and circle it a few times. There's always a sign somewhere that tells you how many times around are a mile. Go for it! Every day!

No matter where you are traveling, it's all about good food choices and finding a way to get a little exercise. Walking is almost always an option. As one of the local Florida Keys restaurants says, "Eat well, Laugh Often, Live Long!"

Flashback Friday - Where Was I A Year Ago?

Facebook always reminds you of things from the past and I thought it would be fun to look at where we were last year on this day. The World Cruise had us in Columbia and here are some of the pictures I posted from then. Sigh, nice time.

Vacation Mail Woes

Last year when we did our 108 day World Cruise, we had our mail forwarded to a post office box at home and had a friend pick it up once in a while, check it for anything that looked really important, and save it. That went pretty smoothly and didn't cost an enormous amount of money.

This year we thought we had it all set in place but the glitches began with our arrival in Key Largo. Bob had arranged for our mail to be forwarded to the Key Largo Post Office and then sent a hold mail card so that they would keep our mail until we arrived after our two week cruise.

Upon arrival, we asked for a key to the mailbox for the condo. Added to all the other "surprises" we found at the condo (see my post) the owner said that it was somewhere around the condo but he couldn't remember where he'd stuck it. When we couldn't find it, he suggested we have the complex manager change the lock on the mailbox and we were to tell him that he'd pay for it.

After the manager arrived back from a short time off, he refused to change locks because the last time he did it for this owner, he didn't pay for it. We were back to square one with our mail on hold at the local PO.

Meanwhile there was no mail showing up for them to hold. Phone calls to our home PO revealed that they'd never got the information from the online request Bob had made. Luckily he'd kept all the reference numbers and they finally found it and released the mail they were holding to forward. They thought it was strange because our carrier had brought the mail into the office and said there was something wrong. We have a great mail carrier and he knows we travel a lot so at least he didn't call the police to break in and see if we were dead.

Well, the mail got forwarded but now Bob had to change the forwarding address to the PO box. He did it online again. As weeks went by and there was nothing showing up in the mailbox and the hold on our mail at the Key Largo PO was about to run out, he called home again. Now here it got even more confusing. The mail gets sent to someplace, I think Bob said Michigan, and then it gets the forwarding sticker put on and gets sent on its way.

Bottom line: By the time this all gets straightened out it'll be time to come home. Yikes! Next year we need to work on lining this up a little more efficiently. Like just getting a PO box right away which can be reserved online and having the mail forwarded there. No holds barred.

Wordless Wednesday

Where Was Star Wars The Force Awakens Filmed?

Good question and I was curious. We've been to Hobbiton where the Hobbit movies were filmed and we explored the Warner Bros. studio just outside of London where the Harry Potter movies were made. I had no idea where, outside of a graphic arts computer program, the scenes in Star Wars might be shot. Thanks to Smarter Travel.com I found out.

While you cannot go in, the Pinewood Studios just outside London is where a lot of the magic takes place.

Skellig Michael, Ireland is another place that crews were seen shooting part of the movie. I'm guessing it was probably the last scenes. I won't give that away. This is a popular tourist place in Ireland that will probably become more so once word gets out to fans of the Force.

Desert lands always seem to play a part in the Star Wars movie and they do so again. It is said that the sand dunes outside of Abu Dhabi is where they got the landscaping for the scenes that featured a dry arid planet.

Near the royals' Windsor Castle more staging took place and was revealed as a Star Wars set when a drone caught pictures of a Millennium Falcon and some costumed extras. The spot is in Berkshire, England.

Two other places are rumored to be shooting locations. One in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England, where filming for the Return Of The Jedi took place. Another is Iceland. Maybe by the time we get to Iceland this fall they'll be on the tourist map.

If The TSA Agents Ever Write A Book

Many of us have done it. Forgotten a water bottle in our carry-on. Didn't take those sewing scissors out of the bag. Or, like me, forgot a brand new bottle of cologne was in my carry on when I left the cruise ship for the airport. That cost me.

But there are lots of other strange things that get noticed in security and an article on Smarter Travel.com lists ten of them. Among them is a boomerang. Now we brought a boomerang home from Australia years ago but in our checked luggage thankfully. I had no idea it was listed as a deadly weapon.

Another one that people tried to get by the airlines was a dead body. Several instances are reported in the article. Like Weekend At Bernie's, they tried to disguise the dead passenger with sunglasses, etc., to make him appear as though sleeping. We have seen that sort of thing done once. On our first cruise to Russia it was reported that one of the excursion buses was late getting started because a family traveling with an elderly gentleman who had a heart attack and passed was "walked" back on to the ship to save all the red tape. Of course we can't be certain that it happened quite that way but it makes a good story.

Beware of those souvenirs. I remember the warnings of taking wooden souvenirs from Papua New Guinea into Australia. All sorts of nasty insects can hide or have eggs buried in the wood. All wooden souvenirs had to be inspected. Thankfully ours passed. Now in the article it is reported that one family was bringing clay objects into the country. When they were inspected it turned out that there were fragments of human bones in the clay. The souvenirs were confiscated as evidence in a murder. Now that's scary!

There are several other items of interest--dead snakes, samurai swords, etc. It's kind of interesting. Can you imagine the book of stories that could be published if all these security people got together and wrote about their experiences?

Through My Lens - Pelican Portraits

10 Odds N Ends Travel Tips

Here are some of the travel tips I've collected from here and there. Maybe one or two will be helpful to you.

1. If you don't have a fancy travel jewelry case, try stringing your fine necklace chains through straws to keep them from tangling.
2. When I have to hand wash delicates on the road, I use the hotel shampoo. If you don't want to chance it with their brand, pack a little baby shampoo to wash those dainties.
3. Fill those shoes with socks or belts or other smaller items you need to pack.
4. Avoid junk foods before and during flights. Instead make some wholesome snacks at home and take them along to eat on the plane. No liquids please.
5. Use a scarf, sweater, or airplane blanket to support your back in the airplane. Those seats are not made for the human body.
6. Dryer sheets tucked into your shoes, your dirty clothes bag, or just in a few corners of your suitcase will keep things fresher. They can also be used to reduce static cling by rubbing them against the item that is clingy. (Hairspray works too. Spray lightly inside the item.)
7. Many of your favorite toiletries come in sample sizes at your local pharmacy/drugstore. They save room when packing.
8. A small roll of duct tape or even masking tape will help in removing lint from clothes. Wrap around your hand, sticky side out and roll across the lint. No tape? Use that sticky side of your airplane luggage tag.
9. Pack a pillow case to use for keeping dirty laundry separate in your suitcase. A large Ziploc bag keeps a damp bathing suit from the dry clothes.
10. Use your smartphone to take a picture of any dings in your rental car when you get it. Then if there's a question later, you have the proof that you didn't do it.

Wordless Wednesday

The Lure of the Northern Lights

Alaska has been one of our favorite places to visit. Unfortunately it's always been during the summer when we have visited and during the summer, the days are very long and the nights short and not very dark. Not the ideal conditions for observing the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis.

The phenomenon is a light display that dances in the sky. It has something to do with the magnetosphere and solar influence and charged neutrons and protons. I don't understand it all but I would love to see it for myself. Besides Alaska, there are several other popular places for observing the lights--one of them being Iceland. As I've already posted, we are planning a trip to Iceland and hope to experience the Northern Lights at some point in our travels.

The farther north you are the more apt you are to see them. Countries like Iceland, Norway, Finland, Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Northern Canada are some of the best places to visit if you are looking for the Northern Lights.

Fairbanks, Ketchikan, and Anchorage offer lots of different ways to search for the lights. You can take an Arctic Cruise, fly over the Arctic Circle or soak in the hot springs near Fairbanks while you watch them. When I was researching a while back I remember running across a place where you can stay and someone on Northern Lights watch will call you when they appear and you can observe them from a windowed shelter.

In Lapland in the northernmost part of Finland, the lights are called fox fire after the local legend that claims a fox's tail caught fire and swished through the sky causing the lights.

Sweden seems to offer quite a few options including Tornetrask Lake where its unique microclimate offers clear skies for viewing.

Tromso is the most popular spot for viewing in Norway. I remember seeing a lot of literature there advertising Northern Lights tours when we stopped there during a cruise.

Smarter Travel .com has an article that lists many of the spots for viewing the Northern Lights if you are interested in picking out a spot. Not sure I'd want to watch them in Russia but the other places all sound good. If we strike out in Iceland, we'll have to try again somewhere else. After all, the Northern Lights are on the bucket list. We'll even brave the cold to see them.

Is A Cold Rainy Florida An Oxymoron?

Even the pelicans are hunkered down.

We have spent two weeks now in our snow bird stay in Key Largo. Out of those two weeks over half of them have been windy, chilly to cold, and rainy. I can hear the sympathy from the northerners. Yup. A collective moan followed by a sarcastic, "Gee, that's too bad."

When you're counting on good weather for your activity and entertainment, it is a bit depressing.  Since our condo did not come with a kayak for our use this year, we asked around and found a fellow who recommended buying an inflatable from Amazon. He showed us his and when Bob looked at the price, he found it reasonable--especially since he had Amazon gift cards that would almost cover the cost.




It arrived on a cold, windy and rainy day. We took it into the condo to inflate it and check it out. It looks pretty good. All we need to do now as someone commented on Facebook, is to add water.  Unfortunately because of the wind and waves due to a north wind, we haven't been able to add the water yet.

Morning walks have been successful with only a minimum of raindrops and once in a while we can whack a tennis ball around the court (we're not good enough to play a game) so life is good mostly and we have made some new friends. As they say, misery loves company.



So as soon as the weather breaks, we're off to find the manatees and hopefully not the nurse shark or the alligator some have reported seeing. After all, we're in an inflatable and the patch kit that came with it isn't very big.

My Word for 2016 - Celebrate!

Seems I'm a little late here on this choose a word for the year thing. Everyone else seems to have come up with one quickly and posted on Facebook. Not only am I late but I'm using the same word I did last year. I can do that since I didn't officially declare it my word for the year. I don't usually choose a word for the year. But here I am joining the pack.

My word for the year is CELEBRATE. It came to me last year when I was having a hard time coping with some things and suddenly realized that I was spending too much energy on woe-is-me stuff. The song, Celebrate Good Times - Come On! was playing on the radio and it stuck in my head. You know how those things can just run around and around in there sometimes.

The more I thought about it the more I realized that it's not a bad plan of action, philosophy, or whatever else you want to call it. Here I was wallowing way too often in things that were making me sad, mad, and felling bad when I really should be celebrating life.

Our lives have been blessed with so much and when I let myself wallow, well, it doesn't make me the thankful person I should be. So now when I find myself an the verge of wallowing, I say a little prayer of praise and then start the song in my head again. It works!

So join me. Adopt the word CELEBRATE for the year and the next time things threaten to get you down remember the blessings and start singing that song. Come on!

How Not To Find A Vacation Rental

In a few words: through a friend of a friend of a friend who you really don't know that well to start with whose friend didn't want to rent it in the first place. Could'a asked why. Would'a asked why if we weren't so glad to have found a place. Should'a asked why.

There were signs and a feeling in my gut but we couldn't find any other place available where we wanted to stay. So with a little fear and trembling we put the key in the lock and opened the door.
We weren't expecting the Ritz. We weren't even expecting it to be as nice as the condo we had rented several years in a row before going on a world cruise and losing our spot to other renters. And we kept telling ourselves at least we are in the gated community where we wanted to be.

We decided not to unload things from the car until we inspected. I always like to take pictures so that if there is any question as to the condition of the rental place when we leave, I have pictures to show of what it looked like when we arrived.

It was said that the condo was cleaned just a few days before we were to arrive but it was obvious from trash in several places and an empty paper coffee cup on the table that someone had been there since if it had been cleaned.

The bathrooms looked okay except for used bath products in the tub/shower and on the sink including a bar of soap with hair on it and a tube of toothpaste that was almost empty. I shuddered.

Okay, I thought. We can clean things up. Then we looked in the refrigerator. It had all sorts of half eaten, half used items in it. I shuddered again. Then I tried to open the freezer. The door wouldn't budge. It took Bob sitting on the floor with his foot against the bottom and all his strength to open the door. Once open it was obvious this hadn't been defrosted in a long time. I fought off tears.

Undaunted my wonderful husband volunteered to clean it out while I took care of some of the other things. It took us a couple of hours to feel we could actually spend the night and a week of cleaning, trying to get WiFi and a mailbox key, buying and installing a new shower head, getting a toaster and several other little details that cropped up.

Still haven't figured out why all the pillows are stuffed
 between the headboard and wall.

There was little response from the owner and when he suggested we get the office for the development to replace the lock on the mailbox because he couldn't find the key, they told us no because he hadn't paid for the last lock they changed for him. At that point we knew that there wouldn't be much help coming.

It has garnered us some sympathy from others who have experienced the same thing in years past and were wise enough not to rent that unit again. And now we're experienced. There will be no more friend of a friend of a friend suggestions to follow up on. We're sticking with VRBO and other rental agencies where we can get feedback and reviews. Lesson learned.

By the way our worst fear, lingering cigarette smoke smell, was not realized. Sometimes you just have to celebrate the little things in life.

Wordless Wednesday

Books For The Road - Lost In The Fjord

In anticipation of the trip to Iceland we are planning, I was perusing one of the travel books on Iceland and found that the town of Akureyri has three authors from there. The most famous of which is Jon Sveinsson, author of the Nonni books. There is a series of Nonni (the main character) stories but I was only able to find one, Lost In The Fjord. Perhaps the others haven't been translated to English or are a bit more obscure.

Lost In The Fjord while said to be a children's story is written much like Heidi or The Little Prince. Not like the storybooks we find today for kids. The story is of a boy and his brother who venture out into the fjord near their home in Akureyri and against advice and warnings from their mother as well as several others, they row too far out into the fjord and are swept out into the ocean. They have a great adventure and in doing so also make a vow to God to help bring others to faith.

I thought the story was entirely fiction but in reading the notes at the end discovered that there really was a Nonni and a Mani and they were the author and his brother who kept their vow and joined the Jesuits.

It's a charming story and gives a little glimpse of life in the early 1900s in Iceland. A nice read before going on the road again to travel Iceland.

628 Days On A Ship

But not all at once!

We keep a log of all our trips, the length, destination, cruise or land, etc. When people discover that we've done 55 cruises, they always ask what cruise line we like the best. My answer is always the one going where we want to go at the best price. Just out of curiosity though I decided to add up all our cruising days. The total is 628. Almost two years of my life spent on a cruise ship. So which cruise line did we use the most?

The tally was fairly even. Celebrity came out on top with 144 days. It was the first cruise line we used and fell in love with it. There was a time however just after they were purchased by Royal Caribbean that things went a little crazy and they got away from what defined them. It was during that period that we tried the waters with some other lines. Eventually Celebrity decided that it was losing loyalty with the changes and went back to most of what made it so great. Of course Royal Caribbean melded the loyalty points across their cruise lines so ours rose considerably because of some of the RC cruises  (52 days) we took .

Second on our list is Crystal Cruise Line with 136 days but not because we did a lot of cruises with them. There were only three but one of them was our World Cruise of 108 days. We are very tempted to increase those days with another world cruise.

Coming in third is Holland America with 127 days. If we hadn't had such a horrible experience on our very first cruise with them, we might have done more. It took a long time to give them another chance but when we did, we thoroughly enjoyed cruising with them.

Not to be forgotten are the wonderful cruises we took with Cunard, Princess, and one with Radisson (our very first Christmas Cruise on the Paul Gauguin). And then there were those two river cruises. . .

Ah, the memories.

My point in all of this (I usually have one) is that there is no one size fits all cruise line. Everyone finds different things to like with different cruise lines and it changes as the lines evolve, change their market focus and make changes to keep things interesting. Just like a good dessert buffet don't be afraid to try a variety. And if it's your first cruise, talk to your travel agent about what you enjoy on a vacation--entertainment, food, etc. A good TA will be able to match you to a great cruise.

His Majesty

My friends and coauthors of several books, the Word Quilters, are a patient group. Since we are scattered all over the country, we communicate often through emails. Sometimes the question is asked of me, “Where are you now?” Since our children are all grown, my husband retired, we travel even more than we did before. Our feet have touched on all seven continents and completely circumnavigated the globe. It is quite a masterpiece our God has created and we have enjoyed every little corner we have found to explore.

More than that, God has opened my eyes to His majesty. High on a mountainside in Alaska, I was reminded of the strength and peace He brings. On a dive trip to Papua New Guinea, I observed a little fish dart in and out of a strong current to seek shelter in a rock just as I seek shelter in my Rock. Amid the red desert sands of Australia, we paused to learn how the Desert Oak sends a tap root into the earth to seek life giving water. How like us who need to tap into the Living Water.

The most touching experience we had however was on our trip to China. It was one I didn’t want to take but bent to my husband’s desire for his “trip of a lifetime.” We spent eight days on a land tour that took us from Beijing to Xian and the Yangtze River. I prayed that God would show me each day that He was at work in China; that His presence was there and would be felt. That prayer was answered each day in many ways but most dramatically in the middle of a river tour.

 On board a catamaran, we explored a tributary of the Yangtze River in the beautiful Three Gorges area. There were about one hundred twenty-five English speaking tourists on the boat and after our guide was finished telling us about the culture and traditions of the area, it was suggested that we sing a favorite song. In the middle of a river, in the middle of China, over one hundred voices rang out in the most beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace I have ever heard.

Majesty. His majesty is felt everywhere people are willing to let Him into their hearts