This morning I woke up early and went snorkeling in the lagoon at the resort. There were a few fish near the rocks that were cut for the lagoons. After packing and checking out I went to Pearl Harbor. Luckily yesterday I got tickets for the 11am tour. I arrived at 10:15 and was able…
This morning my first task of the day was to wake up and reserve tickets for the Pearl Harbor tour. I already made reservations, but it was at 2 pm, ending at 3:15 pm which would make it difficult to reach the ship on time. Luckily I was able to get 2 tickets for 11…
This morning I took the direct United flight UA 253 from Houston to Hawai’i…. After checking in and going through security at terminal C, I got a text message saying the gate had changed to E5…. not a slight change. This required a significant amount of walking and a train to change between terminals. Eventually…
This morning I drove to San Antonio. I decided to visit the missions in San Antonio since I’ve only been to the Alamo. The first stop was Mission Espada. While I was there they had a mass in Spanish. Quite interesting that a church older than the United States was still being used, and that…
This morning I left very early 0630 flight. The corniche was closed due to a sporting event, so the Uber to the airport needed to take an alternate route. My seat to London… Picked specifically at the bulkhead to avoid climbing over someone’s legs or having them climb over me. The waffle was not very…
Today I booked a Hawaiian island cruise. This cruise is special because it only visits Hawaii and no foreign port. Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pride of America is a US registered ship. Most other cruise ships are registered in foreign countries and are required to visit a foreign port due to the ‘Passenger Services Act’ which…
Today I flew from Muscat, Oman to Doha, Qatar on Oman Air. I took a picture of West bay along the corniche while in the Uber. I am staying at the Marriott Marquis as usual. It’s very nice and connects to the City Centre mall, which is very convenient when the temperature outside is 50°C.
I finally went up in the observation deck in the Etihad Towers in Abu Dhabi. The view was good, but nothing to celebrate about. The windows were also a little dirty making photos less sharp.
I am traveling to Abu Dhabi today (luckily before the British Airways industrial action which cancelled many flights).
This Friday I decided to explore the new (and almost finished) National Museum of Qatar. The building is supposed to look like a desert rose.
Last day in New Orleans. Walked down Bourbon Street to Jean Lafite’s blacksmith shop (now a bar). Enjoyed a leisurely stroll down to the Mississippi River to wait for boarding the steam powered paddlewheel. At 1045 they played the steam powered calliope, which was interesting, but not spectacular. I tried to stay out of the…
This morning I visited a few museums surrounding Jackson Square. The first and most interesting of the three museums was the Cabildo. The Cabildo had a variety of different exhibitions on the history of the building, the family who owned it and Jean LaFitte, who was essentially a pirate who assisted the Andrew Jackson during…
This morning I took the historical Charles Street streetcar to the National World War II museum. It was quite larger than I expected and the museum was very good. It didn’t look like a library, they did a lot of work to make the rooms look realistic. I apparently only took photos inside the hangar….
The drive from Houston to New Orleans was mostly uneventful. I first stopped for lunch at Prejean’s in Lafayette. I couldn’t wait to get some real gumbo for the first time in years. Once I arrived in New Orleans I found driving near my hotel near impossible. Next time I’ll stay next to the French…
Well today started out like Charlie Brown kicking a football. I took a picture of the I amsterdam statue since no one was there. I took the train and got to the airport. I checked in – was 3 hours before my flight. Now that I look at the boarding pass it was even printed…
This morning I finished packing. We left the room at 8:30 AM and had breakfast. After breakfast I checked out the damage to the ship. I then dragged my luggage to the Centraal train station then on the ferry to my hotel. Of course the front door to the hotel was broken, so I had…
This morning we took a short bus tour and made a photo stop at a windmill. The bus tour took us around quite a bit of the city. After the bus tour we took an hour long canal boat tour. We decided not to go back to the ship, but go to Keukenhof Gardens from…
This morning we arrived in Koln in Germany, our last stop before arriving in Amsterdam. Our waking your started at 09:00. We walked around the area near the river and ended at the cathedral. I went into the cathedral, for some reason I think it was closed last time I visited. It’s very large and…
We were delayed a couple of hours this morning because of a malfunctioning lock. They did a good job getting our schedule re-arranged. This morning we sailed through the Rhine Gorge, a very scenic part of the Rhine River. It should be on everyone’s bucket list. After we arrived in Koblenz we had a nice…
This morning after breakfast I was setting up my GoPro on the back of the ship and the door was quite difficult to open on the deck. Only after setting it up did I notice the other passengers looking at damage on the ship. Apparently in the early morning the ship hit a bridge. Mostly…