Another Bento Box for lunch. I made it back to the Koyasan Tokyo Betsuin Buddhist temple before dark today. Nice antique fire truck in Takanawa The location of the 47 Ronin who committed suicide… Sengaku-Ji temple The view from my hotel room. The view from the hotel parking structure. Some very…
Bento box for lunch. A true “box lunch” Sunset at the hotel in Shinagawa. The Shinagawa train station. The first course of dinner. Unfortunately my jacket was hung up – with my phone. Description of all the dishes at the dinner. Koyasan Tokyo Betsuin…. a Buddhist temple in Shinagawa. Clouds were right for…
My flight arrived slightly later than expected. I decided that I wouldn’t get to see much if I left the airport…. Boarding started on my flight 4.5 hours after I arrived and the express train takes 24 minutes, leaves every ten minutes, plus going through security and immigration and a huge airport to get to…
After a nearly 4 hour car ride to the Dubai Airport from the empty quarter of Abu Dhabi I am flying on Cathay Pacific through Hong Kong to Tokyo, Japan. If my flight is on time I plan to escape the airport briefly as I have 6 hours between my flights. The seats…
The food available in the British Airways lounge was not very good. You might have noticed… my ticket says British Airways, but the plane says Air Belgium. I’m not exactly sure why, but British Airways has wet leased the plane including the flight attendants and pilots from Air Belgium. The…
Today I leave on my first segment of my trip that will literally take me around the world. IAH-LHR & LHR-AUH British Airways and Air Belgium (wet leased to BA) DXB-HKG & HKG-HND Cathay Pacific NRT-MEX & MEX-IAH AeroMexico I never did get breakfast… The…
I woke up early to get to Animal Kingdom before the park opened. The confirmation number I got from Disney did not allow me to request fast passes or link my ticket to my magic band before arriving at the park. I rode the tram although I was parked close to the park entrance. …
I woke up early to make it to Universal Studios around 9 AM. I went to the Harry Potter section in the Islands of Adventure Park first. I then took the Hogwarts Express train to the original park. It was okay, but I’m not sure it’s worth the extra money to travel between…
We had our breakfast at 8 AM in the main dining room. The last shuttle bus to the airport was at 10 AM, so we wanted to make sure we had enough time to get through customs and immigration. Going through immigration and customs was very painless. They looked at our passport and let…
Today is the last day of the cruise. The ship is visiting Great Stirrup Cay which is a private island in the Bahamas. I started the day by taking the tender to the island and snorkeling. I wasn’t in the right area, so I didn’t see too much. I had some lunch on the…
This morning the ship left Havana at 6 AM and is now headed towards the Bahamas. Apparently lightning hit the ship in the morning, but I was still resting after closing down all the bars at 3 AM. When I did wake up I went to the pool and relaxed in the pool and…
The shipped arrived in port early this morning. We were docked in a great location in Havana. We went through a short line through immigration where they took our visa and stamped our passports (although mine doesn’t say Cuba very clearly). I exchanged my Euros (80 Euro = 95 CUC), GBP (20…
I started my day with a behind the scenes tour of the ship. The tour took us to the laundry room, kitchen and backstage in the dressing room of the theater. No photos or video was allowed. The ship docked at an active military port. We were asked not to take photos while in…
I managed to finish packing last night. I always wait until the last minute…. 0330 alarm clock, left for the airport at 0430, arrived at the parking spot at 0530. I was in through security by 0555… one of benefits of traveling on a holiday is that there is no traffic. I used one of…
That’s the notice I see when I log into NCL’s system while I’m stalking the cruise price. I got the email confirming my upgrade to first class today. I haven’t been upgraded on United in a long time despite having 1K status. This flight was the cheapest round trip flight I’ve probably ever bought….
I embarked once again to Doha from Abu Dhabi. Oman Air has gotten smarter and now flies a much larger plane between Muscat and Doha. The plane on the tarmac got a bit warm. I managed to make it to Doha without any problem. I’m staying at the Marriott Marquis City Center. They upgraded…
My day started with a quick visit to the US Embassy (I don’t mean the one with the golden arches). I was inside for maybe 5 minutes and left with a second passport. It’s only good for 2 years, but at least now I have something I can send away for visas. In the…
I was lucky enough to escape the desert for a few days. The rate at the Ritz Carlton was insane… 385 dirhams a night… It’s nearly impossible to stay at a 3 star hotel in the states for that. A few pictures from and of the room… …
Today I return to Abu Dhabi via Amsterdam on KLM’s new 787-9. They used to use the Queen of the Skies (747) on the Houston to Amsterdam route. Progress is not always a good thing. The benefit of the 787 for passengers is higher cabin pressure and humidity. Obviously the airlines like the fuel efficiency…
After work I had a wonderful dinner at Y. O. Ranch Steakhouse. For my starter I had Louie’s Venidon Rollups (bacon wrapped venison, jalapeno, and smoked mozzarella). It was amazing. For my main course I had a Bone-in filet mignon topped with roasted bone marrow and fresh herb compound butter. It was also…