This morning I arrived in Hilo. I took a few photos from the ship before taking a taxi to the airport to get the rental car. Another Jeep with removable roof. I drove about 45 minutes to Hawaii Volcano National Park. I’m getting use of my new National Park pass. I stopped at the visitor…
I thought about waking up at 1:30am for the Haleakala sunrise, but I was pretty tired from yesterday’s circumnavigation of Haleakala. I got a reasonable start to the morning. I attempted to order an Uber, but port security wouldn’t let them in. I took a taxi to the Maui Beach Hotel where I parked the…
Don’t try this at home… Well at least not the entire loop of Haleakala like I did today. Today I arrived in Maui. I took a taxi to the airport ($15) to pick up the rental car. I reserved an open air Jeep for the two days in Maui. After removing the top I started…
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…
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…
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…
The drive to Buffalo was uneventful. I went to Duff’s for wings before leaving…. hot, extra crispy. They were good, but not really special. I almost got 40,000 miles for getting in a little later, but I didn’t get bumped on the first flight. Small airplane to Newark. They offered a $800 voucher to be…
The annual Christmas pilgrimage… I’m flying into Buffalo because the rental car is cheaper and there were more options to get back to Houston. I volunteered for a later flight and bid the maximum 40,000 miles, I doubt I’ll be bumped, but if I do it will be worth it…. this round trip ticket was…
I took a few pictures from the hotel rooftop bar this evening before dinner.
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…
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…