April 13-14, 2024 We docked in Yokohama a ten minute walk from the metro – which links to the Tokyo metro about an hour ride to central Tokyo. We traveled to Tokyo with friends – Yokohama ___ station to main train station, train to Tokyo, a short walk to a …
April 10-11, 2024 In Nagasaki, time stopped on August 9 at 11:02 AM, 1945, as the bomber Buscar dropped an atom bomb named Fat Boy just above the middle of the city named for the island on which it resided, effectively ending WWII in the Pacific. It exploded approximately 1800 …
April 7, 2024 John and I visited The Great Wall in fall of 2019, with colorful leaves changing, giving a lovely contrast to the grey and brown stones. We did not relish the thought of spending 6+ hours on a bus from Tianjin, but seeing the wall in spring would …
April 3-5, 2024 $1 US = 1,370 South Korean Won Busan: Second largest city in South Korea. With heavy rain off and on, definitely a museum day! Jeju: Seoul: Unfortunately, the taxi into town took about 30 minutes too long due to traffic and we missed our walking tour – …
March 31- April 1, 2024 Altogether, we will eventually have 7 stops in Japan, but divided by a few other countries. Ishigaki is not a common cruise port. We made the mistake of paying the $27pp shuttle from Royal to town – it would have been a $6 taxi ride …
March 30, 2024 $1 US = 32 NTD We were lucky that we visited a few days before the earthquake shook the island. A Very Abbreviated History lesson: In the 1500’s the island was called Isla Formosa – Beautiful island. In 1624, the Dutch East India Company established a base …
March 27-28 $1 US = 7.7HKD Hong Kong continues its transition from a British protectorate to part of China. The handover started in 1997 and will go for 50 years. As such, the people consider themselves from Hong Kong. They are very welcoming – and all of the ship’s passengers …
March 23-24, 2024 $1 = 55 Pesos This was my first time in the Philippines. It will not be my last. I’ve known many people from here: nurses, medical technicians, doctors and others the US tempted away for good paying professional jobs. The number one export from the Philippines is …
$1 US = 15,300 rupiah March 18-20 100 Days! Royal made us a cake to celebrate. I spent day 100 doing most of the same things as always – trivia, playing guitar, blogging, visiting, etc. A great day overall. Lombok – we visited Lombok in 2020 on the abbreviated CMV …
March 10-14, 2024 $1 US = $1.52 Australian We had a wine steward onboard named Jay (unfortunately his contract ended in Brisbane), who indulged our bunch of wine lovers after we attended the official “Women in Wine” presentation about a month into the cruise. Royal Caribbean intended the official tasting …