Exactly 21 hours after Richard and Joan picked us up from our house, we were in our hotel room at the Hilton Gardens Hotel in Santiago Chile. The flight from Portland to Dallas was uneventful, so with a little more than 3 hours to kill before our next flight, we found ourselves in the American Flagship lounge relaxing. When the time came, we boarded our 787 Dreamliner and were off to Santiago. The sea perch dinner we were served was outstanding for airline food. Our flight attendant, Brandi, was also outstanding. After a few hours, I had to ask her how she got on a long-haul trip at such a young age, and she told me that she felt very lucky. This was just her third long-haul trip and her first time serving in business class. She was outstanding. I usually don’t write “reviews “or answer surveys, but I sure did about her. Everything about our trip was amazing.
After arriving at the Hotel, we decided we really didn’t want to go site seeing, so we stayed there all day; napping, showering, and watching food network shows in Spanish. Lunch at the hotel was amazing and we could sit outdoors, it was 77 degrees out there. Perfect.
At 9:30 this morning, the front desk called to let us know that our driver was waiting for us, he wasn’t supposed to be there before 10. He took us to the San Antonio pier where we boarded our ship and found our home away from home in cabin 721. This ship is even more amazing than we imagined. The room is bigger, the bathroom is bigger, but the shower, not so much. I guess there is no such thing as a big shower on a cruise ship. We are very happy with our decision to book this trip. That says a lot more for Kim than me, I have the standards of your dog, you had me at go but say go on a boat and I’m so there…….
Okay, although not Pool Chronicle worthy, here’s what we heard a dinner tonight. As I have explained before, the officers and now the expedition leaders invite passengers to join them at their dinner table for conversation and, of course, dinner. We were sitting next to such a table where one of the expedition leaders was the host. As dinner went on, the guests started talking about jet lag and its effects on them. Then one passenger said, “Now I guess we will have to deal with the same time changes on this ship”. The Expedition leader says, “ I think we will go through 3 or 4 of them”. I almost choked on my Black Cod Fellet. For those of you who are not already laughing, here’s a geography lesson for you. Chile is one hour ahead of New York, New York is 3 hours ahead of Puget Island Washington (we live there). We are sailing to Australia, which is a bit west of Puget Island. It is also on the other side of the international date line, which makes them a day ahead of the USA. So, 3 or 4 hours? That puts us south of somewhere between Denver and Los Angeles. And he’s going to teach us what?
Thanks to all who have reached out to us to wish us a bon voyage. Tomorrows a sea day, so, stay tuned for more…….
Hello friends and family, yes, we are about to begin our next trip. We are traveling tomorrow to Santiago Chile and boarding our ship to sail from there to Darwin Australia. 55 days through the south sea islands. Our ship this year is the almost brand new Seabourn Pursuit. It is an expedition ship, that is to say it doesn’t go to big cities, it goes to remote places, sometimes deserted islands. As a matter of fact our first stop is Robinson Crusoe island. Read the ship details on our website and familiarize yourself with the ship.
We have been pretty much home bodies since we returned last May from our “Season One“ blogging trip. A few short trips here and there like when we went on a troll tour in the Seattle area, with a side trip the Vancouver Island to visit some old biking friends of Kim’s. We also flew to Bozeman to visit our dear friends there.
My winter project was to build Kim a greenhouse. I’m almost ready to put the dirt in so she can plant her garden in late May when we return from this trip. We have started what I will jokingly call a pre-trip (or just trip) tradition. A few years back we had planned a trip that included sailing around the Polynesian islands on a tall sailing ship, a RV tour of New Zealand and a cruise around New Zealand ending in Sydney Australia before flying home on Christmas Day. Well, Kim flew to Houston for a visit with her parents; while taking out the garbage, she slipped and broke her wrist. After a trip to the emergency room in Houston we decided to fly her home for surgery that included screwing a plate into her wrist and a cast. Well, we made the trip cast and all. Then a couple years ago we planned a National Geographic Northwest passage trip. We were to fly from Portland to anchorage Alaska where we met our leaders for a charter flight to Nome Alaska to board the ship. When we got to the Portland airport, Kim got out of the car and just disappeared. I couldn’t see her anywhere. Well, she had tripped on her shoelaces and fell. Thinking she was okay; we made our flight to Anchorage as scheduled. The next morning she realized she was not that okay and went to the emergency room to find she had chipped her kneecap. Well, we still made the charter flight to Nome and got aboard the ship. Kim had to forgo the land trips for the first week or so, but it all worked out and we had another wonderful trip that ended in Greenland. Well, with this trip coming up I jokingly told Kim to be careful so as not to hurt herself just before this trip. Well, it wasn’t her. This time it was my turn. While carrying a roll of ground cover cloth out to the new greenhouse, I tripped in the garage and fell flat on my face. My face and body hit the Concrete floor, my left shoulder hit the pile of lumber that I tripped over. I smashed my face, my glasses, chest pretty good. Kim called 911 and by the time they got there, I was sitting up but I couldn’t move my left arm at all. The ambulance crew assest me and decided I needed to go to the emergency room. I politely declined their offer and Kim took me to the urgent care unit at Kaiser. With X-rays they confirmed I had fractured my humuras bone, that’s the big bone right above your funny bone. Who makes up these names anyway? Neither are really very funny. That was January 23rd, by the way, just 7 weeks ago. It’s better now, but I’m still sleeping in my lazyboy chair. I’m thinking you might just see me sleeping in a lounge chair by the pool some nights. The worst part is I’m left-handed and yes it was my left arm that took the blow. Orthopedic doctor said I will never have full range of motion again. I’ll just be happy when the pain gets to a tolerable point and I can lift more than 5 pounds. Enough, of our “trip” tradition. We’re very excited to begin this adventure. And I’m excited to get my blogging fingers limbered up. Not to mention “The Pool Chronicles, you just can’t make this shit up” reports.
Goodbye Bangkok and hello Singapore. We have two days at sea before finally docking at our final destination, Singapore. We will have one day to explore and finish packing before we have an o’dark thirty trip to the airport.
If you’ve never flown from Asia to the USA, it’s always funny that we arrive in Seattle before we take off in Singapore. What? Really? How can that be? Well, we leave Singapore at 9:00 AM on Thursday and arrive in Seattle at 8:00 AM on Thursday. We fly for 15 hours straight. WOW.
Last night we had our farewell World Cruisers Gala and dinner. The dinner was cooked by the officers of the ship, not the Chefs. Best meal we’ve had all trip. An incredible event. We started with 87 World Cruisers and ended with 84. All of the ones that left walked off under their own power. Pretty good for a group that I originally labeled “canes, walkers, wheelchairs and grey hair”; don’t you think?
On sea days, we have team trivia. Well, I’m proud to tell you that our team won the series, and we all got some nice Seabourn gifts. We have met a wonderful couple that lives just north of Seattle, and they will come to our house to join us for Brewery trivia soon.
Two days in Bangkok allowed us to get a hull inspection and cleaning.
Here’s another street food delicacy, fried Tarantula anyone?
Even though we are coming to the end of sailwest.net (part 1), tease me please. I’m happy to inform you that there will be a part 2 and even a part 3. So, bookmark sailwest.net for future tales from the sea. And to my dear friends that let me vote on restricting future trips to less than 60 days, I’m glad I was there because there was nothing discussed about making the rule retroactive. We booked these trips back in January, sorry.
It has been hot for days now, temps in the high 90’s and lots of humidity. So, pool time was limited, but it still doesn’t stop people from talking and you know what happens when they open their mouths. Yes, it’s time for another edition of pool chronicles, you can’t make this shit up.
The people behind me were eating lunch today at the pool, one guy quickly establishes himself as a weatherman. We are certified weather watchers, so I’m going to listen closely to him. He correctly identifies the clouds we are seeing. The other guy asks if it’s going to rain soon. Well, that’s when his expertise started to crumble. He said from deck 8, we could see the horizon approximately 7 miles out, correct! Well, now look up from the horizon and notice signs of rain, correct. If it’s raining just 7 miles away, you can assume it will rain here soon, wrong. If you focus on where the sea meets the sky, it’s a logical assumption that it’s 7 miles away from our vantage point. But, once your eyes travel up to the clouds, they may be, and likely are several more miles away. Nice story guy, but fatally flawed.
We were going to dinner one night in the dining room, which happens to be on the same deck as the gangway, when a lady walks past a large sign and asks us where she can find the gangway. I pointed to the sign she just walked past and said the sign says that it’s this way.
Seabourn uses a service called Luggage Forward, you may remember when they took our luggage from our house back in December. Well, I can tell you that this service is not cheap, but Seabourn is paying for it for the World Cruise passengers. They sent a representative to the ship to help and answer questions and make sure all the bags get off the dock and onto a truck. When he volunteered to answer questions, he realized that was a real mistake with this group. He explained that DHL would handle the bags in Singapore and then either Federal Express or UPS.
Here come the questions:
Why can’t we lock our bags? (Because they might be inspected by both governments.)
Last time I used your service, someone broke into my bags and stole a bunch of stuff, can I expect that will happen again? (answer not needed).
I live in an apartment in Florida, there is nowhere to leave the bags, can you call me when they are going to be delivered? (You will be given a tracking number that you can track your bags with and we will send you emails.)
When we shipped our bags to LA, they ended up in a warehouse for a few days, if that happens will it be a climate-controlled space? I so wanted to say my bags were afraid of the dark, can they leave the lights on too?
I live a long way from the airport, will they still deliver them to me? (Lady, does FedEx or USP make deliveries to you?)
Seasoned travelers?
And now I must end with a small tribute to our friend Jim. With 80 years under his belt, he had a great life. He was a great husband, great Father, great friend, and all-around great guy. Sheila, as long as we are alive, you will never be alone. I’m sure there are several people in your inner circle that are telling you the same thing. Love you always.
After a very hot day in Cambodia, we are having a very hot beach day here in Thailand. Pulling out all the stops today, Caviar in the surf, BBQ, including lobster tail. Water sport toys, all for us on their very own private island.
Cambodia was trashy and there were unfinished skyscrapers everywhere. China (there it is again) was building apartments for their workers because they were putting some kind of factory there. Then Covid hit. They pulled out and haven’t been back since. China is controlling everything around here.
Our beloved captain was finally able to get off in Cambodia, as his replacement finally caught up with us. We all miss him.
Our hearts are heavy today as we learned a very special friend has advanced cancer and is not expected to live but a couple of days now. We are racing against time to get to Bangkok so we can call him and say goodbye.
Kim brought us street food for lunch in Saigon, it was the absolute best and amazingly cheap.
I promised you a caviar sail away and here it is.
In Cambodia, they brought on board some dancers and singers for a show that was amazing.
Tomorrow, we arrive in a port close to Bangkok, it’s a 3-hour drive and since we are there two nights, many passengers have chosen to stay overnight in a hotel in downtown Bangkok. Bangkok is an amazing city, we visited there about 20 years ago. Great memories.
And now, yes even though the heat is making my pool time limited, these people don’t let me down. It’s time for pool chronicles, you just can’t make this up.
Don’t eat too much lunch or you won’t be hungry for the tea and snacks at 4:00 this afternoon.
There was a pregnant lady pushing an empty stroller on deck 9 and taking a video of the pool deck, 8. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was practicing to be a mommy or is this a continuing video biography of her baby’s life, “baby’s first cruise”.
Jim, I hope my blog has brought you some laughs and smiles. We love you and will miss you.
One of the first things I want to do when I get home is watch Good Morning Vietnam.
Speaking of return trips, we have just 2 weeks left on this trip. Kirby was nice enough to remind me my lawn needs mowing. Funny thing about my friends, they found my top shelf spirits, but couldn’t find my lawnmower.
Today, I’ll take you on a potpourri walk through our trip with stories that are worth sharing, but haven’t made the cut yet.
When we arrived in Hong Kong, the authorities boarded the boat and locked down all provisions, i.e. liquor and tobacco. This was a huge surprise to Sean, our bar manager. He said he had all of his bartenders inventory their stock and moved things around so that no bar would run out. A few days later, I was visiting with him and asked for the details and he told me the complete story. He said some countries, like India automatically lock up his provisions, but he can prepare for that. He hides liquor and tabaco in an empty guest room or somewhere he knows they won’t look, but Hong Kong caught him off guard. He said this was a first, they have visited Hong Kong several times and this has never happened before. He went into Hong Kong and purchased whatever he would run short of, which is just exactly what Hong Kong wanted. Well, we all survived. Speaking of running out, Sean informed me we were about to run out of whisky, and he wanted to make sure my room was well stocked before that happened. He offered me a bottle of Elijah Craig, which was on the high top shelf, which means it’s not free in the bars. I said please and about 30 minutes later a bottle was delivered to my room! He really takes good care of me.
Kim wanted a little pocket money for Vietnam, so she changed about $20.00 for Dong and got 500 thousand dong.
What’s even better is the receipt shows our bank balance at just over One Billion dollars. We talked about coming back to live as billionaires in Vietnam, but then realized a dinner starts at a million dong, so we will stay home for awhile.
Our wonderful captain was scheduled to be replaced over a month ago, but his replacement didn’t have his paperwork in order and was not allowed to fly. So, our captain has stayed on much longer than he intended. We are all happy that he is still here. Speaking of crew, when you’re with the same waiters, bartenders, suite stewards, you start to bond with some of them. Ethan was just one of those guys that we both fell in love with. He was a bar server, waiter, busser, almost any job you want to name he probably did it, including room service. One day, he was nowhere to be found and we ask his friend and roommate where he was. Well, his mother had had a stroke and was in a coma, so he was trying to arrange a flight home. Ethan is in his mid-twenties, so, this was completely unexpected. Well, he got home okay and saw his mother. Now, the siblings have to decide what the next move will be with her. He says he will be back by Singapore, so there’s a slight chance we will see him again. Hope so.
We are now in Saigon where it is 96 degrees and humid (feels like 104). Kim is off running around, and I am staying in my room where it’s 71.
Danang’s tourism guide.
Fancy fishing boats.
Dragon Bridge.
I was finally kicked out of the observation deck lounge for wearing shorts. The funny thing was we were the only people in the lounge. I just don’t get it.
Because we are world cruisers, we are treated to special events every so often. Tonight we went to a bamboo circus, it was absolutely amazing.
We are leaving Saigon in the early afternoon tomorrow, headed for Cambodia. They are issuing extreme heat alerts there. More cabin time for me.
Champagne and caviar sail away tomorrow, sure wish I liked the stuff.
