The last three weeks have flown by, and it's a shock to think we only have a week left in Thailand before moving on. We continue to love Thailand and Bangkok, in particular the low stress culture, kindness and generosity of the locals, the beautiful weather we've enjoyed here over the winter, and just all there is to see and do. And I am SO fortunate to have Matt to share it all with!! Thailand is largely Buddhist, Hindi and Muslim so Christmas isn't everywhere you look here,

Bangkok. Wow. It is hard to know where to begin! Matt's metaphor for Bangkok is an amusement park ride that is all set up, being used by millions of people, then you realize it was never safety inspected. It is full of paradoxes: old yet modern, chaotic yet rooted in tradition, exciting yet terrifying. We LOVE it! I have felt truly safe everywhere I have gone - regardless of the time of day. People are incredibly helpful, kind and patient. It is a very culturally diverse city

Singapore is an amazing place. It is like being in a botanical garden everywhere you go. The weather during our stay was a perfect 80-degrees F with a slight breeze. The infrastructure is first-class. We could never afford to settle there! Below is a picture of the world's tallest indoor waterfall...and it's at their airport. This is a city worth visiting! We only had a day and a half in Singapore and we spent the majority of our time at the Botanical Garden, and especially i

We flew from Sydney to Perth on November 14, 2025. As you can see, the harbor is a bit smaller! Actually, Elizabeth Quay in Perth is on the Swan River and not a big ocean harbor like Sydney so it is necessarily more compact. The pic below shows the pedestrian walk on the right and a walking bridge connecting the two sides of the 'harbor'. You can take cruises up and down the Swan river and they even have swam-shaped boats you can rent and tootle about in. Below is a pic from

The most interesting excursion we had while in Sydney was, for me, the Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park: Home - Featherdale Sydney Wildlife Park . Our tour stop was for 2 hours and it wasn't enough. I would have liked to have spent at least another hour there. Above is a short=beaked echnid = a monotreme (egg laying mammal) like the platypus. Below are some of the little penguins endemic to Australia (thinking of you, Barb!) Below is a wombat sharing a drink with an Australi

Greetings from abroad my friends and family! Today is Thanksgiving in The United States and I'm writing this on Black Friday in Bangkok. The time zone is pretty brutal for reaching home. There are only a couple of hours in my morning that are reasonable to call the US in your evening, especially with my kids on the east coast - but we are managing to stay in touch via WhatsApp. I have a lot to catch folks up on and it goes almost without saying that I am grateful every single

Holy moly! Whose life is this? We spent a day in Samoa, on the island of Upolu in the city of Apia today. The people are so friendly and welcoming, very proud of their independence and country. We had coffee at a very cute internet cafe, Coffee Roasters, visited the cultural and history museum - which is in the process of a remodel and is going to be just beautiful went it's done. We really enjoyed just walking around, taking in the city and waterfront. Here are a few picks.

Yesterday we crossed the equator. I'm now officially in the South Pacific. At midnight tonight we cross the international dateline and set the clocks back 23 hours. So, I will go from midnight Monday, October 27 to 11:00 PM Tuesday, October 28. I will only exist for 1-hour on Tuesday. This seems a bit alarming, as I've existed for a full 24 hours on all other Tuesdays. The good news is: (1) We will get up tomorrow and already be arriving in Apia, Samoa, skipping what could

I spent a wonderful day on Kaua'i yesterday with Matt. What a stunningly beautiful place! And I only saw a tiny fraction of it. We visited the Kaua'i Museum, which had far more content than space to present it thoughtfully. Nonetheless, it had some real cultural treasures in terms of artifacts, and we learned a lot. I could have easily spent a week or more on Kaua'i. It is lush, rugged, and deserves to be explored. Our plans to spend the day with shipmates were pushed to Fij

How is it possible that I haven't had a new post in 5 days! I'm definitely falling short of my daily goal. In my own defense, Matt and I have been a bit under the weather with a cold. It was already going around the ship when we boarded. Apparently, this cruise started in Alaska, and it continues onward after dropping us in Sydney. I spent the first port day in Oahu on the ship getting some rest. Matt kayaked to a sandbar with his Oahu-based son and enjoyed his company. Yeste

It is Day 5 and I'm finally getting the connectivity thing worked out and was able to post a couple of overdue blog posts earlier today - yay! I thought I would share our itinerary since I've not listed it out on the blog yet. We are currently in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a little more than 1/2 way to Oahu, our first stop. Matt's son lives on Oahu, and it will be my first chance to meet him, so I'm very excited. Unfortunately, Matt is feeling a little under the weather

Okay - I said I would post something I learned every day. Day 1 at sea: Buying a Cruise eSIM from GigSky is not a reliable way to connect to the internet. I’ve only successfully managed to connect once and briefly. I also can’t use it as a hotspot for my laptop. Day 2: Ship Wi-Fi is $370 per device for the full cruise. I purchased it for 1 device only since it won’t allow me to make a personal hotspot from my phone. Day 3: I will be sure in the future to set up email verifica

Finally! Day 0 of a very long countdown and Day 1 of our adventure. It is surreal that this is really happening, that we are really doing this. I had the opportunity to visit my daughter in Buffalo with Matt last weekend, spend two weeks with my parents in July, visit with my son before he left for more training in the Marines, see my sister and her husband in Southern Oregon, connect with my oldest sister, have brunch with my brother and his lovely wife twice in the last mon

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