We're home! Just kidding. But it almost feels like it because we put our feet on US soil today! One day's stop in San Diego today let 800 passengers off and took on 700 new ones. These "transition" days are hard on the staff and hard on the oncoming passengers as well. Room stewards are busy getting rooms of departing departing passengers cleaned and ready for new passengers as they arrive. The cruise terminal is chaos as long lines of weary travelers stand waiting to be processed. Some fail to obtain visas from various countries ahead of time and frustrations of those behind them rise. Been there, done that and thankful we don't have to do it again!
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| hey! yall got any french fries? |
Even though California is one of my least favorite states, it was nice to be in familiar surroundings. Any time there's US currency and a Walmart Super Center, it feels like home. Hopefully before we set sail, Amazon boxes will be delivered to our room as well.
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| downtown San Diego |
The weather is beautiful today, though always windy in and around a port. Our "excursion" today was a walk to the nearest UPS store and Uber rides to and from the nearest Walmart Super Center, 20 minutes each way.
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| headed to UPS |
It's hard to believe we're already 1/3 of the way through our trip around the world, but we're ready to set sail again. Oh, and we were able to find mint chocolate and banana chips for our room stewards. Good ole' Walmart and good ole' USA.
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| US Coast Guard in port |
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| sailboats in harbor |
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| perfect weather for dining on back deck |
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| looking down from our balcony as supplies are loaded onto ship |
Update: Once again we were late getting away because of the amount of supplies that had to be loaded onto the ship. Good news! Our Amazon packages finally arrived, so we're very happy about that. Also, Ronnie's Dr. Peppers and Extra Toasty Cheez-its arrived as well. And Ronnie has already spotted a few people we met on the 2023 cruise, so we'll enjoy re-uniting with them, as well as meeting more people who are on for the rest of the trip.
We'll be at sea for the next 5 days so I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging as I probably won't have that much to share. We're headed to Honolulu and should arrive on March 13.
Here's a shot of the harbor as we left tonight. You can still see the US Coast Guard ship on the left and the WWII aircraft carrier Midway in the back (red, white and blue lights) along with part of the skyline. Here's her story according to Mr. Google "Commissioned on September 10, 1945, just eight days after WWII ended, the USS Midway (CV-41) was the lead ship of her class and the largest warship in the world at the time. Named to commemorate the pivotal 1942 Battle of Midway, it featured an armored flight deck and was designed to hold over 100 aircraft. Though missing WWII combat, it became the 20th century's longest-serving carrier (47 years).
Hope Amazon comes thru for you
ReplyDeleteThankfully it did! Yay!
DeleteBarbara: I know Ronnie was glad to see his snacks and DP! A couple of our favorite things to do in Honolulu are to go to Punch Bowl National Cemetery. It is amazing how many people were never recovered, but their names are on the walls. We also love to go to Foster Botanical Gardens which started out as a man's home, and has fabulous specimens of trees...which are huge. Most visitors do not go to these. Greg says if Ronnie wants a really good hike to go to the Cocoa Head Trail. It is pretty taxing, so it would be a Ronnie thing, not a Jan. We like China Town in mornings. They have lei stores and hula supply stores, and the noodle makers and market. And if you are there a couple of days, Byodo Inn near Kaneohe is a beautiful Buddhist temple set in front of Koolau Mountains. If you want any opinions on cool things in Hawaii, just ask. We lived in Kailua, which is a short drive through the tunnel in the Pali. Two world class beaches are there. And there are kite surfers, kayaking...and cool people watching.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great suggestions! We have no excursions booked for either place. I especially love China Towns (thinking of San Francisco and Vancouver). Are the Foster Botanical Gardens anything like Butchart Gardens? Lots of flowers? All this Humphrey Slocombe ice cream on the ship has made me even less of a candidate for the beautiful beaches to come!!
ReplyDeleteThey usually have orchids ...not like Buchart Gardens. The trees are enormous-like you'd find in a rain forest. And they have orchids and some ferns. There is a nice collection of different palms. My favorite are the Kapok trees...remember how pillows and cushions used to be stuffed with Kapok? The orchids are both in a building, but also growing out on the trees. The garden was started in the 1850's or so by a local doctor. Greg and I enjoyed it a lot. They have concerts on the lawn there sometimes. There are usually some beautiful birds and songbirds the Chinese brought to the islands there. It is a nice peaceful place-not fancy, but we loved it because it was obviously a home and a garden and people who started it just liked all kinds of plants and trees. Kind of like Mercer Arboretum was in the early days. Byodo In is beautiful for photographs, and maybe for Ronnie's artist's eye. https://byodo-in.com/
ReplyDeleteBarbara, I'm not old enough to remember pillows and cushions being stuffed with kapok. LOL! Thanks as always for the great info!
ReplyDelete