From Japan to Super Cyclone

This is a bit longer than usual so feel free to skip to the parts that interest you.  That’s why I use headings.

We are finished with the “Visit Japan” portion of the cruise and entering the wait out the “Super Cyclone” part of the cruise.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today is Wednesday, October 8 and yesterday was our last port in Japan before we get off the ship in Tokyo.

Sunday and Monday we were in the port of Muroran, with the closest big city being Sapporo.

Muroran - Day 1 - Sunday

We had a tour scheduled for Monday so we decided to stay on the ship on Sunday.  It was nice to have so few people on the ship that it nearly felt we had it all to ourselves. We explored places on the ship we hadn’t been yet and I finished another book.

Lots of people took the train into Sapporo on Sunday. It was about a 2-hour train ride.  Apparently that was a nightmare with long lines to get on a packed train since a big chunk of cruisers did this. It was on this train trip that the husband of a couple we have been talking to on the cruise, sat next to the husband of the person who was helicoptered off the ship.  He was traveling to meet his wife at the hospital, who had had a heart attack. They would not let him travel on the helicopter with her.  I can’t even imagine how I would have felt watching my ailing spouse fly away from the ship not being able to be with him.  I would be so worried.  Happy to say she is expected to recover!

Muroran - Day 2 - Monday

Monday we had a tour of the countryside, visiting Hell Valley (reminisent of parts of Yellowstone), a “Bear Park,” and Mount Usu. Although I loved the tour overall, the bear park was not my favorite stop as I felt they were just there to perform for the visitors.  It wasn’t a show or anything but it is clear they knew what to do to get the biggest kibble ever, sitting on their butts upright like a person and either lifting one big paw as if to wave or putting both paws together like they were praying. Essentially begging for food. It just didn’t feel right but the visitors were squealing with joy.

When thinking of our visit to Japan, I never thought about there being any natural beauty aspects to it.  I just thought of super-clean bustling cities with fancy toilets and tons of automation.  The countryside is lush, mountainous, and rather scenic.  We fell in love with it during the tour and thought, we may want to figure out how to spend more time in Japan than what we have scheduled.  If this is how it is going to be the whole trip - loving a place and wanting to spend more time there - we could be in for some hard decisions.

Lake Toya

Hakodate - Tuesday

Yesterday we were in Hakodate for the day.  We did not do a tour or excursion.  We took the free shuttle bus into town and wandered around.  

The first thing we did is find an ATM and get some yen.  There are 7-11s everywhere in Japan so we got money there and I bought a drink.  This was my foray into their crazy automation.  I went to pay and looked for the tray, my research told me would be there to put my money in.  It wasn’t there.  While there was a person behind the counter, just like every other 7-11, you didn’t give her the money, you put it in a machine that then gave you your change back.  Not too unusual but I was not expecting it.

The big draw in Hakodate was the morning market which was the cleanest market we have ever been to.  We saw the biggest green grapes, peaches, and apples I have ever seen in my whole life.  And they were beautiful and writing about it now, I could kick myself for not thinking to take pictures.

Hakodate Morning Market

However, the morning market took some shine off the glow I was feeling about Japan.  Before I tell you why, I have to preface it with a bit of background.  Sunday, as we were lounging around on the boat, I took the time to research Japanese customs.  I know their culture is so very different from ours.  So polite. So respectful.  I did not want to do anything to offend such thoughtful people. And I am fascinated by the bowing.

Japanese Customs

Some of the things I learned are:

1. No tipping. It is insulting.

2. When paying for something, never hand them your money.  There is a tray for the money, you put your payment on the tray, and they put your change on the tray.

3. No talking except for whispering on public transport.

4. There is a queue for everything, including taking pictures at typical tourist points. 

5. When you hand someone something like a business card, you hand it to them with both hands and the person receiving accepts with both hands and a bow (they bow for everything) and you NEVER write anything on it or simply toss it in a bag in their presence.

6. Personal space is very important to them - don’t touch them if you can help it.

7. There is a whole taking off your shoes thing that I will let you google for more information but apparently there are cubbies in restaurants and other public places for your shoes. And because of this, it is important not to have holes in your socks.

There are more, but those are the highlights and they give you a good idea about how structured their society is.

Cantelope is the New Koala (maybe not)

So here I am trying hard to be respectful, following all their rules so as not to offend anyone. We are in the morning market, oogling all their fruits and seafood. I see that the cantelopes still have their stems. I comment on this to Blaise who is walking in front of me, and reach over and touch the tip of a cantaloupe stem. A woman comes out of nowhere and starts yelling at me “No touch! No touch! No touch!”  She had on a medical face mask but I will never forget the hate an anger in her eyes!  No one has ever looked at me like that. Then she’s yelling at me in Japanese and pulls out a sign, two feet from where I touched that damn stem, out from behind some other fruit. After that she starts yelling at the lady in the stall across from hers and I know it’s about me be she shifts those angry eyes back and forth from that other lady to me. You would have thought I murdered someone.  Clearly I assaulted the cantelope. I am sure I am on a Most Wanted poster in Hakodate today.  I can’t ever go back.

The lesson - while I think Japan invented the term “polite society,” if you don’t follow their rules, the politeness ends and ugly begins.

And what did I get served at breakfast this morning in the main dining room? Cantaloupe juice. Not even kidding.

A street in Hakodate
Clean, clean, clean - everywhere

The Super Cyclone

Today we are at sea again, which was going to be our last day on the ship since we were scheduled to get off tomorrow in Tokyo.  However, yesterday morning before we got off the ship to explore Hakodate, the Captain came over the loud speaker and announced due to the “super cyclone” we cannot dock in Tokyo on Thursday, it will not be safe.  We are now getting off the ship on Saturday.

I think Royal Caribbean has done a good job at helping people navigate the problems associated with this change.  They let people off early yesterday if they wanted to get off the ship.  Rumor is about 400 people hopped off.  They are giving up to $200 change fees for domestic flights and up to $400 for international. They also gave anyone without an internet package 60 minutes free to change all their plans.  I do think 60 minutes may not be enough but maybe so if you have multiple people in your party and combine that time, you would be fine.  They extended internet packages for the remainder of the cruise for those who already had internet at no additional charge.  Lastly, they provided an extension of beverage packages at a reduced daily rate.

A couple of ridiculous complaints I’ve heard:  1) They should give us the extra 2 days of beverages for free since it is not our fault the cruise was extended. 2) There are too many retirees on this ship who don’t care if the cruise is extended.  For the first one, we all (the cruise line and passengers) assumed a risk traveling during typhoon season and I appreciate their willingness to make a tough decision to keep us safe even though it is a very expensive choice for them.  They are extending the package at a reduced rate so quit bitching about it. It’s not like you don’t have beverage choices without it.

Regarding the second one, really?! Not sure there is much to say about that one.

We made our arrangements to arrive in Osaka 2 days later. We had not yet purchased our train tickets so we were fine there.  We will leave for Bankok as scheduled on the 17, so only 5 days in Osaka.

There was so much to tell this time around and I feel like I am forgetting things.  If I remember, I’ll jot it down.

I hope everyone’s week is going well. Until next time . . .

 

Ending the Pacific Transit

 Kon’nichiwa!

Today is our last day of the Pacific voyage part of the cruise. This is the time I get sad on cruises - when I know we are at the tail end of the cruise and we have to look to getting off the ship. I know we don’t get off until next Thursday, but this is the end of the main part of the cruise - transiting the Pacific.

Japan, here we come!

Last 5 days of the Cruise

We overnight tomorrow in Muroran (near Sapporo) Japan, getting there about 7:30 AM. We spend Sunday and Monday in Muroran. Tuesday in Hakodate. Wednesday is one last sea day before we arrive in Tokyo on Thursday morning.

Tomorrow we will do Muroran on our own. Monday we have a tour scheduled where we will see some place called Hell’s Valley.  I get the impression it is Yellowstoney.

Tuesday we will do Hakodate on our own.  We found a website with information about the location.  They have a free shuttle to city center and buses.

These are not places we ever identified as destinations we had to see so anything we experience is a bonus.

I am a bit nervous about being able to read signs to get to places.  While I understand countries like Thailand and Vietnam are great about using English and their national languages on signs, Japan is not.  We might be using more private transportation in Japan than what we usually do.  We love to use public transportation when we travel.  If anyone has been to Japan and has some helpful hints, we would be ever so appreciative if you are inclined to pass them on.

One Week in Osaka for Medical Purposes

Once we get Tokyo (we’ll be back in the spring), we leave immediately for Osaka via train, where we will stay for a week when we will both take care of some medical procedures.  We are both fine and healthy; it is preventative.  Both of us will get coloscopies and I will get a breast MRI.

Why in Osaka?  Blaise found that there are locations in Osaka that do medical tourism. We are both due our coloscopies this year.  I tried to schedule mine back in March at home and insurance will only cover a colonoscopy once every 10 years even if pollops were found.  Well they found 3 non-cancerous pollops when I had mine 5 years ago so they told me to get my next colonscopy in 5 years, not 10.  It was going to be $2,500 out of pocket.  Then Blaise, the research fiend that he is (which I LOVE), found that we can do our coloscopies in Osaka at a reputable hospital for $153 out of pocket. SOLD!

I am also going to get my breast MRI done.  Last year I did some genetic testing.  I had zero markers for any cancers but because of my strong family history of breast cancer (on both sides of the family) my gynocologist recommended alternating every six months breast MRI/3D mammogram.  So I will get the MRI done in Osaka for just a few hundred dollars (can’t remember the exact price) and then in 6 months we will be in Kuala Lumpur  (also known for medical tourism), where I will get my 3D mammogram, along with bloodwork and a general physical. Blaise will have similar work done, not the mammogram though

What we have learned in our research (read Blaise’s research) is that the US medical system is no longer the best in the world for everything. For many cancer diagoses, it is still the best, but for so many other things, you can get better service at a better price elsewhere in the world, even without using insurance.  Think about it.  I can get a colonoscopy in Japan for $153 out of pocket, not using insurance at a reputable hospital.  It’s not like Japan is a third-world country.  And what we have found is in most places the medical personnel speak English, which if they didn’t, would be a big drawback for me, if not a showstopper.

I’ll report back on our medical experiences with this in Osaka.

(FYI, we do both have medical insurance. I had chatgpt help me find what will work for us being outside the US for the next 8 months.  It is also SO much cheaper than what I was paying for US only.  But this one gives us US AND international coverage.)

We also learned that the World’s Fair will be in it’s last days when we hit Osaka so I am hoping to see what that is all about.

Osaka is the third largest city in Japan at a population of 2.7 million.  They call their states or provinces, prefectures.  I just learned that one.

Osaka to Bankok Thailand

We will be Osaka for a week before flying to Bankok, which is currently in their rainy season which we hope will dissipate while we are there for a month.  More about Bankok later but we just booked the remaining of our stay there at an AirBnB. We have to have our exit of Thailand booked before we get to Thailand and request entry.  We can only stay 60 days at a time in Thailand.  I have a whole spreadsheet for entry and visa requirements for all the countries we are going to.

Keeping it Real

To keep it real so everyone doesn’t think this is all rainbows and butterflies - Blaise was sick with a headache all day yesterday and I have managed to develop a cough.  Shocking.  I feel fine; I just have a cough, which people around me LOVE! Blaise is back to normal today so far.

Then there is the laundry.  With Celebrity Cruises, we each get 2 laundry bags free.  We can stuff as much as we can in those bags and they are laundered for free.  Even on a 2-week cruise, we have never washed 4 bags of laundry. Back when we only had one bag each of free laundry I got really good at stuffing as much in a bag as humanly possible.  

Even though we only get one bag each on Royal Caribbean, I knew this was not going to be a problem. I was wrong.  When I read the small print, we can fit as much as we want in those bags but it could only be shorts, t-shirts, socks, underwear, and pajamas. Well neither one of us wear t-shirts unless we are working out so we only have 1 t-shirt each. No dresses, no pants, no skirts, no jeans. We’re screwed. We could have paid regular price for those things but that can get expensive so we are washing some things in the sink until we can get to Osaka.  First world problem, I know.  I am not bitching, just a bit annoyed.  Perhaps, I should have checked this earlier than yesterday.

I’m going to get going so I can enjoy the last sea day before landho.

Sayonara!

Observations from Ovation

 Greetings once more from the Pacific Ocean; this time closer to Japan than the United States!

We have today and then 3 more days at sea before we step foot on land.

We are really not doing much but relaxing and wandering the ship.  We enjoy our time in the Solarium. Blaise isn’t much of a drinker but I am testing various drinks at the many bars.

Enjoying our Solarium time

I do have some useless observations of the miscellaneous variety. (I think that might be redundant.)  Here they are in no particular order.

Lounge Chairs

Saving lounge chairs is alive and well. I think some people must save them the night before.  We get out there pretty early to hang out in the Solarium and most chairs are already reserved.  I suppose I could be a bitch and move their towels to the side to make a point but why?  I don’t need that bad mojo out there. Royal Caribbean makes a big deal about not saving loungers but I don’t see much enforcement.  I just want people to be a bit more thoughtful to others.

The Seas and the Weather

Thus far the seas are not near as bad as I thought they would be.  The first day and a half were quite smooth, the kind where the water looks almost like glass. We do alternate. One day will be easy seas with little to no whitecaps.  The next day it is rougher with some rocking of the ship and lots of white caps.  That was yesterday. Today is fairly smooth with just a few whitecaps. We had one day when the barf bags came out but I guess I don’t have motion sickness issues.  Other than trouble walking a straight line is bad seas, I am not really bothered by it.

We’ve had some fog and rain on and off but nothing too heavy.  There have been more dry days than rainy.  It is often cloudy but 2 days ago we awoke to not a cloud in the sky.

The temperature has also been warmer than I thought.  The lowest temp has been 66 with the highest being about 75.  Absolutely beautiful!

It is often very windy.  Today has been the least windy day so far at 12 knots.  Keep in mind though that it is only 7:40 AM.  The day is young.

I have no idea if this weather is the norm for a transpacific crossing but I am so very thankful for it!

Thoughts on a Transpacific Crossing

I would do it again.  Ten days at sea is a lot!  But I find looking out at the ocean and listening to the water, relaxing, peaceful, and grounding.  How odd for someone who doesn’t know how to swim, right?

I am also glad we have a balcony.  I have enjoyed sitting out, hearing the water, reading or just sitting there being thankful.

The Time Shift

The time changes are CRAZY! Every night except one we have fallen back one hour.  The night we didn’t fall back, we skipped an entire day; we went from Sunday right into Tuesday.

It throws off your internal clock.  Blaise is getting up at 3:30/4:30 in the morning.  I am sleeping a bit later but by 6 or 6:30 I am ready to go out and about.

My guess is we will fall back an hour every night until we get to Japan.  We are traveling directly due west and the captain says there is a time change every 15 degrees.

It seems oxymoronic to travel west to get to the east.

Mealtime in the Buffet

While I am used to hand sanitizer all over ships, particularly before you go into a restaurant, I am not used to a hand-washing station before you go into the buffet area.  They have that on this ship, along with the hand-sanitizers.  I think a hand-washing station is a great idea but I am not sure how much more useful it is than the hand-sanitizer given the haphazard hand-washing I see.  Running water on your hands for 2 seconds is not helpful.  How does that kill anything growing on your hands?

The ship also has a staff member in front of each hand-washing station wearing a food “costume.”  I call it a costume but it really is just a felt apron-like thing with 3 holes, one for the head and one for each arm, designed to look like food - a strawberry, french fries, a hamburger, etc. No problems with the costumes or the staff but I would be happy to never hear “Washy washy before yummy yummy” again. At first I thought they were saying this just to the kids, but there are few kids and they say it when there is not a child in sight.

The food in the buffet is actually pretty good.  Nice variety.  Tasty.

They make great banana and blueberry muffins.  I’ve never been a fan of the banana muffin, but their’s is delicious!

Main Dining Room

We eat every night in the main dining room.

The food is pretty good.  No complaints since that one day I did not like a single main dining room choice and the ones I choose were not good.

We have a table for two that is situated right next to another table for two.  The couple next to us does not talk much to each other.  They look at their phones for most of the dinner.  That’s sad to me.

I do wonder how the cruise ship keeps all the food fresh for 10 days at sea.  They still have salads and fruits and they are still fresh all these days after leaving port. I have not seen the quality diminish with time.

That’s about it for today. I hope everyone is doing well.

Sayonara until next time.

The Voyage Overview

Hello, from further out in the Pacific than yesterday!  It appears we are a little less than halfway across.

How We Got Here

After we retired, we knew we were going to take a very long trip and this is it. We have been planning for what seems like years but in reality it has only been about a year and a half.

Some people call what we are doing “slow travel” and that is what Blaise calls it, but I say it’s just a really long trip.

We tested our ability to be gone from home for long periods of time several times:  a month in Portugal (December 2023), six weeks in Rome (December 2023/January 2024), and then earlier this year with about 2 ½ months in Greece and Albania.

This trip is a little different in that we won’t have a home to go back to.

This time we will be gone for 8 (ish) months to the Southeast Asia. We decided early on we did NOT want to fly all that way.  We did that once before when we took a cruise out of Sydney, Australia and didn’t want to suffer in coach for all those hours nor spend all that money on business class this time.  And why should we when we can spend the same money, if not less, on a cruise from North America to the area and take another cruise back to North America?

So the hunt was on.  Originally we found back to back to back cruises on Celebrity from Vancouver to Hawaii, Hawaii to Sydney Australia, and Sydney to Singapore.  We had already done the Sydney to Singapore and we all know how that went - See a koala, fall, break your nose, get kicked off a boat.  I suppose this was our chance to get that leg right but then I found the cruise we are on which ends up in Tokyo.

I told Blaise, when he told me he wanted to go to Thailand, Vietnam, etc., that I wasn’t too keen on all that heat for months and months but I would do this with the stipulation we are in Japan in the spring for cherry blossoms. So the 8-month trip was born.  Don’t get me wrong, I want to see all the things that Blaise wants to see in this part of the world, but I would do it quicker and get out of the heat.

I DO like the idea of spending a month here, two weeks there.  What I liked so much about the time we spent in all those other places the past couple of years is that we can see things at a slower pace and not feel rushed to see it all.  For example, when we were in Rome, the “rule” was visit one thing a day.  Some days it wasn’t even seeing a site, it was merely going to a park or wandering the streets to see what we run into.

We thought we were going to wait to book the return cruise after we arrived in the area, but we found a great deal on an Azamara cruise from Tokyo to Whittier Alaska leaving May 9, 2026 and booked it.  So we are staying a bit longer in in Southeast Asia than we anticipated and then ending up in Alaska.

Now we are thinking we have to spend some time in Alaska before heading back to Texas. And Alaska is in the general vicinity of Lake Louise so don’t we have to go there too?

Do we have everything booked for the whole trip?  No.  We wanted some flexibility in this trip for many reasons.  What if we don’t like a certain place?  What if we fall in love with another place and want to stay longer?  And now there is a kerfuffle between Thailand and Cambodia at their border we have to keep an eye on.

We are only booked through our first week in Bankok and will book the rest of our time in Bankok once we get there and book most places after that 2-6 weeks in advance.

The Itinerary

All of this is subject to our whims, but here is the rough draft of the itinerary:

Arrive in Tokyo                10/09/25

Osaka              10/09/25 - 10/16/25

Bankok         10/16/25 - 11/13/25

Chang Mai, Thailand    11/13/25 - 12/15/25

Da Nang, Vietnam           12/15/26 - 01/16/26

Siam Reap, Cambodia      01/16/26 - 01/30/26

Hua Hin, Thailand    01/30/26 - 03/01/26

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia    03/01/26 - 04/01/26

Japan TBD                      04/01/26 - 04/21/26

Seoul, South Korea          04/21/26 - 05/08/26

Tokyo                             05/08/26 - 05/09/26

Azamara Pursuit              05/09/26 - 05/20/26

Alaska                           05-20-26 - TBD

That’s it in a nutshell.  We’ve tossed around the idea of the Phillipines, but no plans to go there right now.

This Cruise

I DO have clarification on this cruise and the whole international dateline thing.  We have fallen back an hour every night so far on the ship only to simply skip Monday.  So we will go straight from Sunday to Tuesday.  That’s messed up! Blaise is all “we are time travelers!”  And I’m all “I’m getting screwed out of a day!”  But really no worries about that - we will get it back on the cruise from Tokyo to Alaska.

We are on the ship for many sea days and get to Muroran on day 13, stay there overnight and leave the evening of day 14.  Day 15 is Hakodate. Day 16 we are at sea one final day, arriving in Tokyo at 7:30 AM day 17, October 9. But the messed up part of this is we really won’t have a day 7 - we’re just going to skip that!

If anyone has any questions about this trip now that you know the details, fire away.

Until next time . . .

And We're Off!

[Please excuse the font changes and formatting inconsistencies - the blogger word processor is a piece of shit. I am frustrated and I quit (fixing the formatting)!]

So much to say. Where do I start. I thought my next entry would be an overview of the next 8 months. But we are on our first transpacific cruise and there are things to say. Mostly worthless things, but things nonetheless.

Before the Cruise

First, we said goodbye to our home of 28 years. It really hasn't been our home since we relinquished control of it to the estate sale company on September 8. All the furniture that did not sell during the estate sale was finally sold or donated, with the last of it (our living room suite (couch, loveseat, and chair) going on Sunday, donated to a women's shelter. Then all we had left was the bed that our family members who are buying the house are also buying from us and a few other items.

I have to admit, I teared up several times before we left on Tuesday; a few times about the house and a few times saying goodbye to people, including the kids Monday night at dinner. I know I will be back and will see them again (even the house) but still... We are closing a chapter of our lives and beginning a new one - the "old together" part, although I don't feel old and often wonder, "when did I get here?" The older I get the faster time flies.

But I digress.

The Day we Leave

Tuesday we woke up at 3:30 AM to hop on an early flight to Los Angeles to catch a boat in the afternoon. Our son was kind enough to get up on one of his days off and take us to the airport. I teared up again as we walked into the airport, leaving him at the curb.

We stopped by the CapitalOne lounge for a quick bite and coffee before we hopped on the first American Airlines flight of the day to Los Angeles. I hate early morning flights but I wanted the first flight out in case there were problems. I wanted plenty of options should there be a mechanical issue or something causing our flight to get canceled/delayed. When you are taking a cruise when the first stop is 14 days away, its not like you can catch up with the ship at the next port. You don't get on that ship in time, you are SOL.

Then the burning question is why didn't we just fly in the day before to be sure? Blaise didn't want to, although I did. So our compromise was to take the first flight out the day our cruise left Los Angeles. In the end, I am glad we flew out the day of the cruise. There simply was too much to do after the estate sale and we needed that extra day to wrap things up.

We did sit in the LAX airport a couple of hours before heading to the cruise port since our check in time was 12:30. The flight got there at 8:15 so we people-watched for a while and got to the cruise terminal about an hour early. They let us on early with no issues.

About this Cruise

As I mentioned this is our first transpacific cruise and we are headed to Tokyo. We have been on three transatlantic cruises (2 west to east and one east to west) and really enjoyed them.

This Cruise will be the longest we have been at sea without any stops. Since we are crossing the international date line, I am not sure if it is 12, 13, or 14 days. Yes, I listed 3 days because I also can't remember exactly which day of the cruise we have our first stop in Japan before we end up in Tokyo and I am too lazy to look it up. Oddly, I am OK with not being sure.

Once we make it across the pond, we have 2 stops in Japan before we reach Tokyo on day 17. (Again that international date line crossing is throwing me off, but the itinerary for the cruise says day 17 so I'm going with it.) We overnight in Muroran and then stop for a day in Hakodate.

We are on Royal Caribbean's Ovation of the Seas. We don't normally cruise Royal Caribbean but this was the best fit for our plans and since Celebrity (our preferred cruise line) status matches with Royal Caribbean, we get some nice perks on the ship (5 drinks a day-anytime, a free bag of laundry each, and a few others).

There are not many children on this ship. Now, don't get me wrong, I like children, but when we are on vacation trying to relax, it's lovelier with fewer children as not all children are well-behaved. Although, you could make an argument that not all adults on these cruises are well-behaved either.

The food has been hit or miss. The first night's meal in the main dining room was good. Night two we used our buy one, get one free (BOGO) at a specialty dining restaurant, Chops Grille. While it was a decent meal, I expected better from a venue we paid extra for. We went back to the main dining room last night and the food was lack-luster. I hope it is better tonight, otherwise I will be missing the food on Celebrity. I think we'll make due though. If that's my only complaint, I'm doing JUST FINE.

We have spent our first few days on the ship wandering around and relaxing, recouping from all the running around and work involved in selling everything and getting the house ready for its new family.

Our view from the Solarium this morning- the Pacific Ocean

I was expecting the seas to be fairly rough. Wednesday, the water was smooth as glass. Yesterday it was a little rougher with minimal white caps. Today we have little bitty waves with no white caps. I expect it will get worse but for now, I will enjoy. The first day, we saw lots of cargo ships but not a ship in sight since Wednesday.

What Time is It?

We have gained an hour every night we have been on the ship (3 nights). Right now it is 8:23 AM on the ship but 1:26 PM at home. When we hit the international date line, we will jump ahead a day. I don't know if it is a full 24 hours ahead or what. I'll find out and report back.

The time shift has really thrown us off. Blaise was up at 3:30 this morning and getting coffee. I was awake by 5:30 and trying to go back to sleep. Waking up that early on a cruise ship is just wrong!

One last thing before I call it quits for now. I am thrilled to report, I have not gotten sick nor have I fallen or broken anything.

Next time I will write more about the overall plan for this trip. I really will this time!