Have I mentioned how bad Los Angeles drivers are?...

November 27, 2024

Our day didn’t start too well when we arrived at the rental car agency (Sixt) at 0730 and found that they changed their hours and wouldn’t open until 0900. Bummer. Kathy arrived to pick us up a little before 0700 so we figured we’d be on the road about 0800. Nope, didn’t get going until after 0930! Which meant we would be going through LA right at rush hour. To kill time, we had a nice breakfast but didn’t make up for LA in rush hour. In the rain. With the worst (and scariest) drivers in the US! Right before Thanksgiving! Did I mention it was also raining?

Thanks to Kathy, we have a nice carry-bag for Willie that will double as a backpack for excursions.

The drive was long and mostly, boring. On I10 we did see the largest big rig truck ever: a 58-wheeler! Six eight-wheel axles on the trailers, plus two four-wheel axles and a two-wheel axle on the cab.

What did we do before smart phones? At my fingertips are maps, gas prices, and directions to anywhere!

Because of the late start it was dark when we arrived at the Queen Mary, our hotel for the night before the cruise. It is not your usual hotel where you drive up to the front door. No, we had to park in the dark quite a way from the hotel in the midst of construction and dozens and dozens of tents for a big celebration over the Thanksgiving week. I had no idea what to do so called the hotel. It seems you somehow have to know that they have a golf cart to drive you from the parking lot to the hotel. So intuitive.

It was an experience staying in the Queen Mary! No heat unless you ask for a portable space heater. No A/C unless you ask for a fan, so no A/C. Our room is unremarkable, port holes open, very old-fashioned bathroom. So many things I’m accustomed to in normal hotels: reasonably priced meals (what we get for a free breakfast in many hotels cost us $28 each: overcooked scrambled eggs, rubbery bacon, you get the idea. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad we stayed here, but would not go back.

The next morning, we had a seamless transfer of our bags to the ship, parked (does a ship park? OK, OK, they dock!) right behind the Queen Mary, via the bellman and his golf cart. Not so seamless was the transfer of us to the rental car return and then getting a ride to the ship and the seemingly endless walk from our Uber to the actual ship. By about 1pm I had more than 5000 steps counted on my pedometer.

I’ll write more about the ship on my next post. Sorry not to have any photos, perhaps by then I’ll be able to get access to Google Photos! Or I'll use my trusty Nikon rather than my phone!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

August 23, 2024 

My How Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

OK, OK, I have an excuse for not writing for two and a half months: I had covid and the aftereffects have hung on for a month. I have no energy at all and sometimes don’t feel much like eating or doing anything. I THINK I’m getting better, though.

I must be getting better if I am doing this blog!

Our plans for Australia are sort of cast in stone: We’re staying with friends once we get to SYD for 4 days+/-, then going to Greg & Yolanda’s for a few days, then the four of us hop on a plane—well, “hopping on” implies a quick trip to the airport; nope, it’s a 3-hour drive. At least! —to Hobart, Tasmania. We’ll spend two night each on Bruny Island, Freycinet National Park, Launceston, Cradle Mountain National Park, and Hobart before returning to SYD where we will spend the night and hopefully get on an airplane back to Tucson the next day. We’ll have a busy almost-three-weeks!

The Montreal to New York plans are a lot more fluid. All we have planned for is what to do for two days in Montreal, then we get onboard Quest for 12 days. We have a lot of OBC (on board credit) so we’ll use that for tours. We have airplane tickets (first class, no less!) and a hotel room pretty close to the docking place for Quest. Similar in LA (actually Long Beach) where we’ll be staying in the Queen Mary.

Willie the Bear will be going with us on both cruises (assuming I don’t forget him as I did the Gila Monster on our Route 66 trip!

And I have learned that a new thing on cruise ships is hiding rubber duckies! Yes, the rubber duckies that float in your kid’s or grandkid’s tub at bathtime. But some of these people have more time than most people and they decorate—I mean DECORATE—their duckies! Here’s an example:

I’ll probably take some on the Australia cruise ‘cause it sounds like fun! Most people apparently attach a small card with some info on it, like these:

As I said, sounds like fun!

I’ll try to be more faithful now that it is only 28 days until our first cruise and 95 days until the Sydney cruise.

G’Day, Mate!

 

Cruising again!

It's been a long time since we cruised, about 2019, I think. We made the decision to try cruising again mostly because we really love cruising and also because the Covid scare is more or less over. Well, it's not over-OVER, it's just that we no longer seem to think we need to wear masks and the people we know who have gone on cruises (including long ones, as we like doing) are not getting sick.

So, we're crossing our fingers and signing up for a 46-day cruise from Los Angeles (LAX-you're going to have to get used to my using the airline codes for cities. You can google them!) to SYD, November 27 to January 13. 

And just to be gluttons for punishment, we're going on a second cruise---well, it will really be first, but we chose it second---from Montreal (YUL) to New York (EWR) in September.

Both are on the Seabourn Quest (Ships (seabourn.com) and Seabourn Quest) a line we chose entirely because of the itinerary from LAX to SYD. It has a great reputation (both the line and the ship) so we're looking forward to our next adventure on a cruise line we've never been on before.

Now the planning starts: we (that is the Royal "We" as I will be doing the planning and Randy will be doing the "Yes, dear."). We have to get airplane tickets to and from YUL and EWR, a rental car to LAX, hotels before and after, and most important of all, what to do in Australia when we get there other than see our friends in SYD and our son and DIL in Ulladulla (no airport code for Ulladulla as the closest is 43 miles away, Moruya, MYA).

In Australia, aside from the above desires, we want to go to the Gold Coast and Brisbane and MAYBE the Daintree. We have been to both before but one of our goals is to go places we've not been to. We have spent oodles (a non-quantifiable time period over the past 40 years) of time in Australia. I kept journals (paper in the old days) and one trip is chronicled at Australia Grand Adventure (pamryan.blogspot.com)  and a longer cruise at World Cruise 2012 Sydney to Sydney (worldcruise12.blogspot.com).

On to the planning!

Already thinking ahead to dining on board the Quest! This is a menu from another Seabourn ship, but I'm sure Quest will be equally great! And they have unlimited caviar! Yes, indeedy, unlimited caviar!