- This is Part 2 – to follow up on the “World Tour of Transportation Systems” – and to complete my “summary” of our “Grand World Voyage”.
- We visited 22 foreign countries: Dominica, Barbados, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, French Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Egypt, Greece, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal!
- We set foot on six (6) separate continents – North America, South America, Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe – and cruised through the seventh (7th), Antarctica.
- We visited more than 40 cities: Roseau, Bridgetown, Belem, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Iguazu, Buenos Aires, Montevideo/Punta del Este, Ushuaia, Punta Arenas, Easter Island, Papeete, Moorea, Auckland/Rotorua, Sydney, Cairns, Komodo Island, Lombok, Bali, Hong Kong/Macau, Nha Trang, Saigon, Singapore, Phuket/Phi Phi Island, Colombo, Mangalore, Delhi, Agra, Mumbai, Safaga/Luxor, Sharm el-Sheikh, Cairo/Giza, Athens, Olympia, Messina/Sicily, Naples/Capri, Ajaccio/Corsica, Barcelona/Girona/Tossa, Cadiz/Seville and Madeira.
- The ship will have travelled more than 37,000 nautical miles by the time we return to Florida.
- We saw some incredibly beautiful and/or fascinating places.
- We walked through history itself!
- We rode a zip line in Barbados and visited the Amazon. I dove off a cliff at the Waterfalls of Prima Vera. We hiked through the Andes Mountains (even if it was downhill). We swam with sharks and stingrays in Moorea! We climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge and saw our first opera at the Sydney Opera House! We flew in a helicopter over Sydney – arriving just as our ship was passing under the Bridge to depart for Cairns! We snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef, among other places. We walked among the Komodo dragons! We bowled in Agra, India, climbed inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, got drenched in Capri, Italy, and rode a basket sleigh down the steep mountain in Madeira, Portugal. What a ride it all has been!
- We saw children from around the world
- We encountered all sorts of animals, sea creatures and other wildlife, in all sorts of strange places!
- We saw incredible sunrises and sunsets – Bill’s affection!
- I got to have my hair and nails done, and to get fabulous massages and facials, from the ship’s spa staff. I attended numerous wine tastings with the colorful “Ingo” (“the Wine Man”). We also saw the Samba in Rio, a vaudeville act in Rotorua, an aborigine show in Cairns and the Flamenco in Barcelona!
- I got to wear my pretty new shoes and dresses – and to see Bill in a tux for the first time ever!
- Onboard ship, we met some really nice people from other parts of the country and world, like Judy and Mike (US), Pauleen and Mike (US), Jeff (China), Art (US), Sam and Sally (US), Pat and Mel (Canada), Allan and Annie (US), Andrea and Maria (Spain), Jeff and Samantha (Thailand), just to name a few.
- We left on January 5, 2012, gazing out upon the San Diego skyline for what would be the last time in a long time. Soon, I’ll return home and see the finest city on Earth again! It doesn’t matter where you’re from. Wherever you visit on Planet Earth, there’s no place like home!
