Viking Description: Tauranga, nestled on the Bay of Plenty, is watched over by the dramatic Mt. Maunganui, an extinct volcano that helped shape this spectacular region of white-sand beaches and azure waters. The Māori arrived here in the 13th century, followed by the British 600 years later. Today, the city is home to a thriving …
We had our first breakfast buffet aboard ship and ate twice as much as we should have, which I expect is par for the course. We had to eat early to get ready for our first excursion. Each day the ship was in a port, Viking offered a range of excursions. Typically, one excursion was included …
The plan for this day was to check out of the hotel, transition to the ship and start to make ourselves at home. We could get in our cabin after 1pm and had the rest of the day free. I figured I would let Barb get herself settled while I would use the afternoon hours …
When we opened the curtains in the morning we noticed that our Viking Orion ship was already docked nearby. It arrived early in the morning on the last leg of its cruise from Sydney, the reverse of our itinerary. Passengers would have one Auckland day before they would disembark and we would board. It’s pretty …
We arrived in Auckland’s airport at 6am, pretty quickly found our luggage and escaped customs despite being shamed into declaring that we brought roasted nuts into New Zealand. Notices from the flight attendants and at the airport made it very clear that New Zealand was strict about what they allowed to be brought in – …
I arranged for a car to take us to Dulles Airport rather than drive and park ourselves. I especially didn’t want to have to deal with driving a car home after nearly 24 hours of flying back to Dulles. The car from Columbia Taxi Service (actually Columbia Limousine Service, as it turned out) showed up …
January 9: New Year’s Day, going to hell January 20: Waiting for solar battery and website audit February 3: Solar battery installed, website audit done February 6: 2023 Dining Summary February 7: Wondrium finds March 27: Birthday update January 9 It’s been a relatively quiet first week of 2024. Barb and I spent New Year’s …
A running tab of movies and series I’ve seen in theaters or at home, and a quick comment about them. I’ve succumbed to the idea of assigning a personal score for each film. My scale: 2023 Movies | 2022 Movies | 2021 Movies | 2020 Movies | 2019 Movies | 2018 Movies | 2017 Movies Interior Chinatown, Hulu, November 2024. I …
Part 10 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Saturday, June 20 – Shanghai and Pudong For our final full day in China, Rick and I rose early and headed out to explore some of my old stomping grounds and other parts of Shanghai. The ladies slept in and indulged in the …
Part 9 of our June 2009 trip to China with the Speizmans. Thursday, June 18 – Arrival in Shanghai We reluctantly checked out of the Four Seasons Hong Kong and made our way back to the airport for our flight to Shanghai. This was my first time back in Shanghai since 1988 for one day …