TWICE AROUND THE WORLD

I was reading the March issue of Travel Leisure, and saw two items of interest: a different sort of tour through the island of Oahu and an announcement of Oceania Insignia's 218-day circumnavigation, hitting 44 countries and territories in 109 port stops. You have time to save some money for this trip, as it leaves Miami on 28 December 2022, starting at $55,400/person. At $254/day, a good price for that ship.

So that inspired me to dream about an absolutely fantastic back to back global adventure. We're presently pondering over a possible Fall 2021 journey that includes a 16-day Celebrity cruise from Tokyo to Singapore, using the Star Alliance Around the World ticket for the rest of the way. The primary reason is to participate in the Dubai World Expo, scheduled to run from 1 October 2021 to the end of March 2022. The more sensible and safer option is to take the Island Princess from Los Angeles to Dubai on a 52-day cruise on 19 January 2022, then select ideal stops going west back to Honolulu. One additional highlight would be a Crystal Christmas River Cruise in Europe.

So it occurred to me, what about doing both, that is, going twice around the world. Here are my first thoughts about such an itinerary:

Leave Honolulu in mid-October on a Star Alliance World ticket for Tokyo. That's only seven months away!
Spend one week on Japan Rail Pass to track the change in Fall colors.
Board the Celebrity Solstice in Yokohama on 5 November 2021 to Singapore. We currently have a reservation in Aqua Class.
Fly from Singapore (after staying a couple of nights at their amazing airport) to Dubai. Spend a few days in that fascinating city-country, and, of course, the Expo.

After a few days, fly to Munich, then to Basel to catch a Crystal Christmas Cruise to Amsterdam.
Add an additional city in Europe.
A couple of stops in the USA, ending up in Los Angeles.

Board the Island Princess in Los Angeles on 19 January 2021 for a 112-day world cruise. We currently have placed a deposit only from Los Angeles to Dubai. The ship arrives in Dubai on March 13 so the World Fair is still on.

March 14 can be spent at the Expo. One day is enough for a second visit.
Ship leaves on March 15.

Among the interesting stops are:

Day 63: Suez Canal
Day 70: Athens, Greece
Day 74: Naples, Italy
Day 78; Monte Carlo, Monaco
Day 79: Marseille, France

Day 80: Barcelona, Spain
Day 84: Lisbon, Portugal
Day 89: Madeira, Portugal
Day 98: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Day 102: Panama Canal

Day 104: Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Day 109: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
Day 112: Los Angeles

To complete the Star Alliance Around the World ticket, fly back to Honolulu to complete two global adventures.
As things develop, this duo-circuit will no doubt be adjusted as input is received.

Here is RollingStone's 30 Greatest Rock & Roll Movie Moments. Not close to what my list would be, but noteworthy, nevertheless. #30 is Elvis' C'mon Everybody from Viva Las Vegas in 1964 and #1 is the Ronettes' Be My Baby from Mean Streets in 1973. A real fantasy: one of my close friends at Stanford from Illinois said he dated Ann-Margret when they were in high school. She's in the #30 video.

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

OSAKA EXPO: Day One

Well, the day finally came for us to go to the Osaka Expo. We were told ahead of time that the long walks would be fearful, giant lines will need to be tolerated just to get into the Expo, with those ocean breezes, it would really be cold, and so forth. Maybe it was pure luck, but we avoided all the above warnings We had a grand day, and are looking forward to Sunday, our second day at the Expo. So come along for an enjoyable ride. Our hotel is adjacent to the Tennoji Station, a very large one with several lines. We upgraded our Suica card and caught the Misosuji red line towards Umeda. Transferred to the Chuo green line at the Hommachi Station. This Osaka Metro train took us to the Yumeshima Station at the Expo site. It was a very large mob leaving the train and heading to the entrance. Took only a few minutes to get to the entrance. This mob was multiplied by at least a factor of ten of those already waiting to enter. However...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that Oktoberfest in Germany is mostly in September? The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3. Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September? The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich? These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11. Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town. It was drizzling a bit. We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served. We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall. So no one came to serve us beer. After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine. Thus, we might have been the ...

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