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MY LIFE: Part 3h--Incredible Journeys during Retirement...Episode Beta--Around the World

  First, some relatively good news.  

  • Hurricane Lowell, which yesterday attained Category 5 strength, is today at 150 MPH and continuing to move westward at 7 MPH,
  • Will weaken a bit, but begin to make a turn to the north by tonight.  
    • Speed of the eye will increase tomorrow, with a direction more to the northEAST than northwest.  This will look ominous.
    • However most models show Lowell weakening into a Category 3 and adjust slightly more to the northWEST.
    • By Monday, September 7, there could be further weakening into a Category 2 as the eye of Lowell passes 100 to 250 miles to the west of Niihau.
    • Lot of rain and surf, of course, even for the Big Island of Hawaii
    • But if the above projection holds, the State of Hawaii will be largely spared.
  • Karina was a minimum hurricane with 75 mph maximum sustained winds and was centered 795 miles east-northeast of Hilo this morning. It was moving northwest at 8 mph and is expected to continue weakening over the next couple of days. It is expected to be a post-tropical depression with 35 mph winds by Monday, far northeast of Hawaii, and to dissipate by Tuesday.
    • Monday is September 7.
    • Our Silver Whisper should be in the vicinity of the dissipated eye of Karina on September 7 or 8.  We make our first stop in Hilo on September 10.
  • At one time, Hurricane Marie was heading for Hawaii.
Off the Mexican coast in the East Pacific, Hurricane Marie had 90 mph maximum sustained winds and was centered 675 miles west of the southern tip of Baja California, moving northwest at 9 mph. It is expected to continue in that direction and be a post-tropical depression by Thursday, hundreds of miles off the coast of Southern California.

Our cruise on the Silver Whisper of course continues.  Maybe because the ship is not that large, but as far away as we are from those three hurricanes, walking is a hazard.  I will continue reporting on our onboard activities, as yesterday was all terrific, ending the night with nearly two hours of karaoke until midnight.  Not sure if I showed this video, but here is tour of the Silver Whisper by Cruising Peter.  The ship had, in rough seas, rescued a stranded sailor in the Pacific in rough seas only a couple of months ago,

My topic for day continues as Episode Beta of Incredible Journeys. This global odyssey began on 17January2010.  

Today, I begin my journey. I will visit Seoul, Hanoi and other parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, Chiang Mai and Bangkok in Thailand, New Delhi, Barcelona, Munich, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, DC, New York City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. I will keep you informed. This the view from the First Class Lounge at Narita (I'm on a Star Alliance Around the World Package):

This was 20 months after I had started this daily blog, and here was my summary on that day:

Visitors to site 21,701

Visitors this week 544


Countries visiting site 130


Already, even though there were only 21,701 visitors to this site, they came from 130 countries.  Today, with almost 7000 postings since 29April2008, only up to 221 countries.  The total visitors have surged past 11 million, and a usual day finds 5000 reading this posting.  There are 193 members in the United Nations, but a few more other sites, like Antarctica and smaller territories.

I just looked at my first posting of this  Beta trip.  Already in my second year of this blog, it was still really short.  This is all I said.

I arrived in Seoul last night (Monday night) when the temperature was 20 degrees F, 60 degrees cooler than Honolulu. There is snow everywhere, with banks of plowed white stuff on the roadside. No, that's not me below.

How do I do this when I travel? The Great Leader of North Korea Kim Jong Il (that's him yo the right, with son) threatened to attack South Korea in a "sacred retaliatory battle." However, this was on page three of the Korea Times, so I guess they are not taking this too seriously. Worse, a major tropical storm is heading for Hanoi...my next stop. I'll include more details tomorrow.

My 2010 trip in reverse chronological order.  Begun on 18January2010, and I returned home on 16March2026.



  • I'll stop here and challenge you to read some of those above postings.  Tomorrow, more life on the Silver Whisper.

  • -

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