This is Day 49 of our 53-day global journey.  Yesterday was a day to remember.  I would place it among the top three days we've had on this trip.  #1 was probably  Keukenhof Tulip Gardens  in the Netherlands.  Not sure what might else might be in this top list. We began with a 2PM lunch at Le Bernardin.  There are  13 Michelin 3-star restaurants in the United States , 4 in New York City.  So we sought one close to the Marriott Marquis, and was able to get a reservation at Le Bernardin.  We prefer lunches, and luckily enough, they offered this service. San Francisco has 3 and Chicago 2.  None in Los Angeles.  I went to Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas 15 years ago when it was on this list, but it got dropped in 2009, and that could well be because Michelin does not review Nevada anymore.  There are around 150 3-star restaurants in the world.  I've been to a few of these 3-stars on my previous around the world trips. A competing restaurant organization is the  World's 50 Best Resta

  The   New York Times   had this bar graph of Republican candidates for the Presidential election next year. After all his legal problems and moral turpitude derangements, it defies any kind of sensibility for Donald Trump to still be supported by 45.6% of Republicans for the next President of the United States.   Then for Ron DeSantis to be the #1 second-tier hope, by a factor 5 over Mike Pence, because more and more party voters are beginning to be convinced that there are too many flaws for Trump to gain the presidential nomination in mid-July of 2024, places the party in a truly uncomfortable position.   I've long touted New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu as their best choice.   And what about  Liz Cheney ?  Republicans are afraid that she will run as an independent candidate with an attractive Veep partner, like Adam Kinziger.  Or perhaps a conventional Republic off-shoot party as an alternative to Donald Trump, if he gains the nomination  If they draw only 2% of the votes,

Nostalgic Tuesday finds me in a travel mood.  First, I'm soon to leave for Sydney to catch a Seabourn cruise to Honolulu.  For sure, I'll break that record, which was 24 drinks from Honolulu to Bangkok.  But the cruise will take 53 days, and my flight from Honolulu to Bangkok was completed in less than 24 hours.  I'm planning another around the world trip next year, but I don't see any legs as long as the  one in 2011 , which I am resurrecting today.   That photo above was my last view of Kauai, as I was headed on to Tokyo. This was my first flight on a first class around the world trip via Star Alliance:   Today I begin my final   ash scattering journey .  I'll be stopping through Bangkok, Tokyo, Zurich, Amsterdam, Stockholm, London, Sao Paulo, Rio, Buenos Aires, Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, Las Vegas, Reno, and San Francisco.   The Honolulu to Bangkok leg included a stop in Tokyo, which now puzzles me a bit, for this type of ticket does not allow you to pass through

About who gets vaccinated in the USA, the signs are clarifying:  Republicans and the less-educated working class ( including Republicans, but, mostly meaning Blacks and Hispanics ) are showing reluctance.  From the New York Times this morning: The two groups seem to have different motivations. For Republicans, the attitude is   connected   to a general skepticism of government and science. For Black and Hispanic Americans, it appears to stem from the country’s legacy of providing substandard medical treatment, and sometimes doing   outright harm , to minorities. This poll did not break out Asian-Americans, but other Kaiser surveys have, and it’s consistent: Asian-Americans have a   higher median income   than Black, Hispanic or white Americans and   also a higher vaccination rate . One more bit of info from the NYT : About 25 percent of unvaccinated people remain unsure whether somebody who previously had Covid should still get the vaccine, according to Kaiser. The answer is yes:   Al