On November 3 we left Miami for Southhampton.  Right behind us,  Hurricane Raphael , was heading straight for Cayman Islands, where we were yesterday.  What a difference a few days can make. On November 5 there was another hurricane, named Donald Trump, who, defying any logic and all odds, got re-elected president of the USA.  My sleep pattern began to change, for I worried about the future of democracy in the U.S.  I was so perplexed at how far off I was towards understanding our nation, that, save for my exposition on the future of the country  the next day, for the rest of the trip pretty much avoided politics in my postings.  Today, I still seem to have lost interest in our future, for all seems lost.  Reminds me of Ray Bradbury's  A Sound of Thunder , where a time traveler returns home to find everything changed.  He would have expected Kamala Harris to prevail over Donald Trump, but the opposite happened because he stepped on a but...

  Our 35-day Norwegian Encore cruise from Seattle to Southampton was both very good and very bad.  The ship, service, food, drinks and entertainment were wonderful.  Probably best ever of any cruise. The bad had to do with me.  Maybe it was the traveling east, or that I'm more of a landlubber.  My body is old, and could not adjust to the constant time changes.  I found in the past that flying east was terrible for me.  So all my global journeys have been in the westward direction.  It's possible that I will in the future avoid anything going east, including on ships.  The worst thing is that I had difficulty sleeping.  Sleep is very important.  Last night, for example, I was in bed for 14 hours and slept only 3 hours, at most.  On land.  I'm worried about the remaining days.  We don't return to Hawaii until December 7, which is 16 days away.  I hope I can ultimately recover at home. With that dire thought, let me...

Dinner on Day 21 was a choice of Beef Wellington in the Garden Cafe buffet, or whatever they have on the menu sit down restaurants.  We picked Manhattan, and had our third best meal of the trip.  Something about the waiter, his aides, food, talk, and length, plus a lot of Dewars White Label and Jack Daniels, plus Chardonnay, helped.  First a plate of Tostadas. I had a corn soup with Caesar Salad. The fried chicken was really good.  But the corn, mashed potatoes and biscuits added. My lowest walk day so far, only 1617 steps. Day 22.  We arrived in Miami. The city of Miami has a population of 6.14 million, but a core of 442,241, 70% Hispanic/Latin. 300 high rises, 61 exceeding 491 feet in height. The cruise port is the busiest in the world in both passenger traffic and cruise lines. Second most visited city/metropolitan area after New York City. Named after the Myaimi River. Only major U.S. city founded by a woman, Julia Tuttle, a wealthy local citrus grower from ...