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 mention some of the other negatives. I drank, ate and par

The Norwegian Encore arrived in Southampton, UK.  The end of 35 days on the ship, which started in Seattle, went through the Panama Canal, then via Miami, all the way to England.  I will tomorrow provide a summary of our cruise. COVID-19 hasn't quite disappeared.   There were  45,737 new cases last week , with Russia #1 and the USA #2.  There were 363 deaths. However, an average of 389,000 die in the world from the  flu  each year.  That's 7481 deaths/week, 20 times higher than COVID-19 last week. Further,  coronary heart disease  kills 9 million.year.  Or 173,000 deaths/week. So COVID deaths are now very minimal. So while this pandemic was declared over a year and a half ago, it is still of some interest to peer into some of the more newsworthy aspects of this illness.  For example,  can a vaccine similar to that used for COVID-19 cure cancer?   For sure, people with pre-conditions who caught COVID-19 had a  higher morbidity  than normal patients.   Cancer is a pre-condition t

 One quick summary of Donald Trump's hush money trial, then on to the Moxy Matter. Court is closed today so Trump can attend son Baron's graduation in Florida. Continues Monday on the final day of the defense trying to break down Michael Cohen. How many more Republicans will show up in person for the trial on Monday?  Can't imagine Melania will. Prosecutors called 19 witnesses.  Defense...zero, unless they surprise the judge and prosecution. Final arguments, as currently planned, should come on Tuesday. Hate to say this will be a hung jury, but in this day and age, not totally comprehending why so many remain Trump fans. it's difficult to imagine that all 12 jurors  will vote guilty. Hung jury not all that bad for Democrats, for this will just mean this trial will again be held, but when? Our OMGA ( O ur  M onumental  G lobal  A dventure ) circumnavigation was mostly good, but had some down moments. At least two of the cruises had Covid outbreaks, something that always

We spent some time at the Westquay Shopping Centre located across the street, and had lunner at, again, Wagamama.   We ate at one of these restaurants  when we were in Copenhagen after visiting Tivoli Gardens.  Had an excellent pork ramen there with beer. What we experienced at Westquay was amazing.  We thought  Southampton  was just a dull port town with maybe a stoplight.  Not so. Has a population of more than a quarter million, and is famous more than anything else as the departure point for several fatal ships. In 1620 the Mayflower carried 120, Pilgrims to America, making anchor near Cape Cord, Massachusetts.  Many died on the way, and only 50 survived the first winter. Of course, the other that left here was the RMS Titanic in 1912 on a maiden voyage to New York, something we will also do soon, but hope to succeed.  That's an actual photo of the ship leaving Southampton.  Around 550 of the 2224 passengers and crew died, the deadliest sinking of any ship in history.  500 on bo

Yesterday was probably my most difficult day on this trip.  Nothing went truly wrong, but very few things went well.  A stressful and physically trying series of experiences, from Piraeus, Greece to Heathrow Airport in England, then a bus ride to Southampton, ending with a long, wet, bumpy, dangerous walk to our hotel, the Moxy. So to begin, goodbye Regent Seven Seas Voyager in Piraeus. My Blue-bar pigeon said have nice flight. Nice buildings along the way.  But traffic was slow, very much so. A street scene. It was an excruciatingly long ride.  We were supposed to leave the ship at 8:35AM, but delays made this departure time closer to 10AM.  We did not get to the airport until after 11:30, and by the time got to the Aegean Air lounge, it was only half an hour to boarding.  That's why my posting was so late yesterday.  There was no time to get connected.  We had almost nothing in the lounge. Our Aegean Air plane. Salad, etc., with John Walker. Added Ouzo with the chicken. Then the