Oh the Places I'll Go

 Some readers of my blogs may remember my tale of anguish in February of 2020 as the Covid pandemic was rampaging across Asia, and I was sailing around the South China Sea onboard the beautiful Crystal Symphony hoping that one day a port would agree to let us dock.  We eventually disembarked safely in Singapore.  I had been so enamored with the ship I was on, that I booked additional cruises, including a World Cruise planned for 2022.  While I returned home to wait out the pandemic in isolation, the cruise industry (along with other tourist-intense businesses) suffered significant losses.  Crystal declared bankruptcy, and my anticipated future cruise deposits were lost.  I recovered some of my money through one of my credit cards, some through the bankruptcy court, and some as future cruise credits issued by the company that ultimately purchased Crystal’s two ocean ships, in an attempt to lure back Crystal’s former passengers. In September of 2025, I was ...

I enjoy traveling with my husband, Scott, and with friends, but their schedules and destination desires don’t always match mine.   So, I have learned to travel on my own.   Not completely on my own, as some of my other friends are fond of doing, but on my own within a group.   My preference is for small-group travel, but I have also developed a love of cruising, which typically involves rather large groups.   Hiking in Croatia I like having my own space (room) and time to myself.   I sleep more peacefully when I don’t have to worry about disturbing a roommate.   In the morning, I can have coffee in my room before having to engage in conversation with anyone else, and at night I can read in bed for as long as I want.   I also enjoy being with other people and sharing the excitement of a new experience.   Even when traveling with my husband or a friend, I appreciate conversations with other people.   But the best benefit of group ...

   I am a landlubber at heart, having grown up with car trips, camping and hiking in the mountains, and exploring the roads and back roads of America.   When I retired and began my travel life in earnest, I favored land-based tours with activities I enjoyed doing.   I went hiking in Croatia and later in the Italian Alps, photographed animals in Botswana and landscapes in Arizona, rode a camel and stayed in a camel-hair tent among the sands of Morocco’s Sahara Desert, and took a cooking course in Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. No thanks, I said to cruising offers; too confining, too sedentary, and too many people.   Besides, on several previous ferry crossings, I had been quite ill with sea seasickness.   Then one day, I received a phone call from a friend who travels as an expert lecturer with land-based tours and on cruise ships.   “I’m lecturing on the Viking Sea and have no one going with me.   You’re welcome to come along and share my stateroom...