Oh the Places I'll Go

  Although Scott and I have traveled extensively, we had not ventured to India yet.   Frankly, we were both a bit nervous about visiting that country having heard tales of crowds and digestive illnesses and extreme poverty; so we decided to visit India via cruise ship.   That way we could experience some of the country and its culture while returning to eat and sleep in the comfort of the ship.   We compared several offerings and settled on an itinerary that included four different ports along the Indian coast as well as stops in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Malaysia before ending in Singapore.   The option we selected was on the small luxury ship Regent Seven Seas Voyager, which carries just 600 passengers.  In addition to being an all-inclusive line (shore excursions, gratuities, laundry service, etc.), the cruise price included business-class air, one pre-cruise night in a Dubai hotel, and a three-day post-cruise stay in Singapore.  In addition, this ...

 Scott and I recently returned from an expedition to the Canadian Arctic and Greenland.  Throughout, we found ourselves remembering our previous expedition to the other pole, Antarctica.  Several friends have indicated they wanted to read about our Arctic trip, which caused me to realize that I hadn’t written about the expedition we took to Antarctica in December, 2018.  So, this blog reports on both of those trips. Antarctica Expedition Map Greenland and Canadian Arctic Expedition Map Both of our polar expeditions were on small ice-rated expedition ships that carried between 150 and 200 passengers.  We booked our Antarctica expedition through Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) which sailed on a Quark ship, the Ocean Diamond.  It was an older ship, serviceable, but definitely not luxurious.   Quark's Ocean Diamond The trip north was on a new luxury expedition ship, built during the Covid pandemic by Crystal Cruises.  When that company went bankr...