From Jacksonville to Bangkok #1

We are going to follow this solo traveller on a cruise and land trip to Bangkok/Myanmar.  He lives in Florida, and went on the cruise between September 17 - October 7th/2014. 

In his own words, "Overall, I was pleased with the cruise".   Here is his blog:

When I made a tentative reservation for this cruise, Viking gave me three days to finalize it.  After thinking about the price, I intended to let the reservation go; it was more than I wanted to pay.  Shortly before the reservation lapsed, about 11:30 at night, Viking called me and I explained that the price was too high.  Viking put me on hold for what seemed like five minutes and when they returned, gave me a price of  25% less than the original amount.  The trip seemed special to me, and much more inviting at the lower cost. 

Here are the costs - remember, American money:

Air:  $1795   Land:  $3000  Cruise:  $4275
Pre-extension 2 nights:  $449   Post-extension 2 nights:  $449
Myanmar Visa:  $91    Travel insurance:  $665  
Foreign immunizations:  $192                                                 Total  $ 10916 

Yes, I had a single cabin and room during the entire trip. 

Viking used United Airlines (UA) and their partner airlines for the flights. On September 17th,  I departed from Jacksonville, Florida, early in the morning to Houston, and then  to Tokyo’s Narita Airport.  This aircraft was a modern Boeing 777, and there were only about 60 passengers on board.   

Then I waited for a little over 5 hours.  I boarded an All Nippon Airways (ANA)  bound for Bangkok;  just about 7 hours.  The aircraft was another modern Boeing 777, and the flight was totally packed.   We arrived at about 11 pm, and did not get to the Shangri-La Hotel until after midnight.

Bangkok

Total flight time was more than 22 hours plus another 5 hours waiting at Narita; the total miles were 10,347.

Now let's follow the cruise.....  

^{Photos belong to Phil Bianco.}

Jaro - les fleurs finale from San Diego #12

PS from Dorothy:   This will be our final blog for the winter.....

But remember next November.....

We will follow Jaro's next bike trip.

I hope that you have enjoyed the blog - we certainly did.

Here are Jaro's sister's comments on his pool:

The water in the pool was not heated, it was frigid, I tried it.

See you next November.

Photos belong to Jaro Franta.

Jaro's visit to Point Loma #11

Souvenir jersey from Mauritius.

Looking north-east from Point Loma.......

This is a museum - part of the Cabrillo monument on Point Loma.

The local Coast Guard station.....

A little hike on Point Loma....

And from another ride - 

I was most interested in the ssssssign below....

Photos belong to Jaro Franta.

Specialty restaurant on the Cruise ship #11

One day, instead of serving breakfast, they were having a buffet starting at 10 o'clock.   Rather than waiting, I walked down to the Crepeier, had breakfast there for $5 US money, and the waiter suggested that I come to the specialty restaurant, Qzine.  During my first cruise, I did not eat in any specialty restaurants, even though I heard good things about them.

I said I was not a very big eater, and $45 for supper, plus tip, seemed a lot.  He told me to come during a Port day, and it would only be $31.50.  He also offered me a drink in the restaurant, and as soon as I got there, the drink was ready.

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 I made a reservation for after the port of Puerto Vallarta, and there was an invitation sent in the mail to my room.  The decor reminded me of Halloween with the orange and white chairs, and with an amazing view.

I went up at 6 o'clock.  The restaurant was not busy, and I had a window seat.  They give you the menu on an Ipod.   I had a salad with a fried goat cheese patty.  Excellent filet mignon steak with little glasses of macaroni and cheese, potatoes, gravy, vegetables....

Then, after that, they bring you this shelf filled with things to eat - chicken satay, shrimp, chili.    I think my tray was only 9 shelves, but I was too full to have any of it.

And they were passing strawberries covered with chocolate after supper.  I had a cheesecake for dessert, but again, was too full to do it justice.

The restaurant was busy during the night.  I enjoyed visiting with the staff, and doing something a little different.



Photos belong to Dorothy Lloyd and Celebrity.

Jaro's visit to San Diego zoo #10

Red Panda......

The flamingos often stand like that, with the other leg folded away under the wing.

These devils only arrived in San Diego last October..... 

The thick trunk is typical of these plants.

Fairly fragile  - there were other, broken ones on the beach.  They are hollow, with a wall maybe 2 or 3 cm thick and yellowish "meat".   The hollows are typical of seaweed flotation things.  According to Comments, it does indeed look like the bottom part of Bull Kelp.

Mount Palomar observatory......

Photos belong to Jaro Franta.

Our sixth and final stop was Cabo San Lucas #10

A very short day here - the last tender to the ship was at  2 p.m.   And this was a tender port, so by the time you had breakfast, and then tender ashore, it was already 9 o'clock.  

Even though I knew from the itinerary that the Ship left early, still  I was disappointed that we had hardly any time in Mexico.

A friend of mine lives in Cabo San Lucas - she picked me up from the tender, and we toured around here and in San Jose del Cabo.

I would not have minded doing a little shopping here, but by the time we went for coffee, then it was just about time to head back.

I took the last tender out to the ship - the tender was full, and everybody seemed to be having a good time.

The water was very clear.  You could take a glass bottom boat - only $10 - around the arch, and you could see the fish and the sea lions.

Photos belong to Dorothy Lloyd.

Jaro - shotgun navigator in San Diego #9

This is looking east, in the direction of Salton Sea.  Borrego Springs is just off to the left in this view.

Too far to bike from Solana for a one-day out-and-back ride - plus a hike in the park.  Even the drive was quite a haul, especially with all the switchbacks to get over the pass.

Looking west, in the direction of San Diego, where all the rain was.  It was really nice to get away from it, and a bit of a surprise that Borrego Springs was in the sun all day.

Just ordinary palm trees - the weird thing is how this grouping is in the middle of nowhere, far away from any other trees, just because there is a ground water source that creates an oasis.

I wondered where all that sand stone came from.  There was an information display that said that millions of years ago, this part of California was at the bottom of an ocean where sand was deposited by rivers flowing into it.  Later, the land was uplifted, and now the shore is getting eroded away by runoff from precipitation and by the tides.

There were many people at the beach - temperature about 26C.   The water only about 15C - still, there were a few swimmers.


Photos belong to Jaro Franta

Our fifth stop was Puerto Vallarta, Mexico #9

Unfortunately, we were only here until 3 p.m.  By the time you had breakfast, spent a little time downtown, then it was time to go back to the Ship.

Wear shoes with good soles - this was the street behind - where you are walking is a little better, but you know you are walking on cobblestones.

When you get off the ship, they immediately load you into taxis.  We went 10 to a van, about 20 minutes, and it was $3.   We were dropped off at McDonald's - lots of restaurants, souvenir shops, drugstores, tequila and cigar stores......

If you walk about half-way, you will see the Flea Market.  Lots of stalls, and in the middle, a little pub.  I sat right besides the big fan, ordered a Mexican beer, $3 with tip, and had a nice visit with two young men from Edmonton.

I went to McDonald's for lunch - right outside, they were loading taxis for the ride back to the ship.  Again, it was only $3, and I rode back with the same English couple that I had met in the Pillars Hotel.

Once we got back to the Ship. there was maybe 20 souvenir stalls set up just outside. The vendors were so aggressive that I did not feel comfortable walking through the stalls.  But then I meet a nice one - with a joke and a smile, he had me in his shop, and I bought a red purse to wear with blue jeans for $25 US money.

There was also a pharmacy set up outside the ship.  I bought some pills - they had a medical journal in English where you can look up any pill.  The pills were priced at $20, but I only had $17 left, and this was acceptable to them.

Photos belong to Dorothy Lloyd.

Bike/Car accident in San Diego #8

I saw another bike/car accident scene on the hugely popular coastal route 101 at Cardiff Beach.  This time, I did not see the accident happen; just the aftermath.  There is a wide bike lane in Cardiff (like most of the 101 up to Oceanside) and the car was immobilized diagonally, with the back blocking the right car lane and the front in the bike lane, with the cyclist lying under the front right of the car.

There were several other bikers around by the time I got there, and some cars were stopping too.
This was another obvious case of the car turning right into the bike lane, without looking if there was any bike traffic, or just assuming that he would complete his right turn before the bike passed – i.e. underestimating the biker’s speed.

This is almost identical to the situation I faced a couple of days ago in Torrey Pines, where a right-turning car would have taken me down in the bike lane, were it not for the hard emergency braking that saved me (there was another biker several meters back who saw the impending accident and shouted to warn me, but I already knew what the driver was up to).

Now, back to my visitors - this is Del Mar beach - just south of Solana.  Actually, the cliffs in the distance are in Solana.  Unfortunately, there is no train station in Del Mar.

This is on the road to Borrego Springs, just after cresting the pass.  It was raining all day on the west side of the pass (see the dark clouds) and sunny all day on the east side.  Extremely windy here at the lookout point - glad I was not on the bike - the wind nearly blew the door off the car when I was getting out.

Accident photos were published in Quebec, 2010 
All others belong to Jaro Franta.