Today was another sea day, it’s for me day. Started my morning like most others by hitting the gym. Got back to the cabin and woke up Megan who decided to stay in and do some schoolwork this morning. I headed to the Pinnacle Grill, and had breakfast solo this morning. Next, we headed to our project Linus time. Then, Megan and I decided we hadn’t had the opportunity to walk through the shops yet, so we took a look to see what there was to see. The rest of the afternoon was spent working on homework and crocheting. This evening we had a special dinner in the Pinnacle grill. There was a guest chef that got on in Japan, who did a lovely multicourse plant-based dinner for us. The food was delicious! Tonight was a Barn Dance and western themed evening. After dinner, Gail and Marty and Megan and I headed over to the billboard for a country, western karaoke and sing-along. It was a lovely day at sea. Looking forward to arriving in our new port tomorrow morning in China. There are a lot of immigration rules and regulations that must be followed and the ship is navigating through them all to make sure we are abiding by their requirements. I don’t envy them their jobs and I appreciate every obstacle that they tackle on our behalf.

Hello from our last port in Japan, Fukuoka. Today we opted not to take a Holland America tour. After our dinner last night with Gail and Marty we had plotted out our location based on Cruise Director Kimberly’s port talk. I got up early and tackled my workout and then headed home to shower and get ready for our day. We actually arrived in Fukuoka last night after I went to sleep but we were not allowed off the ship until this morning. We were all clear to go aboard at 7:30am, but the mall we were headed to didn’t open until 10:00am so we met Gail and Marty at the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast at 8:00am and then headed out at 9:00am. Right outside the port we caught a taxi to the Canal City Mall. It was a gray day and it rained on and off throughout the day. It is also still pretty cold, about 50 degrees right now. The taxi stand employee provided us with a paper to give the taxi driver on our return journey that clarified to the taxi driver where to bring us back to at the cruise terminal for our return ride. The Canal City Mall is a five level mall in the downtown area. It has a water show that they run every 30 minutes and lasts about 5 minutes. It was very reminiscent of World of Color at Disneyland to Megan and I. There is a Grand Hyatt right in the middle of the mall and would be a great place to stay for a return visit. We had fun shopping for souvenirs and gift for love ones back at store. There were many Japan specific shops and also many others we know and love including a Disney store. We eventually made our way to the fifth floor which has 8 different Ramen restaurants where we shared ramen bowls and pot stickers. WE walked around little more after and then made our way back down to the first floor where we had seen some other sweet shops earlier this morning. Megan had a peach boba milk, Gail, Marty and I had crepes, then we had yen bread which is filled with mozzarella cheese, Megan had some candied strawberries and lastly, we tried Takoyaki balls. They are a popular Japanese street food with bits of octopus inside hot grilled balls (dumplings) topped with savory garnishes and sauces. We pretty much rolled ourselves back to the cab stand to take a taxi back to the ship. We actually had intended to try and walk back to the ship, but the weather was not cooperating so we decided not to take the chance. When we got back to the port we had a lot of Yen in change left over so we hit the vending machine and grabbed a few sodas to take back on the ship with us. On our way back to the ship we had to go through immigration face to face inspections as they “checked us out” of Japan. As we approached the gangway there were four Holland America staff lining our way with umbrellas to keep us dry. It was a fantastic touch! t was a lovely day. I definitely feel like we over ate, but it was an amazing experience. We spent the rest of the afternoon crocheting, cleaning up the cabin, Megan did some homework and then we watched the ship sail away from Fukuoka around 4:30pm. We met Gail and Marty at the main dining room for dinner this evening. Although none of is were especially hungry. All in all I would give Japan a 10. It was such a lovely place to visit. I can’t emphasize enough the level of customer service, politeness, respectfulness, cleanliness, and enthusiasm shown by the people of Japan. I felt like they appreciated us being here and that they strived to make sure we were having a pleasant experience while we were here. It is definitely on my “come back again” list. Tonight we set our clocks back an hour. So we will now be 16 hours ahead of California time. The time difference has made it challenge to communicate with loved ones back at home, but we make it work. Tomorrow is also a Sea Day and we are looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and having a down day. Sweet Dreams to you all!

Today we had a lovely Sea Day and scenic cruising as we traveled from Kobe to our next port of call Fukuoka. I wok up this morning and got my workout done and out of the way. I came back to the cabin and Megan was already up and diligently working on her school work. We headed to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. Next it was time to go and spend time with the project Linus group. I attended the port talk today so we can learn about our port for tomorrow. We had a mariners event at 1:00pm in the Main Dining room where we got to do a wine and cheese sampling. Then we went and met with the tailor from Princeton Tailor in Hong Kong. The tailor was brought on board for a week for passengers to order custom made products. As we place our orders they are emailed into the shop where the article will be produced and then brought to us onboard the ship when we arrive in Hong Kong in a week. Megan ordered a lovely dress and I ordered a blazer and a silk blouse we are excited to see our new articles. This the first time we have ever had a custom order created for us and it was a wonderful experience. Megan headed home to do more school work and I headed to the future cruise desk to get information on next year’s world cruise segments to see if it will be possible to do one next year. When I got back to the cabin, cruise director Kimberly had started our scenic cruising narration as we traveled through the Kanmon Straight. They served Miso soup and had the bow open if people wanted to go out there. We chose to stay inside and stay warm. At 5:30pm we had our first opportunity of this cruise to eat at the pop up Tamarind restaurant. As always we had a fantastic meal and were blessed with the wonderful company of Gail and Marty. I am back home for the evening. Typing my blog with the food channel on in the background. My gym clothes are laid out for tomorrow. We are meeting Gail and Marty and the Pinnacle Grill at 8:00am and then we are going to venture out tomorrow together. We don’t have an excursion planned. This is our last port in Japan and we will have to go through immigration as we board the ship again tomorrow afternoon. We are also expecting rain so we will most likely travel by taxi tomorrow. We are supposed to be pulling into port momentarily (9:00pm), but due to immigration restrictions, no one will be allowed off the ship until tomorrow anyway. Wishing you all a wonderful, restful sleep, as you are all most likely sleeping now. I have no photos for you from today. Time will tell for tomorrow….

Today was our second day in Kobe, Japan. We have absolutely loved our time here. The culture, the people, the manners, the cleanliness and the level of customer service we encountered had been impeccable. I started my day by watching the sun rise over Kobe as I had my morning workout. I almost stopped my workout to take a photo, but I have a hard time resuming after I stop. Luckily a FB friend posted one that I can share. Same morning routine of a quick shower and then Megan and I went to the Neptune Lounge for a quick grab and go breakfast. We headed to the Main Stage to meet our excursion group for today. We were off the ship pretty soon thereafter and off to Osaka for the afternoon. We visited the Sumiyoshi-taisha Shrine which is dedicated to sea deities. It is a common place for wedding processions to cross over a beautiful bridge and we got to see one while we were there. Everyone was dressed in their traditional Japanese wedding attire. Another tradition at this shrine is for parents and grandparents to bring their one month old baby draped in a traditional kimono to dedicate them at the shrine. Since today was a Sunday we saw many babies here being dedicated today. There are many stone lanterns and beautiful areas around the park. After Megan and I crossed over the bridge we found a street vendor selling delicious donuts that tasted like fortune cookies. We also had another opportunity to make a purchase at a vending machine. I bought an iced coffee drink and Megan bought a strawberry milk. from here we headed to the Osaka Castle for a river cruise past the castle and some of the city’s manmade highlights. We had a chance to see the castle from the other side of its moat on foot and then got to see it again as we sailed past it in the boat. We were back to the ship by about 1:00pm and decided not to go back out this afternoon. Megan worked on some homework. I crochet for a bit and then we cleaned up the cabin. A couple days of busyness and we needed to tidy a bit. At 4:30pm there was quite a sail away event hosted by the Kobe community. The locals lined the pier with balloons and waved flags as we pulled away. And then on cue they released the balloons they were holding in additional to two large nets that were filled with balloons as well. It was quite a sight to see and I was happy to have been standing on my deck taking part in it. At 6:30pm we met Gail and Marty in the Main Dining Room for dinner. It was a lovely time catching up on our activities over the last couple of days. After dinner I headed home to share my day with all you wonderful people and Megan went for a run. It is bedtime here now. We have a sea day tomorrow so our day will be filled with ship board events and activities. There is always plenty to do and we love the opportunity to get out and about. We are still running to people we haven’t seen since last year and they are excited to see us and we are them as well. We are still getting asked daily if we have been on the ship the whole time which makes me laughs a little on the inside, but I am happy to be here for whatever time we can be. I will say good night from Kobe….next stop Fukuoka, Japan.

Hello from Kobe. Home of amazing Sake and beef. I woke up at 5:30am before the alarm this morning. I finally got my first goods night sleep since leaving CA. A solid 7 hours. I headed to the gym and watched the sunrise over Kobe as we came into port. The colors in the sunrise were so warm and welcoming. It heightened my anticipation for today’s adventures. We got ready for the day and headed to the Neptune Lounge for breakfast this morning. The ship was greeted by many locals starting with a display from a fire ship spraying water up to welcome us to port. The dock was filled with many people waving and greeting us to Kobe along with cameras and news crews. We met our Cruise Specialists team starting with our friend Tom in the Rolling Stone lounge and then headed to meet our tour bus and our other two Cruise Specialist team members Keith and Suzie. I had the opportunity to meet Keith yesterday by Megan had not. Just one of the wonderful advantages to booking with this amazing company. There are three representatives on the ship with us at all times and they escort us on excursions we book through them and take such wonderful care of us. We had a 90 minute bus ride to Kyoto. We visited the Kinkaku-Ji Temple. It is also known as the Golden Temple. The exterior of the top two floors of this three story building is covered in Gold leaf. Sadly, you are not allowed inside the building but there are photos that you can see of what is looks like. The grounds surround the area are beautiful as this was once a Munk sanctuary and place of meditation. There are place you can purchase “good luck” charms throughout and we bought a few. There is also two place you can pitch coins and if you make it inside the concrete bowl it is said you will have good luck. I am happy to say I made my coin into the bowl. I will let you know how that luck shot works out. There was also a large gong on sight that you could ring for a fee and Megan and I both took the opportunity to do. I know understand why people do sounding bowl therapy. The feeling in my body as the gong echoed after being struck was both soothing and comforting. After we left the palace we drove into another part of town and we passed the Nishi Hong-ji temple and the Nino Castle. We retuned to the later after lunch. We ate a lovely buffet lunch and had some free time after eating. Megan I walk around a bit and ventured a little through the Kyoto Station and got a lovely picture of the Kyoto Tower. As we walked around it started to snow. It was so exciting to see snow…I know but was cold today, but we didn’t think lit was that cold. The weird part was that the sun was shining and it was snowing. It was like the pineapple showers in Hawaii, only colder. We boarded the bus again and headed back to the Castle. A beautiful restored and partial replicated castle filled with traditional styled architecture and murals. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take phots within the place but we got several pictures from the outside and around the grounds. Lastly, we drove to and then walked through the Gion district which is famous for its geisha entertainment room and tea houses. Megan and I had a chance to pop into a store and by some necessities and snacks. Megan had been wanting a Match tea whisk so I purchased her one as both out of need and as a nice souvenir of her travels here. We have a 90 minute drive back to the ship which put us back around 6:30pm. We had plans to have dinner with our crew friend Joy, from last year’s Neptune lounge at 6:00pm. She was so kind and understanding about our late arrival back to the ship. Tina and her crew were waiting for us and took such wonderful care of us at dinner. The crew is excited to get off the ship and go ashore as this is another overnight port so they can go out and not have to be back on board until late this evening. I am back to the room with a full tummy with a movie on while I fill you all in on today’s adventures. I expect to be fast asleep very soon. Today marked the 8th anniversary of the passing of my late husband. I felt his presence with me today (as I do most days) as he watched over us from above. It is always nice to honor him and remember him in our adventures. Just as I carry a little bit of all of you with me and think on the ones not here with us. Please enjoy the photos. It is so hard to choose which ones to post sometimes. Today was definitely one of those days.

We had a lovely dinner last night with Gail in Marty in the Pinnacle Grill. It was a multiple course Mediterranean themed dinner with wine pairing. We ate some amazing foods and I forgot to take my normal course by course pictures. But I did attach a photo of the menu for you to peruse. We were not seated very long when the captain came on to make an announcement. We generally hear from the captain daily at noon, so to hear him making an announcement at dinner time is not normal. He informed us the there was a storm coming into Omeasaki with expected winds gusts of up to 35 mph and that is may not be possible or safe for us to dock this morning. We finished dinner and I went right to sleep again. I got 6 hours of solid sleep and wok up at 3am to the ship rocking and rolling. A little more than the gentleness that I am used to and I actually welcome. The door of the safe was swinging back and forth and crashing into itself. They was some serious creaking, noises and thumping throughout the evening. I was awake for about an hour before I dozed back to sleep until my alarm went off at 5:45am. I was up and dressed and off to the gym when it open at 6:00am. After my workout it was pretty obvious we were no where near the port and it was a safe assumption we are not pulling in. I headed home to get Megan up and she and I went to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. While we were there the captain made the official announcement that we in fact were not going to be able to dock in Omeasaki. The weather conditions, along with the limited availability for pilot to take us in and out in a timely manner, would have then resulted in a delayed departure which would have caused a domino effect for us. This would cause a delay in our arrival tomorrow for an overnight in Kobe. So instead the Captain took us on a scenic cruise up the coast to get an amazing view of Mt. Fuji. I have heard several passenger say they have been here several times before and have never actually seen the mountain due to weather and cloud conditions. We were so blessed today by the breathtaking views of this majestic mountain. Since today turned into sea day, Megan and I got to enjoy our first Project Linus meet up. We picked up some yarn and decided we would each do two smaller squares and then attach them all together to make one blanket. We’ll see how many we can get done in our 24 day on board. Megan spent much of the rest of the day diligently working on her homework. I went to a talk about the 2026 World Cruise as its itinerary was just recently announced last week. I also went to a port talk given by the cruise director Kimberly about our port of Kobe tomorrow. Then Megan and I met back up with Gail and Marty and did Arts and Crafts at 2:30. We sat and chatted with them and others throughout the afternoon. We had a wonderful opportunity to visit with the girls former Math tutor Bonita as well. Megan got to tutor her on her arts and craft project. Super cute to watch Megan helping this woman who has done so very much for my girls over the last 4 years being “schooled” a little by one of her students. It made my heart smile. At 6:30 pm we headed to the Crow’s nest for a welcome cocktail reception along with the other 90 passengers who got on with us in Tokyo. All the officers were there and it was wonderful to have some time to socialize with so many people we hold near and dear to our hearts. Lastly, it was off to dinner at the Canneletto. We were the only ones in the entire restaurant the whole time we were there. There are about 1150 passengers on board this year as compared to the 1400 from last year. It is definitely felt by the specialty dining establishments and we are bringing to notice it around the other areas of the ship. Today was a fantastic, relaxing and busy day. We’re getting closer to adjusting to the time difference. I am hoping to finally have a full nights rest tonight. Tomorrow morning we are expected to arrive in Kobe, Japan. We have our first excursion booked with our travel company, Cruise Specialist to Kyoto. I can’t wait to share it with you then. Blessings from across the sea.

It has been a whirlwind of a 24 hours since my last post. We arrived at the ship around noon and proceeded to run into many friends, both passengers and crew members. Many knew we were already coming and some were surprised to see us. Throughout the day it was filled with hugs, smiles and catching up. We arrived in our cabin long enough to empty out one of our backpacks so we could take it off the ship with us. We caught the ships provided shuttle bus to the local mall to do some retail therapy. We had the most fun at the Disney store. We don’t have the luxury of brick and mortar Disney stores any more in California, unless we are at the park in Anaheim. They had so many different items we had never seen before. We purchased a Mickey and Minnie wearing traditional Japanese costumes and they are embroidered with Tokyo on the foot. A lovely first souvenir of our trip. We bought some gifts for friends and crew members as well. We walked through many shops and were surprised by the prices which seem much lower to us due to strong exchange rate. While at the mall we ran into our dearest friends Gail and Marty. The odds of winding up at the same place at the same time was a wonderful surprise to all of us. Megan and I were dragging our wagon at this point so we headed back to the ship so we could unpack our suitcases, get settled into our cabin, decorate our door (a lovely tradition) and get ready to join Gail and Marty for dinner in the Main dining room. We have so many specialty dining reservations and reservations with friends I don’t anticipate eating much in the Main Dining room this trip. We realized we had not eaten anything all day. I was running on two cups of coffee and some water and Megan about the same. But not once today did I feel hungry or have a desire to eat. By the end of dinner, I was done and ready for bed. We headed home and I was asleep especially fast. Unfortunately, my body is still on California time and I was awake by about 2 am and ready to start my day. I have had about 10 hours of sleep over the last three days and I am most definitely feeling it. The gym opened at 6:00am and I was there to tackle my workout and give myself the endorphins I needed for the day. Then back to the room to get ready to meet Gail and Marty in the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast at 8:00 am. We are having the best time catching up with them and spending time with them. After breakfast we all decided to take the shuttle bus to the train station where we caught the train to Shibuya. Here in Shibuya is the world busiest pedestrian crossing. As many as 3,000 people cross at a time where these five streets intersect. After taking lots of pictures and in fact crossing the street ourselves we walked around the shops. We saw many familiar eateries including, Mc Donalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Denny’s and Subway. We walked through lots of shops and Megan found some skin care products she regularly purchases in the states that are made here in Tokyo. By then it was lunch time and Marty suggested we find a pancake house. These are not your ordinary pancakes. There are a mix of batter and whipped eggs whites. They are beyond fluffy and they were delicious. Luckily I’ve walked almost 18,000 steps today so no guilt here. We made our way back to the train station and then back to the ship. The train was much busier as we ventured back this afternoon. The train is immaculately clean, all the men are dressed own suits and ties, and it is chillingly quiet. There is sign that says to refrain from talking on your phone and no one is even talking to the each other. Everyone is so polite, keeps a distance between others and hardly ever jay walk as they wait patiently for the light to grant them permission to cross the streets. It is such a different place from anywhere else I have ever visited. The weather has definitely changed as we made it through the day. It is 3pm here now. It is 54 degrees and overcast. Rain is expected around 6pm this evening. All aboard is 6:30pm and we will leave Tokyo and head to Omaezaki, Japan this evening. We are going to the Pinnacle Grill for dinner for a Mediterranean themed multi course dinner tonight that we are having with…you guessed it, Gail and Marty. We have so much to catch up on and we are having the best time with them. It’s been too long. We have an excursion booked for tomorrow and you will have to wait till then to hear all about it. I don’t anticipate staying up any longer than necessary to enjoy our meal and then hopefully I will get a good nights rest tonight. It’s been difficult keeping in touch with loved ones with the immense time difference. I hope they all know I love them, I am thinking of them and I am bring them and all of you along on my journey through these 24 days aboard the Zuiderdam. Enjoy the photos from the last 24 hours below.

It was wonderful to see the Zuiderdam there waiting to welcome us home.

Starbucks was greatly needed.

The rainbow bridge, a miniature Statue of Liberty and a beautiful sign to welcome visitors.

These vending machine store are everywhere and hugely popular.

The train is immaculate and empty as we traveled this morning. It was packed and we had to stand on the way back.

Train Selfie.

The infamous intersection before the light turned to allow everyone to cross.

The intersection after the crossing light permitted pedestrians to cross. It was a relatively quiet day.

Two orders of yummy, fluffy, meringue style pancakes. Yummy!!!

We missed Feb 27th this year. Kinda. Due to an 11 hour flight and 17 hour time difference we pretty much skipped right over that day this year. We had a wonderful, uneventful flight on Japan Airlines non stop from SFO to Narita, Tokyo. We breezed through immigration, thank you to our first opportunity to use our global entry cards. We were allowed to go through the priority line and avoid the long lines as there were a couple of flights must have landed at the same time. The transportation representative hired by Holland America was at the gate awaiting us as soon as we exited from baggage claim. We were whisked into our private van for transportation to the hotel Keio Plaza Hotel. We were not “allowed” to assist with our luggage. We had a scenic drive into Tokyo. We got to see the sunset against the backdrop of Mt. Fuji between the skyscrapers as we drove right into rush hour traffic. We arrived at the hotel about 5:30pm Tokyo time. Two bellman quickly approached our vehicle and bowed to welcome us to the hotel and to assist us with our luggage. Megan and I transport our own backpacks and small carry ons as they hold our valuables and computers. Many times staff tried to “take” them from us and to put them on the luggage cart and we had to thankfully decline. We got checked into our room and proceeded to the shopping and dining area within the hotel. Megan found some Pocky snacks and then we went to an Asian restaurant for sushi and a ramen bowl. Our goal was to stay up till about 8:00pm Tokyo time to help with the adjustment to the time difference, which was about 3am to us and I feel asleep quickly. With the city noises, sirens, alarms and traffic, I didn’t sleep very well. I was up before the sun and went the gym to work out. When I arrived back to the room the sun had risen and we looked out our window to a breath taking view of a fully snow covered Mt. Fuji. What a wonderful way to start our day and our trip. We are all packed up. Our luggage has been picked up and taken downstairs for transport. We are just waiting to head to the lobby now so we can catch our transportation to the cruise port. We are SO EXCITED to see our friends on board. We are both giddy with excitement and anticipation and ready to give lots of hugs!! We have many adventures ahead and we can’t wait to share them along with you.

Photos Below: Fabulous multi course meal on Japan airlines, Ramen Bowl #1, Sunset over Tokyo, Ramen Bowl #2, Sashimi, and the view of Mt. Fuji from our hotel room window.

Hello again, hello. Megan and I are currently at SFO airport awaiting our flight to take us to Tokyo. There we will be joining Holland America’s MS Zuiderdam for a segment of this year’s world cruise. We are extremely excited to board the ship on Wednesday and see our many friends, passengers and crew combined. As you may or may not know the world cruise is generally about 128 days of cruising departing from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in Jan and returning there in May. We have been blessed to be able to take the trip in its entirety twice (kinda, thanks to COVID in 2020). This year, due the fact that Megan is a freshman, our school district will not allow a student to be absent for more than 20 days consecutively without un-enrolling from school. So, we are flying to Tokyo to meet the ship there and then we will get to spend 24 days on the ship. Megan is loving her high school experience, volleyball, wrestling, auto shop and great academic classes, so we decided to forgo the entire trip and settle for a segment only. We chose this particularly time on the ship because we had never been to Asia and because we will get off the ship during the week of spring break so we can take a few extra days and explore Singapore before coming home to California. This is the last of the seven continents we had left to visit and I am excited that by the end of the day I can celebrate that huge accomplishment. I will have been to every continent in the world. Although I have not set foot on Antartica but we spent a week sailing around there in 2020, so I count it. Megan will be doing her schoolwork from the ship, in fact she is working on it right now. We will be visiting many wonderful places including: Japan, China, Vietnam and Singapore. I can’t wait to share all of our adventures with you. Thank you for taking the time to read my posts. It is a most wonderful way for me to share my adventures, have a journal to look back upon in future years, and to write out my feelings and experiences as they happen.

Photos below: Our first selfie of the trip from the lounge, a cute display in the duty free store at SFO. (I heard the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom and I am excited to see them).

Fort Lauderdale, Florida

It is the last “day” of our 2023 World Cruise. I can not believe it. We have felt like it was never going to end at times and we have felt like it was going way to0 fast at times. And here we are. WE have circumnavigated the globe, crossed the equator twice, crossed the international date line, and visited null island. We have visited 29 countries and visited about 56 different ports. We changed our itinerary a few times due to civil unrest and Hurricane Freddy. We struggled to get supplies and had no produce a few times. We wore masks, watched friends go in and out of quarantine and disembarked with the ship at a zero count for COVID cases. We battled food poisoning, a back injury and some nasty colds. We have made countless memories. And I have shared many of them with you along the way. It has been an absolute trip of a lifetime. I will never forget the things I have seen, done, experienced and taste. I will forever have this blog as a journal of my trip. I will look back on it fondly when I am missing somewhere we have gone and I will use it when I can’t remember the name of that “one place in the one country” we went to. Thank you all for following along with us. Thank you for your comments and for your likes. In 2020 while we were on the World Cruise the world declare a state of emergency as we entered into the COVID pandemic. And today the Federal Government, has declared the COVID is no longer a pandemic and that there is no longer a public health emergency. I was on a cruise both times and the significance of that is special to me. Let me tell you about our last full day on the ship. I woke up about 4:15 am and could not go back to sleep. I actually heard the Pilot boat pull up alongside the Zuiderdam around 4:30am to board the ship. I went outside and saw Fort Lauderdale coming into view. The lights of the USA in the distance and as we approached there was an American flag flying in the wind. There is just something truly comforting to returning to US soil after being abroad for so very long. I watched us pull into the pier and the port employees slowly come our as the sun was rising. Within 30 minutes they were boarding immigration officers, off loading luggage, and preparing to restock the ship. Megan woke up around 5:30am so we could be at the Pinnacle Grill when it opened at 6:30am. While we were at breakfast they announced the ship had clear immigration and passengers were allowed to start disembarking at 7:00am. We said our last goodbyes to the Pinnacle staff and headed home for one last time so we could prepare for our own disembarkation. We checked all the drawers one last time, looked under the bed, and as we finished they announced it was time for our group to get off the ship. We scanned our card one last time and I got weepy a we walked off the gangway one last time. The captain and several key employees were there today good bye and wish us safe travels home. Hard not to remember the last time we said our final goodbyes. We did not know what the future held for us in the COVID world we were entering then. And now we have fully completed our first world cruise and it is so much nicer to disembark today than then. We made quick work of grabbing our suitcases, going through passport inspection/immigration at the pier and then we boarded our bus for transportation to Miami airport for our flight home. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time relax and for me to write this blog to you all. I have cleaned out my emails, had real phone calls, not wifi calling, and taken care of some business. Welcome back to the real world. LOL. If I get it done now I can relax and enjoy my weekend reconnecting with my family. So I am going to bid you adieu. I am going to go get myself a glass of champagne and toast the conclusion of this trip of lifetime. I don’t know when I will be posting something again I reserve this hobby primarily for when I travel. But I will be back…I promise.