Atlanta & Hilton Head
The romantic reunion at the airport didn’t quite work out as I’d planned. The flight came in early and with global entry and priority bag evacuation I was through before the scheduled arrival time and Dianna was nowhere to be seen. I waited outside for fifteen minutes and she picked…
Thailand with Georgia
I know, I know. I should have taken Georgia to a nicer part of Thailand than Pattaya but hey, it was her first time so it’s best she sees the seediest part first. The advantage of Pattaya is that it's only a 90 minute taxi ride away from the airport…
Auckland, NZ
Auckland has to be one of the most convenient places to dock with the port right in the heart of the city. I’d been there in 2016 so I was able to contain my excitement. I ventured out alone and traipsed round the city for a while before finding Albert…
Tauranga, NZ
Our penultimate stop was in Tauranga on the northern coast of the North Island which is New Zealand’s busiest port and sixth largest city. It was very pretty indeed with some very expensive coastal houses. Cruise ships have become a welcome boost to the economy with 94 ships arriving in…
Wellington & Napier
Wellington is on the North Island and has been the capital of New Zealand since 1865 when it replaced Auckland. It’s the second most populous city with 420,000 people and officially the windiest city in the world. It experiences 173 days of wind above 37 miles per hour which makes…
Christchurch & Picton
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island with a rather minuscule 380,000 people. It was another magnificent sail in with cloudless skies and stunning scenery. The city is still recovering from a 6.2 magnitude earthquake which struck in February 2011. 185 people were killed and 1500 buildings were…
Dunedin, New Zealand
Our first stop of this cruise was at Port Chalmers which serves the city of Dunedin on the South Island. Dating back to 1848 when a Scottish settlement was established, its nicknames are the Edinburgh of the South or “Dunners”, which I can only assume was first coined by a…
Cruising to New Zealand
We left Sydney on Wednesday evening and had a breezy passage during our two days in the Tasman Sea before reaching New Zealand. I hope it's better on the return as nobody wants a breezy back passage. This is my first cruise where I’m no longer single but I went…
Bridge Climb, Sydney
Arriving back from Uluru I had one night in the Shangri-La which had great views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Six of us were meeting for dinner. Dimitra and her son John, Anne and Keith, Barbara from the Celebrity cruise and me. It’s quite odd when you…
Australia Day
As I left the hotel just before sunrise, walking alongside the river Yarra, my attention was drawn to the sky as five hot air balloons majestically floated across the city. I headed toward Fitzroy Gardens which has become my favourite place for an early morning perambulation. Aside from the stress…
The Great Ocean Road
Stretching along 151 miles of Victoria’s southern coastline, the Great Ocean Road is perhaps the most scenic drive in Australia. It starts some 60 miles southwest of Melbourne at Torquay and for the most part it’s a winding coastal road making it wholly unsuitable for anyone sitting in the back…
The Australian Open
After returning from Hawaii I had one night at a Sydney airport hotel before a short 90 minute domestic flight to Melbourne to meet Anne and Keith who are the primary reason I’m here in Australia. I built the whole trip around them and the Australian Open tennis tournament. They’ve…
Waikiki Beach, Hawaii
I’d managed to persuade Dianna that meeting in Hawaii would be a splendid idea for Anglo-American relations and as luck would have it, her work schedule allowed for such a plan to become a reality. This was my third visit to Hawaii in six years and it seemed the perfect…
Gold Coast, Queensland
Gold Coast, in the state of Queensland, is the largest non-capital city in Australia with a population of about 640,000. 40 miles south of Brisbane, Gold Coast has become known for its surfing, high rise hotels and apartments, theme parks, nightlife and grown men on wheels. It’s not just grown…
Suburban Sydney
After five nights in Sydney I jumped on a commuter train for a 40 minute ride heading northwest and arrived at Hornsby which is the nearest train station to Dimitra. She picked me up and we drove off to collect Julie (Norway cruise 2016) and her new boyfriend Bruce. First…
New Years Eve in Sydney
One of my favourite things to do when travelling is to get up early and explore a city before anyone else is out of bed. It’s one of the few benefits of jet lag. The sun was up at 5:30 so I was off, masquerading as someone who might be…
The Longest Flight
As with many trips, the story started in the taxi to the airport. I hadn’t anticipated having a deep and meaningful conversation about love, fatherhood and the imagined modus operandi of a Turkish midget should he ever find himself on a singles cruise, but the self-proclaimed ladykiller, Senol, was certainly…
Atlanta, Georgia
The last leg of this trip was an unscheduled three days in Atlanta to visit with my friend Dianna. I flew Delta from Fort Lauderdale and the flight was only 90 minutes. I tried talking to a guy from Minnesota sitting next to me but his cellphone was apparently more…