Well, it has been almost five months since the lock-down ordered by our governor in March. With the spike in numbers continuing, even though some businesses are slowly opening up (and closing down again) in California, we have been faithfully doing our parts in helping by staying safe at home, for us and for others. There is no travel plan in sight, at least for another year or so, for cruising or international traveling. Being stuck at home, we can only reminisce on all the wonderful trips we had taken so far, as many others are doing on facebook and other social media nowadays. I thought it would be fun to do a post on "A to Z Around the World", just for memory sake. Come along as we highlight each of these countries and cities (if I can't come up with a country with that particular letter) that we have visited throughout the years in alphabetical order.
A-Australia
We took our first and only trip to
Australia in 2014, to board the RCCL Radiance of the Seas on a round-trip cruise to New Zealand from the port of Sydney. It was a memorable trip even though the only city we stopped at in Australia was Sydney before and after the cruise.
Sailing past the iconic Sydney Opera House as our ship leaves the port in the late afternoon.
B-Barbados
That was on our last cruise before the pandemic. A 19-day sailing on the
MSC Divina transatlantic cruise from Civitavecchia, Italy to Miami, Florida. What an interesting cruise that was! From the historic European countries to the touristy tropical islands in the Caribbeans.
A picture-perfect sandy beach and blue waters in
Barbados.
C-Croatia
I didn't know much about this country that is situated by the Adriatic Sea until our visit there in 2010. We had two stops there in this amazing country,
Dubrovnik and
Split, two very different towns. It was totally fun that not only we were on this
back-to-back cruises on the NCL Gem with my brother's family, we also accidentally booked the same cruise that my niece and her husband did. They were on their honeymoon right after we attended their wedding in Seattle that summer.
The easily identified roof-top colors of Dubrovnik
D-Denmark
We visited Copenhagen, Denmark twice throughout our traveling years. First time was spending just a port day there on the
Carnival Splendor in 2008. A visit that was just too short for this beautiful city. Then we were back again in
2017 when we did the transatlantic cruise on
NCL Getaway from Miami, Florida to Copenhagen, Denmark. After we debarked the Getaway, we had an overnight stay in the city which later turned into an unexpected nightmare. Fortunately, problems solved and we were able to board another cruise to Norway, Scotland, and England on the
HAL Zuiderdam for a 12-day sailing from there. Then,
back to Copenhagen again for our flight back home. What a journey!
World famous Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, Denmark.
E-Egypt
A short and sweet two-day trip that we spent off the ship while traveling on the
NCL Jade in 2012 as the ship made two stops there in
Port Said and
Alexandria. It was an eye-opening visit and definitely worth spending our extra money and time there on those days participating on this private land tour organized by cruisecritic members.
Scary camel ride in the desert of Egypt.
F-France
To tell the truth, I still have not visited the most popular city of Paris but we have visited several ports in France, including
Le Harve,
Toulon,
Brest,
Cannes and
Nice. As for myself, our visit to Normandy was most memorable and emotional. When we reached Le Harve while on the Carnival Splendor in 2008, we rented a car there and drove through the beautiful country side before arriving Normandy. It's definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience that we will never forget.
Remembering those who sacrificed their lives for peace at Normandy American Cemetery.
G-Germany
Before boarding the NCL Gem in Venice 2010, we flew to Frankfurt, rented a van, and did a
road trip from Frankfurt to Venice, spending a few days on the road. Experiencing the tranquil life in small towns Europe was quite refreshing. Hopefully, one of these days we will be able to repeat this.
H-Hong Kong
Well, Hong Kong is my hometown and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Left that incredible city almost 50 years ago but have gone back to visit numerous times. There are lots of changes that took place throughout the years, good and bad, but it will always be my 'home' where I spent my childhood years. Our family do not hold any property there anymore, which means we would have to stay in hotels whenever we go back there. With the prices of hotel rooms there in recent years, we generally only stay a few days at a time there now. Sailing away on a cruise from Kai Tak Cruise Terminal was just amazing. Years ago, we spent many hours at the old Kai Tak Airport where we would see families and friends coming and going at this important flight hub. What memorable experiences!
I-Israel
Two days in Israel was just too short but that was all that we had when we visited there in 2012 on the NCL Jade. We were suppose to be docked at two different ports in Israel, Ashdod and Haifa but they had to change at the last minute because of heavy bombing at the Gaza strip the day before we arrived Ashdod which is closer to Gaza. Our ship ended up staying at Haifa overnight for our two days as we made good use of our time visiting some important sights there. We drove the long distance to
West Bank and Jerusalem from Haifa on the first day, and took a shorter trip to
Galilee, Nazareth, Mount of Beatitudes, on the second day to make it back for the ship departure in the afternoon. What a journey!
A vast view of Jerusalem from Mount Olive on our first day in Israel.
J-Japan
Japan is one of our favorite countries to visit because of its beautiful scenery, delicious food, and safe environment. After several visits and having docked at many ports of call on cruises, we still find that there are a lot more to explore on these islands. We have cancelled a couple of cruises that would have taken us there again but all that have to wait until it is safe to travel.
K-Korea
I must admit that we haven't done much of Korea as far as traveling goes, other than a few
transit stops at the Incheon Airport and we did spend a night there near the airport once. We were pretty excited when Diamond Princess made a short stop in
Busan in 2015. Definitely too short but a sweet visit.
Waiting for it to open its door in front of the Lotte Department store in Busan, South Korea.
L-Los Angeles
For some reason, I had the most problem coming up with a country that begins with the letter "L". Maybe a state then? I thought. Louisiana would be one, which I traveled through when our college team stayed in several cities there one summer which was quite memorable. During my college years, I was with a small music team going around the different parts of the country for three summers, holding concerts and raising scholarship funds for the college. We stopped at several cities there and had a blast visiting many tourist sites and enjoying the best gumbos there is after church services. The problem is that I do not have digital photos from that era and it will be difficult to dig out those old photo albums stored in our garage. So, the next best thing would be choosing a city called Los Angeles (or a county with the same name), where I have spent my forty some precious years and called this my 'home'. The City of Angels is what we considered downtown which I purposely avoid as we live about 30 miles away. Los Angeles is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world before the pandemic and hopefully its glorious days will return soon.
M-Myanmar
What can I say. I felt fortunate that we were able to visit this country which is not a very popular destination for some reasons. Being on the
HAL Volendam for a cruise in Southeast Asia put us there conveniently enough and we had the opportunity to experience two spectacular days traveling the cities of
Yangon and
Bago Bago in Myanmar. Next time, if we ever visit there again, I'll make sure that I am wearing a pair of sandals instead of sneakers to make it a little less troublesome taking off and putting back on our shoes every time we go inside any temples. Going bare-footed all over the place, even to the restrooms, will still be uneasy and uncomfortable though.
Cleaning our feet before putting shoes back on after a temple visit.
N-Netherlands
Amsterdam was the first city we visited in the Netherlands while on the Carnival Splendor in 2008. Then we were fortunate enough to have a chance to explore the city of
Rotterdam in 2017 with an overnight stay in port. Definitely hoping to go back one of these days.
In front of one of the windmills at
Kinderdijk, the Netherlands.
O-Oslo, Norway (Couldn't come up with a country that begins with the letter "O")
Exploring this city for a day using their public transportation was quite adventurous but rewarding. We had so many things we wanted to cover but our time there was limited. I still think we did very well hitting most of the important sites under not-so-perfect weather.
P-Portugal
Again, Portugal is a country we visited twice on two separate cruises. First time on the
Carnival Splendor in 2008 and then on the MSC
Divina in 2019. Joined a group tour on our first visit but explored on our own throughout the city of Lisbon on the last visit. Two very different perspectives and experiences.
At the D. Pedro IV Statue in Lisbon, November 2019.
This city by the sea became one of my favorite cities since we were there summer of 2019. I would truly want to go back and spend a few more days there if at all possible.
R-Russia
Visiting Russia in person had never crossed my mind until we were there in 2008 on our Baltic cruise. We had two spectacular days in
St. Petersburg, visiting all the famous sites on a group tour with cruisecritic members. Later in the years, we also visited the port of
Korsakov on the islands of Sakhalin (2015 Diamond Princess) and the peninsula of Kamchatka (
Petropavlovsk, NCL Jewel 2017) in the far-eastern side of the country.
Getting ready to tour the Hermitage Museum.
S-Singapore
The iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel.
This is one other country that we visited in the continent of Africa. A special visit indeed, while sailing on the MSC Splendida in 2012. It was before the revolution and even though there wasn't much going on that alarmed us, we chose to be on a ship tour just in case. It was quite an interesting day and I doubt that we will ever get to go back there again. Really feeling fortunate for that once in a life time visit.
At the ruins of Byrsa Hill in Tunis, Tunisia.
U-United Kingdom
We have been to London a couple of times and also visited a few other cities in the United Kingdom. But I really enjoyed our day trip to the port of
Lerwick on the Shetland Islands way up north in Scotland while we were on the HAL Zuiderdam cruise in 2017. It was absolutely scenic and serene. We walked the whole route exploring this town and had an amazing time.
In front of the Broch of Clickimen in Lerwick.
V-Vietnam
I have been to this country twice, on the HAL Volendam in 2016 and then again in 2018 on Diamond Princess. It's amazing to witness the changes of this once war-torn country turned modern and active nation thriving for economic growth in the last forty years. Our favorite cities in this beautiful country included
Hoi An and
Ha Long Bay. A visit to the historic ruins of My Son was most memorable.
On a day-long boat ride in Halong Bay.
W-Wuhan, China
The last four letters of the alphabet was challenging for me to find any country that we have visited. I could only depend on the cities in China to complete this list.
Wuhan is a name became familiar to the whole world since the beginning of this pandemic. Being the epic center of COVID-19 in the first few months which turned around and successfully put the pandemic under control. Wuhan is a big city basically in the center of China right by the Yangtze River. The reason we were there was because of our Yangtze River cruises. Unfortunately, this is the only photos that I could find in the computer files which was taken in 2009. As of the other photos taken on the previous trip there, I have to dig them out from the storage. I have not posted the 2009 trip yet, maybe that could be the next thing I should work on.
X-Xiamen, China
Xiamen was the first city that we visited when we were on a 14-day China tour in 1988. It was also one of the cities that we visited on our most recent trip to China. They have excellent cruise port facilities and I am sure when cruising finally get back at sea,
Xiamen will play an important role in welcoming cruise ships into their harbor.
The "One Country Two Systems" sign at the beachfront facing directly towards Kinmen Island.
Y-Yangtze River, China
We were fortunate enough to have sailed up and down this river three separate times. Twice partially in the Chongqing-Yichang section, and once we sailed the whole route from Shanghai to Chongqing in 2009. I would love to do the whole sailing again if there is a chance in the future.
Here is the link to our partial sailing on the Yangtze River when we joined a tour with Sinorama in 2015.
Sailing along the lower Yangtze River in 2009.
Z-Zhangjiajie, China
Zhangjiajie is a unique scenic spot in China where some of the very special scenes in Avatar was filmed. It's in the northwest of Hunan province. The famous Wulingyuan covers thousands of jagged quartzite columns and caves. One can only admire in awe of God creations as these amazing land forms appear right in front of the eyes. We were lucky enough to have visited there twice, in
2011 and
2017. Even within only about six years, we found many changes even inside the park as development took place.
Memories to keep in Zhangjiajie.
Finally completed this alphabetical listing after a few days working on it. I am certainly grateful that we had all these traveling experiences that had enriched our lives so dearly. May our loving God heal this land so we can go out and appreciate more of His creation soon again.
"He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." -- I Corinthians 1:8
