Steps to Anywhere – A Travel Journal
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” – Mark Twain
Bags all packed and within airline weight limits if barely. With household checklist complete Todd delivered us to Pearson airport. Check-in was simple and security was quick even though our Nexus identification did not get special treatment.
So, here we sit waiting for our airplane.
And here it is. Next stop, Vancouver.
We have cruised more than 20 times on voyages ranging from five to 31 days. On several occasions whe have taken what is referred to as back-to-back cruises. In the Caribbean it is possible to take two successive cruises which have slightly different itineraries. On a couple of occasions we have taken short coastal cruises in combination with longer voyages. However, the cruise on which we are embarking is the most unusual of our experience.
We embark at Melbourne, Australia along with nearly 2,000 other travellers. Some, like us, will circumnavigate Australia and disembark at Melbourne while other will continue to New Zealand and back to Australia, disembarking at Sydney. This is typical of back-to-back cruises. Now, some passengers who embark in Melbourne will disembark two days later in Sydney and, of course, new passengers will replace those disembarking and will continue around Australia, to New Zealand and back to Sydney. Again, not particularly unusual.
For the unusual part, as it turns out, we will have passengers embarking in Brisbane, Darwin, Fremantle and Melbourne. I believe these travellers will disembark in Sydney after visiting New Zealand but it is unclear whether there will be passengers disembarking in Brisbane, Darwin and Fremantle although this certainly seems possible. The embarkations are clearly indicated on our itinerary but there is no mention of disembarkation. It is after arriving at Sydney for the second time the Dawn Princess ends its repetitive circumnavigation of Australia and begins the first segment of a world cruise which has Brisbane as its first and only Australian port. I am sure I will learn more during our segment of the cruise. I will update this topic later.
Only 27 days until we sail and our weather her appears to be on the change. After a monster of a snowstorm last Wednesday and a miserable driving day on Thursday temperatures have risen above freezing and remained there for two days of snow melt. Today I was able to access and remove most of the decorative Christmas lighting which I thought might have to remain in place until next Christmas. Looks like a few more melting days in our future, if the 14 day forecast turns out to be accurate. That should just about take us to departure day.
…30…
March has arrived complete with snowy, cold weather with fewer than 20 days until Spring arrives officially. It is also just one month until our departure for our Australia trip. The way things are going we will likely return and find snow still on the the ground. I am waiting for a day that is warm enough to take down some of the Christmas lights. However, for the time we are in Australia we should be able to forget what snow looks like and what freezing temperatures feel like. I can hardly wait.
Officially, it is 39 days until cruise embarkation in Melbourne but only 30 days until departure. I wonder if I’ll be able to get the winter tires off the car before we go. Anyway, house sitting, car sitting airport transfers are arranged. Departure will be leisurely with an afternoon departure and with our first night in Vancouver, or Richmond to be more precise, we hope to have dinner with friends from the area.
This link (Australia Ports & POIs ) shows the ports we will visit on the cruise portion of our next tour.
…30…
It is now 75 days before we begin sailing around Australia on the Dawn Princess. We begin traveling in only 66 days. Winter may be over by then, At least it will seem like an early start to summer. We return just in time for spring planting after which we will hopefully enjoy more summer weather. At the moment we are looking at nothing but cold and snow.
We now have all our travel documents in order. Almost all reservations have been made and any not yet made are not critical. The final cruise payment has been made so by the time we travel it will seem like it is not costing so much. However, based upon our last visit to Australia, it will be very worthwhile.
…30…