alex1981

We were on the Diamond Princess from Beijing to Bangkok and he was absolutely the best Captain. He is always walking around the ship and talking with anyone who wanted to meet him, ask him a question, or even listen to a problem. I was surprised that he was so open and available.

Like others have said, he was always on the speaker giving ship updates.

We went to Beijing for a week which coincided with Golden Week. It was crowded but we had good weather that first week in October. Maybe it was luck but I was told by some of the locals everyone is on vacation so a lot of factories were closed or scaled back so less pollution. Not sure I totally believed that story but I was grateful for the clear skies and sunny weather.

We recently travelled to Cuzco, the Sacred Valley and Machu Pichu.

 

Sanctuary Lodge:

It is located at the entrance and allowed us to go back into the site a second day before the crowds arrived. It was worth every penny to us, lots of pennies. They picked up our backpack and small suitcase from the train, took it up to the Lodge, and on the day of the departure, took it down again. We explored Aguas Calientes a bit without luggage and then waited in the hotel owned room for the train.

 

We went to Machu Picchu on our own. We used the online travel sites, videos, and blogs to get a good idea of what we would need to do. The Santuary Lodge is expensive and you need to really plan ahead but you are right there just outside the main gate. The lunch buffett is open to the public so it was always crowded with tour groups and other individual travelers. The crowds start really thinning out by 3:00 PM and you literally can have the park to yourself.

Wanna bet?

 

I'm a two-time cancer survivor. (I have bad genetics.) I refuse to be near cigarette smoke even though my cancers weren't cigarette related. When I have to walk past smokers who crowd the entry doors of medical offices, restaurants, theaters, etc., I will give them plenty of Jersey Girl glare. :D

 

I will be celebrating my triumph over the second cancer on my upcoming cruise. Any smokers in the wrong place will get to see me making obnoxious faces and hear me asking them to kill themselves without killing me, thank you.

I agree with you. Smoking is a killer for everyone. My wife also is a cancer survivor and we always make it a point to make it clear to smokers we do not appreciate their deadly habit.