iq6000

As a woman in Australia, I have been catching cabs since the 1980s, and the only times I have ever sat in the back seat is when someone else was in the front seat. Once when I was in my 20s I was catching a cab at midnight (that's what time the bus got in to Brisbane from Sydney), and the cab rank was in this really sketchy place under the Roma St bus station. When I got to the rank there was only one cab left and some men were getting in. I was going a long way and the cabbie said I shouldn't wait there by myself. The fare was going to Red Hill which was close by. He said hop in and he would drop off the men then take me home. I didn't want to wait in the dark by myself so I hopped into the backseat amongst some men I had never seen before. I then discovered that they were all quite drunk because they were celebrating that one of them got out of gaol that day. They were all very happy and the released guy gave the cabbie $20 toward my fare. Sweet! Also, my husband's best mate is a cab driver, so in solidarity I have never used Uber.

I went to the opening, just after my 10th birthday, with my sisters and parents. It was a memorable day. We didn't have much money back then and our parents took us to free events whenever possible. I took my first ever photos, of balloons and of naval ships, with my (new to me) Box Brownie camera. My pride and joy! I ended up going to quite a few performances there in the 1970s and 1980s until I married and left NSW. It was always special to visit the Opera House. We have a family connection to the building through one of my grandmother's brothers, an artist who held an exhibition there in 1978. The Opera House mural, Salute to 5 Bells, is his "six degrees of separation" story.

You can still book an Alaskan cruise on Luminosa leaving Seattle on the 1st of May so I reckon Carnival have just not fixed the transpacific dates glitch yet. Likewise can no longer see any shore excursions for this cruise. The web information for the transpacific is severely messed up.

Nothing for Japan. For the USA we Australian passport holders can use ESTA, apply via app or website.

I plan on walking around and taking photos of things I find interesting. A quick check of Google Maps has shown that there is a lot of scope for that.

While not approaching 70 just yet, I have a big trip coming up and looked into travel insurance for the two of us. Quotes ranged from $434 to over $3700. Narrowed it down to three between $1500 and $1900 which cover the pre-existing conditions. I was really surprised by the wide range of premiums. Also, reading PDSs is really boring, but recommended.

Monitored self-tests have never to my knowledge been part of the COVID testing regime in Australia. My sister lives in the USA and had to do one to satisfy the USA requirements before returning after a visit to Australia during the pandemic. Australia has PCR tests processed by labs, or self-administered Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs). A list of the approved RATs in Australia is on the TGA website. COVID-19 rapid antigen self-tests that are approved in Australia | Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

At that time of year, public school breaks are a maximum of two weeks. In Queensland school goes back on 15th April. Other states have different dates, for instance New South Wales holidays only start when Qld go back. Parents would need to be taking their kids out of school for at least 2 weeks to do the cruise. I don't think you would be able to guarantee no children on a cruise at any time of year though. Maybe passengers from previous repositioning cruises at the same time of year would be able to shed some light on that question.

I spent a couple of days reading PDSs for travel insurance recently so that I could find one which would cover my husband's (really minor) conditions. I found some that just did not offer coverage for the conditions whereas others allowed a medical assessment then charged an extra premium. One of the policies included all his conditions in the list of automatically accepted conditions. It was a really eye-opening exercise. I ended up having to create a spreadsheet to help me decide which one would be best for us. I am glad I am retired now to have time for this research...

On another note, the cruise embarkation day 1st April is also Easter Monday. There are four days in a row of public holidays for Easter, from Good Friday to Easter Monday. Also, the last day of the Queensland school term is the previous Thursday 28th March, so Easter is also the start of school holidays. So, beaches and family holiday spots may be busier, some places may be closed for the holidays, some prices may be different (public holiday surcharges in some restaurants for instance) and public transport will be running to a reduced timetable. Just FYI for anyone making pre-cruise travel plans.

I would recommend staying at the nearby suburb of Hamilton. It contains a range of accommodation styles. Hamilton is convenient to both the airport and the cruise terminal. It is a riverside location, and you can easily get into the city centre by bus or ferry if you want to do some pre-cruise independent touring. There are also lots of places to eat nearby in Racecourse Rd or by the river. Cruise ships used to pull up in Hamilton which was really handy, but the new cruise terminal is out at Luggage Point near the mouth of the river in an industrial area. Delta don't fly into Brisbane. Direct flights to Brisbane from the USA are currently Qantas (from LAX) or United (from SFO). Of course there are other routes, but they involve stops between the USA and Brisbane. I guess it really depends on what you prefer. I believe that Delta flies to Sydney. I have never flown across the Pacific myself, so I can't personally recommend any particular airline.

Booked. I have family in Seattle, so going from my home to theirs - the long way. We are really looking forward to the voyage and the ports we will be visiting along the way.