jpalbny

Hello from the KAL lounge at JFK! We made it here after a fairly uneventful drive down from Albany. Some brief snow showers on the Thruway, and it got as low as 34 degrees, but no issues and we got to the long term parking lot a little after 9:00. Found a spot in the row closest to the Air Train! Arrived at terminal 1 and had to wait for check-in to open, then a few minutes in line. Security was slow but we were through around 10:00. Then off to the lounge, with a view of our plane. We take off at 00:50 and it's almost 16h until we land. Crazy! Some flight path - this is yesterday's flight. Thinking we'll try to stay up for a while then sleep more during the second half of the flight. But who knows. A 13-hour time difference is going to be rough no matter what. Eventually we'll catch up with you in Bali!

Just pack them in tighter! There's always room for a little more.

Yes please. We "unwashed masses" want to know.

New York has one too. But I was vaccinated at the federal hospital where I work, and the NY system can't access that database. And the Feds helpfully protect my data by not sharing it with NY State. So as far as NY State is concerned, I'm not vaccinated. So, paper card it is!

Thank you @Catlover54, for that well thought-out and nuanced response. Very helpful way to think about it. There is no one answer to the question of whether to do ships' excursions vs private tours vs DIY, because there are so many variables. We also do a mix. It depends on what the ships' tours look like, whether we've been somewhere or not, and how easy it is to DIY. What might be possible in a port like Cadiz, where car rentals are easy, trains are plentiful, and it's easy to get around on your own does not necessarily apply in a remote part of Eastern Iceland like Seydisfjordur, where the nearest car rental is an hour away. And trust me, I've looked, because I really wanted to DIY there! And or course when we were cruise newbies we did all ships' tours and generally enjoyed it. But that was 15-20 years ago. We are more confident striking out on our own. So vive la différence!

Sorry. That's a great name for an app!

I keep both Chris's and my cards in a single plastic sandwich bag, back-to-back so that the front sides with our names and the vaccination dates are showing. I did that because we can take them out to record new doses, but the cards are otherwise pretty well-protected and I found that to be a better solution than laminating the cards. That bag is always in my travel backpack along with our passports because you just never know when you'll have to show it. It's unpredictable but just another part of travel in these times. Some entities will "need" to see it multiple times. Some won't. But it takes seconds to grab that bag, show one side, then the other, and replace it in my backpack. Never need to even open the bag. Since I work for the government, I am completely used to silly redundant requirements that make no sense. Randy can relate, I'm sure. For example, the VA hospital where I work provided all of our COVID vaccines to us. Yet when the government passed the mandate for all federal employees to be mandated, we had to manually enter our information into another database so that they would "know" that we were vaccinated...instead of just using their own data to prove this! When I asked why, and told them, "You gave me the vaccine and you already have the records," the reply was, "But we can't access your protected health information!"

We never said that we like the system. But that's how it is set up. Make your requests and they usually work out. Sometimes they don't.

Do you mean the Galeries Lafayette, behind the Opera Garnier? We go there for the food and wine shop (Le Gourmet), diagonally across from the main building.

OK Lois, You could probably stay in the Latin Quarter for a (somewhat) reasonable price, and depending on where you are, it's an easy walk to the Louvre, Île de la Cité, and a number of major attractions. As a bonus, that area is on the RER B line which goes directly to CDG so you could transfer to your hotel for about €11 on the train (I don't think you would want to do that, but others might). Last time we stayed in that area and enjoyed it. Lots of quaint bistros and you can put together a nice walking tour from that area and see a bunch of iconic sights. We stayed in the Hôtel Europe Saint-Séverin which was reasonably priced and a nice place for one night. Their elevator was broken and we had a sixth-floor room which we didn't mind but something to consider... From that hotel it was an easy walk to Luxembourg Gardens, the Sorbonne, Saint-Sulpice church, and all the attractions on Île de la Cité. The Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries, and Place de la Concorde are walkable too. If you push it you could probably make your way as far as the Grand Palais, cross Pont Alexandre III, and see Les Invalides before wandering back through St-Germain and the Latin Quarter. Musée d'Orsay is also within striking distance. Another place nearby (not exactly in the Latin Quarter but close) is Hotel Victoria Palace. It's between Luxembourg Gardens, Tour Montparnasse, and Les Invalides. A bit further to Île de la Cité and the Louvre. But it was a bit more upscale than the other hotel above. Neither is really close to the Eiffel Tower though, unless you really want to walk a fair distance. When we stayed at Hotel Keppler, off the Champs-Élysées, it was a nice easy walk. But that was almost 10 years ago and Hotel Keppler has become ridiculously expensive. Too bad; we loved it there and would be happy to return some day. So - look at a map and see what you'd like to visit while you're there, and then base your hotel selections according to that. Hope this is helpful!

Lois - since you only have one day, I suggest that you figure out what things you want to do/see in Paris, then stay somewhere nearby that's going to be walkable. There are a lot of small hotels that are (somewhat) more affordable, BUT if you only have one day then location is more important. If you're looking for a top of the line luxurious place where the hotel is the destination, then it's going to be beaucoup bucks, even with the great exchange rate these days. It sounds like you are trying to avoid that, which is smart. So, what do you want to see? You can't even get an overview, let alone see everything, in one day. We've been 4 times and we're not even close.

That's great! We almost booked that later trip, but early March worked better, since we have another big cruise trip planned for June. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with the postings and give you something to look forward to! This looks like a great itinerary - though there are not as many stops planned, when compared to the November 2020 itinerary. On the plus side, this one should actually happen! We are getting very excited to finally visit these locations - I've read about the Komodo Dragons since I was little. Thrilled to have the chance to see them on their eponymous island! Not sure what to expect with the Orangutan sightings. Supposedly we're taking the ship's zodiacs into the park. Will probably bring my SLR with a decent lens in case we're far from them. I wonder what Le Laperouse is doing in between our two voyages? Our cruise ends March 16th and yours starts March 31. Nothing listed on the Ponant site so it must either be a charter or a Tauck/A&K/Smithsonian journey - but I couldn't find any mention on those websites either. *** Tonight, we went through the clothes that we laid out, and managed to fit everything in one rollaboard each. So we'll be going carry-on for this trip.

No worries, I contacted Ms. M and she's sending it to me for safekeeping.

Yes, to expand on what Randy said: Go to "my.silversea..." and make your dinner reservation for the guests in your cabin, then add the number of additional guests from the dropdown menu just below your names. Screenshot of my reservation where I'm adding a booking, and adding guests:

Maybe they meant to say "abominable" but autocorrect fixed it?

Tuesday morning. Three more sleeps to go! Watching the weather reports; there will be some precipitation in the region Friday night. The temps so far are forecast to be high enough to keep it mostly liquid, especially near JFK. Let's hope! We do have some wiggle room with the 10-hour layover at ICN, but delays are still no fun. On Sunday we did a few preparatory tasks for entry into Indonesia. I found the government's website to apply on-line for an "eVisa-on-arrival" and we took care of that formality. It's a two step process where first you create an account on their website and verify the account, then for part two you apply and pay for the eVisa. Not a bad process but we needed to get updated pictures. Mugshots against a blank wall with our cell phones fit the bill. I uploaded the picture, and a copy of my passport, paid the staggering sum of 500,000 IDR, and my eVisa arrived about 2 minutes later. Next we got one for Chris just as quickly easily. It cost me $34 each. If it saves some time waiting in line, it will be worth it. The next formality for Indonesia is to download an app called "PeduiLindungi" which is used to verify your vaccination status. In the app, you have to enter your vaccine dates one at a time and upload your vaccine card. That was also verified pretty quickly so we're set there as well. You can only enter 3 doses of the vaccine though. I entered my first three doses, and not the fourth one. Hope that's right! The last thing we'll need to do is fill out an electronic customs declaration form. That will have to wait until Friday though. Maybe Thursday night, which will be Friday in Indonesia. *** We did some preliminary clothes gathering on Sunday night. Tonight we'll go through what we have laid out and discard some, see what needs to be laundered, and maybe do a test fit in the suitcases. Since it's our second cruise with Ponant we get free laundry, which should help a lot. We'll see if we can get by with our usual burden of one rollaboard and one backpack each.

Thanks for the tips. I think this cruise is nearly full; ATM almost all of the cabin categories are waitlisted. I think that it's their first voyage to Indonesia in several years, so likely that we were not the only ones waiting for this trip! But we will see. We're staying at a Belmond property - Jimbaran Puri. Same area as the Four Seasons but not quite so isolated. We're only there for 2 nights. Nothing really planned; figure we'll wander the beach and eat some seafood. And try to recover from the jet lag. No matter how you slice it, 13h ahead vs 11h back is going to be painful.

One theoretical solution to a late dinner is to stay up late in the Panorama, dancing it off. A 9PM dinner doesn't feel so late after you stay up past midnight... Not that I have any experience with that, mind you!

Well, I'm a little early but we've been waiting since November 2020 to take this trip, so I beg your forgiveness. I can't keep my excitement to myself any longer! Actually, it's been an even longer wait than from November 2020! We first signed up for this trip on October 15, 2019. As Covid started, we figured that our cruise in November 2020 would be fine...until it wasn't. The trip was finally canceled, and we kept our deposit with Ponant; luckily we had not bought airfare yet so no loss there. Eventually we transferred the deposit to a Corsica trip in September 2021 which we really enjoyed. So last May, when we saw this itinerary, finally we had another chance to visit Indonesia. And to see the Komodo Dragons, and the Orangutans in Borneo! Very exciting. Now just one more week of work to get through before we leave. We've done a little shopping for lighter clothes as our last big trip was to Finland in November. I don't think that our heavy lined thermal pants will be of much use in Bali... On Friday after work, we'll drive down to JFK at our leisure, since our flight leaves at 12:50AM. This will be our first time flying Korean Air. Their Prestige Class looks interesting. It's a 2-2-2 configuration but every seat has aisle access. Cool layout! I had been wondering how that would work on a 15+ hour flight... After a 10-hour layover in ICN (due to flight schedule changes), on to Bali for 2 nights at Jimbaran Puri. Then next Tuesday, we board! After the cruise we have three full days and two nights in Singapore. Then we fly home on Korean Air again. The long hop from ICN-JFK will be in the top deck of a 747! Haven't been there in many years. So, we have a lot to look forward to, and it's finally getting close enough to start preparing in earnest. Will do my best to take you along but I'll probably fall behind and have to finish once we're home.

Blue and white stripes are cute. I prefer a pretty smile, sunglasses, and a glass of bubbly to the rest, though. 😍 😎

I still keep them! No biggie. I'll just have to figure out how to save them in pdf form from the "app" that isn't an app, on my phone.

With my friends, it's a bottle of Gin. Also with my friends, it doesn't last very long...

Try Madagascar! A stack of the local currency, worth about $300 at the time. This was the largest denomination of bills available. The Ariary was running about 3000 to the USD at that time. Now it's about 4300 to a dollar. Should have waited to visit now!

@Lois R is right - we did sail on Ponant in September 2021 and liked it a lot. So this will be our second trip with them. Will be starting a live TR over on those boards soon.

Yes! All new countries and stops for us. We were originally scheduled on a similar itinerary in November 2020. Looking forward to this! Interestingly, we'll be in Komodo NP for two days. One of them is the same day that Silver Whisper calls there. Wonder if we will see each other?