jpalbny

It's looking festive in the basement now. I spent a few hours this morning installing the LED fireplace in the wall. All digits intact and didn't get zapped. The tree was decorated here and there after work, over the past week. Since we had time and space, a second tree was fun.

That looks very much like the profile of an R-ship, and I think it's the Princess logo on the stack. Tahitian Princess? Now Oceania Sirena, but we cruised on her in the South Pacific in 2007, and on a Transatlantic after she left Tahiti was renamed Ocean Princess. Here is a picture of her from our 2007 trip. Facing the opposite direction but looking very similar to yours.

Yes! I recognize that place... Here I am on land, 5 years ago, looking out at you. Same moai as in your picture. I hope that your tours worked out as planned and that you got to experience this amazing place for yourselves!

Same as our experience last November: there is a fixed portion which remains the same, and also some specials which changed every day. The key to dining variety on Spirit for us was to change restaurants frequently.

Long weekends in Europe are a ton of fun! We only do them when we can leave Friday and come back Monday, and only to places where it's a direct flight so we don't waste half of the time traveling, and only if we can find reasonable business-class tickets. If we don't get some sleep on the plane then we'd be dead in the water for the whole trip. But a couple of hours will be enough. This should be very relaxing. We can leave work at noon on Friday and drive to the Massport parking facility in Framingham; from there the Logan Express will take us directly to the airport. So it's only about 2h from home to there; once we arrive at the garage the vacation officially starts. In terminal E we can hang at the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse which has always been a great way to start a trip. The flight to London is only 6h and it's only a 5h time change so jetlag should not be a real issue. Plus you never get fully adjusted to the time change on such a short trip so coming home won't be a big issue. We get in at 7AM Saturday so we'll head right to the hotel, dump our (small carry-on) bags, and hit the ground running. We are staying at the NoMad Hotel in Covent Garden. Looks like there are two great Christmas Markets; one in Covent Garden and one on the South Bank just across from where we are. They are open even past Christmas, unlike most of the continental markets which close on 12/23 or maybe 12/24. And they sound like they will have tons of great food stalls to try. So we may not need to worry about finding a place to have a full dinner. A day of grazing sounds wonderful. On Christmas Day, the NoMad is having a special prix-fixe lunch menu that sounds great. Just snagged one of the last reservations for 3:45 so it will be a late lunch/early dinner, then we can spend the evening walking around enjoying the lights, and not worry about what's open. On Monday we don't leave until 4PM so we can sleep in and/or enjoy a last run through more markets. Then we'll head back to LHR to use the Virgin Upper Class Wing which is such fun. The drive home from the garage won't be the highlight of the trip but oh well. In case you can't tell, I'm really excited about this! Lola, we will pay for it the next week at work. We're both on call for 7 days straight starting Tuesday, but life is short and there is much fun to be had. We did similar trips for Christmas in 2014, 15, and 16 but then for the next few years, Christmas was midweek so no long weekend, and so there was no way to make it work out. In 2020 we were super excited because Christmas was a Friday, so we could resume this tradition, but we all know what happened then and again in 2021. So we were NOT going to miss out this year! We certainly will! We have been really wanting to go back to London for some time now. Excited that it will finally happen!

Yes, completely standard and matches up with every sailing we've ever done on them. Same back in the day when we sailed Oceania. Same on Ponant last year, and that cruise was entirely within France. On both SS and Ponant, we have requested our passports numerous times when we needed them on shore for a car rental, or a COVID antigen test (last year when France was still enforcing the passe sanitaire). In every case it's been a complete non-issue and we were able to get the passports without any problem. Just go to the desk that morning once the ship has been cleared, tell them you need your passport, and it will be provided. They do ask that you sign it out so that they can keep track of whose is out. I can't remember which port, but once on SS when there was a local law that you had to carry a photocopy of your passport, they put a copy in our room the night before.

Well, we've done it! Christmas is a Sunday this year so Monday 12/26 is a holiday. That gives us a 3-day weekend. So for the last few weeks, I've been looking for places to go. So far I'd only found an itinerary to Paris which would be challenging, so over the past few days I've been spending lots of time searching for something else that would work. Tonight I found a nice itinerary from Boston to London leaving Friday night and returning Monday afternoon. It's booked. Now to find a hotel and plan what to do for a few days there! Looking forward to it - we have not been to London in 4 years. Christmas there should be fun!

He did. It's called the Cooler!

Yes. The Magi went to Jerusalem first, looking for Jesus ("asking for directions"); thus alerting Herod to the birth of a potential rival. This led to the slaughter of the innocents. Obviously asking for directions is a big mistake.

Is this a new twist on General Relativity? Eat chocolate faster, gain mass, speed up time? I didn't learn it that way... As you move faster, mass increases, but time slows down. Stands to reason that you should eat the chocolate slowly!

Have a fantastic crossing Spins!

Deception Island is a really neat place; thanks for your pictures! And yes, the still-active volcano keeps the sand on the beach quite warm. It also causes warm water to run off into the caldera so if you step into the water, the first foot or two from shore, where it's very shallow, is actually warm. Back in the "old days" (2009) we went here with Silverseas' Prince Albert II(now known as Silver Explorer) and we did our Polar Plunge inside the caldera. We wore our suits under our winter gear, stripped down on the beach, ran into the water, and dove under before we lost our nerve. Then we promptly ran out as fast as we could. The best part of it was the "hot tub" afterwards. The crew dug a shallow hole in the beach which filled up with the volcanically-heated runoff. The water was actually so hot that they had to pour in cold water from the caldera every once in a while, to keep us from boiling alive! But it felt great after the Polar Plunge. Apparently now you can't dig holes in the beach - but what fun that was! I have pictures of that but I don't want to hijack your thread. Good luck on your Drake crossing! Hope that you make good speed and avoid the worst of the weather. Have enjoyed following along with you.

Smartphone cameras are amazing. We got our best Northern Lights pictures last week with our phones, and not with my DLSR.

We were just in Helsinki for a few days. It was in the low 30s with occasional snow. Chris brought a pair of waterproof Merrel hikers for daytime and a pair of ankle boots for dressing up at dinner. They both worked well for her.

Happy Monday... back at it. Here's the kitty, out of bed and eating yesterday. The other side isn't so pretty. That's a huge incision! At least half of her body length, but it seems to be healing well. Once her fur grows back it will look nicer. She clomped all the way upstairs last night to sleep under our bed for a few hours. Then she wasn't able to get back down so she yowled and woke us up. Chris carried her down and fed her. I should try that some time. A nicer picture of the completed tree, from yesterday evening. Hope everyone's holiday preparations are going well.

That sounds like a great holiday! So unique compared to the other cruises we hear about on these boards. Thanks for sharing, and for all the pictures.

Jazz, my perspective (having done Antarctica twice, once with S. Georgia, once without): There's nothing to compare with Antarctica. Even Alaska can't compare. Massive amounts of icebergs and glaciers. Many different types of wildlife. The scenery is spectacular, especially on a good weather day. Plus the cool factor of making it to the seventh continent. South Georgia has less snow and much more green. The wildlife is incredibly dense (more so than on the Peninsula) but the species that you see are different. You wont' find Adelies there. The density of the King Penguin rookeries is like nothing else. And the fur seal pups are so cute. IMO S. Georgia and the Antarctic Peninsula are very different. Very little redundancy other than the fact that some of the same explorers were at both locations, and you can see Gentoo penguins in both places. We are already looking to go back again in a few years.

Nice penguin shots! Love watching them run around with pebbles for their nests. Did the trekking pole keep that gentoo from getting too close? Reminds me of the dividers at the grocery store checkout line. Smooth travels in the Drake.

Thanks DW, she's looking stronger this morning, and leaving her heated bed frequently to search for food. All encouraging signs! 🤞 I don't want her to get used to breakfast in bed.

I would have killed to have the luxury of either of these hay bales. On the farm where I grew up, we eschewed such conveniences and did it the old-fashioned way, with regular hay bales. About 12-14,000 per year, 50-60# each. Every freakin' year! And I had to handle each one at least twice. At least once while going into the haymow. And once more, taking it out to feed it to the cows. I guess it was a good core workout, before that kind of thing got popular? *** Well we got home from Finland Thursday night after a really great trip. Flights worked well and no major delays. Schipol was a cakewalk; we went from gate to gate in 20 minutes, even though we had to go through passport control in between. Very smooth. Unfortunately there were some "cat"astrophes awaiting us at home. One of the fish bit it and that made a bit of a mess in the aquarium. Nothing more fun than digging a rotten dead fish carcass out of the aquarium after a few days' worth of decomposition... While being utterly exhausted after traveling for 18+ hours! But the worst part is that the cat almost didn't survive our absence. She had a surgical procedure while we were away and that had gone well, and she came back home seemingly doing very well. But inexplicably, she stopped eating a few days before we got home and the pet sitter didn't find her until Wednesday, after probably 3 days with no intake at all. Sounded like she was on her last legs at that point and we are very lucky that our emergency contact is a vet tech. So she pulled out all the stops, on Thanksgiving Eve no less, and nursed the ill kitty back to health over the next 36 hours. Miraculous that this 21-year-old cat seems to be out of the woods now but I don't think she would have made it without our friend's help. We owe her big time. *** Today we put up a few Christmas lights outside, and bought a really nice tree to decorate tomorrow! Funny, after being up in the far north of Finland, it seems really light here! Sunset at 4:30? Wow - that's a lot of daylight! 😄

In Antarctica? No. You simply don't walk far enough to need them. And you don't want to get your nice hiking boots mucked up with penguin poop.

Leftover pizza for breakfast. That's a blast from the past! I have some vague "memories" of such a thing from my college days...

Sounds like a great trip! Looking forward to seeing where you go and what you do around the peninsula. We are starting to think about our next Antarctica trip and Le Commandant Charcot looks amazing, but Le Lyrial sure looks nice too.

Yes, Happy Thanksgiving all! We're celebrating in the Atlanta Airport now. Almost home from a very fun trip to Finland. We very much enjoyed our time in Helsinki, and got to see an amazing Northern Lights display way up north in Saariselkä. But the Delta Sky Club had turkey with the fixings. So we did get to partake in that. So, it was a great holiday.

Have an amazing trip!