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John and Diane's Lucky Number 7

tennisbeforewine

By tennisbeforewine,
in Holland America Line

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tennisbeforewine

tennisbeforewine

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Posted

Thursday, January 17, 2019

San Luis Obispo, CA

 

It’s zero minus 5 days and here I am typing in the dark.  For the last day or so, California has had a series of “killer” storms, last night being the worst for us.  It wasn’t so much the rain as the wind, and John spent hours today cleaning up the debris which had been blown hither and yon while I sweated over the washer and dryer trying to get everything ready for the last two bags. Now that the rain is only a sprinkle and the wind has given up, the power has decided to go out.  Go figure!

 

On the 11th, Fed Ex showed up to collect our four bags (two each), so we only need one small bag each for two days in Auburn CA with our kids and then two days in Ft. Lauderdale, where I really hope I get to use the shorts and sleeveless shirts!  Cruise and Travel Experts are treating us to a wonderful (it always is) dinner and a night at the Pier 66 Hotel before we sail off into the sunset.

 

Getting ready for an adventure like a 4-1/2 month cruise is always a struggle.  Why 4-1/2 months?  Because at the end of the world cruise, we’re going to stay on the ship and sail back through the canal, disembarking in San Francisco to return home to San Luis Obispo.  For the last couple of world cruises, we’ve had our “adopted son” Jonathan living with us, so we just packed up and flew off to Ft. Lauderdale.  Now, however, Jon has flown the coop, and not wanting our home to remain empty for several months, we’ve rented it to a lovely couple who have moved here from Colorado and want to check out the possibilities before buying a house.  Since they’ll be here until May 31, we’re taking the opportunity to add two weeks onto our WC.

 

We’re pretty darned excited about this one.  We’ll have two overland tours and they will be very different from each other.  The first overland is a result of a “pinky swear” agreement between John and our daughter Courtney that we wouldn’t be gone for a full four months.  The result is that we’ll fly from Papeete to San Francisco, rent a car, and spend a week with “the kids” before rejoining the cruise in Auckland.  I know, I know.  It doesn’t really make a lot of sense, but it does keep the family happy and we’re happy to do it.  Fortunately, we have lots and lots of miles, so the cost isn’t a problem.

 

Our second overland, with our good friends Rich and Ginni, is one we’re really looking forward to.  On our second day in Singapore, we’ll fly to New Delhi, spend the night, and then continue on to Darjeeling, Nepal, and Bhutan, finishing up at the Taj Mahal in Agra before rejoining the ship in Muscat, Oman.   Our wonderful Indian travel agent, Ajay (who has arranged India trips for us since 2008), has put together another amaziing overland in the foothills of the Himalayas to experience places and people we’ve never encountered before.

 

So . . . if you’d like, please travel along with us.  I’ll be trying to post a photo or two on my blog and John will, as usual, have a Facebook post with even more photos.  Our FB address is dianeandjohn st john, so we’d be happy to have you join us on either format.

We’re really excited about our seventh world cruise, and we’d love to have you follow along with us. 

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ger_77

ger_77

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Posted (edited)

I'm excited to be traveling in your suitcase again!  Thanks for taking the time and effort to keep us informed about your adventures.  Can I friend you on FB?

 

Smooth Sailing!   🙂🙂🙂

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Cruise NH

Cruise NH

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2 hours ago, tennisbeforewine said:

Ger_77 - You're more than welcome to "friend" us on Facebook.  Are you Mary?

If so, we'll respond.  For the record, however, you don't have to join FB; you just have to type in our FB user name:  dianeandjohn st john.  

Actually they do want you to join if you want to get past the front page.  I remember a time when you could look at people's pages without signing in but that day must have past.

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ellbelle

ellbelle

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Would love to see your FB posts as well as reading the details of your wonderful adventure. We’re sending a FB request as well, Cheryl-Fred and our last name. We met on the Koningsdam TA in October 2016 and shared a great food tour in Malaga.

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tennisbeforewine

tennisbeforewine

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Saturday, January 19 - Zero minus 3 days

Auburn, California

 

If you think you go nuts trying to get ready for a trip on the last night before travel, try it in the dark!  Our lights went out at about 5:30 and didn't go back on again until 12:30 AM.  By then, of course, we had long retired, but John woke up enough to go around turning off lights.  The after effects, however, made posting impossible, since our cable/internet provider had "suffered an interruption of service" and although the recording promised we would receive a phone call telling us when the problem was solved, we're still waiting for that call - and I'm pretty sure whatever caused the problem has now been fixed.  

 

Now we're ensconced in our rental house in Auburn, a beautiful old redwood structure built in 1910 as a boarding house/brothel.  Doncha just love history.  I asked about the sinks in each of the four upstairs bedrooms and found out more than I really wanted to know.  Auburn was the first Gold Rush town in California, founded in 1848, and I learned from a plaque in the post office this morning that this was the first post office in California and that the volunteer fire department was the first in the U. S. after Boston.  It's a beautiful little town in the Sierra foothills with wonderful history and great restaurants; you might want to spend a few days here sometime.  Come in the spring or the fall; the summer is too hot and the winter is too cold.  (This is from someone who lives in Central California near the ocean where 45 degrees is a really, really cold winter day). 

 

Tomorrow we'll be up and at 'em early and hopefully in the car and headed for San Francisco Airport by 7:30.  We'll do a drive-by stop at our kids' home with a duffel full of cold weather clothes (more about that later) and then head to SFO, hoping to get there in time for the two-hour security line - even in the TSA pre-check line.  Fortunately we have United Club passes, so we're hoping to spend some time in there before our flight is called for 1:15 departure.  It's the only United non-stop flight from SFO to Ft. Lauderdale, so we really, really can't miss it.  

 

We should arrive in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow at 9:35 PM (EST) and I imagine the next post (zero minus 2 days) will be written in the hotel bar there while catching up with our cruise friends from around the country.  We are SO excited.  See you then.

 

 

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ger_77

ger_77

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23 hours ago, tennisbeforewine said:

Ger_77 - You're more than welcome to "friend" us on Facebook.  Are you Mary?

If so, we'll respond.  For the record, however, you don't have to join FB; you just have to type in our FB user name:  dianeandjohn st john.  

I just sent a friend request; it's Geraldine.  Thank you.

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