The Alcohol Gauntlet

Hmmm, I don't remember this in the US, but the international terminal in Australia forces you through a duty free section full of free alcohol samples.

It's an ingenious scheme really, because by the end of it the concoction of Southern Comfort, Vodka, Baileys and Jack Daniel's has you tipsy enough to forget your flight number, and you have to spend another night in Australia feeding the economy, only to make another go at the gauntlet the next day.

Here's Ming at the Southern Comfort booth. I cut her off before the Jack Daniel's.

Location:Departure Plaza,Mascot,Australia

Transfer in Sydney!

It was a pretty smooth flight (though, much to Ian's dismay, no personal tvs). We both slept quite a bit, surprisingly - possibly a direct correlation there to the lack of personal tvs. And thanks to the wonder that is the international date line, it's already Monday morning here, making the time difference pretty tame compared to Africa or Asia. 19 hours ahead may sound rough, but 5 behind - ignoring the fact that it's a different day - is not bad at all.

Finally, credit to Expedia for the free airport wireless here. Not sure I'll be any more likely to book my future travel with you, but you get positive customer relations points.

First splurge...

30-day access to the Delta SkyClub. Ian gives the SFO location two thumbs up.

Itinerary for trip Down Under - comments welcome!

Thought some of you might be interested in knowing what we've got planned for the next few weeks. Things are pretty mapped out, but there are some question marks, so please feel free to make suggestions!

Sept 17 - flight to New Zealand
Sept 19 - arrival in Auckland
Sept 20-21 - Northland (Waipoua forest, swimming with the dolphins in Paihia, black sand beaches)
Sept 22-23 - Wellington (Rugby world cup!)
Sept 24-28 - Queenstown (Te Anau caves, Milford Sound, glaciers heli-hike, Lake Wanaka, bungee? skydiving?)
Sept 29-Oct 1 - over to Australia - Adelaide/Kangaroo Island (wine tasting, wildlife watching)
Oct 2-4 - Red Centre (King's Canyon, Uluru, camel sunset ride)
Oct 5-9 - Cairns (Great Barrier Reef, scuba diving, jungle tour)
Oct 10-12 - Sydney (Opera House, blue mountains?)

Can't wait :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Laguna St,San Francisco,United States

Barcelona Post-Cruise

The cruise portion of our trip had now ended, but the trip was definitely not over.  We disembarked in Barcelona and immediately went off on a Fat Tire bike tour.

I liked the bike-ride city-tour concept, and we certainly saw a lot of sights all in a few short hours!

For example, the Sagrada Familia.  I remember watching a video about the building of this church back in high school Spanish class -- as Ian says, I'm easily swayed by advertising. I'm pretty sure that video was the sole reason I wanted to visit Barcelona at some point in my lifetime -- to see this church that had been under construction for over a century... and yet still had no estimated completion date.

We also passed by the bullfighting stadium, a nudist beach, and a street festival.

We spent the next two days driving out in search of some bubbly and some more scuba-ing.  Ian was VERY happy about the ride he snagged from the car rental company. Apparently, this is what happens when you only drive automatics.

The Penedes wine region is mostly known for its cava, which is essentially champagne, but requires a different name since it's not actually from Champagne, France.  We thought it tasted just as good as, if not better, than the various actual "champagnes" we've had over the years.  

We took a cellar tour at Codorniu -- one of the BIG cava producers.

We think those are the Pyrenees in the background -- snow-capped even in June!

The Costa Brava had much superior diving as compared to Mallorca. We went with a boat out of L'estartit -- visiting the Iles Medes.

On our last day, we went in search of more Gaudy, I mean, Gaudi (ha?) masterpieces.

We finished the evening (our last of the trip!!) at the Magic Fountain.  I kid you not, that is the name of the fountain.  I must admit, though, it's definitely the coolest fountain show I've ever seen.  Beats anything Vegas or Disney has done by far. 

And with that, our trip is complete.  Ian has now officially been to Europe. Only Australia and Antarctica left!

Mallorca

So, our second to last day on the cruise was a day at sea.  I think we spent the day lounging at the pool, watching movies, stuffing ourselves with multiple buffet meals, and drinking lots of wine.  You'll have to take my word for it...because we didn't take any pictures. :)

The last day of the cruise, we visited Nadal's birthplace and did some scuba diving.  Mallorca (or Majorca, unclear which is preferred) was a lovely island -- nice people, nice beaches.  As proved by the only picture we took that day:

And while we didn't see a ton of activity underwater (I think my biggest "find" was a starfish), I think it was our deepest dive to date -- 20 meters!

And with that, our time on the Norwegian Jade drew to a close.  Definitely some good times on the boat!

Capri/Pompeii

This was our last port of call in Italy -- and our plan was to utilize the train and ferry systems to squeeze two sights into one short day.  We were going to take the hydrofoil to Capri, then the ferry to Sorrento, then the train to Pompeii, and then another train ride back to Naples and the ship.

As I write-up our experience a year later, I am beginning to realize just how touristy the entire thing was. Because once again, I'm about to admit to another tourist trap that we enthusiastically fell into -- the Blue Grotto experience.  This is one travel experience that Ian and I have EXTREMELY different views on.  I am perfectly happy to NEVER again visit the Blue Grotto. I found the whole thing gimmicky, over-priced, and not even that interesting! Ian, however, thought it was the cat's pajamas and would love to go again. You basically go under a cave, the water appears to be blue inside, and you float around for a bit. See pictures.

Since I'm the one writing this post, I'm not going to elaborate any further.  Except to say that I look waaay more excited in that picture that I recall feeling!

Capri itself I found much more appealing. The harbor was beautiful and the food was delicious.

Then it was off to Sorrento, we were a little late and we were worried we'd miss the train to Pompeii, so there was a little hill training run up the mountain.

 The ruins were impressive, as was expected.  This used to be a bath, I think.

I think Ian's standing by some stones that they used to use to cross the road when the rains were heavy and the roads "flooded."

That's Mt. Vesuvius in the background there -- crazy powerful thing, volcanos!

Back on the boat -- parting shot of Italy -- only got a whirlwind taste of you this trip, we will have to come back!