Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Just Nine More Days!

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve! That leaves just nine days till we begin our trek around the world...hard to believe it is so close.

The last couple of weeks have been crazy! You may have noticed a little change in the map. The craziness all started when I got a call from SAA that our flight from Bangkok to Johannesburg had been canceled! It was the only non-stop flight to Johannesburg and it was on Thai Air. The agent said that Thai Air was working on a new route and would get back to us. I already knew from the planning stage that we now had two options, neither that great. One was to back track to Hong Kong then to Johannesburg which was a much longer ordeal and the other was Bangkok to Singapore and onward which only added two hours flying time and a three hour layover. So, I told the agent that we wanted to go through Singapore and she said OK. The next thing I hear is that we are going back to Hong Kong with a long layover and on to Johannesburg! Needless to say, I spent several days burning up the ether with SAA getting the route we want. So now we have added another flight, country and airline to our adventure!

We will leave Bangkok at 19:30 to fly to Singapore on Thai Air getting there at 22:45. Then fly Singapore Air leaving at 02:00 and arriving in Johannesburg at 07:00, in time for our original connection to Victoria Falls. If we survive this marathon without a hitch, I will be amazed! We have time to spread it out by leaving Bangkok early, so that may just happen. Another little glitch happened last Saturday. We were going over the itinerary checking reservations and other details including sending emails to the people doing the private tours in the various cities.

I got an email back late Saturday evening from the company providing our GBR helicopter dive tour. They have a private group booking to their pontoon so they had to cancel our booking! Sorry, he thought he had contacted us! The group booking happens to be the ship’s own GBR tour which is going to the pontoon by a 90 minute boat ride which I don’t really want to do. The pontoon is Marine World on Moore Reef and is a good site. That is why I picked them to begin with!

We may ultimately do this tour with the ship. But, I am talking to Great Adventures about a Helicopter trip to Green Island and then on to their pontoon on Norman Reef which would give us two GBR experiences. Although Green Island is a very popular site, it does have some things of interest. The other option is Down Under and their half day helicopter trip to meet up with their big boat, Osprey V, anchored somewhere on Hastings Reef. All three options offer a semi-submersible ride, snorkeling and diving, just at different sites. Great Adventures offers another island and Down Under’s afternoon trip gives us a chance to maybe do the Kuranda train ride in the morning. I need to decide soon!

The last thing that crawled out of the emails on Sunday was from our guide for Cairo. Originally she didn’t want any money until the tour. She has had some no shows and now wants 20% down. That is no big deal as it is not that much money, but she wants it sent by Western Union. Having never sent money by that method, Dick had a bit of fun, or should I say frustration, trying to send the money today.


The DHL paperwork from Seabourn finally came right before the holidays started. As soon as I get the last of the dry cleaning and meds, I can finish the packing. Things seem to be working out OK. I have decided to take one more small bag with us to start. It will have some things that we will use up before we get to Africa where the luggage is aproblem. That has made things much simpler. It is amazing how heavy medicine is! We can just leave that bag at some point as we use up meds and send travel books back in the shipped luggage. Right now our carry onbags are at 15 pounds each and the extra bag is 12. The bag being shipped to Sydney is 27 pounds and the one to Dubai is 39 pounds.

Christmas was nice. Dick had a long weekend so we had plenty of time for good visits with friends and family. We also got some things done for the trip. We have a New Year's Eve party tomorrow so that will be a fun way to celebrate Dick being officially retired! Friday we go to the Travel Doctor at our clinic for typhoid shots and malaria meds plus what ever else we may need. Some of the time we will not be close to medical services. On Saturday we will go visit Robert's family at their lake house for some fun with the grandkids and some hunting for the guys. Then Robert will check our teeth before we leave on Monday. Tuesday, late, after we close up the house we head to Houston. Wednesday and Thursday are for last minute details there. We fly to San Francisco early Friday morning. When we post again , we should be in New Zealand....!


Friday, December 5, 2008

Counting Down

Five weeks from today at 07:00 we leave for one of our favorite cities, San Fransico, on the first of 21 separate flights on 8 airlines that will take us around the world! Most of the preparations are done. We got our Vietnam visas back in exactly one week in good order. So now all the visas are taken carry of! Dick has made arrangements for all the day to day stuff to be covered while we are gone.

We got our documents for the Tahitian Princes last Friday. The documents for Seabourn Spirit will be waiting for us in Dubai. I have reserved the ship’s DMZ tour for Inchon. We have private tour arrangements in the ports for Cains, Shanghai, Luxor, Petra and Cairo. The other ports we will get a taxi or maybe rent a car when we arrive and tour on our own.

All the rental cars and hotels are reserved for the land portions in New Zealand, Australia, Asia and Africa. A car is reserved for Europe, but no hotels, we plan to just wing it! We have our reservations for the famous Australian trains, the India Pacific (Sydney to Perth) and the Ghan (Darwin to Adelaide). The ferry from the North Island to South Island of New Zealand and the round trip ferry from Cape Jervis to Kangaroo Island, South Australia are also set. The final arrangements are in place for the three African safaris. However, I am sure there are details that we have over looked, but going with the flow and working things out on the fly are part of the adventure that is traveling!

The fact that traveling can be more of an adventure than expected was brought home very forcefully with the world unrest Thanksgiving week! Fortunately, Dick talked me out of including India in this trip. But we love Bangkok so we have 6 days there! We do not plan to change that at this point, but will definitely keep a watchful eye on the situation. If there is a problem we might have to fly from Hanoi direct to Siem Reap then to Singapore and then on to Johannesburg cutting out Bangkok, but I hope not! The Seabourn Spirit just completed her trip East bound trip through the Gulf of Aden in a French military convoy. They are taking no chances! That is good as we will be on the Spirit as she heads back through that area in April.

I have packed a 6 ½ pound rolling carry-on for each of us with the clothes we will need for the first segment, about 5 weeks in New Zealand and Australia. This will be our basic wardrobe for the whole trip. I have the bags at 15 pounds each plus a small case for the laptop, accessories and pair of binoculars for Dick to carry and a camera bag for our three cameras and accessories me to carry. Actually once we are through security we can put the small bags into the carry-ons since they are no where near full! We are restricted to only a 15 pound bag each, period, on several of the Africa flights so this has been a real challenge. Fortunately I found a travel vest with many pockets we can stuff with meds and other small needs. Dick has one already and I ordered me one.

This fall, we went to a National Geographic photography workshop in Santa Fe NM and had to take all our camera gear and two laptops plus all the accessories for both. Since our first big trip with seven pieces of big luggage, I have been trying to reduce the luggage to only a carry-on each! In the fall we traveled with two 8 pound standard carry-ons with clothes for the week and our laptops weighing in at 18 pounds each plus the fully loaded camera case. Dick carried lots of little miscellaneous stuff in the pockets of the travel vest. The vest is definitely not a fashion statement, but is a sure fired way to get a bit more precious weight allowance in the carry-on!

We have had the DHL paper work for the luggage we are shipping to the Tahitian Princess for two weeks. I am still waiting for the same paper work for the luggage we are sending to the Spirit. Seabourn kepts promising it will be here in two more days! The forth "two more days" came from this morning's phone call.

A piece of luggage is being sent to our cabin on the Tahitian Princess with the formal clothes we will need for the Sydney to Hong Kong cruise leg and the bug repellant safari type clothes for the Cambodia and African segment. It will be picked up on January 28th from the attorney’s office. This bag will then be sent home when we get to Hong Kong with the few cold weather things needed for the first part of the trip instead of the safari clothes. Another bag with cruise clothes and some replacements for the by then "well worn" travel clothes and safari clothes will be picked up at the office in late March and catch up with us on the Spirit in Dubai. I have packed and repacked these bags as they also have weight restrictions though more generous. I think I am happy with what I have put together for us. Dick has not shown as much interest as I would have liked...he will just have to wear what I brought! We can always add to while we are traveling and just give things away if we get too much.

We will visit the doctor after Christmas for the "medicine chest" we will need for 5 months. All the shots needed for the trip have been done. The last big one, Yellow Fever, was done for our trip to South America earlier this year. Meds are one thing that will go in the vest as they have to be available when we go through security.

Now I plan to sit back and enjoy the Christmas season. It is my favorite time of year. The good thing this year is that in trying to get ready for the trip, I got the shopping and the decorating done by last week! It is time now to enjoy the anticipation of our great adventure. I am sure both of us will send time mentally reviewing our check lists and travel plans to make sure we don't forget anything! But, of course, we will forget something.....It will be interesting to see what it is!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Visas, Visas, Visas

We went to the Chinese Consulate after a late lunch and got in line to retrieve our passports and, hopefully, our Chinese Visas. After a fairly short wait, and for a mere $260 cash, we now have our passports with one year, multi-entry visas. It is obvious that we will have to make another trip before November 10, 2009 to get our money's worth!

Tomorrow, after getting a cashier's check for $130 we will submit our passports to the tender mercies of the US postal system in hopes of getting our Vietnam visas back within a reasonable time; say December 1st.

We should be OK in the visa department as soon as we get the ones for Vietnam. All total we will need twelve visas. Princess will get our visa for New Guinea and charge the $50 fee to the cabin. Dick filled out a form online for the Australian visa and it is just in the computer system that the airlines and Australian Immigration access. There is no visa, as far as we know, placed in your passport. The charge was $16.69 each and no lines. It was a very civilized way of doing it!

Cambodia may be a third world country but their visa process is almost the same as Australia’s. The only difference is we will pay $25 dollars to get the visa added to the passport when we arrive at immigration in the Siem Reap airport.

South Africa is another whole ball game! They require 4 full empty, consecutive no less, visa pages in the passport if you are just coming to South Africa. If, like us, you are going to another African country and coming back to South Africa then you must have six empty pages! Fortunately, we can fill out the forms and just give them to the officer at the airport immigration along with the fee and get a "visa on arrival". We will travel through Johannesburg on the way to Zimbabwe, then come back to South Africa for a while. We have read that South Africa has denied entry to people who didn’t have the required empty pages. Don’t want that to happen! Hence the reason for getting all the extra pages.

For the next three visa countries, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and United Arab Emirates, we can fill out the paper work, give it to the immigration officers when we arrive and get a "visa on arrival". Of course we will still pay the fee’s, but at least we don’t have to mail our passports somewhere! We may or may not have to get a visa for Kenya; the regulations seem to indicate that since we stay in transit and are there for less than 24 hours each time we don’t need a visa. Even if we do, we can get it when we arrive.

Seabourn will get the last three visas we need, Oman, Egypt and Turkey so that is one more thing we don’t have to mess with. Again the fees will be charged to the cabin.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Planning Begins

The Planning Begins in Earnest: We are 60 days from departure!

Actually this trip has been in the planning stage since we took our first real foreign adventure trip in the Fall of 1984. That trip to Europe had the barest of plans: fly to Brussels, rent a car and follow my father-in-law’s path during WWII, take a train from Vienna to Venice, cruise on the Vistafjord from Vienna to Yalta and back to Genoa, fly to London and fly home. We were gone six weeks, traveled with 7 large suitcases, had a great time and visited 14 countries!

That first trip awakened the explorer in us! Over the years we have made trips almost every year to other countries, visiting 34 more countries on six continents. In addition to the time spent tavelling overland, visiting places such as the hallowed battlefields of Flanders and Normandy, the mystical peaks of Machu Picchu and the beautiful campgrounds of New Foundland and Alaska, we have spent 243 days at sea. We have sailed across a stormy Bering Sea in early April and a placid lake that was the North Sea into the ever setting sun of the Baltics in June. We have cruised to Svaalbard (Spitsbergen), 600 miles south of the North Pole and done an eleven day expedition cruise going south of the Antarctic Circle with a landing on Antarctica’s continental landmass along with numerous Antarctic islands. On this last trip, The Drake "Shake" gave a new meaning to "ship movement" with seas to 30+ feet and a ship roll of 33 degrees for almost 46 hours!

For several years we have been talking about doing a trip around the world when Dick retires. Therefore, for some time now, I have been looking at world cruises and places we might want to spend time. This Fall Dick announced he would retire on December 31. We already were in the planning stages for a trip to New Zealand and Australia for the first part of 2009 so it made perfect sense to just go on around the world.

We had to get new passports for our South America and Antarctic trip this year. So, we ordered ones with extra pages. We got stamps at every research station we visited in Antarctica plus the regular stamps and visa entries for the South America countries. After counting the free sections and whole pages in the passports (30 full pages), several weeks ago, and figuring out how many visas we would have to get either before we left the US or as we traveled plus all the entry stamps (probably 28+ pages worth) Dick sent the passports off for yet more pages. We didn't want to be denied entry into a country at some airport! The passports came back last week with 20 more pages! I don't think we will run out of pages any time soon!

On this adventure we will explore our seventh continent, visit new countries for new experiences and return to some old friends for pure pleasure. Like the first trip, we will travel by rented car, by plane, by train and cruise the seas for 48 days. However, this trip will have a very different feel! Last time we left with a map of Europe and our plane, train and cruise tickets in a travel packet. This time I have a folder with over 40 pages of email confirmations, various tickets and lists of places to visit and eat! Last time we were expected home by three children and two jobs. This time our RTW plane tickets are good till January 8, 2010! That is the "or maybe more " in the title. However, in reality, I guess we are free for as long as we can stand to live on the "go" with the clothes that will fit in two small suitcases weighing, at most 15 pounds, each!

Today, Dick took our passports and our visa applications to the Chinese Consulate in Houston. They were accepted as presented and he got a receipt to pick them up on Thursday.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

The Travel Plan: Friday, January 9, 2009 through Thursday, May 21, 2009

On our trip around the world we will travel over 52,000 miles. It will be like circling the globe more than two times. We will visit 26 countries, nine for the first time, on five continents. Our itinerary is :

Friday. January 9 - Fly to San Francisco.
United Airlines #UA377. Mandarin Oriental Hotel - San Francisco.
http://www.mandarinoriental.com/sanfrancisco/?cid=gl_mosfo

Saturday, January 10 - Fly to Auckland, NZ.
Air New Zealand #NZ0007.

Sunday, January 11 - Cross International Dateline.
Lost Day

Monday, January 12 - Fly to Wellington.
Air New Zealand #NZ405. Arrive 9am. Pick up Hertz rental car. Stay at the Holiday Inn for two nights. http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/660/en/hd/wlgfs

Tuesday, January 13 - Wellington.

Wednesday, January 14 - Travel to Nelson.
Ferry to South Island. Pick up Hertz rental car. Drive to Nelson. Stay at Bella Vista Motel for two nights. http://www.nelsonnz.com/nelson/
Thursday, January 15 - Nelson.

Friday, January 16 - Drive to Fox Glacier.
Stay at Misty Peaks, Cooks Suite. http://www.mistypeaks.co.nz/

Saturday, January 17 - Drive to Queenstown.
Stay at Novotel Queenstown Lakeside for two nights.
Sunday, January 18 - Queenstown.
Drive to Milford Sound and back to Queenstown for boat ride on Milford Sound. http://www.activenewzealand.com/milford_sound.php

Monday, January 19 - Drive to Dunedin.
By way of Invercargill and coast. Stay at Bella Vista Motel. http://www.dunedinnz.com/

Tuesday, January 20 - Drive to Christchurch.
Use inland route. Stay at Bella Vista Motel for two nights.
Wednesday, January 21 - Christchurch http://www.christchurch.org.nz/

Thursday, January 22 - Fly to Sydney, Australia.
Air New Zealand #NZ783. Stay at Marriott Hotel at the Rocks for two nights.
Friday, January 23 - Sydney http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sydmc-sydney-harbour-marriott-hotel-at-circular-quay/

Saturday, January 24 - Depart for Perth, W Australia.
Board the India Pacific Train at 2:10. http://www.gsr.com.au/our-trains/indian-pacific/the-journey.php
Sunday, January 25 - On the Train. Stops at Broken Hill from 6:40AM to 08:20 and Adelaide 15:05 to 18:40.
Monday, January 26 - On the Train. Stop at Kalgoorlie at 19:10, depart 22:40. http://www.kalgoorlie-australia.com.au/

Tuesday, January 27 - Travel to Lowlands Beach.
Depart train in Perth. Pick up Hertz rental car. Drive to Cape Howe Cottages ("The Wardroom") for four nights. http://www.capehowe.com.au/
Wednesday, January 28 - Lowlands Beach
Thursday, January 29 - Lowlands Beach
Friday, January 30 - Lowlands Beach

Saturday, January 31 - Drive to Yallingup.
Stay at Wildwood Valley, Honeybee Cottage for two nights. http://www.wildwoodvalley.com.au/
Sunday, February 1 - Yallingup

Monday, February 2 - Drive to Fremantle.
Stay at Quest Harbor Village Apartments for three nights. http://www.harbourvillage.property.questwa.com.au/
Tuesday, February 3 - Fremantle
Wednesday, February 4 - Fremantle

Thursday, February 5 - Fly to Darwin, NT Australia, Quantas 792.
Stay at Mantra Esplanade (Saville Park Suites) Hotel for two nights. Pick up Hertz car at the airport.
Friday, February 6 - Darwin

Saturday, February 7 - Depart for Adelaide, S Australia.
Board the The Ghan Train at 09:00. Arrive Katherine 12:40, depart 16:45. http://www.gsr.com.au/our-trains/indian-pacific/the-journey.php
Sunday, February 8 - On the train. Arrive Alice Springs 11:15, depart 15:15. http://www.tourism.thealice.com.au/

Monday, February 9 - Travel to the Village of Seven Hills, Clare Valley.
Arrive Adelaide 1:10PM. Pick up Hertz rental car. Drive to Wren Cottage at Skillogalee Winery for two nights. http://www.skillogalee.com.au/
Tuesday, February 10 - Village of Seven Hills

Wednesday, February 11 - Drive to Oakbank.
Stay at Adelaide Hills Country Cottages (Lavender Fields Cottage) for four nights. http://www.ahcc.com.au/home.html
Thursday, February 12 - Oakbank
Friday, February 13 - Oakbank
Saturday, February 14 - Oakbank

Sunday, February 15 - Travel to Kangaroo Island.
Drive to Jervis, leave car, sail to the island on the Spirit of Kangaroo ferry. Check into "The Lookout", Kangaroo Island for two nights including two days of an island private tour. http://www.the-lookout.com.au/
Monday, February 16 - Kangaroo Island

Tuesday, February 17 - Travel to Sydney.
Return to mainland via Sealink ferry. Drive to Adelaide Airport. Fly to Sydney, Quantas 764. Check into Quay West Suites for two nights. http://www.mirvachotels.com/quay-west-suites-sydney
Wednesday, February 18 - Sydney

Thursday, February 19 - Board Tahitian Princess. http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/ta/index.html
Cabin #6091 Owner’s Suite. Sail at 22:00.

Friday, February 20 - At Sea

Saturday, February 21 - Brisbane, Australia 8:00 to 18:00.

Sunday, February 22 - At Sea
Monday, February 23 - At Sea


Tuesday, February 24 - Cairns, Australia 7:00 to 18:00.
Helicopter trip to Great Barrier Reef and Marine World on Moore Reef for SCUBA diving. http://www.reefmagic.com.au/

Wednesday, February 25 - At Sea
Thursday, February 26 - At Sea


Friday, February 27 - Rabaul, Papua/New Guinea 7:00 to 14:00. http://www.pacificislandtravel.com/png/about_destin/rabaul.html

Saturday, February 28 - At Sea
Sunday, March 1 - At Sea


Monday, March 2 - Guam 12:00 to 19:00. http://www.visitguam.org/main/
Rent a car and explore the island, maybe do a shore dive.

Tuesday, March 3 - At Sea
Wednesday, March 4 - At Sea
Thursday, March 5 - At Sea


Friday, March 6 - Osaka, Japan 8:00 to 20:00. http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2158.html
Take the train to Kyoto for the day.

Saturday, March 7 - Hiroshima, Japan 9:00 to 17:00. http://www.city.hiroshima.jp/e/index-E.html http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/travel/miyajima_travel.html

Sunday, March 8 - At Sea

Monday, March 9 - Inchon, Korea 8:00 to 17:00.
Trip to DMZ. http://www.korea-dmz.com/en/cm/main_en.asp

Tuesday, March 10 - At Sea

Wednesday, March 11 - Shanghai, China 7:00 to 18:00.
Private car for tour of water town Zhujiajiao. http://www.m-restaurantgroup.com/

Thursday, March 12 - At Sea
Friday, March 13 - At Sea


Saturday, March 14 - Disembark Hong Kong, China.
Check into the Intercontinental Hotel for two nights.
http://hongkong-ic.intercontinental.com/honic/index.shtml
Sunday, March 15 - Hong Kong

Monday, March 16 - Fly to Hanoi, Vietnam.
Vietnam Airlines VN791. Check into Hilton Hanoi Opera for three nights.
http://www.vietnamstay.com/hotel/hilton/
Tuesday, March 17 - Hanoi
Wednesday, March 18 - Hanoi

Thursday, March 19 - Fly to Bangkok, Thailand.
Thai Air TG683. Check into Peninsula Hotel for two nights.
http://bangkok.peninsula.com/
Friday, March 20 - Bangkok

Saturday, March 21 - Fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Bangkok Air PG915. Check into Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa for two nights. http://www.victoriahotels-asia.com/
Sunday, March 22 - Siem Reap.
Visit Angkor Wat and some other temples.
http://www.sacredsites.com/asia/cambodia/angkor_wat.html

Monday, March 23 - Fly to Bangkok.
Bangkok Air PG906. Check into the Peninsula Hotel for three nights.
Tuesday, March 24 - Bangkok
Wednesday, March 25 - Bangkok
Thursday, March 26 - Bangkok.
A late hotel check out for a flight to Singapore. Thai Air flight TG401.

Friday, March 27 - Travel to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
Fly to Johannesburg, South Africa, Singapore Air Flight #SQ478. Fly to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, South African Airways SA40. Check into Victoria Falls Hotel.

Saturday, March 28 - Travel to Dullstroom, South Africa.
Fly to Johannesburg, South African Airways SA41. Pick up 4-WD Nissan Trail Hertz rental car. Drive to The Highland Rose B&B, Dullstroom, Mpumalanga Highveld.
http://www.sa-venues.com/visit/thehighlandrose/

Sunday, March 29 - Drive to San Sabi Reserve.
Travel through beautiful Blyde Canyon area and on to Kirkman’s Kamp in the San Sabi Reserve, Greater Kruger, arriving early afternoon. Enjoy two guided game drives, lodging all inclusive.
http://www.ccafrica.com/reserve-1-id-2-21

Monday, March 30 - Drive to Kruger National Park.
After morning guided game drive 7:00 to 9:00, self drive safari into Kruger National Park. Overnight at Satara Rest Camp. Check in by 17:30 when gate closes. http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/camps/satara/

Tuesday, March 31 - Self drive safari through Kruger National Park.
Overnight at Lower Sabie Rest Camp. http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/camps/lower_sabie/


Wednesday, April 1 - Travel to Cape Town.
Early morning self drive safari to Kruger South Gate. Drive to Johannesburg Airport. Fly to Cape Town, South African Airways SA365. Pick up Hertz rental car. Check into Derwent House Hotel for five nights.
http://www.derwenthouse.co.za/
Thursday, April 2 - Cape Town
Friday, April 3 - Cape Town
Saturday, April 4 - Cape Town
Sunday, April 5 - Cape Town


Monday, April 6 - Travel to Arusha, Tanzania.
Fly to Johannesburg, South African Airways SA304. Fly to Nairobi, Kenya. South African Airways SA184. Fly to Arusha, Tanzania on Precision Air KQ6726. Pick up by Kiliwarriors and transfer to Arusha All Suites Hotel. http://www.kiliwarriors.com/

Tuesday, April 7 - Drive to Gibbs Farm.
Visit Lake Manyara Park for PM safari drive and then overnight at Gibbs Farm. http://www.gibbsfarm.net/.

Wednesday, April 8 - Drive to the Serengeti.
Travel through Ngorongoro Highlands. Have a picnic lunch and safari drive in the Serengeti. Check into Serengeti Sopa Lodge for two nights. http://www.sopalodges.com/serengeti/home.html
Thursday, April 9 - Serengeti.

Game drives.

Friday, April 10 - Drive to Ngorongoro Crater.

Game drive through Serengeti to Ngorongoro Crater. Check into the Crater Lodge, South Camp for 3 nights. Afternoon at leisure. http://www.ngorongoro-crater-lodge.com/
Saturday, April 11 - Ngorongoro Crater.

Morning game drive. Afternoon free.
Sunday, April 12 - Ngorongoro Crater.

Morning game drive. Afternoon free.

Monday, April 13 - Travel to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Drive back to Arusha for lunch. Fly to Nairobi, Kenya on Precision Air KQ6727. Fly to Dubai, UAE Kenya Air KQ310. Check into the Hyatt Regency for two nights. http://www.dubai.regency.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp
Tuesday, April 14 - Dubai


Wednesday, April 15 - Board Seabourn Spirit.
Suite #CS01, Deck 5. Sail at 17:00. http://www.seabourn.com/YourYachts/Spirit/

Thursday, April 16 - Khasab, Oman 8:00 to 17:00. http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/travel/16surfacing.html

Friday, April 17 - Cruising the Gulf of Oman
Saturday, April 18 - Cruising the Gulf of Oman


Sunday, April 19 - Salalah, Oman 8:00 to 14:00. http://www.travelwithachallenge.com/Oman-Salalah.html

Monday, April 20 - Cruising the Gulf of Aden
Tuesday, April 21 - Cruising the Gulf of Aden
Wednesday, April 22 - Cruising the Red Sea

Thursday, April 23 - Cruising the Red Sea

Friday, April 24 - Safaga (Luxor), Egypt. Arrive 7:00.
Private car for tour of Luxor. http://www.luxorguide.com/
Saturday, April 25 - Safaga (Luxor), Egypt. Depart 18:00.

Scuba diving in the Red Sea at Safaga Beach Club. http://www.touregypt.net/safagatop.htm

Sunday, April 26 - Aqaba (Petra), Jordan 8:00 to19:00.
Private car for a tour of Petra and Aqaba.

Monday, April 27 - Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt 5:30 to 14:00.
Scuba dive at Shark’s Bay, Red Sea.

Tuesday, April 28 - Sokhna(Cairo), Egypt 7:00 to 23:00.
Private car for a tour to Cairo.

Wednesday, April 29 - Transiting the Suez Canal

Thursday, April 30 - Alexandria, Egypt 6:30 to 19:00.

Friday, May 1 - Cruising the Mediterranean Sea

Saturday, May 2 - Marmaris, Turkey 8:00 to 23:00.

Sunday, May 3 - Rhodes, Greek Isles 8:00 to 18:00.

Monday, May 4 - Santorini, Greek Isles 7:00 to 18:00.

Tuesday, May 5 - Patmos, Greek Isles 8:00 to 18:00.

Wednesday, May 6 - Mykonos, Greek Isles 8:00 to 17:30
.
Thursday, May 7 - Volos (Meteora), Greece 8:00 to 23:30.

Friday, May 8 - Cruising the Dardanelles

Saturday, May 9 - Disembark in Istanbul, Turkey.
Check into Four Seasons Hotel for 3 nights.
Sunday, May 10 - Istanbul
Monday, May 11 - Istanbul


Tuesday, May 12 - Fly to Frankfurt, Germany.
Lufthansa LH3341. Pick up Hertz rental car. Begin a driving tour through the wine areas of Germany and France and a visit to Waterloo.
Wednesday, May 13 -
Thursday, May 14 -
Friday, May 15 -
Saturday, May 16 -
Sunday, May 17 -
Monday, May 18 -
Tuesday, May 19 -
Wednesday, May 20 -
Thursday, May 21 - Fly home.

Lufthansa LH440.