I love living in the bow of the ship. It has its drawbacks for sure. Every seasoned cruiser will advise against choosing a cabin in the bow, arguing that low and center is preferable for optimal stability. And to prove that theory, our first four days of this journey were spent relentlessly rocking and rolling…
Continue reading →The third most photographed home in America, after the White House and Graceland, Villa Casa Casuarina regularly attracts a throng of tourists and curiosity seekers at its address on Ocean Drive in the swank and wealthy neighborhood of South Beach, Miami. Perhaps due to its opulent Mediterranean revival architecture that stands out among the Art…
Continue reading →You’ve heard of the affliction called “homesickness”, impassively defined as “a longing for one’s home during a period of absence from it.” Well, I’m feeling that now, but for another kind of home…my sea home. Knowing that we have spent much time on the cruise ship Insignia, our friend and Oceania butler, Priyan, sent a…
Continue reading →The western-most Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, in the Leeward Antilles off the coast of Venezuela, are collectively known as the ABC islands. They share a Dutch colonial history, a West Indian heritage, and are fortuitously situated outside the tropical hurricane belt, making them an attractive playground for laid-back globetrotting sun seekers and snowbirds….
Continue reading →On embarkation day, we checked into Insignia, dropped our bags in our suite, and called our friends, Andy and Tammy Heath. They were our Cruise Director and Assistant Cruise Director respectively for our 2015 Around the World voyage on Insignia, and live in our home town, so we have become friends on sea and land….
Continue reading →There is nothing like being a tourist in your own country. But in our very own Miami, everyone seems like a tourist in this melting pot of a city, with people from everywhere including Cuba, the Caribbean, Mexico, South America, Europe… and, did I mention Cuba? Our hotel was right on the Miami waterfront where…
Continue reading →Packing to live somewhere else for 6 months feels a bit like moving. When I travel, I always have the best intentions to pack a simple, capsule wardrobe with basic necessities. In fact, I tend to pride myself on efficiency in packing, finding multi-purpose in items, and knowing I can always do laundry to save…
Continue reading →Miami to Miami. Around the World. 360 degrees. 180 days. We are about to do it again. In 2015, we took an around-the-world cruise that was thwarted at the last minute due to unforeseen circumstances, shortened to sort of two-thirds around the world. And, while it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, there is a certain attraction…
Continue reading →When we originally booked our “around the world” cruise, some of the great perks it included were several complimentary events. Some of those got left behind when almost the entire first half of the trip was cancelled, but we have been hosted to a wonderful evening of cocktails, dinner, and a traditional Thai puppet show…
Continue reading →If China is a country of contrasts, Shanghai is all that in one fabulous city. And, if the architecture in Singapore is on steroids, Shanghai has overdosed. Home to the world’s second tallest building at 121 floors (first is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai), The Shanghai Tower forms a trio with it’s neighbors, the Shanghai World…
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