A Book About the Panama Canal

Julie and I frequently use my blog as a memory supplement, so when a novel she was reading brought the characters to Columbia, she decided to look up our Panama Canal cruise.

Surprisingly, she could only find a rather odd post comparing our day in Cartegena to a trip to Disneyland.

"That can't be right," I thought.  It turns out that as far as Columbia goes, that was all I had written.  It seems that by the time I got around to blogging about our excursion in Cartagena, our granddaughter Emma had flown to California with her Aunt Amy for a visit.  We went to Disneyland, joined by our son Jay, and I combined narratives about the two events.

That's not really that unusual for me.

I always write about what's going through my mind at the time I am motivated to blog.

That's how current events, novels, movies and the Great Courses all combine into what would otherwise be a travel blog without much content during this past year of pandemic shutdown, but that thought process was not limited to only that unprecedented year.

As evidence of that, once we were driving into Glacier National Park in Montana just after finishing my Panama Canal posts, my mind immediately brought President Teddy Roosevelt into the picture.

In that case, it was a natural transition, because not only did that Republican progressive President greenlight the Panama Canal, he also put the pedal to the metal for appreciating our environment as we enterred the 20th Century including National Parks development.

The fact is, our pre-Covid-19, post-Julie retirement era usually had us traveling so much that it wasn't unusual for me to be experiencing the next adventure while still processing the last one.

Before we boarded Island Princess in Ft. Lauderdale, we had taken a whirlwind tour of Peru from Miami, and I did compile a "book" about that pre-trip.  I think we were so thankful to have a chance to rest on peaceful sea days that are part and parcel of our Panama Canal itinerary that I wasn't thinking as hard.

Truth be told, I found myself speaking much more about Machu Picchu with friends and family than what for most cruisers is a major bucket list vacation, the Panama Canal.  However, make no mistake; the Panama Canal is a great trip!

Better late than never, here is "A Book About the Panama Canal."

From Cuzco to Cruise Co

Panama Canal Virtuoso

Aruba Blues

Cartagena Through a Disney Prism

Panama Canal Centennial

Rio Corobici in Costa Rica

Lake Nicaragua's Las Islatas

Pirates of Granada, Nicaraqua

Cabo

You're One of Us!

Did you ever look at the birth of the computer age ask yourself, "Why didn't I do what Bill Gates did?"

I kind of liked the idea of computers and even took that class at the community college where I figured out how to write my girlfriend's name using the holes on punched cards."

I've also thought I could have written a fantasy about a school for sorcerers like J.K. Rowling, or rhythmically chanted some angry poetry to the background of a classic Aerosmith song, just like you could have.



Only, we didn't.

Truth is, I know I personally not only lack the raw talent and brilliance but, perhaps more significantly, the dedication and perseverance to do anything worthy of great wealth.

Whether or not you feel that way about yourself, neither of us are among the super rich who must worry constantly about the safety of their families. unable to go anywhere without top security.

We don't live in gigantic mansions staffed by dozens of servants, with all the headaches that might entail.

No, we just live comfortable lives.

We raised our families so that, as Dad used to say, our kids had shoes as good as the neighbor's kids.

We struggled sometimes, and helped our children find the right paths and occasionally punished them --- often feeling empathy for their plight --- after we helped them out of trouble that could have had much worse consequences.

And now, we find ourselves living in a world where we can get back to some of the travel dreams we had when we were younger.

Our kids are happy for us to have a chance to see the world in style.

Psychologically, they perhaps see us more clearly as we truly are than we see ourselves.

We are no longer struggling.

We have arrived.

But we still want to learn and grow.

Inside, we're still those young seekers we were in college, chasing authentic experiences.

And we want to see the world we've heard about our whole lives.

We want to play darts in Ireland tipping a pint of Guinness and explore the artistic treasures of Italy. We want to climb to the top of breathtaking Machu Picchu and laugh with monkeys in Costa Rica.

Our time is now.

Baby boomers actually have the time and --- this is where our kids see us better than we see ourselves --- money to make it happen.

Where have you always dreamt of going?




While Princess Cruises identifies the meaningful traveler as the core of its audience for wide-ranging destinations (a theme echoed by other ocean cruise lines as well), you can't see everything from coastal cities.

Many of us have been fortunate to have cruised places like the Mediterranean and Panama Canal, but now we may be ready to go deeper into the continents.

River cruises certainly have wonderful appeal to us, with amazing tours at each stop of their port-intensive itineraries, but it is also time to consider packaged land tours.

Globus puts together perfectly planned vacations. Globus has lots of quality inclusions, and that alone saves you money over booking independently by the time you've paid all your admissions.

Top-notch transportation serves a dual role, taking us on expertly guided excursions and to quality hotels --- first classs or higher --- in carefully selected locations. All of these comfortable hotels have modern amenities, including free wifi. In Europe and America, the tour buses also have free wifi, so you can stay in touch with your business back home, if you must.

You have VIP access to the must-see attractions, where you skip the long lines to go instead to your "Happy Line."  Then expert guidance makes sure you catch all the highlights, and understand their significance.

Getting through the major attractions faster --- and not getting lost along the way thanks to expert drivers as well as guides --- means you have more free time to explore on your own.



And don't forget Globus Local Favorites, where you get a taste of the local culture that you would probably miss traveling on your own.

Globus isn't the only tour company, but they do a terrific job for most people.

There are packaged tours that cost less, and also some that cost considerably more; we can find one that works for your budget and fulfills your dreams.

Where in the world do you want to go?

On the Road to Find Out

Navigable waterways have been key to commerce and military power for all of human history.

It was distribution of water rights along rivers that essentially made civilization necessary, and as all of us who love ocean cruises know, many of the greatest cities in the world are perched along ocean coasts.

But you can't travel everywhere you want to go by ship.

Sometimes, you must hit the rowdy road.

It wasn't until Julie and I took a land tour to Machu Picchu that we saw the value in guided tours for us personally.

Up until then, we thought it always better to just figure it out as we went.

As a young man, that was the only way I could afford to travel, and it became a habit.

However, as we mature, the value of a pre-packaged tour becomes more obvious, especially if you don't want to be constantly worrying about the next step along the road, which is a given for do-it-yourself tours.

Collette takes the inclusive experience a step further, picking you up at your house in a limo to take you to the airport, making it truly a seamless vacation experience, door-to-door.



Cruising, of course, sets us on a pre-plotted course, and we've learned how much easier that makes vacations.

Even after I started cruising, however, I could not see the value of a land tour, despite the fact that taking group shore excursions often made ports come alive in destinations rich in history, such as Europe.

Julie and I would often arrive a few days early for our cruise to explore regions on our own (and we still do), but I quite frankly thought cruise tours seemed too expensive.

That's how most people have felt at one time.

The change for me came with watching friends go on Alaska cruise tours and come back singing their praises.



Somehow, what had been hidden from me began to be revealed.

While the land portion of cruise tours, which usually require payment for meals as you go, seemed too expensive relative to the cruise itself, the truth is they are well worth the price to those who take the plunge.

Even people who parsimoniously watch their travel budgets have returned feeling they received good value for their money.

Sometimes they might opt for an inside or obstructed ocean view room at sea to make the splurge of a Denali Explorer tour possible, but they had no regrets.

They realized that if they wanted to get the most of their time, taking full advantage of their limited time to travel and the cost of flying to a distant destination, they shouldn't cheap out when it comes to seeing everything they want.

But they're not just for Alaska.  There are cruise tours all over the world.



The only question is where do you want to go on your next great vacation?

In all candor, Julie and I will probably still cheap out and tour by the seat of our pants for a few more trips, but the older we get, the more sense it makes to let somebody else handle the hassles.

"Better service leads to better trips!"

 

Conditioning for Travel: Back to Basics

St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2009

My wife frequently reminds me that we need to travel while we still can, because none of us knows what the future holds for our health.

I have been reminded of this frequently over the last few months, as several excellent clients were forced to cancel trips due to health issues.

At the extreme of emotional turmoil, a septuagenarian lost his beloved wife of a half century, taking away his desire to cruise to Hawaii, at least in the short term.

Zaanse Schans, Holland, in 2015

In another case, a couple in their nineties were forced to cancel due to the wife's son requiring personal care after he had a stroke.  As an aside, that couple actually met a decade ago on a cruise.  Their prior spouses had passed away a few years earlier, proving we should never say never.

A small group cancelled when an integral member experienced severe back problems for which his doctor diagnosed mandatory surgery.

Health issues can unexpectedly pop up for anyone.  A few months ago, another old friend's doctor also recommended back surgery for him.

Snorkeling in St. Kitts in 2016

An Extreme Sports Athlete beginning decades before the term had been coined, he had already gone through two knee replacement surgeries and undergone all the necessary rehab exercises to return to being a world-class skier.

Rather than go under the knife again, he sought a more holistic alternative, which led him to Eric Goodman's exercises.

Back on the slopes, making it look easy.

Within a few weeks of starting Dr. Goodman's regimen, he went from being barely able to get out of a chair to skiing, and after a couple of days on the slopes, his form returned to excellent, carving perfect turns and frequently tearing down mountains at a breakneck pace.

He had been conditioned to have a straight back as a member of the college swim team at Stanford long ago, but these new exercises trained him to an even healthier back posture, one which eventually took away the pain.

While the videos provide the basic techniques, no one suffering back problems should begin any regimen without consulting a doctor, and preferably he should find a personal trainer to get him started.

By the way, if you find yourself unable to complete the exercise regimens the first time or find yourself surprisingly exhausted from what seem like simple stretches, welcome to the club.

Lunch on Celebrity Eclipse

I'd like to include here that I personally have found that a good chiropractor can be of great help in getting alligned and on my feet again when my back went out, although thankfully I haven't had that problem in years.

We should never accept a gradual health decline without resistance.  Staying fit is the best way to be ready for a cruise or other travel when the time comes.  

Julie and I watch what we eat, though without denying ourselves completely of dining pleasures.  An occasional burger with fries or ice cream cone won't kill us.  What I've noticed to be the biggest difference between food on a cruise, when I inevitably lose weight despite eating as much as I want, and at home, where I often have some kind of hidden hunger lurking, is lots of vegetables and fruit as part of a balanced diet, so I try to remind myself to eat more veggies at home.

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol and pre-hypertension (high blood pressure).  On the recommendation of a friend, I started taking lecithin.  While my cholesterol isn't low, it has slowly been dropping, and my blood pressure recently became regularly in the normal range.

Kicking back after a hike from Azamara Journey in Patmos, Greece

We make a point of walking at least two or three miles each day, and I personally believe wearing Skechers Shape-Ups not only has improved the quality of exercise I receive on those walks but helped straighten my back, which caused me problems over the years.

Skechers may not be able to claim Shape-Ups improve quality of exercise or back health, but that has been my experience.

Seal boating at Dunvegan Castle on Isle of Skye.

I even wear them when on rigorous mountain hikes and when playing golf.

I also do at least 100 push-ups each day, though without an exact schedule.  I'll just drop and do 30 or 40 push-ups at random times when I think about it.

I've added Dr. Goodman's back stretches as a sort of New Years resolution.

My sister can float on powder as easily as this groomed run

The payoff of being healthy enough to truly enjoy walking to the top of Machu Picchu or to confidently hike to a distant snorkel beach in Kaz, Turkey, is well worth the preparation effort.

A terrific bonus is that exercising as part of an active lifestyle is a lot of fun in its own right.

Skiing in Montana is an amazing way to exercise, enjoy nature and have a blast.

Our nephew can ski anywhere and make it look easy.

My sister's delcious meals make it a perfect vacation for us.

Our nephew took some great action ski photos of our Christmas ski trip this year, and I've included a few herein.

To be clear, I don't hold myself up as a paragon of health, but rather to encourage you to find your own way to stay healthy for travel.

Jay has become a powder hound.

Julie at the top of Pioneer

That's me!

Montana Views are awesome.

If you look closely, you can see the cleanly carved tracks of perfect ski form.

Julie by the new  Buffalo Bar and Grille being constructed.

Cousins About to Attack Powder Off Middle Ching

Ready to take on the slopes.

Apres Ski By the Fire

Teddy and the Bear

Marvelous Montana Skiing

Romancing the Stone?

With the world's focus recently on the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, have you been considering a trip to beautiful, exotic South America?

It is an incredibly diverse region, with sunny beaches, historic cities, penguins, pastoral wineries and craggy mountains easily accessible on the same cruise itinerary around the horn.

With excursions, there's mysterious Machu Picchu, magnificent Iguazu Falls and the wild Amazon.

This season, Norwegian Sun adds some very affordable entry-level pricing for families to the region and also has large suites rich with amenities.

Celebrity always offers fantastic large ships wherever they sail, which includes not only large ship cruises but mega-yacht Galapagos Xpeditions.

Princess seems like they're everywhere you want to go at exactly the right time, bringing you stories of the region on board. Holland America, MSC and Costa will all have large ships in South America, and for those ready to splurge, there are more-inclusive lines like Oceania, Seabourn and Regent Seven Seas with almost everything included in the price.

Unlike Joan Wilder in "Romancing the Stone," you won't be on your own in an exotic foreign land challenged by language and customs.

You will meet dozens of new friends on your cruise or in your tour group, but perhaps when you mention this trip to relatives, you'll discover it's a dream destination for them too.

Just in case the name misleads you, please know that Cruise Planners also has wonderful land tours to fascinating destinations including South America.

Live your dreams!

Say G'Day to Australia

 

Sydney Opera House

Even starting on the West Coast of North America, it takes a long time to fly to Australia, but it is worth the effort.





To make it easier to find my blog posts about our visit to the land down under, I hotlinked them throughout this page.

 

We obviously did not come close to seeing it all.  That would be the equivalent of claiming to have seen all of the United States after visiting Los Angeles and Key West. 

Not a Vegemite Sandwich at Bondi Beach

More cruise ships have been deployed to Australia to take advantage of the burgeoning demand from Aussies as well as Americans and other foreigners.  You can even circumnavigate the entire country, which is pretty remarkable when you consider that Australia is almost as large in area as the continental United States and about twice the size of the combined countries of the European Union.

While Ayers Rock (Uluru) and lots of amazing countryside await exploring in the interior of the country (including by cruise tours), most of the cities are located on the coast, making Australia an ideal cruise destination.

Yes, the Water Really Is That Blue At the Great Barrier Reef

However, our cruise was actually focused on New Zealand and the South Pacific, with Sydney as our embarkation port, so we flew in a few days early, beginning our Australian adventure in Cairns.

Why Cairns?  It happens to be a great jumping off point for exploring the Great Barrier Reef.

Perhaps because we later snorkeled other fantastic tropical destinations during our cruise, the jungles of Kuranda turned out to be the highlight of the Cairns area to me.  The Kuranda Scenic Railway compares nicely with other great train excursions in destinations like Alaska and Machu Picchu.

All too soon, our time in kicked-back Cairns came to an end, and we headed to the big city of Sydney.

Sydney's Royal Botanic Garden

Undoubtedly the most iconic landmark in the city is the Sydney Opera House.  With the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens a short walk away, it's a convenient stop for those cruising from Sydney who have limited time in Australia.

Bondi Beach and Darling Harbor definitely broaden the Sydney experience without taking you far from the port, but I wish we had also made time to go to the Blue Mountains, with its panoramic countryside and wildlife, including kangaroos, even if it meant sacrificing those California-like experiences.

As I said, there's lots more to see in Australia, and we'd like to return to one day.  There are so many great places to go in the world, it's hard to find enough vacation days.  What are you doing with your time on this beautiful garden planet?  Let's start planning your next great vacation today.

Peru In the Rearview Review

At lunch at the Crab Pot on Long Beach Marina yesterday, Julie's cousin Darlene and her husband Rick, whom we hadn't seen for over a year, asked how our South America trip went.

Julie shared a few of the logistical details of the trip, and I immediately thought of my theory that the Incas may not have come from Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca but rather from Polynesia by way of Hawaii and then Easter Island, but we were soon on to other topics of conversation.

I sent them a link to a search of my blogs on Peru, informing them that they had made the mistake of asking me about South America, which encouraged me to go back through those articles myself this morning.  I found it very much like going on vacation again, and I decided to make a dedicated page to share the links in a somewhat more than random but certainly not chronological order. Keep in mind that any time you want a better look at photos within an article, you can click on one and then flip through larger versions of all pictures in the article quite easily. 

Also, you'll note a lot of linked words and phrases, which as always have been placed there by me in order to elaborate on the concept highlighted.  If you have the time, watch the videos, most of which were made by me during this sojourn.

Q'enqo

Cusco

Machu Picchu

Getting Ready for a Great Vacation

Arriving in Peru

Urubamba and Oyantaytambo

Tambomachay

Saksaywaman

From Cuzco to Cruise Co.

Miami Express

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Dear Family and Friends,

God has blessed us with another truly remarkable year.

Amy, Jay and Gina all continue to live their dreams successfully.  For Thanksgiving, we enjoyed seeing them all together under the same roof for the first time since Christmas 2010. 

Gina and her husband Laszlo hosted us for a few days and a great time was had by all, including Emma, now a talkative four year-old who knows how to read.  The location for this Thanksgiving was Gina's new house in the countryside of New City, New York.  With a large yard and spacious floor plan for entertaining a large family, it seems perfect for our bubbly oldest daughter and her family.

Making the gathering even more special, Wes's sister Darlene, her husband Brooks and their son Brooks (BG3) also made the trip from California for the occasion, spending a couple of days living the high life in Time Square before joining us in the tree-lined suburbs.  It was a much different Thanksgiving for Brooks, who has made a full recovery from major heart surgery that meant no turkey or stuffing for Thanksgiving last year. 

Jay also flew in for Thanksgiving, although he had to work through Wednesday of Thanksgiving week, so he arrived a few days after the rest of the California contingent. He loves living in Brentwood Village, a short commute from the offices of Universal Music, the largest record company in the world. His job couldn't be more perfect for him. When he was a teen, I used to find him listening to music, playing a video game on his computer and watching TV all at the same time.  I thought he was simply skipping his homework when in fact he was preparing for his career.  As a manager of film and television, he pitches the Universal Music catalog to projects, helps create remixes of classic tracks for synchronization, and works with music supervisors to get songs approved by artists for television shows. He attends lots of showcases and concerts to stay on top of what's happening in the music industry, which keeps him busy evenings and weekends, but he finds time for hiking, camping trips and get-aways to places like Temecula. He represented Universal Music at a country music conference down in San Diego in October. While he attends many shows on behalf of his company, Jay gave Julie and Wes tickets for Crosby, Stills and Nash at the Greek Theater for our birthdays. Jay and his girlfriend Nazish joined us for the terrific concert.

Laszlo's mother Ria lives at Gina's house most of the time, helping to take care of Emma, because Gina still works at Columbia University in NYC, about an hour from their new home, depending on traffic.  She fortunately has a friend she works with who makes the same commute with his wife, and with three of them in the car, they save on tolls, making everyone happy.  Gina also has spent a lot of time traveling for work, including an exciting new project working in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, about health effects of favela (slum) infrastructure.  Rather than commuting daily into NYC, Laszlo quit his public school teacher position and now works two part time jobs, one with computers at Independence High School in NYC and one tutoring students for SAT and ACT Exams closer to home. 

The primary reason for the move to the suburbs was Emma's education.  She now attends a loving pre-school a short walk from her house, and she really couldn't seem happier.  She loves going to school each day to see her friends as well as do art projects and other school work.  She used to just go in the mornings, but she now stays until 1:30 so that she can have lunch with her best friend.  At home, she is perpetual motion, and between a dozen or so adults, we could almost keep up with her over Thanksgiving. 

Before moving to her new home, Emma flew with her Aunt Amy to California to spend a week in Redondo Beach in June.  We had a lot of fun building sand castles at the beach, flying kites in the park and even visiting Disneyland.

At 23, Amy has risen to the top Editor position at Curbed.com, the NYC-based national desk for a highly successful real estate e-magazine. When her lease on the Harlem apartment she shared with three friends for the past two years ended in July, and her roommates dispersed to Washington D.C., Canada and world travel for their own compelling individual reasons, Amy opted for a gypsy existence, living briefly in different areas including Midtown and Brooklyn before settling in with a new roommate in Harlem. Her job at Curbed allows her to work remotely for short periods of time, so when she brought Emma to visit us in Redondo, she was able to continue blogging and editing during her stay. With her boyfriend Lukas attending engineering graduate school in Germany, she has chosen to spend most of this flex time and other vacation days with him either in Berlin or at his parents' home in upstate New York, where she has decided to spend Christmas this year.

Now in full "retirement" mode, Julie has assumed the role of chief domestic engineer, freeing Wes from most of the little chores formerly done when she was at work.  Julie has also doubled her focus on finding vacations for us to take in her newly found free time.  Wes still plans vacations for clients of Cruise Planners but now has more free time to play golf and attend a few L.A. KISS arena football games with buddies.  We both enjoy more time reading and strolling by the beach, when we're not traveling.

After our annual Christmas ski trip, we will have been to Montana four times this year.  In February, we went skiing with Darlene's family and Jay.  In July, we again saw Brooks and Darlene briefly when we returned to Big Sky for the Meadow's concert season, which was again terrific.  Julie's childhood friend Christy joined us for the Brewfest while we were in the mountains.  At the end of July, we headed north to Glacier National Park, an amazing destination near Hungry Horse Dam, a project on which Julie's father worked as an engineer after WWII. 

We again returned to Big Sky in September, so I could golf with Darlene and Brooks, and while Julie hasn't taken up the game, she enjoys riding around in the carts with us.  On the September trip, we swung through Rock Springs, Wyoming, where Julie's father was raised, before heading up through Grand Teton National Park on our way to Big Sky.  On our route back home, we took a sidetrack to to northern California's Grass Valley, where we visited with my Aunt Pete and cousins Tami and Richard, whom I hadn't seen in about 30 years. 

Somehow, we found times for two big international trips, too.  At the end of March, we flew to Miami, and after a spending the night and spending a sunny spring day in South Beach, we continued down to Peru, where we enjoyed an amazing whirlwind trip to Machu Picchu and Cuzco.  Though only four days, in conjunction with our short stay in Miami, it felt very much like we had taken a full vacation by the time our package flight returned to Miami, but we took the Tri-rail to Fort Lauderdale to board Island Princess.  We checked another item off our bucket list, cruising through the Panama Canal back to Los Angeles.  Despite being away from home almost three weeks, it didn't feel too long.

What a year!  But wait, there's more.  In October, we flew to Zurich, Switzerland, and headed to nearby Winterthur, from where Wes's great great grandfather Solomon immigrated as a six year-old boy with his nine brothers and sisters. 





After three days exploring beautiful Switzerland, we boarded Uniworld River Queen for another incredible voyage, a 12 night river cruise on the Rhine and Moselle Rivers.

With at least one destination each day, it has been difficult to sort out the kaleidoscope of fond memories, but it was one of the best vacations ever.

All that being said, you may think we must be eager to get away from home, but we love Redondo Beach, where the weather is almost always perfect, and all the stores, restaurants and services we really need for a happy life are within walking distance, including world class jazz at the Lighthouse Cafe and summertime concerts on the pier. Randy and Karen, who we met at the community hot tub, have become good friends.


Yes, life is very good in Redondo Beach.

We hope you are making the most of your life, too.

Love,

Wes and Julie

P.S. As always, there are lots of hotlinks in the text above which you can click to learn more about anything that may interest you.