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It’s Not My Imagination … the Climate Is Getting Warmer

Thursday, 22 September 2016
At Sea Aboard Celebrity Silhouette — En Route to La Spezia, Italy

Our RTW voyage has not been getting much attention from us these days. Some of our shipmates, however, have been busy organizing small-group tours … a few of them in ports where we didn’t already have plans, so we will be joining them. I had originally thought to do many of these ports on our own — get off the ship and just wander around. But the more I considered the weather trends, the more I started to revisit our plans. A tour vehicle will at least afford us a cool — and if necessary, dry — haven between sightseeing stops. That’s a good thing.

Speaking of the weather. After our Europe travel plans for this year were disrupted by a family emergency, we were in need of a getaway. So, on the 15th we hopped on the only cruise that fit our limited timeframe. That cruise — with stops in Italy & France — is nearing its end. Today is a sea day, and then we have one last port call in La Spezia, Italy before we disembark in Civitavecchia on the 24th. We’ve had lovely weather this cruise. Where we didn’t have a breeze to cool us off, it was hot in the sun, but certainly not unbearable. A lovely change from the sweltering heat and humidity of İzmir during August.

So what does all this have to do with the title of this post? Well, yesterday’s Britain Today — one of several news bulletins Celebrity puts out daily — had a short weather snippet coming out of the US. It read:

So, see — I am not imagining it after all. The climate really is much hotter than it has ever been. This doesn’t bode well for our RTW next year when we will be in traditionally hot areas of the globe.

I tried to acclimate myself to the expected heat and humidity while in İzmir this summer … I really did. I tried to make the best of the conditions without complaining much ... knowing it would be worse in some of the RTW ports … I really did. But I failed miserably. Somehow I’ll have to deal with it.

Not everyone believes in global warming … but I do. And to me it seems like this trend is here to stay.

Timing Is Everything

Tuesday, 6 September 2016
Alsancak, İzmİr — Turkey

It’s past midnight, and I really should be fast asleep. But my brain is awhirl with all kinds of thoughts. So, why not put this awake-time to good use and do a quickie blog post?

We are doing the RTW with our friends, the Zs. Yesterday, MZ sent me an email saying that they booked their MIA-IAH airfare, opting for the 6:30p flight on 6 July because it was several hundred dollars cheaper than the 2:45p flight that we’re booked on. How could that be when we paid around $300pp for first class tickets???

Curious, I signed on to the United Airlines website. WOW! In the span of less than a month, the first class fare for our flight had nearly doubled to $562pp. I can see why the Z’s picked the 6:30p flight … I would have too!

Seeing these current prices on the UA website makes me feel
that much better about the fare we paid for our tickets.

The big jump in the airfare is not surprising, but I wasn’t expecting the increase to happen so quickly. I’m just glad we got our tickets the day UA opened 6 July for booking. Timing is everything, and ours was helped by our initial plans to book award tickets using miles.

Coddiwomple Catawampusly

Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Alsancak, İzmİr — Turkey

Coddiwomple … what a word! I saw it on a Facebook post this morning and decided to write a quick blog post just to remember it. Besides … it sort of describes what’s ahead of us at the moment.

What does it mean? Not what I would have expected just from looking at the word … “to travel purposefully towards a vague destination.” Just as I was done chuckling, another FB poster chimed in with the suggestion … “if that road takes you on a diagonal to your vague destination, you can coddiwomple catawampusly.” Love it!

Is the vague destination figurative or literal? Who knows … who cares. I just like the sound of these two words … especially when used jointly

We Have a Way to Get Home

Monday, 9 August 2016
Alsancak, İzmİr — Turkey

We should be in the Netherlands now. At least that was the plan. But a family emergency changed that. The story of why we are in Turkey instead is in the Two to Travel blog … you can read about the whys and wherefores there if interested.

The topic of this post is how we are getting back to our home-on-wheels following the RTW. Sure, the ship will return us to Miami, but that won’t get us back to Houston where the Phaeton will be stored.

United Airlines award tickets for 6 July, the date on which the ship arrives in Miami, became available today. After this year’s RTW disembarkation debacle, we were seriously considering staying overnight in Miami and flying to Houston on 7 July. We’ve changed our minds. We will now fly out on the 6th and stay overnight at a hotel near IAH instead.

The reason for the change in plan has a lot to do with it being mid-summer in Texas when we come back. By staying overnight near the Houston airport, we can get out to the storage lot very early on the morning of the 7th — before it gets really sweltering. And, once settled at the campground, we will have more time to run the A/C to cool down the Phaeton before bedtime.

I did my research and then consulted with Mui. We agreed that UA’s 2:45p departure should give us plenty of time to get to the airport even if there are delays with disembarkation. After seeing the very reasonable fares on the website, not only did we decide to buy tickets instead of using miles, but we also booked ourselves into first class. Quite unexpected, but hey we won’t second guess UA’s pricing … they must not realize there will be a bunch of RTWers looking to find a way home on the 6th … heh, heh, heh!

Travel-back-home logistics are now complete … sort of. I still need to reserve a hotel at IAH and make reservations at Advanced RV Resort. But those details are easy. I will deal with them when we return home in October.

Around the World Experience: Exclusive Shore Events

Monday, 11 July 2016
Gulf Waters RV Resort — Port Aransas, Texas

One of the perks included for RTW passengers is what O describes as “exclusive shore events.” The brochure listed five such extravaganzas for our voyage ... in Hilo, Bora Bora, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seville. We have a description of what each one will be, but no details on the logistics. No matter … I’m working around them by keeping plans for those ports fluid.

Today I received an email from Connie, our cruise agent, changing one of the events. Apparently O ran into problems securing the Singapore Flyer for the dinner event planned there. They are substituting “The World” in Dubai in its stead. Works for us … although we might have to jiggle our Dubai touring plans to make it work. But I have plenty of time to do that, so no worries.

From a purely selfish point of view, it’s a shame that it’s not the Hong Kong dinner event that got canceled. We are planning to skip that one since John and Annie, friends we met on our 2014 North Pole expedition, want to show us their city by night. No matter ... spending time with friends trumps everything else.

It’s Not My Imagination … the Climate Is Getting Warmer

Thursday, 22 September 2016At Sea Aboard Celebrity Silhouette — En Route to La Spezia, Italy

Timing Is Everything

Tuesday, 6 September 2016Alsancak, İzmİr — Turkey

Seeing these current prices on the UA website makes me feel that much better about the fare we paid for our tickets.