Day 5 of 111. Sea Day before the Panama CanalCooking class aboard the ms Amsterdam. We learned four dishes. Ours was an avocado soup. The photo totally washed out the green. Avocado soup, lobster spring rolls, coconut chicken with banana and prosciutto, grilled pineapple over pound cake with rum caramel sauce. Yum. It is interesting…

Day 4 of 111. Santa Marta, ColumbiaDuring the tour, Ron took lots of photos. The views of the beaches were really nice. The walking was not overly strenuous but I did enjoy the opportunities to sit quietly and cool down. It was fairly humid. We did catch glimpses of some pretty butterflies and a clear-winged…

Day 4 of 111. Santa Marta, ColumbiaTayrona National Park is a nearly pristine park where we walked, looked for wildlife and had a nice lunch. The bus trip to and from the park was a great opportunity to see the different styles of vegetation as the altitude changed as well as the varied types of…

Day 2 of 111. Sea DayToday is the first “sea day” and I am learning that they are at least as important as the ports we visit. They change the rug in the elevators each day so we know what day it is. This is very helpful. I had a Windows 10 class, a watercolor…

Day 1 of 111. Ft. Lauderdale, FloridaWe have embarked and are situated comfortably in our stateroom. It is nice, with two beds, a couch, lots of closets and even a bathtub. We have explored the ship, signed up for some cooking classes, found the movie theater (Florence Foster Jenkins shows tonight) and had a little…

I got up early to use the WiFi in the lobby and see the sunrise over the beach. I am still collecting Pokémon and the beach offers some great variety compared to home. There are lots of Squirtles and Bulbasaurs and I even caught a Dratini. When Ron joined me, we walked around the hotel….

This has been a great trip. Just a little turbulence near the end of the trip on Virgin America, but otherwise a very smooth trip. We were met at the airport by the Holland America people and transported to the Harbor Beach Marriott Hotel. This is a beautiful place. I’m hoping to see the sunrise…

Here we are at LAX. We got here in plenty of time to sit and have a leisurely breakfast at Gladstone’s LAX overlooking the airplane loading zone. We had TSA Precheck today so everything was smoooooth. What a great way to begin our trip.

OK, we are about as ready as we are going to be. Our bags are packed. We’ve checked in at the airlines. We have friends watching the house. Valuables have been put in storage. We’ve got our shots, our passports, our visas, our clothes, our medications, our computers… everything. Our neighbor will give us a…