April 21-27, 2012 – Sea days across the Atlantic to Ft. Lauderdale
Day 106-112
If you have followed this journey, I am sure you understand that I absolutely love days at sea. In fact..
..I have often said that if the cruise lines offered a trip that sailed out into the ocean for a week, turned around and sailed back, with no ports, I would consider it the perfect cruise. While most people on board have bemoaned this final week crossing the Atlantic, I consider it one of the highlights of the trip. The only negative interjected into this week is the pain of packing – how will we get all of the stuff we bought into the same suitcases we boarded with.
All along on this trip I have taken pictures of the “port flags” for each port. All ships, at least the ones on which I have been, raise the national flag of the country in which the port lies. I thought I would include those now, in the order of our itinerary.
Dominica – January 9, 2012
Barbados – January 10, 2012
Belem, Brazil & Recife, Brazil & Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – January 13,16,19,20, 2012
Buenos Aires, Argentina – January 23,24, 2012
Montevideo, Uruguay – January 25, 2012
Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, UK – January 28, 2012
Ushuaia, Argentina – February 3, 2012
Punta Arenas, Chile & Easter Island Chile – February 4,5,10, 2012
(Looks like the Texas flag, doesn’t it?)
Papeete, French Polynesia – February 15, 2012
Pago Pago, American Samoa – February 18, 2012
Sydney, Australia & Cairns, Australia – February 25,26,29, March 1, 2012
Komodo Island, Indonesia & Lombok, Indonesia – March 5,6, 2012
Hong Kong, China – March 11,12, 2012
Nha Trang, Viet Nam & Phu My, Viet Nam – March 14,15, 2012
Singapore – March 18,19, 2012
Phuket, Thailand – March 21, 2012
Colombo, Sri Lanka – March 24, 2012
Mangalore, India & Marmagoa, India & Mumbai, India – March 26,27,28,29, 2012
Safaga, Egypt & Sharm el Sheik, Egypt – April 5,6, 2012
Piraeus, Greece & Katakalon, Greece – April 9,10,11, 2012
Messina, Italy & Naples, Italy – April 12, 13, 2012
Ajaccio, Corsica, France – April 14, 2012
Barcelona, Spain & Cadiz, Spain – April 15,16,18, 2012
Funchal, Madeira, Portugal – April 20, 2012
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, United States – April 28, 2012
Each of these flags represents a new land, interesting things to see, wonderful people to meet and adventure. Sitting in the library writing this blog, sailing across the Atlantic, and remembering each port as I pasted in the flags has been almost like doing the whole trip over – what a joy!
When we left Georgetown we had 8 pieces of luggage, and we purchased quite a bit. Fortunately, Fed Ex boarded in Portugal and we shipped 6 bags home! I asked one of the Fed ex people if it was “good” duty to get to do this and she said it is “great” duty and nobody else at Fed Ex knows about it and she wants to keep it that way. What a win-win-win-win-win – for us, Fed Ex, Fed Ex lucky employees, the airlines, and last but not least my friend Charles Bailey’s vehicle.
An easy departure and a quick trip to Austin – Charles and Aileen met us and were kind enough to go to The Mexicano Grill in Jarrell for a much needed Tex-Mex fix!
A final epilogue is forthcoming in a few days after some time to reflect.
These tennies have walked around the world!
