Gibraltar UK

19 April 2018

I was excited about exploring the Rock of Gibraltar. I was looking forward to getting a photo of African coast from the top of the rock. I walked into town to get the cable car to the top of the rock hoping that by the time I got to town the walk would warm me up. It was so cold, windy and cloudy and I was inappropriately dressed so I returned to the ship to change clothing. With warmer clothes and 1.5 hours later I found the cable car queue was so long I was concerned I would not get back to the ship in time before sailaway. I explored the town instead. I find it very interesting that this is a British colony and the first language is Spanish. The currency accepted in all the stores is USD, EUR and Pounds.

The Trafalgar Cemetery is a tranquil spot.

The red telephone boxes are a novelty. You can see how cold I was here.

Have a giggle with one of my accent misunderstandings. Every time I say I am going to party many Americans think I am saying I am going to the potty.

Once back at the ship in the sheltered area of the Spice H2O deck you can see the temperature was quite different.

Sea day

18 April 2018

I had a day relaxing by the pool. There are all nationalities on this ship and I love all of the accents, mostly the American which remind me I am on an adventure like no other. I continually thank the universe that I have these amazing experiences. I know how I am doing this but at the same time full of amazement that I am.

These people live a reality that is a culture of travel and meeting and learning from diverse people. Other than retirees there are several people aged from 40 who have sold everything and are “homeless” exploring the world. Many have worked very hard and would have been classified as workaholics but decided to let work go and now enjoy life.

This evening I succeeded in getting front row seats for Piscilla Queen of the Desert. I approached the Cruise Director and told him of my connections to Kings Cross, Les Girls, Mitzi and Carlotta.

But first dinner with these lovely ladies. Julia BJ and Dorothea.

Then we had after show drinks with the cast.

Cadiz Spain

17 April 2018

11am I disembarked to explore this island. The food is so cheap and the delicious smells drew me to the best paella I have ever had and the cost was 3EURO. I would love if I could find such fresh good food to takeaway in the USA. Of course it is available in little Havana in Miami.

I walked aound with Maf and Meredith trying to capture some of the beauty in photos.

Bollards everywhere.

Maf and I showed some children who were in the school playground how a couple of gringos move.

gringos dancing

Of course ended the night dancing.

Norwegian Epic

15 April 2018 Day 5 sea day Atlantic Ocean.
Since leaving Bermuda I have been enjoying days of lying in the sun at the Spice H2O pool area, meeting lots of people and discovering new cocktails (my keto diet prior to this trip long forgotten), dancing until 3am and meeting even more people.

This cruise has many time changes and this morning I went to bed at 4am. I got up three (3) hours later to watch my NRL team Wests Tigers play Manly Sea Eagles. I was so excited that it was televised live into my cabin. Although at half time I ran up to the Irish bar O’Sheehans, as it was televised there as well, because I was worried that my yelling and cheering would wake my cabin neighbours.

But as there was no sound at O’Sheehans I ran back to my cabin and cheered into my pillow for the second half. What a way to watch my team win at Brookvale while I am on a cruise crossing the Atlantic.
After recharging with a sleep, lunch and another nap by the pool I prepared myself for dinner and tonights show.

This ship has wonderful shows and there was no way I was going to miss Priscilla Queen of the Desert. The show was as spectacular as the musical in Sydney and the movie. The Aussie accents and the pictures of the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville and reminders of Les Girls in Kings Cross made me homesick. I was a rebellious 16 year old who frequented Les Girls in Kings Cross in the 1970s and then after my first divorce in the 1980s I again became a frequenter, especially as I was working in the Rural Bank in Kings Cross at the time.

After the show on the Epic I had a drink with a couple of the brilliantly cast Bernadette and Felicia.

I will approach the cruise director and inquire how I may get a front row seat for the show on 17 April. As one of the few Aussies on board I think it a reasonable request.

Funchal Madeira (Portugal)

15 April 2018

I did not know anything about this island and it is a lovely surprise. The NCL Epic has a wonderful group of solo travellers I consider friends. Denny has covered the transatlantic several times so he shares great ideas of what to do when in port. Seven (7) of us shared a taxi for 30 Euro each. The driver took us for a 3 hour tour starting with the togobban ride. I almost did not do this exciting ride down the steep winding mountain roads of Funchal in a basket. I thought it was your typical toboggan down a metal track. At 15Euro per person it was one of the most fun things I have done. It brought back childhood memories of billycart racing down the hill with only our feet as brakes. We destroyed many shoes with this dangerous but fun childhood pasttime but the baskets on the hill of Funchal are another level. you can take the cable car up to the top of the mountain or we had our taxi drop us off at the start.

You sit in a basket and are in the safe hands of two locals (and the universe) who use their well shod feet to control the basket around corners (I actually typed coroners originally lol) keeping you on track without tipping into the gutter. The locals I met said they won’t do the ride.

Many people were frightened by the ride but I loved it. I highly recommend to do this.

Then we went to the fishing village which was very picturesque and I had the local drink Ponchas which provided my first hangover for this cruise.

Winston Churchill spent a lot of time in this village painting.

A pretty spot with the NCL Epic in the background.

Some of the street art on doors.

The famous soccer player Ronaldo was born here. There is a museum in to honour his achievements.

Sail away view of Funchal

Norwegian Epic Bermuda UK

10 April 2018
Enjoyed a taxi tour of this colonial island with solo travellers Sarah, Sandy, Danny, Stu, Michael and Kim from USA.

Weather was windy and overcast but the company fun. Stopped at St George.

Had a walk around Hamilton.

Would have liked to swim here in Tobacco Bay but too cold.

Seven (7) golf courses on this island.

The rooves of the houses are quite an interesting design and made of cement which seems to give them extra protection from the numerous hurricanes this island experiences.

We could not go past this place the Boner Bar but unfortunately didn’t get to experience their menu item a “frozen boner”.

Back on the ship enjoyed watching Sarah being part of the show The Hypnotist and ended the night like every night in the nightclub Bliss. One disappointment is that the go go cages I danced in on my previous Epic cruise have been replaced with mirrors 😉

Beautiful message left on the nightclub table.

Thank you Sarah xx

The people I am connecting with every day confirms that everyone we meet pass through our lives for a reason and not a coincidence. The 6 degrees of separation notion needs to be reviewed. I love that on a ship of over 4000 people in the middle of the Atlantic you meet people from the same town or people with only one degree of separation.

Norwegian Epic

7 April 2018
I am off to Barcelona on a Transatlantic cruise! This was not planned but I got such a great deal I could not go. I love the Norwegian Epic and this is the last cruise I could do on her from the USA as she repositions to Europe for their summer.

I have discovered I am a silver member of Norwegian Cruise Line Latitudes club. I got priority embarking no waiting in lines. A free bottle of champagne and some extra internet minutes.

This is only my 4th cruise with NCL and I get perks!!. I have been on 10 P&O cruises and get nothing. I am in the studio cabins and this cruise has only 80 children out of 4800 passengers. The majority are over 50 but the first night in the nightclub was amazing. I had 2 wonderful dance partners!! I don’t need anything else. The DJs on NCL could teach P&O cruise DJs how to keep the passengers happy. Every NCL cruise I have been on the DJs know or play what the passengers love.

The people I have met so far are wonderful interesting and all retired from USA, Canada,France, Britain, Spain and Aussies from Melbourne and Brisbane. Including investors, gold mining office manager, French professor, teacher, travel agents, accident investigator, army, emergency nurse and mission chaplain. Such diverse occupations.

I have learnt to play a gambling game left/right/centre. Lots of fun and a very social game with an investment of $3 and prize of $100. Day 3 tomorrow and with our first stop in Bermuda.

Orlando Florida

6 April 2018

Continuing with the paranormal theme I explored the phenomenon of “Spooky Hill“, a haunted hill defying gravity.

I decided to go at 4pm on a Friday afternoon and that was a bad decision. I hadn’t been feeling well as my hayfever hit me for the first time on this trip. I tried to get some pseudoephedrine at three (3) pharmacies but I have another thing to complain about the USA. As in Australia, you need to provide identification to purchase various medications. However, as I do not have a USA driver’s licence they requested my passport. However, the only passports accepted by the government program are USA and Canadian passports. I got very frustrated and they suggested a US friend could purchase the medication for me. I have to learn how a tourist would get certain medication if they don’t have a USA driver’s licence. If anyone can provide me some advice it would be greatly appreciated.

Any way, after all that I drove to Lake Wales, the site of Spook Hill. There was another family from Indiana at the spot who advised how I should proceed with the gravity exercise. You drive up to a line on the road half way up the hill, put your car in neutral, roll backwards while watching the road in front you get the sense you are driving up the hill.

I tried three (3) times but was terrified I would crash into the Indiana family or run up the gutter into the trees. It was hilarious that I drove 2 hours in Orlando traffic (who are now the top of my list for most aggressive drivers) to laugh my head off with a family from Indiana. We are sure there is a camera set up and someone is enjoying a great joke.

However, I did feel a bit woozy after it but that could just have been a bit of car sickness with my hayfever and staring at the road going backwards.

The local school is called “Spook Hill Elementary”.

I then drove back to Kissimmee to meet up with Lydia and Mario for dinner. They are from San Francisco and I met them in Panama three years(3) ago. After following each other on FB all this time it was lovely catching up with them and look forward to our next meeting.

Tallahassee Florida

6 April 2018

With sadness I left Santa Rosa Beach. I enjoyed my decadent week of relaxation in a very pretty upper middle class “predominantly white” holiday area similar (but not really) to the Australian Gold Coast. Here there are mile after mile of mansions mainly used as weekenders, and as I was here during Spring break it felt like all of America’s school age people were here spread across Panama City to Gulf Shores riding their bicycles or driving around in their golf buggies. Most of the people who come to this part of the world are from Tennessee and Georgia. Although the area I stayed in has a private beach so I did not venture outside the gated community often.

Orlando was meant to take me six (6) hours to drive but I allowed two (2) hours for stops to explore. It actually took me 12 hours because I was having so much fun exploring and then was stuck in traffic when a truck burst into flames in the forest on the roadside of the South 10. I was impressed with how quickly all the emergency services responded and put out the fire before all the forest caught alight. NSW could look into their methods particularly when there is an accident on the M1.

I have decided that when I move on to my next stop I have to remind myself to enjoy the journey, explore and not rush straight to the final destination.

Today I had a day of football, witches and fairies.

First stop was exploring Tallahassee, the capital of Florida. From what I saw it is predominantly a university town and has the beautiful and huge Florida State university(FSU).

I was curious to visit the Sod Cemetery at FSU. University football teams have a quirky tradition when they win a big match at the opposing team’s home ground. If the visitors win they take a piece of the playing field (sod) and bury it in their “Sod Cemetery” complete with headstones.

I also took a photo of their walk of fame and entrance of the university football exhibition

A magical stop was at Lichgate on High Road. The house was built by a FSU Professor Laura Jepson. The magical part of the property is the labyrinth she built near the majestic tree which reminded me of the tree in Avatar.

I met 3 beautiful women including identical twins Len and Leslie The twins were born with osteogenesis imperfecta and are 2 of the most inspiring and fun people I have met. I could have stayed in this magical fairyland with these women for hours but I needed to move on. Thank you ladies for reminding me there is no such thing as coincidence.

Next I went to the Tallahassee Old Cemetery to visit the gravesite of a white witch Elizabeth Budd-Graham.

The 9/11 Whale sculptures are a memorial built by Bruce Brinson and his friends. The whales are named Glory, Hope, Faith and Grace.

Santa Rosa Beach Florida

29 March 2018

Having driven across seven (7) southern USA states and 6000 kms (3900 miles) with rain, wind, cold and snow I am rewarding myself with a few days rest in this affluent beach holiday area. Currently it is spring break so there are lots of young people and families. This is a popular holiday area for Tennessee people.

The landscape and culture has changed so much from California with a large Hispanic Mexican influence, Arizona and Texas with cowboys, Mississippi predominantly negro and across to this part of Florida which is beautiful but feels noticeably “white”.

Majestic beachside mansions and the beaches have the whitest sand, which I concede this Florida beach is comparable to ours in Australia.

I am staying in the house of my friend, Paul from Nashville. He is off working around the USA and I have the pleasure of the company of his friends Walt and Lisa together with their teenage daughters.

Anna Caroline showed me this quirky spot Big Jack’s Gator Park

The bridges in Florida are quite different. They have very low walls I expect so you can see the view. I get the feeling that if a wave comes up you will get washed over into the Gulf or marsh.

Bridge from Alabama to Florida

This area is one of the first where many people use bicycles instead off motor vehicles. There are bicycle lanes and the beach has a boardwalk to conveniently leave your pedal transportation.

The beaches and lagoons in this area are very beautiful with their white sand.

I visited Grayton Beach which has a turtle colony but I was not fortunate to witness any turtles.