Sailing through the Panama Canal is what happens when a cruise ship turns into a bathtub toy. The ship drives into a concrete chamber. The gates close behind it. Water flows in from below, and the ship rises. Nobody pumps anything. Gravity does the work, and it takes most of a day. I have spent…
Reykjavik is a small city that does not act like one. A rainbow runs down the middle of a shopping street. Above the rooftops, a church tower pulls your eyes up the hill. One hot dog stand has had a line out front since 1937. On the waterfront, a steel Viking ship goes absolutely nowhere….
Tokyo moves fast. Tucked along the eastern edge of the city, Asakusa and Ueno seem to exist in a time of their own. From the crowds beneath Senso-ji’s Kaminarimon gate to the quieter paths of Ueno Park, this corner of the city stacks centuries of history under a very modern hum. Two days was never…
My Virgin Voyages cruise from New York City ended in Quebec City in early October. My flight out was the next morning, which left me with one day in Quebec City and, for once, no plan. I did not book a tour, hire a guide, or build an itinerary, which is unusual for a natural…
Juneau is the first place I am covering here that I have visited twice. Once on a Holland America sailing, once on an Azamara sailing, over a year apart. Most of my Wednesday Wandering stops are one and done. So I never get to answer the question everyone actually wants to know. Does a second…
I flew into Manila two days before my Crystal cruise departed. Most people fly in and head straight to the ship. I wanted one full day in Manila to explore before that. That gave me one solo morning and one guided afternoon before embarkation. This post covers both. A Chinatown wander on my own. Then a private tour through flower markets, lechon stands, a cemetery, and the walled city of Intramuros. It is…
I spent one day exploring two coastal towns in France. In the morning, I wandered La Rochelle with no itinerary and no guide. In the afternoon, I got on a bus for a proper excursion to Île de Ré. It’s an island whose main town is still entirely wrapped inside its own fortifications. Same coastline….
I spent two days in Istanbul on my own before boarding a Crystal cruise to Venice. That sounds like more time than it was. The first day was a slow start, a late lunch, and then a guide who packed four empires into one afternoon. The second day was a suitcase and a taxi to…
I spent one day in the Faroe Islands. That is the kind of sentence that sounds like the start of an apology, and in a way, it is. One day is not enough for a place with eighteen islands and a language that predates most European monarchies. It is definitely not enough for a place…
My cruise landed right in the middle of Rio Carnival. Locals call it Carnaval, and either way, it means about two million people out on the streets each day. Two and a half days, one port call, and the biggest party on the planet happening a few blocks from the ship the entire time. I…