Travel to far off places

A few people have asked me to post my itinerary so here it is.  

I am still awaiting my flight arrangements, but hopefully everything will be preceded with a day/night in Venice... we'll see.

9/18/08  Venice Italy

9/21/08 Kusadasi Turkey

9/22/08 - 9/23/08 Istanbul Turkey

9/24/08 Odessa Ukraine

9/25/08 Yalta Ukraine

9/27/08 Athens Greece

9/29/08 Messina, Sicily Italy

9/30/08 Rome Italy

10/1/08 Naples Italy

10/3/08 Santorini Greece

10/4/08 Izmir (for Ephesus) Turkey

10/5/08 - 10/6/08 Istanbul Turkey

10/7/08 Samos Greece

10/8/08 Athens Greece

10/9/08 Zakinthos Greece

10/10/08 Dubrovnik Croatia

10/11/08 - 10/13/08 Venice Italy

10/14/08 Dubrovnik Croatia

10/15/08 Katakolon (Olympia) Greece

10/16/08 Mykonos Greece

10/17/08 Istanbul Turkey

10/18/08 Kusadasi Turkey

10/20/08 Messina, Sicily Italy

10/21/08 Rome Italy

10/22/08 Florence/Pisa Italy

10/23/08 Marseilles France

10/24/08 - 10/25/08 Barcelona Spain

10/26/08 Monte Carlo Monaco

10/27/08 Florence/Pisa Italy

10/28/08 Naples Italy

10/29/08 Valletta Malta

10/31/08 Crete Greece

11/1/08 Izmir (for Ephesus) Turkey

11/2/08 Athens Greece

11/4/08 Messina, Sicily Italy

11/5/08 Rome Italy

11/6/08 Naples Italy

11/7/08 Valletta Malta

11/10/08 Alexandria Egypt

11/11/08 Port Said Egypt

11/13/08 Kusadasi (for Ephesus) Turkey

11/14/08 Istanbul Turkey

11/15/08 Dikili Turkey

11/16/08 Volos (for Meteora) Greece

11/17/08 Athens Greece

11/18/08 Volos (for Meteora) Grece

11/19/08 Dikili Turkey

11/20/08 Istanbul Turkey

11/21/08 Kusadasi (for Ephesus) Turkey

11/23/08 Port Said Egypt

11/24/08 Alexandria Egypt

11/26/08 Valletta Malta

11/27/08 Messina Sicily

11/28/08 Naples Italy

11/29/08 Rome  Italy

11/30/08 Naples Italy

12/1/08 Messina Sicily

12/2/08 Katakolon (Olympia) Greece

12/3/08 Dubrovnik Croatia

12/5/08 Valletta Malta

12/6/08 La Goulette Tunisia

12/8/08 Malaga (for Granada) Spain

12/11/08 Southampton England

12/14/08 Ponte Delgada, Azores Portugal

12/19/08 St. Johns Anti gua

12/20/08 Bassetterre St. Kitts

12/21/08 Castries St. Lucia

12/22/08 St. Georges Grenada

12/23/08 Bridgetown Barbados

12/29/08 Funchal, Madeira Portugal

12/31/08 Vigo (for Santiago de Compostela) Spain

1/2/09 Southampton England

1/10/09 New York, NY USA

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It is Amazing How Things Change

While riding my bike to work this morning, I was passing the 79th Street Boat Basin when I looked ahead and saw the Carnival Victory docked at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal, and many interesting thoughts entered my mind upon seeing this "Fun Ship", as Carnival has aptly dubbed the vessels in its fleet.

Whenever I used to see a cruise docked at the pier or sailing down the Hudson, it would conjure up all the wonderful memories of the friends I made and the places I visited, especially since the first ship I worked on, the Carnival Legend, sailed out of Manhattan as well. I would think about my friends who still work for Carnival, but I never thought I would return to the high seas. I am glad I was wrong.

This morning, as I traveled towards the pier, different thoughts entered my mind. Instead of thinking 'I miss being on board a ship', all that went through my head was 'I cannot wait to get back!' As I passed the Victory, I saw crewmembers walking from the ship to Times Square to buy random necessities as I once did, and I could not help but be overjoyed that once again I am going to be one of them.

We Have Liftoff...

Wow... my first blog entry. I would never consider myself to be a writer, let alone a talented one, but nonetheless, it is my pleasure to welcome you to what I am hoping will become a place filled with regular entries . To be fair, I should let you know that this is not my first attempt at creating one of these... I set one up during my senior year of college, but that is as far as I ever got with it. Perhaps, I had nothing to write about, or maybe I was just really lazy. Please stay tuned, and check back often, as I hope to update this at least two or three times per week while I am gone.