UMTravels

So, the English translation for Honen Matsuri would be Penis Festival. This would be my fourth or fifth. All but one in Komaki (outside Nagoya), the other in Kawasaki which is always on the first Sunday of April, rather than Komaki, which is always on March 15th, no matter the day of week. Fewer tourists […]

Flying into Nagoya from Guam… Compared to Guam, immigration and customs was a breeze in Nagoya. Bags and through in minutes, not hours. Left my luggage at a hotel that I may or may not stay at tonight, and headed over to The Flight Of Dreams which is connected to Terminal 2 at NGO. Who […]

This won’t be much of a post, because, really, unless you are a fan of beaches (me, not so much), Guam really didn’t have much to offer me except a place to decompress for a couple of nights as an interesting means of not having jet lag. Wyndham Guam is the freebie hotel (OK, points) […]

Yet another 4am wakeup call – this is getting old. But, The Island Hopper only runs twice a week, and there schedule is their schedule. What is The Island Hopper? It’s a famous old Continental Airlines route through the South Pacific. When United bought Continental, the continued the route (and I wear, using the same […]

I first tried to plan this for March of 2021, well, there was a pandemic still going on. Tried again for March of 2022, and there was STILL a pandemic going on, and Asia was MOST DEFINITELY closed for business. Which brings us to 2023 and I’m finally making the trip. Technically, my return is […]

One might ask, why Cincinnati? To keep my status on Alaska. Every winter one city stands out for cheap, long-distance turnarounds (out and back on the same plane). The previous five years, it was Raleigh-Durham. At around $250 r/t, which I can book in Premium which is the free booze and extra legroom portion on […]

Nothing like starting off a trip sharing an Uber with Jonathan to the airport and getting time in the lounge to just hang. Hopped to San Jose barely making my connection to San Diego – when you are using First Class upgrades, you take less than ideal routings! Second leg (San Jose to San Diego) […]

Of my many travel rituals, one of the constants is visiting Victoria, British Columbia a couple of times in the winter and Whistler, British Columbia, up in the mountains, a couple of times in the summer. This year is no exception – this being trip two to Victoria this winter. Got to the dock early […]

Even with an early flight – before the shuttle starts (cab ride), wow, the line at the front desk! What you see at the left below is the line for members of Hyatt’s hotel points plan; which I’m a member. Even if you never planning on staying at that brand (and most of the majors […]

Goodbye Busan, you will be missed (Seoul, less so). LOVE being 500 yards from the train station. And soon we are on board: These cars are actually newer than the high-speed cars we came down to Busan on – and this is an Express that takes the old route without all the tunnels, and clocks […]

Our departure from Seoul to Busan is heralded by snow… A little snack in the hotel coffee shop to get us going… And off we go in a cab to the main train station… We are taking the high-speed train to Busan. Our route is in the dark blue: In the station I fire up […]

We took the train to the main station, then cabbed to our hotel – The Ramada by Wyndham Seoul Dongdaemun. Clean and warm, but a little short on things like outlets and reading lights near the bed. Sadly, the front desk staff, while friendly, is clueless about what restaurants are open within a couple of […]

For the first time in YEARS, I’m travelling to Korea on a PAID ticket, not miles. Granted, I did use a Delta Global Upgrade certificate to upgrade my Premium Economy (think recliner style seats like First Class in the US market) $845 ticket to a Delta One Suite ticket worth about $2500 (though when I […]

First trip to Vic this year – other than COVID, a winter tradition I’ve done for 20 years at least. The last 17 years, Nicola has been at the front desk! Because January is the month with both Washington State-based ferries are in for dry dock, it means that we go over the Canadian border […]

Final leg (unless you count the flight home) of the epic Panama Canal Adventure…and you can tell you are off the Texas coast when you start seeing oil rigs… And then the chaos of getting off the boat… At least it is downtown, unlike our hotel… Not that it was swimming weather! Look at the […]

Last port stop of the trip, Cartagena, Columbia! Parked right next to the Norwegian Bliss, named after my friend Kevin (Bliss). Michael was up and off early for his tour, MB and I were just planning on hitting the terminal which has shops, restaurants, and apparently, a zoo. It was hot, hot, hot, so I […]

Here is the historical map of the Panama Canal: This is what greeted us the morning of our Panama Canal transit… And the TV screen projecting the bridge cam! And off we go! Goodbye Panama – next stop, COLUMBIA! [198.8] For more blog posts, click here.

Another couple of sea days, another port. Welcome to Costa Rica! The trolley we didn’t wait for… My view of the open air market – MB did more shopping. Our boat at the pier: And my score from the bodega… Back on board, back to the food. And just random pictures…. And breakfast is served: […]

Second port of call – Hualtulco, Mexico! Every time I walk by one of the interactive displays, they display Happy Birthday Uncle Markie. Just FYI, it isn’t my birthday, but we have a birthday celebration coming up for a former cruise partner of mine. And this was waiting for me one turndown… As usual, tons […]

Well, this is the port that I didn’t want, but in a cruel twist of fate, it’s a good port for Marybeth, who’s luggage didn’t make it to San Francisco. Delta is overing replacement clothes for the trip, and even though Princess wasn’t at fault, they offered her a $250 credit at the Tommy Bahama […]