Abu Dhabi We slept well and woke up rested. Now we had time to make ourselves familiar with the ship. First of all, our cabin was a lot better than we expected. We paid for the cheap inner cabin but were assigned a cabin with a window. Perhaps, because we bought the cruise close to […]
Sir Bani Yas, March 2023 Read More »
Denver to Abu Dhabi We landed in Abu Dhabi at 6.00 a.m. After many hours in economy and two sleepless nights we were able to keep upright and to function only thanks to a cup of strong coffee that we had on the plane. Getting to Port Zayed where MSC Opera was docked required taking
Abu Dhabi, March 2023 Read More »
This was not a trip planned well in advance. I browsed cruise offerings and spotted something that looked like a good deal – an MSC 7-day cruise around the Persian Gulf for $209/person. My husband and I are not cruise people. Before that, we only did 2 cruises. We normally organize our trips ourselves. This
Denver to Abu Dhabi, March 2023 Read More »
My friend Nina and I had 1.5 more days in Queenstown before returning to Melbourne and we had to find something to do. First, after our unexpectedly successful paragliding experience, we thought of taking a hot air balloon ride over the town. This thought left as quickly as it came when we learned how much
Queenstown, New Zealand, Dec 2022 Read More »
Day 3 Day 4 My leg muscles had not completely recovered from the hike on the previous day. The distance to walk on Day 4 was 20 km but the trail was flat. The day was sunny, warm and with lots of sandflies. When the weather was bad, the backpack was lightweight. On a good
Milford track, New Zealand, Dec 2022 Read More »
Days 1 & 2 Day 3, Christmas The sound of falling rain woke me up a couple of times at night. So far, we were incredibly lucky with the weather. When we did Routeburn we only got sprinkled a little. Apart from that, the weather was pleasantly warm and dry. This area is one of
Milford track, New Zealand, Dec 2022 Read More »
Queenstown Day 1 The group for our other walk was again 40 people. Half of them were Americans, the other half Australians and New Zealanders plus one British. I expected to see a more diversified group. Apparently, other nationalities were not keen on traveling far. The bus went along the already familiar route with a
Milford track, New Zealand, Dec 2022 Read More »
Routeburn, Days 2 & 3 My friend Nina and I had no plans for the free day between two walks apart from going to an afternoon briefing at the Ultimate Hikes center. Nina suggested to try the luge. We paid for 5 rides and Nina watched them enviously while we waited in line for our
Queenstown, New Zealand, Dec 2022 Read More »
Routeburn, Day 1 Days 2 & 3 We got up at 7 a.m. and started our day by making our lunches. Everyone prepared sandwiches from the ingredients on the table: ham, cheeses, green salad, pickles, and vegetables, took an apple or an orange, and a small powerbar, filled a water bottle. We carried our lunches
Routeburn, New Zealand, Dec 2022 Read More »
Australia to New Zealand Routeburn, Day 1 Our group was 39 people plus 4 guides. The age varied from school children to senior adults over 70. The majority of the walkers were locals, either New Zealanders or Australians, and a few Americans. The bus left Queenstown and slowly wound its way along Lake Wakatipu and
Routeburn, New Zealand, Dec 2022 Read More »
