Travel With Betsy

Seen this before?…..It´s a palendrome (sp….?).  Same thing front words and backwords.  Panama Canal.  Yesterday we went through the Panama Canal.  What a fantastic trip!

Basically, the canal is used so that ships don´t need to go all the way around South America to get to the other side.  We went from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean through the Panama Canal.  A land mass was removed to create the passage.  I am not an engineering buff or a history buff, but even I was amazed at the concept of this and the workings of the canal.  This was definitely the highlight of the trip.

We were up at 7:30 am to watch the ship go through the first lock.  We went through one end of the canal and were deposited into Lake Gatun.  As you might guess, the elevation of the lake is different from the ocean on either side, and so the ship had to be dropped and elevated in order to continue it´s journey once outside of the canal, thus the need for the lock system.  In total we went through 6 locks in and out of the canal.  There are several things about the canal that are fascinating to me.  The scenery through is beautiful.  But, the mechanics of it are incredible…not to mention the history and the sheer expanse of it.  The other interesting thing is the coordination of countries in developing this and keepìng it going.

The French started this puppy in the late 1800s.  Then, it was a coordinated effort with the United States in the lead.  In 1999 it was turned over to the country of Panama to maintain.  They are now in process of expanding the canal so that larger ships can pass through.  Currently, our ship is one of the widest that can pass through at 100 feet.  Pretty big stuff!

There is also a german crane being used and Japanese electric trains made by Mitsubishi being used to help the ships through the locks.  What a great effort.

The most money that was paid to go through the canal by a ship was the Queen Elizabeth II paying $99,000 and the least was by some swimmer, whose name I can´t recall, that swam the length of the canal and paid 38 cents.  So, you can imagine what a staple of the Panama economy this is.

I had the great fortune to be right in the front of the ship wedged between two stinky men to see us exit the canal and get a view of the lock system at work first hand.  Essentially what happens is the ship goes through a series of compartments that have different water levels.  Each compartment fills or empties in order to meet the level of the next compartment. All of this is done by gravity…pretty amazing.  This was, by far, one of the most interesting days we have had.

Today, we are in Colon, Panama.  Again, I am amazed at the poverty that is evident as we walk through the streets.  I am also amazed that the internet service here is better than on the ship….a third world country.  Who knew?!

Also, an update on the illness on the ship.  Apparently, it´s not the Norovirus, but just a GI issue.  But, who really knows?  Also, the person that was taken off the ship had appendicitus.  So, not the GI issue.  We also had a death on board the ship a few days ago.   We think the person had a heart attack.  But, again, who knows.  This led us to a discussion about how they handle this sort of thing on the ship. Apparently, there is a morgue in the bottom of the ship.  YUK!…but, good to know.

Just an FYI..if something happens to me on the trip, just spread my ashes over the wine country in France.  I can sip wine into eternity!

Until the next connection…….

Back again with an internet connection on land in Central America…who knew that internet access would be better in a third world country than on the ship.  And, it´s a great deal….$1.00 for an hour´s worth of time. 

We visited Guatemala two days ago, had a sea day and are now in Costa Rica, where we did break down and do a tour of the area.  As some of you know, Mike has a train fettish.  The only tour we could interest him in was a combination tour that included a train ride, a bus ride and a ride on a river with Crocodile Dundee…Costa Rica style.  So, this is what we did.  We were loaded onto a bus in Puntarenas, Costa Rica right from our ship and were taken to the small train on which we spent the next hour.  Mike was interested in this because the brochure said that the train was 100 years old.   Once we saw the train, Mike determined that this could not be true, which put a damper on the ride from the beginning.  At the end of the ride, we all decided that we could have skipped this part, as the train took us through some very nondescript places that were not that interesting.  However, we did learn that a main crop of Costa Rica is cantelope, which I did not know.  We also learned that other crops for this country include bananas, pineapple, watermelon, mangos, papayas and cashews.  The tour guide brought a cashew from her tree at home for us to see…..an interesting experience. 

We then motored on to the river ride.   This, I thought was fascinating.  As you may know, Costa Rica is kown for their eco systems.  We piled into a small power boat and chugged along.  We saw a wide variety of birds including the frigate bird, grand egret, and hawks.  Very interesting.  The highlight was the crocodiles.  I have been to the Florida everglades, but have never really seen one of these things up close.  We had the opportunity to have an up close ad personal look at these guys.  Some crazy tour guides were in the water with them and enticing them to stand up in the water by offering chicken parts.  I don´t know about you, but if this is the best career path that can be had here in Costa Rica, I would be poor!  WOW!  At the end of the tour, we were served fresh pineapple, melon and bananas.  We were also given coffee.  We all sampled these delicacies and are hopin that we don´t come away with a GI issue.  So far so good.

Talking about GI issues….our ship has an outbreak of the Norovirus.  On one of the first days, we had to make an extra stop to let someone off that was really sick.  We really don´t know if it was the virus or something else.  They, of course, don´t share too much information in order not to cause a panic.  It was an interesting experience after having just come off of a job where I was the one who had to decide on how much informaiton to share about certain issues.  It´s a little different being on the other side of things.  Anyway, we are no longer allowed to serve ourselves any food, drinks, etc. so that we don´t spread disease.  We are also instructed to use hand sanitizer each time we enter the dining room.  Carrie, our travel buddy, is beginning to rebel.  She has a point.  The sanitizer doesn´t work after awhile.  People should be encouraged to wash their hands.  Gene observed some staff leaving the bathroom without washing their hands.  Not good!!  But, at least they were not working in the kitchen.

That´s all for now..until the next connection.  Tomorrow is another sea day, so I´m thinking that more sleeping is in order.  ZZZZZZZZZ…………

Here’s one of the down sides of cruising…..internet access is sporadic at best.  So, for the last few days, I have not been able connect so that I can update you on all of the fun activities.   But, here’s a small taste of what we have been up to in the last few days.

We have now had three sea days, which I happen to like.  I spent the first sea day resting…in the room, on the deck, in the common area of the ship….everywhere….move over Rip Van Winkle.   The second sea day was spent in the sun.  The weather here is beautiful and with a nice breeze, which was very misleading. bAs it turns out, it was actually really hot and sunny and perfect sunburn weather.  So, when you see me next, I will have the coloring of a lobster…nice and pink…..in places that don’t normally see the sun.  Ouch!  Consequently, the third sea day was spent inside and in the shade.  

Mike and I took a cooking class on the ship where we made some very yummy dishes.  The most interesting was an nappetizer of  smoked salmon, an avocado mixture and a crab concoction each layered on top of the other and topped off with caviar.  We constructed this dish in something that looked like a round metal cookie cutter.  After everything was compiled inside the ring, we then removed the ring and the layers stood up on their own.  Quite something.  I was very impressed with myself.  Presentation is everything…..fun times!

When we boarded the ship, the four of us decided that we would need to break the monotony of the meals in the main dining room with a meal or two in the special dining room called “Murano”.  This dining room is sepcial because it has a different, more upscale, menu than the main dining room.  There is also a charge to eat here.  Now, you would think that this would go against our policy of getting the best deal, but Mike and Gene, expert deal makers, managed to find a good deal even here…. or at leas they were able to convince themselves of this.  We knew that we wanted to  eat in the sepcial dining room at least one night….because after all, it IS special.  So, after some calculation, the boys decided that eating in “Murano” only one night would not be the best deal.  They concluded that the more times we eat in “Murano”, the cheaper the per night per person cost would be beacuse of a special promotion that was offered.  So, we signed up for five nights instead of one, in order to save moeny and get the best per person rate.  So, we are spending more money in total in order to get a “bargain”.  I”m grateful for the lesson on economics, but I’m stll tossing this rationale around in my head…HMMMM…..

We have now had two “bargain” dinners and are glad we signed up.  The food has been pretty darn good.  We have not ordered wine yet, as we have our own stash on board.  However, when the Sommelier heard htat I worked at a winery, we got special attention and a detailed explanation on the nuances of the wines on the list for purchase.  We may consider one of these very nice bottles on another visit to “Murano”.  But, only if it is a good deal.

We have now had two stops in Mexico, Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta.  Both were interesting in their own ways.  What is similar, though, is that there is an incredible dichotomy of wealth and poverty.  There is lots of upscale shopping, dining and hotel options.  But, also lots of homelessness and begging by adults as well as children.  I find this distressing in many ways.  The children bother me the most.  It is as if they are in training for adulthood in Mexico..selling “junk” to tourists and begging.  I had the exact same feeling when I crossed the Mexican border from Laredo, TX.   I couldn’t wait to cross back into the United States.  This wasn’t quite as bad, but still disturbing.  I have a much better appreciation for the people who worked with me at the Wisdom Center who escaped this type of lifestyle.  I give them a lot of credit for seeking out a better life. 

On the plus side, both places were beautiful and the beaches were delightful.  Tomorrow we are heading in to Guatelmala.  There will be no negotiation with Mike on walking.  He had already decided that he will not be getting off the ship.  So, the rest of us will press on…..

Stay tuned for more when I am able to get another internet connection! 

After another yummy breakfast at “The Broken Yolk”, the four travelers packed up and moved on to the cruise dock.  I’m happy to say that today there was no negotiation needed on whether to walk, bus or take a taxi.  Too much “stuff” demanded a taxi.  The four of us, along with our luggage, jumped into one cab and were like sardines in a can as we tooled across San Diego to the cruise dock.  We are becoming very familiar and it was quite cozy.

We are cruising on the Celebrity Century, a five staf ship, one of the smaller ones in the Clelbrity fleet weighing in at about 70,000 tons and holding about 1200 people.  This is our third sailing on this ship and it’s been redone since our last voyage…. very nicely, I might add.

Our last cruise was onboard Seabourn, which is a small line of six star ships which have been deemed the best luxury ships for several years running.  Celebrity is not of this quaity, but we have always found the accomodations to be satisfactory, the food good and the price right.  One of the trade offs when travleing on a lower rated ship is that there are always lines…lines to board, lines to eat, lines to get on the gym treadmill, etc.  So, we anticipated a long line as we waited to get on the ship, with lots of inexperienced cruisers asking the silly questions that we all asked on our first times out.  As it turns out, and much to our delight, it pays to be a repeat customer.  When the staff discovered that we had cruised with Celebrity multiple times, we were escorted to the “Captain’s Club” line for past cruisers.  We were on our way onto the ship and sipping our complimentary Champagne in minutes.  Sweet!

As we discussed in the last post, the deal is always the most important thing.  On this particular cruise, the deal was on the inside cabin.  Our room is about the size of a postage stamp and, as you might deduce, has no windows.  I happen to love this because you can sleep well into the morning or afternoon and never see the light of day.  After coming off of a busy Christmas season and a stressful and emotional exit from my job, I am looking forward to this.  I may just sleep for the fifteen days and never even peek out of the room.  This thought lasted until I got hungry and needed to seek out some sustenance.  Imaging that!

If you have ever cruised, you know that there are food options ’round the clock….pretty much everything you can think of to eat, you can get on the ship.  The food on Celebrity is, in our opinion, some of the better cruise ship food which is one of  the reasons we picked this line.  Dinner did not disappoint!  We had a beet and feta appetizer, a very nice cream of mushroom soup and a pork chop that was the size and shape of Texas.  All very good.  This, of course, was after we had checked out the “Lido” deck for lunch and then had some french fries and a cookie from the grill on deck.  Too much food.  Tomorrow we need to cut back.

One of the things I like best about cruising is that it’s like summer camp for adults.  There is a captive audience of people to talk to that makes it easy to connect with all different kinds of folks.  None of them have heard my stories and that makes it even better!  We have already made our first set of friends at the dinner table, two sisters and their husbands…all from Canada.  They have traveled quite a bit, as we have, and so we had lots to talk about.  Lots of fun.  We’ll see them again, as we are assigned to sit with them at every dinner meal. 

There are lots of things to do on the ship and the crew is tasked with keeping you busy every minute, especially on the sea days, which we are having today.  There are dance lessons, cooking lessons, movies, trivia contests, gampling, shopping, Bingo….and, of course lots of eating.   I’m worn out already!

Happy sea day and happy semi-retirement to me!

We are staying at the Marriott in the Gas Light section of San Diego, a very nice hotel in a very nice section of the city. For those of you who know us, the deal is the most important thing. We want to be comfortable, but, at the lowest possible price. We would like to thank the Marriott boys for offering a very nice senior discount so that we can stay in comfort at a reasonable cost.

We had breakfast at the “Broken Yolk Cafe”. The portions here rival those at Margie’s Diner, a chain in the central coast area where we live. There are mounds of food that only a Sumo wrestler could possibly finish. However, between the four of us, we were able to finish every crumb. This is also about the deal and not wanting to waste money on uneaten food. All of us declared that we would not need to eat again until breakfast tomorrow morning!

Carrie, whose metabolism is high due to her current training for a half-marathon, was the first to admit to being hungry around 1:00 pm and snacked on a fancy cupcake as we walked along. I was, of course next, then Gene. Mike, who is with food like a camel with water, says he is still not hungry as we head out for dinner. I’m guessing he will be able to eat.

After some discussion, we decided that we would spend our only day in San Diego visiting Coronado Island to see the Del Coronado Hotel. So, around 12:30 we boarded a ferry to the island. The ferry left us off on the opposite side of the island from the hotel, which presented us with our next decision. For those of you who know Mike, you know that he is not a fan of walking long distances. So, when faced with this option, there is always a negotiation on whether to walk, take public transportation or just break down and take a taxi. This time, the walkers won out. And, so, we started out down First Street and across Orange on our 30 minute trek to the hotel, with Mike bringing up the rear and muttering some very uncomplimentary thoughts about having been tricked!

We walked past some fun shops and a very upscale residential area. Gene is a real estate aficionado and all of us, except for Carrie who is still in college, own at least one property. So, we were interested in the price of property on Coronado Island. Maybe we could purchase a vacation home! The first property we came across was a small plot of land without a dwelling that was sandwiched between two houses. This gem was going for $1.9 million dollars. After paying that, you can add a house. The best deal we found was a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo for $714,000. We decided against making a purchase, as this goes against our policy of getting the best deal. No senior discounts here. We all decided that if a vacation was needed, those on the east coast would come to the Cramer/Whitaker Bed and Breakfast in California and those of us on the west coast would come to Gene’s beach property. YIKES!!

The Del Coronado is the oldest and largest wooden hotel in the United States. It sits right on the beach and is quite something to see. It has been around for a long time and has survived through several wars and economic downturn including the crash of Wall Street in 1929. It’s stayng power is really remarkable. It has hosted some very famous celebrities including Frank Sinatra, John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe. There is a very interesting display as you walk through the maze of shops that gives much detail about the history of the hotel. Today, it is a very busy resort that offers everything one could possibly need or want….food, pools, drinks, and shopping. One could stay forever and never need to go off campus. I’m pretty sure there is no senior discount at this resort. However, we did enjoy looking at it.

The lobby was still decorated for Christmas and had a beautiful tree in the middle. Next to the tree was a twinkling-eyed Santa Claus greeting all of the guests. It was striking. As we were walking through the lobby, Gene pointed out a lovely menorah. Next to the menorah was a sign encouraging people to sign up to enter a drawing to win the Santa and take it home. We thought that was an odd mixture of traditional holiday symbols. We are all still thinking about that one.

We ended our day at the “Altitude Bar” on the 22nd floor of the Marriott. The views of the city were spectacular. I took a picture of this, and when I figure out how to download it to the blog, I’ll show you what I mean. We watched the sun go down and create a sky streaked with shades of red. As we sipped our drinks, we discussed our travel plans with some fellow travelers from Arizona. What a great way to end the day.

January 1, 2013…Happy New Year everyone! We were up at 5:00 a.m. this morning to catch the train to San Diego for the first leg of our journey. Needless to say, our New Year’s Eve celebration was minimal because of our crack of dawn departure. We did manage to get out for dinner at our favorite Ciopinot restaurant. For those of you who have been to our San Luis (SLO) home/bed and breakfast, you will recognize the name, as we take all guests here. It was delightful as usual.

So, this morning after saying our good-byes to Lucy, our beloved cat, and giving her specific instructions not to tear the house up while we are away, we were on our way. I am writing this as we are pulling into the LA train station.

The train left exactly on time at 6:55 a.m., much to our surprise. Our train travel experiences in California have not been the equivalent of our experiences in Switzerland, where things always run on time…like clockwork, really. But, today, Amtrak is getting off to a good start. As we pull into the LA train station, we are actually ahead of schedule. Maybe we are in Switzerland after all!.

As many of you know, the train ride between SLO and LA is quite spectacular, as you are in view of the ocean for a large part of the ride. Because of our early departure, we happened to be riding along as the sun was coming up. The colors were amazing. Just beautiful! A small girl in our car traveling with her family to the Santa Barbara zoo looked out the window and said “This is a magical train”. Maybe she is right….maybe.

We plan to meet our friend Gene and his daughter Carrie in San Diego later today. They will be on the ship with us through the Panama Canal. They are great travelers. So, it should be a fun time.

Just so everyone knows, Mike is already planning the next trip. We’ll keep you posted.