LAST POST!!

OK...so that's about it.

We booked our cruise last May so we have come full circle...with the booking, the planning, the preparations, the packing and then the cruising...and here we are about one-year later, with a heart-full of memories.

I want to comment on our experience and all of our adventures; our favourite places and favourite events; the people we met and the stories told.  I have been trying to put into words the "WOW" factor of our World Cruise.

But, it is difficult.

How do you describe the overwhelming feelings brought on by this cruise?  It is truly one of life's moments...if 131 days can be classified as a moment!

There were surges of happiness bubbling up from inside and moments of complete and utter awe.  Try to describe the deliciousness of the smells in the spice markets and the unforgettable odour of the fish markets...talk about olfactory shock!!

There were cultural performances of song and dance spectacular in their uniqueness.

Sunrise...

Sunset.

Sunrises and sunsets as we travelled around the globe never to be forgotten and the breath-taking and melting heat discovered south of the equator.

 There were moments during our adventure when the experience, the moment or the event was almost too much.  Moments for "happy tears" and an appreciation for "where we were" in that moment.

Some of our favourite and/or best places were: (not necessarily in order)

Bora Bora with our lovely thatched hut with a glass-bottom floor...

Standing on top of glass floor

Egypt with the Pyramids, the Sphinx, Valley of the Kings & King Tut's tomb... and camels!

Jerusalem & Nazareth and 40,000 people at the Wailing Wall on Easter Monday...

40,000 people @ the Western Wall (Wailing Wall)

Spain -- absolutely beautiful...

Australia -- koalas, kangaroos and the Sydney Opera House...

Positano & Rome, Italy -- the Amalfi coast, pizza and the Spanish Steps...

...also, there is the first day on the ship...
and the last day on the ship....

and Hong Kong...when Mike and Wendy arrived and we met their "jet-lagged" asses!!!

You would expect over a four & a half month period you would be bound to make some friendships.  And we did.

Some of these friendships, I feel, are the lasting type... then, there were some enjoyable ones and in the moment and finally, others that were just (pardon the expression) "ships passing in the night".
All of the situations apply and we met and enjoyed most of the World Cruisers.  I feel we will re-connect with some of them again.
So, 🎶thanks for the memories🎶 ...to our new friends!

Carol & Rich

Jim & Alice

The Pool Deck Gang

Connie & Tony

Dave & Karen

Richard & Mickey

Goodfellas Pub Night

Canada-Eh group

Leonor & Richard

Gavin & Sarah-Jane

Barry, Sandy & Rob

Sandy & Mark

Our adventures from January through to May are too numerous to mention them all!  Thank goodness I did the Blog and have it as a reference to everything we did.

We went whale watching, watched dolphins jumping out of the water, saw koalas & kangaroos,  saw the Komodo dragons, monkeys trained to pick coconuts and camels.  We crossed the equator twice, went up the Suez Canal and crossed the International Date Line.  We had helicopters rides over Hawaii and Dubai; a pedicab ride through the streets of Vietnam; a walk in the rain through the streets of Rome and the best gin & tonic in the world in the Azores @ Peters Bar.


And on, and on, and on.


I want to take a moment to comment on the Regent Cruise Line and our ship, the Regent Seven Seas Navigator.

I love this shot of our ship, at night, in Hong Kong habour

We were very pleased with the service and the quality given by this cruise line.  The excursions offered, for the most part, were very good.  The ease the excursions were orchestrated was impressive and done with a minimum of fuss.  All guests were off the ship and onto the buses quickly and efficiently.  The service onboard was wonderful.  The service staff friendly and very pleasant.  One of the best "perks" of this holiday was our butler, Reddy.  He was terrific and anticipated our every need.  The second best "perk" was the free laundry and dry cleaning service.  I felt very spoiled as everything was done for us.  All we had to do was play.  Thank you Regent!

It was a long & winding road(?) around and back to New York, then on to Canada.
So, here's to the conclusion of our trip of a lifetime...Cheers!
In a word ... Unforgettable.

MAY 17th -- "WELCOME HOME, ABELSON'S" PARTY

Mike & Wendy Hirschmann gave Barry & I a "Welcome Home" party...on Friday, May 17th.
How good was that?
Who gets a Welcome Home party?  WOW!!
We also got some "Welcome Home" flowers from our friend, Steve, in South Carolina on Friday morning.  Beautiful.

What a wonderful surprise...so thoughtful.

The party started at 7:00 PM and Barry & I were given strict orders to not come downstairs until 7:15.
The party was not exactly a surprise because we had to reserve the Party Room in our building for the Hirschmann's.  So, we knew the date, the time and the place.

They did a lot of work decorating the room.  Below are some pictures of the room before the guests started to arrived.

Awesome, right?

You can barely recognize the room...it looks so different.

The calm before the storm.

The food was fabulous and Wendy's friend, Sandy, is a caterer and she did all the food.

Butter chicken with rice

Sandy's plan cards

The other dishes served were a vegetarian noodle dish, lamb tenderloin on naan bread, beef tenderloin and mulligatawny soup...and pictured above are Peking Duck rolls with 2 sauces.
Everything tasted so yummy...and there was sooooo much food!!
There was also beer & wine served.

The "Usual Suspects" were invited and it was crazy fun!

Dee & Evelyn

Michele, our travel agent, beside Barry

Ev, Bonnie, Joanne & Jeff (their backs..Joanne, Marj & Donna)

Laurie and her Dad...

Me & Jason & Nicky Schill

Me & Brenda Tartaglia

Dave & Skip

Joel & Jeff

Terry & Jeff

Bill Reaume, who took care of our cars for us.

Dee & Hirsch..."monkey business"

Barry with Nancy & Skip Sutherland

Heather, Mike, Jerry, Cliff & Marj

Mike Mueller & Jeff Abelson

Joanne Abelson with Wendy

Smiling Faith

It was 12:30 by the time everyone cleared out.
Time to say "Good Night"!!

Good Night!!

Thanks to Mike & Wendy...totally awesome evening.
Thanks to everyone who attended...it made for a fun night.
It's wonderful to be home!

MAY 15th -- WE'RE HEADING HOME!!

We had our bags out in the hallway last night at 11:00.
We have to be out of our cabin by 8:00 AM, however I really want to see the Statue of Liberty when we come into New York harbour .... so, we have to get up at about 5:00 AM as we are to pass the Grand Lady about 5:15 AM.

Barry, with his internal alarm clock, had me up at 5:15 AM just as we were passing.  Awesome.

This is the best picture  I got, which is not bad considering I was doing this with my eyes barely open!...or should I say mostly shut?
It is a pretty sight though, isn't it?

Our view coming into New York.

The rest of our day goes pretty much as you would expect.
It's "hurry up & wait" all day.
We get to the airport at about 11:30 and our Air Canada flight is not until 2:40 PM.
So, we wait.
Our flight was delayed and we wait some more.
We actually did not leave NY until about 4:15 PM.
We got into Toronto about 5:30 and through customs by 6:00. Mike & Wendy are there to pick us up and take us home.

Finally back in Canada...

"Home, James"...or should I say Hirsch?

There was a cooler in the car and we had a wonderful drive home.

A fun drive home.

Home, at last!

We got home around 7:00 PM and changed our clothes and ordered a pizza.
Ahhhhhh!





There's no place like home.