Tag: Holland America
Bula! A Day in Dravuni Island in Fiji
Our second stop when we visited Fiji was to Dravuni Island. The country of Fiji itself contains 330 islands with 110 of them permanently inhabited. There are even 500 smaller islets, so there are many islands to visit. For many decades in the 1700s, European sailors would not step foot on any of the Fijian ...
Spending a Day in the South Pacific Nation of New Caledonia and the Loyalty Islands
The South Pacific Island Nation of New Caledonia was our first stop after leaving Sydney, Australia for the second time. Located about 750 miles to the northeast, we arrived after 2 days of sailing with Holland America. New Caledonia is a French territory with a population of about 278,000 people mostly situated on the main ...
The Mysterious Mayan Ruins of Chichen Itza
In March 2019, I crossed another destination off my bucket list -- to visit Mayan Ruins. We had this opportunity with one of the destinations of our Caribbean Cruise with Holland America. Our ship docked in Cozumel, Mexico, which itself is an island off the eastern coast of the Mexican Yucatan Penisula. We boarded a ...
Milford Sound – New Zealand
Our first stop in New Zealand was to the enchanting area of the Milford Sound. The Fiordland National Park is on the southwestern side of the the South Island. We joined fifty others from our cruise ship, who decided to take an overnight excursion. Our trip was from the Milford Sound with an overnight in ...
A Visit to Catherine The Great’s Palace (Екатерининский дворец) Outside of St. Petersburg, Russia
The country of Russia fascinates me. Living in Germany, one of our television channels was RTG (Russia Travel Guide) broadcasted in English. RTG does an excellent job in the production value of its HD programming. The shows are split between cultural and travel guides across the entire country. And, when you realize just how big ...
A Day Spent in Tallinn, Estonia
We had an opportunity to spend a day in the capital city of Tallinn in the Baltic country, Estonia. The city is rich in history given its location along the Baltic Sea across from Finland and sandwiched between Russia and Latvia. With a population today of about 437,000 people, Tallinn sees roughly 4.3 million tourists ...
Our Journey to Mystery Island in Vanuatu
Vanuatu lies almost halfway between the island nations of New Caledonia and Fiji. This makes Vanuatu an obvious destination for cruises in this area of the South Pacific. Our port of call for the day was Mystery Island. No one lives on Mystery Island. There is no electricity and no running water. And, it is the southern most island of the ...
An Excursion to the Paradise of Beachcomber Island in Fiji
With our 29-day cruise with Holland America, Amanda and I were looking forward to completing another bucket list destination with our visit to Fiji. It seemed like the further east our ship continued to go from Australia, the islands became more beautiful. Some day, we will continue our bucket list to visit more islands of ...
Stepping into the Shire – a visit to New Zealand’s Hobbiton Movie Set
It was a few days before Christmas, in 2001. Amanda and I, having been engaged for less than a year, lived in Charlotte, North Carolina. One evening, we went to the movies to see the first in the trilogy series of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." I remember watching that ...
The Iconic Sydney Opera House
Not everyone in the world loves the performing arts, especially when it comes to opera (we love it). However, the Sydney Opera House has to be truly one of the most iconic buildings in the world. Not only are 8 million visitors attracted annually, but the Sydney Opera House has become 'the' symbol of the ...
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