Around the World in 80 Days

203 days to go.

Time to get my act together and look forward to the Round the World Trip next February. If Albina, for all her poor health, is being positive, if all my friends and people in the know are being envious, then I had better start to be positive too. Just as positive and reckless as we were when we first made the booking so far forward on March 12 2021.

Albina and I decided then to book an 80 day cruise around the world. It is to commemorate the 150th anniersary of Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Da ys". It was one of my favourite books when I was a kid, and Phileas Fogg was a model character for me to emulate. It was expensive, but we were prepared to have a once in a lifetime experience, brought on by the fact that during the covid pandemic we were prevented from traveling anywhere at all.

The journey will take place on the Fred Olsen liner called the "Borealis" and here are the details.

Thursday 23rd February - sail from Southampton.

Sunday 26th February - Lisbon

2nd March - Brindisi

5th March - Port Said

7th March - Safaga (Egypt) - chance to visit Luxor

14th March - Mumbai - chance to visit Taj Mahal

15th March - Goa

16th March - Kochi, Kerala

21st March - Singapore

23rd March - Nha Trang, Vietnam

25th March - Hong Kong

28th March - Shanghai

30th March - Hakata, Japan

1st April - Osaka

2nd April - Nagoya

3rd April - Tokyo

10th April - Honolulu

11th April - Lahaina, Hawaii

12th April - Hilo, Hawaii

17th April - San Francisco

19th April - San Diego

23rd April - Acapulco

26th April - Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica

28th April - Panama Canal

29th April - Cartagena

30th April - Santa Marta, Colombia

2nd May - Tortola

3rd May - Basseterre, St Kitts

9th May - Azores

13th May - Southampton again.

That amounts to a total 24,000 cruise miles with 79 nights. We have our own cabin with a private terrace for sunbathing. A chauffer collects us from home and delivers us again after the tour. The vessel has 1360 passengers and 336 crew.

Will I survive this? Or will I actually enjoy it? It had better be the latter, at least for Albina's sake.