Our Wander Years

ATW-1 Days 5-7: At sea

Posted on September 24, 2025 by Sparky

Three more days at sea on the Carnival Luminosa. These were relatively uneventful days. The weather wasn’t bad, but it was chilly and cloudy on Day 5. It was also pretty choppy. The weather improved on Day 6 and was positively gorgeous by Day 7.

The highlight of Day 5 was dinner at a table of 8 where we engaged in some spirited conversation with our dinner companions, followed by a very good show in the theater: “Flick,” a revue of movie songs, with some very good singing and dancing. The lighting was pretty good too.

Day 6 featured a lot of time spend reading “The Broker” by John Grisham (a book review to follow) and lunch with an interesting Turkish couple who were living in Sydney. We also spent some time in the hot tub and pool (yes, the weather was that good), played some cards (Marlene continues to win most of the knock rummy games) and another free meal for Diamond-level passengers (where both Marlene and I savored some of the best broiled salmon that we have ever encountered). We did a lot of dancing to Beauty and the Beat to end the day.

Day 7 started with breakfast, a lot of cards (with Marlene again kicking my butt) and a shrimp burrito for lunch. Then I blogged a bit but couldn’t post as I had no internet connection. That will come on Day 8.

We had dinner at a table for 8 and enjoyed our company very much. We also enjoyed the magician who showed us a card trick that leaves me absolutely baffled. It wasn’t a trick deck as it was provided by one of our dinner companions. He shuffled the cards so that half were facing up and half were facing down. Later, after correctly guessing the card picked by another guest he showed the deck again and all cards were facing up. I have no idea how he did it. Very impressive.

The Day 7 show was “Family Feud.” We opted for the late show which promised to be “spicier” than the early show. But it wasn’t very spicy.

We finished Day 7 with some dancing and some late night pizza.

The casino has not been kind to me. I have not yet had a winning day. Down $350.

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ATW-1 Days 3 & 4: At sea

Posted on September 21, 2025 by Sparky

The Carnival Luminosa portion of the ATW-1 begins with 5 days at sea. This means we spent a lot of time eating and playing slots in the casino these first 2 days on board. And meeting our fellow cruisers. At breakfast on Day 3 we met Tony, from Cincinatti.

At breakfast we noticed the very cool watermelon sculpture. Someone on board is really skilled with watermelons.

We played some cards before lunch and Marlene won 2 games of knock rummy to my 1. We had lunch in the buffet, then spent some time – and money – in the casino. I lost $125 (down $175). I can’t afford those kinds of losses on a 22-night cruise – I would be spending more in the casino than the rest of the ATW combined.

After dinner we went to the show, which was “magic and comedy” by Glen Foster. Pretty good.

On Day 4 we had breakfast alone (just Marlene and me), then played some knock rummy. I won 2 games to none for Marlene. That really annoyed her.

We were invited to an exclusive luncheon for Diamond-level passengers – the highest status available on Carnival. Marlene achieved Diamond status on this cruise. I am still a lowly Platinum guest. But they let me attend as Marlene’s “plus one.” The meal was disappointing – the toughest filet mignon ever – but the drinks were free. We met Dwight and Terry from Huntington Beach CA and John and Sandy from St Louis MO.

The officers were introduced at the luncheon.

Marlene won a few bucks at the casino but I continued to lose. But only a little – $25 (down $200).

Dinner was an “elegant night” and Marlene dressed to the nine. I guess I looked pretty good in my Italian sports coat too. I had prime rib and it was very good.

We skipped the show in favor of dancing. The 9-piece dance band on this cruise – “Beauty and the Beat” – is very good, as we hoped they would be (gotta have a good dance band on a long cruise). The lead singers – Phat Matt and Zoe – are both very good vocalists. I think we will be spending a lot of time dancing.

Which is good because the more time we spend dancing the less time we will spend in the casino.

The weather these first 2 days has been chillier than I expected – highs around 70. And the seas on Day 4 were pretty rough – like 6-foot swells. But not terrible. Better weather ahead.

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ATW-1 Day 2: Carnival Luminosa embarkation

Posted on September 21, 2025 by Sparky

We took an Uber from the hotel in Tukwila to Pier 91 in Seattle, with a brief stop to purchase 2 12-packs of cola. We thought we were going to Pier 66 (because Google told us that was the Carnival pier), but we were mistaken – another ship was docked there. Pier 91 was 2 miles further north.

The check-in process was tedious, but uneventful. We had all the necessary paperwork, including the travel insurance that was required on this cruise by one of the ports of call – a first in all of our years of cruising. We also had our Australian visas, on my phone, which was fine. We also had our Luminosa boarding passes in PDF form, on my phone, but that wasn’t fine – we had to have a paper boarding pass issued. I guess the cruise industry isn’t quite as advanced as the airline industry in that respect.

Once in the cabin we unpacked, then went to the buffet for a bite to eat. We got to the muster station on time and then rested in the cabin a bit. At dinner we chatted with Ervin and Cathy from Phoenix. We had to wait 3 hours for the casino to open (Puget Sound is BIG). Usually the first night is good, but not this time. We both lost. I lost $50.

We wandered a bit, getting reacquainted with the ship. Some updates had been made in the 2 years since our first Luminosa cruise but they are relatively minor cosmetic changes.

We went to bed early.

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ATW-1 Day 1: RSW to SEA

Posted on September 18, 2025 by Sparky

We planned to get up at 5am to do the final preparations for the big trip, but we just couldn’t wait – we got up at 4am. We got the final packing done, ate some cereal and did some final work to get Marlene’s house ready for our extended absence. She didn’t clean out the refrigerator as much as I would have liked, so I will have some dread to open that door when we return.

Marlene’s neighbor Dave showed up at 6am and drove us to the Fort Myers airport (RSW). The checked baggage weighed in at exactly 100 pounds (50.4 for me and 49.6 for Marlene) – a testament to our ability to use every cubic inch of a suitcase. The flights – from Fort Myers to Chicago and Chicago to Seattle – were flawless.

Then some bad stuff happened.

Marlene’s suitcase, when it came to us on the baggage carousel, was missing a wheel and was pretty banged up. We took it to the American Airlines baggage office and I was in the process of filing a claim for the damaged suitcase when the attendant brought a new suitcase from the back room, saying that if we didn’t file a claim we could have this suitcase gratis. It wasn’t a high-end model and I thought it looked smaller than Marlene’s. But replacing the suitcase on the spot was very appealing.

We took the new suitcase and managed to transfer all of her belongings to the new luggage. Problem solved.

After I checked into the hotel I discovered that I had forgotten an important medication. So we walked to a nearby mall and solved that problem at CVS. We also got a bite to eat at a fast-food Thai place in the food court there (very good!). And Marlene found three items at JC Penney that she just had to have. I reminded her of the 50-pound luggage limit that will apply when we fly to Rome, but… well, she just HAD to have those dresses.

We stayed at the Ramada Inn Southcenter Tukwila, near the Seattle-Tacoma airport. It was quite nice. Comfortable bed, very good breakfast and free coffee. And a nice patio area. The shower had no door or shower curtain, which we found odd. But I guess that is a new thing with hotels. 8 out of 10.

Now we will take an Uber to the cruise terminal and begin the ATW-1 in earnest.

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ATW-1 Day 0: Final preparations

Posted on September 16, 2025 by Sparky

The ATW begins tomorrow with an early morning flight to Seattle. But there is work to be done today, to prepare for the flight and the subsequent 22-night cruise. And to ready Marlene’s house for nearly 10 weeks of vacancy.

Things to be done today:

Check in for the flight and print the boarding passes.
Print the boarding passes for the cruise (we checked in a week ago).
Make arrangements with a neighbor to get us to the airport.
Pack our suitcases.
Mow the lawn (arrangements have been made to have someone mow the lawn twice while we are away).
Clean out the refrigerator.
Unplug the electric water heater and turn off the washer water feeds.
Arrange with a neighbor to periodically check the house and start Marlene’s car (my son will start mine).

Packing is a challenge. We will be away for nearly 10 weeks but can take only one 50-pound suitcase each (plus a backpack and a hand-carry item). We get free laundry aboard the ships, so that solves the laundry problem for half the trip. We will have to find laundromats occasionally while in Europe. Keeping within the 50-pound limit is not a problem for me but it will be a challenge for Marlene. She will be limited to 3 pairs of shoes – 2 pairs in the suitcase and one worn on the flight. Going 70 days with just 3 pairs of shoes (at least until we reach Europe – she could buy more there) will be difficult. And picking the right dresses… also tough.

It is good to be a guy.

All of these tasks are things we would do for shorter trips, except for the mowing arrangements and cleaning out the refrigerator. It is really important this time to remove all perishable items. Anything we leave will be rotten/moldy/stinky when we return. Can’t let that happen.

Anyway, the ATW begins in earnest around 4am tomorrow when we get up.

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And so the ATW begins…

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Sparky

Not the trip per se but the final preparation for the trip. Specifically, Marlene just left to deliver Becky to her brother in Coral Springs. She will return Sunday, we will finish packing Monday and Tuesday and will fly out on Wednesday.

The lead-up to our departure has not been without drama. Marlene’s air conditioning misbehaved – again – on Thursday. We believe it is just a relay and a repair guy will look at it Monday. Shutting the unit down and restarting it seems to have rectified the problem, at least temporarily. But it would be good to have a reliable air conditioner in our absence.

Marlene also discovered, just this morning, that her freezer in the garage was off. We found a popped circuit and reset it. But, again, the questions are (1) what caused the circuit to trip and (2) can we trust it to not trip again while we are away? Our working theory is that the heavy rain yesterday got into the exterior outlet (which is on the same circuit), causing a short. I tied a plastic bag over the outlet to prevent that from happening again, if that is the problem.

She will have her neighbor keep an eye on the house while we are away but she can’t expect him to check everything every day. So we have to keep our fingers crossed…

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“The Maze” by Nelson DeMille

Posted on September 2, 2025 by Sparky

This is #8 in the series of mysteries featuring John Corey, former NYPD detective and also formerly a member of a shadowy government anti-terrorism force. I haven’t read any of the other Corey books, but there are plenty of allusions to the earlier books sprinkled throughout this one – an estranged wife who is a lawyer living with her boss in New York City, wounds from being shot, credible fears of being targeted for assassination by Russian agents and a violent end to an earlier case in which his life was saved by Detective Beth Penrose of a Long Island county sheriff’s department. In this book he rekindles the romance that bloomed then and, at her urging, takes a job as a PI at Security Solutions, a private investigation company based in an old farmhouse at the tip of Long Island. Security Solutions recruits Corey to get his stellar creds on the letterhead. Could be an easy summer job.

But, of course, it isn’t.

Corey suspects from the start that Penrose wants him to join Security Solutions because she thought some illegal activity – blackmail, official corruption and possibly the murders of a former employee (whose death was ruled a suicide), a journalist and 9 prostitutes whose bodies were dumped on Fire Island – had a nexus in that farmhouse. Corey, a self-described “danger junkie” – is happy to be the mole.

It doesn’t take him long to form a plan – concoct an excuse to use one of the upstairs bedrooms (which probably were the source of some of the blackmail material) when no one was there, break into the office and basement, grab all the (suspected) incriminating evidence and cart it to the FBI in the city. The local police and judiciary had to by bypassed because it was believed that most were compromised by the (suspected) blackmail material.

I don’t want to spoil this for anyone who really wants to take on this book, but here are some of the problems I had:

The entire book, save the final chapter, is preparation and planning for the big takedown. Planning is good, but why isn’t there any active investigations into the known and suspected crimes? It seems like Corey and Penrose both bought the corruption-blackmail-and-murder theory without a whole lot of supporting evidence. They risked their careers on the possible existence of evidence in the locked basement in the farmhouse?
It is revealed at the end that the entire staff of Security Solutions suspected that Corey was a mole. If they felt that way from the very beginning, why did they recruit him to join?
If the legendary “Thirsty Thursday” parties hosted at Security Solutions were the source of the blackmail material, why did the blackmailed judges and politicians continue to attend?
The plan to grab the incriminating materials goes awry and no evidence is obtained, Yet the company is put out of business. Why? What evidence was there of any guilt?

Corey was a big fan of Nero Wolfe, the first detective series that I fell in love with. I admired the wise-cracking sidekick, Archie Goodwin, and it is obvious that DeMille modeled Corey after Goodwin. I really wanted to like this series, but, like the other DeMille books that I have read – Spencerville and The Cuban Affair – this book was all setup and no resolution. Is DeMille just too lazy to close the loopholes? I don’t know. And after 3 disappointing DeMille books, I don’t care.

4 out of 10.

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Around-the-world (ATW) preview

Posted on August 19, 2025 by Sparky

It looks almost certain now that, come September 15, Marlene and I will be embarking on an epic around-the-world trip. We will be away nearly 10 weeks. It will consist of two cruises – a transpacific and a transatlantic – two flights – from Fort Myers to Seattle and from Sydney Australia to Rome Italy – and a month in a rental car bumming around Europe. I will break it down into three segments:

ATW-1: Fort Myers FL to Sydney Australia (25 nights). The trip will begin with two days in Florida, delivering Becky to Marlene’s brother in Coral Springs FL. We will stay overnight with him, then return home on Day 2 to finish packing. On the morning of Day 3 a friend will take us to the airport in Fort Myers and we will fly to Seattle. We will take a taxi to our hotel. On Day 4 we will board the Carnival Luminosa for our 22-night (technically 23 nights as we lose a day crossing the International Date Line) trip to Sydney Australia. Day 10 will be in Oahu HI and Day 16 will be in Papeete Tahiti. We visit Morea and Noumea on Days 17 and 23 and land in Sydney on Day 26.
ATW-2: Sydney to Rome, with an auto tour of Europe (28 nights). This segment begins with 3 nights in a hotel in Sydney. On Day 4 we board a plane for a long (11 hours) flight to Chengdu China. We have a 20-hour layover there, then fly to Rome, landing on Day 6. We spend 2 days in a hotel in Rome, mostly recovering from the trip there, but also visiting the Vatican (one of Marlene’s bucket list items). On Day 8 we pick up a rental car at the airport and spend 6 nights getting up to Paris (the exact route TBD). We spend 4 nights in Paris, visiting my high school best friend and author, David Benjamin, and his wife, then take 3 days to get to Venice (again, route TBD). Three nights in Venice, two nights in Florence and 3 more nights in Rome (without the car, which we will return on Day 26) will complete this segment.
ATW-3: Rome to Tampa FL (14 nights). This is the simplest of the three segments. We will find a way to get from our Rome hotel to the Carnival Miracle in Civitavecchia, the port city for Rome, and will sail on it for 14 nights to Tampa. How we get from Tampa back to Fort Myers is TBD, but there is a bus which we will take if we can’t arrange anything better. The ship will stop in Cartagena Spain (Day 3), Ponta Delgada Azores (Day 6) and Nassau Bahamas (Day 13) before docking in Tampa on Day 15).

I worry a bit that this trip will cure me of my desire to travel, but hopefully not. It certainly won’t break the bank. Even with me taking on the full cost of the rental car and all hotels I think it will run between $5,000 and $6,000 – less than half of what I expected to spend on the TC1 – the aborted first transatlantic cruise for Jett and me back in 2018. This is going to be a very economical epic trip due to my ability to find cheap flights and Marlene’s ability to find cheap cruises. And we can both be very frugal on the road portion of the trip.

Total: 68 days, 67 nights. Whew!

I will be taking a lot of photos.

Categories: ATW, Australia, Caribbean, China, Cruise, Europe, Pacific Ocean, Preparation/Planning, Routes | 1 Comment

TS_11 wrapup

Posted on August 16, 2025 by Sparky

The 11th trip south didn’t go according to the plan. The stops in Acworth GA and near Pensacola FL were scrapped in favor of seeing Marlene’s son in Savannah where he was being trained. But even that didn’t go according to plan as we didn’t get to see him.

By the numbers:

7 days, 6 nights in 5 hops, 1886 route miles (377 miles per hop).
107 extra auto miles, mostly in Front Royal VA where we traveled a long distance to lose money at a casino.
54.4 gallons of fuel consumed (36.6 miles per gallon). The actual total was 57.4 gallons, but I subtracted the 3 gallons that I believe I was overcharged by a faulty fuel pump.
Total fuel cost: $157.83 ($2.90 per gallon).
3 nights in hotels, $267.34 ($89.11 per night). That includes about $55 in pet charges.
No tolls.

Highlights:

The Luray Caverns. They were spectacular.
The VRBO farm in Luray VA. Also spectacular.
Seeing Jett’s sons and grandson.
Driving a portion of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park again. Always pleasant.
Mileage in Marlene’s car. Getting over 35 mpg was an unexpected pleasure.
No car problems.
Relatively inexpensive gasoline.

Lowlights:

Being pulled over for speeding in GA. Only a warning, fortunately.
Failing to connect with Marlene’s son in Savannah GA.
Some very long days behind the wheel.

Planned and actual routes:

The actual followed the plan down to VA but then diverged rather dramatically. Stops in Acworth GA and near Pensacola were replaced by a stop in Savannah GA. My desire to avoid Atlanta resulted in a lot of zig-zagging through GA.

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TS_11 Hop 5: Savannah GA to Lehigh Acres FL

Posted on August 14, 2025 by Sparky

479 miles via GA 204, I-95, I-295 (around Jacksonville FL), I-10, US 301, I-75, I-5, US 92, I-75 again and FL 80. Auto miles: 493. Cumulative route miles: 1886. Cumulative auto miles: 1993.

The extra auto miles were due to dropping off some gifts for Marlene’s son and the trip to the “Jaime Casino.”

This could have been a simple trip home, but that wouldn’t have been us. So we started with a trip to Ross Dress for Less near the hotel, then tried to visit Marlene’s old friends in Summerfield FL (but they weren’t home). We also stopped at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa where I won $40 but Marlene lost more than that. A final refueling stop in Sarasota FL turned into an adventure when the pump claimed to have deposited 15.5 gallons into our tank, which wasn’t possible as the tank capacity is 15.5 gallons and we were nowhere near empty. It should not have taken more than 12.5 gallons to fill the tank. I believe the pump defrauded us of about 3 gallons – nearly $10. I will be complaining to the state.

I did get a nice sunset photo at the gas station though.

Our one-night home in Savannah was the Quality Inn Midtown. This is a huge hotel (over 120 rooms) with nice landscaping, a clean room and bath and many cable channels. The breakfast was quite good but the fridge had no freezer. We had to get some ice for the cooler to make it home. 7 out of 10.

We arrived about 10pm to find the house in good shape. And my car started.

Categories: FL, GA, Hotels, Routes, TS_11 | Leave a comment