cruisin'
We're mostly packed! and mostly ready!
We are both really looking forward to this trip. The weather here in the UK has, no surprise, been crap for a while now, so a glimpse of the sun and a bit of dry warmth will be appreciated right about now.
We're driving to Manchester tomorrow, and our flight leaves Christmas day. Several of us in the group have booked a hotel stay + 2 weeks parking deal which worked out very well all things considered. We don't live near a major airport so we were going to have to either pay to travel to the airport, or pay to park, and this was the cheapest option of the two (plus, less stress over getting to the airport on time in the morning!)
For anyone who wants to play along at home, a friend found this site, which gives the view from the camera mounted to the front of our ship, which is the Ocean Village 1. This was very timely, because I had only found out about this camera a couple of days ago, when a friend who has been on the ship before was telling me how we could check the weather every day by turning on the TV in the room. The online version seems to refresh often. Not that I've become obsessed with it or anything. Thanks Paul!
I have also just booked an independent tour for us when we are in Montego Bay. We have many cultural stops in the first week of the cruise, but the second week looks mostly 'beachy', so I thought I'd have a look for something else to do at the bigger port. I found a tour, very cheap and well-rated, which features a visit to some plantations on the island, as well as a stop in the "German village of Seaford Town." I did a little more research on this, and I admit, the term "Germaicans" sort of fueled my desire to see this place. I hope I'll have good things to report.
I won't be taking malaria medication, after all. I've bought a couple of small bottles of DEET, and will apply liberally when in the few countries it is called for. I have a very good story involving a pushy pharmacist who wouldn't sell me the medication 1) my nurse recommended and 2) the entire rest of the group is taking, because it wasn't good enough for one of our stops and I might as well not take anything at all if I'm not willing to shell out over 100 quid (200 bucks) for the medication she wanted me to take. But, I think that's enough said about that confrontation. The second pharmacist I visited said not to take anything and just make sure I wore a lot of DEET in Panama etc, so that's what I'm going to do. peh.
In other news, macshel gave me this important Putin-tastic link. A tidbit: "The Russian President's pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved by the suppression of ordinary needs, like blinking." aaah. bookmarked.
I'll be around a bit this evening, but I don't anticipate being online much after that. I might pay to check email at some point during the cruise, but that is only because the tour bookings I've made have my email as my only contact point.
I hope everyone out there has a lovely Christmas (or, a great day off of work on Tuesday), and Happy New Year! See you all in '08!
We are both really looking forward to this trip. The weather here in the UK has, no surprise, been crap for a while now, so a glimpse of the sun and a bit of dry warmth will be appreciated right about now.
We're driving to Manchester tomorrow, and our flight leaves Christmas day. Several of us in the group have booked a hotel stay + 2 weeks parking deal which worked out very well all things considered. We don't live near a major airport so we were going to have to either pay to travel to the airport, or pay to park, and this was the cheapest option of the two (plus, less stress over getting to the airport on time in the morning!)
For anyone who wants to play along at home, a friend found this site, which gives the view from the camera mounted to the front of our ship, which is the Ocean Village 1. This was very timely, because I had only found out about this camera a couple of days ago, when a friend who has been on the ship before was telling me how we could check the weather every day by turning on the TV in the room. The online version seems to refresh often. Not that I've become obsessed with it or anything. Thanks Paul!
I have also just booked an independent tour for us when we are in Montego Bay. We have many cultural stops in the first week of the cruise, but the second week looks mostly 'beachy', so I thought I'd have a look for something else to do at the bigger port. I found a tour, very cheap and well-rated, which features a visit to some plantations on the island, as well as a stop in the "German village of Seaford Town." I did a little more research on this, and I admit, the term "Germaicans" sort of fueled my desire to see this place. I hope I'll have good things to report.
I won't be taking malaria medication, after all. I've bought a couple of small bottles of DEET, and will apply liberally when in the few countries it is called for. I have a very good story involving a pushy pharmacist who wouldn't sell me the medication 1) my nurse recommended and 2) the entire rest of the group is taking, because it wasn't good enough for one of our stops and I might as well not take anything at all if I'm not willing to shell out over 100 quid (200 bucks) for the medication she wanted me to take. But, I think that's enough said about that confrontation. The second pharmacist I visited said not to take anything and just make sure I wore a lot of DEET in Panama etc, so that's what I'm going to do. peh.
In other news, macshel gave me this important Putin-tastic link. A tidbit: "The Russian President's pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved by the suppression of ordinary needs, like blinking." aaah. bookmarked.
I'll be around a bit this evening, but I don't anticipate being online much after that. I might pay to check email at some point during the cruise, but that is only because the tour bookings I've made have my email as my only contact point.
I hope everyone out there has a lovely Christmas (or, a great day off of work on Tuesday), and Happy New Year! See you all in '08!