Ireland - The Emerald Isle!

After 7 full days on the ship – and the slow torture of one-hour time changes every other night – we hit the port of Galway, Ireland with great anticipation!  It was our family’s first foray into Ireland.  And it didn’t disappoint – friendly locals, Guinness everywhere, castles, crazy driving, sheep, Guinness everywhere, lush landscapes, lumpy beds, pelting rain and yes -- Guinness everywhere.

Galway is a small port on the West Coast of Ireland.  We decided to check out the small town of Galway and explore its quaint streets for a day before driving off into the green of Ireland in search of a leprechaun.  What a good choice that was.  We had a fantastic time as part of a theatrical walking tour, complete with plenty of gory history and a lead actor who even taunted the locals, calling one random fellow the town drunk.  Turns out that our “guide” had spent six months in Colorado – in the most unlikely of places – Ward!

The first shock of driving in Ireland comes when you realize that it will be a right hand drive car with a left hand stick!  It helps to be a lefty at that point, but even that isn’t enough when you see the roads you have to drive on and the size of the tour buses that will be sharing the road with you.  Throw in the rock walls that appear in place of road shoulders and you have the recipe for a fish and chip induced heart attack.

We decided to visit Connemara to see the wilds of Ireland.  And the wilds delivered as we saw everything from how to go from sheep to sweater in four “easy” steps, to a mini gothic church built by a grieving husband for his wife on the grounds of their beautiful castle/mansion.  We managed to stay at the last minute in a great manor house right on the edge of Connemara Parklands.  And of course we did all of this in rain ranging from mist to downpour.  No surprise to the locals, but we didn’t realize this is the rainiest part of Ireland – which is saying something!

No visit to Ireland could be complete without a visit to a castle –especially one where the movie Braveheart was filmed.  The castle at Trim dates back to the Norman conquests of Ireland in the 12^th century.  Incredibly, a good part of the castle still stands (the Irish were not fans of the Normans), including the inner keep.   A highlight was watching the sunset over the castle ruins as we watched competitors jump their horses as they warmed up for a competition. 

We managed to wrap up Ireland with a few hours in Dublin and an exciting trip through some of the narrower streets we’ve ever driven on.  Our first port ended without incident and no loss of life, limb or bumper!

Toronto - The more things change, the more they stay the same!

We enjoyed four quick days in Toronto, as a waypoint before heading to the ship in Halifax.   The boys finally got to spend some time with their cousins from Toronto, up at their cottage on Lake Muskoka.  We had a great couple of days on the lake!

Monday and the days following saw us venturing down to Toronto for a visit with Jay’s grandfather John and Mom and Spencer.  Luke got the chance to visit on his own with Nana D and explore her art work.

In just a few days, we managed to hit many highlights – at least for Jay – visits with family, a Swiss Chalet dinner, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Granite Club, lunch and beers with friends and the chance to buy Canadian junk food – a quick trip back in his childhood!

Colorado - Leaving on a Jet Plane

We had a frantic final several weeks in Colorado as we prepared for our nine months of travel – not just Semester at Sea (SAS) but also the five months of travel to follow our ocean journey around the Atlantic. 

It was tough enough to get all the usual tasks associated with long term travel complete – applying for visas, getting poked with needles, researching destinations, arranging care for the pets and house, visiting the doctor and dentist, packing for months away and taking care of financial affairs – but on top of that we had scheduled a week vacation in Canada, purchased a ranch property with its own large and varied set of issues.  And of course Jay had a golf tournament and Christy had bike races!

However, we managed to get it all done and have left many of our cares behind in the hands of people who will help keep real life running while we take the boys on a discovery voyage around the world.  We left home for SAS with 6 large checked bags, 2 roller bag carry-ons, and 4 backpacks – 12 bags to keep track of!

And....so it begins!

7AM this morning - here's what an early departure to Toronto looks like.  Not tooooo much stuff for four months of travel!  One entire suitcase of kid school books!

Now we have 4 days in Toronto before an early flight to Halifax to meet our fellow voyagers and board the ship!

6 days until we fly - 11 days until we sail!

Well, here we are again.  Following on our wonderful voyage in the Fall of 2009, we will soon be setting out for our second Semester at Sea experience (third for Christy).  This time, instead of circling the globe from Halifax to San Diego, the route will take us around the Atlantic from Halifax to Europe, the West Coast of Africa and the East Coast of South America, before heading through the Caribbean on our way to Fort Lauderdale.

We will post after each port and maybe even between ports - Halifax, Ireland, England, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Ghana, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Dominica and Fort Lauderdale.  So follow us here or on Facebook - I think they are linked and we will hope to give you a flavor of where we are and what we are experiencing.  As you can imagine, email is the best way to get hold of us if you have advice or questions.

We are looking forward to experiencing new adventures and making new friends, all while staying connected to our current friends.  Please enjoy sharing our adventure with us!

Thanks to Jonathan Galos (F12) for creating the template above!

San Diego - The Last Leg

As we made our delayed departure from Honolulu, we expected to hit some big waves, and maybe do a little cruise ship surfing. However, we encountered nothing but smooth waters on our 6 day crossing to San Diego. The last few days on ship were filled with final papers and exams (for the students) and goodbyes for us.

We have plenty of people to thank for their friendship and help during our voyage. We won’t put a full list on here but between faculty, students, fellow Life Long Learners, staff and crew, we can’t thank everyone enough. It’s been great to share such a life-changing experience with so many amazing people.

Once we made it back to San Diego, we met up with Grandpa Milton and enjoyed some of the local attractions. Unfortunately, Legoland was closed, but we still visited SeaWorld. Jonathan and Marjan Greenblatt visited us from L.A. with their two boys, Ariel and Ilan. Thanks for driving down to see us!

Christy jumped right into a weeklong visit of ATEK’s facilities, the kids attended school the day after they returned, and Jay immediately met up with friends for poker night. The internal differences are slowly becoming more apparent. When we see friends, they say that it “seems just like yesterday that we left.” For us, it seems like a long time ago. On our trip, we experienced new cultures and beliefs every day. Time went by slowly for us and each week was memorable…even many of the days. We fear that we’ll just jump back into a routine and will miss enjoying the present – and experiencing each day for the unique experience it should be.

The other area that is hard to get used to is STUFF. We have so much stuff. Coming back just in time for Christmas has not helped things. We came back to a home with so many things we had not seen or played with for months. Then…Christmas descended and we accumulated so many more things…many of which we’ll never use. Many still sit in the boxes.

This is disconcerting after we went to many places in the world that did not have anything. We remember the village we stayed at in Ghana where the children wanted empty water bottles to use as a kick ball. They had nothing and could enjoy each new toy they created.

It will be interesting to see what parts of the trip the boys will remember. Luke remembers the most and has developed a worldly vocabulary and has a story to tell anyone who will listen. His new favorite game is Risk, since he wants to rule the world. He seems to remember the most impactful places we visited: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, Angkor Wat, the Taj Majal, the Ghana village and the safari in South Africa. Ironically, he also remembers the quiet, beautiful beaches of Mauritius.

We thoroughly enjoyed our voyage around the world but are happy to be home as well. We look forward to getting back in touch with all of you over the next few months.

P.S. Semester at Sea is offering a two-for-one discount for the 2010 voyages!

Coming to America - kind of - Hawaii!

During our uneventful 10 day crossing from Japan, we re-entered tropical waters on our way to Hawaii. The warmer temperatures allowed the boys to burn off some energy on the ball court and get back into the ship pool again. The return of nicer weather was tempered by the knowledge that our voyage was coming to a close.

On this second last leg of the journey, our classes finished up and the students began to turn their attention to final papers and exams. Jay was invited to join three professors on a faculty panel in the mandatory Global Studies class. The panel presented their viewpoints on the connection between globalization and Asia, and whether the coming century will be the “Asian century”. To hear his perspective, just ask him (but only ask if you really want to talk about it!).

Hawaii was a fun way to re-acclimate to US society. Although Christy and Jay had both been there before, we had forgotten how fun and beautiful Honolulu is. We started on an educational note, with a visit to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona. Jay took some time out to play golf with two students from the boat, Chad and Mike. We spent that night and next morning at Waikiki, soaking up the rays and enjoying another day on the beach. We wrapped up our time in Honolulu with a climb up into the Diamond Head crater for the spectacular view back towards Waikiki.

After just one night on Oahu, the ship moved on to Hilo. We took full advantage of our two days and one night on the Big Island to visit the Volcano National Park and cross the island to Kona. Unfortunately (we think!) we didn’t get to see any flowing lava but we did get to see the steaming vents and walk through lava tubes. We arrived in Kona with no hotel reservation and were unable to escape the lure of the Hilton Waikoloa, with its seaside location, numerous pools and dolphin experience. We spent a great day there and the boys got to swim with the dophins and spend some time with them close up. We also got to feed some ravenous turtles, followed by a closer-than-desired encounter with the turtles in the water!

The adventure in Hawaii was supposed to end that day, as the Orris boys reboarded the ship and Christy stayed on shore to return to Colorado and business meetings. While Christy made her flight off the islands, the ship was delayed almost two days as we waited for the largest swells in forty years to subside. We got to spend a bonus day back on Waikiki, hear about 40+ foot waves for the Eddie Aikau surfing competition on the North Shore and see the ship churn out thirty knots to make up our delay getting back to San Diego. The surfing competition is only held when waves hit 40 feet!

The transition back to the US was very smooth, thanks to the gentle re-entry in Hawaii.  One big irony was the realization that after visiting many different countries and cultures, our return to the US marked the first time since Spain that we felt more concerned about keeping the boys in sight.