Thank you to all that have contacted us and for the lovely comments, support and advice that has been offered.
To answer a few questions. Yes, as time is drawing closer the excitement is growing. We are not really sure MJ understands about the length of time we will be away, but Mum and I are doing are best to show him where we will be going and involve him in the preparation process as much as suitable for his age.
It has been an interesting and busy few weeks. MJ turned two and whilst it may seem a small thing in the larger world, it was a huge milestone for us!!! Mum and I also celebrated our birthdays, but it was celebrating little man's birthday that was our November highlight.
As for the cruise and getting ready to go we completed our shopping lists, of which there were six different types going at one point!!! Even more exciting is that we obtained our visas for China!!! The practice pack went okay, except that we are now taking six large cases, two smaller cases, two large holdalls and our carry on bags. Thank god for unlimited baggage allowance is all I can say.
So all this means that we are now ready to go with just three weeks to wait until we set sail with just a small thing called Christmas to distract us from our trip of a lifetime.
Hope you enjoyed reading and Merry Christmas All,
Nicky
Monday 17 December 2012
Tuesday 6 November 2012
Preparation Update
Have had some lovely comments on the cruise critic website so a big THANK YOU to those that have been written and I hope that you all continue to enjoy reading about our travels.
To answer a question first. Yes. We have been keeping really busy over the past few weeks. Between raising MJ, work, shopping for clothes, toiletries etc and generally getting ready for the cruise. Almost finished our shopping and to do lists. But our major accomplishment has to be obtaining our visas for India.
Only our Chinese visas to do now. Unfortunately we have been told that we can only apply for these three months before travelling to China. Having kittens about leaving our last visa till the middle of December so we even contacted the London visa office directly and queried this!!!
We received our excursion brochure and luggage tags from the cruise company this week so another thing for us to read and even better it has lots of pictures for MJ to look at.
MJ has also had a busy month between nursery, reading about other countries (currently Australia and the Great Barrier Reef), enjoying two Halloween parties and eating way too many sweets. MJ's Auntie bought him his first tuxedo for Christmas and the cruise and we are looking forward to him wearing it.
Another milestone- It is really hard to believe that little man turns two this month.
Hope you enjoyed reading.
Nicky
To answer a question first. Yes. We have been keeping really busy over the past few weeks. Between raising MJ, work, shopping for clothes, toiletries etc and generally getting ready for the cruise. Almost finished our shopping and to do lists. But our major accomplishment has to be obtaining our visas for India.
Only our Chinese visas to do now. Unfortunately we have been told that we can only apply for these three months before travelling to China. Having kittens about leaving our last visa till the middle of December so we even contacted the London visa office directly and queried this!!!
We received our excursion brochure and luggage tags from the cruise company this week so another thing for us to read and even better it has lots of pictures for MJ to look at.
MJ has also had a busy month between nursery, reading about other countries (currently Australia and the Great Barrier Reef), enjoying two Halloween parties and eating way too many sweets. MJ's Auntie bought him his first tuxedo for Christmas and the cruise and we are looking forward to him wearing it.
Another milestone- It is really hard to believe that little man turns two this month.
Hope you enjoyed reading.
Nicky
Wednesday 24 October 2012
Excursions part 2
So we have had a few changes to our itinerary...
Our first Caribbean port of Barbados has been reversed with St. Lucia and we are no longer going to Acapulco, Mexico, instead we are going to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Our second port in Hawaii, Hilo, has been switched to Nawilliwilli, Hawaii. So Mum and I are currently researching these ports and planning new excursions.
Also the cruise company has released their tours and we have booked several including Beijing and the Great Wall of China and Cairo and the Pyramids for the three of us. Mum is doing to Bethlehem and Jerusalem on her own and I will be visiting Luxor and the valley of the Kings solo.
We are super excited as we continue getting ready. Off to London over the next few weeks doing visa work. Have started shopping for clothes as both Mum and I have lost two stone a piece over the summer.
As for MJ, we are reading a book about China at the moment and he loves listening to the story of the "Junk" (a type of boat) in Hong Kong. Am really hoping that when we get to Hong Kong he will see one for real!
Hope you enjoyed reading.
Nicky
p.s. 75 days to go...
Our first Caribbean port of Barbados has been reversed with St. Lucia and we are no longer going to Acapulco, Mexico, instead we are going to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Our second port in Hawaii, Hilo, has been switched to Nawilliwilli, Hawaii. So Mum and I are currently researching these ports and planning new excursions.
Also the cruise company has released their tours and we have booked several including Beijing and the Great Wall of China and Cairo and the Pyramids for the three of us. Mum is doing to Bethlehem and Jerusalem on her own and I will be visiting Luxor and the valley of the Kings solo.
We are super excited as we continue getting ready. Off to London over the next few weeks doing visa work. Have started shopping for clothes as both Mum and I have lost two stone a piece over the summer.
As for MJ, we are reading a book about China at the moment and he loves listening to the story of the "Junk" (a type of boat) in Hong Kong. Am really hoping that when we get to Hong Kong he will see one for real!
Hope you enjoyed reading.
Nicky
p.s. 75 days to go...
Thursday 27 September 2012
Excursions
Hello,
So today's blog is about excursion's and which one's would be best for a toddler.
We have pretty much decided what we want to see and do in each of our upcoming ports. We have tried to balance sightseeing with fun things for MJ. Some ports we have planned to Do It Yourself (DIY), others we plan to do tours with the cruise ship whilst others we have researched private tour companies and are going with them.
Some ports are English speaking like San Francisco so it is a little easier to DIY and still keep it child-friendly, other ports such as Mumbai or Shanghai are not and can therefore be tricky to get around. A guided tour whether through the ship or with a private company are the way we plan to deal with the language barriers we will come across.
For our Family there are both positive and negative aspects to booking excursions through the ship or going with private tour companies. Private tours allow us to customize our day. We can stop for photo's and bathroom breaks and learn a lot more about the way of life in the places we are visiting. We have done private tours in Madeira and Gibraltar and saw all the same sights as those on the ship's tours at half the cost and in our own time.
The biggest drawback we have found for booking a private tour is that the ship can leave without us if we're not there by the time given for sail off, which is scary!! Only tours booked through the cruise company guarantee that the ship will wait for us if we are late back. There have been times when we have booked excursions through the ship. On our previous cruises we visited Rome, Florence, Pisa, Corfu and Venice using the ship's tour guides.
Also we have to take into account that with private tour guides we are in essence trusting our safety and experience to strangers. We have therefore researched tours guides on sites such as Trip Advisor, Cruise Critic and other sites and come up with a plan of action for the cruise. Nothing is set in stone, but we plan to DIY the English speaking ports such as Sydney, use the cruise company for the ports that are further away from our main sites such as Beijing (that risk of missing the ship) and use private tour guides for some others such as Hong Kong.
Hope you enjoyed reading...
Nicky
So today's blog is about excursion's and which one's would be best for a toddler.
We have pretty much decided what we want to see and do in each of our upcoming ports. We have tried to balance sightseeing with fun things for MJ. Some ports we have planned to Do It Yourself (DIY), others we plan to do tours with the cruise ship whilst others we have researched private tour companies and are going with them.
Some ports are English speaking like San Francisco so it is a little easier to DIY and still keep it child-friendly, other ports such as Mumbai or Shanghai are not and can therefore be tricky to get around. A guided tour whether through the ship or with a private company are the way we plan to deal with the language barriers we will come across.
For our Family there are both positive and negative aspects to booking excursions through the ship or going with private tour companies. Private tours allow us to customize our day. We can stop for photo's and bathroom breaks and learn a lot more about the way of life in the places we are visiting. We have done private tours in Madeira and Gibraltar and saw all the same sights as those on the ship's tours at half the cost and in our own time.
The biggest drawback we have found for booking a private tour is that the ship can leave without us if we're not there by the time given for sail off, which is scary!! Only tours booked through the cruise company guarantee that the ship will wait for us if we are late back. There have been times when we have booked excursions through the ship. On our previous cruises we visited Rome, Florence, Pisa, Corfu and Venice using the ship's tour guides.
Also we have to take into account that with private tour guides we are in essence trusting our safety and experience to strangers. We have therefore researched tours guides on sites such as Trip Advisor, Cruise Critic and other sites and come up with a plan of action for the cruise. Nothing is set in stone, but we plan to DIY the English speaking ports such as Sydney, use the cruise company for the ports that are further away from our main sites such as Beijing (that risk of missing the ship) and use private tour guides for some others such as Hong Kong.
Hope you enjoyed reading...
Nicky
Thursday 30 August 2012
Thank you!!!
Thank you for all the lovely messages on this site and on Facebook.
To answer a few questions.
YES we are very excited to be going.
As for what we have been up to, Mum and I are currently busy with work and getting ready for this trip. Researching our ports of call is time consuming, but oh so much fun!!!
Yes, We have begun telling MJ small bits about our trip and are showing him pictures of where we are going and the ship itself.
Yes, we have a fixed itinerary. Detailed below...
We sail from Southampton on the 7th of January, stopping first in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, before continuing on to Barbados, St Lucia and Curacao. From here we transit through the Panama Canal taking us onwards to Huatulco in Mexico, then to watch the world famous cliff divers at La Quebrada in Acapulco, Mexico.
Next is the USA where we travel to San Francisco for two days before heading to the Hawaiian islands for Honolulu, and Hilo. We also call at colourful Bora Bora and Tahiti’s capital, Papeete, before we arrive in New Zealand visiting Auckland, Napier and Wellington. Next up is the instantly recognisable Opera House of Sydney, Australia, followed by Brisbane and Cairns, which is our gateway to the Great Barrier Reef!!!
Our journey continues with a stop in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea which is found inside a large collapsed volcanic crater, before heading to Japan’s third largest city, Osaka and then onto Nagasaki. From Xingang, China we will visit Beijing and the Great Wall. Then its on to Shanghai and two days in busy Hong Kong followed by the Vietnamese resorts of Nha Trang and Phu My, our base for touring Ho Chi Minh City.
In Thailand, we will explore Bangkok from Laem Chabang and the island resort of Ko Samui. Next up is Singapore, then Port Kelang for trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Mumbai, India, is our next port of call followed by Muscat in Oman, leading up to an overnight call in Dubai, UAE.
The Red Sea cruise port of Safaga is our entry into Egypt and Luxor. Sokhna, Egypt is before Suez, where we will disembark so we can tour Cairo and the Pyramids, while the ship transits through the Suez Canal. Onwards to Limassol in Cyprus and Haifa, Israel. Our ship next calls at Civitavecchia for visits to Rome and then to Portugal to visit Lisbon, before heading home to Southampton on the 24th of April
So that's it, our trip of a lifetime, which would not be possible without the support of a great many people. THANK YOU!!!
Hope you enjoyed reading...
To answer a few questions.
YES we are very excited to be going.
As for what we have been up to, Mum and I are currently busy with work and getting ready for this trip. Researching our ports of call is time consuming, but oh so much fun!!!
Yes, We have begun telling MJ small bits about our trip and are showing him pictures of where we are going and the ship itself.
Yes, we have a fixed itinerary. Detailed below...
We sail from Southampton on the 7th of January, stopping first in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, before continuing on to Barbados, St Lucia and Curacao. From here we transit through the Panama Canal taking us onwards to Huatulco in Mexico, then to watch the world famous cliff divers at La Quebrada in Acapulco, Mexico.
Next is the USA where we travel to San Francisco for two days before heading to the Hawaiian islands for Honolulu, and Hilo. We also call at colourful Bora Bora and Tahiti’s capital, Papeete, before we arrive in New Zealand visiting Auckland, Napier and Wellington. Next up is the instantly recognisable Opera House of Sydney, Australia, followed by Brisbane and Cairns, which is our gateway to the Great Barrier Reef!!!
Our journey continues with a stop in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea which is found inside a large collapsed volcanic crater, before heading to Japan’s third largest city, Osaka and then onto Nagasaki. From Xingang, China we will visit Beijing and the Great Wall. Then its on to Shanghai and two days in busy Hong Kong followed by the Vietnamese resorts of Nha Trang and Phu My, our base for touring Ho Chi Minh City.
In Thailand, we will explore Bangkok from Laem Chabang and the island resort of Ko Samui. Next up is Singapore, then Port Kelang for trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Mumbai, India, is our next port of call followed by Muscat in Oman, leading up to an overnight call in Dubai, UAE.
The Red Sea cruise port of Safaga is our entry into Egypt and Luxor. Sokhna, Egypt is before Suez, where we will disembark so we can tour Cairo and the Pyramids, while the ship transits through the Suez Canal. Onwards to Limassol in Cyprus and Haifa, Israel. Our ship next calls at Civitavecchia for visits to Rome and then to Portugal to visit Lisbon, before heading home to Southampton on the 24th of April
So that's it, our trip of a lifetime, which would not be possible without the support of a great many people. THANK YOU!!!
Hope you enjoyed reading...
Tuesday 31 July 2012
Preparation
First let me say thank you. After posting about this blog we have had some very supportive emails, messages and comments for which we are very grateful.
Alot of thought and planning has already gone into this upcoming trip... We considered flying around the world to Australia and back, but we decided that long flights were not the best way of travelling for our Family and that we would see more places cruising. We were not worried about travelling with MJ as he has already travelled by plane to Canada, Spain and the USA and by train to Paris, France and is, I am very happy to say, a very good traveller.
Having only ever sailed on a ferry and been royally sick too, we decided that we would do a couple of cruises before we even considered booking a long world cruise. So last year MJ, Mum and I, along with several other Family members, took a 16 night cruise through the Mediterranean. To say we loved it would be an understatement. MJ took to sailing like a duck to water and he especially loved the attention he received from all the crew, most of which were missing their own Families back home. We ate too much and visited some amazing places. We loved them all, Vatican City, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Naples, Nice, Monte Carlo, Monaco, Gibraltar, and Almeria.
Our second cruise was over the Easter holidays and went to Venice, Cephalonia, Corfu, Korcula, Dubrovnic, Cadiz and Gibraltar over 16 nights. Again the whole experience, sights and food were outstanding. MJ especially loved riding on a gondola in Venice and on the ship hated leaving the play areas, even to eat, and the crew were absolutely brilliant with him.
So now we are busy getting ready for our journey. We have started our vaccinations, applying for visas and making lists of items to take from home. Main job though (apart from work and raising MJ) is researching our 43 ports of call. We hope to see alot, but also make the trip very child friendly for MJ. Some places like San Francisco we already plan to DIY (Do It Yourself) and others like Beijing we are planning to do an organised tour with either the ship or a private company.
So there you have it we hope you enjoyed reading about our preparation work. Will post again next month on how things are going.
Alot of thought and planning has already gone into this upcoming trip... We considered flying around the world to Australia and back, but we decided that long flights were not the best way of travelling for our Family and that we would see more places cruising. We were not worried about travelling with MJ as he has already travelled by plane to Canada, Spain and the USA and by train to Paris, France and is, I am very happy to say, a very good traveller.
Having only ever sailed on a ferry and been royally sick too, we decided that we would do a couple of cruises before we even considered booking a long world cruise. So last year MJ, Mum and I, along with several other Family members, took a 16 night cruise through the Mediterranean. To say we loved it would be an understatement. MJ took to sailing like a duck to water and he especially loved the attention he received from all the crew, most of which were missing their own Families back home. We ate too much and visited some amazing places. We loved them all, Vatican City, Rome, Florence, Pisa, Naples, Nice, Monte Carlo, Monaco, Gibraltar, and Almeria.
Our second cruise was over the Easter holidays and went to Venice, Cephalonia, Corfu, Korcula, Dubrovnic, Cadiz and Gibraltar over 16 nights. Again the whole experience, sights and food were outstanding. MJ especially loved riding on a gondola in Venice and on the ship hated leaving the play areas, even to eat, and the crew were absolutely brilliant with him.
So now we are busy getting ready for our journey. We have started our vaccinations, applying for visas and making lists of items to take from home. Main job though (apart from work and raising MJ) is researching our 43 ports of call. We hope to see alot, but also make the trip very child friendly for MJ. Some places like San Francisco we already plan to DIY (Do It Yourself) and others like Beijing we are planning to do an organised tour with either the ship or a private company.
So there you have it we hope you enjoyed reading about our preparation work. Will post again next month on how things are going.
Sunday 1 July 2012
My First Blog
Hello and Welcome to my first blog on travelling the world with MJ.
My name is Nicky and I am the very proud Mummy of a 19 month old boy we lovingly call MJ.
About MJ and I... I was born and grew up in Brighton, England, but have also lived in Belgium, the USA and the Middle East. I met and married an American and we lived in California and Ohio until his death afterwhich I returned home to the UK. My husband, Mike and I had always planned to travel the world when we retired and he had even requested that in the event of his death that his ashes be spread near Austrailia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR).
So I bet you are wondering where and how does MJ come in this story. Before he passed away Mike and I had tried for years to start a family even undergoing an In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) procedure. The IVF implantation was unsuccessful, but the doctors froze several embryos for future treatment. Six months after Mike died I returned to the USA and underwent a second implantation procedure, from which MJ was born.
So we come back to our upcoming trip in 2013 when MJ, my Mum and I are undertaking a world cruise in Mike's memory. We will be gone nearly four months and we are planning to spread the ashes at sea at the end of the trip and whilst they will not directy on the GBR, I think he would have been pleased to have travelled the world with his son.
This blog will be our record of our experiences whilst on this trip.
Hope you enjoy reading them...
To be completely honest it was another blogger (Mary @ The world is a book. Thank you Mary) who gave me the idea to start this blog as she thought that our upcoming trip might be interesting to read about (more on this later).
About MJ and I... I was born and grew up in Brighton, England, but have also lived in Belgium, the USA and the Middle East. I met and married an American and we lived in California and Ohio until his death afterwhich I returned home to the UK. My husband, Mike and I had always planned to travel the world when we retired and he had even requested that in the event of his death that his ashes be spread near Austrailia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR).
So I bet you are wondering where and how does MJ come in this story. Before he passed away Mike and I had tried for years to start a family even undergoing an In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) procedure. The IVF implantation was unsuccessful, but the doctors froze several embryos for future treatment. Six months after Mike died I returned to the USA and underwent a second implantation procedure, from which MJ was born.
So we come back to our upcoming trip in 2013 when MJ, my Mum and I are undertaking a world cruise in Mike's memory. We will be gone nearly four months and we are planning to spread the ashes at sea at the end of the trip and whilst they will not directy on the GBR, I think he would have been pleased to have travelled the world with his son.
This blog will be our record of our experiences whilst on this trip.
Hope you enjoy reading them...
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