Nov. 1, 2024 (Friday!)   “It’s very nice to go travlin’, with just a toothbrush and comb. It’s very nice go go travlin', but it’s oh so...

Oct. 27 (Sunday)   Honestly, I thought I was a world-class money-spender. A classic spendthrift. But I am NOTHING compared to my sister....

Oct. 26, 2024 (Saturday)   This is the town of Murcheson, New Zealand—a real going concern. Population 513 since Twig, Harry, and I...

Oct. 25 (Friday)   I’ve discovered a commonality in what I think is stunningly beautiful: I really like steep mountains sloping down into...

Oct. 24 (Thursday)   The plan to separate 52 travelers from the NG Orion was only entertainingly complex if you’d had enough sleep the...

Oct. 23 (Wednesday)   I am WAY too tired to blog tonight, so let me sum up by saying: I must move to the South Island of New Zealand...

Oct 23 (Wednesday)—middle of the night   Perhaps you were aware that all those Lord of the Rings movies were filmed in New Zealand. That...

Oct. 22 (Tuesday)   Ain’t it always the way? Here’s the blurb from an exhibit in the Maori Museum at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds:   “When...

Oct. 21 (Monday)   A day at sea. This means…naps!   And lounging in the sun, reading and alternately watching for whales, which did not...

Oct. 20, 2024 (Sunday)   Go ahead—try to find Norfolk Island on a map. I'll wait. Good luck. I’ve spent most of the day on a rock in the...

Oct. 19 (Saturday)   I hosted a hootenanny in the South Pacific. Our “day at sea” featured some lectures in the morning, but the...

Oct. 18, Friday   There is NO WAY I saw sea snakes today. No way.   But…ew. What the hell ARE those things??! We arrived on Lifou in New...

Oct. 17 (Thursday. I have to write out the day of the week because that is my ONLY frame of reference. That and my phone alarm rang a few...

Oct. 16 (Wednesday) Here’s the local buzz: If you want to curse someone, you need one of the wizards from the Vanuatu black magic island...

Oct. 15 (Tuesday)   I was lured out under false pretenses…   The promised monsoon was NOT ACCEPTABLE. At least in Cabin 512 on the...

Oct. 14   Oooh—captain just said the magic word on the shipwide PA: MONSOON! We’re not supposed to use any of the outside passageways or...

Oct. 13 I don’t seem to be able to turn it off—the desire to compare. To understand something by saying to myself, ah. THIS thing is like...

Oct. 12 (Saturday)   So, lemme ask you:  If a large tour bus pulled up to your house and disgorged fifty or so people who wanted to smile...

Oct. 11 I swear—I wasn’t coming on to the man!   The day has been action-packed, but the best part was about three hours spent drifting...

Oct. 11 (a Friday, as it happens)  It’s a given in my life that I will sleep soundly for four hours, wake inexplicably for two or three...