An astonishingly large crowd! Chicago

😮 Interesting Sights 🌏 Odaiba-Tokyo, Japan 🗓️ 2023 Oct. 18 This is the Unicorn Gundam, a full-scale statue of the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam from the series Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn installed in 2017 at the DiverCity Tokyo Plaza in Odaiba. And yes, it lights up at night but unfortunately, doesn't move.

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🛳️ Tokyo, Japan 🗓️ 2023 Oct. 18 The new Tokyo International Cruise Terminal was the disembarkation port of my Trans-Pacific cruise from Seattle, WA. Its location in Odaiba, an artificial island in Tokyo Bay, allows for easy access to Haneda airport, Tokyo Tower and Disneyland.

😮 Interesting Sights 🌍 Cadaqués, Spain 🗓️ 2016 March 02 Did you know that the great artist Salvador Dali had an obsession with eggs? To him, it symbolizes birth, love, and hope. That's why his coastal home has egg sculptures everywhere. I found them fascinating and yes, quirky. 😁 #art #dali #eggs

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🛳️ Civitavecchia, Italy 🗓️ 2024 Oct. 17 Back on board 1 of my favorite NCL ships. Epic was my 2nd NCL ship when I first boarded her in 2012. It was NCL's biggest ship then and it made an impression on me - especially the cool solo Studio cabins which I've loved ever since. 🥰

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🛳️ Virgin Voyages Valiant Lady 🗓️ 2022 Oct. 16 Here's another #foodie post from the best cruise line for #food - Virgin Voyages! This is 1 of the fixed menu (it changes after a few days) offerings at The Test Kitchen, my favorite dining spot on board. A culinary experience! 😋

CNBC Daily Open: Could regional banks' bad loans signal something bigger?

✈️📰 TRAVEL NEWS I guess it'll take a disaster to wake everyone up. Sad! www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/...

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌍 Rome, Italy 🗓️ 2024 Oct. 15 Sometimes the best time to see a city is at night when it's all lit up. Here were some night sights around #Rome: ↖️ River Tiber near Vatican City ↗️ Castel Sant Angelo ↙️ Roman Forum ↘️ Altar of the Fatherland - Tip: Great views of Rome from the roof

🛳️📰 CRUISE NEWS (?) There are journalistic news sources and there are those sources that look like they share news but are actually sycophants of cruise lines. #CruiseHive is 1 of them. Even when the news is negative, they make excuses for them. Suck ups! www.cruisehive.com/forget-fomo-...

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌍 Bratislava, Slovakia 🗓️ 2014 Oct. 14 Located just outside of Bratislava is Devin Castle, a symbol of Slovakia that dates back to the Great Moravian period in the 9th century. The castle sits high on a 212 M cliff, providing a vantage point over the Danube and Morava rivers.

💠 Schedule of What's Next 💠 ⁘ Sept. 16-Oct. 15 ⩥ #panoChallenge03: Sunrise/Sunset on Oct. 1, 2025 ⁘ Oct. 16-Nov. 15 ⩥ #panoChallenge04: Autumn or Fall ⁘ Nov. 16-Dec. 31 ⩥ #panoChallenge05: Festive Our weekly #A2Z-PanoPhotos is taking a break and will be back on the 1st week of 2026 with #weekA!

Indeed

Happy Indigenous Peoples Day. Here’s a section of the poem Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, by Joy Harjo: Recognize whose lands these are on which we stand. Ask the deer, turtle, and the crane… #poetry #IndigenousPeoplesDay

🛫 San Francisco, CA, USA [SFO] 🛬 Zurich, Switzerland [ZRH] 🗓️ 2022 Oct. 13 I prefer sitting by the window in an #airplane so that I can see out and take photos. On this northern path #flight, I was lucky to see a rare sight - the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis. So surreal and beautiful! 😮

🛳️📰 CRUISE NEWS It's seems to be 1 step forward and 2 steps back with NCL. About 9 days ago, I praised NCL for making their loyalty programs within its 3 lines more useful. Now, it's a limit of 1 entree per guests in the main dining rooms plus limits on room service. www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ar...

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🚆 Birmingham to Edinburgh, UK 🗓️ 2019 Oct. 12 To get to our next stop at Edinburgh in Scotland from Stratford-upon-Avon, we had to change to a Virgin train at Birmingham. We treated ourselves to First Class on Virgin and I really liked the branding of Virgin Trains. 😊

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌍 Cardiff, Wales, UK 🗓️ 2024 Oct. 11 Cardiff Bay is a must-visit as it has some impressive modern #architecture and wonderful sights. ↖️ Wales Millennium Centre ↗️ The Senedd ↙️ Celtic Ring by Harvey Hood ↘️ Cardiff Bay marina

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌍 Cardiff, Wales, UK 🗓️ 2024 Oct. 10 With this visit to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, I can now say that I've been to all 4 countries that make up the UK i.e. England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Regardless, Cardiff is such a fun, cool and interesting city to visit.

Thrilled that my panorama of Salisbury Cathedral has been shortlisted for the British Photography Awards! There is also a people's choice award, vote for mine or your favourite here: www.britishphotographyawards.org/2025-shortli... #photography #salisbury #cathedral #architecture

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌍 Stratford-upon-Avon, England, UK 🗓️ 2019 Oct. 09 If you're a William Shakespeare fan, you should definitely visit this charming medieval market town where he was born, raised and died. Beyond Shakespeare, it's a beautiful town with lots of wonderful sights to check out. 🥰

🏛️📰 ARCHITECTURE NEWS I guess famous #architects (or in this case, the entitled son of a famous architect) can be petty too! #architecture #sad www.sfgate.com/california/a...

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌍 Warwick, England, UK 🗓️ 2024 Oct. 08 Staying at my cousin's home outside of London, I did a day trip to visit Warwick Castle - a medieval castle developed from a wooden fort, originally built by William the Conqueror during 1068. It has since been rebuilt many times. 😊

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌎 Las Vegas, NV, USA 🗓️ 2021 Oct. 07 When I'm in the gluttony capital of the world, I'm on a seefood diet i.e. I see #food, I eat it. OK... I'm maybe a little more discerning than that but I do love my #seafood and pretty desserts. #foodie 📸 Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌎 Icy Strait Point, AK, USA 🗓️ 2023 Oct. 06 This is the Alaskan #cruise 🛳️ stop at Icy Strait Point, a privately owned destination in Hoonah. It was developed by the Huna Totem Corporation which is owned by about 1,350 Alaskan Natives with aboriginal ties to the local area.

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌍 Copenhagen, Denmark 🗓️ 2017 Oct. 05 These were a few sites we visited during a visit to Copenhagen before we boarded a #cruise from here: ↖️ København H i.e. Copenhagen Central train station ↗️ Bertel Thorvaldsens Plads ↙️ Christiansborg Palace ↘️ Nyhavn harbour

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌎 Hoover Dam, NV-AZ, USA 🗓️ 2021 Oct. 04 I remember the 1st and only time I crossed the Hoover Dam in my car to go from Nevada into Arizona, it was heavy traffic. Thankfully in 2010, a new highway bridge, the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge (2nd 📸), was finished.

Ballots are here! VOTE YES on 50, California! 🚨STOP PROJECT 2025!!!😱 No more fighting the scourge of fascism with one arm tied behind our backs.

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌎 Seattle, WA, USA 🗓️ 2023 Oct. 03 Back in Seattle for another #cruise departure - this time, a Trans-Pacific cruise to Tokyo via a few Alaskan ports. 📸 A few sights around the iconic Space Needle tower and Frank Gehry's colorful and metallic Museum of Pop Culture. 😊

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌍 London, England, UK 🗓️ 2019 Oct. 02 DYK that there's a cool Design Museum in London? It's next to the beautiful Holland Park near Kensington. In 2018, the #museum won the European Museum of the Year Award. It exhibits product, industrial, #graphic, and #architectural design.

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌎 Vancouver, BC, Canada 🗓️ 2005 Oct. 01 Going back 20 years ago, I visited my alma mater at Simon Fraser University where I earned my 1st degree in Biochemistry. Loved the Brutalist style of this modern campus in the sky. It was designed by Canadian #architect Arthur Erickson.

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌎 Las Vegas, NV, USA 🗓️ 2021 Sept. 30 This is the High Roller, a very tall Ferris wheel in Vegas that was the tallest Ferris wheel in the world when it opened in 2014. I timed and boarded it when the sun was setting and caught the #sunset during the 1 rotation in 30 minutes. 😮

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌏 Naha, Okinawa, Japan 🗓️ 2018 Sept. 29 My plans to Naha on #Okinawa island was set before #typhoon Trami decided to join me there. I went ahead despite the ominous warnings. 📸 Taken when the eye of the typhoon was directly over Naha i.e. calm. More... ⤵️ [ 1 of 2 ]

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌎 Calico, CA, USA 🗓️ 2021 Sept. 28 If you're ever driving between LA and Vegas, make a pit stop at the Calico #Ghost Town Regional Park. It's a former silver mining town in the Calico Mountains of the Mojave Desert, complete with an old train track around the desert and mines.

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🛳️ Resilient Lady, Virgin Voyages 🗓️ 2024 Sept. 27 How about another #foodie "Travel Back in Time" post but just more recent? The cruise line with the best #food on board is Virgin Voyages. This was the excellent fixed, multi-course menu at the Test Kitchen. Experiential and 😋!

Happy #Caturday, everyone! Not sure if I've posted this gorgeous kitty before but this Thai cat - not a Siamese cat - was found lounging around in the small border town of Betong in southern Thailand. It's a little warm to be wearing a fur coat but a cat's got to look good, right? 😻

⌛ Travel Back in Time 🌏 Tokyo, Japan 🗓️ 2018 Sept. 26 I treated myself to a show at the Robot Restaurant in the lively Shinjuku district for my last night in Tokyo. It was a very loud and sensory overload of an amazing show with robots, cosplay, dancing, lasers, etc. An experience made in Japan 🎌!

🧳 Future Travel Plans 🛳️ NCL Viva 🗓️ 2025 November Via Costco Travel, I booked an Oceanview guaranteed cabin and was assigned 1 of the larger family Oceanview cabin with a big sofa. This cabin will be the largest cabin that I will stay in alone and they really look spiffy! More... ⤵️ [ 1 of 2 ]

🧳 Future Travel Plans 🛳️ NCL Viva 🗓️ 2025 November After 7 months of being good and staying home, I have 1 more #cruise to take to end the year! It's another Transatlantic cruise - this time from Lisbon, Portugal to Galveston, TX on the Norwegian Viva ship. It leaves Nov. 28th for 15-days of bliss.

🔖 Overall Review 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December Let's review what I liked and didn't like about my 1st Princess #cruise on board the Discovery: Pros: ⁘ Well organized (mostly) and established brand. Hint to MSC. ⁘ Loved the variety and freshness of the buffet food. More... ⤵️ [ 1 of 5 ]

🛳️📰 CRUISE NEWS Kudos to NCL Holdings for doing this which is a follow-up to what Royal Caribbean did with the loyalty programs of its many brands. Almost makes my Diamond NCL status (soon to be the top-tier Ambassador after my next NCL cruise) seem worthwhile. www.nclhltd.com/news-media/p...

🌎 Port of San Pedro, CA, USA 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December It was disembarkation day at the port of San Pedro in Los Angeles, California! The ship arrived back bright and early but we were not in any hurry. Just driving off in my parked car with no flights to catch! Vegas was next! 🎰🃏😄

🌎 Pacific Ocean 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December This was the "Farewell Variety Show" on the last evening of our #cruise with the requisite senior officers coming on stage at the end to wave their "goodbyes". I call them evening fillers to stretch out the entertainment budget. It's pointless!

🌎 Pacific Ocean 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December This was Day 7, a sea day, and the last day of our Mexican Riviera cruise along the Pacific coast. It was also the day of the Christmas tree lighting in the main atrium with some dancing, caroling, and speeches.

🌎 Pacific Ocean 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December After dinner, I attended the later performance of "Viva La Musica", 1 of the big production numbers by the entertainment cast on board the Discovery. It was a high-energy and lively production with a latin beat! I really enjoyed it. 😁

🌎 Pacific Ocean 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December It's the 2nd formal night of our 7-days Mexican Riviera cruise and after noticing at least half of the men not being formal on the 1st night, I ditched the tie but still wore my jacket for dinner. Excellent dinner menu! More... ⤵️ [ 1 of 2 ]

🌎 Pacific Ocean 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December As a benefit of the Princess Captain's Circle loyalty program, you'll be invited to the senior officers meet-up and free drinks were passed out at this event but no snacks. It's nothing special other than some free drinks. More... ⤵️ [ 1 of 2 ]

🌎 Pacific Ocean 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December This was a plate of deluxe canapés that was sent to my cabin as a perk of being a (temporary) Elite status member of Princess Captain's Circle loyalty program. It's their highest tier. In terms of loyalty programs, NCL and Royal are the 2 best.

🌎 Pacific Ocean 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December You'll see a lot of #foodie posts when I'm on a cruise. The #food served is very important to me on a ship. It helps decide if I'll return to cruise again on that ship or cruise line! Princess is safe as the food is quite good! This was #lunch.

🌎 Pacific Ocean 🛳️ Discovery Princess 🗓️ 2024 December It was Day 6 of our 7-days Mexican Riviera #cruise and this was my breakfast. Had some fruits to start off and an eggs benedict with a generous side of smoked salmon! NCL... see the hash brown? You're the only cruise line with no hash browns! 🤨