Machu Picchu Itinerary

When we leave the Galapagos Islands on Saturday, we fly to Guayaquil, Ecuador.  From there, we fly to Lima, Peru to spend the night. We will now be under the care and guidance of Ker & Downey for the week. On Sunday AM, we fly to Cusco then on to the Sacred Valley and our Peru adventure begins.

2014 Takes Me To The Galapagos Islands And Machu Picchu

Always planning or going, this year, Crystal and I are going South.....  South America, that is.

Hopping two planes, we head to Quito, Ecuador to the JW Marriott Hotel for a few days before a 7 day cruise on the Silver Galapagos.  Images of blue-footed boobies, seal, lizards and penguins are floating around in my brain.

There are many restrictions in the Galapagos.  The size of the ship must have 100 passengers or less. Our ship carries 100 and is the largest luxury ship in the islands.  Like on my Antarctic cruise, there are limitations to the number of people on the islands at one time.  I'll write more about these later.

Silversea runs two itineraries: to the North Central islands and the Western islands.  We are booked on the Western itinerary.  Here is a copy of ours.

DATE	DAY	PORT
Aug 09 2014	Sat	Baltra, Galapagos, Ecuador
Aug 10 2014	Sun	Bartolome, Ecuador
Aug 10 2014	Sun	Playa Espumilla, Santiago, Ecuador
Aug 11 2014	Mon	Punta Vicente Roca, Isabela, Ecuador
Aug 11 2014	Mon	Punta Espinoza, Fernandina, Ecuador
Aug 12 2014	Tue	Caleta Tagus, Isabela, Ecuador
Aug 12 2014	Tue	Bahia Elizabeth, Isabela, Ecuador
Aug 13 2014	Wed	Post Office, Floreana, Ecuador
Aug 13 2014	Wed	Punta Cormorant, Ecuador
Aug 14 2014	Thu	Galapaguero Cerro Colorado, San Cristobal, Ecuador
Aug 14 2014	Thu	Wizard Hill, San Cristobal, Ecuador
Aug 15 2014	Fri	Los Gemelos, Santa Cruz, Ecuador
Aug 15 2014	Fri	Estacion Charles Darwin & Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz
Aug 16 2014	Sat	Baltra, Galapagos, Ecuador

My Itinerary

Date	Port
Tues 08/13/2013	RDU-MSP   MSP-LAX Delta LAX-PPT
Wed 08/14/2013	Intercontinental Moorea   Tiahura Moorea  French Polynesia
Thu 08/15/2013	Intercontinental Moorea
Fri    08/16/2013	Intercontinental Moorea
Sat  08/17/2013	IC Moorea-Papeete, Tahiti Board Paul Gauguin
Sun 08/18/2013	Huahine, Society Islands
Mon 08/19/2013	Sea Day
Tue  08/20/2013	Aitutaki, Cook Islands
Wed 08/21/2013	Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Thu  08/22/2013	Sea Day
Fri    08/23/2013	Bora Bora, Society Islands
Sat   08/24/2013	Bora Bora, Society Islands
Sun 08/25/2013	Taha'a, Society Islands
Mon 08/26/2013	Moorea, French Polynesia
Tue  08/27/2013	Moorea, French Polynesia Papeete, Tahiti
Wed 08/28/2013	Disembark Paul Gaugain Radisson Plaza Resort Tahiti PPT-LAX
Thu 08/29/2013	LAX-ATL ATL-RDU
Fri 08/30/2013	Arrive RDU Holiday Inn Express Morrisville NC Home-Wilson

Getting Ready for French Polynesia

In three weeks, I fly to Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia.  Yes, I am excited.  

This cruise is escorted by my travel agent so it is a named cruise.  DOLPHIN (Delightful Oceanic Luxurious Polynesian Holiday with Islands and Nature).  It has become a custom for Ngaire to have a lapel pin made up for those of us on the cruise.  Here's the DOLPHIN pin.  

I haven't started packing yet..... if you can believe that, but have started putting clothes and other cruise items in the front bedroom, aka The Packing Room.  Since this cruise is in a tropical paradise and we have purchased the laundry package onboard ship, I don't need to pack everything but the kitchen sink.  As usual, I will probably pack a few too many items.  Maybe I can edit.

We switched cruises lines this year to Paul Gauguin Cruises and the Paul Gauguin.. The ship used to be a part of Regent, but was leased.  When the lease was up in 2010, Paul Gauguin Cruises was formed with one ship.  In 2012, a new ship, Tere Moana was added.  

<TBC>

Cruise Ship Movies

Below is a list of some of the movies where part of the film takes place on a cruise ship.  (I borrowed this list from a thread on Cruise Critic, so I can't attest that the list is correct.) I've bold typed the movies I've seen.  I also used one of my favorite movie websites, IMDB as a source.

Now, Voyager / 1942

Death Ship 
Doctor in Trouble / 1970
Doctor at Sea / 1974
Ship of Fools / 1965
Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise / 1940
Friday the 13th part VIII / 1989
Going Overboard / 1989
Deep Rising / 1998
The Intruder / 1933
Our Girl Friday / 1954
Titanic
Table for Five
Boat Trip
The Poseidon Adventure
Speed II
Out to sea
Ghost ship
A Night to Remember
An Affair to Remember 
Beyond The Poseidon Adventure 
Monkey Business (1931) 
The Last Voyage (1960) 
Sabrina 
Diamonds Are Forever 
The Legend of 1900 
Shall we Dance
Royal Wedding 
Romance on the High Seas 
The Imposters

Munster, Go Home! 1966
Ghosts of the Abyss 2003 story/documentary

Sea Wife

Juggernaut

The Unsinkable Molly Brown

Abandon Ship

Lifeboat

The Lady Eve 1941

Love Affair 1939

Educating Rita
Pearl Harbour

Assault on the Queen

Voyage of the Damned / 1976

In The Planning Stage

August 2014 - Cruise of the Galapagos Islands on the Silversea Silver Galapagos and a land trip to Machu Picchu. Wooooo Hoooooooo!!!  Lots of planning ahead.

Five Months Until Tahiti

Lots of planning has gone into my trip to Tahiti in August.  I am so fortunate to be going with my travel buddy, Crystal.  This time we will be  on the Paul Gauguin, a ship that Regent used to manage.  Our travel agent, Ngaire, owner of Brown and Keene Travel Agency, and her husband, Ken will be escorting this cruise.  Escorted cruises are named through a poll on one of my cruise messageboards, Luxury Cruise Talk.  This cruise is called DOLPHIN (Delightful Oceanic Luxurious Polynesian Holiday with Islands and Nature).  We will be cruising with our good friend from Sydney, Lee and her son, Michael and our  cruise buds, Kathy and Al.  It will be so much fun to be with all fo them again.

Lucky for us,we were able to use frequent flyer points to book us business class seats from LAX to Papeete on Air Tahiti Nui and use Priority Reward Points for three nights in the Intercontential Moorea.  Our good friend, Wes, will be so proud of us!

Our cruise is an eleven night cruise of the Society Islands (Tahiti,  Huahine, two days on Bora Bora, two more days on Moorea and Taha'a which is our motu day) and Cook Islands (Aitutak and Rarotonga).

My travel guide arrived in the mail today. I am reading and highlighting to death, Tahiti & French Polynesia by Celeste Brash.  I purchased it at Amazon.