Looking Back–Trip 2 + Cruise

Oct 17, 2011 by Joel

It was not long after returning from the first trip overseas, that I started looking at booking the next trip. The general overall plan for this trip changed quite a lot over a fairly short period. It went from being a 9 month long trip through Asia, Europe and America down to a 2 month USA only trip to a 2 month USA with Central America Cruise. In the end what it ended up being I am happy with. My first cruise was probably the best part of the trip.

The Stats

While I did not travel quite around the world this time, the stats for this trip are just as impressive if not more so then my first trip overseas. I made stops on two continents (North and South America) visiting 7 different countries (USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Columbia, and Aruba). I flew 32,500KM (20,300 Miles) in a total of nine flights, two international and seven domestic within the USA. I cruised 16,800KM (9100 NM) for 28 nights. With a total of 29 nights in Hotels (Seattle (1), San Francisco (6), San Diego (8), Dallas (6), San Francisco (3), Los Angeles (5)). I also spent 6 nights staying with a friend in Seattle.

For a total of two months on the road.

Seattle, WA, USA – 7 Days – Hampton Inn Downtown (1) Stayed with Friend (6)

Even though I visited Seattle on my last trip, this is a place I had decided there was still more to see. An added benefit in visiting Seattle again I would get to visit a good friend I met on my last trip. It turned out she was able to get time off work, and together we could see the sights I missed last time. I stayed one night in Downtown Seattle and took a Boeing Factory tour before meeting up with my friend.

Best value to see the sights we were planning to check out was the Seattle City Pass, which covers 6 different attractions in Seattle. We really made very good use of this pass by visiting The Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Seattle Aquarium, EMP Museum, a Harbour Cruise and the Museum of Flight. Beyond the city attractions we also took a day to go and see the Olympic Peninsula.

San Francisco, CA, USA – 6 Days – Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf

The first new city for me on this Tour, and after some issues I had working out just where to stay and booking a hotel, the position at Fisherman’s Wharf turned out to be great. I did not know anyone in San Francisco and this made it the perfect place to make use of Couch Surfing, not for finding a place to sleep but for taking part in the get togethers that they plan.

The first thing I had booked to visit in San Francisco was Alcatraz. This was a great place to see, at least knowing that I could leave. Being there as a prisoner, knowing you could not leave, would have been terrible. Just like in Seattle, San Francisco also has a City Pass available, which I took full advantage of. In San Francisco it includes California Academy of Sciences, Aquarium of the Bay, Bay Cruise, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Exploratorium, and a 7 day pass for Public Transport.

San Diego, CA, USA – 8 Days – Hampton Inn (4 Days before and 4 Days after Cruise)

The cruise I choose was to embark and disembark in San Diego, so I split the time up between the beginning and the end of the cruise. This maximised my time to see everything that I wanted to see, and also gave me some time to explore meeting some Couch Surfers. I end up attending one Couch Surfing meeting and also meeting about half a dozen other people at different times, through Couch Surfing.

While meeting people is fun and a good way to spend some time, seeing things is the main reason that I am travelling. So while in San Diego there were a few other things that I took the time to visit. Places like San Diego Old Town, The Maritime Museum, the San Diego Zoo, The USS Midway, and a bit of a walk around the Downtown area, plus a visit to Coronado Island. San Diego is also a great place for Photography, too bad I only realised this right near the end of my time there.

Panama Canal cruise – 28 Days – Holland America Line MS Statendam

Taking a cruise for many people is a great way to relax, however I found a much more useful way to use a cruise. To get to a range of destinations and see some places you may not otherwise take the time to see. A good example is many of the ports on this cruise. I cannot see why I would visit Costa Rica and lug a suitcase to a hotel. Where as being able to walk off a ship for a day and see a highlight is much easier.

On this cruise there were 12 ports of call in total. I boarded in San Diego, CA, and visited ports in Mexico (Puerto Vallarta, Huatulco (2), Puerto Chiapas, Acapulco, Cabo San Lucas), Puerto Quetzal – Guatemala, Fuerte Amador – Panama, Cartagena – Columbia, Fort Lauderdale – USA, Oranjestad – Aruba, Puerto Caldera – Costa Rica.

Dallas, TX, USA – 6 Days – Hyatt Summerfield Suites

One of the primary reasons that I was going to visit Dallas was to see a friend, who actually lives in Fort Worth. That was going to be just one of my days here, I still had another five days in Dallas. One thing that I did not really bargain for was the size and way that Dallas is spread out, and really there is not that much in the Downtown area. There are a few museum’s which I visited, including the sixth floor museum about John F Kennedy, and I took quite a long walk around some of the area’s around downtown one day. I also visited the historic Dallas Heritage Village, with quite a number of examples of businesses and houses from the last century.

San Francisco – 3 Days – Hampton Inn Airport (1), Doubletree by Hilton (2)

Initially I was not planning to make a second stop in San Francisco. However, in trying to get my bookings sorted out, I really had trouble deciding on exactly where else I wanted to go with such a short amount of time.

I did end up seeing a few extra things while in San Francisco this second time. I spent a little more time seeing some different area’s of San Francisco it self and I also took a day trip down to San Jose, which was really nice to see.

Los Angeles, CA, USA – 5 Days – Hilton LAX

Los Angeles had never been a city that I wanted to see much of. Some of this was due to some stories about just how safe some area’s are, plus Hollywood is not really a big attraction to me. However, since I met some new friends from Los Angeles on the cruise I had a change of heart about seeing the area. While in Los Angeles they offered to show me around.

I got to see quite a large range of area’s around Los Angeles, Include Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, Manhattan Beach, Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, Downtown, The Hollywood sign, Mulholland Drive and a number of others that I just cannot remember. During the day I did not find any problem about feeling safe, the public transport system seemed rather good, except it just took plenty of time to get anywhere due to the distace and at times the traffic. On the other hand at night things could be very different in some area’s.

Another Great Trip

The one thing that I am glad about is my choice to take a trip in October 2010. If I had not made that choice I could still have not left Australia even though I have had my passport almost 3 years. The trips and the places and sights that I am seeing are just getting better, it is really great doing some of the things I am getting to do for the first time, which in this case was the cruise I took.