Day 3: We wake and walk to breakfast at the same breakfast food truck of yesterday. Here we order ham and cheese croissants, mine with scrambled eggs. We now meet Debbie and Jeff from Minnesota and have a fun chat. We order an Uber and it arrives at 12:30. It’s less than 5 miles to the ship but it takes almost an hour. Sure enough, as we were warned last night, there is a marathon in the area today and traffic is snarled. We had heard about it from Stefan from Quebec who also dined with us last night.
Our Uber driver, Tomas, is pleasant and gets us to the ship around 1:30 PM. We have an easy time boarding and we are on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas in no time. Now to get to know one of the largest cruise ships in the world. Passenger capacity is about 6400. We’ll definitely be getting our steps in! We have a Stateroom with a balcony overlooking “Central Park” in the interior of the ship!
The ship is enormous! Somewhere along the lines of 12 swimming pools, water slides, 2 surfing pools, countless restaurants and bars, theaters galore including the 3 story theater in the front. Shops and stores.
I get some photos on deck of parts of the ship and the harbor as we depart Fort Lauderdale. I must point out that this is my first trip without a camera. I am only using my new iPhone 17. It will be interesting to see the caliber of images I capture.
We choose to have dinner in the main restaurant. We wait in line and are soon escorted up two levels to our table. Dinner consists of crab cakes, escargot, prime rib, and cheesecake for dessert. Decadence! We book a comedy club for later and continue to tour the ship. There are countless activities to do on the ship, but reservations are needed for most of them, even the free ones.
Tomorrow will be the first Port Day. We will add the Bahamas to our growing list of places visited. Got to get up early so I’ll bid you good night! Enjoy some photos of the ship with the surfing pools, a miniature golf area, an outdoor BBQ/Smoked Meat Restaurant, antique car, swimming pools and even the, “Bionic Bar” where robots will mix you a drink!
Day 1: Our good friend Tony once again gives us a ride to the airport. We get to the airport around 8:00 PM for a 10:00 PM Red Eye flight. I hope we can get some sleep. The flight is uneventful but we get no sleep. Elee has the aisle seat and I have the window. The flight is full and the “Monkey in the Middle” between us is a 6’9” basketball player type. We felt sorry for him. We paid for extra legroom and this poor guy’s knees pushed on the seat in front of us. We change planes in Atlanta and our new “Monkey in the Middle” is a smaller guy. But the flight is barely over and hour and again we get no sleep.
We arrive tired at 9:00 AM in Fort Lauderdale. We hail a cab and get to our hotel around 10:00 AM. After putting our luggage in the hotel, we take a walk around the neighborhood of North Fort Lauderdale. We are only 2 blocks to the beach. We have at least 4 plus hours to kill before we can check in to the hotel. We find a breakfast sandwich food truck that isn’t serving lunch yet so we have a glass of wine. Because why not? We go back to the hotel and they let us check in early. We take a much needed 3 hour nap. We are now in Day 2. We walk to the beach 2 blocks away. I see a ship on the horizon and I get a shot, framing it between 2 trees. Turns out it is our ship!
We find a liquor store and buy wine to take on to the ship. Next door is a fun looking Irish Pub where we have drinks and dinner. We meet Chris and Charlotte and join them at their table. Fun night even when a drunk patron dumps my water glass on me. Then the waitress dumps water on me. We also meet Stefan, a runner from Quebec getting ready to compete in a Marathon occurring tomorrow. We are forewarned that traffic will be difficult even though we are only a few miles from the ship we plan to board. We have Shepherd’s Pie and Mahi Mahi. The fish is severely overcooked. Shepard’s Pie is great. At the end of the night, Chris and Charlotte leave. When we try to pay the bill, our bar tab is missing. It was either the spilled water or Chris and Charlotte paid it. Thanks C & C!!!
We wake leisurely after 8 AM. The Resort cooks breakfast for us. We pack up for the final time. We have to check out by noon. Our flight isn’t until 6:30 PM but we will go to the airport and check our luggage in. Then look for something to while the time away.
We get to the airport at 12:30. Luggage checked in by 1:30. We walk what seems to be miles through the airport and find the VIP Lounge. $30 each later and we have 3 hours of comfort with food, drinks and electricity.
So I get all my photos into the computer and start to sort them. When our time is up, we walk to the gate, what seems like more miles. We get there just in time to be ushered down stairs to the gate seating. It’s now 6:00 PM and we should board soon.
We have a 2 hour flight to Hong Kong and a 16 hour flight to LAX. Can’t wait for this torture!
I have my sleeping pills at the ready and many various snacks. My noise canceling headphones are in the top of my backpack. I’m good to go!
So we board the first plane to Hong Kong. It’s only a 2 hour flight and everything goes smoothly. We land in Hong Kong and leave the plane. We walk through the airport and the signs all tell us we must go through Security and Customs. I vaguely recall this from the beginning of our trip. But we follow the signs and go through Security and Customs. We do see some signs for “Transit” but don’t understand them. We ask a security person and are told to go through Security and Customs.
Suddenly, after following instructions, we find ourselves outside the secure part of the airport and we hold back the desire to panic. Now we have to go back through Security and Customs again and our time is running short. But we steel ourselves and go through. I get to Passport Control and I look up as Elee goes through. But my Passport isn’t accepted. Elee looks back at me. I mouth the words, “I’m screwed, it won’t scan” and she looks worried. A guard tells me I have to go through the manual line. Luckily (or unluckily), there isn’t a line. The guard takes my Passport and starts to review it. He asks me where I am traveling to and I tell him Los Angeles. I explain what happened with our misunderstanding the signs and all we are doing is changing flights. I give him my boarding pass and explain I have no time left. He seems sympathetic and understanding and processes me through.
We have traveled fairly extensively and I think other, less traveled people, will make more mistakes than we do. We don’t run, but we walk fast and it’s another mile or so to our next Gate. We arrive at the Gate just as our loading time arrives. We have made it! We have missed flights before but this one we have paid for extra leg room for the 16 hours it will take to get home. We board and Elee gets the Aisle Seat and I get the Window Seat. The Middle Seat (we call it, ‘Monkey in the Middle’) is empty.
We watch as everybody boards and stows their Carry On Bags overhead. The plane is filling up. The middle seat remains empty. Then this lovely lady walks up and identifies the middle seat as hers. She is not only very nice and pleasant, she exudes niceness. The only problem is, she weighs somewhere between 350 and 400 pounds. Now, I’m not one to judge people, I love everyone. But when she sits down, she fills her seat and she flows into one third of my and Elee’s seats. We all know that airline seats are minimum sized to begin with. Now we only have two thirds of our seats to ourselves. Good thing we can stretch out our legs!
So here’s where I came prepared. The plane takes off and we are served a meal within the first hour. After finishing that, I take a sleeping pill. Then I inflate my neck pillow and pull the airline supplied blanket over my legs. I put on my headphones. I lean against the window and close my eyes. The sleeping pill does it’s job (Thank you Dr M!) and I do fall asleep. When I wake, I see something that normally would terrify other travelers, I see on the video screen (that I had set to the ‘Flight’ channel that tracks the plane), “Flight Time Remaining, 4 Hours”. I am thrilled!
Why am I thrilled? It’s because the flight is a 16 hour flight and there’s only 4 hours left! I have done quite a few 16 to 18 hour flights and, for the most part, have stayed awake for all of them. What I saw on the flight screen told me that I stayed awake for an hour and then I must have actually slept for 10 to 11 hours! The last 4 hours are absorbed by watching a couple movies and we are served another meal about an hour before landing. Remember we only have two thirds of our seats to ourselves! I fare better than Elee as she is pushed towards the aisle and I am laying against the window. Elee says she didn’t sleep but then she tells me that the flight was only 8 hours. That tells me she got 8 hours of sleep! Good for her!
Now here’s the real kicker! We have completed a Bucket List Item that we didn’t even know we had! We take off from Hong Kong at 1:00 AM on Sunday, 3/30/25. We land in Los Angeles at 9:30 PM on Saturday, 3/29/25. We Time Traveled!!!
We deplane and bid our ‘Monkey in the Middle” lovely lady adieu. (she really was a very lovely lady!). Back in LA, we are consistently amazed at technology as the screens and cameras we walk up to, look at us and without showing any passports or paperwork, greet us and say, “Welcome home, Mr Don (insert my real name here)”!
Our great friend, Tony, is on his way to get us. I text him (I put my home Sim Card in my phone a couple hours before landing) when we land and he tells me he is 20 minutes from the airport! Perfect! We clear Customs with our Trusted Traveler status and don’t have to deal with long lines. Our ride home with our good friend is full of exhausted travel stories and promises of sharing more!
It is time to bid farewell to the charming city of Siem Reap.
We get up today at 5:30 AM. Elee discovered last night that our flight is an hour earlier than we thought. So our travel friends make sure we get our bags first and head into the airport. The hour ride to the airport is uneventful. The architecture and decoration of the Siem Reap International Airport (REP) is beautiful. We are traveling today to Bangkok where we started this trip. The sole purpose is to get us back where we will travel home from. Little do we know what’s in store for us!
We go into the airport and there are no lines. So we get through security and still have an over an hour to go. It turns out there was no mistake of flight time. Our travel friends, Rich and Esther with their sons Dusty and John, are also on our flight. So we board on time for a one hour flight. When we land we are 25 minutes early! How does that happen?
Anyway, I order a Bolt ride and it costs $5.50 USD, including tip, to get to our hotel, the QG Resort, only 15 minutes from the airport. Try paying that in the States! At the hotel, we have to take our shoes off and put them on a rack in the lobby!
Then we kick back in the spacious room and browse the internet for things to do. Suddenly the room is shaking. Sure enough, we are feeling an earthquake that, turns out, is centered in Mandalay, Myanmar. It’s a 7.7 magnitude. The people in the hotel are scared. Being from SoCal, we just ride it out. Everything is swaying, the entire room is swaying. Ceiling lamps and fans are going crazy. I’m sitting on the bed feeling like I’m on a ship in 30 foot seas! And yes, I know what that feels like! However, having experienced dozens of earthquakes in Southern California over the decades, I never think about trying to take any photos!
We settle on finding a dinner cruise on a river after dark that includes free beer! It’s only $30 each. So our plan is to get a ride to the start area a couple hours before and check out the area. The ride arrives 1.5 hours before we need to be there and it’s a 50 minute ride. But traffic is snarled because of the earthquake. Trains are shut down and everyone is on the roads. Add to that it’s Friday night. The time comes for our Dinner Cruise to start and my GPS tells me we’re still over an hour away! So we tell the driver to turn around and take us back. We will tip him handsomely!
We cannot get a refund on our dinner cruise but we knew that in advance. So we hope to get a meal at a Marriott hotel near the airport. Our driver brings us to the Marriott and I tip him the maximum allowed. Then I have him wait and I go to an ATM and get him an additional 500 Baht cash.
We eat at the buffet at the Marriott and I am not impressed, even though it is rated 38th out of 4000 restaurants in Bangkok. But hey, it’s better than sitting in the back of a cab going nowhere! We come across some random Lotus Blossoms in the dinner restaurant. Some of the most complex and beautiful flowers in the world!
It’s time to go back to our Resort. We turn in for the night.
Reflections on the earthquake:
On March 28, 2025, a 7.7 Earthquake struck Myanmar (Burma) at approximately 1:00 PM Bangkok time. The quake was felt strongly over 650 miles away in Bangkok. You ask me how I know this? Aside from reading the news, I was in Bangkok at the time. In retrospect, I would call what I felt as a 5.5 to 6.0 Magnitude quake in Bangkok. And I was (luckily) in a single story AirBnB. The quake rolled and rolled for almost a full minute. Followed 5 or 6 minutes later by an aftershock. We had travel friends that were on a 10th floor in the city and ran down stairs to the street where they waited over 3 hours before they got the all clear to re-enter their hotel!
Now to put a little more perspective to what I felt. Note that I was over 650 miles from the 7.7 Epicenter. And I felt quite the strong earthquake. I feel the need to mention that I live in Los Angeles County and earthquakes are no stranger to me. Over the 45 years I have lived in LA, I have lived through countless earthquakes, including the Northridge, Whittier, La Habra and other quakes that I forget the names or never knew them. The strongest quake I recall was a 7.2 and I was within 10 miles of the epicenter.
I live about 350 miles from San Francisco. Never have I recalled feeling an earthquake centered in or near San Fran. I know people who live in San Francisco. None of them, to my knowledge, have felt an earthquake occurring in the LA area. This is where this gets interesting. Note the first paragraph where I point out that I was over 650 miles from the epicenter of the Myanmar quake. Almost twice as far away as San Fran is from me. And I rocked and rolled for almost a full minute. There has not been a substantial earthquake in that region for over 30 years.
The people were in full panic mode in Thailand. I just rolled with it. Does that make me weird? I never even thought to turn the camera on my phone on. And my phone was in my hand as I was searching for activities to participate in for the rest of my day. I settled for a River Dinner Cruise and my wife and I hired a driver (Bolt) to take us there with over 2 hours to spare. Does this sound like foreshadowing to you? It should. After being in the cab for 2 plus hours, it was clear that we were still an hour plus from the boat docks.
It turns out that we underestimated the power of the aftermath of the earthquake. Rail lines were shut down. The Sky Rail was shut down. Everybody was forced into the streets. Add to that it was Friday Night! Friday Night is not much different anywhere in the world. Everybody is trying to end their week and start a party!
So the bottom line is that I live in Los Angeles (Earthquake Country) and I traveled to Thailand to experience an Earthquake! LOL! And I was twice as far from the epicenter as I have ever felt an earthquake! Even more! My friends back home told me that it was California missing me!
Our room in the hotel is nice. The bed is comfortable. The view from the room is like looking into a jungle. Mangos hang ripening on the tree just out of reach. Breakfast at the hotel is another good buffet. The bus will pick us up at 8:15 AM.
We’re on the bus now. Our guide, Pisa, from yesterday is our guide again today. We go by a fun shop, The Samurai Barber Shop and it reminded me I need a haircut!
Angkor Wat is made of grey blue sandstone. It took 75,000 people 32 years to build. This is the world’s largest religious site. over 400 acres! Doorways are made in one piece. There is a 200 meter wide moat around it. Angkor Wat is the crowning jewel of Khmer architecture and the national symbol of Cambodia. It is the largest, best-preserved, and most religiously significant of the Angkor temples. We are impressed with its sheer scale and beautifully proportioned layout. As we approach the temple, we cross a vast moat, 200 meters across, and continue along a broad causeway lined with naga (snake) balustrades. We enter the main building and ascend through a series of galleries and courtyards before we reach the central sanctuary The views back over the causeway and across the surrounding countryside are beautiful. We admire the intricate stone carvings that adorn nearly every surface, with some 1,700 Apsaras or celestial dancers sculpted into the walls. The outer gallery walls feature the longest continuous bas-relief in the world, narrating stories from Hindu mythology, including the famous Churning of the Ocean of Milk.
The views are amazing from the top and all around. Every visible surface is carved in some way.
It’s 11:30 AM. The temp is 37C (98.6F) and approximately 80% humidity. Sweltering! Cambodian New Year is in April. There is scaffolding being set up for the upcoming celebrations. A flooded rain pond gives a fun view of the complex.
Some cute children pose for our cameras. Red fire ants cross our path. You might remember that I had them in my salad last night! Intentionally!
A 7 headed Naga (snake) protects Angkor Wat! There are several protective Naga’s that protect this place. They always have 5, 7, 9, or 11 heads! This is one of the best preserved that we see.
Back on the bus with AC blasting we all take a deep breath! We head for lunch. At the restaurant we are given ice cold lemon eucalyptus towels to refresh our faces! Then we have more local food favorites such as Snake Head Fish and Beef Lok Lak. Once again, lunch was a fantastic amount of food!
After lunch, we head in search of more temples. Fabulous history behind all of these temples. We drive for over an hour to this one and it was suggested we all take a nap. Not the case as the road was too rough. And besides, my camera kept nudging me and asking what was outside the window. I kept telling it to close it’s eyes and take a nap. Then the bus would hit another bump and my camera would snarl at me. Okay, okay, you win. Take a photo or 50. These temples are extraordinary examples of Khmer sculpture and architecture!
We arrive at Banteay Srei Temple, this one is built with a lot of pink sandstone. It is considered one of the jewels of the Angkor area. Water Buffalo and roosters greet us at the entrance.
We even see a man fishing in murky rain puddles and catching fish with his bare hands! A group of minstrels plays for tips. How many people can fit on a motorcycle?
Then it’s a 30 minute drive to the next temple to visit and probably the most unique temple of the day. Ta Prohm Temple is very unique in that trees, some over 400 years old are still alive and growing in and on the temples! These are Spong trees. They are spongey and fibrous and seemingly live as one with the temples! It was fabulous to see. Ta Prohm has been left relatively untouched since it was discovered and retains much of its mystery. Its appeal lies in the fact that, unlike the other monuments of Angkor, it was abandoned and swallowed by the jungle, looking very much the way most of the Angkor temples appeared when European explorers first stumbled upon them.
Pisa tells us we have only 3 more temples to visit. Takeo, Thommanon and Chau Say Tevoda. The bus erupts in a collective groan. Even the younger people in the group have seen enough today in this sweltering heat! So we go back to the city where Elee gets off at Pub Street to shop. Pisa leaves us also but the driver takes the rest of us back to the hotel. I go back to the hotel and kick back. When Elee arrives back we both relax for a while and then go to the same restaurant we visited last night and sit in the Air Conditioned section.
Our entire group comes along and even Hannah (who has come here on her own) comes to hang with us! We all begin to say goodbye to each other even though some of us will travel to the airport together in the morning. I splurge and buy dinner for the group of 9 people and the bill, with tip, comes to $90 US Dollars. 9 people! Including drinks!
Around the World in 80 Trips (Or Less) 