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Emily Gross
Hey everyone! Welcome to my travel blog! From January 12-April 24, I will be traveling around the globe on a ship (Semester at Sea) and want to share everything I see and do with all my friends and family.....so feel free to read. As the trip goes on I plan on posting pictures, videos, maps and other stuff regarding what I'm up to....so keep checking in...This is the order of the places I will be visiting:Emmie547
Nassau, Bahamas------------------------> January 10 -- January 12
Roseau, Dominica-------------------------> January 16 -- January 17
Macapa, Brazil (Amazon Entrance) ----> January 20
Manaus, Brazil -----------------------------> January 23 -- January 27
Takoradi, Ghana ---------------------------> February 6 -- February 10
Cape Town, South Africa -----------------> February 17 -- February 22
Port Louis, Mauritius ----------------------> February 27
Chennai, India -----------------------------> March 6 -- March 11
Singapore------------------------------------> March 16
Ho Chi Minh CIty, Vietnam----------------> March 19 -- March 24
Hong Kong/Shanghai, China-------------> March 26 -- April 1
KeeLung, Taiwan-------------------------> April 4 -- April 8
Hilo, Hawaii----------------------------------> April 17 -- April 18
San Diego, CA ------------------------------> April 24
Travel Blog Posts
April 22nd 2011
Place: San Diego, CA This is it, my last two days abroad the MV Explorer. I can’t believe how fast these last 3 and half months have gone by. I remember the first day of the voyage when we all clumped together on the 7th deck, looked out on the ledge at the port and waved goodbye to everyone while hearing the horn in the background. I think pulling into San Diego will have the same feeling…like we’ve come full circle! I’m also am in disbelief that I have traveled this much in such a short amount of time. I have literally circled the entire globe and went to 3 other continents besides the US. I have also crossed every major ocean and was the first voyage to travel 900 miles up the Amazon River. I ... read more
April 16th 2011
Place: Honolulu APRIL 16th--- The day started off at 10 am when all the students on the ship had to take the Global Studies Final. But right after everyone was finished, 7th deck turned into Spring Break hahah! Literally, everyone was up by the pool, lounging, playing music and anxiously waiting by the banisters looking at Honolulu in the distance. (We docked in Honolulu for a couple of hours to do immigration paperwork….we didn’t get off the ship). When we actually docked in the port, I really felt like I had circled the globe….it was nice to see the American flag! I heard a buzz on my phone and then all of a sudden I had service! I got to call home and it was so nice to hear people’s voices. I felt bad because I ... read more
April 16th 2011
Place: Honolulu APRIL 16th--- The day started off at 10 am when all the students on the ship had to take the Global Studies Final. But right after everyone was finished, 7th deck turned into Spring Break hahah! Literally, everyone was up by the pool, lounging, playing music and anxiously waiting by the banisters looking at Honolulu in the distance. (We docked in Honolulu for a couple of hours to do immigration paperwork….we didn’t get off the ship). When we actually docked in the port, I really felt like I had circled the globe….it was nice to see the American flag! I heard a buzz on my phone and then all of a sudden I had service! I got to call home and it was so nice to hear people’s voices. I felt bad because I ... read more
April 7th 2011
Place: Middle of the Pacific Ocean APRIL 10th--- So it began…the longest part of the trip. The 10 straight days at sea! Our ship is currently sailing across the Pacific Ocean and it is pretty rocky and miserable! The worst part is that this is when all the real research papers, presentation and finals happen. I somehow picked up a terrible could in Taiwan and haven’t been feeling well. I’m trying to power through it though with naps and tons of cold medicine. To make this part of the voyage less miserable SAS decided to run some fun events this week. Tonight was the SAS Student Film Festival. It was kind of a mix of movies. Most of them made fun of ship life and stuff like that. Others were more artsy and highlighted some of ... read more
April 4th 2011
Place: KeeLung April 4th--- So this is it…my last country (not counting Hawaii as our next port). I can’t believe it, it went by so fast! After Taiwan I only have about 2 and half weeks left. Everyone who has read my blog probably already knows that I would have been pulling into Kobe this morning but since the destruction and radiation escalated, my ship decided to dock in KeeLung, Taiwan instead. I have never been here before so I was pretty excited to go exploring. So before I get into my plans for this country, I just wanted to clarify for some people what happened to Gabby, the girl on my ship that fell on the Great Wall. First off, she is okay and is going to live. She woke up from a coma-like state ... read more
March 31st 2011
MARCH 31st--- I woke up and tried to go find an internet café. This was a complete fail and took almost 2 hours. We got an address from one of the people in a nearby hotel which ended up being wrong. Anyway, we were shown around the city by multiple people who said they knew where this place was…but of course no one did! Oh well… anyways, Charli and I still couldn’t find any of our friends so we decided to just go explore and not wait around. We ended up going to the most amazing marketplace. I ended up buying so much stuff! I was sort of out of control! But don’t fear because I used my awesome bargaining skills and somehow got 6 purses, 1 duffel bag, 3 pairs of shoes, 2 pairs of ... read more
March 27th 2011
MARCH 27th--- (DAY 1) Once I woke up and had breakfast I met up with my group to catch my flight to Beijing. The airport was huge! Literally over 450 terminals! You have to go down all these escalators in different directions in order to get to your gate. Once you found the right number on the bottom floor of the building, you got into this subway that took you to your terminal. It took really long and was really confusing. The good news was that I got to get lox on a bagel in the airport. Okay you can make fun of me…but it was amazing! Anyway, after just making it to my gate (literally running in the airport), I got on a 2 hour flight. I thought it was cold in Hong Kong, but ... read more
March 26th 2011
MARCH 26th--- So here I am…I’m in China! This morning I was thinking to myself how crazy it was that I was here. I’m over halfway around the world now. The time difference is officially the opposite as it is at home (just switch the am and the pm around). Now I feel really far away from home. Anyway, on to what I did the first day. Once we got off the ship, my friends and I decided to just wander and explore the city. First off, the city is HUGE! If I had to describe it to someone I would say a very clean Manhattan (just triple the size) that looks like Vegas at night time. The first main street you walk down has the most insane amount of designer stores. People were waiting in ... read more
March 24th 2011
MARCH 24th to MARCH 26th--- The last 2 days have been absolutely miserable! We went through a storm that turned out to be really bad. The waves were crashing down really hard. Our ship would literally go on top of a wave and then crash back down. We had to barricade some of the safety doors. All the stuff in my room fell everywhere. I couldn’t sleep the entire time and almost everyone was sea-sick. The first night back on the ship from Vietnam, I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep until a huge wave came and literally by entire body left the mattress. I know we’re completely safe, but I got really scared. Going to class was a struggle and doing homework was even worse. I think only 5 people showed up to ... read more
March 22nd 2011
Place: Hanoi MARCH 22nd--- DAY 4: Now going from happy to sad, this was by far the worst day of the entire trip!!! I woke up really early for a 3 hour bus ride back to Hanoi. The ride was really long and bumpy so I had trouble falling asleep. Then we got to the airport really early and had to wait there for three and half hours. We thought we would make the best of it and just find a good restaurant for dinner. The first place we walked into definitely didn’t like Americans because we were the only people in line that they didn’t seat. So we just decided to seat ourselves. We waited about ten minutes and finally got one menu. We asked for three more, but they just shook their head and ... read more
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