‘We travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us’ – Anon After 7 days and 15 attempts we finally won trivia. The team was on fire. It’s a good job that nobody listened to me when I said that Antarctica was the only country without an active volcano and that you only need 100,000 record sales for a platinum disc. We put Australia and 1 million respectively. There was also a religious question. ‘Who was Moses wife’. Straight away Anthony and Irene, our Canadian team members wrote ‘Zipporah’ I thought that was some brand of electronic cigarette lighter!! Bill and I had said simultaneously the default biblical name ‘Sarah’. We were thankfully overruled. With our astute teamwork... read more

Our next destination, Neiafu on the island of Vava’u was still within the Kingdom of Tonga. This island lies only 162 nautical miles north of Nuku’Alofa. To get there we crossed the second deepest section of the Pacific Ocean after the Mariana Trench. Known as The Tonga Trench, it averages a depth of 6,900 metres with the deepest part, the Horizon Deep, almost double the average at just over 10km to the seabed. The smaller Holland America ships are trying to steer away from traditional on-board entertainment and are now being marketed as an innovative approach to cruising for travellers who are looking for thoughtful and immersive ways to see the world. The ‘seeing’ bit was provided by the nine Zodiacs that the Maasdam carries. In selective areas, the Zodiacs are launched and, for a price ... read more

“It’s a dangerous business going out of your door…You set out in to the street and if you don’t keep your feet there is no knowing where you might be swept off to…’– Gandalf . It was an early(ish) start for us today as our flight from Sydney to Auckland was at 09:55. Or so we thought!! We woke up at 06:45. In the old days, Roisin would have reached for her ciggies but in this modern day the rectangular shape of a cigarette box has since been substituted for a mobile phone. She immediately tapped on the email icon. ‘You’re having a laugh’, she said to no one in particular (although there was only me and her in the room!!) The next line was directed at me, though: they’ve ... read more

If you think adventure is dangerous, it is better than routine, that can be lethal– Paulo Coelho I woke at 07:30 this morning after another decent night’s sleep. Roisin had already been awake since 06:30 but she did go to bed an hour earlier. Our first activity today was to join a free walking tour around the city. Roisin and I always check for free walking tours if we are staying in a city for more than a few days. Most cities accommodate this sort of tour and we find they are excellent value for money. They’re free after all so you can’t get more excellent value for money than that!! (unless the tour guide pays you!!) It is customary to just pay the guide what you think the tour is worth. The tours normally last ... read more

The Civic District We arrived at the MRT station, Raffles Place, south of the Singapore River located in the Downtown Core of Singapore’s central area where we met Adeline. She led us along the riverside for a few minutes before entering, what is now, the Fullerton Hotel. This neo-classical building was built in 1928 by the British to commemorate their centennial celebrations. Before it was converted to five-star luxury, this building was home to Singapore’s General Post Office. However, the hotel has a somewhat checkered past being used as a hospital for the wounded in the last days before Britain surrendered Singapore to the Japanese in 1942. Indeed, the Japanese even used the building as their Headquarters for their military operations for this part of the world. We passed the fluted two storey colonnades and entered ... read more