Travels

 
I have crossed the Atlantic Ocean several times, cruised the North Atlantic to Iceland and Greenland and south to the Bahamas and the Caribbean. I have been through the Panama Canal and crossed the Pacific Ocean from California to New Zealand. I have cruised the Baltic Sea from Denmark to Russia, the Adriatic from Italy to Greece, and the Mediterranean from the French Riviera to Gibraltar.

My first cruise, and I use the word "cruise" lightly, I was living in New Jersey. It was a weekend cruise and I don't even remember the name of the ship or how many passengers were aboard. Since that cruise, though, I have been on twenty cruises and visited 45 ports in 23 countries.

What I do remember about my first cruise is that we left Philadelphia on Friday night and sailed down the Delaware River into the Delaware Bay. Saturday was cruising the Atlantic Ocean and a day of casino gambling. My girlfriend was a gambler. I was not. So, there was little for me to do except lounge around the swimming pool and watch them carve ice statues. On Sunday we sailed back up the Delaware River and docked in Philadelphia Sunday evening.

This first cruise must have been in April 1989. I remember that the Tiananmen Square protest had occurred and upon returning home we knew nothing about it. Apparently, there were no newspapers or TV on the ship. Another unfavorable memory, our cabin was "inside." The shower, sink and toilet were, as I recall, a single molded plastic capsule. Horrible! And, I will never, ever forget that, as we headed up the stairs for dinner one evening, someone remarked "Here come the basement people."

My next cruise was in 1994 aboard the Royal Caribbean ship Song of Norway. It was a small ship by today's standards with only about 700 passengers. There were no "veranda suites" but my cabin had a window and it was not in the "basement!" The food and service were excellent and each evening we enjoyed the entertainment and dancing.

This was a real cruise. A Mediterranean cruise. It was a wonderful cruise that started in Venice, Italy and continued to Greece, Sicily, Naples, Rome, Florence, the French Riviera, Palma Mallorca and ended in Barcelona, Spain.

The Song of Norway even had a Viking Crown Lounge located on its stack. Today, Royal Caribbean's mega-ships are famous for the Viking Crown Lounge that encircles their stacks. However, the tiny Viking Crown Lounge on the Song of Norway could only be reached by steps that lead up the outside of the stack. Even so, we had many great evenings enjoying cocktails in the lounge with its 270° view.

My next cruise was also on Royal Caribbean. The ship was the Splendor of the Seas. This ship was elegant beyond one's imagination. My cabin was roomy with a king size bed, a TV, a full bathroom, and an airy veranda. The year was 1997 and we sailed the Baltic Sea from Copenhagen, Denmark to Norway, Finland, Sweden, Estonia, St. Petersburg, Russia and back to Copenhagen.

Splendor of the Seas had an indoor and an outdoor swimming pool. The dining room had seating on the main floor and on a balcony. The atrium had two glass elevators that rose 12 decks up to the Viking Crown Lounge. But a ship with 1,800 passengers lost that personal attention, the friendliness of other passengers and the relaxation that I had enjoyed on the Song of Norway.

Then, in 2004 I had an opportunity to visit Russia again. Moscow, Russia. It was another cruise to the Baltic Countries, this time with a group of twelve friends aboard Holland America's ship the MS Noordam. Traveling in a group was not my preference and I had been to Russia before but I just had to see Moscow and Red Square. It stirred memories of the “Cold War” and parades of missiles in Red Square that I watched on TV when I was much younger. I took the cruise and I will never forget my one day in Moscow.

The Noordam was about 1,300 passengers and, as I recall, the food was excellent. Like the Song of Norway, there were no veranda cabins but we did have a normal size window. Today it was difficult to find out anything about the Noordam because Holland America has used the name "Noordam" for four newer, much larger ships. However, if you're interested, its new name is the MS Thomson Celebration of Marella Cruises. Overall, it was a fun cruise but best of all, I did get a picture of me in Red Square, even though it rained the entire day we were in Moscow

After this cruise I had decided that cruising was not for me. That is until my lovely life partner, Joan, introduced me to Crystal Cruises. Their two ships Serenity and Symphony are small, about 800 passengers. Crystal cruises are all inclusive. Many of our local friends shy away from this expense but I remembered the enormous "bills" I had received at the end of my previous cruises. The idea of not signing and tipping for every bottle of water, every snack, every beer, every glass of wine or every cocktail made cruising so much more enjoyable.

Joan loved cruising and had traveled on thirty-something cruises on Seaborn and Silverseas. Both lines are high-end cruise lines, all inclusive, veranda suites and small ships with about 200-300 passengers. Joan had also sailed on Crystal's ship the Harmony, no longer part of their fleet. It was a dance cruise with dance hosts and instructors. When she read about a trans-Atlantic dance cruise on Crystal, she suggested we might enjoy it together. We took the cruise and have enjoyed Crystal so much that in 2019 we embarked on our 12th Crystal Cruise.

We have sailed on both Crystal ships and, as they say, we have become “Crystalized!” The food is superb, the entertainment is outstanding, the lectures engrossing and the shore excursions are always exciting and educational. There are activities from dancing to golf to bridge. There is plenty of room to relax around the pool or jacuzzi without making "reservations." Crystal still has formal nights and, although they have relaxed the formal dress code to a jacket and tie, many men wear a tuxedo and the ladies are fashionably dressed in gowns.

We always take a Veranda Suite which is a cabin about 650 square feet. The Penthouse Suites are much larger with walk-in closets and butler service but they are way above our means. Furthermore, we enjoy the camaraderie of fellow passengers, the wide variety of eateries, lounging with a Bloody Mary and dressing up for cocktails in the evening. We use our cabin to change clothes, shower and sleep and only occasionally relax on the veranda.

Many of our cruises have been Atlantic crossings and we spend most of our time dancing. There are daily instructions and private lessons. Every evening there is dancing to a Big Band, the Crystal Quartet and of course the Disco late at night. We have also taken some golf lessons. We have visited many interesting ports, met many lovely people and have gotten to know several of the excellent Crystal staff.

 
In 1998 I went to Savannah, Georgia for July 4th and met my sister and her husband there. Savannah is one of the most unique and interesting places I have ever visited. Many of the old warehouses, like the Savannah Cotton Xchange along River Street have been converted into hotels and restaurants. A steady stream of cargo ships run up and down the Savannah River.

The Historic District of Savannah is laid out in quadrants. In addition to Forsyth Park and the Colonial Park Cemetery there are twenty-two "Squares," known as the Jewels of the City.

The Pirates' House first opened in 1753 as an inn for seafarers and fast became a meeting point for blood-thirsty pirates & sailors. A portion of the structure was built in 1734, making it the oldest standing building in the state of Georgia. The modern restaurant was founded by Herb Traub and Jim Casey in 1953, and is one of Savannah's most popular tourist attractions. The Olde Pink House, is one of Savannah’s most popular restaurants. Guests have the unique opportunity to savor the restaurant’s sparkling Lowcountry cuisine in a sophisticated, yet casual setting of an 18th century mansion.

Other attractions in the historic district of are the Mercer Williams House, the Isaiah Davenport House and the Armstrong House. The Mercer Williams House was the scene of the 1981 shooting death of Danny Hansford by the home's owner, Jim Williams, a story that is retold in the 1994 John Berendt book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The house is also featured in the movie adaptation of the book. The Davenport House Museum, with its serpentine staircases, was built by master carpenter Isaiah Davenport for his household which included ten children. It provides a glimpse into 1820s domestic life in the urban port city of Savannah.

The Armstrong Kessler Mansion (formerly known as Armstrong House) is an example of Italian Renaissance Revival architectural style located across from Forsyth Park. The ten-bedroom home has nearly 26,000 square feet of living area. The main hall was designed with Italian limestone claddings with ornate plaster ceilings and cornices. Floor-length windows, cornices, panels, friezes, and details reflecting a range of styles are found throughout the interior. The Mansion was used as the school of the daughter of the protagonist in Cape Fear and appeared as the real-life law office of attorney Sonny Seiler in the film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

In Savannah on July 4th was a special treat. The Tall Ships arrived in a spectacular fashion. The first to arrive was the US Coastguard Tallship Eagle. Eagle is a 295-foot barque used as a training cutter for future officers of the United States Coast Guard. Next to arrive was Argentina's Tallship the ARA Libertad. This full-rigged sailing ship is one of the largest and fastest tall ships in the world. It serves as a school vessel in the Argentine Navy.

As the tall ships arrive in port, the sailors are standing on the masts. The Libertad even fired its cannon coming into port. Thousands of people were there to see this spectacular July 4th event

In August of 1999 I had a lovely dance partner who was going to London to visit her brother and his wife who lived there. She was very familiar with the city having lived there before immigrating to the USA and offered to set me up at a good hotel that was located conveniently in the city for site-seeing if I wanted to see London. I agreed to make the trip with her. We would fly there and back together but she could not introduce me to her Muslim brother as he would not approve of our dancing.

The hotel she picked was perfect. I spent ten days enjoying the city and its sites. I took taxis, "popped on and off" the buses and even took the underground. I saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. I walked the Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly. I shopped at Harrods and Selfridges and bought a waistcoat suit (long jacket) at Topshop. To get the complete London experience, I ate fish and chips with malt vinegar and enjoyed many a pint of Guinness in the local pubs.

Londoners drive on the left side of the road. So, while we Westerners are used to looking left before stepping into a street, in London you must usually "Look Right." It's a habit to look left so at some London intersections the direction to look for the traffic is painted on the street.

I was very impressed by the uniqueness of the taxis and busses of London. What I loved most about the English was their use of our language. Afterall, they did invent it. Our signs say "Entrance" and "Exit" while London signs say "Way In" and "Way Out." At the underground they warn you to "Mind the gap" as you step on and off the train. And of course, you "pop on" and "pop off" of a bus.

Three years later she had planned a 10-day vacation to Acapulco, Mexico and invited me to join her. It sounded exciting so I went. What I discovered first about Acapulco were the cliffs and that the Pacific Ocean beaches were soft sand, not a mixture of sand and shells like the New Jersey shore on the east coast. With beautiful warm weather year-round, doors to public buildings were always open. Local eateries were open-air.

One day we went to see the famous La Quebrada Cliff Divers of Acapulco. Although the diving was daring, it was pretty much a show for tourists. There was a large ledge where the divers gathered. It had a blue grotto at which each diver appeared to say a prayer and cross themselves before climbing down to the diving point located about 100 feet above the water. The dive into the "gulch" is certainly daring and the depth of the gulch varies from 15 to 20 feet deep.

Another day we took a private tour to the interior of Mexico. We stopped in a small village to buy souvenirs when I decided to buy a banana. That day I learned about "plantains." Even though they say you can eat raw uncooked plantains, I would not recommend it.

I had been warned to avoid the water in Mexico and thought I was doing a great job, even brushing my teeth with bottled water. But near the end of our stay, I succumbed to "Montezuma's Revenge." I bought so much Pepto Bismol from the drug store, across the street from the hotel, that they ran out of it. After that I had no desire to go back to Mexico.

However, Joan's brother owned a magnificent villa in Conchas Chinas near Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. When we were invited to visit them for a week, I was very reluctant. But Joan had been there many times and never suffered any illness. I decided to give it a try. Since then, we have made several trips to Mexico and I have never gotten sick.

When we visited Chuck and his lovely wife Judith in Mexico, they often took us to interesting towns throughout the states of Jalisco and Nayarit. All together we have been to 14 places of interest throughout Mexico from Sayulita to Guadalajara. However, I gave up drinking martinis in Mexico especially because they didn't know how to make a gin drink. Instead, I learned about Tequila and how to drink Tequila. I've always liked Corona beer so ordering "cerveza" was also a good idea.



Las Vegas

The bridge story of St, Petersburgh



The night life of Acapulco is



I was in New Jersey, where I lived for 16 years. I was not much of a beach person but I loved "going to the shore" for its night life and fabulous restaurants. It was especially fun once Atlantic City opened as a casino resort.

 
In 1961 I joined the Air Force and I traveled from Cincinnati, Ohio to Lackland AFB, Texas by air. I was 20-year-old and it was my first time on an airplane. After basic training I traveled to Biloxi, Mississippi by bus and, after electronics school, I traveled to Plattsburgh AFB, New York by train.

While I was stationed in Biloxi, I went to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. The floats were endless. The parades went from morning to night. Bourbon is not only the most famous street in the French Quarter but Old Grand Dad bourbon was the drink of choice. I am not a happy drunk so Mardi Gras 1962 is the last time I ever drank bourbon whiskey.

One member of our group was from New York City and he is why I have always been amazed by people from New York City. Frank Lupul was proud that his last name was spelled the same forwards or backwards and that his parents were Mink farmers. When no hotel was available for us to stay overnight in New Orleans, Frank posed as an airline pilot whose flight was canceled. He got us a room at the Jung Hotel in the city.

One weekend, four of us decided to drive to Mobile, Alabama. To our surprise all of the nightclubs were "members only." We were so immature that we didn't realize that "private clubs" could remain open until 3 AM and that paying a couple of bucks for the membership would probably have bought us a night of drinking and some entertainment. It appeared the trip would be a waste of time but things were looking up the next morning. While having breakfast at an Alabama drive-in restaurant, a car with four girls pulled in next to us. We asked them where to go for a good time hoping we might all go have a good time together. They told us to go to Biloxi.

We played dumb and asked about the "army base" in Biloxi. They corrected us that it was an Air Force Base and told us it was the week before payday and all the Airmen would be broke. Go there for a good time they said. Reflecting back, they probably knew who we were but the lesson was, that even in Alabama, they knew when we got paid. We headed back to Biloxi and, aside from traveling to my next assignment in Plattsburg, NY, that was the end of my travels.

When my enlistment ended, I moved to Lansdale, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia, where I was employed by American Electronic Labs as an ECM systems technician. AEL designed and manufactured countermeasures and radar-warning receiver systems as well as state-of-the-art antenna, microwave, and integrated circuit components. My first trip abroad came as a business trip for AEL. After that I traveled extensively for them on two military projects.

My first trip abroad came in 1966. Several NATO nations arranged a conference to show off their best electronic war-time equipment and the US Army choose to demonstrate its new ECM system designed and manufactured by AEL. The system was a compact state-of-the-art ECM system installed on Jeeps for mobility. It was a very impressive looking system especially when its trailer, containing a "jet engine generator" that powered the entire system, was attached. The Army was very proud of their new system.

As a lead system technician for AEL I was chosen to go to the conference at the Army base in Anzio, Italy to support the demonstration. I flew directly to Washington, DC for my passport as there was no time to wait for one to arrive by mail. The system was complex and it would be necessary for me to take along enough test equipment to resolve any failure that might occur.

I flew to Rome, Italy where I was to stay for a couple of days until the system arrived in Florence. However, the couple of days turned into a couple of weeks. The entire trip would turn out to be quite an education in patience and travel. One cannot comprehend how difficult it is to survive without "language." Some restaurants had English speaking waiters but most did not. Tired of the same food I decided to try a cafeteria. But cafeterias were quite different in Rome. The food was temptingly displayed but you ordered and paid for the food you wanted by its number on the menu board. I could not connect the menu items to the food displayed in the cases. I left hungry.

While in Rome I saw most of the main attractions; the Colosseum, Fountaina di Trevi, the Spanish Steps, the Forum, Castel San Angelo, and Il Vittoriano. What I enjoyed most, though, was to buy a loaf of that delicious bread sold by the street vendors and have it with a glass or two of wine, at 10 cents a glass, in one of the many wine cellars in the city.

When the system finally arrived in Florence, it was picked up by US military personnel and driven to Anzio, Italy, a distance of over 200 miles. However, getting to Anzio on my own would become a nightmare.

The taxi driver spoke no English so I used my handy Berlitz Handbook of English to Italian to tell him that I wanted to go to "Roma Termini." But then I didn't understand what he was saying back to me. Well, I soon figured it out. The driver dropped me off at the airport section and I wanted the train section. Roma Termini is one of the largest terminals in Europe and now I had to navigate my way through the terminal dragging my luggage and test equipment.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I arrived at the train terminal but there were 29 tracks. The departures board did not show any trains going to "Anzio" and my Italian was not good enough start up a conversation. However, there were trains going to Naples and I reasoned that one of those trains might pass through Anzio. I couldn't find a ticket booth where they spoke English so I was forced to try my Italian again. I bought a ticket to Anzio on a train to Naples. Once again, I needed conversational Italian. The ticket agent asked for more money. I argued that I had given him more than enough for the ticket. I think he wanted to return even change because, when I counted my change, it was a couple Lira short. At the time, 400 Lira was equal to $1.

I found the train to Naples but to be safe I began asking the passengers, who were leaning out of the train windows, if this was the train to Anzio. One passenger, after a little confusion by my accent, answered "Oh! Ahn'-she-o, Ahn'-she-o, Si. Si." I climbed aboard.

In those days I smoked and the "smoking cars" were at the rear of the train. I found a seat, lit up and relaxed. However, I only relaxed until the train stopped at the first station. Suddenly I realized I would have no idea when the train got to Anzio. Panic set in and using my Berlitz Handbook again I memorized, in Italian, asking the conductor to let me know when I arrived in Ahn'-she-o.

However, I fell asleep before the conductor arrived. When he awakened me, I was startled but I managed to ask him my question remembering to pronounce it Ahn'-she-o. He answered "Due ore" which by now I knew was 2 hours. I asked him again but he only answered "Due ore." I checked my watch. It was 12:00. I wasn't sure what he meant and I was still very nervous about missing my stop so when two Italian Army officers boarded the train, I asked them if they were going to Ahn'-she-o. One of them spoke English and told me to get off when he did.

At the Anzio train station no one was there to pick me up. I checked my watch. It was two o'clock. Yes, the conductor had told me to get off the train in two hours. I managed to get a taxi to the Anzio Army Base and, after getting settled in, I took a walk on the beach. The beach was beautiful and I was taking pictures. Suddenly, a police officer grabbed me by the arm he dragged me over to a sign that read "No Photographica". He scolded me, took my camera and ripped out the film.

At the Base I was given a room in the officers' quarters and I ate in the officers' mess hall. I discovered that when apples and bananas are served for dessert, Italians eat them using a knife and fork. After embarrassing myself by eating a banana like a monkey, I waited and watched the night cherries were served as dessert. I did not want to be caught biting a cherry off the stem and spitting the cherry pit out. But that was exactly how they ate the cherries!

A U.S. Army officer was assigned as my attaché. He was stationed in Anzio, drove a black Mustang convertible and had an Italian girlfriend. In the evenings we drove into town. The Mustang was always a big hit among the young men out for the evening. The shops were all open in the evening and many people came out to shop at the fish markets that were selling the day's catch. The women all wore dresses. The men wore suits and ties and families pushed their little ones in strollers. As the sun went down, the fish markets closed and they were hosed down, ceiling to floor, before the steel gates to their entrance was closed.

When the Jeep and trailer, with its jet engine generator, arrived at the Base, an immediate problem was discovered. The jet generator used "jet fuel" and the only place that had jet fuel was the Rome airport, an hour away. A group of soldiers was assigned to go to Rome for the fuel. We took a military truck and I was in the back with a few soldiers. The back of the truck was covered by a tarp so I could only see where we had been but I knew the driver took some dirt roads and even drove through some fields to get to Rome and back.

At some point, we stopped for coffee. That's when I learned the Italians serve and drink coffee in a little cup the size of a shot glass. There were no Starbucks or "espressos" in the USA in those days but the coffee they served was what I would call an espresso today. The soldiers warned me about drinking their coffee but I was a coffee freak and I was very happy with my coffee.

The demonstration went on without a hitch but my attaché, who was in charge of the USA demonstration, thought it would be funny to grill a hot dog or roast a marshmallow in the jet blast of our generator. That idea died when I could only find big sausages, no hot dogs. And I discovered it's impossible to describe a marshmallow.

But that is not the end of my travels for AEL in support of this ECM system. The next year I had several business trips. AEL had a new Army contract to install ten "Jeep systems" in two airplanes; five systems in each airplane. There was one trip to San Diego, CA but the installation, testing and training took place near Phoenix, Arizona. Many problems arose ranging from operators getting air-sick to units shutting down when the airplanes banked to the left.

My investigation into the problem showed me that the transmitters were overheating but the Boeing engineers argued that the overheat sensors were faulty and shutting the transmitters down because the plane was banking. The five transmitters generated a lot of heat and Boeing had designed an exhaust system that blew the heat out of the plane with a powerful fan. After a week of testing, they discovered that atmospheric pressure outside the airplane would block that exhaust. I was right. The transmitters were overheating and the sensors did their job. Boeing was not happy. They had to redesign their exhaust system. Imagine if they also had to get new tubes for all the transmitters.

On these business trips I always traveled First Class and had an unlimited expense account. However, during one of trips to Phoenix, AEL had arranged for me to have a compact car. I wasn't happy but the rental car company didn't have a compact car so they gave me a yellow 1967 Plymouth Furry convertible. The convertible wasn't ideal for the hot desert days but one evening we drove it to Mexico. We did not want to take the car across the border so we parked the car and took a cab into Nogales, Mexico.

In the shopping district of Nogales there were many young boys with photos of their "sisters" in cigar boxes. They tried enticing us into paying for sex with the girl by flashing her photo from the cigar box. We weren't buying but someone in our group had the idea to take a cab to a Mexican "red-light" district. The cab fare was very cheap so we went.

We had no idea where the cab dropped us off but the town was disgusting. The bars looked dirty so we were ready to leave without even having a beer. Now, I'm about to learn another lesson in foreign travel. We had no idea what town we were in and it was going to be very, very, very expensive to get a cab back to Nogales. Apparently, the cabbies had a system for tourists. It had been the same in Italy. I once took a twenty-minute cab ride to my hotel in Rome only to find out days later that I had only been four blocks away from my hotel.

After leaving AEL, I moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio, to New Jersey, and back to Pennsylvania following new careers in management. The only business trips were business meetings, usually in Pittsburgh. Upon returning to Philadelphia from one of those trips, it had snowed. A lot of snow. I had trouble finding my car in the long-term parking lot and when I did, I realized my keys were still in my suitcase where I kept them for safe keeping while I was away. I never pulled that trick again.

However, I would travel abroad again on vacations to England and Mexico before deciding to retire in Arizona where I would meet a wonderful lady and, together, we would share 12 cruises and several vacations in Mexico. In all we would visit 145 cities in 44 countries.