Around the World. Week 5 Wrap Up

This week turned out to be a lot of sea days, but that does not mean there are no crazy stories to write about.

Schedule

• Day 29 / February 3: Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Day 30 / February 4: Montevideo, Uruguay

• Day 31 / February 5: At Sea

• Day 32 / February 6: At Sea

• Day 33 / February 7: Port Stanley, Falkland Islands At Sea

• Day 34 / February 8: At Sea

• Day 35 / February 9: Ushuaia, Argentina

Day 29

Day 2 of Buenos Aires and I stayed on the ship. I’ve realized that I don’t enjoy exploring the extra large cities. There are too many people; a lot of them becoming inconvenient statues in the middle of a busy sidewalk often with less than a moment notice. As I write this, I smirk knowing that a lot of you will likely agree with that statement.

Instead, sitting at the bar counter at Baristas (the coffee house), I spent the morning creating the Segment 2 Wrap Up Video. It takes an hour or two to develop, mostly because I have to sort through all of my photos from that timeframe. Also because sitting at the counter in Baristas, a very popular place in the mornings, I end up chatting with many of the other patrons coming in for their caffeine fix. If you are curious about my typical coffee order, I go with either a double cappuccino or the Tortoise Green Chai Latte with Expresso, which is a green tea powder latte with more caffeine added.

Today was disembarkation day for those getting off following Segment 2, which meant the boat was mostly empty for a few hours! Especially since we were still docked and all-aboard wasn’t until almost 7pm. With this in mind, I decided it was the perfect day to spend at the pool, reading and napping. Yes, given the choice between walking down crowded city street in a place I’ve been before in 90+ degree weather vs lazily lounging on a daybed, taking a dip in the chilled pool whenever I get over heated, I will pick the latter. Every time.

From my prior post about the Journey to the World Cruise, you have learned that I’m on a bit of a self-redefining mission while on this trip. And while I am committed to enjoying the full year away from a corporate job, that doesn’t mean I’m not still learning of opportunities and networking with fellow passengers. Today, I met with someone who completely changed their career to follow his passion. Hearing how others managed through similar times helps me weigh different scenarios, so very much appreciated this time.

The evening went as many do - solo traveler meet up, dinner that went late, and up to my room, where I proceeded to sit outside to enjoy the night air, leaving my sliding door open to freshen the cabin. Turns out this was a mistake.

Day 30

I woke up at a ridiculously early pre-dawn hour because something that was said during the discussion yesterday got me thinking and I couldn’t shut my brain down. When this happens, I just need to get up and start writing, letting my brain get all of the thoughts out to reach a resolution and then, it’ll let me go back to sleep.

Now, back to why leaving my door open was a mistake. Using my laptop to journal, it was one of two light sources in the room; the other being a bedside lamp. I kept swatting away a little bug that was buzzing around my screen. Thinking I killed it, I was surprised when it was flittering around again. That’s when I looked up… My ceiling was covered in the little black flies that must have flown in while I was outside the night prior. I’m smart. Not in this moment though. I decided to use my bug spray to kill them. Somehow my sleep deprived brain decided deterrent must also mean exterminate, so I got the big can of OFF from my closet and started sweeping back and forth across the ceiling as I sprayed. Well, guess what? It worked! Mostly. Now my room is almost bug free (after quite a bit of clean up), but the spraying left a residue all over the ceiling. For those of you who have used OFF bug spray, you may be smelling that potent aroma as you read this story. Yeah…I may have gotten a little high from the fumes.  Worst part is that it was hot and humid outside with little wind, meaning I couldn’t open the door again to let fresh air in. Plus those little flies were still hovering outside the door. Even though I couldn’t air out the cabin, I desperately needed to clear the fumes from my brain, so I dashed out on the balcony, closing the door quickly behind me, which is how I got a great photo of the sun rise!

My back-to-sleep effort failed after all that, which ultimately included trying to wipe down the ceiling, so I gave up and called the other LeAnne to go to the port market in search of local empanadas, post cards, and Tennant wine, hoping that when I returned, the air exchange in my cabin would remove that lingering bug spray smell.

I expected the market to be bustling a bit more now that it wasn’t Sunday and was partially correct as we were out too early and shops were just opening up around 10am. Deciding to wait a bit to allow the shopkeepers to get set up, we wandered down to the water and through the neighborhood a bit, but even at 10am, the weather was sweltering. A drastic difference from just a few days prior when we were there last.

The trip ended up successful in that I ate a meat, cheese, and bacon empanada for brunch. Bought a $75 postcard for $73 since that was all that was remaining of my Uruguayan money and picked up three bottles of different variety Tennant wines to try. Hey, we have quite a few sea days ahead, so I needed to prepare for some proper balcony time.

Oh! I found out why we had to come back to Montevideo and why it’s such an odd part of the cruise itinerary! In case you were also curious about us backtracking. Apparently because of the war for Falkland Islands between Argentina and British, ships tend to be turned away if their last port was in Argentina. With Montevideo just up the coast in Uruguay, coming back somehow resets our port records so when we get to Falkland Islands, we’re accepted.

The rest of the evening went like usual - Captain’s Welcome Cocktail Celebration, dinner at the Grand Dining Hall, and finished with a Tango Show!

Day 31

Sea Day! I’d love to say this meant that I slept in, but I was awake by 5am, which means the forecast for today includes a nap! I lounged in my room until almost 10:30am; then headed upstairs to get some coffee. While I was working on my January photo album (yep, yet another format to document this trip), the internet went down. I didn’t realize it at first because I thought it was just being extra horrible on the sea day. Without internet, I grabbed a quick lunch and found one of those big, round lounge chairs to read. It started raining. Back to my room I went for the rest of the afternoon to read and snooze. Once I finished my book and couldn’t seem to sleep any longer, I decided it was time to go pick up a Sudoko page of the day from the Atrium and maybe chat with other passengers if they were about. Well, I lucked out that someone I wanted to message to meet up (remember the internet being down) was by the Sudoko pickup spot! A few hours later, it was time to dress for dinner! Who knew I was such a talker before getting on the ship?!

My reservation was at Polo Grill, the steakhouse onboard, so naturally, I had seafood. My dining companions were both couples that I knew already, but they had not met each other. When I wander the ship, I am consistently surprised when I see people I know sitting with each other. Not quite sure why it’s so astonishing as it is a small ship and limited number of people; just sharing an observation. As we’re only a few days into this segment, there are about 600 new passengers that I haven’t met (yet!).

Post dinner activity was to listen to the Piano Man David since it was supposed to be Country night and I was optimistic that I would know all of the songs as compared to when he performs songs from my pre-birth era. On my way there, I got side tracked, talking with some other passengers (Yes, there’s a trend of this) and by the time I entered the lounge area, he was already moving on to non-country songs as apparently there was a vote with the audience. Thankfully, he did throw in a few more country songs within the next bit and aligning with my assumption, I knew most of them!

Continuing with my anti-social mentality from earlier in the day, I skipped trying to find a seat at the night show and went to sit on my balcony for a bit before bed. Well, that wasn’t going to happen as the winds and the rain had picked up significantly, requiring our outdoor cushions brought in! With that said, I still stayed out for a bit to get some pictures and videos of the wave swells.

Day 32

Another sea day! Started much like the prior day ended, with a wobbly ship. Not the gentle rocking back and forth, but shuttering and shaking, things clinging and clanking, which makes it very hard to stay asleep. Again, at 5am, I gave up. Insanely, deciding to go out on my balcony to get some pictures and videos of the wave swells as the sun rose. The experience included blasts of winds throwing salt water all about me, waves continuing to seemingly toss the boat about creating unsteady video captures, and a very pretty sunrise, as you can see.

Sometime around noon, the Captain came across the intercom to give the mid-day weather update and confirmed that we were going to miss the Falkland Islands stop the following day due to high waves and winds in the area. A few days prior, chatting with a fellow passenger, he confirmed that the likelihood of a cruise ship actually getting to port there is less than 40%, so my expectations were assuming that we wouldn’t go. However, it was still disappointing as it’s a primary location to see PENGUINS! I have one other stop coming up with an excursion that is supposed to have penguin viewings, so fingers crossed that we are able to do that activity in a few days time.

The rest of the day I worked on my January Shutterfly book. In preparation for this trip, I did a lot of upfront planning (surprised?!) to lessen the amount of time I spend documenting while on the ship. One of those prep activities was to create the photo albums (minus the photos) ahead of time, which included deciding on themes, embellishments, backgrounds, etc. with the layout following the planned itinerary for the cruise. Because of the length of the trip, I decided to separate the books by month, which allows me to keep up throughout instead of waiting to try to remember all these details and collect all the photos at the very end. If you want to see the book, it’s located here (https://www.shutterfly.com/share-product/?shareid=9d7583ed-6f59-4626-99cd-ed507ae76f11&cid=SHARPRDWEBMPRLNK).

Evening went about like the other sea days - long dinner at the Grand Dining Room followed by listening to music at Martini’s. This was performed by the Vista Show Band. Apparently, Piano Man David had the day off, but he was there listening, so got to chat with him for a bit.

Day 33

Well, no penguins today as mentioned for Day 32. Still waking up around 5am, I decided to do  laundry as soon as it opened at 7am. Finishing that task by 9am, I was debating my options for the day as I had committed to taking the day off from the laptop. Assuming my lack of sleep was correlated to lack of activity, I popped in my ear buds to listen to an audiobook and just started walking. With the outside, upper decks closed due to the weather, the chosen route became across the public deck 6, up the forward stairs to deck 15, down the stairs to deck 6, across to the aft (back) stairs, up to deck 14, down to deck 6, repeat, repeat, repeat… Sounds exhausting, which was the intention, but what I didn’t add to this description was the amount of times I stopped to talk to others. At one point, another of the solo passengers was walking with me and commented that it’s like being with the Mayor.

Even though my goal was to stay awake to ensure sleeping longer than 5 hours that night, I napped in the afternoon. It was one of those naps where even when your alarm goes off, you just cannot physically lift your head, let alone get up, but after a deep 2-hour sleep, I forced myself to shower and get moving with little hope at this point of getting a full night sleep.

The Assistant Cruise Director, Robbie, performed the pre-dinner entertainment. Through song, he took us on a journey through different stories of his life. Because he’s from Scotland, he wrapped up with a selection of pieces from his homeland. Surprisingly, I knew some of the songs! One day, someone should write a dissertation about my musical knowledge as there really seems to be no rhyme or reason to what genres or songs I remember.

For dinner, I went to the Terrace Grill (buffet) since they advertised the Chef’s Market special being English food. I was curious if it was going to be more than soggy beans and peas. It was indeed! They also had fish and chips! Okay, to be fair, they had quite a selection of pie, including Shepards Pie, Chicken Pot Pie, Seafood Pie, Vegetarian Pie. Turns out, while I didn’t find it before filling my plate, they also had quite a selection of Indian-inspired English food, such as curried chicken.

The plan was to have a quick dinner and finish listening to my audiobook before going to hear David at the piano. Well, I got to talking (I know, you’re not surprised at this anymore) and didn’t leave the restaurant until after they closed the buffet down. Knowing David was on a break for a bit, I still headed to Martini’s to edit photos from Robbie’s early show and listen to the rest of my book. Upon arrival, there were some folks that I hadn’t seen for a few days, so I sat down to catch up. Sometime around 11pm, when the music was finished for the night, I still had not edited photos nor finished my book, so headed back to the cabin for a bit of Wining Down. I got a bit distracted with the AI trend of having ChatGPT generate your caricature based on what it knows about you and your job. The first graphic it created was hilarious! I asked it if it knew how old I was. After it confirmed that the image was meant to represent a 40-41 year old, I uploaded a selfie and asked it to try again. The second image was much closer!

While the ChatGPT was doing it’s thing, I finally finished editing photos and listening to my book.

Day 34

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!

Good news! I slept almost 8 hours! While I still woke up at 5am, apparently there was nothing more important to my brain than getting more sleep today (finally!).

On my way to grab coffee and catch up on journaling, I ran into another passenger who is fantastic at choosing excursions and very knowledgeable about different ports. She had previously mentioned that when we get to Lima, Peru, I should not plan to be alone at any point in that city. This was unfortunate because I got a letter to my stateroom that my planned excursion for that location had been modified, removing the visits to the museums, resulting in basically taking a bus to the center of the city, staying there for an hour, and returning to port. When I ran into her, I asked what she was doing in Lima since I was evaluating my options at that point and she confirmed that she was also planning to exchange her tickets because she received the same letter. After chatting for a bit, her with a physical guidebook and me with my Google Maps, we decided on which excursion to swap to. I’ll let you know in a week or so about the experience as we’ll be in Lima on February 21.

Debated about writing about this, but had already decided I’d report on the Ups and (literal) Downs of this trip. (This story may not surprise those of you who have known me for a while though.) Alright, so I started the evening at the Tailgate party for the Super Bowl up at the Horizons lounge. My plan was to be fashionably late to avoid waiting in line for the buffet. Upon arrival, I noticed that they had not even opened the food line yet. Once it was opened, the line formed quickly, wrapping around the lounge. With that, I figured it was worth going to eat an actual meal at the Terrace Cafe (buffet) and come back later to watch the game and hang out. The quickest way to the Cafe is to cross Deck 14 (outside) and go down one flight of stairs. I carefully crossed the wet and windy Deck 14, turned to go down the stairs, caught my shoe on the edge of a step, rolled my ankle, which means that my other knee will buckle in response and I go down. Down a few steps. SLAM. BUMP. BUMP. It happened so quickly. Now, normally, this event results in me passing out, so I instantly righted myself and sat on the steps with my head down to wait for whatever came next. Thankfully, my ears just buzzed, but held on to consciousness. Giving up on dinner, I beelined to my cabin to do the heads, shoulders, knees, and toes check. I expect some swelling and bruises for the next few days, but nothing is broken or sprained.

I did go back to Terrace to grab a quick bite to eat, but decided to just hang out in my cabin the rest of the night with my ankle elevated to (hopefully) reduce chance of future injury.

Day 35

As you may have assumed after taking the express route down the stair last night, today was a bit slow and steady as I wandered through Ushuaia. My initial plan was to go to the Southern-most Post Office at the National Park to send my niece and nephews postcards, but found out it has permanently closed. Instead, I went to the nearby souvenir shop to do the same. Once my missions of postcards, magnet, and chocolate were complete, I started looking for some good photo opportunities. Thinking there would be some better shots downwards over the bay from further up the hillside, I climbed and climbed, very carefully. While my gamble didn’t quite pay off as there were a lot of large structures and houses in the way, it was a nice walk with calm winds and bright sunshine. After a bit, I happened upon a park that had a nice stairway back down to the main streets. From there, I could see the bay, the cruise ship, and the Ushuaia sign. I rested a bit on one of the platforms, waiting for the sign to clear of all the people in front of it. One tour bus after another, I gave up and decided I might use AI to delete the people later. Continuing down the stairs, I made my way to the sign where I was able to get a few quick pictures without people.

Remembering that I could get a certificate from the Tourist Information Office to document my visit, that became my next stop. Although, the winds were picking up, the walk along the water was pretty peaceful and photographic. Once I got to the office, I secured my validated documents. This is a very official process. You go to the desk, ask for the certificate, and they just hand it to you. Then, you go to the stamp desk and stamp it yourself. Like I said, very official.

Once that business was complete, my next mission was local food! Someone recommended eating crab here. Using my handy, dandy Google Maps, I decided the place for me was Kuar 1900. Not only does it have high ratings, but it was not too far from where I already was standing. Argentina speaks Spanish, so I was (mostly) able to communicate clearly my order of Lamb Empanadas and King Crab Appetizers. Both were very delicious! If you’re ever in the area, I echo the Google reviews!

I decided to call it a day after that, given sitting for a longer period of time resulted in all the injured body parts stiffening up.

Now, when I say call it a day, after trudging over 6 miles and the equivalent of climbing 24 flights of stairs, on bad ankles, bruised ribs, and strained shoulders (yeah…), what I really mean is go back to the ship to get ready to start the photo journey through the Beagle Channel, which promised glaciers and unimaginable scenery.

Over 5 hours later, I’m finally relaxing in my cabin, after a nice hot shower and pizza!

Here’s to Week 6! Fingers-crossed that we’ll get to see Penguins!!

#2026aroundtheworldcruise