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Ahmet Erkun
Ahmet Erkun

Ahmet Erkun

traveled in 75 countries Read more
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  • Adventuring Down Under
    Our liveaboard boat will be the Ocean Quest.

    GBR Liveaboard ✔️

    August 21, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 91 °F

    Mui loves snorkeling.

    So, of course, he’s going to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef [GBR] when Regatta call on Cairns in December … as he did when Insignia stopped there on RTW2017.

    But a day trip out to the GBR is not all that he will be doing on our Australia adventure. No, this time we’ll be doing a “liveaboard” as well. What that means is that we’ll be staying a couple of nights on a boat anchored at the GBR rather than going back and forth on day trips so that Mui can get his snorkeling fix.

    What will I do while he’s snorkeling? Why relax on board the boat, of course. A little reading … a little writing … a little photography … a little doing nothing. And who knows, maybe Mui will convince me to get in the water, too! (I wouldn’t hold my breath on that if I were you 🤔.)    Read more

  • Adventuring Down Under
    We get to travel in comfort through the Red Center of Australia.

    The Ghan Booked

    August 19, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 93 °F

    The Ghan — which runs through the “Red Center” of Australia — is regarded as one of the world’s greatest train journeys.

    Alas, it was another thing that we were going to have to exclude from our plans due to timing issues. It wasn’t “the wet” that was a problem for The Ghan. It was the heat … just too hot to run the train during the height of summer.

    But then we extended our trip to include April. And suddenly the train journey became feasible to include in our plans.

    Instead of booking the 3-day/2-night trip, we booked the 4-day/3 night expedition because the itinerary includes a couple of fun and important-to-us off-train events … and only on departures out of Darwin and not out of Adelaide.

    Thus, we are now booked on another Australian train journey. And unlike on the IP [Indian Pacific] trip, Mui and I will share a gold-premium twin cabin on The Ghan.

    P.S. For those eagle-eyed readers who might notice the optional upgrade shown on the map to include Uluru … we won’t be doing it. A day trip would not only be incredibly tiring but also not a good cost-benefit value (for us). Instead, we have some other ideas we’re pursuing to visit that iconic landmark, which has great cultural significance to the traditional owners of the land.    Read more

  • Adventuring Down Under
    Exploring the Kimberleys by sea.

    Kimberleys by Sea

    August 18, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 93 °F

    Exploring the Kimberleys, the northernmost region of Australia, was one of the things we had to exclude from our original itinerary due to timing.

    It wasn’t that we didn’t have time to add it to our plans. Rather, the area is difficult to navigate during the wet season, so tours and such don’t operate until later in the year. We considered flying in, but even that proved to be logistically difficult.

    When we added the entire month of April to our plans, however, we looked at our options for the Kimberleys again. Land tours were still outside of our time range, but cruises were not.

    After doing a bit of research we settled on Coral Expeditions, an Australia-based company that comes highly recommended. That they have smaller ships than companies like Le Ponant, Seabourn, and Silversea was a bonus.

    With the operator selected, our next decision was to pick an itinerary and ship.

    First, we limited our options in April to the 72-passenger Coral Discoverer, the smaller of the two vessels sailing during our time frame. Then we decided to sail from Darwin to Broome instead of vice-versa.

    And voilà. We are booked!    Read more

  • Adventuring Down Under
    One more extension ... the overland is now just over 3 months.

    Extended … Again!

    August 17, 2023 in the United States

    Yes, we decided to add more time to our Australia Overland … again!

    The primary reason for extending was so that we could add a few things to our itinerary that our previous in-country dates were forcing us to exclude from our plans. But I’ll write about those additions once the details are worked out.

    I should note that there was one other reason for considering the extension. Mui’s been saying that there will be a lot of driving without much downtime. That is simply not our style.

    As things stand now, between the pre-cruise in Sydney + the AusPan circumnavigation + the overland, our trip will be a total of 138 days … not counting the travel days to/from Australia. This is still way short of our 6-month Australia visa, but if we extended any further, we’d have to give up our RV trip in the USA next year … which we don’t want to do.

    Instead of canceling and rebooking all of our flight arrangements, which would have cost considerably more, we simply changed our return. Making the change was easy peasy and only cost us $4.50. What a bargain!!!    Read more

  • Adventuring Down Under
    Got our visas!

    Australia Visas Approved

    August 16, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 91 °F

    So much for a 22-day processing time frame!

    We received our visas within three working days.

    I don’t know if this faster approval is just the norm for US residents. Or if all the extra information we provided regarding dates and such made a difference. Regardless of the reason, we’re delighted to have this all-important step behind us.Read more

  • Adventuring Down Under
    Got to get the formalities taken care of.

    AU Visa Applications ✔️

    August 12, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 77 °F

    Received a UA flight change notification today. No big deal; except that we are now leaving from COS @ 7:40a. An already long travel day is now going to be even longer. It is what it is.

    For some reason, the notification prompted us to check the length of our stay. Turns out that between our 7-day pre-cruise stay in Sydney + our 35-day AusPan + our 58-day overland, we are going to exceed the 90-day limit for the Australian ETA [Electronic Travel Authorization]. Darn!

    So, this afternoon we applied for the Australian tourist (subclass 600) visa. We requested multi-entry for up to 6 months. There is a higher cost to this visa vs the ETA. But it is what it is … the cost of travel.

    The funny thing is that although today is the 12th here at home, ImmiAccounts — the online portal for visa applications — is showing the date as the 13th. That IDL [International Date Line] thing at play again.

    According to the website, 90% of the applications are processed within 22 days. Fingers crossed as we wait to hear back.

    In the meantime, at least we know that we will not have to go through a mandatory health screening prior to getting our approval. And perhaps the best news? The visa will be attached digitally to our passports, so we won’t have to send them in for processing.    Read more

  • Adventuring Down Under
    The Indian Pacific ... Perth to Sydney will be our direction.

    IP Booked

    July 27, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 88 °F

    Grif’s Great Australian Rail Trip was our inspiration.

    Actually, we had looked at booking a rail journey in Australia before we watched the six-episode BBC series. But, we weren’t looking at the route that travels between Sydney and Perth. Rather, we were interested in the Great Southern … between Brisbane and Adelaide; and The Ghan … through Australia’s Red Center.

    After watching the series, however, we decided to take a look at the Indian Pacific … the "IP" in the title of this footprint. This train service is so named because it travels from sea to sea … or rather, from ocean to ocean. Yes, that would be the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

    The Journey Beyond Rail [JBR] website describes the train journey as … “This famous transcontinental crossing will take you through the country’s arid deserts and goldfields, rocky valleys and lush mountains and, ultimately, to three capital cities.”

    It all sounded fantastic, but we almost decided against booking the IP. Why? Because the only accommodations available — in either direction during our time in Australia — were gold single cabins … with shared facilities. In the end, we decided we could live with separate accommodations and shared facilities for three nights and four days.

    This booking accomplished something we’ve been struggling to do thus far. It helped us to figure out a loose itinerary for the overland portion of our time in Australia. Not that the details are fleshed out, mind you. We’ll work on those in the weeks and months ahead.    Read more

  • Adventuring Down Under
    Our third itinerary change ... add a port/remove a port.

    Itinerary Change #3

    July 20, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    Just before the final payment reminder from Oceania showed up in my inbox this morning, I received notification of an itinerary change … the third one since booking our extended voyage a year ago to the day!

    What was to have been a day at sea on 28 December has been replaced by Cooktown, which we missed in 2017 due to weather. The 29th is now a day at sea … thus eliminating Thursday Island.

    We’ll consider adding Thursday Island to our yet-to-be-finessed overland itinerary if we decide to head up north … even though it will still be the rainy season thereabouts.

    As for Cooktown, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that we make it into port this time. I’ll check my research notes for RTW2017 to see what we might want to do there.    Read more

  • Adventuring Down Under
    Added a month to our Australia overland.

    Extended!

    July 19, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    It took just 20 pages of reading this morning to jiggle our Australia plans.

    Yesterday, I downloaded an Australia eGuide from the library since neither Mui nor I have been able to find the one I purchased a few years ago. The file has seemingly up and vanished into the ether. Oh well.

    With a lovely morning inviting me to sit on the deck and read, I did just that. I didn’t get far in my reading, however, as it quickly became apparent that giving ourselves just a month to travel around Australia after disembarking Regatta was a mistake. The country/continent is huge and it takes time to get from one place to another. I mentioned my thinking to Mui. Before I could recommend that we extend the trip, he made the suggestion that we do so. Good to be on the same “travel page.”

    Deciding to extend the trip was easy. But that meant we had some logistics to re-think as well. Namely, our air arrangements.

    As it turns out, canceling and rebooking the flights was easy, too.

    In a matter of minutes after clicking the cancel button, the cost of the tickets was in Mui’s Mileage Plus account as a future flight credit. No penalties. No mess. No fuss.

    It was then just a matter of minutes to rebook our airfare using the future flight credit. Same 12 December departure from the US. But moving the return out by a month to 24 March.    Read more

  • TA HAL Oosterdam 2023
    We now have somewhere comfortable to wait for our flight.

    FLL-DEN Re-Ticketed

    July 19, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    This morning, we re-ticketed our return flights to the USA in order to extend our time in Australia next winter. The good news? The ticket price was lower. The sort-of bad news, the difference was given to us as a future flight credit with a travel-must-commence-by date of April 2024.

    My first thought was to use the flight credit to upgrade our FLL-DEN flight in November. I initiated a chat with UA and asked if we could do so. The answer? Doable … with a caveat. The cost of the upgrade had to be equal to or less than the value of the flight credit. After the agent delved into our booking, he came back with a final “no can do” … not enough credit.

    To the drawing board I went back. Our existing booking was E+ [Economy Plus] award tickets. Could I possibly cancel it at no cost to the wallet and rebook for cash + future credit certificate? The short answer ... yes.

    The miles for the original tickets are now redeposited in Mui's Mileage Plus account, and the taxes & fees and the E+ bundle refund back to the credit card is pending.

    As for the new booking. Same flights as before ... same E+ upgrade ... same exit row seats. With the bonus of a UA Lounge Pass add-on so that we can comfortably while away the long wait time between disembarking Oosterdam and our flight departure at 3:45p.

    All good ... with only a few dollars and cents of the future flight credit remaining on the table. We can live with that.    Read more

  • TA HAL Oosterdam 2023
    We'll be embarking Oosterdam in İstanbul instead of Pireaus.

    İstanbul Embarkation ✓

    July 16, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 90 °F

    When I was repricing this cruise yesterday, I also requested a change to our embarkation port.

    Though we were told yesterday that we could expect a response within 3-5 business days, HAL’s approval of our request to board Oosterdam in İstanbul, Türkiye instead of Piraeus, Greece came today. On a Sunday, no less. With a letter that we can show the authorities should proof of the authorization be needed.

    The embarkation change means missing out on the daytime transit through the Dardanelles. But we've done this before, so it is no great loss to us. Since we'll be in İzmir in the weeks preceding the cruise, flying to İstanbul will be much easier and worth missing the day of cruising to board Oosterdam that afternoon. The bonus is that we will get to spend a few extra days with family before we leave for the cruise back home.

    Now we just need to decide if we are going to fly up the day before to do some sightseeing in İstanbul in advance of our embarkation. Or if we are going to fly up on the morning of 21 October ... the day of embarkation.

    Either way, methinks there will be a stop or two at Hafız Mustafa's Galataport shop for baklava and künefe.    Read more

  • TA HAL Oosterdam 2023
    Saving money is always a bonus.

    Cha Ching! TransAtlantic Repriced

    July 15, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    I almost didn’t check the current pricing on the HAL website today.
    And what a shame that would have been!

    In the interim since I last checked, the rate for our cabin category had gone down considerably ... four digits considerably!

    My call to HAL to get the cabin repriced had to be forwarded to a pricing specialist since our booking has a non-refundable deposit. It was worth the extra wait time to do so.

    I was given two options ... price reduction or upgrade to a Neptune Suite at no extra charge. At any other time, I would have jumped at the chance to upgrade. However, we have a number of expensive trips coming up in the very near future. Saving money by staying in our current Signature Suite category was more wallet-friendly in this instance.

    The additional good news is that as well as saving a very satisfying amount of money, I was able to move us from SS6062 to SS6052, which has a larger veranda. Always a plus IMHO.    Read more

  • TA HAL Oosterdam 2023
    We lose Sete, France and gain an overnight in Barcelona, Spain.

    Itinerary Revision #1

    July 14, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 81 °F

    When I saw the HAL change notification email in my inbox this morning, my heart sank.

    Why? Because the first thing that came to my mind was the change Sonia & Boris experienced when they did this same cruise last year. Essentially, disembarkation from Oosterdam was switched from Ft Lauderdale to Miami.

    Technically, this change would not be a biggie. The two cities are not that far apart. But we’d have to deal with either an airport change from FLL to MIA or figure out transportation to get from Miami to Ft Lauderdale to fly out as currently planned.

    The good news is that our debarkation port remains as Ft Lauderdale. The change is actually to one of our ports of call.

    Turns out that we will not be calling on Sete, France, which would have been a new-to-us port. Instead, we will be arriving in Barcelona around noon on 31 October and staying overnight for a second day in port.

    Works for us. There’s so much we can do in Barcelona. And with an overnight, we could even venture somewhere outside the city. We’ll look at options when we sit down to figure out our sightseeing plans for this cruise.    Read more

  • RTW Redux ... 2023
    The LF shipment is on its way.

    LF Picked Up & On the Way

    July 14, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 82 °F

    Because we left Insignia before the official disembarkation day of 13 July, our Luggage Forward shipment remained in the cabin for handling by the ship's crew and the LF rep who joined us in Alaska to coordinate the service.

    Last night, I received a notification that our bags had been picked up from Insignia as scheduled. The tracker, when I checked this morning, is showing that the shipment has already arrived in Sparks, Nevada.

    Delivery of our bags is now expected on or around the 18th ... earlier than the originally scheduled date of the 24th!

    That's a good thing. The sooner I can unpack the bags, the sooner I can start repacking for our next travel adventure 😉    Read more

  • TA HAL Oosterdam 2023

    FLL-DEN Schedule Change

    July 13, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 86 °F

    I wrote the last footprint for this trip at the front end of our world cruise. That was on New Year's Eve.

    Here we are ... 7½ months later ... and I am writing this footprint on the day that our world cruise officially ended in San Francisco. Having disembarked a day early when the ship first arrived in port, however, we are already home ... and dealing with a flight change for our next cruise.

    We received the change notification this morning. Can’t say that I am pleased with it!

    What’s another half hour waiting at the airport you might ask? Really, it's not a big deal. But when your ship arrives in port at the crack of dawn ... and you have to disembark by 9:30a ... and your flight isn’t until mid-afternoon. Well, that half hour just feels like a long time.

    I did a deep dive into alternate flight options — both airlines and airports. The conclusion? Even with the revised schedule, our current flight is still the best one for us. So, we gritted our teeth and accepted the change.

    I heartily wish now that we’d kept our UA Lounge passes for this trip instead of using them yesterday in San Francisco. But it is what it is and we will deal with it.    Read more

  • RTW Redux ... 2023
    Bye bye Insignia — Pier 27 ... San Francisco, California.
    Settled in at the United Lounge at SFO — San Francisco, California.At the United Lounge @ SFO — San Francisco, California.Breakfast at the United Lounge — San Francisco, California.2My "office" aboard UA1823 — Somewhere between SFO and DEN.The distinctive roofline of the Jeppesen Terminal leaves no doubt that we are at DEN.1A rainbow greets us on the way home — Colorado.

    Back Home Travel Day

    July 12, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 75 °F

    There's nothing better than having a smooth travel day following a grand travel adventure.

    With very few passengers skipping the overnight in San Francisco and leaving the ship this morning, we had an easy-peasy disembarkation. In fact, we were first off Insignia when the authorities cleared the ship at 9:00a. And the only ones carrying off luggage ... two checked bags and two carry-ons ... the rest will be delivered as part of the RTW luggage pick-up/delivery service through Luggage Forward.

    Our good luck continued with a no-wait Uber pick-up across the street from Pier 27. By 9:15a, we were on our way to the airport. Thirty minutes later we were getting off at Terminal 3 at SFO. Having checked in for our flight yesterday, all we had to do was to follow United's instructions to go to the bag drop shortcut to check our two bags. By 10:00a, we were ensconced in comfortable seats at the UA Lounge.

    We had approximately four hours to kill before our flight to DEN. What with checking messages, handling a few quick to-do items, journaling, and reading, the wait time flew by. Before we knew it, we were on our way to gate F3 to board our flight.

    UA 1823 was about 15 minutes late getting in the air. But even with the delay, our otherwise smooth flight landed at DEN 30 minutes early ... with no wait for our assigned gate to be cleared so that we could deplane.

    Because we opted to stretch our legs and walk to baggage claim in the Jeppesen Terminal, our bags were already on the carousel when we arrived to pick them up. Then a quick shuttle ride to the Avis counter to pick up our rental car.

    Here's where we ran into a small glitch. The line snaking around at Avis was 5 deep and the wait time was long. Mui quickly fixed that problem by signing up for Avis Preferred and linking our reservation to the program. Leaving the line, he went to the Preferred desk to get our assigned car. No more than 10 minutes later, the bags stowed in the trunk, we were leaving the airport.

    The drive home was smooth. We pulled into the driveway before 8:00p.

    A long, but smooth travel day behind us, we settled down to relax. Chores can wait until tomorrow.    Read more

  • RTW Redux ... 2023
    It's time to bid farewell to Insignia.

    C’est Fini!

    July 12, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    It’s finished!

    213 days after embarking Insignia, today we bid our floating home farewell at Pier 27 in San Francisco, California.

    Our adventure included a couple of days in Miami, Florida before embarking Insignia … an 11-day Caribbean precursor to RTW2023 … an 18-day Miami to San Francisco segment bundled with RTW2023 … and the 180-day SF-to-SF RTW2023.

    Here’s to living the moment and looking forward to continued adventures.    Read more

  • RTW Redux ... 2023
    Here comes the pilot — San Francisco, California.

    The Last Pilot Boat

    July 12, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 52 °F

    Here comes the pilot to take us into San Francisco … for the last sail in of RTW2023.

    Will we see the Golden Gate Bridge? We’ll have to see if the weather cooperates.

    For the moment at least, San Fran looks like she’s ready to repeat the welcome she extended the world cruisers when we embarked on the 180-day voyage back on 15 January … foggy and wet!Read more

  • RTW Redux ... 2023
    Lunch with friends — Aboard Insignia.
    Dinner with friends — Aboard Insignia.

    At Sea

    July 11, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ 🌬 55 °F

    Our last full day on Insignia!

    Although the ship is overnighting in San Francisco after it arrives tomorrow morning and disembarking the world cruisers on 13 July, Mui and I will be flying home tomorrow.

    Like the song says … it’s time to say goodbye. But we don’t like to use that word. Instead, today was a bittersweet day of bidding friends — old and new … staff, crew, and passengers alike — “until we meet again.”

    Where one wonderful adventure ends, a new one is bound to follow.    Read more

  • RTW Redux ... 2023
    Captain Zuzic leads the parade of staff and crew — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.
    Staff and Crew join passengers on the pool deck — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.Laura and Keenan performing at the party — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.Taking the plunge — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.They are in the water — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.It's a wet party — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.Production cast and the Insignia Band in the pool — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.The ladies of the production cast — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.Illia photobombs our selfie — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.Making memories with the production cast — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.CD Ray joins in for a photo op — Aboard Insignia in Astoria, OR.

    An End of the World Tradition

    July 10, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 59 °F

    The End of the World Sail Away Crew/Guest Party is a fun tradition. It is held as the ship leaves the last port of call prior to arrival in the debarkation port.

    Today’s event was emceed by CD Ray, who returned to Insignia not as the cruise director, but specifically to coordinate and oversee the last of the events organized for RTW passengers.

    This grand finale of the voyage was held on the pool deck. There was music and dancing to kick things off. Then, Captain Zuzic led the officers and crew representatives from each department on a parade around the top decks. More music and dancing followed … this time with the crew joining in.

    As Insignia slowly left it’s berth in Astoria, the fun times were wrapped up with CD Ray and the production cast taking the traditional plunge into the pool … joined by several of the passengers who had come prepared to do so as well.

    A grand time was had by all … lots of laughter, and dare I say … a few bittersweet tears. Just three more days to go for those disembarking in San Francisco on 13 July.    Read more

  • RTW Redux ... 2023
    Mural of the Astoria Tower — Astoria, Oregon.
    Along the River Walk — Astoria, Oregon.Garden of Surging Waves celebrates the city's Chinese Heritage — Astoria, Oregon.Sculpture at the Garden of Surging Waves — Astoria, Oregon.Rain sprinkled flowers — Astoria, Oregon.The Astoria Column — Astoria, Oregon.Detail from the Astoria Column — Astoria, Oregon.Detail from the Astoria Column — Astoria, Oregon.Columbia River — Astoria, Oregon.Astoria-Megler Bridge ... the longest continuous truss bridge in North America — Astoria, Oregon.Pop of color on an overcast, drizzly day — Astoria, Oregon.

    Astoria, Oregon

    July 10, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 61 °F

    New-to-us port #65.

    After the pilot was air-dropped onto Insignia this morning, we made our way up the Columbia River to our last port of call before the world cruise comes to an end in San Francisco. The river was socked in by fog, so no scenic views to enjoy.

    The day was, in fact, mostly overcast with on and off drizzly rain … especially when we gained some elevation in our quest to see the Astoria Column. Around mid-afternoon the skies brightened quite a bit while we were walking back to Insignia.

    The first item on our agenda today was to go to the post office to ship a few odd-shaped boxes instead of dealing with them ourselves on the flight back home. To that end, as soon as we completed the immigration process by meeting with the US CBP officials who came aboard the ship, we hopped on the shuttle and went into town. As luck would have it, the post office was just two short blocks from the shuttle drop off location. Even better, we were the only ones at the post office so we didn’t have to queue up.

    Then we went off to do a little exploring. Although this is a new-to-us port, we had already decided to leave the real sightseeing for when we return to Oregon in our RV. That’s not to say we did nothing. We walked along the riverfront for a bit, then climbed up to the top of the hill where the Astoria Column sits.

    The concrete column was built in 1926 to “celebrate the discovery, exploration, and settlement of the West.” Over the years, it has been painted with scenes depicting the history of the area from before the explorers arrived to when the railroad was built. It is 125 feet high. Climbing to the top is free if you are willing to tackle the 164 steps it takes to do so. We were willing, but the scenery lay below the cloud layer, and everything was shrouded, so we decided to leave that for next time.

    12,000 steps later, we were back down at the river level. We were starving after all the cardio exercise we got climbing up to the top of the hill. We figured we had earned a meal at the all-day breakfast place — Pig ‘n Pancake — which came highly recommended by our friend CD Ray. Mui was delighted with his Dungeness crab omelette and I enjoyed the sourdough pecan pancakes … the fluffiest I have ever eaten.

    We returned to the ship on foot to burn off some of the calories 😉    Read more

  • RTW Redux ... 2023
    Pilot being air-dropped!

    Air-Dropped!

    July 10, 2023, North Pacific Ocean ⋅ ☁️ 57 °F

    And this is how the pilot came aboard this morning around 7:30a to guide us up the river to Astoria, Oregon.

    We’ve seen this with medical evacuations of course, but it’s the first time seeing the pilot air-dropped like this in more than 20 years of cruising.Read more

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