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Just over 48h until liftoff. Had to chat online with Singapore Airlines this morning, because the website was being wonky, but I got the meal choices that we wanted. Tonight after work we decided to pack our suitcases. Dora protested vigorously. We'll miss her. Unless she manages to sneak into the suitcases tonight. We're going to check our bags this trip, because we're bringing a few gallons of sunscreen. It goes against my principles but it will be easier to deal. Now, what are we forgetting? Better remember soon, or we'll have to buy it.

That does look good! I've only seen that blend of Riesling and Gewurztraminer in the Finger Lakes, and very rarely at that.

T-3 days. The piles of clothing have made an appearance on our dressers. Lots of laundry. Time to figure out what to wear on the airplane! And to choose our three meals from the extensive menu. This has been fully booked since we started looking at tours for this sailing. I guess we'll have to come back for that!

Sunday night and our flight leaves almost exactly 100 hours from now. Here I am, sitting at the computer instead of packing. I was supposed to get some of that done this weekend but I was unexpectedly out of town on Friday, and we had a long-planned dinner event at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America, not in Washington DC) last night, so I've got absolutely nothing done. Luckily this is a warm-weather expedition cruise so I can throw some casual clothes in a suitcase and go from there. And I'll probably check our bags - not because they will be too big, but because we'll be bringing a whole lot more than 3oz of sunscreen. This will be our third trip to Australia, but our first to this region - the unique, rugged, isolated, northwest area of Australia called the Kimberley. I first read about this fascinating part of the world more than 20 years ago, and I've wanted to visit ever since! Even though it's winter there it will be quite warm - though the forecast looks relatively pleasant with nothing higher than 85 degrees for the next 10 days. We'll see! We're flying on the world's longest flight (currently) from JFK to Singapore, leaving on Thursday night, arriving in Singapore Saturday morning, and then proceeding on to Darwin where we'll arrive on Saturday afternoon. There will be no Friday for us next week. I wonder how we will keep our seven year Duolingo streaks alive with this crazy time warp? After all of that crazy travel across 12 time zones, we embark on Sunday, and we celebrate our 29th anniversary on board the following Monday. We might be awake. But even if we're not, we'll be enjoying our upgrade to a Silver Suite, so all will be good. We've never done a flight this long although we've come close with JFK-Seoul and ATL-Johannesburg. This flight is so long that we get three meals, and the inflight menus look great. I've heard lots of good things about Singapore Air and we're excited to experience this for ourselves. And to add to the excitement, the night of June 6th is supposed to have a powerful solar storm, so the aurora might be more intense than usual. Will we see the aurora from the air as we fly over the North Pole? That would be the icing on the cake. Enough procrastinating for now - I need to go mix up a G&T or two for packing purposes, and get to work. More to come.

Feel better soon, Lois. Is your cruise really over so quickly?

Glad to be home (for a minute or two). Just finished a quick sprint out of town for a cousin's funeral. Left Albany at 5:30 AM yesterday on Delta, through LaGuardia, to Norfolk. Worked like clockwork and had time to meet my aunt at the airport and we went to lunch before the service. Spent the afternoon reminiscing with lots of wonderful cousins, spouses, kids, aunts, uncles, and friends who are part of the extended family. Lovely day despite the reason for the gathering. I was originally going to reverse the itinerary home on DL, getting in around noon. I was up against some time constraints because we're meeting up with another cousin for dinner at the Culinary Institute of America tonight, and the event starts at 5PM. So I worried that a noon arrival into Albany might not leave much room for error. So I canceled the return leg on Delta and instead, drove back to DC with my brother last night after the services. I got a nice one-way flight on United leaving at 8:45 and arriving in Albany at 10:30. Lots of time to spare. And no layover. Safer? Sure... One might think. Until I got a text at 6AM today informing me that the inbound crew was going to be late and my flight would leave at 12 noon. If I could trust that would be the final answer, I'd still be OK. But, I didn't. So I found the last ticket on a Southwest flight from BWI to Albany leaving at 10:30, and made my poor brother drive me 45 minutes to BWI (instead of 10 to Dulles) but he said it was OK. Touched down just before noon. And the United flight is delayed again, now estimated departure is 2PM. Glad I could find another option! Off for a shower, and then heading out to dinner!

I read this line too fast... Monopod, monocle...

Was hoping that the sail-in went according to plan! Hope everyone on board enjoyed it, and thanks for the video, Les!

Yes, we've done this (well, actually our TA has done it) every time since 2014.

For an example like yours: We are on a Kimberley Cruise in two weeks, which we booked last June. We booked D2D but took the air credit, which should have eliminated the airport-to-hotel transfers along with the flights. The airport to hotel transfers showed up on My Silversea for a few months after we made the reservation. Eventually they disappeared. Yours probably will too at some point. Oops - I reread your post and I see you're talking about the Blacklane transfers. Mea culpa. I guess I'm no better than Silversea when it comes to attention to detail!

Sometimes people cancel and spots open. Sometimes more spots are added. Sometimes neither one happens and the tour remains full. It depends on whether Silversea can arrange the additional tour spots which is more likely in a larger area with lots of tourism infrastructure, and probably less likely in a small port with few cruise ship visitors. The Adriatic is probably more like the former, but my advice would be to have a Plan B just in case.

Uh-oh, have we made a mistake doing a WC '25 segment? I'm sure we'll have fun regardless.

Some good news about our upcoming Kimberley cruise this week... Our TA sent an email, asking if we'd be OK with an upgrade from Veranda to a Silver Suite! We didn't have to think too long about that one. Now we're even more excited for this trip - 11 days until we fly!

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

Sounds tasty overall. Chef Pia is our favorite though! Can you send her to Darwin so she's on Silver Cloud with us? Vibrio would be less contagious than that other nasty you mentioned, though I guess you can get anything from oysters. Fingers crossed!

They could always give you an extra "hot rock" to sit on, if you get too chilly...

Since Chris and I will be on board with them, I suspect there will be a lot of wild life to be seen. Or did you mean something else? Can't wait to see you again, and introduce you to the joys of expedition cruising.

I refuse to "Like" your post so instead I will settle for (1) thanking you for the ongoing trip report and (2) wishing you and myster a stress-free and wonderful journey home.

That's really good to hear! I have not ordered it in years - so thanks for the report. Maybe I'll try it again. Was the duck meat ground, or was it braised for hours so that it fell apart and was naturally tender?

Easy to do - cheveux vs chevaux. My French teacher in High School made sure that we knew the difference!

Not at all! You are correct with your spelling of Noilly, and your statement that it's difficult to pronounce. I can pronounce most French words without much stumbling over the sounds but that one does not roll off the tongue. I also have difficulty saying "Auxerre" because the "x" in the middle of the word behaves differently than when it's at the end of a word.

Vous avez raison, Madame ! Thanks for setting us prats straight.

Thanks for sticking with this and getting it sorted, Les! Now back to (hopefully) our scheduled itinerary!

Me too. 🤞