Blogs

Aruba

Our final stop before Miami was Aruba, another island I had never visited before. I started by…

Curaçao

The next stop after two days at sea was the island of Curaçao.  Lying 68 miles off the…

Two Sea Days

Heading to Curaçao We were supposed to stop in Cartagena, but because of the political situation, we…

At Sea

Wednesday: 10/8 Today we continue our route southeast along the coastlines of Costa Rica and then…

Traversing the Panama Canal

Today started early. The pilot came aboard around 5 am.  There are two sections to the canal: the…

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Tuesday 10/7 Puntarenas is called the Pearl of the Pacific. It sits along the Gulf of Nicoya on a…

At Sea–Heading to Costa Rica

Saturday: 10/4 As we were having breakfast we were treated with another pod of dolphins, some…

Los Angeles to Cabo

Tuesday 9/30 This morning, we arrived at the Port of Los Angeles, which is actually in San Pedro…

San Francisco

Sunday: San Francisco 9/28 Overnight, we picked up our pilot to guide us under the Golden Gate…

Leaving Seattle

Thursday: 19/25 The day has finally arrived; we are packed and just waiting to leave for Pier…

Columbia Icefield and Athabasca Glacier

It was another early morning, so we ordered to-go breakfasts from the restaurant in the…

Lake Louise

Originally the indigenous Stoney or Nakota people named the lake “Ho-Run-Num-Nay” which means “Lake…

Rocky Mountaineer–Day Two

Kamloops to Lake Louise It was another early morning, but when we got to the train about 6:30 coffee…

The Rocky Mountaineer–Day One

Vancouver to Kamloops The Rocky Mountaineer is a beautiful train.  The car we were in had…

Seattle to Vancouver

In August, we embarked on our Canadian Rocky trip at King Street Station in…

Colonial America–Charleston and Cape Canavaral

Charleston was established in 1670 as Charles Town, named after King Charles II or…

St Lucia

The Motto of St. Lucia is “The Land, The People, the Light” and the flag represents…

Bermuda

The third leg went from Miami to Bermuda; Charleston, SC; Port Canaveral, FL; Nassau, Bahamas; and…

Mexico and Central America

This leg of the trip is a week long and will go to Cozumel, Mexico; Belize; Roatán, Honduras; Costa…

St. Barthélemy

The first thing that caught my eye when we entered the port was the beautiful, huge yachts in the…

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the southeastern Caribbean Sea.  It was a British…

Grenada

Grenada, nestled in the heart of the Caribbean, holds something for everyone.  Grenada was…

Caribbean Holiday

Miami to St. Barts and Back We thought we would spend a month cruising the Caribbean and Eastern…

Crete

Today we went to Crete, arriving at 7 a.m. at Souda Bay.  It is one of the deepest natural…

Rhodes

From Ephesus, we sailed to the Island of Rhodes.  This was another interesting site.  We arrived at…

Mount Athos and Ephesus

Today was a peaceful day, starting out with time spent circling Mount Athos.  Mount Athos…

Thessaloniki

Thessaloniki:  Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians comes to mind.  While this is…

The Acropolis and Parthenon

This was our day to spend at the Acropolis and Parthenon.  It was the highlight of this…

Delphi

Today we headed to Delphi.  There are so many literary and mythological references to Delphi that I…

Volos

Volos is half-way to Thessaloniki on the Aegean Sea.  It is in the province of Thessaly…

Athens–Ancient Agora

Today we set out for Ancient Agora and Temple of Hephaestus.  There was a strike today, so…

Peloponnesian Peninsula

Our first few days were based in Athens, and our first trip out of the city was to the Peloponnesian…

Greek Odyssey

We explored the Aegean Sea on a Viking 11-day voyage to important sites of antiquity. We started in…

Santorini and Nafplio

We arrived in the harbor of Santorini and learned that we could not land because the water was too…

Αντίο to Athens

Today, the last day in Athens, we saw some more sights around the city.   We started with the Church…

Kasr Ibrim and Abu Simbel

This morning we sailed to the settlement of Kasr Ibrim, the last vestige of Nubian culture in is…

Sailing to Luxor

Kom Ombo This morning we sailed to the site of the ancient trading town at Kom Ombo, which sat on…

Luxor

Valley of the Kings We have arrived to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings, “the world’s greatest open…

Memphis

Many of us started the day (at 3:45 a.m.) with a hot air balloon trip over the Valley of the…

Alexandria

Since Alexandria was not included on our tour and it was so close, I stayed an extra day to visit it…

Karnak

Today we started early to visit the Karnak Temple, the biggest temple in the world, covering 200…

Wadi-el-Sebouna and Amada

Dakka Temple Today we spent the morning in Wadi-el-Seboua (Valley of the Lions) exploring the two…

Ancient Nubia

This morning, we are in the heart of ancient Nubia, Egypt’s gateway to Africa.  We began…

Aswan

Today began at 1:15 a.m. when we headed for the airport and our flight to Aswan.  When we…

Coptic Cairo

Old Cairo is a part of the city that pre-dates the Islamic rule of Cairo.  There is…

Giza

We headed early to Giza to see the Great Pyramid of Cheops; the Second Pyramid of Kephrine, The…

Cairo

We arrived in Cairo after a long flight. Our base was the Nile Fairmont. Our trip included a cruise…

Florence

Today was Firenze—the Cradle of the Renaissance.  It lies along the banks of the Arno…

Radda

After breakfast today, we went back to the Chianti district to the town of Radda.  It was…

San Gimignano

Today we explored the wine country of Chianti.  After breakfast, we headed first to San…

Who Am I?

I am a mother of two, grandmother of six, wife, teacher, octogenarian, and traveler. 

My first trip abroad was after I graduated from college. I went with my mother and grandfather to Sweden to meet framily there, then attended a summer school in Stratford-Upon-Avon, then proceeded to my western European trek.  I drifted from Denmark to see Hamlet’s castle among other things, to Amsterdam to cruise the canals and see Van Gogh’s work, to Belgium to bask in the Flemish greats, and on to Paris.  There I met up with a classmate as we toured the City of Light.  From Paris I took the train to Rome where I met up with my parents.  Then it was home and to grad school.  That trip was the seed in me to travel more, but it took nearly 50 years for that seed to blossom.  Having raised our sons and retired from full-time teaching, I finally had the time and money to travel.

My first trip was to Bejing and Shanghai thirteen years ago, followed by Russia the next year.  Then I have been to Nepal, Bhutan, Singapore, Peru, Costa Rica, Panama, several parts of Italy, Paris again, Egypt, Greece, several Caribbean Islands, Mexico, and New Zealand.  I plan to share my experiences in these parts of the world. 

I am starting with my most recent trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada. I hope you will find my reminiscences interesting and informative.  Please comment and share with your friends.  I would love to hear about your experiences too.  Most of all, keep going.  At 80, I have several more trips planned and hope to see much more of our world.

Kristin Carver

Teacher, Mother, Wife, Grandmother, Octogenarian Traveler