7 get ups to go…



…Chris and Roisin can't believe that the trip is almost up on them. Packing has not even commenced. Mind you that's nothing new. They have been known to pack the night before their holidays or I should say; Roisin (the sensible one) packs the luggage with (as Chris would put it) minor items such as clothes and toiletries!! He has, however, compiled a list of things to take with him. He’s up to item 8 and still not a shoe or shirt in sight. In fact, his monopod comes in at number 6! What is a monopod you may well ask? The best way to describe it is that it is a tripod with 2 of its legs missing!!

This is the final entry before Chris and Roisin depart. So this is what it’s all been for:

They’ll travel down to London and stay at the Travel Lodge at Heathrow before boarding a flight to San Francisco on 18th September.

They will stay for 4 nights in San Francisco ahead of embarking on the Sapphire Princess. For those of you who are actually that interested and have nothing better to do, can log on at: http://www.cruisecal.com/portal/ where you will be able to check out the web cam on board.

After 4 straight days at sea, the first port of call is Honolulu, Oahu. This is then followed by the short journey to Lahaina in Maui (still part of Hawaii)

They will spend another 4 days at sea, crossing the equator before hitting French Polynesia. The 3 islands visited will be Moorea, Pape’ete in Tahiti and Bora Bora.

Another 2 days at sea and to reach Pago Pago in American Samoa then on to Apia in Western Samoa.

Now this is where it gets complicated because the next stop is Suva in Fiji. However this is 2 days sailing from Apia and somewhere during this time they will cross the International Date Line. Not too sure how this works yet. A day is either gained or lost so you could actually be reading a post before it’s been written!!!

After Fiji and yet another 2 days at sea, the Sapphire Princess will cruise around New Zealand visiting the cities of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. The ship will then spend a day cruising the Fjordlands on NZ’s South Island before heading for Sydney, Australia where Chris and Roisin will disembark.

The trip doesn’t end there. Oh no!! After spending 4 nights in Sydney they will fly to Hong Kong where they will spend a further 3 nights before flying back to the UK.

The Heathrow express will take them back to Paddington (they think!!) and then a taxi will whisk them to Euston in time to catch a train back to Runcorn. The final leg of the journey will see them take a taxi across the Runcorn-Widnes bridge and back home. There!!…now the trip’s finished!!! They will have departed on 17th September returning on 31st October. Phew!! A few days at home will be spent to recover before they return to work on 3rd/4th November. God! That sounds depressing already!!!!

The trip is all about the places, the people Chris and Roisin will meet and the sharing of new experiences. As Chris has recently reached his half century, it has been pointed out that he has started to babble like a true 50 year old!! There is a school of thought that says he started babbling in his 20s and hasn’t stopped since!! He apologises in advance and Roisin will ensure that the 'majority’ of this blog is in keeping with their original aims.