The Indie Travel Podcast

I've tossed around the idea of talking about this podcast for a while, the Indie Travel Podcast. It's one I've listened to for a while, but never fell in love with, but could never quite place my finger on why.

Craig and Linda talk about travel, they have been traveling for a couple years now and work while traveling to afford their traveling. Like, I said, I liked it but didn't quite love it, they've just seemed a little different from me and my style of travel, but some shows have been true gems so I've continued to listen. Well I finally figured out why I haven't been able to click with them. Craig and Linda were discussing a book - Wanderlust and Lipstick. While they enjoyed the book they were a little irked at times by some of the US centric stuff in the book, they used the word "grate." Once I heard that I realized I was dealing with a cultural divide with Craig and Linda and that was what was grating them in this book was what was grating me about them. If I recall correctly they are from New Zealand.   Now that I've figured this out I know where to go with talking about them.

They offer a lot of really usefully information about travel, particularly if you're interested in independent travel. However, their personalities may not mesh with Americans at first. But if you can look past this cultural divide (aren't travelers supposed to be open to other cultures?) and accept that they may do things differently at times then you can learn A LOT from them. So go ahead and listen a bit and make your own decision, you'll learn in the process, I promise

Walt Disney World Today Podcast

Another of my favorite Podcasts is the Walt Disney World Today (WDW Today). It's a podcast about Walt Disney World...

The podcast is done on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The Monday and Friday episodes are usually about 20-30 minutes about all sorts of topics - Dining, park touring, resorts, etc. Wednesdays podcasts are for answering listener questions and are usually around 30 minutes.

The are 5 regular hosts of the show. Matt Hochberg is the main host to moderates the show, he's a Hollywood Studios fanatic. Mike Newell is the tech guy, he's usually pretty quite on the show but when he does speak it's either insightful or funny. Mike Scopa is the "old guy" on the show who REALLY gets the magic of Disney, he offers insight into the Disney experience as well as is vast knowledge of the Pop Century Resort AKA Scopa Towers. Len Testa is the co-author of the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and is the guru on touring plans and anything else statistical. But don't be deceived, he's the funniest guy on the show. Anette Owens is a new addition to hosting the show and brings the female touch. As a travel agent who works mostly with Disney products she offers insight on planning a trip.

What I like about the show:
The length of the episodes, they fit in well with my drives around town or to work and aren't overwhelming.
The interaction of the 4 or 5 hosts. They have a great chemistry and you often feel like you're hanging out with them having a conversation about Disney, including goofy jokes about stuff.
After listening to episodes since the double digits I feel like I understand the parks, touring ideology, resorts and all other things about Disney. Yet, I've only been there twice since I started listening to the podcast. I can now talk about Disney with confidence, yet rarely go there.

Here are a couple of my favorite episodes:
Sip, Snack and sick - episode 414

Episodes with Sam Gennawey - you can learn how the parks were designed to make a story and suck you in. episodes 583, 108 and 153

Mike Scopa's Main Ballroom Speech at DisMeets (now known as Magic Meets) in 2006, I was nearly in tears it was so touching.

Siege of Leningrad

For those who are unaware, Leningrad is now known as St. Petersburg. During World War 2 Leningrad was put under siege by the German army, the siege lasted 900 days. Hitler planned to stay at the Astoria Hotel once he took over the city, which never happened. When I was in St. Petersburg I had the opportunity to visit the museum for the siege, which like most Russian memorials was very good.

Here is some history of the siege: On June 22, 1941 Hitler's secret plan for the invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa began. The Russians were slow to respond and within 4 months the Germans were outside Moscow and laid siege on Leningrad in September 1941. To counter the effects of the German invasion Stalin released restrictions on the church and appealed to patriotism to rally for the cause - the Russians are good at rallying and being treated badly. Russians were able to bring in some supplies and do some evacuation of the city via Lake Ladoga by watercraft in the summer and ice/snow road in the winter, though this was very dangerous. Leningrad held out for 900 days, but never surrendered. As many as a million people may have died during the siege.

On my tour we first stopped at the Siege of Leningrad Memorial, which is quite grand and respectful of those who lived it. Downstairs they have a museum, they showed a video, without sound, of the hardships the residents of Leningrad, our tour guide explained everything in the video. The city was under siege for 900 days, and over 1 million people died, despite the fact that many people were able to leave the city. At one point the daily rations consisted of 175grams (a small loaf of wonder white bread is 340 grams) of sawdust laden bread people supplemented by eating pets, rats, birds, wallpaper paste, leather belts and eventually some resorted to cannibalism. Some days as many as 30,000 people died, many just falling over in the street. Despite the hardships they never surrendered and human spirit remained alive, including acts of kindness. It was a very moving experience and the museum gave a good reference of life under the siege, even though it was so harsh that one could barely imagine what it would be like.

Making a Change: Keep it Simple

I've been a bit inspired by a couple different things recently about the idea of changing your life - making it simple and maybe traveling. I've been looking at some different stuff about taking a year off, a gap year, or just a round the world trip. It seems like there are a lot of people out there who are working to make money, but not for enjoyment. Actually, a lot of people seem miserable. If you want some insight into this check out the books Work to Live by Joe Robinson or The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss. But then if you look around you see people who don't like what they do and do something about it - The families from A Brilliant Teacher, the blog From Here to Uncertainty, Six in the World, A Year in Europe - just to name a few... For all of them there is a need to see the world and change their lives by taking a leap of faith.

They all seem to come home and simplify their lives a bit. Work to Live, and then live within those means. Also, when you see people living with less, or just keeping things simple even though they can live larger, they identify a better quality of life in the little things - not the big TV and nice car. I have plenty of people around me who have nice cars and big houses and they don't seem to have any more fulfilled lives then those with fewer things. Part of this has to do with the fact that Americans like to identify themselves with what they do, not with who they are. Few people who know me would identify me with my job, it's my job and while I enjoy it most of the time and find it rewarding at times it's my job. I do other things when I leave work too, like write a blog on travel... I often think about leaving my job and exploring other things to do, but I've decided not to for a couple reasons - I make a good living (not great, but good), I get a lot of vacation time for an American - 5 weeks, I do find my job at times rewarding, there are a lot of different things I can do on my job - I have already worked in 6 different places in 10 years within my job and finally I can retire in 10 more years with a pension and health insurance. I'll have my gap year then if I don't like what I'm doing or if I'm happy maybe I'll stay longer, I'll only be 43. In the meantime for the next 10 years I'll work on what to do on that gap year and what I want to do after it.

If you're interested in a gap year or wonder what goes into planning and executing a gap year I have a website to recommend: Briefcase to Backpack. The site is relatively new so it's not fully developed, but it has a good base of inspiration and ideas and suggestions for how to deal with the issues revolving around a gap year. Good luck and enjoy life.

Braids in my hair

On my first cruise in the Caribbean in 2000 I sailed with my friend Veronica on the Enchantment of the Seas. We visited St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Nassau, Bahamas. While visiting the earlier ports people would get their hair braided by the locals on the beach. Apparently the going rate was $1 or $2 per braid depending on the island and it was suggested that you set a price beforehand. In my infinite wisdom I decided to do it at our last stop in the Bahamas. This was a problem for 2 reasons - it's more expensive in the Bahamas and it was 2 days before returning home. While the braids are cute on vacation they lose their thrill in real life after a day. To add to my poor decision making I set a price with the girl - $2 per braid and she estimated 15 or 20 braids for my head. Ok, I could handle that. Except she actually did like 30 braids, so my $30-$40 investment cost me $60 and I could tell Veronica knew I had done a bad job with my bartering, or maybe that was my own brain yelling at me. What was done was done, I paid my $60 and would like to think I'm a little more savvy for the experience. But even I know that the most savvy have bad days.

A funny little story about one of my tablemates who got braids in St. Maarten. She was dutch, as is the side of the island she got her braids, however it is illegal to do braids on the beach. Well her braider got caught half way through by the police. Well since she ws dutch and the policeman was nice, he hauled them all back to the police facility and made the girl finish her head, without getting paid of course before he did whatever the police do with braiding violators.

Tomb of the Unknowns, Washington DC

A couple years ago I went to DC with Tara and went to Arlington National Cemetery. While there we saw some of the famous tombs and the Changing of the Guard. We opted
to pay a little extra to do the trolley tour, and it was worth it, Arlington is large and spread out. Plus we got to learn a bit about what was actually there - the tombs of our Supreme Court members. Having read quite a few Supreme Court decisions I got to see the tombs of some of these men. and of course the grave of JFK and Arlington House. But there is also a memorial for NASA astronauts lost during space shuttle missions.

Arlington House was nice, though I expected a man like Robert E. Lee to have had a larger more formal house. But it looks picturesque from a distance, and I did enjoy the tour of the house.

The best part though was going to see the Changing of the Guard.
It's very different here then it is at palaces in countries with monarchs.
The Old Guard of the US 3rd Infantry protects the Tomb of the Unknowns. It's a very somber experience as it is honoring soldier who have died for their country and who are also unidentified. The tomb has guarded 24 hours 7 days a week and has been since 1937. During summer months (April 1 to September 31) the sentinel (guard) is changed every 30 minutes and every hour during winter months (October 1 to March 31). They change sentinels every 2 hours when the park is closed. The sentinel does a 21 step process that is highly processioned and fluid. The sentinels 30 minutes of guard duty is pretty impressive, and make the changing even more impressive.

Language Barriers - Shopping at the grocery store

While traveling through Scandinavia we often bought food at grocery stores and would have picnic lunches, an inexpensive way to eat and healthier then eating fast food. It's also sometimes the only way to eat when there are no rest stops which was often the case in Northern Scandinavia. Scandinavians typically speak very good English, however when they label their food they use the local language, this is a problem when you're trying to buy your picnic lunch. The juice that had a name that sounded like apple was actually Orange Juice. And how does one distinguish between the different meats? Ask a local, though you may have to cluck to help them distinguish what the word chicken is. Ok, I never actually had to cluck, but I was never 100% sure that I was eating chicken instead of some other animal. I suppose that's part of the adventure of traveling - both figuring out what is what, and eating whatever the locals eat.

Men and Women in Egypt

When I went to Egypt everyone was concerned about how I would be treated, as a woman. I didn't have any trouble, though the men have a "strange" way of paying a compliment. "You are beautiful," or "I want to marry you" are first time greetings. At first it would make me feel uncomfortable until I started to realize that they don't prescribe to western ways of complimenting people or courting. Then I just went with the standard response of "I have a husband." It's just easier, but apparently my mythical husband is a lucky man. It's important to say that I never felt threatened nor did anyone on my tour. In the touristy areas I think the Egyptians are catching on to our cultural differences. When asked how many camels I was worth I was told 2 million, so they have a sense of humor too.

I did take note a bit of the roles of men and women too. Men and women were often segregated and men would hug and kiss as a greeting. We most often dealt with men - in the markets, restaurants and ancient sites. But occasionally you would see women working, often in higher end tourism - like hotels. But girls are girls no matter where you go. When we were in Aswan we ran into a group of girls in a field trip around the country. They were FASCINATED by the guys on the trip and wanted to get pictures with them. Eventually that wore off and they started to swarm me and it didn't help when I mentioned that I'm a Police Officer. They thought that was so cool. We had been told that Egypt tried to have women as Police Officers a couple years before but had to disband it after 2 years because the men didn't respect them enough. I felt like I gave them a glimpse of another world and maybe a bit of hope that somewhere or maybe in the future here that things can be different. It's also a reminder of why I'm glad I don't live in a Muslim country. I learned during the trip that woman are segregated for their own good (for lack of a better word), men apparently see women, get all hot for them and have to pray for those sins (and others) 5 times a day. Separating men and women can make it easier for the men to resist temptation. Egyptians see this as showing respect for women, and I think they honestly believe it, at least on some level. Whatever the reason it does also disenfranchise women in their culture whether intentional or not.

Travel plans

As much as I try to plan stuff it seems that sometimes things just don't go as planned.

I found out last week that I need I'm going to have to start my braces and massive dental work in August, not in the winter as I had anticipated. This means that money will be hard to come by and I lost my pre-braces last trip reason for the fall trip. I'm now considering some options for something smaller and cheaper. One thing is a 5 day cruise from NY to Bermuda with my Mom during my 2 week vacation in September.

My travel plans for the duration of my dental work, which is estimated to take at least two years is to take smaller long weekend types of trips within the US. Places where I can get cheap flights and hopefully cheap hotels. There is talk of a family trip to Vegas for Thanksgiving, and one sister is considering a trip to Disney for the Spring which I may join with Tara.

My other plan is that I was thinking that I would want to take a big dream like trip after all this work - Australia or Africa or whatever else I come up with. But then I wondered if I would actually have money for this, which I probably wont. So I've decided that I will open a separate bank account to save some money for the trip. I received some birthday money which I will use to start it and then I'll occasionally move some money here and there to the account. Hopefully at the end I'll have at least enough to make it possible to do a big trip.

Feedback

After my Hawaii cruise I sent a long detailed email to my travel agent, Julie, about the good and the bad of the cruise. Julie passed my email to NCL, I thought that that would be all I would hear. But today I actually received a letter from NCL acknowledging my email - my "constructive comments, suggestions and criticisms." It's always good to know that someone from the company read my comments.

I am known by friends and family as a letter writer. It's not that I'm a complainer, but I do get satisfaction from writing to a company about the good, bad and the ugly. What is important in writing a letter of complaint, if you want to be taken seriously, is that you need to state specific complaints and when possible write suggestions of how things could be done better. Writing - the food sucked, I always waited for a table and the servers weren't helpful. That's not going to get anything done except make you feel better, it's not constructive enough. Something like - We often waited over 15 minutes for a table at restaurant A, the food was below the standards of other cruises we have been on and we felt that having a different server every night took away from the dining experience over the week. That's made up, but it gives them complaints with real substance that can actually be addressed.

Write your letters, someone might be listening... And maybe they'll give you something for free, I haven't gotten anything yet, but you never know.

Book Review: A Brilliant Teacher

I've finally finished reading the book A Brilliant Teacher: Lessons Learned From One Family's Journey Around the World by Steve Rhine &Toby Abraham-Rhine. The Rhine family - Mom, Dad and 3 kids took 8 months off and traveled the world - Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. There are 3 different things I want to talk about - their trip, the book and how it affected them.

I was sometimes frustrated by their trip, because they were doing things cheaply (they did go into debt for this trip) they sometimes wasted a lot of time. While I like to save money myself I do prescribe to the idea that time is money so to see them skip a tour and do things themselves, which sometimes ended in not seeing what they wanted to see, was frustrating to me. Then other times they would skip the tour and do to a comedy of errors would end up spending just as much money and more time and see less. I also can't imagine staying in some of the accommodations they stayed in, I give them credit for that. While I'm ok with hostels and basic accommodations I'm not sure I can do bugs and dirty places. Do you need to sleep with bugs to know how the locals live? Maybe.

The book was at times very interesting and at other times slow and not as in-depth as I would have liked. I just didn't always click with them in a way that drew me in. At times it seemed to be a bit more about the adventure then about the experience. But I often have this problem with travel books, they talk so much about the experience but not the impact, I rarely connect with the author as much as I would have liked. This is where the Epilogue comes in, it was the reward for reading the book. The other gem of the book is little sidebar types of things scatter throughout the book on different topics - Philosophy's, Extrovertism, Progress, Harmony, Intimacy. These often bridged the gap that I was stuck at.

While the impact of the trip is seen in the sidebars the Epilogue tells the tale. I'm not sure how the Epilogue would read though without reading the rest of the book. Here they talk about their re-entry to American life. A couple years ago I listened to a podcast about couple who had taken a year off and traveled and lived in Europe, at the end they talked about their re-entry and there were some commonalities, though I think expressed differently. The idea of these big stores where you can get any of 8,000 types of a single item was a change. Also the American idea of consumption and consuming whatever you want - it could be cars, big houses, food or any of a number of things. After a trip like this there is a profound impact in how you look at America and Americans. The Rhines spent a good about of time in 3rd world countries and have learned a bit about the difference between wants and needs. When they wrote the book, a year after the trip, they wondered if their children had gotten a lot out of it. They traveled in 2001. I heard Rick Steves interview them recently and their children did seem to get something out of it, their oldest daughter certainly did and struck me as being a better person for it.

It's not the best book I've read, but far from the worst either. A Brilliant Teacher certainly has a place in travel books. Anyone who is considering traveling around the world, with or without children would benefit from this. Or just families considering travel with children could certainly learn from this. There are lessons to be learned on traveling, on experiencing the world and the resilience of children. They really are harder to screw up then one would think.

Taking a year off for $80,000

I found this article the other day and thought it was great...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/nyregion/13bigcity.html?_r=3&ref=todayspaper

I love this article and what this company is doing. I like the creative thinking and the way they are taking the bad economy and creating opportunities for employees. The people taking the year off are probably not the type of people who would up and quit there jobs so they could travel the world or finish their PHD's, nor sit around the house and watch TV. If it wasn't for this opportunity these people might be pushing off their dreams until retirement.

In case the link doesn't work here is the text of the article:

This year may be a disastrous one for the global economy, but it’s shaping up to be one of the best that Heather Eisenlord has enjoyed in a good long while. Granted, that might not be saying much: For the past five years, Ms. Eisenlord has been an associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, a notably grueling place for a lawyer to work.

But even by more stringent standards of fun, the coming year looks pretty good. Ms. Eisenlord, 36, who works in Skadden’s banking group, will be buying a plane ticket that will take her around the world for a year, and she’s been stocking her apartment in Brooklyn with Lonely Planet travel guides.

Although she’s not yet sure exactly what she’ll be doing on her trip, she has some ideas. She would like to teach English to monks in Sri Lanka and possibly help bring solar power to remote parts of the Himalayas. She’ll probably hit 10 to 15 destinations around the world, most likely practicing not-for-profit law wherever she can be helpful.

The best part of all: Skadden is paying her about $80,000 to do it.

For a sixth-year associate at a New York law firm, $80,000 isn’t exactly competitive pay. But for someone cruising around the world, doing good wherever she sees fit and, let’s face it, probably hitting a beach or two, the pay is excellent.

Only in a financial world turned upside down would an arrangement like this one make sense. Looking to cut costs like everyone else, but not prepared to lay off associates, Skadden has chosen instead to offer all of its associates — about 1,300 worldwide — the option of accepting a third of their base pay to not show up for work for a year. (So far, the partners have no equivalent arrangement.)

The company is helping associates find pro bono work, and is encouraging them to do so. But the lawyers could also spend the year catching up on every episode of “Top Chef” that they missed during the boom years, or traveling around the world, “all of which is O.K. by us,” said Matthew Mallow, a partner at the firm. Other firms have adopted similar strategies, but Skadden’s program is unusual in that it has no pro bono requirements.

As of Friday, about 125 associates had expressed interest. “I think it’s fair to say that the numbers are in excess of our expectations,” Mr. Mallow said.

Only at a corporate law firm would the managers underestimate employees’ interest in taking a year off from the grind for what most of America would consider a small fortune.

Not everyone could cover monthly living expenses on a third of one’s pay, and naturally some skeptical lawyers grilled the partners about job security. If there are layoffs in a year, they wondered, is it really possible that the lawyers who’d been defending trees in British Columbia wouldn’t be disadvantaged, compared with the lawyers who’d been slaving away on contracts in Midtown?

Not only were the lawyers assured that their time away wouldn’t hurt them; in some ways it would be protective: If there are layoffs while they are away, they will be immune.

So far, the majority of the lawyers are looking for worthwhile legal work, Skadden says, to keep them as competitive as possible; but yes, some will take the year off to spend time with their children or look after a sick relative. Someone’s planning to wrap up his Ph.D., someone else is looking into legal work for a news organization, and another associate will be joining Ms. Eisenlord on her round-the-world adventure.

Ms. Eisenlord says she fully intends to go back to Skadden after her trip, and will be eager to return to the work she loves and the co-workers she admires. It’s possible that after a year teaching monks English, installing solar panels in the Himalayas and working on human rights in developing nations, she will come to the conclusion that there is no more fulfilling life than the one she has spent in corporate law.

But maybe she will have some kind of revelation. If there is any silver lining to this financial catastrophe, it’s that business as usual has come to a grinding halt. Sometimes it takes getting thrown out of the office to notice there is a life outside.

Already, Ms. Eisenlord seems to be making some sort of transition. Has she been getting any work done lately as she anticipates this thrilling new trip?

“No comment,” she said.

Spoken like a lawyer — but a lawyer on the verge.

E-mail: susan.dominus@nytimes.com

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: April 15, 2009
The Big City column on Monday, about an arrangement at the Manhattan law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in which associates can take a year off at one-third pay, referred imprecisely to the firm’s efforts to cut costs. Although it is not planning to lay off any associates, it has in fact laid off some employees — including secretaries, support staffers and staff lawyers.

Money Belt

The money belt...

What is it, what do you use it for and how do you use it?

A money belt is a small pouch like fabric thing that is worn underneath your clothes to hold money. Here is a link to typical money belt. There are so other styles, like this one by eagle creek or ones that can be worn on your leg. This is not a fanny pack or a bum bag.

Money belts are used to carry extra money and other valuables like: Passport, back up credit card or atm card. I have in the past also carried the address for my hotels and my full memory cards. Do not carry larger things like your camera.

The money belt is to be worn under your clothes and should be hidden during the day - basically no one should know you're wearing it. It should contain stuff that you will only need in an emergency. If you know you're going to need your passport during the day then don't put it in here (or if you do have a plan to take it out privately). If you do need to access your money belt try to go to a bathroom or another private place. The purpose is to protect your stuff from theives and when you go inside your money belt in public you announce to others that you have it.

On my first trip I wore my money belt religiously, it helped though that my jeans hid it well. On future trips I didn't wear it nearly as much, only when I was in areas where I thought I was at a higher risk of getting pickpocketed - Moscow, Egyptian markets - places like that.

All too often you see someone who is wearing a money belt and is constantly going in it during the day. I understand that sometimes plans change and you have to go in it, it's happened to me. The best you can do is do it privately or discretely. But if you're constantly going in yours then you might be better off skipping it all together since they aren't terribly comfortable to wear.

Pearl Harbor and the last day in Hawaii

This was the last day of Tara and I's cruise as well as the day we were visiting Pearl Harbor and flying home.

We were up at 6:15 to get all of our stuff together and make sure nothing was getting left behind. Despite not liking the Aloha Cafe we decided to go back, but we had a plan. We were going to grab a table and then take turns getting food. This worked out OK and we were done with breakfast with plenty of time to get to the Hollywood Theatre, which was our tour meeting place. Departure was fine, though one of the escalators was broken which slowed things down.


We boarded our bus and our driver was good, he explained that we would not be able to go to the cemetery, which was closed for the Memorial Day weekend for only family of military. We were dropped off at 9:15 and had a 10:45 tour of the Arizona Memorial. We decided to first go to the area with the rockets by the Bowfin. I got some pictures of the rockets and there was an area with little monuments for all the ships lost at sea with their story and a list of the lives lost, it was really nice. Next we walked back over to the main museum.

For a $5 donation you can get the audio tour. I recommend this for 2 reasons - first, you hear good info about the museum and the events surrounding December 7, but even better is that you are making a donation to the museum. The museum did seem a bit crowded at times and in different spots, but they are building a new one which should be ready next year. There are a lot of good displays and I enjoyed the tour. On the tour for the Arizona you first see a movie, which was very good, and got me a bit misty eyed. You are reminded to be quiet on the tour which now takes a boat to the site of the Arizona and the Memorial there. I was surprised at how quiet people actually are. I've been to a lot of places where you should be quiet and peoples ability to do that varies greatly, until the end when we were boarding our boat back everyone was very quiet. The memorial was really nice. From the sides you can see parts of the Arizona that are near the surface. In the middle there are diagrams of the ship as it sits today. In the middle there is a cut out where you can see the oil that is seeping out of the Arizona. In the back is a wall with a list of the names of all those lost, and a list of those who survived but were later buried at the Arizona. I really liked it and the experience.


Next we took a shuttle over to the Missouri Battleship, where the armistice was signed. This was pretty good too, though not nearly as good as the Arizona Memorial. If you're not into looking at military ships then this might not be the best use of time, but it's still interesting. Tara seemed to find this a form of torture, and it was quite hot and it's not really something I'm that interested in, so we did a more abbreviated tour. It would have been nice to do a tour just to hear about the armistice, but as for looking at the mock ups of what crew areas looked like, not so much. But then, I have seen several military boats in the past so I know some of what would be said. On the Missouri they do have the US and Japanese copies of the armistice, which was really neat to see. After we looked around the ship we had lunch, shopped, and then waited to leave. I felt like we had a little more time here then we needed, but that's better then not enough time.

After the Missouri we did a little tour of Honolulu. We visited the downtown area with the Palace and the oldest church in Hawaii, which Tara and I had already seen. We also took a ride through China Town which apparently isn't a safe place to visit after dark. Since we couldn't go to the cemetery we made a stop at Nuuanu Pali Park which had more beautiful scenery.

We were dropped off at the airport a little after 4 and had to kill 4 hours before out flights back home.