Another year…another birthday! And Karen presented me with another surprise gift! I have to watch what I say to this child of mine as she remembers and then Surprise! I’m getting to experience it!

What was the surprise you ask? Monuments by Moonlight! D.C. is such a great city with so many interesting attractions and things to experience, day or night, I’ve seen the monuments in the daytime. I have pictures of them on my living room wall. Now, I will get to add a couple more pictures to the grouping but totally different than what is currently hanging on the wall!

My birthday surprise began with Kenny, our driver for the evening, picking us up in a BMW sedan and whisking us away to our first monument as he sang Happy Birthday to me. Our first stop was the Air Force Memorial. From there, we headed to the Marine Corp Memorial aka Iwo Jima and drove past the Carillion Bell Tower, a gift from the Netherlands. A bonus stop was to the Pentagon Memorial, aka 911 Memorial. I have wanted to visit for a long time. We drive by it all the time but never seem to be able to find the right time to check it out. Even in the dark, this memorial is very sobering. A great deal of thought went into the planning and development of this memorial. A gentleman told us many interesting things in a short time, which just makes us want to return in the daylight for another visit. Isn’t it amazing when you bump into a random person who happens to be retired military and is so willing to share his knowledge at 8PM! I hope he’s there during the day the next time we visit.

Interesting Fact – the original ground-breaking of the area of the Pentagon that was damaged took place on September 11, 1941.

Next up we headed to the Tidal Basin, I was surprised to see so many buses and people after dark! It was a beautiful Sunday and the cherry blossoms were making all kinds of comments and pictures and memories. I just figured everyone would be tired and heading home. Karen aka Shutterbug was snap happy with her camera, attempting to capture just the right image. Nighttime photography can be a bit difficult…it’s a learning curve.

We ended our time with driver Kenny with a quick trip to catch a picture of the U.S. Capitol building at night. Then home for a late night birthday cake and ice cream snack. It was a special birthday as I received not 1 but 2 home-baked cakes! Both delicious! And both made with love. Special thanks to MC – loved the exploding cake!

The Tidal Basin as well as the rest of Washington, D.C. is handicapped accessible. The sidewalks and crosswalks are smooth for the most part. There are accessible bathrooms available (no porta potties needed!). Handicap parking is available but in demand. Your biggest challenge will be navigating the other tourists who are there to see the same things you are! Patience and slalom training come in handy especially during peak tourist times.

Fill your life with adventures, not things, Have sotries to tell, not stuff to show.

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Be watching for Chapter 9, coming by the end of April.

The next stop of our world tour takes us south, to Panama and the ABC Islands. We departed from Washington Dulles (IAD) at the ungodly hour of 1AM on a direct flight to Panama to board our ship, the NCL Jewel, arriving at 5:45AM. Such a deal for this trip we couldn’t say no, even though we originally didn’t have much interest in the Panama Canal. But that has all changed now! Ports of call include Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and Costa Rica as well as traveling on the Panama Canal. We have a wonderful aft accessible cabin where we will definitly be spending some time in the beautiful Panama weather. Our deal included open bar, specialty restaurant reservatons, free wi-fi, airfare and transfers. And no overnight stay prior to boarding!

After my painful walk recently in NYC, Karen and I discussed my mobility options. We thought about the wheelchair, but felt that worked best more for our excursions which can end up being exhausting. I wanted independent mobility for the ship and the wheelchair didn’t cut it. Bringing my current walker as well as the wheelchair posed transport concerns on both ends of airport travel and that didn’t cut it either. So, a little googling found me buying a combination walker/wheelchair – the best of both my needs and wants. The cost of this mobility device was less than renting any mobility device on the ship and since we still have 3 more cruises to enjoy, this new mobility device should prove to pay for itself at least 3 times over! Fingers crossed!

Walker/Wheelchair Update:

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with my purchase. There are several thresholds on a ship – just tiny ones but when in wheelchair mode, it could not navigate over them. The wheels would lock up and the chair could tip forward taking me with it…several times. I have now initiated a return of this item as it was way too stressful for both Karen and myself to transport me in wheelchair mode.

Karen took over 1700 pictures that I had to wade through to find the ones that spoke to me for this blog and our eventual Shutterfly book. My child has a photo finger and loves to take pictures! She often shows me something that my limited vision did not see. And for that I’m grateful.

Itinerary

Day 1 – Embarkation, Panama City, Colon, Panama

Well, it was an exhausting day after a no-sleep overnight flight. NCL booked us with Copa Airlines. The best part was that it was non-stop flights both ways. The worst part was everything else! We arrived at the Panama City airport (PTY) to NCL confusion. Finally boarded the bus to Colon, only to find out that we were now stopping for ‘breakfast’ at our expense, along the way. When we arrived in Colon a couple hours later, the lines were as bad as I had read about in previous comments on Facebook. Luckily for me, I had completed special needs paperwork. This is the one good thing about NCL. I had escorts through the lines to the front of the lines and up and down the gangway from ship to land. Finally, we are on the ship in our spacious aft accessible cabin! Now to decide on food!

Day 2 – At Sea

We definitely needed our sea day, even though we didn’t do much more than eat, nap and play Uno. The ocean was a bit choppy. It’s a new thing with me, I guess, but I’m succeptible to motion sickness.

Day 3 – Oranjestad, Aruba

Aruba is a bustling harbor city. Someone on our ship got married in Aruba! Wow! Talk about a destination wedding! I still felt somewhat sick and decided to not participate in our shore excursion. Karen went and took pictures to show me what I missed. Interesting fun fact – there are no traffic lights in Aruba, only round-abouts. Karen scrambled up volcanic rocks to see a view of 80% of the island where there were plenty of cacti. She also walked up 190 steps to the top of California Lighthouse for another great view of the area. Afterwards, the tour stopped at an aloe farm with over 35,000 plants.The Divi-divi tree is a natural compass, always pointing west. To end the excursion, a stop was made at Eagle Beach, where Karen enjoyed a beer, ocean-side.

Day 4 – Willemstad, Netherland Antilles

Curacao as it’s also known is the Capital of the Dutch Carribean island, known for its pastel-colored town and tropical flora. Unique here is the floating pedestrian bridge that spans the the channel that splits the city’s two districts. Interesting concept! And a bit scary at the end of our walk across it! Ask us for the story! Our shore excursion today was a trolley train tour of the area with a stop at a church for a very brief visit.

Day 5 – Kralendijk, Netherland Antilles

Or otherwise known as Bonaire. Friends of ours love Bonaire and gave us things to do and see while there. Since we were only there for a very few hours, we booked a shore excursion that encompassed most of the suggested sites. Our tour took us to the salt fields, slave huts, lighthouse, flamingos, donkeys and more. Since it was a short day in port, we chose this night to dress up in our red dresses and use our specialty dining reservation at La Cucina. Good meal and good service! Today was also International Women’s Day.

Day 6 – At Sea

Our second day at sea afforded us a chance to catch our breath before our last shore excursion and transit of the Panama Canal. We continued to enjoy our aft balcony cabin.

Day 7 – Puerto Limon, Costa Rica; Transit Panama Canal, at Sea

Our shore excursion today was a combination of bus, train, boat and rainforest walking tour. Still more motion for me to endure! But I did it and enjoyed the scenery, helpful, kind fellow passengers and our guide, Michael. Transit on the canal was interesting to experience. This was definitely the cruise to book an aft cabin!

Day 8 – Disembark Panama City, Panama

We disembarked the NCL Jewel in Panama City and met up with our driver for a tour of the city. Our flight wasn’t until 6:30PM and we just didn’t want to sit around the airport for hours as our ship transfer would have dropped us at the airport around 9AM. Edwing was a knowledgeable guide with Layover Tours and showed us beautiful buildings and beautiful people. We also experienced a true Panamanian meal for lunch, Anyone who knows me, knows I’m not too adventuresome food-wise. But chicken soup is good for the soul, right? No veggies, no noodles, just broth and a couple of chicken pieces. And was a recommendation from our guide. The empanada was beef inside a corn crust. Not the empanada I was hoping for. After lunch we went to the museum for a quick trolley ride around the ruins. Then off to the airport to catch our late night flight, arriving back home at about 2AM.

This cruise cannot be complete without mentioning our cabin steward, Mun (Moon). He took very good care of us during our journey. He also made some interesting towel animals! One time, I walked into a darkened cabin and thought I saw a coiled striped snake on my bed. I do not like snakes! The next time I saw Mun, I took him to task for leaving a snake on my bed. He said it was a duck! Sure looked at first glance like a coiled snake to me! But I did eventually see the duck wearing a striped sweater. Our last day on the ship, Mun left me another surprise…a huge crocodile, with a snake in its mouth! He told me he would kill the snake! I wish he could be our cabin steward for all our cruises.

Where to next? Watch this blog for Chapter 8, coming soon! And more exciting news! We just booked the trip of a lifetime for later this year. Stay tuned as we develop our itinerary!

Travel is about the gorgeous feeling of teetering on the unknown.

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