My grandpa and I had a tour scheduled for the morning. It was a city tour and then a trip to Tokyo tower. We got up nice and early at 6:00am and met for breakfast at 6:30. As we arrived in the port, there were people outside banging on drums and welcoming us. They typically do that when we arrive someplace (which I think is really cool).

As we were eating breakfast, Dan invited Ben (the other kid on the ship) and myself to go out and explore the city after we got back from tour. It worked out pretty well that we had the city tour beforehand, because I got a really good lay of the land for explore later. We had a bus drive us around, narrating our route through the city all the way to Tokyo tower. Tokyo tower looks exactly like the Eiffel Tower, but in the middle of Tokyo. From the observation deck, we were able to look around and see just how massive of a city Tokyo really is. I’ve never seen anything like it before. As far as you could see were skyscrapers. Even in Sydney, which was a large city, you could see in the horizon where the buildings stopped and the city ended. But here it just went on forever!

Driving around was interesting because it was a fascinating mixture between the traditional Japanese culture and the modernized city life. Because America is such a young country, we don’t really have any ancient culture like some other places do. I find it really fascinating to see these buildings and style of architecture that are so unique and special to to Japan.

We got back to the ship and ate lunch then I met up with Dan and another couple who were coming along. Our plan was to visit the fish market (which Dan and I had driven past on the tour earlier, so we knew how to get there), and then visit Ginza (which is the iconic Times Square-esque area of Tokyo). The fish market was really facilitating. They really utilize every inch of restate here and that was especially evident in the back alleys that they used to set up shops. They were really only back-alleys in the sense that they were the space between buildings, but they were nothing like what we have at home. I don’t think there was a single, empty alleyway. Each one had shops or vending machines or something down them. It was so amazing to see.

After passing through the fish market, we separated from the other couple to go inside a mall type place. There was a lot of indoor restaurants and shops and even an art gallery. We stopped off to use some free wifi for a little bit and chatted. After that, we walked around some more and even decided to pop down and take a look at the subway system. Neither of us wanted to actually attempt to ride the subway, in fear of getting lost, but it was really fascinating to go down there and see all the hustle and bustle.

When we finally emerged from underground (it was a bit of a maze down there), we found ourselves in the heart of Ginza. It was awesome. The place was so busy. There were so many stores and shops and places I had no clue what they were. I’d never been in a large city like it. It was just incredible. And again, even with thousands of people and hundreds of stores, we were walking past a random noodle house and noticed a few passages from the ship. We popped inside to say hi. We even stopped in the Apple store (which was ginormous) and looked around. It was four stories tall.

We managed to get back to the ship without any problems. We actually only walked down the same street the entire time, so getting back was simple. We probably walked 7 miles or so in all. I was exhausted by the time that we got back to the ship. Apparently there was some really rough water that evening that people were having trouble sleeping through but after that day, I was knocked out!

Tokyo was really cool. I definitely want to go back and stay longer!

Once at the hotel, we took advantage of their free wifi and grabbed a snack from the cafe. I was able to chat with my family back home for a little while (surprisingly clear FaceTime for public wifi). Once refreshed, we decided to buy a day pass for the trolley system. I’d actually never been in a city that had a public transportation system like this. It was awesome and supper efficient. The day pass cost us $10, but you could also buy them cheaper for larger chunks of time. Basically, there were a series of bright red trolleys that ran all over the city. They each followed a colored path, and using one of the many maps located around the area, you could determine which trolley color you needed to take to get to where you needed to go. It was really, really cool. And a new trolley appeared at each stop around every 5 minutes.

So, with our day pass in hand, we basically just hopped around the downtown area of guam and explored. We stopped into shops and malls and just had a really good time. Again, it was super conveniently and really fun to be able to just pick a spot on the map, and wait for that colored trolley to come and pick you up and take you there. I really wish more cities would do this because it worked out really well.

Guam seems like a really nice place. The downtown area reminded me a bit of the local downtowns in my area (think Royal Oak or Ann Arbor) but there were a lot of name brand stores and a few attractions (I saw a carnival looking ride, an aquarium, etc.) and the beaches we beautiful. I’m talking crystal clear water. The downtown area was definitely the nicest. There was an interesting mixture of glamour and urban life on the island. I noticed a lot of nice cars and big mansions up in the hills overlooking the water. But there was also a lot of abandoned buildings and run down houses. The downtown area was definitely my favorite spot.

It was interesting too, because most of the people were Japanese. Obviously the island has a lot of Japanese history, but being American now, I hadn’t really expected that. It really felt like we were in Tokyo or something. It was interesting. All of the signage was in both english and Japanese. And even the trolley drivers (who weren’t Japanese) could speak Japanese. It was really surprising.

On a side note… It was funny, as we were driving around the city, we passed people on the street that I recognized from the cruise. I just laughed to myself when we walked into a random store or dove down the street and was like, “Oh, I know that person!”

So, all in all, I’d definitely say the the Guam trip was a success. It actually worked out really well that we didn’t have an excursion (because frankly, it was the one place that I didn’t really like any of the tours they were offering). I thoroughly enjoyed the self-guided trolley tour and even want to go back again to explore some more!

Cooking Demonstration:
The ship held a live cooking demonstration that my grandma and I enjoyed. One of the head chefs on the ship walked us through three dishes that are prepared on board. It was very entertaining and fun.

Bingo:
I played Bingo with my grandma. That was a lot of fun. The jackpot was up to $1,100 I didn’t win anything. But it was still fun.

Food:
Of course, the food has been a excellent. Every meal is a highlight! It’s just so good. For dessert every night, I usually get the sorbet of the day. They have had every flavor imaginable. I think I’ve had every fruit there is. It hasn’t repeated yet, but I can’t imagine there are much more flavors left!

Grandsons:
I finally got to meet the other grandsons who are traveling on board as well. That was pretty neat. We are the only “young’ins” on the ship, so that’s kind of funny.

Fitness Classes:
I attended one of the yoga and exercise classes that are held in the morning. Man! What a workout. I was doing pretty well with the yoga (don’t get me wrong, I was extremely inflexible. But at least I could keep up). When we got to the abs portion, I was gone. I couldn’t even follow along. And what was worse was that there were all these old ladies who were able to do scissor chops with their legs and I can hardly even keep my legs up in the air for five seconds… (Note – writing this from the future: I’ve actually been doing these each morning! They’re a lot of fun and a really refreshing way to start the day. Each morning is a stretching class, followed by one of three workouts. There’s Abs, Aerobics and Bootcamp. I’ve really enjoyed going to these and am actually improving! I can successfully touch the ground now when we stretch and I can do the modified version of the scissor chops! There’s a regular group of us who go each morning and knowing that they would realized when I wasn’t there helps motivate me to get up at 6:30am to exercise for an hour before breakfast!)

We headed down to our meeting point and then headed off the ship and onto the busses. Cairns is known as the home of the great barrier reef, but it also holds a large rainforest. Our trip was a cable car ride through the rainforest. It was a lot of fun! We went really high up and ran right through the middle of it all. It was extremely mountainy so our cart got really high and could see everything. There were three stops were you got off the car and walked a bit through the forest and look around. I’d never seen anything like it. The trees were so tall, the vines were huge, there were Cockatoos flying around. It was so cool. At one point, the carts went right past a waterfall.

As we got higher and further out, it started to get really foggy. In the thickest point, you could hardly see the car in front of you. Around the second stop, it really was raining (hence the name rainforest, I guess). We were handed umbrellas and walked around for a bit, took pictures, etc. It was really cool. It’s was funny to think that it was raining in the forest but not when we had gotten off the boat; oh the wonders of nature. Speaking of nature, the sounds in the forest were so cool. It sounded just like a scene from a movie. When you were really high up in the air in the cable car in the middle of the fog, and the rain was tapping against the window, you could hear all this wildlife down below. Bugs chirping and birds screeching and all sorts of other sounds that I can only imagine the animals they belonged to. It was so serene.

After the forest, we stopped off at a little market. It was a spot where you could eat, shop, sit down. And we ended the day with a tour of Cairns. It was definitely a lot of fun. It was interesting to see and hear what it was like living in such a tropical area. I can’t say that it’s for me, but it was definitely beautiful.

Once we got back, I ate lunch and headed right to the showers. I was covered in bug spray and suntan lotion and wanted to wash it off ASAP. Then a much needed nap was had. The rest of the evening was pretty routine; afternoon tea, dinner and a show. Tonight was a violinist. He had played for the royal family, won Australia’s got talent (or whatever the TV show was called) and a bunch of other things. He was really good. Again, the only problem was that I was having a hard time staying awake! Even though it was only eight, I was exhausted and couldn’t keep my eyes open!

Well, we have another five days at sea now until we get to Guam. I imagine that it’s going to be pretty uneventful (which is fine by me. I like the lazy days), but I might not update here every day. We’ll have to see.

I ordered a gluten free pizza for lunch and we took that upstairs and ate on my grandparents balcony. It’s awesome to just sit out there and watch the waves. It was really relaxing. We were talking for a while and eventually we all fell asleep. I decided to head back to my room and take a nap and watch some TV.

Later in the afternoon, my grandpa and I headed down for some tea. We sat on the balcony downstairs and talked for a while. I’m glad that our paces are pretty well matched – I really enjoy working out in the morning, then just taking the day slowly, napping, eating, and catching a show in the evening.

Tonight was formal night so that meant that we had to get dressed up. I really don’t like getting dressed in a suit but I bought this fun hat that I wore and it made it a little more manageable. People seemed to enjoy the hat. Dinner was delicious! I was glad to be able to actually eat dinner in the dinning room. The boat must have been calmer that evening (my grandpa attributed that to dancers performing that evening. He said that they intentionally try and keep it smooth or otherwise they have difficulty performing). We moved our dinner to six o’clock (it was previously at eight) and I was really happy about that. For one, eating dinner at eight and catching the ten o’clock show was very tiring. Now we’ll eat at six and catch the eight show, which should be way better. Also, they speed up the engines at night (which is most likely why I felt queazy last night), so the six o’clock dinner should be smoother.

Tonight was the first performance we were able to go to, and it was really great. It was a group of eight singers and dancers performing a verity of Broadway songs. I was surprised how good it was. The music was superb, there was lots of costume changes and the dancing was great.

The last big event of the evening was when I realized that after changing into my suit, I’d forgotten my room key! So I had to go back downstairs, call someone up to the front desk and go back upstairs to have them unlock my bedroom and finally get some sleep. Tomorrow will be our last day out at sea before we reach Cairns. We already booked our excursion, which will be a line rail ride over the rainforest. I’m looking forward to it!

The first thing I did was head to the deck and use their jogging track. It’s a small track the runs around the ship. It was actually really nice because it overlooked the morning ocean, had a nice cool breeze and was a fantastic view. I’ll definitely be using it each morning. After I was done, I went back to my cabin, showered and headed to breakfast. So far, it doesn’t really seem to be that busy on the boat. For such a small ship, I’d thought that everyone would be on top of each other but that hasn’t been the case. I was able to get a seat outside on the balcony and eat my breakfast watching the waves.

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. I went back down for breakfast with my grandparents after they woke up. I was a bit tired (probably from the timzone difference). I definitely wouldn’t call it jet-lag though. Still, I went back to my cabin and watched some TV episodes I’d pre downloaded back home on my computer and then took a nap.

The boat has been pretty rocky today. I was kind of surprised. There was definitely a lot of movement. While I was sleeping, it was actually pretty relaxing. After my nap, we headed down for afternoon tea. Then I helped my grandpa with some computer stuff and we chatted for a while.

For dinner, we went to the dining room for the first time. Unfortunately, the dining room is situated in the back of the ship. The entire meal I was feeling queazy for the first time since getting on the ship. It was literally like trying to eat dinner while on the “Pirate Ship” ride at Cedar Point. I couldn’t see anything outside (because it was so dark) but I constantly felt the rising and falling motion in my stomach and couldn’t eat anything. I went back to my room early and got some rest. Once I was back in my cabin, I was feeling a bit better and was able to get to sleep quickly.

The guy from Princess was also really nice. He took us to a coffee shop in the airport to sit while he waited for more people to arrive. I got a gluten free cookie that was so good (seriously, this thing was magical). Eventually, the princess guy came back and took us to the shuttle bus. It was about a half an hour drive from the airport to where the ship was docked. The ride was really cool though because we went right through downtown Sydney and the driver was giving us a tour the entire time and sharing interesting facts and answering questions. It was actually a lot of fun.

Sydney is very interesting. At first when we were driving out of the airport, I didn’t really think it was really anything different than florida, but as we started going further downtown it got really cool. First of all, it was super busy. It was a Monday morning and the streets were packed with people (everyone from students to businessmen). I was really surprised how busy it was. And then the buildings got more city-like with large skyscrapers. The landscape is really hilly, which made for some really interesting city layouts too. And there were tons of trees. A lot of time we were driving through the heavily populated city areas and there would be a canopy of trees above the street, which was really cool. One of my favorite things though was the open layout that almost all the stores had. Instead of a storefront wall, it was simply open for people to walk into right from the sidewalk. I’d never seen that before. The city was also very clean, which was nice.

All in all, it seemed like a really nice city to live in. Once we got to the dock, at around 9 o’clock, we had to wait until 12 to board the plane. This entailed nothing more than sitting down for three straight hours. Luckily we were shaded under this a large tree that covered several benches by the water. It wasn’t too hot either and there was a comfortable breeze. The time eventually passed and we got to board the ship.

After checking into our rooms, we headed right for the food (I hadn’t eaten anything since 4 am!). The food was so delicious. It was just the general buffet but everything was so tasty. We got window seats that overlooked the Opera House. It had been a pretty tiring and stressful journey unto that point, but looking out at the view made it all worth it. It was just amazing. I wanted to stare at it all evening. I was also glad when I realized that the buffet was just the lunch and there was another meal coming later.

We watched as we sailed away from Sidney. It was dark by that point and the whole city was lit up. I was actually kind of sad to go. Even though I’d only been there a couple of hours, I really enjoyed it and wished I had more time to explore.

We boarded and headed to LAX. The flight went by pretty fast. That airplane had wifi in it so I was just on Facebook and chatting with my family the entire time. Once we landed in LAX, it was a bit odd. The two escorts waiting for us (my grandparents need wheelchairs for getting around the airport) were a little off. We had told them where we needed to be and they were having a little bit of trouble figuring out how to get us there (I think mainly because it needed to be wheelchair accessible the entire way though). So, they ended up taking us this really weird way. We were literally walking through the entire airport, going back where they keep the cleaning supplies and through giant hangers where they keep plane parts and the luggage. Then they called a shuttle to pick us up, which literally drove us on the tarmac all the way to the other side of the airport. We were passing right past planes and stopped a few times to let one pass (it was really weird but also kind of cool).

Anyway, once we finally pulled up to the right place, the driver was having a little trouble figuring out what to do next. He spent ten minutes talking to various people because the only way to get to the terminal was up three flights of stairs. And from the conversations I heard, the original people to let us through the airport had taken us a really strange way. Finally he managed to work out a path to our terminal using a service elevator (which opened up to revile a man with a load of trash. Classy). To top it off, they only sent down one wheelchair! I told the guy to go get another wheelchair but my grandpa insisted on walking (luckily it wasn’t too far).

The whole LAX thing was really bad. I don’t know if it was just the section we were in or what, but the place was really dirty, oddly laid out and just super unorganized. Still, we finally made it onto the plane. We were flying Virgin Australia and the plane was huge! It was a really nice ride. The staff was super friendly and helpful. They had theses touch screen TVs with a ton of free movies, TV shows, games, music and stuff. They really helped to make the time (14 hours!) fly by. The food wasn’t too bad either.

It’s still too early to tell, but I don’t think I’m going to have much issue with jet lag. The way they set up the flight really helped to convert you to the new time (even though they are almost completely opposite from the states). The lighting in the cabin adjusted on schedule to help you fallow a specific sleeping pattern. Basically, we got on the plane in the evening, ate dinner at what would have been 1am in the States. Then we went to bed at around 4am. Which meant that we simply slept for about 10 hours (waking up every now and then for breaks to walk around, watch a movie, etc. By the time breakfast came around, you were pretty much lined up with Australian time. So I thought that was pretty neat!

I’m writing this as we are about to decent. We’ll have a few hours in Sydney and then board the ship!

I’m really excited, as this is the first trip I’ve ever taken like this. It really is something I’ve always dreamed of doing and am really humbled to have the opportunity at such a relatively young age.

Recently, I’ve started up a few projects (I won’t go into detail, but I’ll assume you know about one of them if I’ve linked you here). I’ve done my best to prepare for the trip and get things in order before I leave, but I wanted to have one place I could officially link to and formally explain my absence.

I’ll be using this blog to write, post photos and videos of my trip. My intention is to post pretty much everything I can (mainly because I want my family back home to be able to follow along, but also because I want to be able to look back on this blog in the future, and I don’t forget anything!). Feel free to follow along. I’d love to have you join me.