Bon Voyage!

As we begin the final countdown (5 days or 120 hours or 7205 minutes - as of this posting) I want to thank everyone who has wished us a Bon Voyage! and to give you some insight into what we are anticipating as the really big moments to come:

• Our gala kick-off party at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Miami on Monday evening
• Zip-lining (again) in Costa Rica
• A special private tour and guided experience among the Moai statues on Rapa Nui (known to as more colloquially as Easter Island”)
• Weather permitting, a stop on Pitcairn Island…aaaarrrrrrgh!
• Returning to New Zealand and Australia
• A special luncheon on a private island in the middle of Sydney Harbor
• A three-day off-ship adventure to Beijing and its many sights, including a private excursion to the Great Wall
• Sailing Ha Long Bay in Vietnam aboard a private junk
• Being whisked by private jet to the Taj Mahal for exploration and a special luncheon
• An overnight stay in Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar (Burma) and more temple exploration
• A private tour and luncheon at the Burg al Arab Hotel in Dubai, U.A.E. This is supposedly the only seven-star hotel in the world. It is the one always seen in the ads for Dubai and it looks like a giant sail
• A special performance at the Royal Opera House Muscat under the auspices of the ruler of Oman, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said
• A masked ball in Venice
• A week in the Lake Country of northern Italy

Those are just the highlights. We hope you will join us (vicariously, of course) on our journey returning to a few familiar places and exploring many new and exciting ones.

As always, we welcome comments, questions, or advice – especially if you have something that you think we must try to squeeze in during the trip.

Stay tuned as we set sail…um…make that start our engines...