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You can lose everything, but nobody will take away what you saw and what you experienced...
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Oct 20, 2022 08:00 PM Papeete on Polynesia...
Hot and humid tropic. I live in the little private house of Opuhinano family, walking distance from the airport. The place is on the hill, with great view of the blue ocean and Moorea island. Since my last visit in the town few new and modern public buildings appeared. But Papeete still has the atmosphere of those old ports of colonial era. Local ladies wear wreaths made of tropical flowers. The groups of men are playing ukuleles under a shaddy trees. I just performed covid test required to board the Aranui expedition ship tomorrow. Thanks God the result of the test is negative! :) New adventure starts tomorrow!
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Oct 19, 2022 08:00 PM San Francisco after years...
I like San Francisco - its picturesque location is comparable only to Cape Town, Rio And Sydney! Today I had a stopover in San Francisco just to refresh memories. Great! I took a bus 292 from airport to the city (only 1,10 USD for senior) and then bus 130 to the bridge (2 dollars). Wow! The view is still great and you can see also Alcatraz Island. They should repaint the bridge - red color seems to be a bit dirty now.... Then I turned to Fishermen Wharf, smalling with fried fish... Why not to try again famous cable car? Years ago, in 1981, I paid for the ticket just a dollar. Today it cost 8 dollars! In the night I fly to Tahiti - 8 hours in the air and nothing for free aboard low-cost French Bee airline!...
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Oct 18, 2022 08:00 PM Rainy morning in Lisbon
Shame on you, TAP Portugal airlines!!. On the 4-hours flight Warsaw to Lisbon they did not offer even a free glass of water. You can have it for extra money 2,7 euro per 0,5 l bottle! Imagine that yesterday I reched my hostel near Lisbon airport only at 1 am. This is cozy, self- serve place - 20 min energetic walk from the terminal. It was 20 deg at midnight here. My companion in the room was terrible snorring in the short night. In the morning I recognized that there is heavy rain outside. Fortunately after shower and quick breakfast I found little window in the rain to walk back to the airport. So many controls on the way to the gate 45! Filling extra covid form... Finally I am at the gate! Just ready for the long flight to San Francisco! It is OK!
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Oct 17, 2022 08:00 PM Emotions from the beginning
It was lovely, stll warm autumn day in Gdansk. I went with my backpack to the city bus 122 heading to the airport. No bus on time! Fortunately it was possible to combine two other buses - 157 and 210 to be in the airport still on time. Bad news! My first flight to Warsaw is delayed and the staff doesn't know how big will be the deal. Uuuu!!! this must be something serious! Passengers are getting nervous. Some of them has short connection in Warsaw. Not me, I have three hours "pillow". The flight filally departed with two hours delay. Domestic flight: a glass of mineral water and a bun... Poor service! After an hour we landed in Warsaw. The TAP plane landed soon. Relax! I will be in Lisbon late in the evening. Because I had a pillow - I is worth! We will be boardind in 10 minutes...
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Oct 16, 2022 08:00 PM New grand voyage!
It's already autumn in Poland, and I am embarking on another great journey! In fact, they were supposed to be two separate expeditions: one in the spring and the other in the fall. But the covid-19 pandemic has ruined everything. When preparing this trip, I had to combine two expeditions: to the hot Polynesia and cold Antarctica. It will not be easy... But I believe that I will discover for myself new tropical islands and I'll make my dream of seeing the imperial penguins come true. See how it looks on the map. The grand voyage is planned for 40 days. The route is very complicated so please keep your fingers crossed for me! For the ice situation on the Antarctic waters and the weather in the Drake Passage. As long as I'll find free internet access (which is not so obvious on expedition ships), you will find "hot" messages from the road, as always in my travel log.
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Sep 24, 2022 08:00 PM F I love you, Amanu!
Imagine distant, flat atoll on Tuamotu. Only 174 people lives here... Barge took me here to the main motu through the narrow canal heading to the turquoise lagoon. At the entrance to the canal stands surrounded by the palms little church of St Paul from 19th century. Wow! The group of local ladies in the flower crowns were waiting for us with smelling lei - everyone got a smile and the flower necklace... The ukulele-guitar band was playing jyst nearby to make us happy... It was only 200 m distance from this pier to the village main square where they were performed polynesian dances. Playing this lovely music while we were tasting local food (what a tasty marinated fish in the coconut milk!). Then I was walking to the end of the main motu to discover paradise beach framed by the palms... Oh, what a paradise! And what a people! I love you Amanu!
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Sep 21, 2022 08:00 PM I am finally at home, but infected by omicron!
It was almost midnight when I reached my home in Gdansk. One more exciting voyage is completed! But I was feeling since Frankfurt somehow weak and experienced fever. On the next day somebody brought me the self-test from the pharmacy. Aha - I have omicron, decpite 3 covid vaccinations! Oh, no! - I will try to avoid flights via Frankfurt in the future!
It was necessary to see how is my "Wojtkówka" so I went there anyway. The young cats were waiting for me. There is still a lot of flowers and many vegetables to pick. But first I need a solid rest!
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Sep 19, 2022 08:00 PM Involuntary stay in Frankfurt
No luck. It was one hour after sch duled arrival when our jumbo-jet open the door near the apron of Frankfurt airport. I was running with the hope from wing Z to the gate A22 (quite a distance) but when I reached the gate nobody was already there. Desperation! In the Lufthansa service desk they rebooked me for the evening flight departing only at 8.30 pm. Seven hours waiting! After 10 hours spent on the night flight. They gave me the voucher wirth 15 euro for the meal, but the prices in the airport are so high, that it means almost nothing. You have to pay 3,50 for half liter of min water and twice more for the sandwich! This was very interesting, fascinating journey but the final... Shame on you Lufthansa!
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Sep 18, 2022 08:00 PM In Vancouver again...
Sunny morning in Vancouver! I took a solid breakfast and started to pack my small backpack... At 9 am I was already ashore. They even do not check the passport! You are giving them the filled arrival form and you are free to go to the brigth, shinning downtown... There is a little risk - you sign that you are not bringing to Canada any food. But It is long way home so I prepared on the ship few sandwiches - nobody asked...
From the elegant terminal on the Canada Place ther is only 200 m or so to the "Waterfront" subway station. One of the lines (small, automated trains have no human operators) will take you directly to the airport. It cost the senior 3 Canadian dollars. Bad news in the airport! My flight to Frankfurt will be delayed for more than an hour! And this means, that I will be loosing connection to Gdansk! As you can see even now the airlines do not operate well!
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Sep 17, 2022 08:00 PM Captain Vincente...
Today we are sailing all the day through the Gdand Inside Passage, passing small and big green islands. Watching for the whales (I saw one humpback, but only for the short moment) and sunbathing. At 10.30 I had a chance to meet our captain. He was responsing passenger' questions. Imagine that he is from Uruguay! I asked him how many countries he visited. Not too many, especially in Africa. I introduced myself and chef engineer took our pictures. Nice souvenir!
In the afternoon we went for some 3 hours to the open ocean, and later we took the course through the narrow passage. On the right side it was already a huge Vancouver Island. In the last evening I was listening to the pop standards perfectly played by the musician from the Philippines. And later on I met Katarina and Julien - fantastic Russian - French gymnastic duo performing in our theater. As you can see - the last day on the ship was very busy! :)
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