Travel Maven Blog ...... David Molyneaux posts from TheTravelMavens.com

My year without travel: Reflecting on the pandemic and staying close to home

Fran Golden and David G. Molyneaux, Sitka, Alaska 2017

'I miss connecting with fellow travelers, even simple smiles and nods of recognition ... I miss the kindness of strangers that appears naturally on the road — and from locals I encounter along the way'

By David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com, republished from The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com

 

Without a building or human in sight, we arrived at a fork on a woodsy trail with no idea where we were going, for which we were grateful.

A serendipitous choice passed through a patch of red and yellow leaves still dangling in November, perhaps just waiting for these two world travelers who were thankful even for the slightest sense of being lost in Berlin.

No, not that Berlin. Germany and all the other countries of the world are off the discovery charts in this self-protective year of 2020. Instead, we were exploring a ridge of trails about an hour’s drive west of Cleveland in Edison Woods MetroPark in Berlin Township, Erie County.

Poland? No, Cleveland. The bust of Frédéric Chopin, composer and virtuoso pianist, is in the Polish Garden on East Boulevard in Rockefeller Park (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

What a lifestyle change this year has been, without travel.

White Island was a rugged cruise to an active New Zealand volcano in the South Pacific

My cruise ship shore excursion to an active volcano on White Island off the north coast of New Zealand in 2013 was the strangest and most exciting tour of my life. It never was a trip for the queasy or careful.

(This report was updated on December 8, 2019, after the volcano exploded on White Island. My guide from 2013, Hayden Marshall-Inman, was killed.)

David Molyneaux, with gas mask, on White Island

At least one American expert on volcanic activity told me that White Island was highly dangerous. Maybe that’s why some cruise passengers chose to remain above the island, booking a flight-seeing tour offered by several ships.

The report that follows was not a recommendation to fly above or to board a boat to the island on a tour from Whakatane, near New Zealand’s port of Tauranga.

It was written as a tale from a traveler who made the questionable sea journey.

White Island, formed by volcanic eruptions, is a world of gaseous steam and serious acid, where the ground shakes from the Ring of Fire that burns below the rim of the basin of the Pacific Ocean.

Carnival, that most American of cruise lines, won't return to Europe any time soon

Remembering occasional cultural clashes, naked Russians, buying beer by the bucket at the movies, caught by security with a kitchen knife

BY DAVID G. MOLYNEAUX 

The port at Naples, Italy, as seen from the pools at the aft end of Carnival Horizon. Carnival has taken many Americans on their first visit to Europe. (Photo by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

The new Carnival Horizon, which left Europe in May for New York and will move to Miami in September, may be the last Carnival Cruise Line ship to offer European voyages, at least for quite some time. President Christine Duffy says Carnival has no plans to cruise in Europe.

Carnival Horizon was built in Italy and sailed only a few European voyages before coming to the United States. The line’s next new ship, Carnival Panorama, will sail directly from the shipyard in Italy to Long Beach, California, via the Pacific Ocean, apparently without paying passengers. Preliminary plans for a Carnival ship expected to debut in 2020 do not include voyages in Europe (though, of course, other Carnival Corp. brands, such as Holland America and Princess, have multiple ships in Europe each summer). In an email from Carnival Cruise Line, a spokesman said, "We might be considering European voyages down the road."

American burgers, songs, jokes

Atrium on the Carnival Horizon

Europe will miss Carnival, which is the most American of all the North American cruise lines — in design, food, atmosphere, and style.

While other cruise lines have become more international by design, the 26 ships of Carnival Cruise Line never have attempted to be anything else. Burgers sloppy with American condiments are consumed on its pool decks by the thousands, in the general vicinity of the hairy chest contest. American songs dominate the piano bar. American jokes fill the comedy club.

Carnival has introduced Americans on a budget to the great European cities of Barcelona, Marseille, Florence, Rome, Naples, Dubrovnik, and Venice.

While a vast majority of Carnival passengers sailing on Europe cruises have been North Americans, these voyages also have drawn Europeans and Asians, who no doubt were curious about the American experience.

Israeli outdoor markets abuzz about Cleveland's LeBron James and David Blatt

Tel Aviv, Israel

For a Clevelander traveling the world these days, the celebrity status of NBA star LeBron James brings us instant recognition.

Buying a Cavs shirt in Safed, Israel

Whether you are in Asia, Europe, or the Middle East, nearly everyone seems to know one fact about Cleveland, Ohio, USA: LeBron James plays basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Folks in Israel know another thing: David Blatt, an American famous here for his prowess in leading championship basketball teams, is head coach of the Cavs.

As my wife and I were walking this week in Safed, one of the holiest cities in Israel, in the hills above the Sea of Galilee, I helped to reduce some basketball anxieties among a group of merchants in the local outdoor market.

We had arrived in Israel on luxury cruise line Silversea’s 540-passenger Silver Spirit, docked in Haifa, and were touring with a private guide. 

Bring black tie, party dresses, for crossing the Atlantic on Queen Mary 2

On a July voyage between Liverpool, England, and Canada’s Halifax, Nova Scotia, Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 spent six nights and five days at sea.

Nearly a week, without possibilities for going ashore, seems a long time when you are looking over a brochure for a future crossing of the North Atlantic.

Popular spot in the library at the bow of Queen Mary 2 (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

But once Queen Mary 2 leaves the last glimpse of land and the sea-day countdown begins, time zips by in a series of meals, concerts, parties, movies, lectures, games, naps, reading, and hours for staring aimlessly at an expanse of gray-green water that never stops moving or changing.

Freighter cruising on Aranui 3 in the South Pacific

Jacques Brel’s memory is alive, well and living in Atuona

Travelers by freighter are enthusiastic and adventurous

Aranui 3 at anchor off Rangiroa in the Tuamotu Archipelago of the South Pacific. (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

The voice is unmistakable, even 20 yards away from a bright green barn that sits near a beach on Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands of the South Pacific. Inside is a memorial to chanteur Jacques Brel, who was known throughout the world as a passionate singer, songwriter, and movie star.

Listening to Brel on a warm, humid afternoon was one of the highlights of a freighter cruise to the remote islands of French Polynesia on Aranui 3.

I loved Brel in French. English versions of his songs were recorded by artists ranging from Nirvana to the Beach Boys and swept across the United States in performances of the musical revue, “Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris.”