I had a bunch myself this year.
In the winter here, my wife and I flew to Santiago, Chile and sailed from Valparaiso Chile on a South Pacific cruise to Sydney.
Crossed the equator South for the first time, crossed the International Time Line for the first time. Got to see the Orion constellation upside down and the Southern Cross for the first time. Got to see some Easter Island head statues, unfortunately only from the deck of the ship. The sea was to rough for old folks to be tendered ashore.
Got to see Tahiti, Bora Bora, several places in New Zealand, and after a brief tour of Sydney flew to the Outback. Got to see the real Ayers Rock (or Uluru as the natives call it).
This fall on another cruise, we got to see Hong Kong, Shanghai and several other Chinese cities as well as Okinawa. It's the first time my wife and I had been to Asia.
Okinawa was interesting because, in WW-II, it was the first Japanese civilian populated island that was invaded by the Allies (mostly US Marines and Army) and took almost 3 months to capture. The Japanese no surrender policy cost them dearly and a huge number of civilians committed suicide. Some conscripted Okinawans did surrender. There is a Cornerstone of Peace memorial park now that lists (including both sides) almost 241K dead.
From Shanghai we got go to Suzhou and a boat ride on the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is one of those bucket lists items one didn't know about. It's 1100 miles long from Beijing to Hangzhou and had its beginnings in the 6th century BC.
Importantly for me, from the port of Tianjin we got to go on a bus to Huangyaguan and that section of the Great Wall of China. I got to walk up a few hundred feet.
Some Africa and Antarctica to go.
Crossed the equator South for the first time, crossed the International Time Line for the first time. Got to see the Orion constellation upside down and the Southern Cross for the first time. Got to see some Easter Island head statues, unfortunately only from the deck of the ship. The sea was to rough for old folks to be tendered ashore.
Got to see Tahiti, Bora Bora, several places in New Zealand, and after a brief tour of Sydney flew to the Outback. Got to see the real Ayers Rock (or Uluru as the natives call it).
This fall on another cruise, we got to see Hong Kong, Shanghai and several other Chinese cities as well as Okinawa. It's the first time my wife and I had been to Asia.
Okinawa was interesting because, in WW-II, it was the first Japanese civilian populated island that was invaded by the Allies (mostly US Marines and Army) and took almost 3 months to capture. The Japanese no surrender policy cost them dearly and a huge number of civilians committed suicide. Some conscripted Okinawans did surrender. There is a Cornerstone of Peace memorial park now that lists (including both sides) almost 241K dead.
From Shanghai we got go to Suzhou and a boat ride on the Grand Canal. The Grand Canal is one of those bucket lists items one didn't know about. It's 1100 miles long from Beijing to Hangzhou and had its beginnings in the 6th century BC.
Importantly for me, from the port of Tianjin we got to go on a bus to Huangyaguan and that section of the Great Wall of China. I got to walk up a few hundred feet.
Some Africa and Antarctica to go.
