Easter Sunday sunrise as the ship glided towards the port. So peaceful and inspiring for the new day ahead.
Author Archives: edwinandlisa
Weekend Cruise From LA: The Long Morning
Up at 4am, bags all ready to go with just a few last items left to pack. We left at 4:20am, drove out and parked near the Gateway Transit Center for our 4:57am MAX train to the airport. Once at the airport, it was less than a five-minute process through TSA thanks to our Pre-Check status – – we saw the regular line snake and stretch out for a minimum fifteen minute wait. With almost one hour to kill before our flight started boarding, we went to the Alaska Board Room Lounge to have a light continental breakfast and hang out. We came in just in time because a few minutes after we arrived the boardroom cut off other members of the priority pass and would not let them in.
Our flight went off without a hitch and we landed in Los Angeles by 9:10 a.m. After collecting our luggage, we decided to take public transportation to our Carnival Cruise port, which is located in Long Beach. It was $5 one-way vs $36 for an Uber, so we went with saving the money exchange for a longer ride. Despite some poorly timed connections, we made it to the cruise port by our check-in time and we were on the ship eating lunch at 1:45 p.m. And so begins our short three-day weekend.
Waiting for the Green Line Metro train
Queen Mary Hotel and our ship, the Carnival Inspiration
Main pool area
Dubai Meanderings: Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque
The highlight of our day tour in Abu Dhabi, and probably even for our entire trip, was visiting Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque. This is the third largest mosque in the world and it is open for visits from non-Muslims as long as we followed and respected the posted rules…
The main rule is that Lisa must enter at a separate entrance and her head must be covered
Dubai Meanderings: the Palm Jumeirah
The Palm Jumeirah is the world’s largest man-made island — shaped to look like a palm tree. The island is accessed by a monorail with two stations — one right at the base of the ‘tree’ and other other at the top of the tree. In this case, the top is the Atlantis the Palm Hotel, a fancy hotel with its own waterpark. While we didn’t go into the waterpark, we still managed to get a few photos and we walked around the hotel where we were permitted…
View from the monorail
Atlantis beach
Ceiling inside the hotel
Floor detail
Waterpark area
Construction going on all over the island... mainly big office buildings, hotels and condos
Orenco Woods Park
Today we took our students on a short walk through the newly opened Orenco Woods Park…
The route finally meets with the Rock Creek Trail, making for a extended walk for next time
Loop trail
In progress art installation
