Welcome

Well, here we are. Just so you know, this whole blogging this is brand new to me, so we are starting this together. On January 16, 2006 I will get on a plane in Hartford, Connecticut and travel to Tampa, Florida where I will spend my last night in the US with my Aunt and Uncle. From Tampa I'll board a plane headed for the Bahamas...Nassau that is. I'll have about a day and a half to see the area and get to know as many Semester at Sea(SAS) folk as possible. The 100 day global expedition officially begins on January the 19th at 8AM when I board the MV Explorer.

The ship sets sail and will be making its first stop in a common United States territory, San Juan, Puerto Rico. This will be the shortest stop, just three days. After getting a sense of the island flavor, we set sail for seven days and head south by way of the Atlantic Ocean for the tip of Brazil. The beautiful Portuguese city of Salvador will be explored for four days. After Brazil, one of the first ocean crossings occurs. It will take ten days to get from Southeaster Brazil and head south across the Atlantic to the southern tip of Africa. After the trans-Atlantic journey, our ship will arrive in Cape Town, South Africa for six days. After that we head northeast into the middle of nowhere. It is a tiny island, about the size of a pea really. Set in the Indian Ocean, Port Luis, Mauritius is quite the tiny African entity. From there we head due north to the eastern coast of India. We will dock in Chennai, the capital city of the most populous country in the world. From there we will head east across the Bay of Bengal to Yangon, Myanmar. After spending some time in this risky military rogue state, we head south through the narrow Straight of Malaca between Malaysia and Sumatra. Once through, we will head north to southern Vietnam, Ho Chin Minh City. Known to the locals as Siagon, this will be quite the trip...my parents are going to be meeting me there. From 'Nam we navigate through the South China Sea and end up in Hong Kong. From there we will make way up the Taiwan Straight and into the Yellow Sea to find a city on the northern tip of the bay, Qingdao, China. After China comes a well known island. We’ll plot a course around the southern tip of Japan and stop on the south eastern coast in the city of Kobe. Sadly, Kobe is the last stop outside of the United States. It will be a sad day when the 13-day cross-Pacific journey begins. It will be a mark of several things: the end of a journey, finals time, my birthday (which will be celebrated dead smack in the middle of the ocean), and the fact that the US is our next stop…whoooooppppiiiiieeeeee (please note: thick sarcasm)! On April 28, 2006, if all goes as planned, the MV Explorer will make its last stop in the beautiful port of San Diego, California.

If I’m still alive by the time we get back to the states…this will be something we’ll have a lot to talk about when I return to the east coast.