October 5, 2024

BREST, FRANCE

Don't think I can count this as my first country visited on world cruise, because I never touched the ground!

This is route we took and my view of Brest all day!

Apparently, as we were sailing late last night, the Captain got word from the port agent, that the only available berth did not allow for passengers on and off the Ship. Sadly we had no other option, since we needed fuel and water and also need to stay ahead of Hurricane Kirk. It is extremely rare, for Hurricanes to make it up to Northern Europe. Hear now degraded to tropical storm but winds are still gusting. We played pickleball for hours today and the wind was crazy! Made play very fluid!

Above shows berths we wanted near Disney Dream and how close, but yet so far away, we landed. Au revoir Brest! 

By Pat Patrick July 14, 2026
I really enjoyed my first trip to Thailand! On our final morning here we went to try breakfast at this spot, down the road, we had been hearing rave reviews on, King Of Bread . The hype was correct, the breakfast was delicious and they had some unique choices. I had eggs benedict on a croissant, in lieu of the standard english muffin and Bosco had it on Milk Bread, which was equally tasty.
By Pat Patrick July 14, 2026
We love having authentic experiences with locals to really get a chance to see how they live and thrive in the Ports we visit. So when I found a cooking class, by a local woman offered in her home, we were excited to book. Um ( our teacher) picked us and brought us back to our hotel along with the family of 4 from Sydney, Australia, that had also signed up for this afternoon class. Um's house, which has a lovely open air kitchen, garden and dining area, was about a 30 minute drive and turned out to be on the beach, right next to the Grandparent Rocks.
By Pat Patrick July 14, 2026
The nightlife scene doesn't really get going till after 11pm and goes till 5 am in the Chaweng section of Koh Samui . We made our way over to the club district, and one of the hot spots called the ArkBar a little past 10pm to have some dinner, while watching the beach fire shows.