Travel advice and itineraries for any level of adventure, from tenting to cruises, backpacks to timeshares. Travel is possible on ANY budget.
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No Kids Allowed 2024...The day we disembarked the NCL Gem in Boston was our daughter (Jodi) and son-in-law (Wade) 16th Anniversary. In planning our trip, we had decided to stay an extra day in Boston and celebrate. Wade had asked if we could celebrate at a Boston Red Sox game. Well why not???
Our final port for our No Kids Allowed Cruise was at Bar Harbor, Maine. The area was explored in 1604 by the French explorer Champlain. A village was established on Mount Desert Island in 1761. The town was incorporated in 1796 under the name Eden. and later changed to Bar Harbor.
Bermuda No kids Allowed Cruise...our 3rd day in Bermuda, we took a tour of the Royal Dockyards, with members of the Bermuda Historical Society
Bermuda No Kids Allowed Cruise...Our second day in Bermuda was spent in the St. Georges Parish.
Bermuda No Kids Allowed Cruise...our first day at Sea and first day in Bermuda, were the ship docked for 3 days.
We are on the 2nd No Kids Allowed (NKA) Trip of the year, this time with Jodi and Wade. We met them in Boston and of course in true Carson fashion, we had to have a slight glitch. One of our bags got stuck in the luggage conveyor "tube". It took about 20 minutes and 5 workers but we got the bag back, only slightly scuffed.
Thursday night we booked a tour of downtown Boston and the Charles River. Due to the NBA Finals game the tour had a variation, but it was still fun
Our BAM Adventure squad went to Sunnier shores and had an amazing time Ziplining! Here's the video of our experience and if you'd like to read more about it check out our story here: https://bamadventuretravel.com/2024/05/22/mexican-rivera-cruise-2024-puerto-vallarta/
Some fun pictures from our recent Mexican Riveria cruise
Our last port on our Mexican Riveria cruise was Cabo San Lucas. We elected for a snorkeling adventure up the coast in the Sea of Cortez.
So a few facts about Cabo...
It was officially established in 1788, but did not start to prosper until 1917, when an American company built a platform to catch tuna. In 1927 a a fish processing plant was built.
The area economy is now dominated by tourism, sport fishing, whale watching, and retirees.
Cabo has a population of 202,000 people, tripling in size since 2010.
Matzatlan, Mexico...on our tour we learned a few facts. The name means "land of the deer". There are 500,000 residents. It was settled in 1530 by the Spanish. A german citizen came here in the late 1890s and missed beer. In 1900 he founded Pacifica beer. Even though tourism is important, it's main economy is still fishing mainly tina and shrimp. The shrimp are some of the largest in the world.
Our tour for the day was to the El Faro Lighthouse.
The lighthouse is located on the tallest hill in Matzatlan and until the 1930s it was an island. A causeway was built to give easier access. The lighthouse is a popular local trail.
After 33 days on the NCL Jewel, we had reached our last port of Tokyo. This is where we disembarked. We had an early evening flight so booked a city tour that then dropped us off at the airport.
Tokyo has 13.9 million residents and covers 847 square miles.
In Japanese, hello is pronounced "O-hi-o" just like the state.
The port of Shimizu, Japan was our 7th Japanese port and our 33rd day on the NCL Jewel. The city nearby is Shizuoka and is about 70 miles south of Tokyo and has an area population of 670,000 and is known for maguro tuna and green tea.
The main attraction of the day was Mount Fuji. The name means mountain of fire, which is appropriate since it is an active volcano.
Until 1871, women were forbidden to climb Mount Fuji, only being allowed access to the mountain as far as the second stage. One of the main reasons was that women, especially beautiful ones, may make Konohana-sakuya-hime, the goddess of Mount Fuji angry.
Our afternoon tour in Nagoya was at the Toyota Museum.
The company was originally called Toyoda and started as a textile company in 1926. After watching his neighbor toil for hours weaving material, Sakichi Toyoda, who was a carpenter, wanted to help by developing a more efficient weaving loom. He achieved his goal in 1890 with a power loom that revolutionized textiles in Asia. He developed 80 textile patents before selling the automatic loom patent to Platt Brothers & Co in England in 1929.
He used the money to send his son to a university abroad and he went on a trip to the US and Europe. After seeing the mass produced cars in the US, he came back wanting to develop a car industry in Japan.
In 1924, Ford opened a factory in Tokyo, followed by GM in 1927. In 1929, Sakichi went to Tokyo and bought a 4-door Chevrolet sedan, which he disassembled and looked at every part. He then went to Tokyo, and hired Ford and GM executives to help him with development. In 1933 he setup an automotive division and in 1935 he finished his first Model A 4-door sedan. He also created a company creed called the Toyoda Precepts that set a high standard for his employees. In 1936, Toyoda had an exhibition showing the company's mass-produced passenger cars and Toyoda was designated an authorized automotive manufacturer. By 1937, Sakichi realized that for marketing he needed to change the name as Toyoda has 10 Japanese characters, while Toyota only has 8 Japanese characters. The number 8 is also considered a very lucky number in Japan.
In the late 1930s, car production was halted, as the Japanese government wanted Toyota to build trucks for the war effort.
After the war, Toyota vehicles became very popular in Asia and
in 1961, the first Japanese car, the Toyopet Crown, was sold.
Our 6th port in Japan was in Nagoya which is known for shipping and manufacturing and has a population of 2.3 million residents. It is located in the government prefecture/region of Aichi.
Nagoya is 213 miles south of Tokyo and can be reached in 1 1/2 hours using the bullet train. The fare is $65.00 USD one way.
We decided to go a different direction with our tour and booked "The Industries of Nagoya"
Our morning stop was at the Noritake Museum...
It started as an art studio. That changed with the Japanese change of government in 1868 and a move away from isolationism, foreign trade was then allowed. Ichizaemon Morimura sent his brother Toyo to open a ceramics store in New York City under the name Morimura Brothers. The ceramic figurines were very popular and at the 1898 Paris Exposition, they were asked to make coffee mugs, but soon discovered that there was a demand for fine dining plates. In Asia, plates are made in various colors, with black being the most popular, but in the US, consumers wanted white plates. Ichizaemon sent his engineers, to Europe to learn the latest manufacturing methods so they could create white porcelain ware using Japanese materials. Upon their return, they discovered that by adding white cow bone powder, a pure white plate could be manufactured. This is where the term "fine bone china" came from. It took an additional 10 years to develop a full table set.
The tour was fascinating!!
**If you put your hand under a plate and shine a light on the plate, if you can see your hand, then it is real fine bone china**
Day Two in Osaka was spent in Kyoto. It served as the Japanese capital from 794 - 1867. The Edo Period was from 1603 until 1868 when the Tokugawa family ruled Japan. Tokugawa Shogunate government was dismantled due to Western influence and power was shifted to the Emperor. This ended the isolationism that Japan had practiced. The Emperor moved to Edo, which was renamed Tokyo and it became the capital of Japan.
Our 5th Japanese port was Osaka. We would have two days here as our ship did an over-night stay. It was our first port on the mainland of Japan. The country of Japan is 1900 miles long with 1800 miles of coastline. It consists of 14,136 islands, with 430 inhabited. Osaka has population of 277,000 but the urban region is 8.7 million people. One of it's most famous company's is Ninetendo.
Our tour took us to the region of Nara. The area is mountainous, so to reach Nara we travelled through tunnels.
Nara was the capital of Japan from 710-794. We learned there is a difference between a sh**un and a samurai. While a sh**un may have been a samurai at one point, a sh**un was at the top of Japan's military while the samurai was an elite soldier. Shoguns had much more power than samurais.
In 1549, Christianity was introduced and the sh**un required that residents to register at a Buddha temple as a way to discourage conversion.
Kochi, Japan is located on the island of Shikoku. It is the smallest of the 4 main Japanese islands. Most of the 3.6 million residents live in the northern part of the island. Kochi is located in the south on the Pacific Ocean side of the island. It has an urban population of 318,000 and is the capital of the Kochi Prefecture region. It is declining in population as the younger generation consider it too rural. Due to it's eastern unprotected position, it is prone to typhoon damage.
During World War II, Kochi was selected as a target by the United States Bomber Command because of the city's status as a prefectural capital, and the fact that it was a center for industry and commercial trade. On July 3, 1945, at 6:22 pm, 129 aircraft dropped 1060 tons of bombs, destroying 48% of the city, killing 401 civilians and rendering over 40,000 homeless. Due to the destruction, many of the city buildings were constructed after 1945.
The area is known for it's moray eel, Nabeyaki ramen noodles, and rice. The most famous dish is katsuo no tataki, (skipjack tuna) where the outside is lightly broiled. At one time raw tuna was out-lawed due to people getting sick. People still wanted raw tuna, so they cooked the outside just long enough so it looked cooked.
Kochi is famous as Sakamoto Ryoma, the leader of the movement to change from Samurai warrior rule in1867, was from the city. He was taken to the US by sailors and fell in love with America. He came back to Japan and spoke for change toward democracy. Kochi became the first area to give women the right to vote. His ideas were not popular and he was assassinated. Civil unrest occurred, the samurai's were removed, but the emperor remained.
We chose a cultural tour for the day...
Our 3rd port in Japan was Hiroshima, which means large island. This was a two part tour with Itsukushima in the morning and Hiroshima in the afternoon.
Hiroshima is a very modern city, as most of it was destroyed in 1945 and had to be re-built. It currently has a population of 1.2 million people.
The area is the top producer in edible oysters, lemons, and
maple-leaf shaped cakes. The rice scoop was developed here and came from a Deity symbol.
Hiroshima Bombing....The decision to drop the atomic bomb was made to prevent further blood shed on both sides if the land war continued. President Truman sent a message to the Emperor that Japan needed to surrender or the US would be forced to use a large weapon of war. Due to security, the Japanese did not know what the weapon was. There were two intended targets on the morning of August 16, 1945...Kokura, which had clouds and Hiroshima which was sunny. Hiroshima was also chosen as it was the ship building area due to the nearby iron mines and was also the main naval port.
The bomb was made to explode 1900 feet above the ground to limit the amount of residual radiation. 24 hours after the bomb detonated, there was only 2% radiation recorded on the ground.
Our second port in Japan was Naha on the island of Okinawa on the South China Sea. It has 319,000 residents. From the 14th to the 18th century, it was part of the the Ryukyu Kingdom. It was incorporated as a city of Japan in 1921.
It is the capital of the Okinawa Prefecture, which is like a "state" of 160 islands, of which 49 are inhabited and has a total of 1.4 million residents. It is the most southern region of Japan. It was and still is considered important due to it's central location to Taiwan, China, and mainland Japan. During the Ryukyu reign, China gave the area many gifts to keep the residents happy due to it's importance. The world's best kimonos are made on the island.
Since we had been following World War II history for most our 2 previous cruises, we decided to book the excursion about the Battle of Okinawa.
Japan considers the day of "infamy" as December 8th, which at first struck us as strange, but then you take into consideration the International Dateline and it makes sense. As the war turned against Japan, they decided to use Okinawa as the sacrificial lamb and the hold the island just long enough to negotiate a cease fire treaty. They knew the Allied forces would attack Okinawa first, before moving north to Tokyo, biding time for the emperor to remain in control of Japan. However, that information was not told to the residents or the Japanese soldiers who continued to fight for victory. Japan sent the bulk of their soldiers to Taiwan hoping to hold that area and retain control after the war. Japan then eliminated the military age so any man 17 to 80 years old was called upon to fight. They also took girls out of school to be army nurses. The hospitals were in caves to avoid bombs. US Admiral Nimitz wanted to invade from the south but General Buckner convinced him to invade in the middle of the island, which took longer, but avoided more casualties. March 23, 1945, air raids began and the Allied land invasion followed on April 1st. The Allied forces had 550,000 soldiers and Japan had 130,00 mostly local men. Due to the bombings, there was little resistance on the beach. The first battle occured on April 8th, with last battle in the southern part of the island on April 24th.
When a Japanese soldier died, his last words were supposed to be, "For the Emperor", but most cried out their mother's name. A tokko su***de attack is when a soldier agrees to kill himself, as there is more honor in su***de than being killed by your enemy. The ground tokko attack is where a soldier strapped explosives on his back, then ran toward the Allied tanks. This "tradition" actually started in the 15th century with wars between ancestorial families near Osaka.
The residents of Okinawa are still disturbed by the military's betrayal during World War II and describe it as a war of the Japanese government not the Japanese people.
Our first port in Japan was Hirara, a city located in the Okinawa Prefecture, which is the governmental region. Hirara is on the island of Miyakojima (jima means island) The island has an estimated population of 51,150 and a total area of 188 square miles. It is the largest of the 12 Miyako islands. There are no rivers or mountains, so no runoff into the ocean. This makes the water extremely clear and an ideal diving spot. It is made of limestone and is suspectable to droughts due to it's porous soil. The main exports are Panama hats, brown sugar, and sake, and it imports rice.
The area was part of the Ryukyu Kingdom for nearly 4 centuries and had a very close relationship with China, so it has many Chinese customs as well as names. In 1879, the Japanese Emperor Meiji dissolved the kingdom and declared the islands as part of Japan.
Interestingly, it is located 236 miles from Taipei, Taiwan but 1137 miles from Tokyo.
Our 3rd port in Taiwan was the port of Hualien. It is located on the east coast of Taiwan on the Pacific Ocean, and has a population of 99,458 inhabitants and is one of the least populated areas in Taiwan. In 2023 Hualien was voted one of the Most Welcoming Cities on Earth by Booking.com
The original name of the port was Kilai, a name that refers to the Taiwanese aborigines who lived in the area.
After Taiwan came under Japanese rule in 1895 it's governors sought to change the name because Kilai is pronounced the same as the Japanese word for "dislike". The port name was changed to Karen Harbor.
To complicate the name, the Han people, who are the largest ethnic group in China, settled in Taiwan in the 17th century and saw the swift flow of the Hualien River into the ocean, where it mingles with the current forming spectacular waves, and decided to name the area Huilann (meaning churning waves).
With the many name changes, the name and spelling used today is Hualien.
Our second port in Taiwan (ROC) and our last of the second cruise was Keelung which is known as a sheltered harbor. The city has a population of 371,000 residents and is about 20 minutes from Taipei.
For back to back passengers, the ship offered several tours. We elected to head to the Shifen Scenic Area in the mountains near Keelung.
Our first port in Taiwan was Kaohsiung. The country consists of 11,000 islands and 34 provinces. It sits right on the edge of the Tectonic plate zone so lots of tall mountains, 200 above 9500 feet.
Taiwan has a confusing past, all involving their name. Ancestors of Taiwanese indigenous peoples settled the island around 6,000 years ago and since that time it has been known by many names. The name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors noted it on their maps as Ilha Formosa (Portuguese for "beautiful island").
The Dutch established a commercial colony on the southern coast of the island named Zeelandia, close to present-day Tainan, where they operated until 1662. The Dutch referred to the area as Tayouan—an indigenous word for foreigners—which eventually gave rise to the name Taiwan. In the 17th century, a large Han Chinese immigration began under the Dutch colony. With the influx of Chinese citizens, the Dutch allowed the island in 1683, to be annexed by the Qing dynasty of mainland China. It was then ceded to the Empire of Japan in 1895. At that time, it was referred to as both Formosa and Taiwan. Followers of the political movement, Republic of China over-threw the Qing Dynasty in 1912 on mainland China. When the communists won in mainland China in 1949, members of the nationalist party, known as the Kuomintang or KMT, fled to Taiwan, where they ruled for several decades. They changed the name of Taiwan to the Republic of China, a name that has been retained. The KMT took control of the country following the surrender of Japan in 1945. Japan renounced sovereignty over Taiwan in 1952.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) is no longer a member of the United Nations after UN members voted in 1971 to recognize the Peoples Republic of China instead. The country is sometimes referred to as ROC.
Our 4th Philippines port was Currimao. After our huge history lesson the day, before, we chose a tour that was all about fun and only a bit of thinking...lol
Our 3rd port in the Philippines was Manila. The city's original name was Intramuros which means "inside the walls".
Our tour guide Marcos, was a wealth of historical knowledge.
Since the 16th century, Spain was the colonial power, except for the a brief period from 1762-1764 when Great Britain was in control.
During the Spanish-American War, in 1898, the Spanish controlled Bay of Manila fell in in 4 hours to the US navy, in what is considered one of the most decisive naval battles in history. America then gained control of the Philippines due to the Treaty of Paris and it became a territory.
In 1922, General Douglas MacArthur assumed command of the Manila District with the intent to bring law and order but also usher the territory into a modern age, with roads, buildings, etc. He was arrogant but he did keep peace. MacArthur was in and out of the country over the next 13 years, while serving in various military assignments.
During this time, he developed a friendship with Manuel Quezon, who would later serve as the Philippines president from 1935-1944. In 1935, Quezon asked his friend, MacArthur, to come back and help establish a Philippine army and from 1935 to 1937, MacArthur was named the field marshal, which drew the ire of then General Eisenhower as MacArthur became very powerful in the Philippines. MacArthur retired from the military in 1937 and there was no one to lead the Philippine Army. Many in the the territory, felt abandoned by the US.
In July, 1941, with the advancement of Japan in Southeast Asia, MacArthur was recalled to active duty in the Philippines. It was too little too late, as the territory was attacked 9 hours after Pearl Harbor and fell to the Japanese in late December. The American commander in Manila was Lt. Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright, upon signing the surrender orders, he was forced to kneel to the Japanese commander and then shoot his own horse. In retribution, he was allowed to be on the USS Missouri when Japan surrendered. Even though MacArthur's forces had to retreat in the Philippines, he had one of the most powerful PR machines of any Allied general during the war, which made him an extremely popular war hero with the American and Filipino people. On 18 April 1942, MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area. With the US focus in other areas of the Pacific, the Philippines fell under Japanese occupation from 1942 - 1944, with the Filipinos using guerilla warfare to fight their own battle. During the war the Philippines was the site of many prisoner of war camps. During the Bataan Death March, Filipino children snuck along the side the road and gave the soldiers food. The Japanese occupation was particularly brutal, with the Filipino women, as they became "women of comfort" and babies were killed in front of their mothers in a gruesome game using bayonets. In July 1944, President Roosevelt summoned MacArthur to meet with him in Hawaii "to determine the phase of action against Japan". MacArthur stressed America's moral obligation to liberate the Philippines and won Roosevelt's support. MacArthur made a triumphant return walking through the water to Red Beach, on October 20,1944, where his first words were "I have returned", thus starting the land campaign. Upon landing, MacArthur organized the army which consisted of 70% Filipino soldiers. When the prisoner of war camps were liberated in 1945, the first items the soldiers asked for was a toothbrush and dry socks.
On July 4, 1946, the Philippines was granted full independence.
Boracay, Philippines was an amazingly beautiful place. It is a small island in central Philippines and is known for its resorts and beaches. It has a permanent population of 12,000.
It was a very good day and then it became a bad day for about an hour.
The good...we very much enjoyed the beauty of the beach, with the sand being amazing.
The bad...we stopped to take a picture and we are not sure if we dropped Jim's money pouch or if someone grabbed it from the pocket of his backpack, but the pouch was lost. We re-traced our steps, but could not find it. We quickly called Jade and he shut down the credit card. We later found out that the $78 USD was not enough, as the person tried 8 times to charge on the card. Sometimes bad things happen and you just have to go on.
We enjoyed a much needed Sea Day with a tour of the ship. We have sailed with the Norwegian Cruise Line for a number of years and our Sapphire status allows us a free tour of the ship. It is regularly $99.00 per person. We had not taken a ship tour since 2017 and thought it would be interesting.
We had 3 sections to our Southeast Asia cruise. We were halfway in the middle of the second cruise and the port of the day was Puerto Princesa, Philippines. It was a new country to us but also a new port to cruising. There were many Filipino citizens on board to experience their country from a cruise ship. The crew also joked that many of them, could walk on deck while we were in port and wave at their families.
Throughout time just about every country has had a settlement or war with the Philippines....Portugal, Britain, the United States, Spain and even Muslims.
When Magellan first explored the world for Portugal in 1519, it was believed to be flat, so it was divided in to 2 halves, a Spanish side and a Portuguese side. After he discovered the Philippines, Spain wrote to Portugal...wait that is in our half of the world you have to give it us. Portugal agreed but only if Spain would trade another area of the world. Spain wrote back... we have an area that we don't know what to do with, so we will give you that.
A trade was made... Brazil for the the Philippines and that is how Brazil came to speak Portuguese and the Filipinos all have Spanish names.
Puerto Princesa
The Spanish founded a permanent settlement in 1872, with the city originally named Puerto de Asuncion after Princess Asuncion, one of the princesses born to Isabella II of Spain. When Asuncion died suddenly, the Queen changed the name to Puerto de la Princesa. It was later shortened to Puerto Princesa.
The city has 307,000 residents. It has no manufacturing so cars, etc.. are shipped from Manila. It's main industries are forestry, agriculture, and fishing. However, the fastest growing industry is tourism, mainly do to the Subterranean River National Park. It was declared a UNSECO site in 1999 and one of the 7th Wonders of the New World in 2012.
This was a very sought after tour, as it is only advised to take the ship's tour due to the 4 hour round trip drive. Rumor had it a group on the previous cruise, took a private tour and was left behind.
The port of Kota Kinabalu on the island of Borneo. Malaysia is spread over two areas 400 miles apart across the South China Sea. Kota is located in Sabah which is a state/region of Malaysia located on the northern portion of Borneo, also known as East Malaysia. Sabah is more liberal and drinking is allowed. Also because of the Spanish influence, many people take an afternoon Siesta
Borneo is the 3rd largest island in the world. It contains 3 countries...Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia. The island has had many attempts by different country's at colonization mainly by the Spanish and the Dutch.
The entire island was occupied by the Japanese during World War II. It has a violent history starting with the Jesselton Revolt, where many innocent indigenous and Chinese people were executed by the Japanese military for their alleged involvement. After the fall of Singapore, the Japanese sent several thousand British and Australian prisoners of war to camps in Borneo. From the Sandakan camp site, only six of some 2,500 prisoners survived after they were forced to march in an event known as the Sandakan Death March.
This week is National Park Week, a celebration of the natural beauty in the United States. We are national park junkies having visited 47 of the 63 national parks, plus numerous national monuments and preserves.
This summer we will be flying in a bush plane to 2 of Alaska's northern national park, 2 national historical sites, and 1 preserve. We will then take a float plane to visit Katmai National Park.
It is going to be an amazing trip.
In celebration of National Park week, here are some of our favorite pictures from the last couple of years
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Our BAM Adventure squad went to Sunnier shores and had an amazing time Ziplining! Here's the video of our experience and if you'd like to read more about it check out our story here: https://bamadventuretravel.com/2024/05/22/mexican-rivera-cruise-2024-puerto-vallarta/
On a recent adventure, we had the exciting opportunity to ride the zipline at Icy Strait Point, Alaska.
The crowd loved Mountain Music and the flashback video
Give me One More Shot
Feels so Right
Adam our guide took a video of our Manta Ray Adventure
Even though we live near Yellowstone National Park, the closest unintentional encounter we've ever had with a bear occurred in Shenandoah NP (Virginia).
Recently we were in Iowa, visiting family and we went to Monster Truck Jam in Des Moines. It was loud, exciting, and fun. Our grandson fell in love with "Gravedigger". It was a BAM moment!!
Due to a wedding in the family, we haven't been able to travel much, so here is a video of an adventure a few years ago. Ziplining in Hawaii was an amazing experience with high speeds, beautiful scenery, and (for the more adventurous) the chance to flip upside down while flying down the lines! It truly was a #BAM moment!
At the Billy Joel concert our favorite moment was when an equipment worker named Chainsaw, who has been with Billy Joel for 40 years, came out and sang an AC DC song. The crowd went nuts.
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