Hello Everyone,

We hear the weather has not been too hot in England, so it may please you all to know that contrary to what you may think, we are currently in a force 10-12 gale force wind, with waves of up to 20 feet high!!

I am currently wearing Sea-Sickness bands for comfort, lol

We are having a good time and the Ports of call all  have been interesting.

It’s been a privilege to witness the different lifestyles and cultures, but the souvenirs are all beginning to look alike, the stops are all obviously geared to the ports and the tourists, and after 5 stops or so it can get a bit tedious, but it’s always a pleasure to go ashore, especially under current weather conditions.

The boat is very fine with many attributes and some fantastic people who staff it, they go out of their way to make us all happy, and we appreciate everything they are doing although some folks seem to take them for granted.

We tend to find being “served” a little more difficult to stomach,

A lot of the staff is Asians of one persuasion or another, some Chinese some from Mumbai and some from the Philippines.

 They mostly have families so Leonora has been very welcomed and just this evening I caught one nice lad who is the drinks waiter on our table looking on with glazed eyes as Doug and Leonora were “horsing” around during dinner, it tugged my heart strings to think of him missing his family.

She mostly eats at what they call “kid’s tea” where all the kids onboard eat together at around 5.15, the Doug and I go for dinner at 6.30 in the posh restaurant, but on a Sunday (our Sabbath) she gets all dressed up with all her jewellery and comes and eats with the adults.

She was very good tonight, was well behaved, and ate very well.

We will be at sea for a few days now until we reach Honolulu, which is our next port of call.

After that, it’s Pago Pago (Samoa) then Nuko Alofa (Tonga) and then we hit New Zealand on Feb 11^th.

It’s flown by to be honest and part of me thinks although this has been a great experience, next time I get the urge to do something so monumental, I might fly lol

In all fairness I am not a natural tourist or traveller, nomad or whatever you feel the need to call it, and any form of this would probably produce the same response.

Doug get’s frustrated I think with me as he likes to travel so much, no one can say I have not made up for lost time though with this trip!!

I will try to get better with time in NZ and maybe when I have gotten over this trip will not be put off some other kind of trip around NZ or Oz, we will have to see, once I get my sea legs re-trained for land.

I hope this finds everyone happy and well, and at least missing me a teeny bit?

This whole experience has really shifted my “roots” and it’s made me see things from a completely different angle.

All my friends and all my family have responded differently to it and me, so I will glad when the dust settles and my life can get back to some kind of pattern.

Leonora of course is a different story as her life has been so short, nevertheless she has a routine as such and it’s changed so much, and for the last few weeks, this has become her routine and I wonder what will happen when we disembark and we have to find another one.

There have been some “Celebrities” on the boat, Iris Williams, Roy Walker, Lord Brockett, I did go and see Iris, and she was very good.

The ship has its’ own theatre company who are very talented and enthusiastic and they have put on some very good performances.

The food has been very good and I have almost forgotten what it’s like to cook, but I am sure it’s like riding a bike and you never really forget.

Hairdressing now that’s another matter, for the first few weeks I never looked at a head of hair, but then after a rest, I caught myself looking, then having the odd touch, then eventually I could help it no more and ended up plaiting the girls hair in the Toy Box.

The Toy Box is the place Leonora goes to play (should she wish) and to be honest, she spends quite some time there, they are so good with her, and they make it such fun Doug and I cannot compete.

They seem to have a structured day, which seems to make the kids feel secure I suppose, especially those far away from home, family and familiar environment.

They don’t feed the kids though, so we see her at least 3 times a day!!

Well I will sign off for now and may do another update for those interested after our next two stops or when we reach NZ.

Those of you receiving this by e-mail, I apologise if you find it on my spaces also as some of my friends and family are on Face book or Msn Spaces so I have fired this off to all my contacts as well as my pages on the abovementioned websites.

Take care and love to everyone.

We love you all

“The Snoodijks”

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