Day 0

Well we are off again. Tomorrow, February 2, we leave on our 30 day cruise from San Diego heading down the west coast of Mexico and Central America to as far south as Peru. Once in Lima Peru we will spend three days before we turn around and head back north along the same basic route but with different stops until we reach San Diego on March 4.

We have not sailed on the Holland American cruise line before so our voyage on the Rotterdam will be interesting. By cruise line standards it is a small boat with about 1200 passengers.

I am not sure what capabilities to blog will be available on this ship. I have my trusty notebook with me but no idea if I will be able to use it. So if the availability is good and the desire is there I will post often. If the cruise really gets boring I may give Margret Mitchell a run for her money with a longer blog than her "Gone With The Wind".

Tonight we are staying at the Del Coronado Hotel in San Diego. This is a beautiful iconic landmark right on the ocean. It has many of neat features that speak to its historic heritage. The first one we encountered was the lobby elevator which I am sure is an antique. It is a wire cage operated by a uniformed employee who has to manually open and close the door each time. It is smooth and quiet. You can't just rush into a life of leisure on a cruise ship so a night at Del Coronado is our way of acclimating ourselves. You don't want to pull a muscle reaching for a bonbon. That could ruin your entire cruise.

This blog has a couple of gadgets to make it interesting. The most noticeable one shows a google earth map of the location of the internet router where the post is being made. I was hoping this would allow readers to follow our progress down the coast. So far it appears this post is coming from Kansas where the router is located for the hotel operators who own this hotel. You really don't see San Diego at all. This feature may not last. Since we will be traveling in mostly if not all Spanish speaking countries I have added a "Spanish Word of the Day". It is not quite Rosetta Stone but it will build your vocabulary very slowly.

I hope you enjoy.
Paul