Poky Little Wanderer

Slowly wandering my way everywhere

Category: Semester at Sea (Page 1 of 2)

The Semester at Sea category includes posts about the Semester at Sea study abroad program and my voyage around the world. This may include posts about shipboard life, classes, or the countries I visited during my Semester at Sea voyage.

Semester at Sea: Spring Break in Mauritius

Published April 24, 2020 / / 5 Comments

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Before reading the itinerary for the Spring 2010 voyage of Semester at Sea, I had never even heard of Mauritius. Once I looked it up online, I quickly began looking forward to visiting this tropical paradise hidden away in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Madagascar! Since we only had a couple days in this tiny island nation and it was near the middle of our voyage many students were considering it a spring break in Mauritius.

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Semester at Sea: Waterways in India (Part 2)

Published March 20, 2020 / / 2 Comments

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My Semester at Sea adventures in India continued with exploring some of the most important waterways in India: the River Ganges and Kerala’s backwaters.

Riding the Rails

Taking an overnight train from Agra certainly wasn’t the best night of sleep I’ve ever gotten, but it was definitely an interesting experience. After a long day exploring Agra and seeing the Taj Mahal we were exhausted, but even sleeping could only use up so much of our 12+ hour train ride to Varanasi.

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Semester at Sea: Delhi and the Taj Mahal in India (Part 1)

Published February 28, 2020 / / 2 Comments

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Cows block the roads sometimes in Agra, India
My favorite kind of traffic jam.

When the ship docked in Chennai, India (which is also known by the name Madras) I wasn’t sure what to expect from this huge and diverse country other than it’s where the Taj Mahal is located. I was beginning to get used to hot, tropical weather as I’d just visited Vietnam and Cambodia’s temples including Angkor Wat.

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Cambodia's temples

Semester at Sea: Cambodia’s Temples and Beyond

Published November 13, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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It was a tough choice to sacrifice some of the time the ship was docked in Vietnam to visit Cambodia’s temples, but the lure of Angkor Wat was too much to resist. Especially after visiting my first of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Wall while in China I was eager to see another iconic site.

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In Vietnam motorbikes dominate the roads

Semester at Sea: Visiting Vietnam

Published October 30, 2019 / / 7 Comments

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For the MV Explorer’s next port of call we were visiting Vietnam. The ship docked in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon without any customs delays. Unlike previous ports though, we were given landing cards that we were required to carry with us at all times in order to get through the security between the ship and the port. While the official name of the city is Ho Chi Minh on all official documentation, many of its citizens still use Saigon interchangeably.

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Kelly the Poky Little Wanderer in Hong Kong, China

Semester at Sea: Hong Kong (Part 3)

Published June 14, 2019 / / 2 Comments

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The second part of my China series left off with the end of my tour of Beijing and the Great Wall of China with The China Guide. You can also catch up on the first part when we arrived in the port of Shanghai too. I had an amazing time with the only downside being the heartbreaking loss of my camera. I was now off to Hong Kong to meet back up with the MV Explorer which had sailed on from Shanghai while I was in Beijing.

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Kelly the Poky Little Wanderer at the Forbidden City in Beijing, China

Semester at Sea: Beijing and the Great Wall of China (Part 2)

Published March 27, 2019 / / 12 Comments
Flying from Shanghai to Beijing
Fellow flying friends in the skies

My adventures in China during my Semester at Sea voyage continued as I traveled from Shanghai to Beijing.

Having successfully navigated the minor roadblock on our way to Shanghai’s airport when our taxi driver misunderstood us and took us to the zoo first, my friends and I got checked in and waited for our flight. We hung out with a large group of other Semester at Sea students who were going on the same trip. Our tour was organized by The China Guide tour company to show us the sights in Beijing and explore the Great Wall. The flight from Shanghai to Beijing was pretty uneventful, only two hours, but they did feed us dinner. This was a change for me from flights within the USA these days where they barely give you a drink and snack for much longer flights! 

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Bazaar in Shanghai, China celebrating the Year of the Tiger for the Chinese New Year

Semester at Sea: Shanghai, China (Part 1)

Published March 8, 2019 / / 10 Comments

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“China Tomorrow, China Tomorrow, China Tomorrow”

One of the deans on a previous Semester at Sea voyage used to say this to students when they had complaints during the voyage. It was his way to remind students that they were doing something incredible. The ship would be docked in China for 8 days, landing in Shanghai before moving to Hong Kong. Eight amazing days exploring the world’s most populous country as well as its 3rd largest. Warning, this is going to be a series so stay tuned for my continued adventures through this amazing country. 

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Peace Park

Semester at Sea: Japanese History in Hiroshima & Nara (Part 3)

Published January 30, 2019 / / 4 Comments

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Continuing on our journey west across Japan, our plan was to visit Hiroshima and Nara to learn more about ancient and modern Japanese history before heading back to meet the MV Explorer in Kobe. I began my trip through Japan in Yokohama and Tokyo (which you can read about in part 1 of my Japan posts) with stops in Hakone and briefly in Kyoto (which I wrote more about in part 2 of my Japan posts).

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Trees in mist near Hakone, Japan

Semester at Sea: Independent Travel in Japan (Part 2)

Published January 24, 2019 / / 2 Comments

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*I’m going to apologize in advance for the lack of photos as I lost many of my photos from my travel in Japan in an unfortunate situation in Beijing (but that’s a story for another day).

Independent Travel

After finishing up my tour of Yokohama and Tokyo with Semester at Sea (which you can read about in part 1 of my Japan posts) on my second day of travel in Japan, my plan was to meet up with a group of friends in the city. However, my afternoon did not go as smoothly as I had anticipated. One of my friends had a cell phone that worked internationally which I was to call when I reached Tokyo Station so we could arrange where to meet.

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