March 5, 2018 The group leader for my current tour is the high school's administrator and she treats us to lunch every year at the Senate Dining Hall in the Dirksen Office Building. She actually sells it as a field trip experience amongst our country's leadership. Amazing. And so much fun. The bill is usually... Continue Reading →

March 4, 2018 Every year I have this group and I absolutely love them. We always have a wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and one young lady was dressed in her traditional Native Hopi dress. Just gorgeous. She had to get special permission from her Tribal Elders to even step foot... Continue Reading →

March 3, 2018 Turns out my driver never made it to a hotel last night and had to sleep on the bus. All of the Bolt, Vamoose, Megabus and Greyhound busses that left before my transportation options were cancelled, were all stuck there overnight on I-95 and all hotels were taken. So very thankful, as... Continue Reading →

March 2, 2018 Being a Tour Director is just "so glamorous". I just finished up a 3-day TD training for my student company, which went very well, and I had to leave them early to meet a group down in Richmond, VA. The storm was coming in, but I had a 2pm train headed south.... Continue Reading →

February 16, 2018 A day of jetlag and laundry. I woke up at 4 am with a nasty headache, so I took 4 Advil, but it turns out I took for Advil PMs by accident. I didn't wake until 2pm, now feeling hungover and still dehydrated. I'm going back to bed.

February 15, 2018 16,000 miles, 22 hours on planes to get home. Totally worth an amazing month Down Under.

February 14, 2018 Snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef is now checked off my Bucket List! Breathtaking! It took an hour and a half on a high speed catamaran to get out to the platform where we were going to spend the entire day. This platform was just one of many companies out in the... Continue Reading →

February 13, 2018 I have 36 guest flying with me up to Cairnes today to visit the Great Barrier Reef. I sat at the far end of the gate next to ours, and wouldn't you know it, chaos ensued when our gate changed to the one I was sitting at. Just next door. "What do... Continue Reading →

February 12, 2018 All I did today was walk. Everywhere. Visited the Sydney Maritime Museum, had a fantastic (non-cruise ship) lunch, and walked some more. Such a beautiful city, and I'm sad to leave, but I am looking forward to flying to Cairnes tomorrow for my Great Barrier Reef adventure. I set all the luggage... Continue Reading →

February 11, 2018 I held office hours until 10pm last night for my 100 guests in my hotel and then headed to the other hotel this morning for office hours. Both were very helpful for everyone, thankfully because I had been here before and had plenty of good suggestions. One of the things I love... Continue Reading →

February 10, 2018 I had to say farewell to all of my new NCL friends today. No more magical animal towels to have conversations with, winks from the captain, although he may have been suffering from allergies, blown kisses from the Shore Excursion guy, who may have been gay, my honey mint tea delivered to... Continue Reading →

February 9, 2018 A day at sea. Let's talk about Ship Food. I've had 19 1/2 days aboard this ship, and I have come up with a few solid conclusions. The food gets reconstituted over the course of three days. Possibly four. Basically, the main course at the Buffet (Garden Cafe) may or may not... Continue Reading →

February 8, 2018 A day at sea. I'm going to share a little Liz Secret. If you see me at 6:30 am, far from any humans around the corner from everyone's view, out on the windy freezing back deck of the ship, dressed like John Snow at the Wall, where no human wants to be,... Continue Reading →

February 7, 2018 At sea today, but we traveled through three different sounds and into Fiord National Park in southern New Zealand's west side. I think we actually went off course today because a medical emergency evacuation took place in a tiny cove. Everyone was staring at the waterfall on one side while I was... Continue Reading →

February 6, 2018 I'm positive I am not the only one onboard who debated sleeping in their life jacket! This was a super-duper nasty storm. A few nights ago, when we went through the cyclone... That was nothing. I think I heard the ship sobbing. Or a neighbor. Dunedin and the port town we pulled... Continue Reading →

February 5, 2018 I didn't get off the ship. I would have to get tender tickets, then wait for my time, then a 15 min min tender, then a bus into town.... Nope. I slept in, then finished another newsletter. Had lunch. Drank 6 espressos. Relaxed. Whenever I have time, I like to spy on... Continue Reading →

February 4, 2018 Every person was greeted by little old ladies with baskets of hand-made corsages on the dock. It was such a sweet gesture and introduction to this little town. There are ten ladies that do this for every cruise ship coming in. Takes them almost 4 hours of work and they joked about... Continue Reading →

February 3, 2018 This really is a super cool town. Capital, I should say. Lots of great buildings, tons of shops and restaurants in the downtown area, free museums...it's perfect. I decided to get off the ship even though the weather wasn't all that great this morning and go for a couple mile walk through... Continue Reading →

February 2, 2018 We have started to circle back towards Sydney and today we stopped again in Napier, New Zealand, so I decided to stay on the ship and get some paperwork done. I've decided to take on a task of putting together a bi-monthly newsletter for other TDs at my student tour company, and... Continue Reading →

February 1, 2018 O.M.G. I honestly have no words for how freaking cool this was! The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movie set. Located on a several thousand acre sheep farm in the middle of nowhere, New Zealand. So amazing! The first photo below is a FAKE oak tree. It took them 10 months... Continue Reading →