New Year, New Plans! | Solo Travel

Hello Travelers, Since I have finalized my 2023 trips, I wanted to share them with you. I also wanted to give you something of an update of my plans that are related to trips, but not a trip. First the booked trips. I will be going on two cruise lines I have never been on, and two ships on lines I have traveled on, but never been on these ships. And finally, I will be revisiting the first Princess ship I ever cruise on. I will be ticking off a couple of bucket list items too. I will be doing a Princess Alaska cruise tour, spending some time in Denali and enjoying their glass domed rail cars. I will get to see new glaciers as well as visiting favorite Alaskan ports. That’s going to be on the Grand Princess, which if you have been following my channel, you know was the first Princess ship I sailed on. I will be traveling on my first transatlantic cruise on Cunard’s Queen Mary 2. I haven’t traveled on this line or (obviously) this ship before. I wanted to travel on the one remaining ocean liner (she was built specifically for these crossings and to handle the weather and waves you encounter on this route) while I still could. She was built in 2003, and so she may be coming up on her sunset years here soon, since these ships have a set limit of service before they cease to be cost effective to fun. Who knows if they will be building another like her. I will be visiting the Norwegian Fjords on the P&O Iona (new line again). I found this voyage leaves the day after I get to Southampton, and I thought “why not, I’m already there, may as well make the most of it.” So a whole slew of new places to see and ports to visit will be coming with this trip. Another bucket list item is my Panama Canal cruise on the Emerald Princess. I’ve wanted to do this route for a long time, but the typical season is during a time I cannot travel due to my day job commitments. When I found one in the summer, I jumped at booking it. It is a full transit west bound, and I’m so looking forward to it! My final trip of the season will be on the Carnival Miracle. I haven’t been on her before, and while I am going to Catalina Island and Ensenada, both places I have been several times, I am sure I will manage to find fun things to do while I am there. And I’ll have a whole new (to me) ship to explore! Oh, and lest I forget, I kick everything off with a drive up to Oregon to see my tattoo artist and get some more work done on my new tattoo sleeve. It will be a full year! Now, I mentioned other plans that weren’t a cruise. Not this year, but next year, I am going to cross another trip off my bucket list. I am going to Petra in Jordan. If you aren’t familiar, and have seen the Indiana Jones movie where they are in that city carved into the face of the mounts? That’s a place in real life, and it is Petra. I will not be doing this as a cruise, but as a guided tour. Although oddly enough, you can cruise to the closest port and take an excursion to see Petra. I wanted to spend more time there, so I am doing the trip this way. Having a guided tour means that all of the hotels are arranged and included, along with many of the meals, and the transportation. It also means having a guide or multiple people who speak English along with us to facilitate the trip and keep us all organized. What this trip also means is that I need to get in better shape health wise. There are around 800 steps from the Treasury (which is what you see in the films) to the Monastery, which is arguably a more interesting part of Petra. I need to be able to manage that kind of activity, and I’m really not there now. And let’s be honest—do you think you could handle 800 steps? Not many of us are ready for that. While they do have donkeys and camels you can hire to take you up, I would rather not do that. So my plan is to work on the next year and a half or so to get to the point where my body can manage that workload. I may still be hating life while I am doing it, but I will do it. So to that end, I will feature some content on the journey to Petra, and that will also include looking more into the fitness options while onboard ships. So bear with me and there should be some exciting trips coming up in the next year and in the future as well. Please like this video and subscribe to my channel to make sure you don’t miss future content. I have more videos coming for past and future trips. Thanks for watching! Solo Sue Orchards by Ciaran Delany courtesy of Epidemic Sound | www.epidemicsound.com Photo Credit: @Sail Away with Dan & Jay from their Queen Mary 2 FULL Ship Tour video showing the photos on the walls. #itscruiseday #cruiselife #letscruise #cruisenews #cruiserestart #cruiseupdates #SoloTravel #SoloSueTravels #SoloSue #CarnivalCruises #CarnivalCelebration