Cruising like a Norwegian

We flew in New Orleans a few days in advance to visit this interresting city. It's a very popular destination for young adults that play jazz music. It is dotted with bars that have live music playing from 7 PM to late at night. We really enjoyed the feeling of having a snack of homemade chips accompanied with a nice beer while watching an unknown band playing at the "Maison", a small local bar on the famous Frenchmen street.

New Orleans also offer really nice architechture with French and Spanish inspiration. The French Quarter is a must see. You can walk and get lost for hours just for fun enjoying the architecture.

There is also the Bourbon street. A party street in the French quarter that offers tons of bars and beer "take away" kiosk. That street is filling up really quick at night.

French Quarter

Norwegian Star

This is the boat that took us for our transatlantic journey. It was our first time on a cruiseship and it was great. We decided to travel by boat to Europe as we have all the time in the world and we were thinking it would be the best way to relax and cut ourself from our old work life and it really worked. We didn't think much about anything but the present and the fact we are leaving for a round the world trip. This is really hard to realise. We have to remind us often what we are doing. We also didn't have internet access during our cruise so this really helped cutting ourself from the outside world.

Room 10538

Room 10538

Our Private Balcony

Miami

Miami

Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada

Portas da Citade

Sunset

The "freestyle" idea for cruising is great. You just put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door and sleep until you wake up, eat when you're hungry and enjoy the balcony as you wish. We had a nice balcony room which had a good view on all the stops we did. We were lucky enough to be on the good side for all the stops so we could have a view of the cities. We also had 9 days at see so we enjoyed the view of the ocean a lot.

Dover

Dover Castle

Dover Castle

Dover was really interesting. We did a tour of the old tunnels. They were built right in the rock, underground. They were used a lot during World War II to plan the evacuation of the troops from France to England. There was also another level used as an underground hospital. The tour helped us learn more about some history we didn't know. We also visited the castle. A nice example of a medieval castle with a great view from the top.

View of Ponta Delgada

Ponta Delgada is a small town on an Island in the middle of the Atlantic. It belongs to Portugual and Portuguese is the language they speak. This was the first time we had a problem with an unknown language. People we talk to didn't speak English or French. We know it's not the first time this happens but it made us realize how it's going to be. We took a few hours to walk around and then went back to the boat. It would have been nice to explore the rest of this island, not only the city, but we had just the one day. 

Helsingborg

Kärnan, the medieval tower of Helsingborg

Seb's Bank

Since most people are calling me Seb, I thought this was an interesting bank :).

Bye Bye North America

We sold everything we owned in Fort St. John, we left our jobs, gave our dog to a good family and left.
We did a 10000 km road trip across the United-States and up to Quebec.
We visited the families for a few weeks.
We flew to New Orleans, LA.
We are ready to embark on a cruise across the Atlantic to Copenhagen, Denmark.

Map

In red is the driving we did and purple the planes we took.
We are embarking the cruise ship on April 21st 2013 to go across the Atlantic ocean!

Colorado to Quebec

We drove a lot for the last few days of the road trip. We did around 1000 km a day to get to our destination and didn't have anything else we wanted to see along the way.

Highway in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado Mountains

From the mountains to the plains. It is really cool how different it can be. You have the mountains with white peaks in the morning and fields as far as you can see in the afternoon.

The Plains

Bonjour Québec 

We are almost there. Just a few hundred kilometers and we are taking a break for 2 weeks. We found that idea really relaxing.

Arches and Canyonland National Parks

The road in the desert offers a great view of all those rock monuments sculpted from the erosion. It is an endless view with red dust and red rocks everywhere.

Desert Road

Arch

This is the first arch we saw. We had to stop as Seb was too tired so we picked the first spot to stop on the right. As we got off the Jeep that is what we found behind. Impressive and unexpected.

The two last pictures reminded us of a circle of people having a discussion... you need some imagination.

Balanced Rock

It is balanced until it falls. Its "neighbor" doesn't exist anymore as it fell in the past.

Balanced Rock

Turret Arch

South and North windows

Delicate Arch

A 4.8 km hike leads to this viewpoint. A must see. It is possible to see it from the road, but we strongly suggest walking to the top as the scenery surrounding the arch is breathtaking. Plus it is a good exercise!

Us with the Utah symbol 

Canyonland view

Canyonland

Canyonland

Mesa Arch

 

We really enjoyed the views in those 2 parks. The hikes are also really rewarding when you get to those viewpoints. A must see in Utah. We would like to go back with the Jeep and spend time doing some off road driving around Canyonland. We though we would visit those 2 parks in a few hours but ended up spending 2 days in Moab just for this. It is a good thing we don't travel on a schedule and can stretch the trip as we decide. 

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is really impressive. Even all the pictures we took don't give it justice. It is so big you can't realise it until you stand 2 feets from the edge. We were there for the sunset and the next sunrise. We camped in the camping close by. We got up at around 6 AM to see the sunrise. It was amazing.

Sunrise

There is no word to describe how beautiful and grandiose these views are.