{"id":130,"date":"2014-07-13T11:37:23","date_gmt":"2014-07-13T15:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/?p=130"},"modified":"2014-11-12T22:15:12","modified_gmt":"2014-11-13T03:15:12","slug":"july-13-first-impressions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/july-13-first-impressions\/","title":{"rendered":"July 13: First Impressions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cruiseport<\/a>

Cruiseport Boston from the Veendam<\/p><\/div>\n

Sailing out of Boston Harbor was the highlight of the trip, so far.\u00a0 Especially, after a fight with Boston traffic to get to the Black Falcon Pier and a last minute super-quick stop at P.J\u2019s optometrist because a lens had fallen out of her glasses frame. It was a gorgeous day, as we watched the Boston skyline slowly recede into the distance.<\/p>\n

\"Castle<\/a>

Castle Island, Boston, from the Veendam<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Boston<\/a>

Boston Skyline Receding<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Pilot<\/a>

Pilot Boat Alongside the Veendam<\/p><\/div>\n

Before we went to sleep last night, we saw the beautiful full moon over the ocean.\u00a0 Sunday morning we woke up to another beautiful day.\u00a0 The ocean was placid, with a persistent long swell that hits us sideways, rocking us gently back and forth.<\/p>\n

\"Our<\/a>

Our Vista Suite Stateroom<\/p><\/div>\n

P.J and I noticed that just by stepping on board we significantly lowered the average passenger age.\u00a0 Around the dinner table, people\u2019s past adventures turned out to be primarily medical.\u00a0 With over one thousand elderly people on board, I am wondering what the odds are that everyone will actually make it to the other side!<\/p>\n

The age range was somewhat of a surprise to us, because on our Alaska cruise, people seemed to be younger.\u00a0 But then it occurred to me: that cruise was only seven days, and working people cannot afford to take forty days off.<\/p>\n

Some of the elderly are a little cranky, but the staff is infinitely patient.\u00a0 One of my friends, Tom Peterson, responded to my \u201cTrip Log\u201d email by writing, \u201cBe nice to the commoners!\u00a0 Remember, you started out as one, too!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

I am reminded of that when the staff greets me, always smiling and wishing me the best, probably because they are trained to.\u00a0 They work seven days a week, 10 to 11 hours a day.\u00a0 So I make it a point to respond equally cheerfully.\u00a0 I hope it makes their day a little better, and it makes me feel better too!<\/p>\n

Photos \u00a9 2014 P.J. Gardner<\/a>. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sailing out of Boston Harbor was the highlight of the trip, so far.\u00a0 Especially, after a fight with Boston traffic to get to the Black Falcon Pier and a last minute super-quick stop at P.J\u2019s optometrist because a lens had … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-cruise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1132,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/1132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pjgardner.com\/travel2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}