As I write I am putting the finishing touches on my suitcases. In 48 hours I am leaving to join the Seven Seas Mariner for a quick trip. I will fly from Seattle to Anchorage where I’ll jump on the train with fellow guests and travel south to Whittier. If you’ve never been to Whittier it’s a whacky place – the population is a whopping 310 permanent residents. The town site was formerly a top-secret military installation built during WWII and accessible only by train via a narrow tunnel. After the war, visitors traveling to Whittier had to leave the highway and drive onto a flatbed train car in order to continue to Whittier. Today, access is still via the tunnel but the tracks which are still in use have been paved allowing cars to enter for 10 minutes in each direction, each hour! When I arrive, I will board the ship for Kodiak, Dutch Harbor and then a sail along the Aleutian Islands; next stop, Petropavlosk, Russia. Then on to the north islands of Japan where the ship will make her inaugural call on the city of Sapporo. It is always fun to witness the traditional exchange of plaques especially in Japan. City and port dignitaries arrive in formal dress including women in their best kimonos. From Sapporo we sail south along the island of Hokkaido to Hakodate – home of the hairy crab and giant squid! Then it’s Sendai, Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and on to China. We visit the industrial city of Dalian, Bejing, Shanghai and finally Hong Kong. This is a special area of the world – so different with so much to learn. One of my dreams is to return and take the train from China to Tibet! Anyone interested let me know! The more the merrier!

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