As our ship was approaching Bora Bora in French Polynesia, on January 19, a 6 hour time difference from New York, I was up early and doing what I usually do and that is to listen to WNYC or NPR. I have the apps on my phone and it comes in as clearly here as it does in Chelsea.
So I was listening to one of my favorite programs, “All of It”, with host Alison Stewart. And she was doing a segment on …. cruising …..and inviting call-ins.
So I called. As usual I got a busy signal the first 8 calls, and decided to try one more time, and what do you know, I got through! (And by the way, radio and phone reception is even better in these islands than on the isle of Manhattan).
When the screener heard I was on a cruise and calling from Bora Bora, she put me right through to Alison! I had a delightful interview with her and her co-host for the day, comedian Josh Gondelman. He loved my description so much he called me a true Pirate! Alison gave me her special hotline number and asked me to call in again. So I woke up at 4 am on February 9 from Sydney, an 8 hour difference, and Alison welcomed me! Here is the clip, 5 minutes at the beginning of the second segment on Langston Hughes:
As you hear, they invited me to come in to the studio when I’m back and they will do a more extensive interview, LIVE! Little did I ever think the way for me to get on the radio was by going half way around the world, but here I am. A number of friends in New York told me they were listening in disbelief as I was interviewed.
So back to the cruise itself! Here are some of my observations:
New Zealand is the most spectacularly beautiful place on Planet Earth. My favorite part of the week there was the excursions to immerse yourself in this beauty. When native New Zealander picked New Zealand to shoot “Lord of the Rings”, he didn’t have to create a mystical movie set ….. it really looks like that. Just point the camera
Not only is NZ gorgeous, it’s pristine. I don’t think I saw a piece of trash on the streets in our week while we were there in various ports.
The coastal cities of Australia are not far behind in breathtaking beauty.. In fact, the port of Sydney with 5 million people may be the most beautiful urban port on Earth.
It’s a source of constant amusement how the New Zealanders and the Australians refer to each other. Whenever the other side comes into the conversation, they are relentlessly disparaging and dismissive of the other. It seems to be an autonomic response, with no power of suggestion or prodding. I have NO IDEA how it got started or Why, but it’s consistent and quite amusing. You’ll see when you get here.
So we’re coming up to the part of our trip that attracted me in the first place, the port part. We’ll be off the ship two days out of three until London in May. We’ll soon be leaving Australia, headed to Bali, Komodo, then on to Viet Nam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and India, before we head up to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean. SO STAY TUNED!
