The vastness and isolation of the Amazon region can only be understood by visiting the place.

The country is long and narrow with tropical forest, beaches, and mountains. It was the last two weeks in November 2009 when we last visited Vietnam. The weather was a bit overcast at times but the temperatures were not extremely hot with little rain. Vietnam was an easy country to visit with good lodging and inexpensive food. We found that the most challenging thing for a visitor is crossing busy streets with hundreds of bicycles, motor scooters, and motorcycles sharing the roads. My tip: Find a local and cross with him or her. A place not to miss is Ho Long Bay, a World Heritage Site.

Spitsbergen is one of the northernmost landmasses on the globe. Svalbard is the Norwegian name, meaning “cold coast”, for the archipelago. It is a Norwegian territory that actually lies closer to Greenland than mainland Norway. Beginning with Bear Island in the south at 74°N to Rossoya in the north at almost 81°N, about 60% of the archipelago is covered in glaciers. Another 27% is barren stone, leaving only about 13% with vegetation. For much of the year the sea is also covered with pack-ice which makes Spitsbergen an ideal Polar Bear habitat.

We have been to Australia several time but we had never visited South Australia or the Western Australia region. So, a cruise on the Sun Princess that departed Melbourne sailing west all of the way around Australia and back to Melbourne was too good to pass up. Adelaide, Bunbury, Perth, Broome, Darwin were all interesting stops in the south and the west. Australia is a very large country with most of the population and settlements scattered around the coastal areas. These pictures are just a sample of what I saw during this month long cruise.

Antarctica keeps drawing me back time after time. Visiting the huts of Borchgrevink, Shackleton & Scott takes one back to the Heroic Age of Exploration. These huts and their contents are literally "frozen in time". For a hundred years the food, provisions and clothing are still in their places. Standing in one of the huts I could almost expect to see the explorers walking in the door while I was there.