The San Diego to San Diego World Circumnavigation is Completed!

We got up at midnight after a two hour nap. Everything was pretty well ready to go before we took our nap, so all we needed to do was warm up the engine before we pulled out. We untied and took off at around 1230.

At first the seas were ugly. Eric was really sick and Christi was green. It is kind of surprising to us how fast we lose our tolerance to the ocean. The longer we sit in port, the more likely we are to be green when we do finally go out again.

The seas slowly but surely calmed down throughout the night, and by dawn it was pretty darn flat outside. It was foggy out. Not so foggy that there was no visibility, but foggy enough that we couldn’t see the mountainous Mexican coastline at all. And we were running pretty close to shore.

We got to the US border at around 0900. We were expecting Continue reading

Work Week 3 in San Diego

We have just completed week three back in California. We are leaving in two days. Just like last time, we are eager to go back to our slow paced boating life style. Last time, adjusting back to high speed life was somewhat traumatic. This time we adjusted OK, but just because we adjusted didn’t mean we liked the faster pace.

We again spent the weekend with Eric’s family and spent time with Christi’s family. We have also squeezed in a few more visits with friends. We had a great time with all the people we did get to see, and are sad that we didn’t get a chance to see more of our friends. To everyone we didn’t get a chance to call, know that we love you all the same. We were crazy busy with Eric’s work and Christi’s project and there just wasn’t enough time for friends. While we don’t miss life in America much, we definitely miss all our friends and family a lot.

We have lots of good news to report! Eric’s project looks like it will be completed before we go, most of the loose ends we left behind last time were taken care of, and it looks as if we are going to be able to wrap up our surprise project before we leave. It won’t be the nicest wrapping up job, but it will be sufficient. Last time we were kind of stressed about all the loose ends being left behind, but this time we feel good about how neatly most things have been wrapped up. To reiterate, if you want to travel, there will never, ever be a time in your life when everything is perfectly wrapped up, so you just have to decide go when it is “good enough”.

Here is another observation about life at home versus life for us in other countries: Continue reading

Work Week 1 in San Diego

We got to the Athens airport and got in the appropriate check in line. The clerk asked for our names. She couldn’t find us. She searched a few more ways. Still couldn’t find us. She asked for our proof we had booked a flight. Even with our flight confirmation in hand, she still couldn’t find us. She went to her supervisor for help. We were nervous. The supervisor couldn’t find us. We were fighting panic. After several more minutes, the supervisor had us booked onto the flight, which was a relief. Our concern was that they were sold out and wouldn’t have any seats for us. Seeing there was availability made us hopeful that maybe there wouldn’t be someone in the seat next to us, but no such luck.

Our flight home was completely uneventful. This time our layover was in New York City. Just as we had to in England and in Germany on our previous flights, we had to go through security again when we switched planes. Normally, security checkpoints are in open, well ventilated areas. Not this one at JFK airport. It was Continue reading