Port Moresby

Lori and I are both back in Paris now. Lori arrived on Tuesday and I got back yesterday. I was supposed to be here on Tuesday as well, but the fog in St. John's kept me grounded for a couple of days. I'm not complaining though because Lori's trip from Papua New Guinea was much, much longer than mine. She was there for 8 days and here are her initial thoughts. (Most of her pictures were taken very early in the morning because she had a hard time adjusting to the new time zone)

They call Papua New Guinea the Land of the Unexpected. Having just returned from my first visit, I am starting to understand just a little bit of what they mean. If you do a quick Google search, you'll find article after article talking about the extreme levels of violence and pointing out how low Port Moresby sits on the livability rankings. But in person, it feels very different. 

The Melanesian hospitality and welcome is felt everywhere. The climate is wonderful, even when the rains feel heavy enough to wash you away. It's warm year round.

Port Moresby, where we will live, is a port city in transition. There is obvious extreme poverty (which is difficult to see) side by side with fancy new apartments and condos with magnificent sea views. New concrete highways that look like they could be anywhere sit side by side with roads that are about as wide as a goat track. With almost everything imported, the prices are shockingly high in grocery stores but relatively cheap in restaurants.

The Internet is going to be our biggest challenge. It's terribly slow with a spotty connection and you pay on the basis of your data usage - goodbye FaceTime, Netflix and Slingbox! 

But even though there will be many challenges, we are excited to be going. We have a lovely apartment with a view over the marina and the yacht club. Life by necessity will be a simpler one there. There isn't much to  do outside of work so the simple pleasures of outdoor activities (on the water), reading books, listening to music, enjoying time with friends, BBQs on the deck, and swims in the pool, will become how we spend our time. 

Papua New Guinea will be an adventure and we plan to take full advantage of the opportunities to travel the region and the country. Dennis will keep you posted on our travels and how things go. Wish us luck! 

Hike

I'm still in Newfoundland and we finally had some decent weather. Unlike the rest of Canada, it has been cold and wet here until this week. I took advantage of the good weather to go for a hike. The ground is still quite wet so I decided to hike out at Cape Spear. It's always windy there and I figured that would be my best bet for a dry trail. Other than a few spots that dipped into the bog, the trail was great. Typical Newfoundland weather though, my hike started in sunshine and ended in fog.

I wasn't the only fool out yesterday.

Here's a dorky shot of me in my touque.

I'm not really up on my zoology so I don't know if this is the skull of a bird or a fish.

The fog rolled in about halfway through my hike.

Since all the colour was being washed out anyway, I decided to switch to black and white.

I have another two weeks before I head back to Paris. I hope to get out for another hike before then. Lori leaves for Papua New Guinea this weekend. She will be there for 8 days. It's her first time there and I'm excited to hear all about it. You can only learn so much by reading, you have to be there to truly understand it.

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Back Home

Sorry for the long gap between posts. We have been busy but we haven't done anything interesting enough to write about. Lori and I are both in Newfoundland now. This was our first attempt at flying direct from London to St. John's. I flew back first and it was a disaster. I will spare you the details but it was a complete comedy of errors by airlines and ground crews that saw my ticket re-booked three times in one day. Lori's flight two days later was painless however.

There were a few reasons we came back at this time. The main reason was to complete a criminal records check by the local police and to have our fingerprints taken and checked by the RCMP. We needed these (along with diplomas and other certificates) for the Visa application to Papua New Guinea. Lori has been getting up very early and working on Paris hours while here in St. John's. She's flying back to Paris this weekend. I am going to stay awhile longer. Lori is going to Papua New Guinea for 2 weeks so I decided to stay here instead of sitting alone in the apartment for a couple of weeks. Apparently there is a paint brush with my name on it here.

Even though it's not a holiday for Lori, we have been enjoying our time here. Eating in our favourite restaurants, listening to live music and seeing friends. We even went to see a movie, but that was just an excuse to eat real movie theater popcorn, something we haven't had for about 2 1/2 years. We also made a trip to Costco to stock up on supplies to ship to our new destination. Our suitcases will be bursting with parchment paper, Ziploc baggies, toothpaste and bars of soap.

It's not the best time of the year to be in Newfoundland with a mixture of crusty snow and mud, but it's always nice to come home. Life is just so much easier when you have a car to drive and know where you are going. Talk to you soon.

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Out and About

Lori's best friend Hilda is visiting this week. These two have known each other forever and even have their own language. The only other person who truly understands this is Hilda's husband Wayne. We usually team up, but I'm on my own this week. We're having fun though. Hilda is a professional photographer and we've been touring Paris with our cameras. It's great to have a teacher along with you when you're trying to figure out all the buttons and dials on your new camera.

Now that I know I'm leaving Paris, I'm looking at it differently. Instead of noticing all the things that annoy me, I see the things I'll miss when I'm gone. I don't notice the masses of people everywhere, sidewalks covered in cigarette butts and the incessant car horns, now I see every bakery and cheese shop I pass, incredible architecture and beautiful gardens. Here are a few of the shots I've taken this week.

The underside of the Arc de Triomphe. In the centre square you can see a video camera that shows the tomb of the unknown soldier below.

The smaller Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel in the Jardin des Tuileries with the obelisk and the real Arc in the background.

The Pont des Arts is the main location for "Lovers Locks" in Paris and it's also a bit of a problem these days. The number of locks on the bridge was estimated last summer to be around 700,000. You can imagine how much weight that adds to the bridge.

Panels have collapsed because of the weight. The city then replaces the damaged sections with plexiglass. It doesn't look as nice but you can't attach locks to plexiglass. They have also placed plywood over the other panels to stop people from adding locks. This was a blank canvas to graffiti
artists.

People still find ways to add their locks though.

It's so beautiful that sometimes you forget that the Seine is a working river.

Finally a couple of shots of Notre Dame cathedral.

Lori and Hilda are off to London for a girls weekend on Thursday. Hopefully they will put their wine glasses down long enough to take some pictures.

On a completely unrelated note, we are flying back to Canada next week. There are things we need to do and pick up for our Visas to Papua New Guinea. We are going to be busy for the next 3 months.

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Here We Go Again

In November 2012, an opportunity presented itself to us and we took it. That opportunity was a chance to move to Paris for six months and it was one of the best decisions we've ever made. Six months turned into a year and then it became permanent. Our lives are richer and we are happier because of that opportunity.

When Lori took the full-time position with the Legal Department of Total, the type of contract she signed meant we would be spending a few years in Paris, but we would be moving somewhere else eventually. It would be another country somewhere in the world where Total has operations. We figured that we would be in Paris until 2016 or 2017 and then off to a new location.

Well, another opportunity has presented itself to us and once again we took it. This is a lot sooner than we thought it would happen, but the current economic climate has caused some re-shuffling and re-organizing within the company and a new position was created and they specifically asked Lori to fill it. This means we will be leaving Paris for good on July 1, 2015. While there are many things we are going to miss about Paris, we are ready to move on. It's a wonderful city but we are ready for somewhere new.

Where is this somewhere new you ask? Why it's a tropical paradise. Well it's not a paradise, but it is tropical. We are moving to Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. If you're like Lori's dad you're probably wondering "Where the hell is that?" It's an island in the South Pacific Ocean close to Australia. Now you're thinking "Sounds lovely", well not so fast. Port Moresby is ranked as the 3rd Least Livable City in the world. It only ranks ahead of Damascus and Dhaka. "What is so terrible about it" you ask. Crime. Lots of crime. We will be living in a secure building and we will have security driving us everywhere. Let me guess, now you're asking "Why would anybody willingly leave one of the greatest cities in the world and move to a place like that?" I wish I had a better answer for you other than "Because we can."

It's a great opportunity for Lori. She'll be the head of the legal department in the new office that is just opening there. It's a new part of the world for us to explore. Australia, New Zealand and Fiji will be in our backyard. It's a warm, tropical island. We can start sailing and diving again. The main reason we want to go is because it's new and different and we are ready for a new adventure. We tend to get itchy feet when we are in one place too long.

We have spoken to many people who have been there and done tons of research online and it seems like the reputation of the city is worse than it really is. If we do what we are supposed to and stay away from the bad areas of the city, we will have no problems. There is another downside to this position though, we couldn't be farther away from Newfoundland if we tried. The travel time between Port Moresby and St. John's varies between 36 and 48 hours depending on the route. Just think, I used to complain about the 7 hour flight between Paris and Montreal.

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Cruise - The Ship

More than a few people have questioned why Lori and I enjoy going on cruises. Despite the cruise industry trying to attract younger customers, most people still have the stereotypical image of cruise ships filled with Senior Citizens attacking the dinner buffet. I'm not going to lie, that stereotype exists for a reason. If you're pushing 50 like me, a cruise is a good way to feel young again, but the real reason we like to cruise is that we love the ocean. Our very first cruise was a Trans-Atlantic from Miami to Barcelona with 7 sea days in a row. Most people would find that boring, but we loved it.

The ship we were on this time was the Celebrity Equinox and it was beautiful.

We had a cabin on the stern. I love watching the wake disappear into the distance while listening to the white noise from the props. It must go back to my Navy days when I used to stand Lifebuoy Sentry and I would spend hours on end staring into the abyss. This is a much better way to do it.

This ship had a cool feature, there was an actual grass lawn on Deck 15. You could play mini-golf or bocce ball or just lay out and catch some rays.

Lori and her dad playing bean-bag toss.

There were a ton of bars to choose from. Like I said, the cruise industry is trying to attract younger customers so they are trying new things. This ship had a Molecular Bar that made drinks using molecular gastronomy.

My favourite was the Gastro Pub that served over 40 different beers.

We spent a lot of time by the pool where our favourite waiter worked. Bobby was fantastic. He had our drinks to us before we even knew that we needed another one. Bobby and Wayne were best friends in no time.

We had a few hiccups getting there and getting home, but it was a great trip.

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Cruise - Port Visits

Our journey to the "New World" is complete and we have returned to our life in the "Old World". The cruise itself was fantastic but the journey to and from was unpleasant. The travel gods must have heard me complain about airports and airplanes and decided to punish all of us. None of that matters though because we really enjoyed our cruise.

The main reason we chose this particular cruise was the port visits. The ship sailed from Fort Lauderdale and stopped in Grand Cayman, Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica, Belize and Cozumel. We thought it would be the perfect way to introduce ourselves to South and Central America. Our favourite port was Peurto Limon, Costa Rica where we Zip-lined through the rainforest. Our least favourite port was Colon, Panama. It was just a working port where ships gathered before entering the Panama Canal. The hottest place we visited was Cartegena, Columbia. Even our Jamaican waiter complained about the heat. Here are a few of the highlights of the trip.

Beautiful Sunsets and Sunrises. The clouds make the sun look like it's smiling as it goes to sleep.

Lori dancing with her new friend Sally. The dolphin was so cute but I just love the look of utter joy on Lori's face.

Lorraine found a new friend too. She's holding a 60lb stingray.

Here are Lori and I zip-lining through the rainforest in Costa Rica. This is my new favourite thing in the world. Although you can tell by the pitch of my voice at the end of the video that the harness was a little tight in my nether regions.

It wasn't all about the adventure though. In Cozumel we learned how to make Margaritas and Salsa.

Tomorrow I'll talk about life aboard the ship.



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