The Adventure Continues!!!!

Tuesday, August 30, 2005

No Worries Man!!!!!!!!

Amazing that is all I can say about the Atlantis Hotel, it is absolutely the coolest place I have ever been too. I am in the Bahamas right now and everything is going well, but that wasn’t the case from the get go of the trip. When we finally got to the airport here in Nassau Continental decided to loose all of my luggage, but luckily I had a change of clothes in my backpack. I finally got my luggage yesterday and it looks like everything is there thankfully.

As far as the island it really isn’t anything special, everything is so expensive though especially food. The coolest thing about the Atlantis is this ride that they have in their water park it is kind of like the tub rides at NRH 20 or Wet and Wild but instead of just a black tube it is actually glass and it goes through one of a million shark aquariums. It was so much fun Erin and Lexis would love it.

So today we got up early and went to the ship it was soo hot outside and then after we checked our bags we waited in this line to go through the metal detectors forever and it decided to start pouring down rain so we got all soaked but at least we weren’t hot. So once on the ship we got all registered and I got back to the room first (Oh by the way AJ and I are roommates we didn’t even have to complain). And I am standing there and I realize there is an extra door so I open it and I was about to apologize because I thought that I was walking into someone else’s room but it turned out ---- get this we got a suite!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn’t believe it!!!!!!!!!!!!! I touched the wall that had mirrors and made sure there wasn’t another door in fact I even went outside to check and sure enough there wasn’t. It is great we have double everything (besides an extra bathroom) our hall director (Karen) said that we were one of only a couple of students that got a suite. It has a large picture window in the main room and then no window in the other but there is a large desk. AJ thinks that we need to get rid of the beds and turn it into a living room with chairs but I bet we will just leave it the same.

As far as the ship it is great everything looks really nice the cruise line that owned it before was pretty expensive so there are lots of details in the architecture with wood everywhere. After calming down about what an awesome room we got we went to lunch they have the table clothes and water already set out on all the tables. And a buffet set out on table in middle of the dinning room we ate at (there are two). With about three entrée options, as well as side dishes and a full salad bar and desert bar. Lunch was great and everyone was a little surprised so hopefully it will stay great for the rest of the voyage.

As far as the people we have meet some really cool people especially Casie who is from New Jersey. Everyone is from around the world from all kinds of different countries, and even several people from Texas some even went to UT and Rice.

Oh the funniest thing happened on the last flight from Fort Lauderdale to Nassau. The women sitting next to me was so funny and we got to talking her name is Mrs. Petrov but her full name is Mrs. Petrov Bacardi. He husband is a descendent and aire to the Bacardi rum company. At first I was a little skeptical and then when I was in the taxi they confirmed that their family really did live on the island. But anyways I thought it was funny.
I guess that is all the boat leaves today at three in less then an hour so I better run. I love and miss all of you and hope that you will continue to check this to keep up with whets going on. Next port is Venezuela ------ here we come!!!!!!



PS - I didn't bring the device to download photos of the hotel or the room/ship so they will come soon. If you want to go to the hotel website to look at it, it is atlantis.com

Chad

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Port Addresses - Please Send Mail!!!

Good news! You can send me good old fashioned snail mail while I travel the globe. And, if you send me mail, I'll send you mail! Anyways, I am listing the addresses and mailing deadlines below for each port. If you are going to send mail, use Global Airmail or it will never make it to me on time. An airmail stamp is 80 cents for a regular envelope (letter or card size) and if you want to send a larger business size envelope/package, they are $9 for as much as you can stuff into them. Please, Please don't send anything that can't be replaced in case it gets lost in transit.

Here are the addresses:

Venezuela
ChadGriggs C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: September 3rd
Rovelli Maritima, S.A.
Avenida Soublette, Terminal de Pasajeros
Puerto La Guaira, Oficina H-5
Maiquetia, Estado Vargas
VENEZUELA
Mail by: August 20th

Brazil
Chad Griggs
C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: September 13th
Oceanus Agencia Maritima
Av. Estados Unidos, 555
7th Floor/Room 71240015-010 Salvador
BAHIA-BRAZIL
Mail by: August 30th

South Africa
Chad Griggs
C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: September 26th
John T. Rennie & Sons
PO Box 7021 Thibault House
8000 Cape Town
SOUTH AFRICA
Mail by: September 12th

Kenya
Chad Griggs
C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: October 7th
Inchcape Shipping Services
Inchcape House, Archbishop Makarios Cls
PO Box 90194Off Moi Avenue
Mombasa, KENYA
Mail by: September 16th

India
Chad Griggs
C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: October 19th
J.M. Baxi & CO.3rd Floor, Clive Battery Complex
4 & 4A, Rajaji Salai
Chennai-600 001, INDIA
Mail by: October 5th

Myanmar
Chad Griggs
C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: October 26th
ADDRESS TBD
Mail by: October 12th

Vietnam
Chad Griggs
C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: November 5th
General Forwarding & Agency
5th Floor Osic Building
8 Nguyen Hue AvenueD. 1, Ho Chi Minh City
VIETNAM
Mail by: October 22nd

Hong Kong
Chad Griggs
C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: November 12th
Inchcape Shipping Services (HK) Ltd.
Units 1802-1805, 18th Floor
No. 3 Lockhard Road
Wanchai, HONG KONG-CHINA
Mail by: October 29th

Japan
Chad Griggs
C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: November 20th
Inchcape Shipping Services
11-2 Shinko-cho, Chuo-ku
KOBE-shi, Hyogo-ken 650 0041
JAPAN
Mail by: November 5th

Hawaii
Chad Griggs
C/O MV Explorer
Arrive: October 26th
ADDRESS TBD

First Post!!!



Hey everyone, it is just a couple of days until I leave on my big adventure around the world. Although there is this tropical storm named "Katrina" that is right where I am supposed to be at the Atlantis Hotel in Nassau in a couple of days that is said to become a hurricane. Hopefully Katrina won't make our boarding of the MV Explorer to much of a pain.

Anyways, this blog will be updated whenever possible to let you know exactly what is going on with my travels along with recent pictures. If you want you can save this site to your favorites and it will be easier to track down. As far as communications you can reach me via email but please original emails no chain emails or spam and I am going to try to attach a list of where you can mail letters to the different ports. All for now, thanks for taking the time to see what is going on with me on this adventure.

Chad

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