Semester at Sea! Spring 2011

Day 97
Last night we were thinking of a way to get to the other side of Hilo. We had heard that if you are 21, you are allowed to rent a car; there will just be an additional fee for insurance. I am the only one that is 21 out of my friends, so I would be the one driving. After breakfast this morning we were allowed to get off the ship right away because we went through immigration last night.  Ashley, Steph and I went to go pick up the van that we had rented and have the other girls meet us. When we got to the airport to pick up the car, we realized that Lindsay scheduled it for the wrong day; luckily we were able to change the dates. We ended up getting a red minivan! We all looked so cute inside. It was interesting to first drive it since I have never driven a van before and I haven’t even driven a car in the past 4 months. It worked out well though! We drove 2 hours to Kona, which is on the other side of the Hilo Island. The ride wasn’t bad at all, except we went on this one road called ‘Saddle Road’ and its just a bunch of hills one right after another, it looked like someone took the road and shook it to make it bumpy, it felt like we were on a roller coaster. We had a villa in Kona in one of the resorts. When we got there the room wasn’t ready yet, so we went to subway for some lunch and the grocery store for snacks. When our room was ready, we headed in that direction to go check it out. When we walked in, it was amazing. There was a beautiful kitchen with hard wood floors and granite counter tops. There was a dining room with an 8 person table, a family room with a flat screen TV. Two bedrooms and two bathrooms, one at which had a Jacuzzi tub. Let’s just say that all 8 of us were in heaven. We put our bathing suits on right away and went to another part of the resort that had slides and a huge swimming pool, along with dolphin encounters. We hung out there for a while and then went back to our room and made some dinner. Then went outside and enjoyed the hot tub for a while. By then it was getting late so we just went back to the room and hung out for the night.

Day 98
We slept in this morning until about 9, check out was at 10, but they extended it until 11, that extra hour to hang out was muchly needed. When we checked out we went to the grocery and got some food for the car ride home. On our way home we took a different route, I think this one was better than on the way, because there were a lot more scenes and it was more highway than back roads. The van also enjoyed this way better, she didn’t like all the hills! When we got back to Hilo, we went to a tattoo parlor, don’t worry I didn’t get a tattoo, I got my ear pierced. I got my lower left cartilage done. It didn’t hurt at all. We had to return the van by 3, and a couple of other girls still needed to get their piercing done, so Alicia and I left and went to return the van. So as a side note, we didn’t have any problems with the van the whole trip, it drove smoothly and everything went perfectly. Then when we arrived at the airport to return it, and I was pulling up to park it and return the keys, I ran over the sidewalk and went right onto the sidewalk and back down. Everyone was staring, it was rather embarrassing and of course it would happen 5 minutes before it needed to be returned. It was okay, there wasn’t any damage, it was hilarious though. We returned the van without any problems and then headed back to the ship. It was our last time getting on the ship for on ship time for the voyage. Next time we get off the ship it will be for good and in San Diego. It’s so hard to believe, I don’t know where the time has gone.

Still at sea, on our way to Hawaii! Only 13 more days until I am home!

Day 84
Today we woke up a little late and caught the next train back to Keelung, where our ship is. Nothing exciting to write about has happened in Taiwan. We went to the night market and ate some food there for dinner, went shopping, and walked around. Taiwan is boring, and I wish we were in Japan instead… Oh well. Now we are on our way to the United States! Hawaii in 11 days!

Day 83
Now we are in Taiwan, and it isn’t as exciting as I thought that it was going to be, which kind of stinks since it is our last international port before we get back into the United States. When we got off the ship today; Natasha, Liz, Alicia, and I met up with a few of the boys and hopped on a train and went to Taipei. When we got to Taipei we were starving and went to lunch at Pizza hut. Then we decided that we should try to find a hotel to see if we wanted to stay the night there since the train ride was 50 minutes. We printed out the power point that we were sent that has all the information of ‘what to do in Taipei’ on it and we saw a hot springs hotel, we took a cab there and it ended up being too much. We took a cab into downtown Taipei which is more our style. We found a hotel and got two rooms. We walked around for a while and went into the boutique shops that were lining the streets. We went to dinner at another hot pot, like the one that I went to in China, except at this one, instead of having individual hot pots there was just a big one in the middle that we all used. Then we went back to the hotel and got ready and went out for the night at a local bar that all of Semester at Sea was at. We paid extra for a V.I.P room, which just allowed us to hang out and sit down when we didn’t want to be around everyone and also had unlimited drinks.

Day 79
Today was our last day with the China guide tour. We began our day bright and early since we had a lot planned. Our first stop was a temple. We were there for a while and got to take pictures and learn what the temple was for. A lot of people that are retired go there in the morning and do morning activities. After the temple we had a tea ceremony where we got to taste four different teas. After tea tasting we went to our third and final market of the trip, I didn’t buy anything at this one, thank goodness. It was my least favorite one; it was more of a mall to me than a market. After shopping we went to lunch, it was a buffet style lunch and I thought that it looked so good and then when I tried it, it was horrible. There was pizza and instead of tomato sauce, it was ketchup, disgusting! Then we went to the 798 art district, I’m not really into art so I didn’t find this area too interesting, but we were here for two hours, but after Ashley and I walked around quickly, we sat down and enjoyed some coffee. Then it was finally time for the part of the trip that I was most excited for, well next to sleeping on the great wall, the acrobat show! This show was amazing, I seriously don’t know how some of these people bend and move the way that they do. After the show, we had our last dinner together then it was time for Vivian to take us to the sleeper train. When we got to the train station we had to say bye to Vivian and check in on the train and get our rooms. I have never been on a sleeper train before, but this one was a good experience. This train was really nice, there were four beds in one room, they were bunk beds and there were tv’s in front of each bed. I slept pretty well on it too, even though the beds were a little hard, luckily I was exhausted. We were then on our way to Shanghai.

Day 80
We arrived in Shanghai around 730am and had to take a bus to the ship. After we got on the ship, we had to wait 2 hours until our passports were processed. When we were able to get off the ship, Ashley, Taylor, & I went to a coffee shop and waited for Ashley’s friend. Her friend is studying abroad in Shanghai and told us that she would take us around for the day. When she met us we took a cab back to her apartment and she showed us around, we met a few of her friends and hung out there for a while. Then we went out to lunch at a place called hot pot. This place is unlimited food and drinks. You order a bunch of food and it’s raw, and when its brought to the table you put it into your boiling hot water and it cooks for about 2 minutes and then you can enjoy it. I have never been to a place like that before, it was so interesting and delicious. Then she took us to the park and we hung out there for a little. We had to be back to the ship pretty early, so after the park we thanked her for showing us around and headed back, it was a quick, short, and fun day in Shanghai; I wish that we were here longer. But now we are on to Taiwan, our last international country before the United States!