Take one step back, then one step forward

It was bound to happen: Apparently relations between the US and Russia are delicate enough that our scheduled stop in Petropavlovsk, Russia, has been canceled. As you can see on the map below, Petro is on the Kamchatkas Peninsula, best known for its inclusion in the board game Risk.

In its place, Holland America Line [HAL from here on]is substituting Aomori, Japan. Past cruisers who have been to both seem to agree that Aomori is the better port-of-call anyway -- warmer people and warmer climate. While we are disappointed, we are still excited.

Skipping Russia means two things: First, we will have to remove a pin from the wall map which shows all of the places we've seen. Second, it puts us a little farther from becoming members of the Century Club, those travelers who have visited at least 100 countries; we still have a long way to go.

Here's the map of our planned cruise. Let's hope there are no more changes especially considering the political situation in Bangkok.

We leave in a week and haven't packed yet. Guess what we are doing this weekend!