I'm back...
Posted by Huw,
The more astute of you might have noticed that I haven't been around much this month. That's because I've been on holiday.
My wife and I had been planning it for some 18 months. We were to do a cruise from Auckland to Sydney, stop for two nights in Singapore on the way over, Auckland for a few days before the cruise and have a week in Sydney after it, meeting with AFOL friends along the way.
We left on 2nd March. The Covid-19 issue was just ramping up in Italy and elsewhere but life was normal in the UK and, given that Singapore had it under control and it wasn't an issue in Australasia yet, we were confident in setting off on our first trip to the Southern Hemisphere for a month. Little did we know how things would change while we were away...
Our stop in Singapore was excellent. We stayed at 21021 Marina Bay Sands and, due the virus, the country was uncrowded and thus very pleasant.
2000446 Building My SG - Reflect, Celebrate, Inspire (Special Commemorative Edition) is still available in LEGO certified stores in Singapore.
The view from the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, overlooking the Gardens by the Bay.
One of the highlights of the trip was meeting up with Brickset contributor FlagsNZ, aka David Wardle, in Auckland for the first time. During our time there he took us to The Blocks Collection, a private invitation-only museum owned by Vaughan Blok, which is very impressive. David will be writing more about it in due course.
Part of Vaughn's Blocks Collection
Our cruise was due to stop at 6 ports in New Zealand before heading to Tasmania, Melbourne and Sydney. I was looking forward to meeting Tim from New Elementary, Richard from The Rambling Brick and some other good friends in Melbourne, then Nathan from Rebrickable in Sydney. But, alas, it was not to be...
On the eve of our last stop in NZ, we heard that the country was not allowing cruise ships to enter its ports from Sunday. That wasn't going to affect us because we'd be leaving NZ before then anyway. Unfortunately, in Dunedin the next day, it became apparent that Australia was following suit. The ship therefore headed back to Auckland, from where we'd have to try to fly home, 10 days earlier than planned.
Thankfully, our travel agent managed to get us on the last direct flight from Auckland to London (with a 2 hr stopover at LAX) and we arrived home, 32 hours after leaving the ship, on Friday afternoon.
Other than being curtailed, the cruise was pretty much normal, with just a few minor alterations to procedures to prevent potential viral transmission: the buffet was not self-service and there were no salt and pepper pots on the dining tables, for example. Despite being cut short we had a great time and loved every port we stopped at. There was no sickness on the ship and the crew went out of their way to ensure we had a pleasant and memorable voyage.
Our 600-passenger ship Azamara Journey at anchor in Akaroa, near Christchurch, New Zealand
CapnRex101 did a great job of keeping you entertained while I was away, and I was particularly impressed with the suggestions many of you made in response to his question What can Brickset do for you?. We will be going through them this morning and coming up with an action plan which we'll announce shortly.
I'm just about over the jet lag now, although still waking up at 5am and yawning all evening. I've not yet ventured out to see what state my local Tesco is in and I'm not looking forward to doing so.
So, I'd like to say that it's back to work, and back to normality but, unfortunately, that is far from being the case...
Stay safe and obey whatever social distancing measures are in place where you are. Hopefully we can all get back to normal and enjoy visiting our local brand stores and LEGO shows again soon.
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44 comments on this article
Given all the events that have transpired over the last few weeks I'm relieved to hear your holiday attempt didn't transform into a nightmare.
If your Tesco is anything like mine prepare to see empty shelves.
The Blocks collection looks fascinating. Look forward to that article.
I also wake at 5am and yawn all evening, but that's more due to kids than jet lag :D
That's one ominous headline. The page title, on the other hand...
And, you were in Singapore?! Wish I could've known. I picked up my first LEGO DOTS sets on the 3rd. Thanks for the praise. Looks like this was originally going to be a 2000446 review based on the page title?
Stay well (and play well), Huw.
This is good news because I was actually worried that you or a family member were sick. Wheph! Sorry your holiday was curtailed, but glad you are home safe and CaptRex101 held the fort well. On a side note, I lived in Singapore from 1993-97 and truly enjoyed the city and the people. I think all of the striking architecture I can see from your photo was built since then. ( I'm trying to recall but I think it was all reclaimed land from the sea back then and maybe just grass at that point?) Hopefully you'll be able to get to Australia another time. Stay safe and well:)
I'm glad you made it home in time. A lot of people around the world are stuck on cruise ships that no nation will let dock, or else, they're stranded in foreign countries because they could disembark their ships only to find the airports all shut.
Well, Australia will still be here waiting for you, next time :).
A sad outcome but in the scale of things, not too horrific! Sorry to have missed you though.
Welcome back!
It is good to see you coming back safe!
Stay safe and change PM. The guy clearly doesn't know how to handle things...
Just been to my local Tesco, it’ll be mouthwash, cashews and Lego DOTS for tea...
Stay safe everyone!
@Huw good that you made it save home. Stay at home now, as all of us do these days. I was preparing a long trip through Scandinavia from May on. Cancelled. Buried this dream for at least a year. Now we have to fear about our health first and then about our economies. The age of Globalisation seems to be over. What's next? Local solidarity? It's not time to speculate, staying well and healthy is top priority now. All the best to all LEGO fans worldwide!
Sounds like a fantastic trip. I’m glad it went well (the part that worked out), and here’s hoping we get through this and you get to complete the trip in the future.
You made the most of it - glad to hear you are back safe and it was relatively OK.
Never knew about the private museum, seems nice :)
there is always a next time!
It's funny, you left on my birthday and came back on my brothers. Glad you had a fun trip.
So good to hear you got back safe and sound. Missing out on part of the vacation surely sucks, but considering the circumstances it appears you at least made the best of it.
These are strange times indeed.
Stay well y'all.
Did you at least get a partial refund on the cruise?
Didn't notice a thing.
Unfortunate that you had to cut your cruise short, but I'm glad you made it back safely and in good health!
@blackdeathgr said:
"Stay safe and change PM. The guy clearly doesn't know how to handle things..."
I disagree with you...but this is a LEGO Forum so I’ll stick to saying - Welcome Home Huw!!
Welcome home and I'm glad to hear that your trip was both enjoyable and without incident of the current caliber.
I'm looking forward to the museum article, too!
That museum looks impressive, I'd love to see more!
Good to see you're home safe. While this whole virus crisis may be an extrovert's nightmare it's an introvert's dream. Nice to see someone's taking advantage of the empty facilities!
Glad your vacation wasn't messed with too much. Welcome back!
Shouldn't you and your Wife self isolate having returned from the Far East Huw?
Welcome home btw.
Glad you made it back safe and sound. That's the main thing.
Talking about bad timing - I've just become a dad to a lovely little boy, 1 month old. The normal protective parents instincts have kicked in, only more so.
Happiest time of my life though (who needs much sleep anyway), and i've got christmas and birthdays covered for the next 18years :0)
Love the Blocks Collection! Can’t wait to see the article!
Great to see you enjoyed New Zealand. I have been selling a lot of my 35+ year LEGO collection to Vaughan Blok :) Our first ever cruise on 27 March from Sydney to the Pacific Islands has been cancelled :( Allan from NZ
It's the new cruise of the Boring 20's! Fly all over the world, never crack open the hatch, take pictures of different nationalities of tarmac while the ground crew refuels you, and back home in record time!
This is the sort of thing that could very well bankrupt many of these cruise ship companies, but hopefully they are giving out refunds. I've heard that cruises are well-versed in the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, and that generally speaking, if you didn't take out cruise insurance, you're out of luck on most claims. Getting kicked off the ship because they can't actually take you anywhere, on the other hand, seems a bit extreme for asking the customers to take a hike.
@sf1378:
That's the funny thing about phones and internet. We're kind of immune to the sort of viruses that can be transmitted electronically. The Tesco thing, though, might be an issue, except lately many countries have required everyone on a cruise ship to test negative before they can debark.
Stay healthy!
@PurpleDave , the cruise line is giving us very generous compensation, particularly considering it was truncated due to no fault of their own.
@sf1378 , it's been over 2 weeks since we were in Singapore but we are self-isolating anyway: it's pretty much enforced for everyone in the UK now!
shame about the cruise being cut short. we timed our holiday well cause we got back from the US at the end of Feb.
i did a cruise around NZ 10 years ago and it was a great trip. It's a lovely country to visit.
It's nice that you were able to get a break.
I didn't even notice you left.
Have fun and things are going well inside the circumstances in thwe USA colony of Puerto Rico. Tomorrow I have to build phase 2 of the Old Fishing Store and use my PS4.
@Huw I'm curious if site visits are up or down over the last week. Are more people visiting here because they're stuck at home...or are people not coming as much because their minds are on other things?
I have a site that lists fan conventions around the world and our traffic is down significantly. That really surprised me since I figured people would want to know what conventions had cancelled (pretty much EVERYTHING through at least April) and which ones were still on. Podcast downloads are also down, but I suspect that's since people working from home no longer have a commute.
Glad you and your wife did not catch the bug @Huw
Glad you're back and safe... This is no joke.
Not so much the virus, but the reaction to the virus.
Glad you managed to get back okay.
@PDelahanty , it's been about the same throughout March. Compared to last March traffic is down 3%.
However, ad impressions have dropped by about half since the 13th.
Great to hear you have arrived home. Sorry to have not had the chance to catch up. Stay Safe.
Nice to see you are back safely Huw.
I've been in Malaysia since the beginning of January and I'm wondering about getting back to the UK... the advice is now for all UK citizens to return but I'm wondering if I'm better off here. At least there is food in the shops, for now.
And since the pubs are shut, I can't even go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint and wait for all this to blow over...
Ah yes, that view across the water from Akaroa... we stayed there the first night in our hired campervan 6 years ago, and watched a glorious sunset!
Glad you're well, @Huw! Take care of yourself and your family.
I have lived in Singapore (VPN saying otherwise) going on 12years, wish I knew you were coming, I’d have given you the LEGO tour!!!
We had a cruise in the Caribbean planned for this week (that's not happening), so just staying home.
@EvilTwin:
I think at a time like this, you'd want to stay as far away from the Winchester as possible. That didn't turn out so well for everyone the last time.