In which Layla and Roz visit Mount Fuji and are almost sucked into the lake

By Layla

After a very long flight from LA, we arrived sleepily in Tokyo, and staggered to the passport line looking very bedraggled, clutching a letter written in Japanese (saying, amongst other things, that we are a married couple) which we thrust hopefully at the passport officer. He shared it with four colleagues, all musing in Japanese. We smiled sweetly. And then, hey presto: our special Japan visas were issued! We danced into the luggage hall with permission to stay in Japan for four years. 

We went home that night, though our vacation was to continue, as it was late, and we proceeded to enjoy the dreadful sleep of the jetlagged. But waking up at 4am had its advantages: we were on an express bus at a sufficiently early hour that by 10am we were disembarking at our final holiday destination: Fuji Kawaguchi, or as the area is known, Fuji Five Lakes. This is a pretty holiday area set around five volcanic lakes at the base of Mount Fuji, and it is lovely. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and ventured out to the lake. It was a bit more built up and busy than perhaps we'd expected, but soon we were on a swan-shaped pedal boat having fun on the water. We had soba noodles for lunch at a random local restaurant, followed by amazing Fuji cheesecake (well, I did) and then we proceeded to the Kashikashi Ropeway. This cablecar took us up a little mountain, high above the lake, where finally we achieved the thing Japanese people are always talking about: a good view of Mount Fuji! We pottered around having drinks and ice cream, then found the hiking trail and walked down the mountain, a quiet and pretty path descending right to the Fuji Cookie Shop. Well, if I must... Mmmm. 

We walked back to the hotel and checked in, and soon it was time for dinner, at a nearby Indian restaurant which was not especially good but had amazing, giant naan bread. Roz took a dim view when I suggested ordering another... Back at the hostel, we attempted to watch Netflix but we couldn't keep our eyes open and before long we gave in to jetlag. 

Terrible mistake! I awoke at 3:30 while Roz had a long lie til 4... We got up when it felt vaguely appropriate, and Roz randomly had a Skype Japanese class. Then we caught the bus to the most exciting place on this part of the trip: Mount Fuji! The most famous, iconic and beloved mountain in Japan, we had considered climbing to the top, a 10-hour slog that absolutely nobody we've encountered has anything good to say about. We tried to persuade ourselves by reading accounts on the internet. Nope: it universally sounded miserable. So then we toyed with being vague on this blog about our Mt Fuji climbing experience... But in the end, we got the bus to the '5th station' and then left the hoardes behind to do an almost deserted, beautiful hike AROUND the mountain, walking through lava pebbles, past little trees and flowers, with cloud rolling over our feet. We even had a picnic! A completely delightful experience. We caught the bus back into town and contemplated our exhaustion. Perhaps what we needed was more food. This time we went to a busy Japanese restaurant famed for the local specialty: hotou noodles. At last a local specialty for vegetarians! We slurped the very fat noodles in miso soup with chunks of pumpkin and giggled at my having ordered a lemonade that came in a bottle whose opening mechanism was so bizarre that neither of us could figure it out. And, oh bad bad girls, went to bed around 9. 

Up before the sun, we were feeling a little apprehensive about the day's plan: hiking in Aokigahara Forest. At first glance this seemed perfect: accessible by bus, this forest grown on top of volcanic lava is beautiful and interesting and boasts various trails that are mostly on the flat: a big bonus as I realised we'd accidentally found ourselves in Mountains Central. But then when checking it out online, I learned the forest has another name: suicide forest. Apparently hundreds of Japanese people kill themselves there every year. People described its creepiness, its hauntedness, and coming across dead bodies. Not your average Tripadvisor hiking trail reviews... Still, I was attracted by the flatness of the promised trails. So off we went. 

We got off the bus at the Bat Cave so obviously we had to investigate that first. A really cool lava cave in the forest with lava stalacmites, we enjoyed donning our hard hats and exploring. But we couldn't delay forever. Onwards: to suicide forest! Thankfully it was completely fine and lovely. We walked for several hours along beautiful forest paths and really wished we hadn't read all the creepy things so we could have fully enjoyed it instead of expecting to encounter gory scenes around every corner! We picnicked in a wild bird park in a clearing, then headed onwards, finishing at a lava/wind/ice cave. On went the hard hats and we climbed down into another very cool cave - in every sense of the word! It was full of ice and pretty much freezing! When we emerged back into the forest, my glasses were completely steamed up.

A little early to go home, we were ready for more fun so we caught a bus to a bizarre and brilliant attraction: the Music Forest. This is essentially a museum of automatic mechanical musical instruments, and it is romantically designed as though in 19th century Vienna. Beautiful rose gardens on the approach, the opportunity to don fab dresses from the era, and then entry into a charming 'town square' on a pretty pond (complete with swans, plus an enthusiastic and impressive juggler). 

We went from building to building, crossing on charming little Venicey bridges. We saw a wind up girl teaching her parrot to sing her music box song; a teddy bear blowing real bubbles; the automatic organ that was supposed to have been installed on the Titanic (apparently at the last minute a decision was made to engage eight musicians instead) and perhaps the best of all, a huge room-sized organ complete with about a hundred little figures, all automatically contributing to the tunes with cymbals, drums and other tiny but real instruments. I don't know how to describe it. I want one in my house. Just as we went to leave there was a dancing fountain display with a charming mechanical set-up. We were 100% charmed. That night Roz did yoga with her new YouTube yoga idol Adrienne while I did some work, we had Thai food, played Scrabble and stayed up til the impressive time of 10 o'clock.

Not helpful though - we were both still up before 5am and flummoxed about what to do. So we kicked off by visiting an onsen (hot baths) which was lovely. Being so clean, it was impossible to know that in just a few short hours we would be so, so dirty... 

After the onsen we bought a picnic lunch and set off on a hike about which I had grave suspicions. It was, after all, heading up a mountain. Sure enough there was no denying the steep, unpleasant ascent.  We climbed up and up. Then I saw a sign leading to the lake. "Errr darling, you know we don't HAVE to climb this mountain..." I happened to mention. I was persuasive - but that left me in need of producing an alternative plan. "Let's walk around the north side of Lake Kawaguchi."

This was a good idea in theory. The north side had a charming, well-designed walking path. Until suddenly it didn't. Faced with the prospect of walking along a road with no pavement, I spotted a trail leading down to the beach and leapt on it. The beach trail was varied and featured some challenging walking through tall grasses by the water's edge. But we had our picnic, watched a waterskiier, and decided to continue on the beach 'path'. Except the path had more beachy grass. And then the ground was a little less firm. We started to squelch along a little. And then a lot. "Hmm, maybe we should turn back?" I wondered. But it was too far. Proceeding seemed like the best plan. 

Nope. The ground got softer and softer until our feet were getting muddy with each step - then our ankles. Then our shins. And our knees. This was suddenly a really terrible plan! One by one, our shoes got trapped in the amazingly deep mud. We dragged our feet out, heaved our shoes from their muddy graves, and walked onwards. Now barefoot, every step took us up to at least our shins, with this soft, deep mud sucking us down. This was the worst plan!

Finally we reached a beach area. We heaved ourselves towards it, wondering if we would make it. We did. We tried to wash off the worst of the mud. Then we climbed up and our and suddenly, incongruously, we were walking across a nursing home lawn like two deranged soldiers emerging from trench warfare. We found the road, we found a bus, and eventually we got back to the hostel for a very vigorous shower indeed...

We'd planned to stay til tomorrow - indeed we'd booked the hostel room. But then Roz, always an outside the box thinker, pointed out that instead of spending our evening in a lackluster restaurant and watching Netflix, we could spend it on a bus and thus free up our whole weekend for fun in Tokyo. I saw the benefits. And so, after a giant traffic jam, we rolled into Tokyo at 9pm - and since we were in Tokyo station, decided to break the tedium of mediocre meals by finally trying famed vegan ramen restaurant T's Tam Tam. They were very delicious indeed and we rejoiced in being back in Tokyo in time for a delightful weekend. But still, we cannot deny the facts. It's the end of our holiday. It's been amazing. I am not ready for real life to start again. 

Books we read while on holiday

Layla: 

I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, The Unseen World by Liz Moore, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling and others, When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, Bilgewater by Jane Gardam, In the Wet by Nevil Shute, Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami, Secret Language by Neil Williamson, No Highway by Nevil Shute, Pied Piper by Nevil Shute, Round the Bend by Nevil Shute. Plus good progress into Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto and The Reader on the 6:27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent. 

Roz:

In the Wet (Nevil Shute), The Unseen World: A Novel (Liz Moore), The Moonflower Vine (Jetta Carelton), Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (many), The Death of an Owl (Paul Torday), When She Woke (Hillary Jordan), The Bertie Project (Alexander McCall Smith), The Silent History (Eli Horowitz), The Muse (Jessie Burton), and Rule Britannia (Daphne du Maurier). Plus good progress on Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto.  

In which Roz and Layla fall embarrassingly in love with Los Angeles

by Roz

Let me be clear.  I don’t like LA.  I’ve been there several times for work, and disliked it every time.  It’s a massive city, and everyone travels by car on motorways that are cursed with traffic jams. You have to travel for at least an hour by car to get everywhere, and it’s just not fun.  Since I’d determinedly told Layla not to bother joining me on my trips to LA when we lived in the US, she was a bit surprised when I suggested that we have a couple of days there on this vacation.  But we couldn’t fly back to Tokyo from Alaska directly, and I’d already considered the other options without enthusiasm (we’ve been to Seattle quite a lot, and San Francisco is a bit too European for my tastes).  And in my heart – though I didn’t say this to Layla – I always wondered whether I was wrong about LA. 

I’d booked us into an AirBnB apartment in Venice, for the proximity to the water and the ease of getting to the airport.  As we arrived in our “hen house” (a converted garage that was far more charming than it sounds – all exposed brick, mason jars, and hens clucking in the garden next door), I felt excited to be seeing a different side of LA.  All the more so when Layla noticed a nearby thrift clothes store called “Out of the Closet” which had featured prominently in a film we’d seen recently at the Tokyo Gay Film Festival.  LA was starting to find disconcertingly home-ey.  Though it was quite late, we popped out for a quick drink at a local watering hole and felt very proud indeed at having got there in time for the “late” happy hour.  The first time such a thing has happened to us, old ladies that we are. As we sipped a Laguanitas – my old favourite beer from when we lived in the US – and enjoyed guacamole and chips, we felt very cheery indeed.  But as we strolled home, I was keen to warn Layla not to be seduced into thinking the rest out of our time in LA would be like this (“remember, I hate LA, it’s a terrible city”). 

Next morning, I went to Wholefoods for some supplies.  I tried to claim that this was me being noble, but in fact I just wanted to linger over all the lovely things that I used to buy (and buy without having to agonise over the meaning of the label).  Back in our new home, I made breakfast (including eggs fresh from the hens next door) and then headed out on the slightly alarming one-speed cruiser bikes that the AirBnB person had left for our use.  (I say alarming because I can never remember how to brake on this kind of bike because I am an incompetent fool.)  We then whizzed down to the beach in the lovely sunshine (and no humidty) where we found ourselves on a beautiful bike path that winds right through the beach, alongside the water for 20-miles. We biked along the beautiful beachfront until we came to the venue for our first activity of the day: paddleboard yoga.  Now Layla doesn’t love yoga, but she does love paddleboarding (and me, presumably) so this was her excellent suggestion (even though she only had a very mad outfit indeed to wear that was suitable for neither paddleboarding nor yoga…nor biking now I think of it).  It was superb to be out on the water, and even though we only got a little paddleboarding time, and the yoga was somewhat abbreviated we both felt supremely happy. 

After this we headed to lunch, in Mendocino Farm, a delightful salady place that reminded me of many Washington haunts (and I tried to curb feelings of nostalgia for the place that still feels like home). We mused on indulging in frozen yoghurt, but foolishly decided that this wasn’t necessary and continued on with our cycle.  The path is mainly right in the middle of the beach – so you feel like you are flying over sand and that the rest of the world is very far away.  We cycled a few more miles, and then stopped for ice cream (the frozen yoghurt was seeming very much like a missed opportunity) before continuing on.  Eventually we started to notice that we were getting a bit pink and hot, and decided to turn back.  Though on the return journey I made sure we took advantage of the frozen yoghurt opportunity.  (Ice cream and frozen yoghurt are of course very different and there’s no reason not to have both in one day.  Well, when I say no reason…).

Post-frozen yoghurt, our first stop on the way home was the Venice canals.  Allegedly the epitome of tacky, we quite enjoyed them – all the more so for so recently having visited Venice in Italy.  It was fun to mooch around, speculating on the cost of the palatial houses lining the pretty canals (and of course deciding which one we’d live in).  After that, we got back on our bikes and headed to Albert Kinney Road – allegedly the hippest street in the US.  Sure enough the road was chock full of hipster coffee shops, shops selling slightly unnecessary items and a delightful vegetarian restaurant called Butcher’s Daughter where we stopped off for a glass of wine / juice / snack. 

Back in the hen house, we made ourselves a quick dinner (gosh, I fear that I sound very greedy indeed, since we seem to have had many meals today) before hopping on a convenient bus to nearby Santa Monica, where I’d booked us movie tickets to see Woody Allen’s new film Café Society.  We enjoyed the film well enough, though it was far from one of his best.  Afterwards, we mused on various bar options for a drink and then decided everywhere was a bit young and loud for us and headed back to our neighborhood and had a glass of wine (or in Layla’s case, unexpectedly, a wine flight) in a cool local wine bar before bed.  I went to sleep somewhat worried that I might be liking LA… 

Next morning we headed out to local Groundworks branch for some delicious coffee before calling an Uber to drive us over to Highland Park Bowling some 30km away.  Quite far to go for bowling you say?  Well, the Uber cost us less than $6(!), Layla was excited to see the Hollywood sign, and the venue is something special.  It’s the oldest bowling alley in the US, and is all Victorian steampunk décor.  The mechanism for the pins was delightfully antiquated and Layla and I loved it immediately.   Indeed, only the amazing 1930s Eritrean bowling alley we went to in Asmara years ago can trump it in our hearts.  We played three games and there are many excellent justifications for why I lost two of those games I’m sure…if only I could think of them.

After bowling, we hopped into another Uber (again ridiculously cheap) and headed into town to go to Grand Central market – a brilliant food market with all the varieties and options you can imagine.  Insanely, I nearly opted for ramen before I remembered that this is one dish that is not a scarcity in Tokyo and headed for the falafel.  Totally delicious and very jolly.  Afterwards, we headed passed lots of beautiful Moorish buildings and briefly stopped for coffee before heading to a nearby Smithsonian museum about Mexicans in LA which wasn’t brilliant, but did make us think a bit more carefully about the city.  And the aircon was a welcome relief too.  And from there, we went to the Broad, a fantastic new art museum.  Thankfully, we’d reserved in advance and so we smugly swanned by those queuing in the heat of the day to get in.  We started with the current exhibition from photographer Cindy Sherman called Imitation of Life.  Sherman only takes pictures of herself, but over 30 or so decades has used make up and brilliant backgrounds to replicate everything from old masters to pastiches on melodramas.  I loved it.  We then meandered around the rest of the museum, playing our familiar game of “which piece of art would I most like to own” (surprisingly we picked two different Lichtensteins for this prestigious accolade).  

After we’d explored the museum, we went outside and lay on the grass in the shade and read our books (and ate ice cream).  We started to feel cold (unlikely though this sounds about LA in August) and headed to perhaps my new favourite bookstore: the Last Bookshop.  This is huge and cavernous and a delightful mix of new and secondhand.  It has a vault, a book tunnel and random bookish art.  And a wonderful selection of books.  We both bought a book and then gazed at the information about upcoming book events and wished we could go.  Not that either of us was liking LA, of course…

The metro was close by and took us to our final stop of the day: Hollywood.  This was more by chance (I’d booked us a couple of shows for the evening and only afterwards properly noticed the location) but it was fun to walk around, seeing the names of famous actors in stars engraved on the street, walking down to Sunset Boulevard.  Dinner at the Running Goose was the surprising combination of delicious and not extortionate: we had numerous toastadas, salads and gazapacho and suchlike on a beautiful patio and enjoyably eavesdropped on the next table (parents meeting their son’s boyfriend). 

Just round the corner was IO West, the cute venue for our evening’s proper entertainment: first a storytelling show and then an improv one (both were only an hour long, before you start to think we were over ambitious).  Only a couple of the storytellers were really good, but it was enjoyable nonetheless – and the improv show was terrific and featured a celebrity who we didn’t recognise – Lori Allen. We mused on how the venue would be great for Perfect Liars Club.  Our final Uber home (also less than $6) was speedy and only slightly marred by finding we’d left our book purchases under our seats in the theatre. Alas.

We set our alarm for an early hour today, to make sure that we were able to get out and about and make the most of our last morning of US fun on this Transpacific adventure.  Before 8am we had hopped on our bikes (not much more competent than last time, alas) and cycled along the beachfront in the opposite direction from our route on our first day.  Though still early, it was fun seeing people going about their daily lives– everything from circus-ey rope work on Muscle Beach to an AA meeting on the sand.  We went for a paddle in the chilly Pacific waves, and then stopped off for a coffee and an exorbitantly priced juice en route home before heading to the airport.  A really excellent morning (enhanced even more by an unexpected Jose Andres (famous DC chef) lunch stop at the airport). 

So, just to be clear.  I don’t like LA.  I love LA.  And fortunately the nice theatre we went to last night have said they’ll look after our books for us until our next visit…

In which Layla and Roz explore Alaska beyond the cruiseship

by Layla

On our last night on the cruise we were warned about the onset of the ‘cruise blues’ – withdrawal symptoms from being on such a beautiful yet also relaxing vacation. Lucky for us, our vacation wasn’t over! When we docked at Seward, Alaska, in torrential rain, we bade farewell to the boat and got a shuttle to a hotel that told us we were welcome to check in seven hours from now… We looked at each other, determined to somehow have a lovely day, even though all of our plans had relied on sunny hiking routes…

Instead we dashed in the rain to a very cool coffeeshop in an old church, and installed ourselves there for the morning with a ridiculously nerdy geography trivia game – which I’d like to note I won. We had quiches for lunch there, by which time the rain had eased a bit and we decided to go for a short walk in Two Lakes city park. One thing we’ve learned about Alaska is that city parks aren’t little manicured affairs like they are in other cities – before long we were deep in a forest, hiking rough, muddy trails and feeling rather hardcore. The hike ended at a waterfall, after which we walked back into town along a coastal walking trail that would have been scenic, had not the mist extended to within a metre of our eyes… But we did manage to spot a couple of sea otters frolicking and were very much pleased. We ensconced ourselves in a second lovely café, this one with lots of salted caramel chocolates, then in a fit of weather optimism, walked up to a kayak shop to book a kayak trip for the following day. That done, we finally checked in, had a truly outstanding dinner at a lovely wine bar called the Cookery, and finished the evening watching the film Castaway in our hotel room. Given the horrible weather, not a bad day!

We had a long lie the next day and then breakfast in the Sea Bean, a delicious little café near our hotel. And then wound our way to the kayak tour. Alas Google told us it was a 40 minute walk along the coast and I persuaded Roz of the merits of us stretching our legs rather than getting a taxi. I hadn’t accounted for the rain, the mud road with massive potholes, the cars zooming across said potholes and splashing us with mud, the entire lack of visibility, and the fact that the location was further away than Google thought. We were almost late, and had to eat the sandwiches we’d brought for lunch while marching along the road, but we got there in the nick of time. We greeted our guide, donned many waterproof items, and then gazed out at our kayak spot: Resurrection Bay. This is apparently a popular place to kayak because of its amazing scenery. On this day, scenery was zero percent visible. I could hardly see my own hand in front of me. It was some of the thickest mist I’ve ever seen in my life! Undaunted (i.e. we’d already paid for the trip), we got into a tandem kayak and started paddling along with our group. What a weird experience: wrapped up against the wet, and with almost no visibility, it was serene and mystical and Lord of the Rings-ish and surprisingly excellent. The fog cleared a tiny bit and we saw bald eagles in the trees nearest the water. Then a little brown head appeared: a harbour seal! Next came lots of fins: porpoises! We were charmed by this wildlife popping out of the mist to greet us.

After kayaking (and a glorious lift back to town by our fellow kayakers), we returned to Sea Bean for hot chocolate and to buy take away dinner for the evening. Then I found a quiet spot to have an interview with the Guardian, which was very cool. As soon as I hung up, Roz hustled me to a shuttle bus and a few minutes later, we were boarding the Alaska Railroad train to our next stop: Anchorage.

The mist had lifted so slightly that you wouldn’t have been impressed unless you’d experienced the morning’s whiteout… which was particularly annoying as the train was a special scenic route. We could just about make out the soaring glaciers and numerous beautiful lakes as we would through some national parks that were clearly, in better conditions, truly spectacular.  And even in the conditions we had, the views were pretty amazing.  And the excitement of the onboard tourguides was hilarious (“look, look it’s a moose, it’s a moose on the left hand side, don’t miss the moose”)! The train took more than four hours, and we munched our take away dinners from the Sea Bean and supplemented it with beer from the train. Since it gets dark so late here, it was surprising to find that despite the coast and mud flats being clearly visible, it was 10:15pm and we were in the biggest city in Alaska!

We took a cab to our AirBnB apartment, which turned out to be a little out of town, but very comfortable, and impressed by how the television magically had Netflix on it (ah we are so easily impressed), we watched a little Friends, drank some Alaskan beer, and went to bed.

The next day we stocked up on food from the local pretentious supermarket, had breakfast at home, and headed out to explore. We walked through downtown Anchorage and it was very charming and small, though more of a proper city than the places we’d visited so far. We got Roz some coffee from a hipster coffee place. And then we hired bikes and cycled 20 miles along the Tony Coates Coastal Path, a really beautiful cycle that surrounded us by forest and ocean. I was exhausted after that (Roz less so, grrrr) but we went to Brown Bag café and had some of the most delicious sandwiches ever.

After pottering around in town a little, we returned home and watched Tallulah on Netflix, which we thought was rather good, and had pasta and pesto before speedily marching half an hour to the suburb of Spenard to Taproot, a little bar/theatre venue to see the Whale Fat Follies. It was packed, and this was a completely charming musical satire show, mocking various aspects of Alaska (designated the 46^th cleverest state, spawning a song about four states being stupider; their love of spam; a really good musical skit about civil partnerships and anti-LGBT laws; various Obama, Trump and Clinton songs, etc). We drank a range of local beers and were completely delighted with this little gem.  Though Roz got hugely homesick for America, which was very inconvenient of her since we are living in Tokyo for quite some years!

The next day I’d inexplicably thought it would be a good idea to climb Flattop Mountain – the most popular city mountain to climb. The morning was rainy but then it cleared just in time. After acquiring more of these amazing sandwiches, we got on a shuttle bus and were driven to the start of the trail where we ate them at a picnic table before setting off. It was lovely: a combination of rolling hills, endless steps, and then a rock face that required hands as well as feet to climb up. Well, when I said lovely… perhaps exhausting and exciting would be a better description. But we were smug when we got to the summit! And then had to rapidly zoom down as our climbing skills were such that we nearly missed the bus home…

We invested in a congratulatory ice cream (despite temperatures not being exactly ice cream weather) and ate it while walking back to our apartment to change our clothes and zoom out. Destination: Bear Tooth Pub and Theater. We saw Alice Through the Looking Glass in 3D while drinking beer in a totally charming little local cinema (we thought the film was quite engaging and better than the reviews would have you believe). We ate dinner at the same venue afterwards (mmm roasted garlic pizza!) before walking home for half an hour through a park with Roz noting that perhaps we should have embraced the bus in this town…

We were distraught that on our final morning in Anchorage I had made a poor plan to visit the Botanical Gardens as (a) they were quite far away, and (b) it was raining. Instead we spent the first part of the morning planning our next leg of our trip, and then we walked into the centre of town and visited the Alaska Museum. This was much more fun than we’d expected: a beautiful building and a great interactive science-y section that was no doubt intended for children. Nevertheless, Roz and I had a fine time encasing ourselves in giant bubbles, leaping in the air to have our jump height recorded, and other such entertaining activities. We only had to kick children out the way a few times. We did have a quick look at some contemporary Alaskan art too…

We had the remainder of last night’s pizza for lunch, packed our bags, finally got on a bus, and arrived at the airport. We waved farewell to our Alaskan adventure. Next stop: Los Angeles! 

In which Layla and Roz cruise to Alaska!

By Layla

We stepped aboard the Holland America Zaandam cruise ship in Vancouver with much trepidation: would we love this cruise as much as we had loved our Trans-Atlantic voyage on the Cunard’s Queen Mary? And if we did… did that mean we were officially ‘cruise people’? As intrepid adventurers in obscure and quirky lands, this felt like an identity transition we were not quite ready to embrace…

Our room on the Zaandam was small but comfortable with a porthole, comfy bed, little seating area and en suite bathroom. We duly unpacked and mused that with the exception of having been too mean to pay for a balcony this time, so far, very much like the Queen Mary. We went up to one of the outside decks for the farewell to Vancouver ‘sail away party’ and while there were certainly seats and sun and prosecco… We regretted the absence of a Cunard live band and a general enthusiasm for waving little flags.  Still, it was lovely sipping bubbles and watching Vancouver recede and enjoying our first taste of something that our Trans-Atlantic journey had lacked: scenery! Amazing hills and waterfalls and beauty.

That night we dined in the boat’s restaurant, with a festive atmosphere, attentive waiters, and the major perk of looking out over the back of the boat with beautiful mountains in every direction. The scenery in this part of the world is outstanding! We watched a random screening of My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, then went to a pleasant welcome show of singers and dancers: a very cheery first night at sea. We finished by watching a trashy film about lesbians on our cabin television (and were astonished to find that there exists a lesbian film that we’ve not already seen).

The next day was an at-sea day, and since every day on the Queen Mary had been one of those, we thought we knew what to expect. Alas there was very much less to do in terms of 'enrichment' talks on this boat (other than talks about the flora and fauna of Alaska).  But there was an excellent library/lounge room ‘sponsored by the New York Times’ apparently, so we settled down with our books – and Scrabble. And Jenga. We punctuated our relaxation with an excellent salad for lunch (and multiple desserts, that are better not mentioned), and afternoon tea (pleasant but not a patch on the pomp and circumstance of the Queen Mary!). Roz went on a run. I went to an art auction. We walked round the pretty promenade. We had dinner. And we went to a cheery comedy show. When we headed to bed, we were surprised and charmed by what is clearly a special feature of the Holland America line: a towel dog on our bed, the first of several different animals that would greet us that week, intricately folded out of towels, and awaiting us alongside our bedtime chocolate.

A novelty in our cruising career the next day: our first ever stop! It was Ketchikan, Alaska, known as Alaska’s first city as it’s the first place all the cruise ships visit. Sure enough, the pretty little town/village had a strong concentration of jewellery shops, fur shops, and other things that tourists like to buy. We staunchly avoided these and instead headed up and out of town in search of the Rainbird trail, a beautiful, quiet little hike along the side of a mountain that had clearly not tempted our fellow cruise ship passengers. It was foresty and lovely. Afterwards we popped out at the Ketchikan campus of Alaska University, and walked down to a little mall that had a Starbucks that boasted, thrillingly, free wifi. We checked our emails for the first time in days and I was cheery to receive an offer to write for an online publication in Japan. Afterwards we followed a walking tour map all around town, along pretty Creek Street, once a red light district and now all pretty wooden boardwalks and old houses on stilts above a creek; along said creek to see salmon ladders and watch salmon trying to swim upstream (quite a sight: they make a lot of effort!), and into an outstanding bookshop. We finished by buying a US SIM card and were back on board in time for a late lunch and soon it was time to set sail. It was a formal gala night. We were deeply unimpressed to find most people thought that jeans and sweaters were gala wear... this is definitely a casual ship. But no matter: after dinner we enjoyed a rather entertaining comedian/magician. And so to bed – and a towel crab.

Another stop the next day: Juneau, the capital of Alaska. Intriguingly it’s America’s only capital city that is not accessible by any road: only by plane or boat! It was raining in the morning so since we were moored there til the evening, we lingered over breakfast, and had an early lunch on board before the clouds started to clear a little and we stepped off the boat. Pleasant things about visiting Alaska by cruiseship: they dock pretty much in the centre of town, so it’s like staying in an extremely convenient hotel; it is really speedy to get on and off; you can pop back for a free meal or snack or to change your clothes without any hassle; and since everyone in town knows you are going to want to explore, as soon as you step off, the visitors’ centre and various tour operators are all standing conveniently to attention. This meant that we were able to buy tickets for the Glacier Express shuttle bus within 10 metres of our boat, and get on it just around the corner. It drove us half an hour along the coast (where we saw bald eagles – our only wildlife sighting other than the salmon) to the Mendenhall Glacier, a really beautiful and impressive national park whose jewel is the eponymous glacier, which is an amazing sight. It is huge and white with sections that look bright blue, looming over a glacier lake. We hiked out to a big waterfall next to the glacier, then went off the beaten track to another hike… but there were apparently lots of bears and despite (or perhaps because of) my loud singing of Christmas songs and songs from the musicals, we lost our nerve and headed down to a more peopled trail. Despite our silly (or maybe not silly) terror, the park had fabulous walking and scenery – a major highlight of our Alaska trip so far. Afterwards we headed back into town and to another great bookshop – who knew that Alaska would be so excellent for bookshops? And then to a café for some tea and a read before heading back to the ship to get ready for dinner. We finished the evening at the ballroom dancing area which, oh dear, must stop comparing to the Queen Mary, was done in a bar opposite the casino, and was thus less charming – and there were only a couple of dancers on the dancefloor – many wearing, dare I say it, trainers rather than dancing shoes! But it was nice, and Roz and I even got up to do a little dance. That night: a towel walrus.

Our third stop, the following day, was Skagway, which is famous for its role in the gold rush. In particular, it has a lovely narrow gauge train that winds its way deep into the mountains and was once used by people heading to claim their gold. We decided that much as we had til now avoided expensive tours, we did love trains and this was probably the time to invest. And so we were up bright and early and by 8am we had boarded the White Pass train. The following 90 minutes were incredibly scenic and lovely. We climbed and climbed through the hills, right up past the tree line – the place where it’s too high for trees to grow. It was interesting to see the trees getting shorter and shorter as we ascended. When we got out, not only were we in the clouds, we were also in Canada! Excitingly that journey had only been the first half of our tour. For the second half, we hopped in a van for 10 minutes, got out, were given bikes, and for the next two hours we cycled down the mountain, all the way back into town! It was quite exciting to zoom out through the clouds and past waterfalls and wild flowers and across bridges and even seeing the train in the distance as we descended. Plus it was quite weird going through customs to get back into the US – our first customs approach by bicycle! Much fun.

We returned to the ship for lunch, then donned hiking boots and headed out on what turned out to be quite a substantial hike into the hills and then around a beautiful lake, and finally down to the few streets that comprise the attractive little town of Skagway – the special feature being wooden pavements/sidewalks. Intriguing to imagine that the winter population is just 500 people! We finished off with tea in a cute local bakery before heading back to the boat, totally exhausted, for dinner, a little ballroom dancing, and bed. And a terrifying but impressive towel rabbit.

The following day was a much-anticipated highlight of most cruises in Alaska: Glacier Bay. This is a national park area filled with, well, glaciers, and excitingly, the turquoise water is filled with little floating mini-icebergs. We spent most of the day watching the scenery and reading our books while a ranger from the National Park, who had hopped aboard, told us useful things. In a typical McCampion fashion, we failed to see any wildlife, but the glaciers were amazing and the scenery all day was fantastic - really exciting to see. Another gala night that evening (and again people were unimpressively dressed). After dinner there was supposed to be a LGBT social meeting, but we were the only ones who turned up! So we went to another comedy magic show instead and were, as ever, deeply impressed by parlour magic. We both had developed sore stomachs so after the show, and a little evening Scrabble, we headed to bed. Hanging from a hanger attached to the ceiling: a deeply impressive towel monkey!

Today is our last full day on the ship and it is to be spent on the open sea. Mist has descended so there is very little to see – if there are still pretty mountains nearby, I cannot tell. The ship is also, for the first time, swaying a bit and we are vigorously trying to not feel unwell! Not many activities today, so it is to be a quiet day of eating, reading, writing, and bracing ourselves for our arrival at Seward tomorrow morning – and having to get off the ship after a very relaxing week of not having to think about how to get around, where to eat, where to stay, or whether we’ve packed everything.

So after all that, what do I think of Holland America versus Cunard? I liked Cunard more, mainly because of their more intelligent program of talks, shows and activities that interested me, the more glamorous, sophisticated and romantic vibe including people dressing up properly in black tie, the fancy afternoon tea, and the proper ballroom dancing, better food, and not ever really having to see the casino or tacky shops when moving around the ship. However, Holland America provided excellent lunchtime salads, a better lounge area, and towels folded into animals… and both had a pretty similar promenade and various outside areas. What was interesting, or shameful, depending on your perspective, is that I had an absolutely delightful time. I’d probably rather be on a Cunard ship – but for Alaska in particular, the scenery and hiking were the stars of this holiday, and it’s been lovely.