Musings from 128 Days Around the World

Kyle Denning shares insight, critique, wisdom and humor from a 128-day, 36,000-nautical-mile Grand World Voyage on Holland America Line's Zuiderdam. An award-winning artist, he is a passionate observer of people and places. Together with his wife Christeen, he has completed numerous cruises on various cruise lines, including Windstar, Carnival, Norwegian, Princess, Viking and Holland America. In 67 essays and dozens of photographs, he chronicles life on the high seas and unforgettable visits to over 30 countries and 60 ports of call. He writes about people, art, history, music, architecture, culture, religion and the breathtaking beauty of the natural world. His essays include humorous and sometimes critical observations of life aboard ship, including food services, entertainment, medical services, ship's staff and fellow passengers. He records disappointment from missing ports of call due to weather or civil unrest, and the delight of adding Dover, England to the itinerary. His writing includes deeply moving experiences in Flanders Fields, Belgium, the grinding poverty and residual effects of apartheid in the settlements of South Africa, and the profound mix of hope and sadness in the faces of the orphan boys in Cote d'Ivoire.

He observes changing weather, from stifling equatorial heat to gale-force winds, heavy seas and Norwegian blizzards. He shares the traumatic experience of friends who had their credit card stolen by five uniformed police officers in Cape Town, as well as the ship-wide frustration of refusal by port authorities in Dakar, Senegal, to load eight containers of fresh food and supplies aboard the Zuiderdam. Most importantly, he shares fascinating stories of lovely, welcoming people he encountered at virtually every port of call. What he found is indeed, a wonderful world.

Musings is replete with surprise and inspiration. Denning describes his world cruise experience as "a geographical, historical, geological, cultural, political, dialectic, oceanic, biological, musical, culinary, botanical, artistic and navigational class....on steroids." An adventure like no other.

He and Christeen have already booked another.