By Bob Van Leer
  (At Sea, March 9, 2003) - Tonight we attended an Awards Dinner hosted by the captain. Holland America has a loyal clientele. Pins and medallions were presented for accumulating days of sailing on Holland America trips ranging from 25 days to more than 700. Betty and I received red pins for more than 50 days which makes us short timers on this trip.

  The other six people at our dinner table all had medallions which, depending on the color, were for more than 100 to more than 500 days. Five persons were awarded the President's Club medallion for more than 750 days. The cruise director said each had more than 1400 days. Do the math, and this is just shy of four years on a cruise ship.

  The cruise director joked that President's Club members also received appointments to Holland America's board of directors. There were at least a couple of hundred passengers who received awards for more than 100 days, and there are only about 450 passengers on the ship.

  This will end the tour for Betty and myself. The ship will continue on north along the Australian coast. It has been an interesting and relaxing cruise but it is time to go home. On the ship, we have traveled 11,774 statute miles and more than that by air so it has been a long trip. We know more than when we started and this is always a good measure of a of how our time was spent.

  One thing we were interested in was any evidence of anti-Americanism and we personally saw one instance in this area of the world. In Lima said we saw a peace demonstration of 50-100 in front of the U. S. Embassy, which our guide said was unusual. Most of the people we met were in the tourist business, so they had a vested interested in being polite. Still, we saw no other signs or protests anywhere and heard nothing except for the one demonstration in Lima.