Vote for Change... except in this case... unfortunately there is no voting process...

I recently received an e-mail from Semester At Sea informing me of an itinerary change.  Apparently the dumb pirates off the coast of Somalia are causing trouble.  The Gulf of Aden (which is right outside of the Red Sea) is currently a danger zone of sorts.  In other words, we won't be able to travel through the Suez Canal.  Our itinerary is now as follows (the new ports are in bold):

-Cadiz, Spain

-Casablanca, Morocco

-Walvis Bay, Namibia

-Cape Town, South Africa

-Port Louis, Mauritius

-Chennai, India

-Bangkok, Thailand

-Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

-Hong Kong

-Shanghai, China

-Kobe/Yokohama, Japan

-Honolulu, Hawaii

-Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala

-Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Which means, we aren't porting in:

-Naples, Italy

-Istanbul, Turkey

-Alexandria, Egypt

Italy and Egypt being two of the countries on my top fives list of the trip.  I guess, though, that safety is more important.  I'll just have to visit Egypt and Italy (and the rest of Europe), on my own some day.  So if anyone would like to come along...

Also, the itinerary can still be found at:

http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/spring-2009/itinerary.php