Asia July 2026: Batam

We went to our 44th country today by taking a ferry from Singapore over to Batam, which is one of the islands of Indonesia! The ferry ride was just over an hour, and we booked a private tour with a guide who met us right at the ferry terminal in Batam at 9:45 am. Her name was Dora and we spent the entire day with her until she dropped us off at the terminal for our return trip at 7:00 pm!

Dora was wonderful - kind and intelligent and insightful. From minute one, she was asking what kinds of things we wanted to see, and we told her that we were flexible and up for whatever she wanted to show us! As we chatted about travel, she made the comment about taking us to see parts of Batam that tourists rarely see because they stick to the resorts and the beaches, and we were in full agreement.

Throughout the day, we were humbled by the warm, accepting, and hard-working people we met. Dora shared that only about 10% of the population speaks English, and for the most part, those who do, work in the tourism industry. Since we were privileged to see parts of Batam beyond the tourist areas, pretty much everyone we encountered spoke Indonesian, and yet through gestures and smiles, we felt welcomed everywhere we went (of course Dora was able to translate for us when necessary!).

I don't have a ton of photos, mainly out of respect for those we visited because I never ever ever want to make anyone feel exploited in any way and I hope keeping my phone away sent a message that I was there to learn about and appreciate the culture and its people.

Batam is absolutely beautiful and we're so grateful to Dora for giving us such an amazing opportunity. This island and its lovely people have left an indelible impression upon us and Indonesia is a place we will certainly be returning to in the future!

we drove into a small village area to
meet a man who makes bricks by hand

he makes 600 bricks a day,
one at a time, and sets them out to dry
in the sub so they can be used for construction

I was profoundly moved by the pride he
took in his work and so thankful for his willingness
to show us what he does

the ever-important mangroves

mangroves are fascinating and survive
in conditions that would decimate
other plants and trees

those root systems are
nature's art

this bridge is part of a chain of six bridges
that connect the islands of Batam, Rempang, and Galang
(hence the name of the bridge!)

Batam is just lovely!

Dora stopped at a local place so we could
enjoy fresh coconuts and an amazing view

there is a night market here that offers food
and shopping that was just getting set up
for the day when we visited the famous
Welcome to Batam sign

Some people might think it's a little crazy to take a day trip to another country, but we've done it three times before: Andorra in 2018, Luxembourg in 2019, and Liechtenstein in 2023! We, on the other hand, think it's crazy to pass up the chance to visit another country when it's only a ferry ride away!

Happy Tails to you!

Asia July 2026: Disney Adventure

We took a three-night cruise on our seventh Disney Cruise Line ship, the Disney Adventure!

The ship's home port, for the next several years at least, is Singapore, so as we were planning our trip to Asia, we decided to visit Singapore for the second time so that we'd be able to do a cruise on the Adventure!

It was very easy to get to the cruise terminal via the metro on Monday after we dropped off our luggage at the J.W. Marriott where we'd be staying after the cruise. We decided to travel as lightly as possible for the cruise, so we each just took a backpack so wwe wouldn't have to deal with suitcases!

The first thing to understand is that the ship is huge! Disney acquired the ship from another company and retrofitted it to join the fleet, so it has a very different layout than the other ships. I know there are some cruise companies that have those mega ships, but as someone who prefers the first two DCL ships which are small with only 875 staterooms and a maximum of about 2,700 or guests, the size of the Adventure was a bit overwhelming to me. It has 2,111 staterooms and can carry up to 6,700 passengers! There were more than 6,000 people on our cruise and I could tell because it felt pretty crowded much of the time. You would think with the size of the ship that people would be able to spread out, but it seems like the floor plan almost forces people to all congregate in the same areas, creating a lot of congestion. Also, unlike the other ships, there is no adults-only area and we really missed that.

It was also different from the other ships in that it didn't have the same Disney "feel" to it - not the ship itself, but, for lack of a better word, the "culture" of the ship felt very different. C and I kept saying to each other that it appeared that the guests were there for the cruise, with the Disney aspect of it being an afterthought. Obviously this is the opposite of us - we are there for the Disney magic! If it tells you anything, there wasn't a single Disney or Pixar trivia session; the few that were offered were general knowledge only! What?!? I was looking forward to dominating some trivia sessions! LOL!

When we booked the cruise, the only itineraries being offered were three or four night cruises with the entire cruise being "at sea" - aka no port days. We had to select a three night itinerary because of how the dates worked out within the rest of our trip calendar, but it would have been nice to have more time on the ship since it's so different from the others!

With so many people on the ship, it was pretty challenging to get pics and I ended up getting up at 5 am one morning to go around the ship to take photos while everyone else was in bed! Once again, I've loosely organized my photos into categories and I'm not even sure if that's the best way to do it, but I hope they capture some of the highlights!

Despite the crowds and the different feel of the experience, the ship is absolutely gorgeous. The theming is incredible throughout and any Disney fan will appreciate the amazing attention to detail! As always, the service was impeccable and the cast members were very friendly (to be honest, I attribute this to us speaking English because many of the other guests did not and there was a lot of google translate usage from what we observed).

We got a good look at the Adventure as we walked over from the metro station to board the ship!

Our stateroom was on the 15th deck, almost at the very back of the ship. We liked the location and typically don't bother booking a room with a veranda, so that was nice to have!

A major difference - and a major upgrade in my opinion - is that there are escalators between Deck 5 and Deck 10 (many of the major things were located between these decks) and they make getting around the ship simple and they ease the congestion at the elevators (even though as you can see, there were many more elevators than on the other ships)!

As with the other Disney ships, art is everywhere and there are fantastic murals beside all of the escalators!

I didn't take many pictures of our food or drinks, but we enjoyed the main dining restaurants each night, the quick service options were great, and we had brunch at Palo one morning. Unlike the other ships, room service is not included with the cost of the cruise and we typically make use of that quite often, so that's one thing we definitely missed.

I like to visit the Kids' Clubs during the open house hours and as usual, they were super cute!

The San Fransokyo Street is, without question, one the most perfectly themed areas I've ever seen - on any ship or in any park! We are huge fans of Big Hero 6 and the phenomenal details make you feel like you're actually in San Fransokyo. When I was out and about at 5 am taking pictures, I was able to hear all of the audio tracks - background sounds, announcements, and conversations - that make the entire area feel alive and I was so happy to discover this because when we first walked through the area, I had no idea these background sounds even existed because there were many other people there, talking and laughing and so on. Mochi on the roof of one of the shops and the food and water bowls on the sidewalk outside the pet shop were to of my favorite details!

My final group of photos are just ones I took  of things around the ship. As I said earlier, the ship is stunning and I'm so impressed with the design!

we only went to one of the shows, but the main character
was WALL-E and I can't explain how the robotics work,
but he was so realistic that it was easy to suspend my
understanding of reality and pretend he really was alive!

While we were on the cruise, we honored the anniversary of losing my mom three years ago on July 22. We went to one of the lounges and toasted her with Singapore Slings, which were her favorite cocktail and reminisced about happy and funny things, which helped to ease the heavy sadness. I'm proud I'm now able to both cry and laugh when thinking about her because there was a time when every memory would bring a deep, soul-crushing ache I didn't know what to do with. I miss her so much, every single day, but I also feel her with me and that makes my heart happy and is a constant reminder of how lucky I was that she was mine.

As of now, there is only one more Disney ship for us to sail on so that we can say that we've been on all of them, which is happening soon! Despite the differences between the Adventure and the other Disney ships, we loved this cruise and are so delighted we were able to fit it into our trip to Asia!

Happy Tails to you!