National Ship in A Bottle Day 2024 is on Friday, October 4, 2024: How do I ship perfume from America to Australia?

Friday, October 4, 2024 is National Ship in A Bottle Day 2024. No Plain Sailing Just behind Shinobare's ship

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I prefer FED-EX.

Fast and reliable.

In packing, try to place it with foam balls.. (Styrofoam).

Or a bubble wrap.

American Coca-Cola is made with corn syrup, Mexican Coca-Cola is made with cane sugar, have you ever tasted it?

American Coke is not actually Coke. The difference is that huge. Mexican Coke is what Americans did produce up until the early 80s. Americans also produced soda mostly in returnable and reusable bottles as Mexico does to this day.

Winona, MN still bottles Coke in glass bottles to this day. They even will refill and DO refill the old 6.5oz bottles. You have to bring in what you take out as the little bottles are no longer produced. Some Coke bottles have been in circulation for 80 years. The plant also produces 16oz glass for the local stores. Eventually this will stop as a single 6.5oz bottle is becoming increasingly valuable because its a collectible.

Mexico still uses this system and you can date the bottle (not the product inside) by the Coke copyright on the label. In Mexico some collect bottles as we would coins. If you bought a case of returnable bottles in Mexico its likely you will have bottles decades old.

The system works by attaching a value to the bottle that the customer gets back when they return the bottles. It reduces litter and saves resources and soda tastes much better in bottles.

Mexican Cokes true advantage is using sugar instead of corn syrup just as US bottlers did in the past. The difference is night and day. Mexican Coke is REAL Coke, its clean and refreshing, not sticky and overly sweet.

You can also buy Dr. Pepper in 8oz bottles from Dublin, TX that are made with sugar. The difference is astounding over normal HFCS Dr. Pepper.

The problem with Dublin Dr. Pepper and Mexican Coke is the fact the bottles are only used once. Bottles are also heavy. Since its made so far away it takes more transportation to get the product to market.

Its not really the sugar that makes Mexican Coke expensive its the wasted bottles and transport fees. American Coke on sale can be had for 16 cents a twelve ounce can bought in 12 packs and 50 cents maximum bought in 12 packs. Mexican Coke runs 65 cents on the low end for twelve ounces bought by the case (24 bottles) and can be well over 2 dollars a bottle if you have to have it shipped.

Dublin Dr. Pepper is 16.00 for twenty-four 8 ounce bottles which is a huge markup for just using sugar. But then its 5 bucks for the bottles they never get back and 16.50 to ship. Thats over a 1.50 for 8 ounces.(totally worth it)

In short, American pay a sky high premium for a product we took for granted in the 70s. If US bottlers started making reusable glass again and putting sugar sweetened Coke in the bottles no one would buy Mexican Coke here in the US. They could charge double and still make a killing and be less then what Mexi-Coke costs to consumers.

In the end I just drink less which is good. I have one or two small ice cold bottles a day of real soda. I only wish I could return them to my local store to be reused and refilled with fresh local SUGAR sweetened soda.

Better for the environment, tastes better and I am totally willing to pay extra, in fact I am willing to pay double. The reality is people like me are willing to pay 5 times as much.

HFCS tastes bad, what other choice do I have if I want a Coke? What does it take to get a real Coke in America?

Sad.

which cruise line do you prefer OR dislike AND why?

The most important thing is to chose the right cruise line. The big ones only visit tourist trap towns that can accommodate 2-10,000 cruise passengers arriving - often each day - in the main season!

Our very first cruise was Princess, Vancouver to Anchorage. I was dragged on by my wife kicking and screaming I would hate it! Loved it!

Tried the big lines for several cruises. However we didn't like the crowds and missing the "real world" you pass by on the way to the next money making tourist stop, complete with 2+ other cruise ships also docked!

There is however an alternative if you want to see the REAL Alaska (or anywhere else) etc. rather than travelling on a resort ship!

Went on 100 person ship Anchorage to Vancouver.

Never saw a big ship!

Never stopped at a tourist trap town!

No dancing girls or casino.

No crowds or queues!

Visited back of beyond small towns - bet you have never been to a hammer museum - we have now!

We spent most of the time out in the Zodiacs seeing the best show on earth - NATURE!

-In front of a glacier having a 10,000 ton calving (mini tsunami moved us all around).

-Standing in a salmon spawning stream with the fish swimming through our feet.

-Being one side of a river watching bears catching salmon on the other side!

-Spending 2 hours drifting with a pod of about 20 humpback whales bubble feeding - something

you never expect to see live other than on TV. Because small ships don't work to rigid timetables we stayed there for hours as ALL passengers (and crew!) wanted with other humpback sightings and breachings about 50ft from us, and forgot whatever we were going to do for the rest of the day!

-Sea otters, Sea lions etc

-Barbecued on a spit of land (no big ship can organise this) surrounded by nature / mini icebergs / Eagles!

-Drifting with pod of Orca whales as we approached northern Victoria Island in the Inside Passage.

-Total sensory overload all the time etc. etc.

-You don't compromise comfort or good food! Yes they are more expensive - but worth it!

If you are really adventurous you could even try dog sledging just South of Anchorage. We drove down in a rental car, you get helicoptered up on to a glacier where the Alaskan Iditarod husky dogs have their summer camp. A trip round the glacier and playing with the puppies is a very memorable experience!

The choice is yours! We never go on big ships now!

2 months ago we were on an 80 person ship in the Glacier Bay National Park. We saw the big ships going by - including a Princess (they are not allowed to stop and can't land passengers) while we were kayaking or ashore exploring the forests or the lands around the glaciers!