Sunday, July 12, 2015

A New Adventure-Europe Awaits, July-Aug. 2015

July 12, 2015—Packing for our trip
Today we are busy with packing our suitcases again and getting our house ready for our house/Ocho sitter, Joel. Since this will be a trip that includes not only a cruise job, but also 12 days in Europe in three different countries, it is our goal to try and keep the luggage at the minimum. Usually, we don’t have a concern with two large suitcases, our computer rolling case and back packs as we are simply getting on a ship. This trip is different as we are vacationing for a few weeks on the continent prior to our work days on board. That also means lots of ground transport on numerous modes of transportation such as trains and taxis, etc. between locations. Also, we will need a variety of different types of clothing, some for touring in Europe where the temperatures are warm now and then the cruise where it is not warm. We also need to take dress clothes for our lectures and formal nights on board ship as always.
We will be driving to the airport after midnight on Tuesday/Wed morning as our flight leaves Seattle at 5 am Wed. The airporter van could not help us as they could not pick us up here in Lacey/Olympia early enough for our flight so we will drive and park for the month at an off airport lot. We found one with a good monthly rate.
We fly to Paris with a change of planes in Chicago. We will spend 4 days in Paris and then take a train to Brussels for 4 days and then another train to Amsterdam for 4 more days. From there we take a train to the Hook of Holland and board a ferry to England where we board the ship, Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas for 12 more days. We cruise from Sussex to Bergen Norway, then through the fjords of Norway and the Faroe Islands and then to Iceland for two nights. Then we sail back to England and fly out of London for a long trip back to Los Angeles and then Seattle.
It is so nice to have a great travel agent to help in all of our plans. Or course, our travel agent is our daughter, Kari, and she has been in that business for about 25 years so she knows the places to stay, the tours to take and which flights to book. We just told her where we wanted to go and or how long and she planned so much for us. We know why she has so many returning clients over the years and why she has won so many national awards for excellence. Guess we might be a little prejudice but she really is an excellent travel agent and much appreciated.

Watch for our travel stories and pictures from our 28 day trip on our blog. Whenever we are able to post a new entry we will do so. That way you can see what we are doing and put the places we describe in your own personal bucket list for future travel.

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