Looking Back

We have had many vacations and trips that boast "a trip of a lifetime," and we enjoyed every one of them. But this trip will never be beaten and never forgotten. I set out to see the world. I ended up rediscovering myself. A group of people, drawn together in one place - a bubble, …

Disembarkation day, July Five

Our bus to the airport was 7 am, so we were up early again for a hearty breakfast and final goodbyes. The bus took us to Newark airport across the Hudson River in New Jersey, and we got through security with few problems. We had a couple of hours to wait for our flight home …

Sail-in to New York

After Newfoundland, Canada, we had two days at sea. This gave time for serious packing. It is surprising how many things we accumulated over the last six months, and everything must be packed. Thankfully the extra suitcase was needed and full to busting when it was all said and done. (Merry did the packing!) We …

St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

We arrived in St John's on July 1, "Canada Day" once again a national holiday. We were surprised to find a city metro bus waiting when we showed up for our excursion. It was just fine. We took a tour that started with a visit to the top of the nearby hill and its signal …

All at Sea

We left belfast and headed north. We passed through the narrow passage, just 11 miles between Northern Ireland and Scotland. Scotland We then turned west over the top of Northern Ireland, heading to St John's, Newfoundland, Canada. This journey is over 1,000 miles and takes four days at sea. The time difference is four and …

Dublin & Belfast

We arrived at the Dun Laoghaire anchor position on time for our visit to Dublin, but the Captain did not drop the anchor. There was a period of uncertainty, and then the captain came on the intercom to say the sea and wind conditions made it unsafe for tendering ashore, so the port was canceled, …

Southern Ireland

During our sea day, we attended part of the series on Photography. The day's subject was portraits. We learned the basic skills of taking a good portrait, then went out on deck to practice in natural light. I seem to have become the favorite subject. The teacher took three shots of me to demonstrate what …

Amsterdam, Netherlands

After London, we crossed the North Sea To Amsterdam. We traveled along the lovely Rhine Canal inland about 20 miles, including one lock arriving in Amsterdam at 1pm. The ship docked downtown in a state-of-the-art Cruise terminal, as opposed to the antiquated London terminal in industrial Tilbury. After the ship was cleared, we went ashore …

Tilbury, Great Britain

We traveled from France along the English Channel and through the Dover Straight once again, but this time headed into the Thames estuary and into the infamous and mighty River Thames, enjoying the lush green pocket-handkerchief fields and rolling hills, arriving at Tilbury. Tilbury is not a place on anyone's bucket list, but it is …

Saturday June 18, 2022

The ship returned to Honfleur, France. The main excursions were Paris and Normandy Beaches. We visited the Normandy beaches on our last visit a couple of weeks ago, and Paris is a two-and-a-half-hour ride each way. We have spent time in Paris, so we chose to have a lazy day visiting the local town of …

La Coruna, Spain

We traveled north to La Cruna, the most westerly point of Spain in the north and the most westerly point of Europe. Finally, we had a warm sunny day [in Spain], but the guide said this is the rainiest part of Spain and a dry day is unusual. I did not complain. Traveling from Portugal …

Oporto, Portugal

We headed north to Oporto and again arrived with a gloomy day, with light rain but a forecast of temps in the high 70s. The cruise terminal looked quite impressive. We elected to take the Hop-on, Hop-off city bus. The bus was waiting next to the cruise ship at 8.45; luckily, the weather had dried …