Post #10: One more 'get up'

Today is my last day of work, and then 'vacation' starts. It is hard to believe that the gestation period for this cruise has been 17 months (we booked in April of 2006)...and it is finally here. Tomorrow we get to go to the delivery room (OK, I guess having two wonderful grand-daughters born in the last 5 months prompts baby related comparisons.)

I have checked and double checked the To Do list, and think we are in GREAT shape. We know where we are going, we know how we are going to get there, we know what we are going to do (or not!) when we get there, and we have the option of coming back (...option!). We know what we are going to wear, we are prepared for rain and/or heat, we have an extra change of clothes in our carryon in case the checked-in luggage gets delayed (or...gasp...LOST). We have dollars, Euros, ATM and credit cards. We have domestic cell phones, international cell phone, and a wireless laptop for communication. We have copies of all confirmations, phone numbers for all contacts, copies of passports, and at least 2 tags on each of our four (to be) checked bag (with TSA locks). We have travel guides, Italian/French phrase books, novels, magazines, MP3 players, etc. to occupy our minds as needed.

30 more hours...that is it. Then we call the cab and leave for the airport.

OK, so what haven't I talked about yet? I think Dubrovnik and Barcelona are about it. We talked with Rich and Lynn about Dubrovnik, and decided that we could go hog wild on excursions or we could just do the minimum...and we opted for the minimum given all the other 'stuff' we have planned. So the plan is to debark (I think we have to take tenders into this port), find an english speaking cab driver and ask him to give us a panoramic tour of the port area. Then we will come back and do the self-guided walled city walking tour, followed by lunch (and some local wine!!!). We had investigated several neat looking water front expensive touristy restaurants, but decided that we would be fed well enough on the ship, and have great ocean front balcony cabins already, so we plan to just look for something perhaps off the beaten path...we'll just have to see what happens.

For Barcelona we think we are going to book a cruise tour (our one and only) that will take us to Montserrat and then drop us off right at our hotel. The 'method to our madness' here is that we're thinking that by booking that tour we will then be among the first to debark as that process can often take a VERY long time...we'll see. We have a Barcelona tour book, lots of advice from friends and CruiseCritic/TripAdvisor, so despite not having a plan (per say) we feel comfortable that we will have no problem filling our 3 days there.

That's it. The planning is done. Now I just have top off the charges on ALL my batteries...there goes the PG&E bill for the month!!!

Post #9:Packing Toys

Well yesterday was VERY successful. We went shopping and bought all the last minute things, and then came home and got about 95% packed (just some last minute laundry things remain and we will be done.)

Now the difficult part…packing the electronic stuff.

Since most of this stuff is 'of value', we don't want to put it in our checked baggage in case it 'disappears' or the bags get lost.

My ‘toys’ are; a lap top, 35 mm SLR digital camera, mini-camcorder, digital voice recorder, international cell phone, 120Gig portable hard drive, binoculars, and an 80Gig Wolverine ESP hard drive with built-in MP3 player, photo card readers, and picture viewer . (And Janna will have a ‘backup’ small digital camera with her).

Each toy takes batteries, a charger, and connection cables. When I fill my back pack with all my ‘toys’, and peripheral equipment, it weighs 32 pounds…and that is a LOT. And it can be problematic taking all this stuff through airport security if it is all packed together. So I have divided all my ‘stuff’ into four small nylon zippered mesh bags.

One bag is for the digital camera stuff (chargers, back-up batteries, card reader, and extra memory cards) another is for the video camera (extra batteries, charger, remote, TV connection cables...for viewing in our cabin/room...and blank tapes), the third is for the backup rechargeable AA and AAA batteries (and a 'rapid' charger) and the fourth is for the misc. stuff, including; phone chargers, internet cables, hand crank flashlight, Wolverine back-up battery and charger, international electrical plugs and a power strip to plug in and charge all this @#$%& stuff at the same time. When going thru security I can then just put the computer and all the bags in a couple of trays and it becomes a snap.

Traveling domestically in the past I have literally ‘crammed’ all this stuff into my computer padded backpack. 32 pounds was only an issue for my back. But now we have to consider the carry-on constraints of Lufthansa and Swissair. The good news is that connecting from United to Lufthansa on the way over we are still subject to United’s regulations. But not so coming back: One carry-on each (plus a ‘personal item’), max weight of 18 pounds.

One of the things we bought yesterday was a new roller ‘tote’ to replace my backpack as it specifically met the international dimension constraints, has a padded compartment for the lap top and enough room for a change of clothes for each us (in case the checked bags are delayed).

So, all this stuff will have to be divided between my new ‘tote’, my PacSafe ‘fanny pack’ , and Janna’s carry-on. And just in case that is not enough, I bought one of those ‘safari type’ khaki colored photographer vests to wear that has about 30 pockets to handle any ‘over-flow’. (I gave up tying to not look like a goober a LONG time ago!)

Two more 'get ups'!!!

Post #8: Packing

My goal was to post at least once daily, so this post will meet that goal (like someone is really keeping score...well, I am!).

Today is packing and doing the final 'shopping' day. Then two more work days, then we leave. Starting to feel a LITTLE bit of pressure.

So, the suitcases are calling...tuxedo, shorts, cummerbund, sandles, sports coat, swimsuit, ties, walking shoes, security pouch, dress shirts, underwear...there's a lot of mixing and matching opportunities (hope I get them all right!).

Piece of cake....

Post #7; Planning for Venice

Sometimes I think it is easy to ‘over plan’ things (OK, stop your chuckling…what? Was that even an outright laugh I heard? Don’t make me come back there!!!).

We’ve not been to Venice before (except for having a drink along the canal in the Venetian in Vegas), but I’m anticipating what it will feel like to be there. I’m guessing it will be a lot like standing in the middle of Yosemite Valley http://calberry.org/Page4.html . Just being there evokes such a feeling of awe, and doing ANYTHING else is just gravy. So I don’t want to ‘plan’ things to the degree that we felt we needed to for Rome. Additionally we will have four days & nights in Venice before we ‘set sail’ (3 in the hotel and 1 on the ship) so we will have plenty of time to mix ‘doing’ with ‘relaxing’. (And with the view of the activities from the balcony of our room, why not just sit and enjoy it!?!)

Our Venice ‘experience’ will begin (well, after landing of course…and schlepping our luggage to the water taxi dock) by taking a water taxi from the airport to our hotel. We understand that it is quite the experience approaching Venice by water. And we can visualize cruising along the Grand Canal to our own ‘private boat’ bock right in front of the hotel. I’m psyched!

Most of what we want to do is just ‘hang out’, wander around, and absorb the ambiance. Another ‘mental image moment’; I suspect that it will be lot like going to Disneyland http://calberry.org/Page7.html and just walking around and not going on the rides (well, the vaporettos I guess could be called a ride…sort of an adult’s Small World) But we have made some plans. One day we plan to take the vaporetto (water ‘bus’…we bought a multiple use pass that we will pick up at the airport) to some of the outer islands (Murano, Burano and Torcello). There is a great restaurant on Torcello recommend to Janna by someone at work, so we have made reservations for lunch. And then we will check out the glass and lace making on the other two islands…at our leisure. We have also made reservations for The Doges Palace ‘Secret Itineraries’ tour. And of course there’s Piazzo San Marco, or St. Marks Square…I suspect we will spend a LOT of time there.

Other than that we have a list of all those things not to be missed (including a gondola ride), and will hit them as time, and mood, allows.

OK, enough blogging…today there is one of my favorite things to do; A home Cal football game. Tailgating, cheering, and celebrating another Golden Bear victory. “How sweet it is!”

Go Bears! http://calberry.org/Page2.html

Post #6: Rome; Wasn't built in one, and can't be seen in one either.

Planning for Rome was somewhat more problematic than the other ports in that we dock in Civitavecchia, which is about an hour (depending on transportation mode) away. So we went back to the Cruise Critic forums to see what others have done.

We made our first major decision by deciding we would spend the night in Rome instead of going back and forth twice (we are in port from 7:00am one morning until 7:00pm the next evening), so that meant finding a hotel for one night…yup, back to TripAdvisor.

I emailed several places that were in our budget range, had good ratings, and were centrally located…FULL, all of them. (Did you know that according to TripAdvisor there are 1,152 hotels in Rome and 414 B&B’s…amazing!) I’m starting to get a little nervous now, so its back to Cruise Critic. One poster said they had had a great experience with a small place near the Coliseum, so I emailed them. Voila (oops, wrong country), they had a room, and it actually fit our budget. Very cool. Relief. One more thing off the ‘To Do’ list.

The name of the place is the Nicolas Inn. http://www.nicolasinn.com/ They have been SO helpful. We had already booked our room by the time Rich and Lynn decided to go on the cruise, and although the Nicolas Inn was full by then they recommended a place close by that had a vacancy. They have been great in telling me where to go (oops, I mean telling me how to ‘get around’), have recommended a wonderful looking restaurant and even made reservations for us. I am looking forward to finally getting to meet Francois & Melissa in person!!! (Oh, and according to TripAdvisor they are the #4 B&B in Rome…not too shabby!)

So now that we have a room, how are we going to get to it, and when there, how do we best fill our very limited time?

“Frugal” and “Adventurous” Meet on the Train.

No, that is not the name of a cheap screen play, it just sort of represents how we finally decided to take the train from Civitavecchi to Rome. The train is quite inexpensive (as opposed to a private car with a driver which we are doing enough of already), and…well, by now you know how I feel about buses (maybe it was those days of taking Greyhounds as a kid…no wait, THAT was fun). Plus it just seemed like a nice adventurous thing do to. And the Termini train station in Rome is only a 10 min. walk from the Nicolas Inn. (To see the kind of information one can find on internet, check out this site; http://www.europeportreviews.com/Rome2.htm. ) If we get lost now...no, let's not go there.

Now, how do we actually SEE what we want to see…back to ==>

Angel Tours http://www.angeltoursrome.com/en/index.html popped up multiple times in our searching on Cruise Critic as a good tour company. So, after several delightful emails back and forth with Angel Ruth, I booked the four of us on three tours that dovetail quite nicely with our ‘travel’ agenda. ("Look for the yellow umbrellas.")

So here is how we plan to fill our 36 hours in Civitavecchia/Rome;
1) Get off the ship ASAP and 'book it' to the train station (take the shuttle from the ship to the gate of the port then a 10 min walk to the station.) ~8:15am train
2) Buy our tickets (get them validated!) and hop the train to Rome (remember Termini station, as there are several)
3) Walk to our respective hotels and check-in (or at least drop off our bags)
4) Take the metro to the Vatican for a 12:30pm ‘Angels’ tour (3 hours)
5) Have lunch (Where? Dunno…as long as they have wine it doesn’t much matter...so I guess that rules out Mickey D's)
6) Go back to the hotel to relax a little (oh, maybe 10 minutes)…and get a gelato.
7) Meet Angel Tours at the Spanish Steps for a 6:00pm Heart of Rome tour.
8) Dinner at 8:45 Taverna De' Mercanti, http://utenti.lycos.it/iaschi/
9) Take a cab to the Trevi Fountain to see it at night…more gelato? Or wine?
10) Somehow get back to the hotel…whenever (but surely LATE)
11) Early breakfast, check out and leave bags at hotel(s)
12) 9:00am tour of the Coliseum and Forum with Angel Tours again.
13) Browse, shop, grab a bite (oh no, not more wine and gelato!), pick up our bags, and then catch the train back to the ship.

Sure hope this isn’t one of the 3 formal nights on the ship, as I’m exhausted just thinking about all this! ;-)

Post #5: Planning what to see, and how to see it.

This trip (I’m not sure I can call it a vacation…as a vacation implies relaxing, and I don't know when we are EVER going to get to relax.) spans 22 days; 2 traveling, 3 in Venice, 3 in Barcelona, and 14 on the ship. Of the 14 on the ship only 3 are at sea, so that means we will have 17 total days for sightseeing (and 3 for relaxing? See what I mean?!?).

When you are going to a region of the world with such fantastic history and wonderful cultures, it doesn’t seem right to get up each morning and say, “gee, I wonder what we should do today?” So at least some basic planning was required, even if it just meant giving each day some simple structure that would allow flexibility and/or spontaneity (whimsy comes to mind as well).

As our itinerary in post #1 shows, besides Venice and Barcelona we will be hitting seven different ports. That meant ‘getting to know’ nine ports in enough detail so that when we got home and someone asks, “Did you see such-and-such while you were there?”, we wouldn’t have to say, “gee, we didn’t even know that was there!”
One of the easiest things to do is simply look at the tours the ship offers in each port and take the one that looks the most comprehensive. You know you aren’t going to be able to see all there is that tourists feel compelled to see, but you might as well see as much as you can!

But, if you have been on cruises, and have been on those 'big bus' tours, you know that they can become a little ‘cattlecar-ish’ and at times you spend more time milling around as a large group instead of actually seeing the sights. So before actually checking what the ship had to offer we went back to the old trusty Cruise Critic boards and started doing research on private tours, guides, and/or drivers in each port.

Just as we were starting this process, friends Rich and Lynn from Lake Wildwood decided they liked the sound of our cruise and asked they ‘minded’ if they could join us. “Heck No!”, the more the merrier. That then gave us four heads for planning instead of just two.

Several people on our cruise (and posters on our ‘Roll Call’ list) shared the results of their searching, and before we knew it the four of us had joined in with another group of four and locked in with well known and respected tour guides in Naples and Florence. And then another group of four came forward and we formed a group of 12 for Ephesus.

Being on a roll we then set up just the four of us with a driver in Athens, and then we signed up with another guide/driver in Nice/Villefranche, and picked up two other couples from the Roll Call. Of course the advantage of a guide/driver (and a small group) is that you can rely on him/her to take you to main tourist sights (less ‘thinking’ as far as I’m concerned), and you can do it quicker and with much more flexibility (“Shall we stop here for lunch?” “Do they have Chianti?” “Yes” “Well SURE then!!!”).

So, all that is left to plan is Venice, Dubrovnik and Barcelona…oh, and Rome. Rome will be the next blog.

Oh, and no ship excursions have been schedule so far…but for Barcelona that is still an option.

Post #4: Water and Air...Done. Now the Land part.

The cruise and air are now booked, but we didn’t have a clue where to stay in either Venice or Barcelona. So this is where both

AND

REALLY came in handy. We did extensive searches on both sites seeking out reviews on various properties, and after much ‘hair pulling’ finally made our decisions.

Venice was the most difficult as we had expectations, and didn't want to 'settle' just out of budget considerations. The choices ranged from highly recommended bed and breakfast places (off the ‘mainstream’…pun intended) to stately old (almost impersonal) hotels with panoramic canal views.

We had some email dialogue with several properties, and after seeing our budget increase dramatically each time we discussed the options we decided that what we really wanted was a room right on the Grand Canal, and we were NOT going to let the price of the room sway us from that goal.

Below are a couple of picture from the balcony of 'our' mini-suite that I ‘borrowed’ from a former guest of the hotel we selected as posted on TripAdvisor (I’ll tell you what Hotel it is when we get there) .

The panoramic Grand Canal at night and the Gondola Station below in the morning:

No, we are not very excited!!! LOL...however, we will have to work at least another year before retiring just to pay for those three nights!!!

In Barcelona we didn’t have many pre-established opinions as we knew nothing about it. But based on trip reports in Cruise Critic we quickly came to realize that being in the vicinity of (the always ‘happening’) Las Ramblas would put us right in the heart of 24 hour-a-day activity (which sounded like a good thing!).

After spending what we are in Venice we reigned in the budget a bit, and found a ‘nice’ place right on Las Ramblas. The intriguing thing about this hotel (name to come later) is the that we will have a balcony on which we can sit and watch Barcelona ‘party on’. (Of course one complaint of this location we have ‘heard’ is the noise from the partying in the street. So I guess we have two choices…party with them or…ear plugs!) They also have a 24 hour 'Continental' buffet (just what we will need after getting off a cruise!)

OK, the before and after hotels were now set. Next comes planning the tours in each port.