My husband found a flight to Japan in which we could use our miles to fly in business class. I have flown business class only a few times and I can’t think of a better time to use miles than a 12 or more hour flight. You almost forget you are stuck on the plane when you have a pod of your own and you can lay … Continue reading Tokyo, Japan (Day One)
We have been wanting to visit the Dry Tortugas National Park for some time. We just have not made an effort to get to Key West, even though there are very cheap flight from Tampa every day. We finally got a hotel deal and flew down for a few days. There are only two ways to get to Dry Tortugas National Park. One is the ferry and the … Continue reading Dry Tortugas National Park
I was excited to see Sweden, since it was the only country on the cruise I had not visited. However, Kronborg Castle is right across the bay from Helsingborg and we really wanted to check out what is known as Hamlet’s Castle. We had to take a shuttle bus into the city. The bus waited until every seat was filled and only left on the exact half … Continue reading Kronborg Castle, Denmark, Helsingborg, Sweden
After spending the day relaxing and cruising the Kei Canal, we were ready for another adventure on land. On our quest to see as many castles as possible, we traveled by train to Schwerin Castle. We planned to return by bus, but the clerk at the train station said we would need to pay the driver in cash and we had none. So we decided to still get … Continue reading Schwerin Castle and Wismar, Germany
Apparently, this town is not pronounced as we do the cheese, which is one and the same name. It starts with an H sound. How-da is more how it sounds in the Netherlands. Our ship was docked in Rotterdam, so we took the tram to the central station. We used our credit cards to pay for the tram, which made things very easy. Our round trip tickets to … Continue reading Gouda, Netherlands
My husband had a big plan to take a train to a town about an hour from Dunkirk, but we were so tired from our adventure with castles, we decided to take it easy and just explore Dunkirk. The cruise provided a shuttle bus to bring us into the center of the city. It dropped us off in front of city hall. My husband searched for a … Continue reading Dunkirk, France
We took a train to deal from Dover. It only took about fifteen minutes for the ride. After arriving in Deal, we stopped at a bakery for my husband to get a delicious donut. Everything looked lovely, but I was not hungry. I believe the shop was called Albert’s. It was on the main pedestrian street. There were quite a few people out and about on a Friday … Continue reading Deal, Walmer and Dover Castles, England
Today we opted to take an excursion through the ship. We didn’t know when we would be close enough to Mont Saint-Michel to visit it. However, when we got on the bus, they told us the ride was closer to three hours than two. I did not enjoy the long ride. There is always some loud talkers that stop everyone from resting. We arrived at Monte Saint-Michel around … Continue reading Monte Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
If you are anything like me, you had no idea where Guernsey was located or to what country it belonged. Honestly, I didn’t even know it was an island until I searched it. Guernsey is part of the Channel Islands. It is associated with England, but it has different money, different postage. The island of Jersey, which is nearby, also has its own money and postage. They are interesting places … Continue reading St. Peter Port, Guernsey
Our first port was near Porto. We have been there a few times, so we decided to check out Guimareaes, which is called the Birthplace of Portugal. It’s a medieval town that is about 45 minutes from the port. We were going to take the train, but our ship docked too late. We considered taking the bus, but were concerned about not being able to figure out … Continue reading Guimaraes, Portugal
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