http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ToniD/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ToniD en-us Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:47:01 +0000 Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:47:01 +0000 Dover Day 1 and Day 2We arrived at LondonHeathrow after a noneventful flight from JFK and breezed through immigration and customs. We found our private driver waiting for us in the arrivals area and set off for the drive to Dover. We made the trip in 75 minutes because there was little to no traffic on a Saturday morning. This same trip can take 2 to 3 hours on a weekday morning with rush h http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-430921.html I was invited to participate on a travel agent Mountain Madness Fam with Anderson Vacations. The following is a review of the whirlwind tour we took to see and do as much as possible in 5 days. This trip would normally be conducted over 7 to 10 days in order to fully appreciate each location.I flew Northwest Airlines from JFK via Minneapolis into Calgary. The trip including layover was about 7 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Alberta/blog-395901.html It was a family trip to watch my nephew play in a regional baseball tournament. We drove from Denver and made a stop in Santa Fe for a delicious lunch in the old town center at the Anasazi Restaurant at the Anasazi Inn. I had a delious sesame crusted salmon entree served perfectly rare. The rest of the family ordered other items such as the Buffalo Burger Beef Fajitas Ahi Tuna Tostada and the http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Mexico/Albuquerque/blog-386615.html We departed the Fairmont Acapulco Princess after a 3 day stay and took a taxi up the Costera Alleman to Las Brisas. It was unbelieveable to see all of the new construction that has taken place on this road since our last trip here in 2000.We turned right at the familiar white and pink wall entrance to Las Brisas and drove up the hill to reception. We were welcomed with their signature pink marga http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Guerrero/Acapulco/blog-386317.html We flew in on Aeromexico. I am still impressed by the seat comfort and service they provide on board. The cockpit staff and flight attendants are always friendly and cheerful. We breezed through immigration at the brand new terminal in Mexico City a big improvement over the old one. There were plenty of shopping eating and drinking diversions to keep us occupied for our 3hr. layover.We made http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Mexico/Guerrero/Acapulco/blog-386174.html The time has finally arrived for my group trip to Rome. I am escorting another Adventures with Toni Tours group for a 3 12 week trip. We will spend 2 days in Rome before embarking on the Grand Princess cruise ship for a 21day voyage to visit cities in four continents Livorno Cannes Barcelona Gibraltar Casablanca Dakar Fortaleza Devil's Island and Dominica before we arrive in Fort La http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Rome/blog-346024.html This is a continuation of my previous South Africa and Zambia blog entries. This is an Adventure with Toni Tours trip. www.tonitours.netJune 20 2008Kookie picked us up at 830 AM from Sandton City Garden Court Hotel and we headed to OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg. It was an easy checkin for our flight to Hoedspruit in Limpopo Province. We flew a prop jet which took a little o http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Limpopo/Hoedspruit/Motswari/blog-293314.html This is a continuation of our trip from Zambia on June 16 2008.June 18 2008It was a smooth quiet flight to Johannesburg. We cleared customs and immigration and were picked up by Kookie in a very comfortable mini bus for our trip to the hotel Sandton Garden Court Hotel. It is a typical business hotel but quite comfortable.At 700 PM we headed off to Moya Restaurant in the Melrose Arch suburb. http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Gauteng/Johannesburg/blog-289378.html This is a continuation of the trip that began on June 10th 2008 in Capetown South AfricaJune 16 2008The entire group was ready to go before the crack of dawn at 0415 AM. It was a quick ride to the airport and checkin was reasonably quick. We had an uneventful flight to Johannesburg with a scrambled egg breakfast served enroute. In Johannesburg it was a long walk to the International Ter http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Zambia/Livingstone/blog-289374.html The time has finally come to start packing for our exciting customized tour in South Africa and Zambia. There will be 12 of us embarking on the 19 12 hour flight from JFK to Johannesburg and then connect through to Capetown where we will settle down after 25 hours of total travel time. Uggh....but I am sure the long journey will be worth the amazing things we will experience over the next 2 we http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-284706.html Sunday 120207Our 730 AM scheduled departure from Newark was delayed almost 4 hours due to cargo loading problems snow and deicing. It was a good thing our original flight was changed to this earlier one so we would have enough time to catch our connecting flight in Houston. It was here I met all of my fellow travel agent partners. There were 13 of us in all from New York New Jersey Phi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/Galapagos/blog-232331.html Today is our last full day on board Jewel of the Seas. We spent a late night in Vortex until 330 AM spending fun time with the bar staff.We played some team trivia and attended a lecture about the Jewel of the Seas operations presented by Captain Thor and his staff including his 2nd in command the only female Staff Captain in the cruise line industry.We also had to pack today in preparation f http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-209595.html We woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning as the ship glided into Cobh harbor. The town looked pretty in the morning light and we laughed as we passed a bunch of young guys up on the hill swaying arm in arm singing at the top of their lungs trying to get the attention of the shiprsquos passengers.We enjoyed our breakfast on the verandah in the cool fresh air. It was shaping up to be a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Cork/Cork/blog-209569.html We woke up to a rainy morning but Captain Thor reported that the day would clear up by afternoon during his daily weather report from the bridge. We hopped on the first ship shuttle bus into the center of town and the driver was nice enough to drop us off at OrsquoConnell Street and the River Thames where we planned on joining the first doubledecker hopon hopoff bus tour of the day.The b http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Ireland/County-Dublin/blog-209546.html We all slept in this morning to rest after the past 3 busy days of touring and our late night in the Vortex. We rendezvoused at the Solarium Bar and enjoyed the bottles of champagne that Tom had. He received one from a stewardess on board our American Airlines flight from JFK to London and the other he won at the murder mystery dinner theater a couple of nights ago. Carlos put them on ice for http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-209496.html We had an early 0700 AM start today. We met in the shiprsquos theater for our assigned bus number for the Beaches of Normandy excursion. We usually do not use the shiprsquos shore excursions but I had difficulty in finding an available private guide who could meet us in LeHavre and supply us transportation to the DDay Beaches area. Most companies wanted us to make our own way to Bayreu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/blog-209151.html We woke up to another rainy day with temperatures in the mid 60s. We rendezvoused at the Seattlersquos Best Coffee Bar in the shiprsquos centrum and headed towards the shuttle bus that would take us from Zeebrugge pier where the ship docked to the train station for the 15 min train ride to Brugges. The port would not allow the shuttle bus to leave prior to 900 AM which meant we would miss http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Belgium/West-Flanders/Brugge/blog-208853.html We woke up to our first rainy day on the cruise. Captain Thor reported the day would bring cloudy skies with periods of rain. So we put on our rain gear and headed into the brand new cruise ship terminal. I went to the information desk and signed us up for the free tour at Gassan Diamonds in the center of Amsterdam. We had to wait a few minutes but they sent us two passenger vans to transpor http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Netherlands/North-Holland/Amsterdam/blog-208605.html Everyone slept in this morning after our full day and late night the day before. We spent the afternoon taking it easy by the pool or Solarium bar with one team trivia session added in. We also tried out a game of pool on the specially designed gyroscope pool tables that keep the tabletop straight in spite of any ship movement. It was also a good day to catch up on email. While the computer http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-208070.html We were already docked at the Hamburg cruise ship terminal when we woke up. It was another beautiful sunny day but cooler in the upper 50rsquos. Billy and I stopped up at the Windjammer Caf for breakfast where Susanna trapped his thumbs under a full glass of orange juice so she could feed him. We hopped on the 5.00 USD cruise ship shuttle that dropped us off in front of the main town squ http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Germany/District-of-Hamburg/Hamburg/blog-208066.html