Blogs from North America - page 3

You may have guessed that I use the airline lounges whenever possible. Often times, when I have used miles to upgrade to Business Class, a visit to the airline lounge is included. Short of that, I have a Priority Pass, which is part of the Chase Sapphire Visa card program. In moments of true desperation, with lots of time to kill at the airport, I have purchased a lounge pass. Usually, the foreign airlines have better lounges. I would place Singapore, Air New Zealand, and Turkish Air at the top of the lounges I have visited. But lately, some of the US airlines have improved immensely, namely the Admirals Lounges of American Airlines, and United Polaris Lounges. Why? For one, they pour complimentary champagne!! And the food is upgraded. One of my first and best lounge ... read more

Hi Everyone, Traveling home. Between the train station, the airport and the train station in the airport, I cannot begin to tell you how many times I uttered the words “do you speak English?”. Thankfully most people were willing to help if they could. There were a couple times that several of us tourists were huddled around asking each other, trying to figure out which way to go. In the train station, beside the train, we were having one of those conversations and an English speaking passenger heard us, got off his train and told us that yes, that is the train to the airport and then he got back on his train. Very friendly people here. The airport goes on forever and has so many corridors to walk down or walk past. I did go ... read more

Hi Everyone, I had been so proud of myself for remembering, about a week before leaving on the trip, that would need to get buy something in order to utilize my curling iron in Amsterdam, since they use a different current and plug than we do. I'm not so proud any more - after plugging my unit into their outlet and plugging in and turning on my curling iron in the bathroom, I went into the bedroom to start getting ready. Wasn't too long when I smelled something like smoke. Went into the bathroom and realized that I had purchased an adapter, not a converter and my curling iron was smoking! Thank goodness I smelled it before it became a fire. Then I went off for my tour. Got there with plenty of time before they ... read more

Hi Everyone, Today is our last day of cruising. The port is Dover, England. When this cruise was booked last year, I had booked myself a tour I really wanted to go on. My (then) cabin mate said that she preferred a different tour and didn't want to go alone. Even though I had already been to both the places on that tour, I cancelled what I had booked and got onto her tour. By the time, she cancelled her trip. there were no available seats on the excursion that I had originally booked but I did not cancel the excursion that I had booked to travel with her. The other day, I decided to cancel it and stay on board. So my last cruise day was spent on board drinking lots of tea, honey and ... read more

Hi Everyone, Today my excursion was on Guernsey. Guernsey is a tender port, meaning they put you on one of their life boats and take you over to the port as the ship is too big to dock there. It was a gorgeous sunny day and got up to about 55 degrees. They have their own monetary system but they are one of England's Channel islands. The main business, by a huge percentage, is banking and finances. Guernsey was demilitarized in June, 1939. On June 28, 1939, the farmers were all taking their tomatoes in huge carts in like a walking caravan to a ship to have them taken to the England. Apparently the Germans didn't get the word that the island had no army and their fighting planes passed over them and saw the long ... read more