Falling Leafs and Smooth Seas Fall 2008

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Greetings everyone......

If you lived in south Florida, you can could understand why I'm anxious for our fall to start. In the rest of the US of A, autumn started on 22 September, but you'd never know it here. "Summer" started in June and I can't wait until November for it to end. During the course of some slow days at the shop, I found a 12 day repositioning cruise to Fort Luaderdalefor $399.00 (of course plus fuel surcharge and taxes). Sure, there were a couple drawbacks to the price: 1.....it started in Barcelona, Spain 2.....it was on a Royal Caribbean mega ship but hey, $399 is hard to turn down. So, I booked the trip along with my 2 time transatlantic buddy Dick Burns.

I'll fly up to Boston on 27 October (had thought about taking Amtrak but they want $122.00 plus $420 if I want a roommette and it would take 26 hours to Providence RI) and visit with the parents until the 30th At 8 PM onthe 30th, I'll fly on Northwest Airlines to Amsterdam then on to..............did you guess Berlin? There's a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam but I'm sure Ill be able to occupy myself once I take the train from the airport to city and back. In Berlin, I rented an efficiency apartment again but this one is guaranteed to have sunlight and not overlook a car park like I had in May !!!! There should be some autumn leafs still on the trees.


The flight between Berlin and Barcelona takes 2.5 hours so its about the same as Ft. Lauderale to New York. (The region Barcelona is in has its own distinct dialect of Spanish.....the city name is pronounced Bartheloana). The flight is on EasyJet which is one of the major European discount airlines. On 3 out of the 5 times I've flown them, I've had to pay vast amounts of gold because I was way over the kilos I was allowed to take with me. Yup....they charge for water !!!

Dick and I will meet up in Barthelona on the 7th of November and we'll explore that first- time- for-the- both -of- us city until the 10th of November. Our hotel should be quite close to the port area and the waiting NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS. Once we had booked the trip, we talked it up and 4 women we know have also booked it. Now at least we know what the people are like at our table for 6 !!!

The smooth seas portion of the trip will be on the NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS for a 12day crossing to Ft. Lauderdale stopping at Cartajena, Spain; Ponta Delgada in the Portuguese Azores and Nassau before arriving home on the 22nd November. The ship is too damn big. She was built in 2003, weighs 138,000 tons, carries 3,114 passengers and has a rock climbing wall, an ice rink and a Johnny Rockets diner. I know, I know, I said I'd never do one of these monsters again after the May crossing and certainly not again in an inside cabin, but how could I let that $399.00 pass me by!

Remember, you can always unsubsribe yourself if these little trip reports become boring.

Bob

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Photos

Northwest Airlines
Boston to Amsterdam

EasyJet
Everything "Easy" is painted orange.

A bigga boat !!!!
NAVIGATOR OF THE SEAS