SantaFe1

So glad you are traveling again, and traveling so much. Bon Voyage!!

I haven’t found anything to take the taste away! It is just awful!! Can’t wait to finish.

Thank you, Valerie! We are good. Pierre is off Paxlovid, and and I finish tomorrow. It is truly the cure worse than the disease. I am so tired of Paxlovid mouth! I remember two years ago when we all went to Iceland on the inaugural cruise. That was scary, but we all made it! And I’m so glad we did it! We are off to Alaska the end of May for a big anniversary. Where are you going next, before the WC?

Oh no! But I guess if they can get away with it, they will.

In February, it was pretty much all still closed up. But I have never been anywhere where we didn’t find something interesting to see or do. And we loved getting out on our own a bit! Where else would we have seen a chapel with two blues eyes and eyelashes?!?

I guess this will be my husband’s dress of choice in 2024, where we do Hawaii in February and the Mississippi in May! Being originally for California, he has lots of Hawaiian shirts!

That is exactly what our doctor is telling us, and I believe comes from CDC. We isolated for five days. Then we have to go out with masks for five days. Then, no longer infectious. She also told us not to even bother testing again after 5-10 days because the virus can still show up for some time. The up side is that we have “immunity” for 90 days. At least this is the medical advice we, too, have received.

This is where we were in late February. You have to tender ashore, then take a bus or train to Monaco or wherever you want to go. It is a pretty port, though very small. The weather was so bad when we were there that the captain wouldn’t use his own tenders, but hired the town ones, which were bigger. We didn’t even try to go into Monaco, just wandered around Villefrance-sur-Mer. Here is its Chapelle St. Pierre.

Yes, well not to rain on her parade, but I tested negative the day my husband tested positive. Then two days later I tested positive too. It’s hard to be in the same house without passing it on… good luck to you both, and speedy recovery!

Just an observation, not even a suggestion, but we both took Paxlovid and our symptoms, mild as they were, disappeared in a day or two. Of course, check with your doctor.

I am sorry I was so flip in my answer. We both had it, which makes it easier; we got it at home, which makes it easier; and we did not have it bad, but very mild. I started working on a new piano piece; my husband edited his photos from our Mediterranean trip last month. We cooked a lot. We made big complicated meals we seldom have time for. We read, books and books, watched a few new Netflix movies, played with the dog, got the taxes ready to go to the accountant, and best of all: I booked another cruise! British Isles Explorer, June 2024!

watching it snow.

Thank you all for well wishes. I have had a very mild case, as did my husband. Just got off the phone with my doctor who says I am free to go on Thursday, but must wear a mask everywhere for another five days. Easy enough to do. She also told me that we would have immunity for about another 90 days (long enough to get us through our upcoming Alaska cruise). We will also take a couple of tests and some Paxlovid.

Greetings from day four of isolation (at home). Here is what is being followed now. Testing is not the beginning of the countdown unless you have no symptoms. If you have symptoms, you begin counting from the day of symptoms. Both my husband and I had symptoms first, which is what prompted us to test.

It’s all a crap shoot. We just returned from three weeks on a Viking Med cruise. All was fine. My husband then went two weeks later to “boys beer club,” his hiking group that gets together on Fridays for a beer or two. This week after cold symptoms, he tested and was positive for Covid, but not sick. He let his hiking group know, and about half of them have Covid, as do their wives. He is taking Paxlovid, hating the metallic taste, I feed him Jalapeños twice a day. I don’t have Covid, but have a miserable cold. We had been on two Viking cruises in 2021 and all was fine. You just never know …

Glad to hear this. I just booked it an hour ago for our June Alaska trip!

This was exactly our experience last Friday in Barcelona. Our bags have had a wild ride and are still not home, though expected this past Wednesday. They spent the weekend in Barcelona, then spent two days in Germany, then got sent to Cincinnati to go through customs, which took two days. Then mistakenly, one bag got sent to L.A. then both bags got sent to the wrong center in Phoenix today, which is the correct city but the wrong facility. I know this because when I asked, they gave me the DHL tracking number. I also have a LF agent working with me on a daily basis. They say I should get them Monday or Tuesday. But heck, I could drive to Phoenix myself, pick them up and drive back in 12 hours! I have used LF for 4 years without a problem and have always been a big cheerleader for them. Not so much this time. I just can’t decide whether to use them for our upcoming trip to Alaska or not…

Yes, this popped up after we had already booked our alternative restaurants last month on a Mediterranean cruise. Now, I see it on the reservations page for our upcoming Alaska cruise. We get to book on March 21, so we shall see, although we always book for 2.

Yes, I am currently on the Sky and asked about this yesterday. Answer was “no”. But emailing to self and printing worked just tine.

We did this excursion yesterday. It is a seven hour excursion. Four of those hours are on the bus, two hours each way to the castle. The castle really isn’t a castle as I picture Tuscan castles. We then had an hour tour of the castle and its wine cellars. It was a miserable day yesterday,( so much so that the captain canceled our second day in Florence and we have a sea day today as he deemed it unsafe to stay docked in Livorno). Much of the castle tour was outside, and inside was not heated and freezing within the stone walls. Many, many steps gave lots of people trouble. Then we had a one hour cooking class, making pasta and a sauce. Then, We had lunch, quite good, and shopping for the last hour. I think much of my review was colored by the miserable weather, but I would not do it again, especially at that price!

We are doing it on Feb 26, so if I remember I’ll come back and let you know. But I bet you hear from others first, who have actually done it.

Yes, this always gives me pause. But, it is just a question of what you want to spend your money on. As we get older, we want to spend money to make things easier for ourselves. I know we are privileged, but if it saves my husband’s back, then it is worth it to us. And they are very reliable.

We usually use this service. In fact, our luggage was picked up on Thursday, and is currently waiting for us in Greece. It can be a bit expensive internationally, but Viking gets you a 20% discount. We have had nothing but good experiences with them!

This is just ridiculous!!!!! I will be sending things out, although I am not on the star. As I said, perhaps this is want Viking wants.

And what do you do with clothes that get washed, but not dried which are basically all of mine? Can you take them out in between? I never thought I’d be asking this kind of minutia on Viking, but alas. Are they doing this maybe to get everyone to pay to have it done, and do away with free laundry. I certainly won’t be using this.