JaneRetired

Conundrum costs about $20 per bottle in my local California grocery stores (Vons/Safeway/Ralphs) and about $25 per bottle at Bevmo. It's fine as a inexpensive grocery store wine.

Ahh, Loma Prieta! I worked in the Bank Of America HQ building 1978-1995 and had left work to take the Golden Gate Ferry home that day, walking under the Embarcadero Freeway overpass about an hour before the earthquake damaged it. Although I have been on the ferry during other earthquakes, I was off and driving home, when it felt like my car was having car trouble. After the Bay Bridge collapse, the ferries all over the bay area were pulled into service to get commuters to and from work. I got home and the only damage I could find was a vase fell onto the carpet and didn't break. My now hubby was at the Giants/Oakland A's world series game with his then wife. I like to think of the ferry commute as a mini cruise twice a day! It certainly was the love boat! 🙂

#phrasing

CC should award your luggage an award! A Luggie? My inner 7th grader started chuckling as I wrote that!

Sweet! My amazing dad died at 95 in April this year. I started rereading his "Connections" memoir when triggered by your posts about UNT. It took me on a delightful wormhole dive from 2nd grade at Stonewall Jackson Elementary, near UNT, to being outed on the cover of the Denton newspaper as part of a girl tomboy group taking over a boys treehouse in elementary school at Woodrow Wilson elementary, where the principal Sammy Spratt walked with a paddle named "Red Rider"- painted red with big holes in it, for more pain. Yes, teachers, in the 60's kids got beaten by teachers and principals. Dad went on to get Doctorate in Ministry from San Francisco Presbyterian Theological Seminary in 1977 at 50. He performed marriages for me TWICE! My first cruise (Princess) was on his idea, The was hired as a minister on many cruises, and he suggested all our family, kids, spouses, grands to one. Princess cruise to Alaska from nearby our home in San Francisco. Easy on them in 2009. I upgraded my first cruise room to a tiny balcony so they could sit out and see the glaciers, without walking up to see it on deck.. Dad made everyone, even the grands, carry a bottle of wine onboard! What a lovely memory. He and my mom cruised alot as a minister before, neighbor was was a TA. That first cruise was first for all of us except mom and dad. ❤️

While a minister at NTSU (now UNT) my preacher dad got his Masters of Theology (Social Ethics) at Perkins Seminary, a branch of SMU. Graduated in 1963 with 4 kids one on the way! ❤️

Thanks @TxTeach79 for the links to all your other cruise live reports. I lived in Denton TX in the late 50's and early '60's and my dad was the campus minister at then NTSU and TWU, 🙂 1959-1965, when we moved to California. I attended Stonewall Jackson Elementary, Woodrow Wilson Elementary when it opened in 1960, and Denton Jr High. Your pictures of UNT brought back fond memories. I visited Denton in 2019 and attended several evening band class concerts. Princess was my first cruise (Alaska) line. 🙂

Lovely live post! Loved your research, posts and wonderful way of sharing with all of us! One of my favorite CC reports! TYVVM

@Jamman54! Thank you and Patti for your tandem review! I love the repartee between you two, the humor in the posts, and I think by posting after a port-intensive cruise, you benefit from spur of the moment posts, and have the time to enjoy yourselves, and to reflect, research and recover once back home. You both have created an amazing story that current and lurking cruisers will appreciate. I've read a couple of your cruise reports, and, now, I want to go to husband daycare!

And the best performance by a suitcase goes to Paul's Luggage. Best writer @TxTeach79, best supporting writer @HelloItsMeB. Best location assistance graphics: Airtags. Best locations not really helping: LHR and BCN. Airline support not provided: BA. Happy ending and what a magnificent live report! Thank you!

We had a feral mama cat bring her 4 grey kittens over our fence 12 years ago. We named them the greyscale kittens. We captured them, got them spayed, found homes for 2 babies and invited 2 indoors.

Thank you for the photo essay and great captions of the Azores, complete with a quiz! So many TA's cancel the Azores due to the weather, as mine did in April 2022 - Regent Miami-Barcelona, so we armchair sailors got be right there with you! I had 24 hour refueling celebration at Lajes Field on the Azorean island of Terceria after a 10 day NASA/USAF Multi-Instrument aircraft mission to study the 1999 Leonid Meteor Storm flying from Tel Aviv to Terceria. I was really looking forward to that stop last year, but at least we crossed the Mid Atlantic Ridge. This entire post is one of the very best on CC! Thanks! 🙂

All over Los Angeles where I live. Don't park your car or anything under them. Pretty but messy!

We stopped in Aomori on Seabourn Sojourn Kobe...Kamchatka... Vancouver. I search out soba noodles when I travel, and found green seaweed Okinawan soba noodles at a huge shopping mall, with dozens of food stands very near the cruise terminal. Great walking city!!

We were there April 2022, and the groundskeeper pointed out one of the mousers on patrol around the pool. One of the cats (who are very welcome and work hard) snatched a goldfish from this pool while we were there ate it under the manicured shrubs 🙂

Your luggage could do its own Live report! Thanks for sharing with such composure and humor!! (lurked for a day, then started following)

@Jim_Iain long time follower/lurker. I am so jealous you are visiting the Amsterdam Concertgebuw. It's on my travel music wish list. We try to see classical concerts in every major European city, stumbling upon I Musici 4 Seasons in Venice wafting from a church once. The annual Brecon Baroque Festival in the small village of Brecon Wales was a full week retirement exclamation point in 2019. Once on an Alaskan cruise, we stumbled upon the Bach's Lunch Music Festival in Sitka! Just typing these brings back so many wonderful travel memories! Thank you for a great travelogue and tips!

Thank you for the great review, and the wonderful tips about tips!

In addition to the other suggestions I brought these on a TA cruise in April, where several of our group did get Covid, but extra first aid is good for all the other illnesses on ships. I put these items in my 9 x6x4 clear zipper bag: a small first aid kit with the usual items mentioned above, Ayr no drip saline spray, Ayr saline nasal gel, systayne eye drops, TheraZinc lozenges and Zicam Nasal all-clear swabs. Several small travel kleenex packs (extra soft for constant sneezing and so forth). Baby wipes, Tums, pepto bismol, Immodium, Blue nitrile gloves, and because there were lots of reported toilet issues in quarantined rooms getting no service, I brought zip lock bags and a few scrub brushes to toss after use, and which I was very happy not to use, but glad I had. Now that bag is ready to go in case of fire, earthquakes, hurricanes or killer bee attacks, also in case of quarantine, 2 of all shared toiletries, lotions, toothpaste, device chargers, etc

Reading, book groups, placename tours, lectures are wonderful cruise companions. 🙂 We 4 formed FOTSOTW and get together and share thoughts, read passages, and drink wine and eat pizza and play bridge.The daughter of our traveling companions on this TA cruise met us in Barcelona. Her boyfriend (both early 30's) formally proposed at the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc, with her parents there! So memorable!

@GeorgiaPeach51 I read Carlos Ruiz Zafón "The Shadow of the Wind" on TA Miami to Barcelona (Seven Seas Splendor) April 2022, set in Barcelona, with a walking tour at the end of the book. Cemetery of Forgotten Books 4 Book series. A great cruise read for 4 of us!!

You'll find all menus online, and probably English versions as well. As with any meal suggestions, everyone has different tastes and these are mine. Covid was still causing staffing and supply chain issues in April 2022. 1. Els Quatre Gats (since 1896) Carrer de Montsió, 3. Picasso's first exhibitions were here! We've eaten here about 4 times! Great tapas - Catalan tomato bread and mussels for me, great paella, Crema Catalan. Great atmosphere, fabulous wines, music some nights 2. Nuria Rambla de Canaletes, 133 (since 1926) On Las Ramblas near the square, had tapas and beer Artichoke chips and homemade nachos were delicious! 3. Creps Barcelona - about 5 locations, we only went to one (Via Laietana, 45) and had both savory creps and sweet creps on 2 or 3 visits. Owner remembered us from 3 years ago! 4. Restaurante Santa Anna on Calle Santa Anna 8. Our hotel window looked down on the restaurant and the street one one visit. Excellent Paella and Fideuà and great wines. There are a dozen restaurants on this short and historic street. Have fun exploring!

Hop on Hop off is a smart ship tour, if your port stop is at least 3-4 hours long. I'm a senior (70 in a few weeks) traveled with 3 other seniors on a TA from Miami to Barcelona April 2022 (Regent Splendor), and spent 4 days there. We all read "The Shadow of The Wind " by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, which has "a walk in the footsteps" walking tour of Barcelona at the end of the book, which was set in Barcelona in the 20th century (historical/fiction/mystery/murders/a little fantasy, books, restaurants, bookshops, libraries, Gothic area, Las Ramblas, beaches near the port). Many of the important places in the book (a series of books actually) are real places you can visit or pass by (wave at) on the hop-on-hop-off. There are 2 different hop on-hop off bus tours and each lasts about 2 hours, if you stay on for the full circle. You can hop on a red or green tour from the Port of Barcelona. We did both on one afternoon, not worried about a cruise departing, tho. It was raining, and we were so happy not to hop off!. Had great tapas, great meals on streets and restaurants mentioned in the book (which we also visited 3 years ago, before we read the book). We spent 4 nights same hotel on Las Ramblas as our 2019 visit, on a 6 week land trip through Morocco, Barcelona, Lisbon, Paris, London, Oxford, Brecon Wales, NYC). I would return to Barcelona in a heartbeat, and loved walking Las Ramblas alone day or night, no problemo! Happy to offer names of restaurants if requested. The book is a really fun quick read, even if you are not traveling there. 🙂

I packed a Go Bag similar to my Earthquake Go Bag for an 15 day April 2022 Transatlantic cruise. I read a lot of first hand stories from January - April 2022 here on CC, and based my purchases on those reports. Most were travel size or a dozen or so bubble packs of things like Nyquil caplets) Small 30 piece Travel first Aid Kit with antibacterial wipes, pads and bandages. Additional antibacterial wipes. A dozen each Dayquil and Nyquil capsules, Tylenol, 2 weeks addl vitamins (no medications yet for me) Pepto Bismol, Imodium and Tums Ayr Saline Nasal Gel and spray, Ricola lozenges Systane eye drops TheraZinc lozenges and Zicam nasal swabs Vicks and chapstick Lotion, toothpaste/toothbrush travel kit. Scissors, nail file, tweezers, eyeglasses repair kit Lavendar facial wipes, other gentle wipes, gentle travel sized Kleenex. Blue Nitrile gloves, throw away sponges for room cleaning (some Q ppl people had toilet issues, when no one could come into their cabin to clean the toilet, and it was the worst part of Q for that person) Ziploc plastic bags for trash, travel size dish soap for possible dish cleaning. Salt, pepper, sriacha, a few energy bars,, wrapped Biscoff cookies from the flight, herbal tea bags. Kindle loaded with fun books, addresses and important docs stored/accessinble in LastPass or Dropbox. Newspapers and so forth on updated apps on phone/links on laptop. All passwords stored safely on Lastpass! Thera-bands for stretching exercises/stress relief All these fit into a 10x7x4 inch clear cosmetic zipper bag. We travel with 2 sets of electronic charger gear anyway so one set each should one get sent to Q, which didn't happen. 2 of 20ppl (small travel group) tested positive on ship, and were quarantined and their closer contacts (another 6) were tested for 5 days and 4 more tested positive sometime between cruise debarcation and home. On ship, I set aside 2 sets of cutlery, coffee cup, wine glasses, one plate right away. Luckily not needed, but now I have a nice 10x7x4 clear zipper ready-to-go travel bag, suitable for any trip!! It's with my Earthquake bag, which has batteries, socks, flashlight, flip flops. notepad and pen.