jpalbny

Sorry rojaan, we're at ALB, not ABY. And there are no flights from ALB-JFK! We usually drive there (about 3h) when we fly out of Kennedy. So JFK-LAX-SYD-MCY?

Having met all 4 of you in person, I can say that you'd have a fantastic time together! Too bad we couldn't be there too for that meeting.

Great perspective. We have been to the other 3, just have not visited Stockholm yet. If that's the best of the 4, we will hope to visit soon! We spent 3 days in Berlin on our own, and still could have used more time. So I'd be frustrated with a long bus ride each way, for a short overview in return - if it were my first visit to Berlin. You could certainly do a targeted visit to a part of the city in that time frame. But just as I wouldn't try to pretend that it's adequate to "see" Paris as a day trip from Le Havre, "seeing" Berlin from Warnemünde seems challenging.

We could bring tons of luggage, if we wanted to (missed Diamond status on DL by $27 this year, but Platinum is very nice). It's just easier not to. No waiting for baggage at Heathrow last week while the baggage handlers were on strike. Easy to take the tube to our hotel. It does come in handy when we want to check a few suitcases full of wine on the way home, though! But the luggage allowances are over the top. When we flew business class to Helsinki in November we could have each brought 3 checked bags of 32kg, plus two carry-on bags, plus a personal item. I'd have to buy more clothes in order to have that much to bring! Apologies to Mysty for dragging this way OT.

We bought smaller rollaboard bags recently. Just so we could enjoy the challenge!

On a SS cruise, that's like every 2 hours?

I can tell you that Helsinki was great to visit. We were just there in November and spent 3 nights. Compact and cute city with great restaurants and a pleasant sea front (even in the chilly weather). There's an offshore island Suomenlinna, a 10-minute ferry ride from the harbor, with pleasant walking paths and the ruins of an old fort. The town is easy to cover in about a half day. One of the days that we were in Helsinki, we took the ferry to Tallinn and spent about 5h there. Plenty to see and do, and I wouldn't have minded another hour or two. Charming medieval old town with city walls, great architecture, and nice viewpoints from the upper town. Copenhagen is well-known and worth some time exploring. It would take more than a day to do so, or at least one very long packed day. We spent a few days there independently back in 2018. We will be back in Helsinki in June to embark on our next SS cruise. Very much looking forward to a little more time there, in a different season. I don't know the other ports on your itinerary. I have visited Ronne once, in January (21 years ago) for a wedding. So my memory just may have been clouded by the amount of intoxicating substances which were consumed. I do remember my siblings deciding that it was a good idea to swim in the Baltic. I stayed out!

Once you let the Albanians in, no telling what happens! (PS nothing against people from the country of Albania; we here in Albany jokingly refer to ourselves as "Albanians" too). Also sorry to hear the news about rkacruiser. Lois, thanks for sharing.

It's a three-pie minimum, I hear! 🥧🍷 🥧🍷 🥧🍷

Two expedition cruises booked - Bali to Singapore in March, with Ponant. Stops in Borneo (orangutans) and Komodo. We were supposed to do a similar itinerary in November 2020, so we will be excited to have a second chance at it. Then Helsinki to Hamburg in June on Silver Wind. No other large cities besides the embarkation and disembarkation ports. Small islands in the Gulf of Bothnia, and some small towns off the beaten path. Will be interesting to see Finland in the summer, as we were just there last month for the Aurora! That sounds great! Have looked at that itinerary many times. We were in Milan last June and it was a very fun trip. Enjoy!

Definitely. I have it. LMK if you need a copy!

1. You will go through passport control in AMS upon arrival. Have been through Schipol twice recently. Once 15 minutes. Other time, no line at all. 2. Both Hungary and Czhechia are in the Schengen zone. No passport control required. Not when you disembark, nor when you leave for Prague. 3. On the way home, you only go through passport control once, and that's at the airport where you board the flight which takes you out of the Schengen zone. For example, if you're flying direct from Prague to the US, you'll go through passport control in Prague. If you have a connection in Paris, you'll not go through passport control until you change planes in CDG.

You are correct. They did charge back when we first started doing expeditions (2009), but they stopped charging by 2017, I think.

Where is @les37b when you need him? Must have been great to be there. And such beautiful weather! Thanks for the picture.

If you're used to DIY, then yes you can almost certainly do more, and pay less. We've visited Prague on our own, not from a river cruise. Pretty easy to do, and the public transport was easy to use to get around. Have fun!

Christmas traveling is the best! We just got back from London on Monday night. Glad that you had a nice trip, and a smooth return. Looking forward to hearing more.

"Voldemort" refers to something that can't be mentioned by name. Yes, we got said book yesterday.

We got home a little before 11:00 last night, and now I'm having an espresso while getting ready for work. Definitely worth the trip. The Virgin Upper Class Wing and the Clubhouse were as good as we had remembered. Unfortunately the flight wasn't so great, largely because their catering seemed to be a shambles. Their food choices were a bit weird to begin with, and they didn't even have the only non-vegetarian main course offering available to serve. Luckily we were still stuffed from Christmas dinner the day before. I assume that the catering must have been affected by the labor stoppages? Oh well; the flight was on time despite some vicious headwinds so I can't complain. So many people who were flying this weekend had (and still have) it much worse. Will try to post some pix from day #2 soon.

Merry Christmas! Waiting for the post where you finally make it to the disco. 😉

Christmas Eve Day Part 2. After a shower and fresh clothes we went out for the next round. We had tickets to the Mithraeum at 3:45. It was about a half hour walk from the hotel, so we decided to leave at 3:00 and make it a leisurely stroll past some familiar sights. The Temple Bar Memorial. And blue skies. The Mithraeum was nicely done. We had looked for it on earlier visits to London but finally figured out where it was this time. Now we took the Tube back home. Dinner was at Sushisamba in Covent Garden, less than 5 minutes from the Nomad. Always a nice meal here. We've been to their Las Vegas and New York locations too. Plantain chips, yellowtail taquitos, and tuna belly rolls. Pork belly anticuchos. Shrimp tempura. Less breading and more flavor than the version served at home. A cool dessert called Zen Garden. Lemon curd with crumbs on top. The flat "stones" were chocolate with a sugary shell. The larger round ones were chocolate truffles. We were going to wander some more after dinner but I'm embarrassed to say that we finally ran out of energy after all of that activity on just a few hours of sleep. So we went back to the hotel and went to bed before 9:00. The hotel had gifted us a half bottle of Perrier-Jouët Champagne but we'll have to save it for Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve Day in London. We landed a little past 7AM and hit the Virgin arrivals lounge for some strong coffee and a light breakfast. The kind waiter insisted that we have a glass of champagne. Or three... Found the Piccadilly line and rode to Covent Garden. A few minutes to the hotel where we dropped off our bags and headed out to explore! Nice building across from our hotel. And the Christmas tree in Covent Garden. Across the Waterloo bridge. To the Southbank Markets. Festive decorations. And blue skies! We strolled to Westminster. And stopped for the classic shot. From here we meandered to Trafalgar Square for the Christmas tree there. Back through the markets at Leicester Square and then returned to Covent Garden. Even the pup was dressed for the season. We took the tube to Hyde Park for the Winter Wonderland. And stopped in the Bavarian Village for a snack. Back to Covent Garden for our hotel. Saw a friend on the way. Our room was ready so time for a shower and a little rest before dinner.

Happy Christmas from London! Out wandering and enjoying the sights. HMS Belfast looks lonely without Cloud or Wind tied up alongside.

Thank you for the warm welcome! After a very pleasant stop in the arrivals lounge in T3, we are on the tube to our hotel. It was much easier to use the older Piccadilly line because we're staying in Covent Garden. So we will have to wait until another time to see the new Elizabeth line.

Made it to Boston with time to spare, and took off after a small delay waiting for planes to land in front of us. In the air now with an on-time ETA. See you on the other side of the pond!

That's why they make reading glasses... Only way I can help Chris do the Sunday NYT puzzle.