Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Four

[Lois R]

Hi friends, got a cold on Saturday morning........was sleeping all day yesterday..........sigghhhhh......will try to

make through the whole work day today.........it has been raining on and off for about 2 days now.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Good Morning All,

 

Rp, congrats on the tickets. Reward Flight Savers are an exceptional BA bargain and it actually makes sense to buy miles or earn miles through the "known routes" and to use them for RFS tickets instead of buying cheap inflexible tcikets. Seat are widely available and the key thing about RFS compared to lowest published prices is that RFS tickets are "virtually" flexible ie you can cancel or change them and pay a nominal fee.

 

Club on RFS is extremely good value as BA guarantees at least two redemption seats on every flight. They are great on longer flights or where you need the extra luggage ie 2 x 32kg vs 2 x 23kg. Redemption is really great on First for long-hau and also increases baggage allowances to 3 checkins at 32kg ......

[jpalbny]

London area Coolers.

 

It looks as if we will be in London twice, for short stays, in September. Still making the final arrangements, but we'll fly in to London, arriving the Thursday before our cruise sails, and make our own way to Copenhagen (circuitously) on the day of the cruise (Saturday 8 Sept). Tickets were cheaper that way (both TA flights on Wednesdays).

 

We decided that we'll take the Eurostar train to Paris on Friday evening, have dinner and an overnight in Paris, then fly to CPH on a direct flight Saturday morning from CDG. A bit circuitous, but I have always wanted to ride through the Chunnel, and this is a really good excuse to do it. Plus the London RT tix were cheaper than any other option I could find. And the direct EasyJet flight to CPH on Friday night was stupidly expensive.

 

If we are awake after our arrival, we might be interested in drinks somewhere near our hotel on Thursday evening (6 September). Perhaps at the Champagne bar in St Pancras station? One of my residents who grew up in London told me that it's a nice place. We will likely stay at the Renaissance Hotel there as it is very convenient.

 

We will dismebark at Tower Bridge on the 18th and we fly home the 19th. Looking at the Four Seasons at Trinity Square for that night. It looks like we could just walk there from the ship.

 

Off to work...

[UKCruiseJeff]

Hi JP,

 

Enjoy your visit to Blighty!

 

May or may not be relevant, but if you have a Eurostar ticket without lounge access AND you have an Amex Plat AND Chris has a partner card then this gives you BOTH access to the Eurostar lounges. Many card holders are unaware .....

 

https://www.eurostar.com/us-en/node/12751

[rosepark]

I like the champagne bar at St Pancras, so I 'd certainly stop for a glass or two there but you are also very close to Granary Square just to the north of Kings Cross/ St Pancras where there are loads of bars and restaurants, Vinoteca, Caravan, Dishroom. It is an area which has been very much cleaned up in the past few years and the Central St Martins School of Art and Fashion has moved in so it is uber trendy- too trendy for the like so us but we go with my trendy brother and sister in law( "brother" initially came out as "bother", how Freudian) and pretend we are hip. https://www.kingscross.co.uk/granary-square

 

If you think you might stay awake for some music, Kings Place is a good place to check out and indeed drink, actually the Rotunda terrace there is lovely for a drink, right on the canal. You might have to book, depends of the weather and what time you are there. https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/your-visit/food-drink/

Rp

[rosepark]

Good Morning All,

 

Rp, congrats on the tickets. Reward Flight Savers are an exceptional BA bargain and it actually makes sense to buy miles or earn miles through the "known routes" and to use them for RFS tickets instead of buying cheap inflexible tcikets. Seat are widely available and the key thing about RFS compared to lowest published prices is that RFS tickets are "virtually" flexible ie you can cancel or change them and pay a nominal fee.

 

Club on RFS is extremely good value as BA guarantees at least two redemption seats on every flight. They are great on longer flights or where you need the extra luggage ie 2 x 32kg vs 2 x 23kg. Redemption is really great on First for long-hau and also increases baggage allowances to 3 checkins at 32kg ......

 

Agree absolutely re Club value, Jeff, especially with the BA 2-4-1. Great for cruising where packing light is not my motto.

I was just amazed by how few avios were required for Milan, fewer than for Belfast, which is ,of course, closer.

Our flight to Lisbon next month is going to be on a plane which has the new slim line, non-reclinable seats. I think you read Headforpoints so will have seen the comments on there about these and the plane generally. I will not be using the loos on board, in case I can't get out again!

Rp

[UKCruiseJeff]

Rp,

 

It’s lovely to read of you maxing BA. Yes the new BA seats on some of the shorthaul 320s is dire news. They seem to currently be T3 flights which makes me concerned about our future VIE flights. BUT it’s only 2 hours ...... but we have a few already booked.

 

If you are planning a “long game” with your BA use eg making premium travel a part of your pension plans, then building up a large stock of miles for future use is speculative but might be worthwhile considering because the optimal use of them is long-haul First using the 241s. It can be life changing and give many access to “trip of a lifetime” experiences they might not otherwise choose or be able to do.

 

Where in London do you live?

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers! More sun today...there must be some mistake! :)

 

RP..your travel plans sound like fun! Enjoy!

 

JP...really interesting travel transportation plans! You are indeed a planner! :)

 

Today is "clean the house and corral the dust bunnies" day. At a standstill now until Myster gets out of bed so that I can vacuum. He is a night owl and doesn't hit the hay until about 3:00 am.

 

Today's funny.......(in my case probably closer to reality)

 

 

Have a great day all!

[jpalbny]

Jeff, thanks for that information. I hadn't found that anywhere else.

 

Good to know, because we booked Premium Select through the French site, as it was cheaper than the British site, and it doesn't come with automatic lounge access.

 

AMEX to the rescue, again. Yes, we each have one. Really wouldn't leave home without it!

[UKCruiseJeff]

JP,

 

So pleased I mentioned it and that you’ll be able to use it. It isn’t a marriage many would think of ie Eurostar and Amex and it isn’t something they shout about. I haven’t used the lounges for some time but i understand they are worthwhile.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=eurostar+lounges+business&prmd=tnsiv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiI1Ljoy9DaAhWIasAKHfArDp8Q_AUIFCgE&biw=991&bih=913

[rosepark]

Sunny 'Ackney, Jeff, hence our devotion to London City.

We try to be creative in our long-haul planning, for instance, we couldn't get 2-4-1 first tickets to Japan but could get them coming back, so we went via S Korea. People thought we were mad but we had a weekend in Seoul, which we otherwise would not have visited and we could use avios to fly from there to Tokyo. I was insanely pleased with this solution.

Neither of us travel for business so building up a stash of avios can take some creative thinking, but I view it as a fun hobby.

Mysty, I am a slut of the first order when it comes to cleaning, I prefer to buy lower watt light bulbs and keep the curtains drawn instead .

Rp

[Tothesunset]

We have flights to Lisbon in Oct with BA Exec Reward miles. Did the same last year to Barcelona and got an email a few months before flying offering upgrade to Club Europe for £79 each which we accepted. I now check the BA app each day to see if we'll get the same offer for Lisbon.

 

RP - fingers crossed you might get a good offer to upgrade your flights

[rosepark]

We have flights to Lisbon in Oct with BA Exec Reward miles. Did the same last year to Barcelona and got an email a few months before flying offering upgrade to Club Europe for £79 each which we accepted. I now check the BA app each day to see if we'll get the same offer for Lisbon.

 

RP - fingers crossed you might get a good offer to upgrade your flights

 

Hi TTS, I was wondering where you had got to? I confess we are flying Club to Lisbon, OH thought discretion was the better part of value when it came to the amount of luggage I might require. Also we can use lounges at LHR which they don't have at London City. It is schlepp across London for us but we have a late flight and I might need to come in to work during the day anyway, so I can be picked up there if necessary.

Rp

[mysty]

RP...I really enjoy your wit! Almost always have a grin after reading one of your posts! :)

 

Myster is an amazing man. I love him dearly! He does however have a bit of a "concern" with regard to spiders and bugs. Keep in mind that he is 6'3" and I am about 5'2" (I say about because I do not really want to find out that I am actually shorter than that as it would really mess up my current "average weight for height" designation). This morning I was cleaning the kitchen when Myster interrupted my labours to point out a spider in the angle where the wall meets the ceiling of the hall. Our ceiling there is about 8' high. I trudged to the basement to retrieve my "spider and bug" killer. It is a hollow rigid tube about 4 feet long. I stuffed a tissue into one end of the tube and hoisted it up to kill the invader. Job completed I could return to cleaning. I am indeed mighty! :)

[rosepark]

Conkers, Mysty, you need conkers, they are brilliant at dissuading spiders. Put them round the house where you see spiders, they are put off by the smell apparently. Do remove them from the bath, however, when you have visitors as they think you are just a wee bit weird if there are unexplained conkers in the bath and they don't know the reason why. I speak from experience

And thank you for your v kind comment.

Rp

[UKCruiseJeff]

Do they have bigger conkers in Oz? :D

[jpalbny]

What if the spiders decide to play conkers with the conkers? That could get dangerous...

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[Camillus112]

Duhhh, what ARE conkers? First time I hear this word.

[mysty]

I do so enjoy the wit here in the Cooler! J...your comment went right over my short head. I'm sure there is wit there though. JP...that was great! Now my task is to find horse chestnuts. Not sure what the tree looks like and I did not find a source for the purchase of said nuts.

 

When we honeymooned in Rhodes we stayed at a lovely resort there. One day Myster came tearing out of the washroom exclaiming about a giant cockroach on the wall. I went dashing in with one of his shoes intending to be rid of this nasty thing. The nasty thing was huge (and it may not even have been a cockroach) and speedy. Before I could hammer him he ran up the wall and into a crack between the wall and the ceiling. We ended up stuffing wads of toilet paper into every visible crack. We also had to sleep with the light on in the washroom to prevent a re-appearance. This was my first adventure with travel outside of Canada or the US and I fell in love with it!

[jpalbny]

Horse chestnuts. And no "duh" is needed. I had to look them up too. The game sounds fun!

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

[UKCruiseJeff]

For our apres-colonial Cousins,

 

I suspect that almost every school kid in the UK bought up in the 50’s and 60’s has played conkers or collected bags of them not being quite certain what to do with them.

 

Basically you drill a hole in them, thread a bit of string or shoelace through the hole, and play as illustrated in the piccies below. If your conker destroyed your opponents conker it became a “Oner” and then a `”twoer” and they actually increased in value on the “swappsy” market. Some say that soaking them in vinegar and baking them slowly increases their hardness.

 

Some time ago some Brits tried to explain to some Ozzers that keeping conkers would keep the big spiders away but it transpired that conkers are rarer inOz than in Blighty and you cannot bring them into the country on fear of facing the firing squad.

 

 

 

and ....

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29519601

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mysty]

Thanks J! Interesting game! If our spiders start playing conkers I am going to wave the white flag! And move!

[Lois R]

Hi friends, Mysty, where in Canada are you? My heartfelt condolences go out to the victims and their families

of that horrific attack in Toronto today...........another idiot using a van as a weapon:mad:

[mysty]

Thanks Lois! Not in Toronto....about 4 hours by car northwest. Nobody is safe from madness!

[Camillus112]

Horse chestnuts. And no "duh" is needed. I had to look them up too. The game sounds fun!

 

Sent from my SM-G930T using Forums mobile app

 

Thanks for explaining, JP, and thanks Jeff for the rules of the game. We did not have that game...that I remember. Many of my childhood friends were boys, and we all played Jax and Tag...until we started growing up and graduated to "spin the bottle". Wonderful memories!