Just returned, HAL's ms Rotterdam in the Baltics

In article m4GLe.2382$TR.350@lakeread08, Karen Selwyn
wrote:

Anyway, stay tuned. I'll report back on our cruise-less experiement.

The long Turkish trip sounds great. I don't think I could take 14 days
in Ireland though. Will be interested in the result of your experience.

--
Charles

So what itinerary are you considering for the next one?! The Rotterdam
sure makes some interesting voyages.

Diana,
Looking at Eastern Mediteranean - or maybe other mediteranean cruise.
I'm going through our digital photos now - over 1000. This was certainly the
most interesting - and a bit tiring - of the cruises we've taken. But it
surely expanded our knowledge of the world we live in. Eastern Med looks as
promising. We're doing reserch now.


Val Kraut

Charles wrote:

The long Turkish trip sounds great. I don't think I could take 14 days
in Ireland though. Will be interested in the result of your experience.

Since my husband and I still work, we are very cognisant of every day of
leave time. Travel days count; when we knock off the two trans-Atlantic
travel days, we're already down to 12!

Other than the possibility that it might rain all 14 days of vacation,
why are you reluctant to spend so much time in Ireland?

Karen Selwyn

In article gSRLe.4372$TR.3519@lakeread08, Karen Selwyn
wrote:

Other than the possibility that it might rain all 14 days of vacation,
why are you reluctant to spend so much time in Ireland?

I guess I am not into Ireland. 14 days in Italy, or France, or Japan,
or China, would be more my style.

--
Charles

Charles wrote:

I guess I am not into Ireland. 14 days in Italy, or France, or Japan,
or China, would be more my style.

You'll get no quarrels from me about any of the countries on your list.
Last year, I spent 14 days in Rome only, and that was my third trip
there! To bring this thread back to cruising... that sort of statistic
is exactly why we prefer land travel to destination cruises. Of course,
I realize others might think about 14 days in Rome and shudder.

We haven't been to Japan; I keep suggesting a trip there and my husband
just yawns. Thailand and Vietnam seem to be emerging as front runners
for our next destinations.

Karen Selwyn

Charles wrote:

I guess I am not into Ireland. 14 days in Italy, or France, or Japan,
or China, would be more my style.

You'll get no quarrel from me about any of the countries on your list.
Last year, I spent 14 days in Rome only, and that was my third trip
there! To bring this thread back to cruising... that sort of statistic
is exactly why we prefer land travel to destination cruises. Of course,
I realize others might think about 14 days in Rome and shudder.

We haven't been to Japan; I keep suggesting a trip there and my husband
just yawns. Thailand and Vietnam seem to be emerging as front runners
for our next destinations.

Karen Selwyn

D Ball wrote:

Karen, I can't wait to hear your Turkey report. It is high on my list (for
independent exploration).

We've long wanted to visit Turkey. In fact, we had agreed to go there in
2007 with a couple who has a huge trip to Spain in the works for 2006
(hence the delay). About one week after making this plan, we learned
about the total solar eclipse in 2006 and one thing led to another.

This will be our second total eclipse; we saw the one in the Caribbean
from the deck of GALAXY in 1998. Great experience! We're a little leery
about seeing an eclipse from the land after having seen how GALAXY's
captain had the freedom to search for optimum patches of sky, but we
didn't want to spend the rest of a Med cruise doing one-day port calls.

We spent 8 days in mostly southwest Ireland in
June 2003.

For now, our only fixed points are two days in Dublin at both the
beginning and end of the trip.

Are you going to self-drive?

Most emphatically no! My husband has a vision problem so he can't drive
or help with the navigation. Between those facts and the "wrong" side of
the road driving, everyone has recommended I not drive. We intend to get
between places by train and hire drivers for day trips from each
destination. I've driven in France and Italy on some of our trips, but
we often travel by the combination I've just described.

I gather you have flexibility in timing.

Some but not much. My husband's business cycle is such that we have
three-week windows for travel four times a year. Our trip to Turkey is
during the spring window (How thoughtful of the solar eclipse to have
cooperated!) and our trip to Ireland will be during the summer window.

I also have a great rec on a Burren walk guide

I'd love the name, and, also your thoughts on the challenge of doing the
Burrens for someone who is visually impaired. We've been to the
Galapagos and found that the lava islands were perilous for my husband.
We proceeded slowly and lived to tell the tale, but other Galapagos
islands were much more accessible. We won't consider hiking the trail of
the CinqueTerre.

As our itinerary becomes clearer, I could be back in touch about your B
& B recs. Thanks!

Karen Selwyn

"Karen Selwyn" wrote:
I'd love the name, and, also your thoughts on the challenge of doing the
Burrens for someone who is visually impaired. We've been to the Galapagos
and found that the lava islands were perilous for my husband. We proceeded
slowly and lived to tell the tale, but other Galapagos islands were much
more accessible. We won't consider hiking the trail of the CinqueTerre.

Karen,

I've been to the Cinque Terre, so know what you mean...and if hiking the
Cinque Terre is too much of a challenge for your DH, then I think the Burren
might be too much, as well. But the best person to ask would be the guide.
See http://homepage.tinet.ie/~burrenhillwalks/index.html The Burren is hard
to describe. It is not an experience for everyone...we found it fascinating,
our walk with Shane was a highlight of our time in Ireland.

Diana