Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/30/24 (Afterthoughts)

 

Having had a good bit of rest from the day before, I figure that it is time to collect my thoughts about my recent cruise.  It is truly a "once in a lifetime" cruise for, as the UN has declared the Norwegian Fjords to be a World Heritage Site and Norway is using this (for its own reasons) to eliminate conventionally powered ships from entering the fjords to reduce CO2 pollution.  Next year, it will be virtually impossible for us to go to Flam or Geiranger with the cruise lines of our choice because Norway is gradually banning cruise ships from their fjords, a process which will be complete by the end of the decade.

This was our first time traveling internationally by air.  For the most part, my worries were unfounded.  However, it was something well worth thinking about, as we would not be protected by US law while we were overseas and we might make mistakes that would be tolerated in the US, but not overseas.  If anything, the mistakes we could make are violations of custom, and not of law.  Most of these mistakes would identify us as uncouth foreigners and not as lawbreakers, such as when I raised my voice at the Tower Bridge.

London itself, proved to be a place that we need to explore when we have the time to do so.  To do this, we would need to visit in the early spring or in late autumn, so that we could ride the tube without needing to be cooled by non-existant air conditioning.  (We'd also have to corral my niece into being a tour guide for a few days for this.)  Like the fjords, we would need several large capacity memory cards for the photos we'd be taking on this trip.

I found that having a universal travel adapter to be an essential part of my travel kit.  I needed it for my CPAP machine in London, as well as for an extra electric socket on the ship.  (Thinking about my CPAP unit, it is time that I schedule an appointment with the sleep doctor, as my machine has reached end-of-life.)  Having extra USB-A to USB-C cables also helps, as most of my electronic gear uses the newer cabling standard.

The fjords are must-visit places, awe inspiring wonders that people should see at least once in their lifetimes.  If possible, the Flam railway is a must if you can get to Flam. (it will not be accessible in the future to most cruise ships.)  If in Alesund, one must take a cruise into the fjords, as we were gobsmacked there as much as we were on the Flam railway.

After Norway, we arrived at the port of Zeebrugge in Belgium.  It's about 45-60 minutes from Ghent, which I consider a place worth spending a long weekend, instead of a short day.  60 minutes touring the old town plus a 60 minute canal cruise is not enough.  As much as I wasn't impressed with the idea of stopping here, instead of stopping at another Norwegian port, I was glad that we came here.  Too bad that the port is so far away from Ghent, otherwise more people might have taken this excursion.

Finally, we had to return home.  If one can avoid returning to the USA in an airline that goes to JFK Terminal 4, do so.  If the weather is bad, this can be a taxing place for one's return home.  (Avoid Delta and Virgin Atlantic flights for this trip.)  I can't make any excuses for Terminal 4, nor should I try to do so.  The Port Authority of NY and NJ has no excuse for allowing any airline to subject passengers to this poor excuse for the international arrivals process for airlines using Terminal 4.  But then, JFK has been a mess from the time it was called Idlewild, and it will remain a mess long after I have passed from the scene.

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/15/24 (Leaving for Southampton and starting our cruise)

 

This was one of the most uneventful parts of our trip so far, and yet I feel that there is something important to note....

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London traffic makes New York, Chicago and Los Angeles traffic look like their drivers are running in the Indianapolis 500.  Given the distance between Heathrow Airport and London's central district, it took 2+ hours to reach out hotel.  Going to Southampton was worse, as it took 3 hours to reach the cruise terminal - an hour of that inside metropolitan London itself.  This is one city in which I never will under any circumstances drive any motor vehicle, nor should any one else do so unless s/he is a bus driver.

Arriving at the cruise terminal, I was impressed at how quickly we were processed, given that Princess Cruises' computers were acting up and that they both had to find our Medallions and warn us that our security photos might have to be retaken onboard the ship.  (We were lucky - we scanned onto the ship without problems.)

Our first stop was to our cabin, where we found a plate of chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us.  Once we watched the muster video, it was off to the grill for burgers and dogs before checking in at our muster station.  But this was not the only thing we had to do.  RQS had bought an extra pair of specialty dinners that were not being recorded on the folio.  First, we had to nap, as we were still suffering from disruption to our sleep schedules.

After our nap, it was off to the main dining room (MDR) for dinner, where we had an enjoyable chat with two families residing in the UK.  Towards the end of dinner, I got on my soapbox a little and mentioned that the populist, right wing, authoritarian trends we're seeing in the west shouldn't be unfamiliar, as they are the same as what happened in Europe in the 1920's and 1930's.  (RQS said that I didn't go too far or too heavy on the topic.)  Luckily, I didn't offend the families, as I was feeling no pain after two glasses of wine and a double espresso with two shots of Sambuca.

Finally, we were off to Guest Services, where our claim of having 4 paid for specialty dinners was confirmed.  We could now rest easily for the evening. And, boy did I need to rest - this was the first time I could say that I wasn't sober enough to drive in years.  I'm glad I left that task to the ship's captain....

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/13/24 (Flying into London before the cruise.)

 

As I've mentioned before, this would be my first trip overseas and I would experience a lot of unknowns. But first, I feel that I should mention that this trip is being taken as Mario for convenience, as I'm not sure of how foreign governments (especially the UK) will deal with a visitor presenting ID for one gender while presenting as the other.

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RQS and I had a 7:15 pm flight to London, and everything went smoothly with our luggage.  However, I did have a problem when going through the TSA scan process - the machine was producing a false positive in my groin area.  The agent wanted to go through his whole spiel that if I had any contraband that I could be subject to the law, while I simply wanted to give him permission to do what he needs to do.  Something that should have been quick and easy had me telling RQS to watch my bags while the fellow did his thing.  This could have escalated into something bad had not a cooler head prevailed.  But I digress.

We now had 2 1/2 hours to kill at the airport, and we had a hard time finding both something good to eat and somewhere we could sit down to eat our meal.  There were 100 people in line around the Mickey D's we passed, and we ended up walking halfway to another terminal where we could eat gyros and falafel.  This killed some time, and we walked back to the gate where we'd board our plane.  And this is where RQS's cane became a great advantage for us.

Last year, RQS's leg was injured by someone falling onto her leg on the debarkation day for our Bermuda cruise.  She occasionally carries that cane for support.  The cane often becomes an asset in airports, as she is considered handicapped and in need of assistance.  So, we were able to skip ahead of the line and get on the plane without hassles, with me having no problems finding cabin space for our carry-on luggage.  After 6 1/2 hours on the plane, the cane again became an asset, as we were escorted to the head of the customs and immigration lines and out of the controlled area of the airport before 8:00 am.

Neither of us knew where we were going, but we knew that someone from Princess Cruises would be waiting for us, so that we could be driven to our hotel.  Another couple joined us in the van that took us to the hotel, but I wish we could have driven off without them.  No, it's not because they were unpleasant.  Instead, it was because of how I ended up being seated - facing backwards.  It took 2 hours to reach the hotel, and in a warm car driving a long twisting streets it could have ended up being a disaster.  I was getting nauseous, and I was glad to get out of the van and into the air conditioned comfort of my hotel.

Sadly, we arrived around 10:00 am, and they couldn't tell us that rooms might be available earlier than the official check-in time of 3:00 pm.  So RQS and I retreated to some chairs in the lobby and rested for several hours until we could check in to the hotel.  Once in our rooms, we passed out until 6:00 pm.

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My niece had arranged to meet us for dinner, and we walked over to a nearby restaurant for Fish and Chips.  If there's one thing that the British can do well, it's Fish and Chips.  Yum!  We even had a chance to eat some Mushy Peas.  (They may not be my cup of tea, but they were pleasant enough that I finished the portion.)  All too soon, we had to go to the hotel.  We now knew where the Tower of London was, and we made plans to see it the next day.  If things worked out with my niece, she'd meet us afterward.  If not, we have ways to spend our time on our last day in this city.  (And yes, it's a city where one should spend an entire week there to do a visit justice and to have one wanting more.)

 

Now, I have an idea of what to give two kids for Xmas

Every year, I've bought something for the two children of my game night hosts.  This year is the same, except that I have much less time to do so due to my upcoming trip to Hawaii.  Yet, I have an idea of what to give them now, and will be ordering their gifts before the holidays.

It's nice to have people to whom I give gifts, to share with.  I had an insurance policy from a fraternal benefit society which wouldn't allow me to designate these two children the secondary beneficiaries of this policy.  So I'll look to leave these kids a little something in my will, and hope that nothing happens to me anytime soon.

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My year-end Hawaii trip keeps coming nearer and nearer.  And I'm looking forward to it.  I have to make sure that I have all the little things needed for this trip, and have been an active customer of Amazon since the day I was irrevocably financially committed to this trip. Since this is a bucket list trip, I will be sure to get lots of photos of the trip and make some sort of travelog for it.

Although I intend to travel with RQS, I have a good feeling that it will be hard for her to keep up with me due to financial reasons. This is a reasonable believe, based on our previous careers.  So, if I'm going to be doing a bit of travel, I will need a profitable line of business to pay for it.  I have some ideas of how I will achieve this, but will avoid talking about it for now.

By the end of the year, I will have taken two bucket list trips, and plan to take more in the next few years.  Having checked off Alaska and Hawaii, I'll have to go much further afield for my next bucket list trip.  I'm hoping that I can check off more than one of my destinations with one trip.  But this takes time and money.  For example, there is a cruise that will spend 6 days in Iceland, plus several more days in the Norwegian Fjords.  One problem: This is one expensive 35 day cruise!  So I will likely need to be more realistic in how I check off items on my bucket list.  I could spend a week in London with my niece, then sail back to New York on the Queen Mary 2.  This is expensive, but a realistic way to do things.

Hopefully, by this time next year, I will be able to check off another item on my bucket list.

 

Mid January Odds and Ends

 

 

Sometimes, I don't have much to say about any one topic, but I'm trying to keep my readers up to date on things with a post.  This is one of those posts....

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I've been having problems with my health insurance.  My membership number changed, and the paperwork to fix my problem has been taking longer than expected to be processed.  Today, I reached out to the company once more, and someone placed my issue on a high priority queue.  Hopefully, I'll have the bulk of the matter resolved by Monday, and the only thing left to do will be to connect the membership to a new email account AND to get things set up properly for my mail order medications.

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My brother and I are closing out accounts my dad had before he died.  They don't amount to much money, but they will provide us with much needed money for luxuries.  In my case, this money will help pay for a vacation or two.  In my brother's case, it will pay for a delayed trip to see my niece and her (to be) husband in London.  We had a minor problem with one of these accounts, as it got locked when my dad died. But we expect to have the money in our "grubby" little hands soon.

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I finally have my auto registration in hand.  There is only one more thing I need to do with it: replace the old sticker on my windshield with a new one.  Of course, I'll drive down to see my brother to see if he has the scraping tool needed to get the old sticker off the windshield - it's a perfect excuse to see him before driving over to see FH.

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My friend from my Thursday night gaming group has taken the plunge and is setting up her own online game night starting Wednesday evenings.  I think I'll have another something to look forward to while locked down inside, waiting out the pandemic.

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Next week, I'll be getting together with another of my friends who knows me only as Marian. It'll be nice to see her once again. But with the pandemic raging, this might be the last time I meet anyone other than FH, YGD, Vicki #1 , my brother and his wife for a while.  Of the people in my circle, I'm one of the few that is under 65 AND doesn't have a reason to be an early recipient of the coronavirus vaccine.

 

Thinking about going to a museum.

 

 

The above picture does not do this piece of art justice.  The Dinner Party (by Judy Chicago) is best viewed in person at the Brooklyn Museum.  Like most great works of art, it is best appreciated close up and in-person with appropriate attention being given to the details which are not put into perspective in photographic reproductions.

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I miss going into NYC to meet up with my niece and to go to a museum.  She is now locked down in London, and isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  As soon as things open up for her, she will do the equivalent of going to a "marriage mill" in our country, and get the legal procedure done that will allow her fiancee and her to live as man and wife.  But I digress....

Recently, I talked with a NYC resident, and she told me of the relative desertion of the NYC subway system.  She implied that it is much more comfortable to travel in the subway during the pandemic than it was before the pandemic - enough people have abandoned mass transit to allow many people to maintain appropriate social distancing underground.

Given that my vaccination priority is about to be called soon, I figure that it would be a stupid thing for me to catch the virus by letting down my guard, than if I stayed in my bubble for 2-3 months more.  But who knows?  There is a certain craving that can't be satisfied by staying alone in my room.  And sometimes, I feel it's worth the risk to start living my life again.

Knowing me, I probably won't go into NYC on my own, as I don't want to pay the price to park my car in Manhattan.  Could it be that my general frugality has been a reason I'm still alive? That would be an interesting thought....