What I did on my summer vacation

[freebird5825]

12 day Grand Mediterranean with 10 stops...here's some of the more lighthearted or visually cool ones from the over 500 pics that dh2b took.

The little fuzzy guy belongs to a friend who cannot travel, so we took her teddy bear with us and put him in all sorts of crazy poses.
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[freebird5825]

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[bbbamI]

Oh Freebird...the first two are a hoot and a half!

...but you know the type of pics I want to see.....

 

[freebird5825]

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[freebird5825]

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[freebird5825]

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[IndependentlyPoor]

Great photos. Thank you. What about a full review: ship, itinerary, airline...

 

[freebird5825]

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[WhoDaresWins]

Wonderful photos, Freebird! I love the idea of taking the cute stuffed animal along as a travel mascot, too. You look so happy, and I am glad you had wonderful trip. I visited my son in London last month. Trekked around the museums, ate lots of delicious foods from the former British colonies and enjoyed the theater productions.

 

[freebird5825]

last ones...

Teddy was a terrible boy at sea.
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[freebird5825]

Great photos. Thank you. What about a full review: ship, itinerary, airline...

Sure...ship was brand new Ruby Princess. All was great except for a very interesting "unconfirmed" swine flu issue that delayed our "come ashore" permission in Venice. Thermal screening for fever was used to pass the medical requirements set by Italian authorities to go ashore.
The itinerary was Barcelona, Monaco, Italy (Florence, Naples, Rome), Greece (Mykonos and Athens), Turkey (Istanbul and Kusadasi), Venice. Airline was USAir, no delays and no problems out of or back into Philadelphia internationally, domestic flights were on time.
We never got to go to Rome because of 50 knot winds that made the HarborMaster and ship's Captain decide it was too dangerous to try to enter the port. Bummmmmmmerrrrrrrr.

 

[Moemg]

That looks like the trip of a lifetime . I love the Gondola picture . You both look so happy !

 

[freebird5825]

That looks like the trip of a lifetime . I love the Gondola picture . You both look so happy !

O Sole Mio... The gondolier actually whistled and sang a few lines after we sang those 3 words.
I got proposed to again on the ride. This was our honeymoon* trip before the fact.

* Still single legally

 

[simple girl]

Great pics! We really want to do a cruise like this someday! I enjoyed the pics. You guys really do look like you enjoyed yourselves thoroughly!

 

[freebird5825]

So did Teddy...diving into the clear blue Mediterranean at the beach at Mykonos, Greece.
One of those yachts in the background might be my future retirement home, when I win the lottery.
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[freebird5825]

Great pics! We really want to do a cruise like this someday! I enjoyed the pics. You guys really do look like you enjoyed yourselves thoroughly!

It is very affordable - soups to nuts: the cost of the cruise, air, shore excursions and $800 of mad money was approx $14K for 2 adults, for a balcony (a must!) onboard room with queen bed, coach class air tickets, and a few souveneirs.

 

[NW-Bound]

FB, it's money well spent (you can't take it with you anyway) since you both enjoyed it, and have fond memories to share. We have several GB's of photos that I often view to recall places that we have been. Digital cameras are great!

Regarding O Sole Mio, it appeared you went on the trip prepared, with appropriate songs loaded into your MP3 player, yes? I would have brought this piece by Richard Clayderman (a Frenchman despite the name)

YouTube - Richard Clayderman - Voyage a Venise

I would also bring "Que C'est Triste Venise" ("Venice Is So Sad"), but then you are not the somber type that I am.

In 2003, we thought about taking a Mediterranean cruise like this. In studying the stops, I found that it included Sorrento. As I loved the song "Back to Sorrento", I decided to do a land trip using Eurail so that we had more time on land. We were able to stay in Venice during the Carnival, and that was memorable.

YouTube - Torna Sorrento Napolitan version

The above video scenes of Sorrento were of the same places that we went. It brought back fond memories!

The following English lyrics are not translation of the Italian ones, but make it easier to remember the tune.

YouTube - Dean Martin - Take Me In Your Arms (Torna a Surriento)

 

[TooFrugal]

Spectacular pictures. Thanks for sharing!

 

[GoodSense]

Looks like a great vacation! Thanks for sharing with us! One of these days I am hoping to go to the Mediterranian...Hopefully before Venice is flooded over.

 

[freebird5825]

It certainly was.
It was not my first trip to Europe, but the first on a cruise ship covering several countries. I had been to Greece before, a land based "tag-along" on a business trip. I was on Crete (6 days) and in Athens (3 days). I had also done a 12 day car trip with LH through Germany, Holland, and Denmark, winging it as we went. The world was much different then and we went about freely and safely.
dh2b had been stationed in the UK, Germany, and Turkey in his younger years, but he never had the money to do any traveling.
So it was a beautiful experience for both of us. We figured we would do the "honeymoon" dream trip first while we were young and in good shape for go tromping around all the ancient ruins sites and city centers (lots of steps) in intense heat.
It took us over a year of saving up, not going out to dinner except for special occasions, and cutting frivolous spending in many areas.
It was an excellent financial team builder exercise for us both. We have decided we will continue putting the same amount of "lay-away" funds aside for the next adventure, next year or in 2 years. Next trip will be on domestic territory.

 

[Max Power]

Went backpacking (solo) in the Grand Canyon for a week. This was my 4th trip there, and I plan to make it a lot more frequently after my retirement next summer and subsequent move to Flagstaff.

 

[freebird5825]

Great pics, MaxPower.

Anybody else got any summer vacation pics to share ?

 

[bexterzzny]

i was on that cruise too.

 

[Dreamer]

I came back from a cruise to Aruba and Curacao the end of January. We were supposed to go to Half Moon Cay, but winds were too strong and Captain said no. I have been to the Bahamas in the past, so that was okay. Would you believe that I forgot to take a camera. My friend burned a cd of her pictures. I have no idea how to do pictures on a computer. We went on Holland America this time and none of us would recommend it to anyone. It seemed like a ship for a much older crowd. I talked to 3 people who were in there 90s. Lots of wheelchairs, walker and canes. It was okay, but did not seem to have as many fun things to do. My friends did not like the food as well as on cruises past, but I gained 3 pounds. Not sure what that says about me. It was good to get away from winter and always good to spend time with my friends.