LIVE - An Epic Journey - Rhapsody - Singapore to Istanbul

Hello all.

I did a blog last year on a trip from Vancouver to Sydney so thought i would do another. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2100021

This trip is on Rhapsody on May 3rd Singapore to Istanbul. 29 glorious days to some amazing parts of the world.

I’m Raina from Canberra (the capital of Australia – No, Sydney is not the capital). My sister and BIL are also on this trip and a few people I have met on other cruises. So in some regard a solo traveller in others not.

Caveat – My blogs are more of a tale of my trip rather then a fact book about the ship. But I will try to include that kind of info.

Yes, there will be typos and mistakes. I apologise now.

The trip did start with a week of travelling before hand so I will share that as well as many of the places are relevant to cruisers.

Feel free to ask questions. I'm going to try and put all of my main blog in bold blue text - so it is easier to skip questions and replies if you wish.

So come and join me on this Epic Journey!

Here goes.

Raina

Awesome!! Thanks so much!! Really enjoyed your last trip!!

The plan.

Way back in September 2013 we (Raina, Sarah, Crackers and Tim), all booked onto a just released trip on Rhapsody of the Seas from Singapore to Istanbul. Suez Canal and India were both high up on my '44 gallon drum' list ('cause everyone knows that a bucket is far too small!) - so of course I booked. Awesome trip!

But of course many things change in 20 months. Sarah (My daughter and usual travelling companion) got permanency as a teacher at Forrest Primary School so she couldn't come. Celia (my niece - daughter of Caroline and Tim) was getting married the week before in England so we were now travelling to Singapore via England. How exciting.

So Tuesday 21st April I head off to Watford via London.

Arrive 6.45 am Wednesday 22nd April

Sydney and much of NSW was slammed by massive storms - now calling it a Catagory 2 - and the place was a mess. Half of Sydney was underwater. So I was expecting airport chaos.

The flight to London was fine - apart from the obvious. 25 hrs in a seat! I did take my beach ball to put under my feet for elevation and as a soft surface to do leg exercises on. This beach ball was special. It had a Flamingo in it. Many of my neighbours declared that they will be buying beach balls in future.

The London part.

UK immigrations was so good. fast and friendly.

I managed to find the bus and had a lovely one hour ride to Watford. The bus went around 'the big circle' that surrounds London - but wiggled around to many small suburbs. It was fantastic. Like a tourist ride. Past suburbs with rows and rows of identical houses. Many looked like many 40's to 60's building. Then acres of farmland, massive estates, walled gardens, huge private schools and more. It was great.

I arrive at my hotel, plugged a few things in to charge and got ready for my London Adventure. I did think about having a shower – but know that if I did I would trip over and fall into my bed – and then the jet lag thing would get me.

Watford is about a 45 minute train ride north of London. I navigated the overland train and the Tube without Sarah. Genius!

I went for a long walk – about 3 ks longer than it should have been as I kept going in the opposite direction! But it was worth it. And I did see a Bobby – with a Bobby’s helmet!!!! And heaps of other lovely things.

It was lovely. The Queen's Garden was very pretty. London is the Spring is stunning.

The weather was perfect. Just a tiny bit too cold for short sleeves so your arms where a bit tingly. Perfect.

I went to Regents Park. I did jump on a bus – A double decker bus – for about 4 stops as I was now so far from Regents Park.

I followed your great thread when you sailed from Vancouver to Sydney. Look forward to this one too.

Have a great time..:)

Pam

Raina,

Wow, this looks to be an amazing journey. Good for you. I am looking forward to another amazing report. We board Jewel on the 16th to head up the west coast so this will keep me excited till then. :)

Thursday 23rd Aril – Watford

Yayyy. Harry Potter day. I had spent the last month or two re-reading all seven Harry Potter books then re-watching all eight Movies. Now it was time for Harry Potter Studios. This is the actual studios, the same stages, green screens etc that were used for making the movies, as well as a massive collection of props etc . It was better value for Warner Brother to completely build a new studio for future project and to turn this one into an attraction/museum. I had so much fun. I cannot think of enough superlatives to say how good this place was. I sat on the motorbike and in the car, I rode a broomstick, I drank Butter Beer ………

If you are going to London and like Harry Potter - it is a n easy 45 minute train trip each way. And a 2 (return) pound shuttle bus from the station. So worth it1

It was then a train to Milton Keyes for dinner with T & C and the new inlaws at their house. We went for a tourist drive and saw among other things “Bletchley Park”. THE place where the code breakers cracked the Enigma Code. The actual building that they lived and worked in. Funny as I had just watched the movie on the plane. We also saw a big camp of “Travellers” – Pikies / Gypsies. And a paddock full of their most beautiful “Gypsy Vanner horses”. Stunning.

Friday 24th April - Bedford.

Had a lovely slow morning then a lovely pub lunch. It made me laugh that the lunch deal was a meal and a beer – BUT was 30p extra if you wanted to upgrade from a beer to a coke!

Afternoon tea was a real “cream tea” with scones cooked fresh when we ordered them, jam, lemon curd and clotted cream. And of course bottomless pots of many different teas. Awesome!

That evening was helping with setting up the wedding.

Saturday 25th April – Wedding Day.

Every one scattered into different direction for different jobs.

I did my own ANZAC day thing. There is a Boar War monument near our hotel, so I was able to go there. That was good but I so missed watching Andy (Dad)march – especially on the 100 anniversary.

The Saturday markets were great. The fruit and veg in this country is super. I bought a tub of strawberries. I’m sure they pump sugar into them. They were amazing – I scoffed the lot! Punnet was 1 pound.

The Wedding was lovely. Mine you we had married them off two weeks earlier in Melbourne!.

Sunday 26th April

Another nice relaxed start to the day, with a bit of luggage sorting and shuffling.

Then a wander around the streets a bit.

During WWII the BBC would broadcast from “somewhere in England”. It was from right here in Bedford from the Spire of the Church.

Small English villagers are wonderful and so worth going to look at one or two.

I then bid farewell to all and headed off to London. C&T are heros. They have let me leave my extremely full suitcase in their hire car while I venture off to The Netherlands and to Brussels. We will meet up again on Thursday at Heathrow for the flight to Singapore.

The train system advertises journeys as being “a Good Service”. Not sure if some are bad or if it means they are on time.

When I purchased my ferry ticket there was an option for a few quid more to get rail tickets for the day in England and the next day in Holland. Total package with a private room was 80 quid. Lucky I decided it was a good investment. My ticket Bedford to London would have been 19 quid and London to Harwich 32 quid.

OK....so now we are getting to the very cruise related part. From now on all the places are places you would/could go on a cruise.

Wow, your itinerary looks amazing! I look forward to reading about your trip. I loved your Vancouver-Hawaii-Sydney vacation. Hope your Dad is doing well. Thanks for doing another trip report.

Think I've sorted the issue of the huge photos. SORRY.

Raina

The Stenna Line Ferry to The Hook of Holland.

The train trip through Essex was very pretty. The soil is so rich and brown and everything is SO green and lush. Saw lots of rabbits and sheep that are so fat and lazy they lie down to eat.

There are dogs everywhere even a dog and a cat booking onto the ferry for their trip to Spain.

My room was great. A solo inside room. Single bunks and a lounge, TV, Air Cond, bathroom. It was great.

It is scary how similar the ferry was to a crusie ship! All the same things. Long halls, art on the stairwells, like a Windjammer - but they expected money of you had food! Rude!

The smoking room was brilliant. they could sit in comfort inside.....and all the smoke went up huge extractors and could not be smelt anywhere else. Brilliant. come on RCCL. Give us smoking rooms so the smell doesn't travel.

Fantastic, what a cool itinerary, look forward to following along.

Thanks Raina!

Really amazing trip and photos. Thanks for taking the time to post. I now plan to take my daughter to Watford next time we get to London.

I have friends doing this trip so following with interest. Great photos.

Hello Riana

Following your latest adventure with interest!

Cheers -Gae

Following along, looking forward to your reports and photos.

Hi Raina!

Met you on Voyager of the seas on the 3 day trip in February earlier this year :)

Enjoying reading you new adventure, have a great time!

Raina,

Following along with you! Bon Voyage! Karen

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Once we had worked out that Sarah was not coming - I started to look at my plans. We had a booking in London for a few nights and then a booking in Singapore for a few night. Both expensive cities. And going to shows etc is not as much fun on your own.

So I looked at ways to fill in 4 nights for better value.

A trip across on the ferry to The Netherlands - look at Windmills and Tulips then down to Brussels and Bruges. Back on the Eurostar.

I've mentioned the ferry above.

I mentioned pets on the ferry. They spend the night in the kennels. One of the TV stations was “Kennel Cam”. Cameras looking at the kennels. In the morning they made an announcement that people could go and collect their pets. I watch the channel to watch all the dogs going mad with excitement. Awesome.

I got off the ferry and headed into Rotterdam via train.

When travelling to Rotterdam on a cruise ship the train station is nearby and its a 15 minute trip into Rotterdam. Only about 5 Euro each way. No need for a ships tour.

This day was “King's Day” and the country goes all out. Huge celebrations in Amsterdam all day, and in the evening. Hundreds, then thousands of people were training up there for the fun. They travelled in big mobs, singling and yelling. Many dressed in orange – shirts, capes, crowns, scarves .....most with a drink in hand. Very funny.

And many houses were flying the national lag as well as the orange sports flag.

I had two big aims with my visit to The Netherlands. The first was to see Tulips. Not garden beds of Tulips - Canberra has a massive annual Tulip thing. I wanted to see acres of blocks of colour like on the travel adds. I didn't need to visit them - just see them.

Netherlands are a bicycle culture. It was amazing the number of bikes.....and the lack of cars. Peak hour was scary - almost 50 cars on the freeway.

They even have high rise bike racks at the train stations.

I had done some research via Tripadvisor (the sister site) and discovered that many Tulips are grown around Harleen. I decided that I was very happy to do a drive by on the train. So I caught the Amsterdam train ......then came back. My train journey took me past all kinds of amazing things.

This is a car park --- at a major train station ----- on a public holiday ---- when tens of thousands of people were travelling to Amsterdam for the festivities.

TULIPS

I wanted to see blocks of colour – and I did. It was amazing. So many colours and hundreds of acres of it. Lots of people out weeding and culling or something and heaps of campervans with tourists out having a look. I hopped off the train at Harleen. I would have loved to go out to the fields but couldn’t find a taxi to take me out there so I had to be happy with a drive by.

And I was happy. I was jumping about on the train like a goose.

This train trip was about 10 Euro and took around 45 minutes each way.

If you ever want to see this it was a very simple – low intensity fun and cheap morning trip.

Beautiful pictures of England. We were on Rhapsody in '98. I will follow along as this is a cruise we would never take but I love your pictures!

Hello all,

Thanks for your lovely comments.

Raina

When I got into Rotterdam I headed of on phase two.

I transferred to another train station, then caught the No. 90 bus to Kinderdjke.

The bus cost 5 Euro each way and took about 45 minutes showing me heaps of the city. It was a nice trip (once I caught the bus from the correct side of the road – going in the correct direction).

Kinderdjik (kinder – dyke) is a UNESCO site and the home to the canal lined with all the historic windmills. And it too was amazing.

So Rotterdam on your own. Super easy and mind blowing!

I was on the first train by around 9 am and off the last train at around 4 pm - and I spent one hour waiting for the wrong bus!)

Then I jumped on a train to Brussels.

Brussels.

OK, so Brussels isn't a cruise port but I'll include it.

I had three nights in Brussels. I stayed close to the "Grand Place" - the old centre. It was great - my hotel was not! Hotel Saint Nicolas. VERY very basic. Tiny bed, one towel, one pitiful excuse for a pillow. Old fashion locks so you had to lock yourself into your room (the ex Firefighter in me is not happy about this!) And the neighbours were mini casino, betting place and a place that did body piercing AND MORE!

But the rest was great.

The Grand Place is pretty amazing.

I just spent the day wandering around looking. I did try to catch the Hop On Hop Off bus – but after about 4 ks of looking I gave up and just kept walking.

I have started to eat my way through the checklist.

Frits (Chips) with mayo. - Check

Belgium waffle with everything - Check

Muscles in Brussels – Check

Macaroons - Check

There are many many chocolate shops – the choice is too great and I haven’t been able to decide what to buy.

There are also shops that just sell Macaroons. Or just biscuits.

Raina - I am enjoying your blog and look forward to sharing experiences with you when we sail the Dubai-Istanbul leg.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Marci