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iancal

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Everything posted by iancal

  1. Take the last or second last train back to Rome! If we are going to the museums we always reserve ahead of time. Even if we are there for several days. It can save lining up for an hour or two.
  2. About the only thing that we cannot buy, an then depending where we are in places like Thailand or Vietnam, is high Spf sunscreen. So we pack a 100ml tube with us. In our many years of travel I cannot think of anything important that we forgot or could not obtain. Only once did we ever need something like duct tape. Handle on a suitcase came apart. Even then, the Alitalia check in rep reached down and wound some tape around the handle for us. Last time it was a pair of readers in Santiago. First store we walked into had exactly what I required.
  3. In the past few years I have lost three former colleagues. All were in a position to retire. Two were in their very early sixties. The third waited until 65 to retire, then dropped dead. He was in the process of planning a family cruse with children and grandchildren. He never got around to it. I did not want to be one of those people. Retired early and changed our lifestyles-weight, exercise, and what we ate.
  4. We were the same. When we came back from a trip we noticed home many things we never used, used one or twice but did not really need, etc. That started us down the path. We still do this even with carry on. The other thing we realized that it is far better to buy light, easy care travel friendly fabric clothing that has multiple uses or can be layered. We have a physical limit as to how much we can each carry. This limit and the the type of travel and the places we sometimes go served to limit what we can take. In many situations there is no one to help us with our bag.
  5. We have travelled by train in Italy numerous times over the year. You can rely on the scheds. Sure, there are occasional strikes but these are few, far between, an usually well know two day ahead of time. We always make reservations if we are going to the museums. Why not? We really enjoy Florence in the evening as the sun sets. Seems like the city slows down a little. We have had a few meals in Fiesole, a small town overlooking Florence, at sunset. It is a short ride on the public bus or by taxi. Like many places...stay long enough to enjoy the city after the day trippers have left. We find it to be a different environment after that.
  6. As above. Ferry OR Circumvesuviana railway. Rail is much for frequent than ferry. IF you go with rail....be very aware of your surroundings. Lots of pickpockets on this line. Also, be careful to get on the right right train since there are (or were) two routes. The train also stops at Pompei site.
  7. Our longest was 21 days. We were glad to get off the ship in Perth. Great cruise. We got tired of the food, tired of our balcony cabin. It felt almost antiseptic after a while. Like living in a small Marriott hotel room. This is not to say it was not a very nice cruise because it was all good. More of a reflection of our tastes and preferences than the cruise line or the ship. I believe that for us the magic number is probably 14 days. Friends invited us along on a 3 month trip. So glad we decided against it.
  8. We started out cruising by packing everything imaginable. What a mistake! Gradually, over 20 plus cruises we have been reducing what we take. The big hit was when DW decided years ago that formal nights were hardly worth the bother. That got rid of the suit bag and dress clothing. Slowly we switched from lets take this just in case we cannot buy it to lets not other because we can buy anything that we really need. Now we have gone the other way. After years of international travel early retirement saw us switching to carry on only for most trips. We have been doing it for the past 11 years. It works for us. We meet more and more people in our travels who are traveling the same way.
  9. Is it actually lobster and is it really worth paying for?
  10. We never buy cancellation insurance. A few years ago we had to cancel a China trip because of a health issue. We were only into it for $900. each. I thought that we would have to eat the $1800. Not really a big issue. Then I remembered that our MC World Elite card came with some cancel insurnace. Filled out the forms, attached the specialist's letter, and sent it in. Within three weeks the insurer sent us a full refund. No follow up questions....just the cheque. That alone paid for many years of the annual $150. fee. We exited the CIBC and TD Infinite Aeroplan cards. The Aeroplan rewards were getting poor and the admin fees, other than on United, were high.
  11. Exactly. We have never had anything stolen in years of travel w/no locks. Our carry ons both look like new despite 11 years of very frequent international travel. Air, sea, trains, buses, rental car, ferry travel. Why? Because they are always with us as per the above. Any luggage lock that I have seen has been somewhat useless. A bobby pin or master key could open most of them.. If someone wants in they will get in one way or another with no problem....or steal the whole case. One issue to be aware of is the permitted carry on size on NA airlines is different, in our experience, from some international airlines. In terms of size and weight. Many are slightly smaller and limited to 8-10KG. So, if you are flying on those airlines the last thing you want is a heavy carry on built like Fort Knox.
  12. Not a fan of TA's. Too many sea days for us. We would not even consider a domestic embarkation for a Europe, SA, or Asia cruise. Last time we were in Europe we picked up a last minute 8 day cruise from Rome to BCN. We had the option of booking the second segment, a TA to FLL, or cruise air home from BCN. We happily selected the latter. Many of those on the 8 day segment were signed up for the TA.
  13. Our experience is that service is sometimes inconsistent across all lines. We do not see any appreciable difference between the level of service or friendliness between HAL, Celebrity, or Princess. All the same to us. Perhaps we are missing something. This could be because we are not married to any one cruise line. We have had first rate service on all three with rare exceptions.
  14. We find it inconsistent across all the mass market lines. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. We do not short list and/or select based on production shows. We take an aisle seat. If we are not happy after 15 minutes we exit the theatre. More often than not we exit. We can always go to a high school or college production at home if we are desperate.
  15. We started stopping in HNL for two or three days on our way back from Sydney. It helps to a certain extent. Flying home from Bangkok is a killer for us. Perhaps because we have typically been there for 2 months. It seems to have become worse over the past few trips. Perhaps it is age or because it is much faster coming home. 18/19 hours vs 23/24.
  16. We do the same. Typically arrive at a Europe destination in the late morning or noon. When we go to Thailand we arrive about midnight. Straight to bed, sleep in a little, good breakfast, and we are off the races as it were. Our challenge is when we come home. Either from Europe or from SE/Asia or Australia. Seems to take us a few days to adjust. Not certain why this is.
  17. We will sometimes pick up a last minute 7 day cruise when we are in the middle or end of a land trip. Makes for a pleasant change. The last one was an 8 day late Oct Rome -BCN that came with great one way air home. If we were planning in advance, we prefer 14 -21 days. Any longer we are ready to jump ship.
  18. Makes no difference to us. The only number we care about is the bottom number. When we compare our shortlisted ships/itineraries we base price on that bottom line fare. All in ...... inclusive of gratuities, surcharges, or anything else that we have to pay. Given a choice we do not really want fuel surcharges or pay increased fees for onboard services. It is a mute point for us because we do not control pricing. We either pay the freight, choose a different cruise line, do something else, or stay home. We see far larger price differences based on the on board currency. A few years ago we got off a Princess ship in Sydney that used AUD for on board and two weeks later were back in Sydney boarding an RCI ship that used USD as the onboard currency. The difference, in real terms, for bar services and other services ranged from 30 to 50 percent higher on RCI.
  19. We travel with carry on only. Have done for the past 11 years. Cruise and land travel-often for two months at a time. We travel with easy care fabrics to facilitate this. Just about every cruise line we have been on has some sort of bag policy where you can fill the bag up for a set amount. Very reasonable. From time to time we might rinse an item out in the cabin sink but this is very seldom. We find the price of laundry to be well worth the convenience of doing carry on only. We have been on one or two ships that did have self serve laundry but we never bothered with it. Easier to fill their brown bag and pay the freight. Princess for certain on at least one of their ships but definitely not all as I recall.. As above, never on Celebrity. If you have a specific ship in mind you could always go to the cruise line web site and look at the specific ship plan....it might be listed.
  20. We have 'travel jewelry'. Nothing of value travels with us. Right down to my plastic Casio waterproof watch that I bought for $12 years ago. It has been on countless trips. If someone wants to steal it they are welcome to it. DW is the same with jewelry. Nor do not keep any banking info on our ipads. At most, our passport numbers. Now....of course our covid certificates. We use cabin and hotel safes when our ipads remain in the room.
  21. We typically price cruises with our US on line TA. Since we typically purchase within the final payment window can compare prices without consideration of any currency fluctuations. Two weeks ago we purchased air in GBP. The transaction came across on our Home Trust visa correct to the third decimal point. No surcharges. We are spending June doing independent travel in Portugal. No fee FX makes a difference.
  22. Our experience with several good TA's over the years is similar. We would expect an acknowledgement of our email. Usually within one day, most often within 1-4 hours. Less is there is some urgency. Usually the acknowledgement would include either I will work on this and confirm when done or have a follow up question or comment. Keep in mind that covid has changed things. Not only at the TA level but also with cruise lines. Lots of people are off work, short staffed, or simply swamped. There may be a very good reason for the delay that you are not aware of.
  23. You only need to buy a ticket CIv to Venice St. Lucia. You will get a combo ticket with a change at Termini. You can get a good look at the current schedules and various train options by going to the trenitalia site https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html I do not think that the schedule will go as far out as Sept but you can at least take a look at the current listed schedule. We would not consider a bus or limo to termini. Take the train all the way.
  24. Frantically looking??? Just a quick search on our ipad. Strange country or otherwise. https://travel.gc.ca/assistance/embassies-consulates This site also lists the consulates of other counties that can service Canadians. As an example, in Phuket, Thailand Canadians can use the Australian Consulate for emergency assistance.
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