River Cruising Water Cooler

[Canal archive]

Yes rain yesterday pretty heavy but still clear patches for the odd stroll through the last of the heather. There have been a few scattered mentions of smallish floods and some although not all of the rivers are a little higher than normal for this time of year. So for the time being we will bask in the Scottish sunshine, our Kings in his castle and fingers crossed the world gets a bit more straightened out.

[Daisi]

Got a call from our TA yesterday, she had a "gift" for us from Avalon....a cable organiser and luggage tags. I looked at organisers before, and figured not worth it, but this one fits nicely under my camera in our knapsack, and frees up my front pouch. Pretty much ready to go, just have to do some final things, and we will be set.

 

Best news is that Hurricane Lee has decided to take it's time, and not hit the East Coast until after we leave! Happy Dance!!!!!

[notamermaid]

56 minutes ago, Daisi said:

Best news is that Hurricane Lee has decided to take it's time, and not hit the East Coast until after we leave! Happy Dance!!!!!

Great!

 

Thunderstorms here. Torch ready just in case.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It was pretty heavy last night for our standards but the worst just about evaded us this time. Electricity stayed. All fine as far as I can tell this morning. Last Spring it hit Andernach and Neuwied, Worms was hard hit by hail this time.

https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/mainz/unwetter-worms-schaeden-ernteausfaelle-winzer-schule-klinikum-rheinhessen-100.html

They expect heavy loss of wine (grapes).

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

We were late this year with our school holidays in Rhineland-Palatinate so the children have not been back for long. Summer holidays not long ago and it is still summery around here. Lady at the local bakers said last week that she was not keen on putting up the autumn display yet, kind of too warm. Shock, horror, my local supermarket has already moved on to gingerbread!! Walked past the biscuits aisle yesterday and there it was. Spekulatius and Lebkuchen. Ha, I will refuse - again - to buy any before 1 November!

 

Back to the topic of my trip to the Lahn. Eerily weird, I talked to my travel companions about taking the train through the Lahn valley some time, as it is so interesting with the landscape, all the bridges and tunnels. Two days later, the place gets torrential rain and hail, with railway traffic interrupted for hours...

 

If you are interested, have a look on Google images for Kloster Arnstein, Nassau Lahn (you need the river otherwise you get Nassau on the Bahamas) or Balduinstein. That gives you some impressions of the valley. I will get to my photos of Oranienstein shortly.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

[Shouting down the hallway] "Anybody here?"

 

A bit deserted at the water cooler lately. We can play, the cat is away, folks! [mischievous grin] Host Jazzbeau is on holiday.

 

@Host Jazzbeau Have a great river cruise.

 

It is cooler during the nights now and I think we will get some autumn mists soon. I am a bit too busy for going places like festivals, etc.

 

Tourism has really picked up compared to last year (also in the official statistics) and I meet a few more people from overseas again, i.e. another plus compared to last year. Talked to a couple from the US during my previous shift at work.

 

Just stopping by here really to say hello. I am off to try and get some delicious fruit for pudding.

 

notamermaid

 

[Coral]

I am packing and leave next weekend for Whistler, Canada. I didn't want a long flight to Europe this fall. Hoping weather cooperates and I have a relaxing trip. Hoping to experience fall foliage.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

We can play, the cat is away, folks! [mischievous grin] Host Jazzbeau is on holiday.

Thanks to a good internet connection onboard and T-Mobile cell roaming on land and sea ... the cat's away but not unaware!  😸  But I know the gentle folks on this forum will not abuse my absence.

[Ritabob]

I'm  here notamermaid, just lurking in the background eagerly reading trip reports.

It is the first day of autumn and the last day of harvesting anything from our little garden.

Our next cruise is not until the 19th of December  so all cruise reviews are what keeps me going until then.

RB 

[jpalbny]

24 minutes ago, Ritabob said:

It is the first day of autumn and the last day of harvesting anything from our little garden.

Our next cruise is not until the 19th of December  so all cruise reviews are what keeps me going until then.

 

We leave for Botswana in 6 weeks and definitely wish it was sooner. Work is killing us and I second your notion that all of the great cruise reviews are a lifesaver, even though they also make me envious of those off having a good time! We have 3 or 4 going at once over on the Silversea boards and it's nice to follow along vicariously.

 

I still have some unripe tomatoes in the garden which can stay out a few weeks longer if it doesn't get too much colder. They probably won't ripen too much more on the vine but I can bring them in at some point and leave them in the sunroom to finish up. One year I didn't have to bring them in until mid-December and we had fresh tomatoes until New Year's!

 

43 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Thanks to a good internet connection onboard and T-Mobile cell roaming on land and sea ... the cat's away but not unaware!

 

T-Mobile FTW! I hope you are taking advantage of their discounted plan for people of my age and older. Best bargain ever and the best part of turning that age so far!

 

Looking forward to your blog when you finish it. Enjoy the cruise!

 

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

It is cooler during the nights now and I think we will get some autumn mists soon.

 

Summer was here in full force until about 2 weeks ago and then left very suddenly. Cool mornings, clouds and mist, and sunny days with warm sunshine but it doesn't last and there is very much a chill in the air letting us know that autumn has arrived.

 

No danger of frost that I can see in the near future though so I'm hoping that my orange and lemon trees can stay outside a bit longer. I have a couple of blood oranges starting to ripen and I'm hoping that the cool nights will trigger the red compound to form so that they get the proper "blood" coloration. Last year's harvest never got that color because I had to bring them inside too soon.

[Kristelle]

I'm still here, back home now, toasted sandwiches for tea last night , make yourself and do your own dishes, what a come down after being spoilt on cruise 🤣

Back to work tomorrow.

[ural guy]

Welp, no dog in sidecar pictures then, thanks T-Mobile.

 

Spouse and I are heading to Colorado/Utah in a week, we fly into Denver and the next morning board Amtrak and head over the Rocky Mountains to Grand Junction.  We took this train a few years back, it's gorgeous.  You take a different route over the mountains then the highway as I-70 path is too steep.  Jaw dropping views.  This is a 9 night trip.

 

For whatever weird travel reasons, I was looking at where you can go direct from Denver...and it includes Munich.  So after a quick ticket change, now my wife flies back to Syracuse solo (and direct now with United, nice), and I fly to Munich, and continue to Wroclaw Poland, just the one connection.  I'll spend 4 nights there, 3 nights wandering Silesia region, train to Krakow, 4 nights there and fly home from Krakow, with the typical two connections to get home.

 

Very little planned.  Poland is the last of our canceled covid trips.  Very excited.  I've had good luck on other solo expeditions, so fingers crossed.

[Coral]

1 hour ago, ural guy said:

Welp, no dog in sidecar pictures then, thanks T-Mobile.

 

Spouse and I are heading to Colorado/Utah in a week, we fly into Denver and the next morning board Amtrak and head over the Rocky Mountains to Grand Junction.  We took this train a few years back, it's gorgeous.  You take a different route over the mountains then the highway as I-70 path is too steep.  Jaw dropping views.  This is a 9 night trip.

 

For whatever weird travel reasons, I was looking at where you can go direct from Denver...and it includes Munich.  So after a quick ticket change, now my wife flies back to Syracuse solo (and direct now with United, nice), and I fly to Munich, and continue to Wroclaw Poland, just the one connection.  I'll spend 4 nights there, 3 nights wandering Silesia region, train to Krakow, 4 nights there and fly home from Krakow, with the typical two connections to get home.

 

Very little planned.  Poland is the last of our canceled covid trips.  Very excited.  I've had good luck on other solo expeditions, so fingers crossed.

Denver is a great airport. I only have a choice of 2 airports to connect through - Denver or Chicago and always choose Denver. There are a lot of international direct flights from Denver.

 

Have a great trip!

[Canal archive]

Ural Guy that Amtrak Rocky Mountains trip sounds interesting before we discovered river cruising train trips were our preferred getaway. Through Europe the States and Africa.

[TheKingD]

I'm here too - mostly enjoying reading where others have been.  And like @jpalbny, work is crazy, and I'm ready for a trip, but not ready to head to Europe just yet.  We have a train trip booked for right after my October 16 deadline at work, and we will start in Utah and head back to Denver on the train and fly home from there.  We are less adventuresome than @ural guy, so we booked a package trip so we can relax and avoid taking care of our own logistics.  We can fly direct from Charlotte and back again, and hopefully we will avoid any flight drama.  I hope I will have at least one more River Cruise in the future, but this suits us better for the time being.

[Coral]

17 minutes ago, TheKingD said:

I'm here too - mostly enjoying reading where others have been.  And like @jpalbny, work is crazy, and I'm ready for a trip, but not ready to head to Europe just yet.  We have a train trip booked for right after my October 16 deadline at work, and we will start in Utah and head back to Denver on the train and fly home from there.  We are less adventuresome than @ural guy, so we booked a package trip so we can relax and avoid taking care of our own logistics.  We can fly direct from Charlotte and back again, and hopefully we will avoid any flight drama.  I hope I will have at least one more River Cruise in the future, but this suits us better for the time being.

I am eyeing one river cruise for 2025. When itinerary is released, I will need to decide on the $900 deposit as it is non-refundable. It sort of is a dream itinerary but for me planning 2 years in advance is difficult. I finally figured out my Whistler vacation and then added on a Vancouver to LAX repo cruise during Labor Day. I only added the cruise portion because it was 1) cheap, 2) hotels in Vancouver were expensive due to their Thanksgiving and 3) air worked better out of LAX due to Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day. So for $800 I was able to add a 7 night repo cruise (Vancouver, Victoria, Astoria, SFO, San Diego and LAX) with only 4 more nights of vacation. 

 

I just don't want to stomach the long flight to Europe right now. COVID is big at schools right now where I am at. I got my vaccine this week so hopefully I am covered. I was looking at a land vacation because of it but when I realized vaccines would be out and flights and hotels would be easier by adding the cruise, I did add it.

[Canal archive]

I’m feeling a little like a pin cushion at the moment recently had a shingles vaccine next week flue and Covid booster, the powers that be are sure to think up another one soon.

[jpalbny]

From our perspective (East Coast, and within 3h of Newark, Kennedy, or Logan), Europe is a quick hop. There are a ton of good, direct flights from those airports. Not much more time than California, and way easier than Hawaii. We've gone to Europe for long weekends before and we'll do so again over Christmas. This year we're taking an extra day - leaving the 21st and coming home the 25th.

 

We'll fly direct from Newark into Paris, rent a car, and then spend a few days in the Loire Valley. I love visiting places in the off season.

 

On the other hand, the flights to Southern Africa are long! Getting there we'll go Albany-Atlanta then the long but direct 15+h flight Atlanta-Johannesberg. We get into Joberg and we'll overnight at the Intercontinental before flying to Botswana the next day. We've done that flight once before and it's a killer. It's such a weird feeling to settle in, eat your meal, sleep for a long time, and wake up only to find out that your flight is barely half complete!

 

We were booked on the reverse itinerary coming home (JNB-ATL-ALB) but a month or so ago, Delta canceled the JNB-ATL leg on the day we were coming home. So I had to really work hard on them to come up with an acceptable alternative routing. Now we're going JNB-CDG-ATL-ALB which is a longer journey overall, but the longest leg is only 11 hours. Oh well, more FF miles to boost our status ahead of the upcoming changes for 2024!

 

Enjoy the train rides through the West - so many beautiful places to see.

Edited September 24, 2023 by jpalbny

[UDChE89]

jpalbany, is South African not operating non-stop from JFK?  That’s how I got down to SA when I did my safari near Kruger.

 

My family’s up by you but you’ll appreciate what my brother and his family went through to get to Seoul.  They decided to fly out of PHL because it was significantly cheaper than ALB and I could take them down to the airport.  Their route was PHL-YYZ-ICN but after 14 hours they had only made it to BOS as the PHL-YYZ was delayed enough that they missed their connection and BOS was the only place they could rebook them to for a flight to ICN.  So, they wound up flying PHL-YYZ-BOS-ICN-YVR-YYZ-PHL.

 

I have quick access to PHL for short trips to Europe as well.  Love spending a long weekend in some of my favorite places.

[Coral]

5 hours ago, jpalbny said:

From our perspective (East Coast, and within 3h of Newark, Kennedy, or Logan), Europe is a quick hop. There are a ton of good, direct flights from those airports. Not much more time than California, and way easier than Hawaii. We've gone to Europe for long weekends before and we'll do so again over Christmas. This year we're taking an extra day - leaving the 21st and coming home the 25th.

 

We'll fly direct from Newark into Paris, rent a car, and then spend a few days in the Loire Valley. I love visiting places in the off season

Envious! I agree - you have quick access to Europe! I would do the same if I were you! I am envious of those in CA who can easily go to Hawaii.

[jpalbny]

35 minutes ago, UDChE89 said:

jpalbany, is South African not operating non-stop from JFK?  That’s how I got down to SA when I did my safari near Kruger.

 

They are. We are loyal to SkyTeam as much as able because we've amassed a ton of miles. So we fly with DL,KLM, AF, etc whenever possible. 

 

Chris detests the drive to Kennedy and it's not my favorite either, so the one stop itinerary to JNB from Albany is a very acceptable tradeoff. Plus DL is flying the A350 on the ATL-JNB route and those business class suites are not a bad way to spend 15 hours.

 

But Albany airport definitely has some advantages. We can leave our house in an Uber and be through security in Albany, at the bar ordering a drink, in 20 minutes of less. So if we can get a routing from Albany to our destination with only one change of planes, we do that over a drive to one of the 3 big airports. When the Albany itinerary becomes three legs, or a lot more $$, or we need the direct flight, we suck it up and drive.

[jpalbny]

42 minutes ago, UDChE89 said:

My family’s up by you but you’ll appreciate what my brother and his family went through to get to Seoul.  They decided to fly out of PHL because it was significantly cheaper than ALB and I could take them down to the airport.  Their route was PHL-YYZ-ICN but after 14 hours they had only made it to BOS as the PHL-YYZ was delayed enough that they missed their connection and BOS was the only place they could rebook them to for a flight to ICN.  So, they wound up flying PHL-YYZ-BOS-ICN-YVR-YYZ-PHL.

 

Ouch! That makes my head spin just reading it. From Albany, it's not that much further to Toronto compared to PHL; might have just driven there instead! Korean flies direct from Kennedy though; that's how we got to Indonesia earlier this year.

 

If only there was an ALB-JFK flight like there used to be years ago. Now for NYC, we only have ALB-LGA, which is completely useless for international connections.

[ural guy]

Lots of great vacations planned, safe travels to all.

 

JP-  We've driven to Montreal, Toronto, Newark, JFK and Stewart in Newburgh all to get better connections and prices.  AirTransat out of Canada had some great direct flights at good prices.  It all just depends on how many of us are traveling.  That and our weather.  Two of the daughters were to join wife and I in Brugge.  Trip was late November.  Should be safe flying out of Newark, right?

 

Nope, a snow storm that hit the east coast shut everything down, they lost 2 nights in Brugge.  No idea how they didn't kill each other, that was super stressful for them at 19 and 24, along with Ma and I.   I did sleep in extra room at hotel and wife was spared some snoring.  

 

We can occasionally take advantage of flying out of Watertown NY, with its two flights a day to Philadelphia (American/One world) on a 50 seater.  You sometimes wind up with 5 hr layovers at Philly, or the flight won't line up with a Dublin connection as they take off early and land around 0550.  Even if you could make it, a long first day and I'd be a zombie.  When it works, with the free parking and it being 15 minutes from the house and a points flight, so very sweet.

[Canal archive]

Just heard the news of the floods New Yorkers keep safe and be careful all fingers crossed. ☔️

[Lois R]

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

Just heard the news of the floods New Yorkers keep safe and be careful all fingers crossed. ☔️

Brooklyn got 4 inches of rain in 3 hours!