Live from the Volendam - New England & Canada (May 25 to June 1)

[Rubyfisch]

Travel tip: if you are staying near an Elizabeth Line stop in London, that is the best way to get to the airport. It only runs every half hour to Terminal 5, but it is a pretty smooth experience with new trains that are reasonable comfortable (and air conditioned).

[Rubyfisch]

So I can't complain to much about my work travel. Within reason, I can pick what flights I take and what hotels I stay at. As a result, I'll be platinum on American and have enough Marriott points to buy a Marriott (and maybe enough nights to hit Titanium by the end of the year). I've taken BA for both trips, and I generally like it (as the guy behind me and I said as we were getting on, it's really hard to complain about sitting in Club World when you aren't paying for it). I loved the cabin crew on my flight out - I was brought endless tea and the inflight manager referred to me as "my lovely" in Scottish accent. The cabin crew tonight has been ... Lacking. I never got the drink I asked for with dinner. They never came around after dinner until the really half hearted second service - and no one wants the crappy sandwiches they serve.

[Rubyfisch]

Made it to Boston - apparently the E terminal is not always a nightmare (just usually).

[Rubyfisch]

It's cruise day minus one! I'm in my embarkation port. And dining so much laundry. I just put the first load in, didn't even seen to make a dent in the pile ....

[Rubyfisch]

Now that I have gushed over London and fangirled over my favorite shows, on to my travel fun. 

 

My flight to Boston started with navigating Liverpool Street Station with my suitcase - something I've gotten much better at. At some point last week I happened upon a functioning escalator down from street level, which was an improvement over last time where I carried my suitcase down the stairs. It's a 45 minutes to Terminal 5, and then an elevator ride up to the the check in counters. Checking in on BA always seems to take forever (which is not aided by the flaky app).

[Rubyfisch]

I really like Heathrow, so I walked around a bit and took pictures of cute stuff ..

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

So, almost all BA long haul flights leave from Terminal 5B, so I headed to the B lounge, which according to the boards is way less crowded than the the other ones. I got there around 5:30 and the food options were kind of starting to dwindle. I got a broccoli and blue cheese tart, some beets, and some pakora and inhaled it.

 

 

I then went on a confusing quest to take a shower. I asked three separate people, who all told me talk to someone else, until someone finally just told me to use any of them that had fresh towels. I kind of felt like I was doing something I was supposed to, but the shower (and changing into comfy clothes) was worth it. The shower does have all the charm of a YMCA gym shower, but there was plenty of hot water and it seemed clean. I don't understand why BA springs for Elemis products, and yet doesn't provide conditioner (just soap and body wash).  Also, would it kill them to have more hooks or a shelf ....

 

 

After that, I was still hungry and it was a while until my flight, so I got what might be my favorite British comfort food that I don't think gets discussed enough in the US - jacket potatoes with beans and cheese.

 

[Rubyfisch]

My flight was at 8:10. Around 6:45, I noticed that Boston wasn't on the board at all, even though much later flights were. I checked Flightaware, and it had me leaving out of A10. I went to check with the staff, as you take a train from A to B, but you have to walk back, and I had no idea how long they would take. The attendant assured me that we would not be leaving out of A, and to check back at 7:10. In an unsurprising turn of events, we were, in fact, leaving from A, so I and a couple of passengers wandered back through the tunnel. The walk is really not a big deal ... It's maybe 10 minutes.

 

Once we got our gate, it turned out we were bussing to our plane. I was highly amused that the bus listed Boston as the destination - like it was taking us there:

 

 

And then up the stairs to the plane:

 

 

 

 

And a preflight drink:

 

[Rubyfisch]

The food was pretty good, although the temperatures were kind of off - the soup could have been warmer, the pasta had definitely been heated too long.

 

Red pepper soup (really good):

 

 

Mezzaluna (I forgot a picture this time, so this from my last flight):

 

 

Lemon meringue bar (quite tasty, and partially eaten here):

 

 

I did not want one of their terrible hot sandwiches at 2:30 am UK time, but here is the one I got my last flight. Like, a £3 egg and mayo sandwich from M&S would be infinitely better. I was told this was a Ruben - I think that is a vicious slander. Also, why is it served with more bread ....:

 

[Rubyfisch]

The perpetual sunset of flying west - these are taken over the course of four hours:

 

 

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Okay - I think we are caught up - well, here, my laundry is not caught up at .... On to more New England/Canada content.

[Damito]

See you onboard tomorrow! Glad you made it over to Boston! 

[Rubyfisch]

So, in terms of what we are doing in any of the ports, we don't really have plans. I've booked no excursions. I've done very literal research. We are just going to wing it ....

 

To be fair, we went to all of these ports last year, and we are going back again at the end of August (on Zuiderdam) where we have a boatload of onboard credit and Have it All with its shore excursion credit

[Rubyfisch]

It's a beautiful, if warm, day here in Boston today. I still haven't packed. I still have more laundry to do. But I decided to get outside for a bit.

 

This is home for me, in Cambridge, in the conservation land behind our apartment complex:

 

 

[Ellencruise]

I’m doing this cruise in June. Can’t wait to read your posts

[Rubyfisch]

We are more or less packed ... So progress...

[DeeniEncinitas]

1 hour ago, Rubyfisch said:

We are more or less packed ... So progress...

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

Aloha Rubyfisch again! LOL

Have such a wonderful time just kicking back and relaxing on your cruise!

🌺Mahalo,

Denise🙂

[Rubyfisch]

It's embarkation morning! I was up a little after 6:00 (stupid time change) and am too excited to sleep ... I finished the book I was reading. I suppose I should actually zip the suitcases and put the luggage tags on. Far too early to leave (and my partner is sensibly asleep).

[puppycanducruise]

Love your report so far.  Thanks for all the tips on London, we've been twice but I want to go again.

Looking forward to reading all about your cruise.  Thanks for taking us along.

[Rubyfisch]

13 minutes ago, puppycanducruise said:

Love your report so far.  Thanks for all the tips on London, we've been twice but I want to go again.

Looking forward to reading all about your cruise.  Thanks for taking us along.

I've now been four times - twice on vacation in 2017 and 2018, and twice for work in the past six weeks. I would go back in a heartbeat. Although, I think I prefer it in the office season. I've done in December, when it isn't crowded and there are Christmas markets and decorations everywhere.

[Rubyfisch]

She's waiting for us:

 

[Rubyfisch]

Query - when is the appropriate time to run into the bedroom like a child on Christmas morning and wake my partner up by saying "it's cruise time!!!"? We've got to be getting close .... Right?

[BaileyMJ]

Thanks for taking us along - its like a 2fer London and a cruise!

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

Well ... For inexplicable reasons, our fire alarm just went off, so we are wide awake.

 

It's funny, I used to live in a building you could see the cruiseport from in Boston that had a faulty building fire alarm and a Jimmy John's with temperamental ovens. So the alarm went of a lot. Like on a weekly basis. And would go off for a long time. I was going on a Royal cruise out of Boston, and the morning of the cruise, as I was doing the final kitchen cleaning, the stupid alarm went off. I went outside and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, I went back in, put in ear plugs, finished up, and went to the ship. I kid you not, you could here the alarm on the outside decks of the ship....

[Rubyfisch]

24 minutes ago, BaileyMJ said:

Thanks for taking us along - its like a 2fer London and a cruise!

 

 

I hoped people would enjoy my London ramblings - I had a long time alone to think thoughts about them.