PLANNING AND PACKING FOR A MONTH!

At Home

Erie, Pennsylvania
Saturday, October 29, 2022

60F

Dear Readers,

Believe it or not, this is my 402nd post on "Exploring The World!"  I started the blog in 2008, thanks to the advice of Julie B, librarian at Erie East HS.

Today I thought you would like to know more about our planning and packing process. As you have already read, this trip has been sort of booked since 2020. TK has become an expert at finding good deals, good staterooms, and the right ports (Janie needs to go to Aix en Provence, France, as often as possible!)  This cruise is called the "26 Day Western Mediterranean Grand Adventure and Transatlantic, November 6-December 2, 2022" and we have at least 14 ports to visit.

Most recently TK has been using Best Price Cruises (https://www.bestpricecruises.com/), but his planning goes way beyond booking.  He studies the size, layout, and location of the stateroom. For example, we don't want to have a dining room on the deck above our room (scraping chairs), nor do we want to be by the laundry room (lots of activity). Ideally, our staterooms are not far from the elevators so we can make quick trips to wherever what we want to go.   Most of our cruises in the past several years have been with the Princess cruise line, and balcony staterooms.  

TK also plans the flights, hotels, airport transfers to the hotel, luggage handling, transfer to the ship from the hotel, and so much more.  We are staying at the Hotel Pulitzer in Barcelona again this trip--3rd time there. We like this clean, neat, modern hotel, and it is located half a block from Las Ramblas, Barcelona's most exciting street.

So what does Janie do?   

When I knew what ports and dates, I started planning what we might do in each port. We have been to the Caribbean so many times that we rarely plan a tour there (and you know I will always be shopping in St. Thomas), but the Mediterranean Cruise is very different.  It is imperative to figure out what we will do in each port before we leave. Not all ports  are located in the city we want to visit. For example, the port city for Rome is Civitavecchia, about 45 miles away, an hour's drive. That is not walking distance. Plus, we have to be aware of when the ship arrives in port and then departs -- we often book private tours and we sure do not want to miss the ship. The comedians always say one can take a great photo of the ship as it sails away if stranded!!

To plan what we are going to do in the ports, I use many resources, like the Princess tours offered for each port, Toms Port Guides (https://www.tomsportguides.com/), Viator (https://www.viator.com/), Rome in Limo (https://www.romeinlimo.com/), Trip Advisor, Cruise Critic, word of mouth, and of course, Google.

Each port has a tour envelope filled with tickets, money needed to pay if the tour is not paid for yet

and any correspondence, maps, names of those on our tour, etc. We will be in Livorno twice

and will be traveling to Florence twice (why not?). The Princess tours are in one envelope.

We both have the Verizon Global package with 

Internet, calls, and texts ($100 for each cell phone for the month)

PACKING

I did not start packing until the ports were planned. TK started packing as soon as we returned from our New England cruise.  I have no idea what TK's thought process is when he packs, nor do I know why it takes a month.   He is taking two large suitcases. Admittedly, we will never break records for least amount of items in a backpack like some people on this cruise.

TK's luggage is ready to go. He will also have a carry on.

He broke the man purse barrier years ago--great to carry passports in

Janie tries to pack light--and my list is very precise. If it weren't for pounds of makeup and hair products, I could surely pack lighter. My clothes are color coordinated, black and navy pants, and solid black and blue tops.  I take minimal "formal" wear and one swim suit (TK thinks we will be warm on the Transatlantic part of the cruise--southern route).  I label all of my packing cubes and other bags, too (e.g. day makeup, night creams, day meds, night meds, etc--I like to do that)

Janie's luggage, but I am not finished yet.

I will admit I am taking another smaller piece, 

as well as my carryon. And purse.

This is a lot of information for one post--stay tuned!

PACKING OUR BAGS FOR BARCELONA 2022!

At home
Erie, Pennsylvania

October 23, 2022

Janie and TK are ready to cruise again!!

Hello, Readers! 

TK is back at it, making up for lost time! Since 2020, we have had a Mediterranean Cruise scheduled, but the cruises were cancelled for Covid and then an unexpected medical situation.  So in just 9 days, on November 2, we are leaving Erie to head to Barcelona, Spain--we are blessed!

One of our new cruise friends, "JillieBean," created this calendar on the site, Cruise Critic, at https://boards.cruisecritic.com .  This is as big as I can make it, but it is a nice graphic to show where we are going when we leave Barcelona aboard the Regal Princess.

We will leave Erie (ERI) about 6 a.m. on Wednesday, November 2, and fly to Chicago with a layover of about 8 hours. We will fly from Chicago to Zurich, Switzerland, transfer, and fly on to Barcelona, where we will arrive on Thursday, November 3.

After recovering from the long overnight flight, haha, we will enjoy some of Barcelona's culinary delights--TK is watching YouTube videos on where to eat there.  On Friday, November 4, we have a tour scheduled for La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family) Roman Catholic Church, mostly designed by Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudi. Construction began in 1883 under the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar.  The church is scheduled to be finished in 2026, 144 years later.  This spectacular church has intrigued me since I first saw it in 2012 and this will be our third visit. We already have the tickets for a tour of the basilica and tickets for the elevator to tower at the top of the Nativity facade, which represents the birth and childhood of Jesus Christ.    https://sagradafamilia.org/en/ .  

From the website: "The plan for Sagrada Familia, laid down by Antoni Gaudi, was truly ahead of its time. Gaudi’s original vision for the towers includes 18 spires, to represent the Twelve Apostles, Virgin Mary, the four Evangelists, and Jesus Christ. Of the 18, only 8 spires have been completed so far. These correspond to the four Apostles of the Nativity Façade and the four Apostles of the Passion Façade.

The spires, dedicated to the Evangelists, will be surmounted by sculptures of their traditional symbols while the tallest spire, dedicated to Jesus Christ, will be surmounted by a giant cross and will have a height of 170 meters (560 ft). While the towers are a long way from completion, once completed they will make Sagrada Familia the tallest church building in the world."

We also have a tour scheduled for Saturday, November 5 to visit Montserrat, a multi-peaked mountain range near Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. My nephew Bob and his wife Katie have been telling us to visit Montserrat for years and this is the year.  We will explore the nearly 1000 year old Benedictine Monastery set high up the mountains, and more spots of interest in that area, about 32 miles northwest of Barcelona.  This is a Viator tour. https://www.viator.com/

We have fourteen tours scheduled during our visit to the Mediterranean, Ionian, and Adriatic Seas. Based on our travel experience, it is best to plan ahead with so many ports. I am very disappointed about our tour in Genoa which was cancelled by Princess tours, a trip to Milan to see DaVinci's Last Supper.  There was no explanation and by the time they cancelled it, there were no other tours to Milan available.

This cruise is exciting for us--there are 6 ports that I have never been to and several that TK has not been to--his U.S. Navy "cruise"  the Mediterranean in the late 60s -early 70s took him to Greece and Gibraltar.  I will also make a reurn to my beloved Aix en Provence, the city I lived in for a year, 1967-1968, my 4th return visit!

Anyway, here is the itinerary--soon we will fly away!

 On another note, I am grateful that son Randy suggested that I use the MS Paint program to resize my Canon T7i photos for the blog, instead of lowering the image resolution on my camera. I am going to practice that. Hopefully this will solve some of the problems of uploading photos to the blog. In September it was painful when one photo would take an hour to upload because of the slow ship Internet. Aargh!

I am also grateful that friend Sue M helped me get around MS OneDrive--it is so easy for me to type my blog in MS Word and transfer it to the blog. OneDrive is not my friend!

Stay tuned for an exciting adventure!!!

TK's Takes:  He is too busy packing--anyway that is what he tells me. He has been packing for 3 weeks. I sure wonder what is going on inside his luggage.

______________________________________________

For Inquiring Minds!  La Sagrada Familia--why is it taking so long to complete this fabulous church? 

(Note: I am not sure if the link below will take you to a 2021 article--I hope!)

Basically, in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War, Gaudi's models of his vision for the church were destroyed. Gaudi himself died tragically in 1926, hit by a tram as he walked to his daily confession. He had been working on the church for 43 years.  There was a revolving door of architects and funding problems. Finally, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated it as an official basilica

https://www.euronews.co m/culture/2021/12/05/why-has-barcelona-s-sagrada-familia-taken-over-100-years-to-be-built#:~:text=Construction%20is%20halted%20ever%20further,of%20the%20war%20in%201939 .

This photo was taken in 2013 on our last Mediterranean Cruise. Janie was looking out 

an open window at one of the spires, with Barcelona in the background.

Another photo from 2013--the Tower of the Nativity

La Sagrada Familia

Barcelona, Spain

LAGUARDIA/AMERICAN AIRLINES LOUNGE!

 LAGUARDIA American Airlines Lounge

Brooklyn, New York

October 1, 2022

We found a new luxury, thanks to TK's acumen!  Disembarking the Enchanted Princess was very easy--and customs is amazing--After we retrieved our larger bags, we went to the very short line to "enter the U.S.," I stood in front of  a camera at the security exit and bingo! I was recognized and sent right on through. 

We shared a taxi with two couples from Mississippi and after a short ride through Brooklyn we arrived at Laguardia.  For me it was smooth going through TSA precheck and security, but TK always gets stopped because of his knee/ankle surgeries. After a Dunkin coffee and a donut we came to the AA lounge--our flight is 5 hours away at this point.  Maybe I can download my photos!

I am sitting at a table in the American Airlines lounge across 

from this bar-laptop plugged in, Wi-fi connected. Right now there is complimentary 

soda, cookies, candy, crackers, 

cheese, fruit,soup, coffee, and more available.

Another view from my table in the American Airlines lounge

After waiting about 7 hours, we boarded our scheduled flight. There were Steelers fans anticipating Sunday's game against the Jets. Steeler Nation is big in NYC!  There was some turbulence, but not enough to worry us and away we flew to Pittsburgh.

Our luggage awaited us, Globe Transportation picked us up, and our car was ready to go. It was raining in Pittsburgh, but soon tapered off and we were in Erie by 9 p.m. The house looked just as we left it. 

It is always great to be home.   Now to finish our port planning for our next cruise, we are off to Europe in November aboard the Regal Princess. Our New England/Canada cruise was a winner!