Rats and Ruins

It's Monday so it must be Malta. Valletta, Malta that is. This is the first stop on our European Cruise. And you'll remember that our attempt was to keep our cost per day down to $50 plus now we had a new goal. With the ship leaving port at 5:30 we needed to find a way to see everything we wanted to see and get back before the ship set sail.

You see, if you take a ship sponsored shore excursion and their bus or car gets held up, then the boat will wait for you. If you take a trip on your own and get delayed, you are on your own to get to the next port of call. This being our first stop, we didn't want to take any chances. Plus Jane's Perspective was to enjoy what we could see in the time allotted and not worry about what we didn't see.

Prior to leaving for the cruise I googled Valletta and I found that this was where Paul was shipwrecked during his missionary journeys, that the Maltese Cross found it's start here with the Knights of St. John, the movie Midnight Express was filmed here, and that it's a great place for Europeans to come see a doctor if they have government health plans and can't get in to see one quick enough. The ship gave us more historical info and a map of island with a walking map of the city of Valletta. So I'm set.

Leaving the boat before our traveling companions were finished with breakfast so we would have plenty of time, we began by walking the shoreline. The day was gorgeous and Ed, an avid fisherman, stopped to talk to a local fisherman. I painted the scene from a photo I took. This is a small palette knife piece which isn't my usual style but I thought it really depicted the colors well. Ed asked the fisherman what he was fishing for. His delightful answer was "nothing today".

So off we went fascinated by just walking the same roads and seeing the same old ruins that were once walked by men of ancient times. This picture shows the buildings built right up to the shoreline and another lone fisherman. That whole attitude of taking things at a slower pace came over us and we continued our stroll with no particular destination in mind.

What we stumbled upon quite by accident was the site where the filming of the old movie Midnight Express was made. I got Ed's picture standing nearby the site but when I gave him the camera to take my picture up closer to the gates we heard gunfire. Backing away, we saw the sign that showed this to now be a police training grounds. Not knowing what the rules were for treading near a target practise field, we headed into town.

Walking the streets of Valletta was the first experience that we had with the wonderfully charming tight streets of Europe. And I know this sounds trite but everything was sooooo old. I felt like I was walking through a museum only I could touch everything and people were setting up shops and living in buildings that had exsisted as far back as the 14th or 15th century.

And then here's something you don't see everyday. RATS! Yes, we saw rats scurrying around the city. BIG RATS. I had time to whip out my camera to catch them running across the stones and got this blurry image. I don't know if you can see them, but honest, they are there.

And just to prove to you that yes, I did see rats, the next picture is something else you probably don't see everyday AND it shows that there must be a method behind this madness. These are CAT HOUSES. Yep, we saw them set up, on purpose, with food and water and shelter available to, I guess, make the cats happy who would then make the rats unhappy which would then make the people happy. Go figure.

Disco?!?

After tea on the first day at sea I went to a lecture about Shipwrecks. With the lights down low and a little bit of jet lag I almost fell asleep. It was interesting to me, though, to note that this person's job is to lecture one or two times a day and in return they get paid and get to take the cruise for free. Hmmmmm. So Jane's Perspective starts kicking in and I'm trying to figure out what I can lecture on that would pay me to travel?

Back in the room after the lecture Ed and I decided to open the bottle of wine that was in our room delivered to us by our travel agent. As soon as we got our first drink, one of our fellow travelers called to say that the Captain's Greeting was happening in the lounge with free drinks so off we went.

Supper followed in the Grand Ballroom. This was the night we each had TWO lobster dinners (check previous posts).

Later that evening was the "Senior Prom". Now let me explain here that this particular cruise was not designed to be kid friendly. Matter of fact, my husband and I and our traveling party, aged well into our 50's, were for the most part, some of the younger passengers. We knew this on the front end and relished the idea of no rock climbing walls, babysitting areas, animated characters, and excessive kids in the pool. We enjoyed the fact that the shore excursions were all designed with older guests in mind. For example if the scale was high on the strenuous scale for an excusion it was probably something we could well handle. If the scale was low on the strenuous scale for an excusion you could just about expect a wheelchair to roll you into the bus and roll you back into the boat.

So when we dropped in on the senior prom, songs like "Smoke on the Water" which was played at my graduation was replaced by "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". "Up the Lazy River" was played instead of "Stairway to Heaven" (Get the picture). And when they started the Disco ball, we were out of there. Kind of fun to watch for a while but then it got a little old (literally).

Back in the room, did I tell you that sleeping in a cruise ship is soooo comfy. Clean white sheets with a mint on your pillow each night and the gentle rocking of the ship along with the slight hum of the engines and you are in dreamland before you know it.

Tea at Sea

The first day of our cruise was a full day at sea. We slept til almost 10:00 and went to the Grand Dining room to order breakfast. We had the hang of things now and ordered a full seven course meal including steaks and a banana split for dessert. Oh, now I'm cocky. Only the ship didn't agree with my cockiness and I became sea sick before the second course. One of our companions gave me a sea sick patch of hers and I went back to the cabin and slept til 1:30. Missed the art auction but Ed and I got a chance to go to our first High Tea.

Every day at 4:00 a huge cart is rolled through a fabulous room surrounded by glass at the front (sorry I don't know my nautical directions) of the ship. This cart is filled with pastries and little sandwiches and goodies to enjoy with your selection of teas. Hot water is served in china tea pots per each guest and bananas foster or some decadant dessert is also available flaming hot (literally). Here's a picture of the cart. All of the tiers were filled with goodies.
And if you think that a "high tea" is just for the ladies think again. My "huntin' and fishin' meat and pototoes" kind of husband went to his first high tea and decided to come back every day for more. Once we got home he said that the high tea was something he really kind of missed. So as a "Jane's Perspective" kind of thing, I began to shop for tasty flavored teas at home after the cruise. We especially liked Earl Grey. Now when life gets too rushed at home, we stop about 3:30 or 4:00 and have a "spot of tea" and a light snack.

I know he doesn't look too happy in this picture but that's just him. Honestly , he was the one who made sure that we got back to the boat by 4:00 whenever we could to have a moment to sit down to tea.

Things were definately beginning to look up after a bout with seasickness combined with a little jet lag that morning.

Food and Friends

Once on board I searched the ship for our traveling companions. I couldn't find anyone and the ship wasn't that big so I feared something had gone wrong. As I returned to my cabin I got a phone call and found that all was well. Everyone was aboard and meeting for supper in the Grand Dining Room (one of three dining rooms on the ship). Here's a picture of Ed and I at our first meal on board. Check out all the beautiful china and glassware. Our first meal was pretty spectacular. We were treated royally with everything from the waiters placing the napkins in our laps to a server sweeping crumbs off our table between each course.

My husband and I learned quickly from this first meal that since all food is included in the cruise you need to order up and eat up. At this first meal we eyed the fancy book-like menu and ordered what we considered a really nice meal with a salad, steak, potato and a desert. We noticed that the menu was broken down into about 7 or 8 categories including but not exclusive to entrees, appetizers, main courses, side orders, veggies, soups, and desserts. Our traveling companions who were more cruise "savy" than us ordered from each category. As one course was brought out, Ed and I had nothing, as another course was brought out Ed and I had nothing. It wasn't until the 3rd, 5th and 7th or 8th course that we got food.

Oh, so now we get it. Try some of everything and look at it as an opportunity to try foods you might never have eaten before for fear of paying for something at a resteraunt that you didn't like. Thus my experiment with snails and foods I had no idea how to even pronounce.

And the cruise ship was more than obliging. One night as four of us at the table ordered the whole lobster dinner we jokingly said, "I wonder if that will be enough food". The waiter, ever wanting to please with apparently an endless kitchen full of excess food, brought us EACH TWO whole lobster dinners. Ridiculous, I know.

One of the oddest things we found ourselves doing throughout the trip was taking pictures of our food. The display and presentation was so beautiful that we couldn't resist. Here's a tray of assorted cookies that was for one person each - the whole two teerred silver tray. How elegant.

Here's a chocolate coffee flavored dessert in it's own chocolate cup. That's caramel at the bottom and flavored whip creme in the cup.

How about this strawberry delight? Don't you love the little picture make with sweet creams?

And as if that's not enough, if you can't decide on a particular desert you can always get a sampling of all the desserts. I almost forgot to take the picture so this one is half eaten but there's creme-brulee (did I spell that right?) and sorbet and some sort of chocolate volcano cake and a fruit pie and some sort of stacked chocolate covered cookie.

OK, that's all I can do. I'm trying to be on a diet right now and this blog is making me miserable. Gotta go eat a celery stick or something.

Room Sweet Room

Once on board, Ed and I found our room. I had studied the ship online so much from menus to floor plan that I took us directly to it. We were right at the top of the stairs above the casino floor. We didn't have to walk a long hall. We were always right next to the elevators or stairs. Really convenient.

We also had an outside cabin with a huge window - not just a porthole. That was one thing I insisted on having, a room with a window of some sort. I hate to get up in the dark and just the thought of a room with no window was making me claustrophobic.

Where we saved money was to get what they call an "obstructed view" room. What that meant was that outside our window was a lifeboat (actually not a bad idea if you ask me). The 25th anniversary cruise we took had a balcony that was "obstructed view". All we had was a lifeboat that was off to the side of our balcony and the view was just fine. So I booked this cruise as an "obstructed view" and had a lifeboat about 10 feet out from the window, not right up against our window, so we could see just fine. And the walkway around the ship was a floor below us so we never had to close the curtains for privacy's sake.

An ocean view with an obstructed view is about $100 less than an ocean view room so try it sometime and spend the money elsewhere.

AND about two weeks before we left home for the trip, the cruise company called us and asked us if we wanted to upgrade to a room with a balcony for only $100 more. They only offered this to ocean view rooms. This would have been a great room at a great savings but here's where "Jane's Perspective" kicked in.

My "Jane's Perspective" on my room choice was to keep the obstructed view room that we had originally booked. Why? The obstructed view room also had a different configuration from all the other rooms on the ship (leave it to me to want to be different) and it really felt like more space in that room. We never had to slide between the foot of the bed and the wall and our bathroom didn't open into the walkway into the room. We had a lovely full wall closet with the bathroom opening out next to it so that it felt more like a dressing area. We were perfectly happy with what we had.

And I got a chance to visit in a room with the balcony later in the cruise and it did look just as I suspected, sorta like a really narrow hotel room and yes, you had to slide by the beds to get to the balcony and seating area.

Maybe next time we'll get a balcony but I'll wait until they make me an offer I can't refuse.

Once we settled in, I turned on the tv and started reading all the info they give you about the boat. Ed crashed from jet lag. "See, I told you you should have slept on the plane."

Touch Down in Athens

After about 14 hours in the air, we finally touched down in Athens. The original plan had been to fly in early and see the sights before our cruise ship left. From what I saw of Athens and the fact that the other members of our group who did fly in early, were robbed in the hotel where we would have stayed convinced me that at least on this trip the extra money was not wasted.

The nicest part about Athens was the even though there were 4 people who arrived on the same plane heading for the same cruise ship, there was a mercedes waiting for each couple rather than a crowded bus or van to take us to the cruise ship. AH, now I'm feeling like a rich European cruiser. The picture above shows my first view of Athens. This is the parking lot at the front door of the airport that was lined up with the most motocycles I think I have ever seen in one place at one time. This photo was taken of one direction, the other direction was just as full of motorcycles.

Once we loaded into the Mercedes, we were off to a running start through the streets of Greece. Though the speedometer was in kilometers I know we had to have been traveling close to the speed of light weaving through traffic all the while. AND I found just as many motocycles on the road doing the same thing. Here's a picture from the back of the car.

Whenver I did get a chance to look up and around, and I know this isn't being fair to Athens, but all I saw was brown buildings and dirt. I just asked my husband what his impression of Athens was and he answered with one word, "dirty". He was impressed, however with all the solar powered water heaters on almost every building. As we neared the downtown part of the city, things not only got dirtier but they got trashier too. It looked like homeless people were everywhere (no wonder my fellow travelers got robbed).

The redeeming view was as we rounded a downtown corner and saw our first glimpse of our cruise liner, our home for the next 10 days. Home Sweet Home away from Home.

Shake down in Germany

This is a picture of my husband, Ed, right before my "shake down" in Germany.

Our flight landed in Munich and we got our first taste of a foreign country. Having some time to waste we made sure we knew where to go to catch our next flight and then headed for a coke and candy bar. Simple, right? Only the only things we could find were "heavy" foods like German sausages and heavy dinner items. It was early in the morning but it seemed everyone was getting major meals plus lots of beer. And cokes were hard to find. We settled for an expensive Toblerone candy bar (no snickers or m and m's anywhere) with a bottled water. AND we used our first Euros. Correctly, I might add.

I think I mentioned that we exchanged some Euros about a week before we left. That was a good idea but there are change machines everywhere in the airports and ATM machines available to get more Euros so it wouldn't have been a major faux paux to have none with us.

Anyway, once time neared for our flight to leave we proceeded through our checkpoint. This is where my husband breezed through the German officials, we slid our backpack and my purse through the x-ray machine, took off our shoes and belts and emptied our pockets and proceeded through the personal screening (no walk through machines but those wands that they run up and down your body. )

I told you that we were going to go on this cruise with some other couples and eveyone but one couple had gone on to Athens a couple of days ahead of us. We were keeping up with our fellow travelers when we could but their seats were no where near ours in the planes and where they opted to eat a full breakfast in Germany we were looking for the candy and cokes. But it was really nice to have a familiar face when you headed to the planes to reassure yourself that you were either at the right place or you if lost you would be lost with someone else you knew. (Jane's Perpective -" it's better to be lost together than lost alone")

I explain this to tell you how easily everyone drifted through the checkpoint. Gathering together on the other side, no one seemed to notice that I was pulling up the rear and for some reason was getting a really thorough "going over" by this huge German woman in uniform with the "wand". Everyone else was talking and laughing together anticipating their next move while for some reason this German woman thought this middle aged starving artist looked suspicious or something for she grabbed my arm, ran the wand roughly over my body especially around my breasts actually pushing the wand into my body (I thought those things worked by waving them close to your body, not actually touching). I was basically getting "shaken down" while no one in my party seemed to notice. I looked toward my husband and let out a little "Edward" (which is what I call him when I really need his attention) but he didn't look my way. One of our other traveling companions did, however and grabbed Ed to get his attention. For a split second I could see myself trying to explain who knows what I had on my body (the underwire in my bra?). Seeing the desperation on my face, everyone turned to come to my aid just as the German lady let me go (with a frown I might add). I sorta felt violated by her roughness and wondered why she picked on me. But all I knew was that between the strange foods, languages, signs, and people I was seeing, I was not in Kansas any more.

It was the beginning of what was to become one of the most exciting adventures of our lives.

Da plane Da plane

Say goodbye to your luggage at the first airport as you leave and with any luck the next time you see it will be in your cabin on board the ship. Remember that if you don't have any luck and they lose all your luggage you can just use your "Jane's Perspective" of buying all new clothes as souvenirs.

My husband and I boarded our first flight together and flew to Charlotte with a window seat. I soon found out that window seats make me dizzy and switched places with my husband. I was still able to enjoy taking a peak every now and then at the beautiful clouds that we were flying over.

With a layover in Charlotte before we boarded our international flight, we ate a sandwich not knowing that we would be fed supper, snacks, drinks (including alcohol) and breakfast on our next plane. Oh well, it never hurts to be overfed (that's a "Jane's Perspective" that I'm sure is not a healthy perspective.)

We sat in the middle of the plane in what my husband calls a 4 and 2. In other words there were two seats together on each side of the plane by the windows and 4 seats together in the center of the plane with isles on either side. I guess I was just being idealistic when I figured that since an international flight takes so long, that there would be more room to spread out. Wrong! There's very little leg room and when everyone reclines their seats for more comfort it's near impossible not to pull someone's hair when you grab the seat in front for leverage to get out to go potty. I've heard that if you plead you can get the seats behind the wall that separates 1st class. They have lots of leg room. But if you don't get those seats, if you really need to stretch your legs try sitting in the isle seat. You can't keep your feet there all the time but you can stretch every now and then and it's much easier to get up from those seats.

The best part about the flight other than the food (it was actually pretty good and I had so much food that I even stuffed some packages of peanuts and cheese and crackers in my purse for later) was the fact that each person had their own individual tv set. You could watch tv shows or first run movies or play games or watch the weather and a neat little map that showed you where you were in the flight. My husband watched that most of the time. We tried to watch a movie together but I couldn't get my movie to start at the same time. He was always 10 minutes ahead of me and I kept getting glimpses of what was going to happen next.

The flight was abou 10 hours long so to decrease the effects of jet lag they recommend that you get some sleep and drink plenty of water. Please do if you can. I sort of dosed off in between movies but my husband stayed awake the whole time much to his disappointment when it took him three days versus my one day to get over the jet lag. They even turn the lights off in the plane and give you pillows and blankets to encourage sleep.

So the flight was pretty nice considering how tired you can get from sitting up for 10 hours but when we arrived in Munich, things literally got "all shook up".

What Not to Take

I stressed in yesterday's blog how we packed light for the trip. Let me elaborate by telling you a couple of things we took or changed our mind about at the last minute that we definately didn't need. (I was going through notes for today's blog and found the actual packing list - I'm a big list maker).

One thing we never needed or used was a money belt that my husband was supposed to wear. He found it uncomfortable so I tried it and found the same results. It was warmer than we thought it would be in Nov. in Europe so the money belt just became hot and ridiculously hard to get any money out of . (Could it be the excess pounds that cover our bellys?). Seriously, if you put money in a money belt it should be because you won't need this money until you have time to practically get undressed. We found that our plan to take out 50 Euros for the day was plenty enough and easy enough to keep in the pouches we wore around our necks. After the first couple of days my husband and I realized that we were going to be together all the time on our shore excursions so he even quit wearing his pouch and I carried everything we needed in mine.

We also didn't need two blow up pillows (the kind with the "U" shape for your neck). These were for napping on the plane. Forget it, there's not enough room for a pillow in your cramped airplane seat and they give you neat little pillows anyway on the international flights.

We packed rain coats in our luggage but could have done just as well with those ponchos that pack up really small. If it really rains a lot on your trip, I recommend just grabbing an umbrella as soon as you disembark the ship (sometimes the cruise ship sells them in their gift shop) and ditch it before you come home.

I get really sea sick and air sick so I had arm bands. They never worked and just made funny marks on my wrists. Matter of fact nothing cured my air and sea sickness. I just muddeled through all that.

And this may sound like a good idea. It did for us but we never really used them. We took baggies (sandwich size) to stash snacks from the boat that we could take on our own personal shore excursions. We thought we would save money on expensive meals offered to the tourists by picnicing. But we never ate anything we packed in these baggies because we always found inexpensive and fun foods to eat. I guess it depends on hungry you get during the day. Remember that you'll eat a fabulous breakfast before you leave the ship and a huge supper at the end of the day after you get back on the ship. Plus part of the fun is stopping at a little pizza cafe or having a sandwich or snack at one of the many outdoor cafes while resting your feet and watching the locals go by.

OK, OK, now we're packed and ready to fly. Though a cruise may sound luxurious, get ready for something a little less luxurious on the plane.

First flight together

The day has arrived for my husband and I to take our first international flight together. Matter of fact, though each of us has flown individually before, this was also our first flight together period.

I felt really good about how easy it was to go through all the lines and checkpoints with the limited carry-ons we had. We were dressed comfortable with light jackets (I'd already checked the weather and the temps would be in the high 60's so no heavy coat was needed and if it did get colder we had plenty of clothes to layer). Because my husband's backpack and my purse (a shoulder bag type where the strap went across my chest) were relatively empty, we easily stuffed our jackets inside to keep our hands free for snacking and pulling out tickets and passports.

I can't recommend this freedom of travel enough as I saw people with two to three packs or purses stuffed to the gills. I understand the need to use carry on's to the max if you fear lost luggage and therefore take a change of clothes or are making a rather short trip and can fit all your needs into one bag, but for long distances and extended hours in transit we both found it easier to have just our basic needs on us. Even with a limited budget for the trip, if everything got lost or stolen, we figured that the money we did have would be spent on clothes which according to my "Jane's Perspective", would make for fine souvenirs.

Travel guides will tell you to pack everything you want, then eliminate 1/2 and then eliminate 1/2 again and I highly recommend doing so. Remember "Jane's Perspective" of being able to buy new clothes as souvenirs - sounds like fun to me.

So we fly into the airport in Charlotte, and then we board our plane for Germany which will take us to Munich where we'll board a final plane for Athens.

The excitement was building but the reality of a 10 hour flight was a whole 'nuther story.

Packing for Europe

OK so here's the details of our cruise. But like I said, what we were able to do with $50 or less on this European cruise, you can do likewise for almost any cruise. I'll point out some of my "Jane's Perspective" ideas as we go along. Hold on to your hats, here we go.

Our cruise ship was the M/S Regatta with Oceania Cruises and the duration of the cruise was Nov. 1 through Nov. 11 with departure from Praeus, Greece (Athens), stops in Malta, four Italian ports of call, plus Monte Carlo, Marseille, and Barcelona.

That said, let's go back in time to the day prior to departure.

Here you have two international flight virgins about to embark on the adventure of their lives. Never having packed for anything like this before but having taken motocycle trips when we were younger and nimbler, we pretty much had everything in two medium size bags. Anticipating fall weather (the cruise was in Nov.) I had mostly jogging suits of velour so there was no wrinkle problem, one pair of dress pants (black) and about three dressy (wrinkly free type) blouses. Shoes were a good pair of walking /tennis shoes, a pair of nice flats and one pair of heels. I kept the colors of everything interchangeable. My husband's clothes were jeans and tennis shoes with shirts that he could layer from t-shirts to long sleeve pull overs to sweaters for daily wear and then khakis and a couple of nice dress shirts with a sweater instead of a suit jacket to wear over the shirts to "dress them up" some and cover wrinkles if necessary. He had one pair of hiking type boots and one dress pair of shoes.

I was determined not to have a ton of baggage to take on the plane with me (having heard horror stories about lack of space) and in order to have my hands free for anything else I wanted to do, I took one large purse for carry on and my husband took a small size back pack. Inside these we had any medicines we might need, (including lots of sea sick pills), a book to read, and little else in order to keep them light and to be able to fill them up with other necessary items that might have to be purchased. (We had bigger plans for our backpack and purse for our self-made shore excursions later in the trip.)

Our passports and credit/debit cards were in a neat little wallet that hung around our necks that we pulled out when necessary and hid under our shirts when we didn't need it. I wanted to keep this stuff close cause if all the luggage got lost, purses and backpacks got stolen, we still had everything we needed to make the trip even if we had to spend our $50 a day replacing clothes and personal items. These little around-the-neck wallets were a last thought at Walmart the night before we packed and turned out to be one of the best items we brought along with us.

Whew, I'm almost as tired from typing all this stuff as I was packing it all. So let's pack up our thoughts til tomorrow when the real excitement begins.

Plan A, B, C, D, E, etc

Hope you had a chance to check out PortReviews.com.

Now the next thing I did was look up all the cities and sites that were anywhere near the ports. In many cases they had to be close enough to travel to, enjoy, and get back to the ship on time. With a cruise, many times you only have one day but you'd be surprised what you can see in one day. We even had time left over every day. We never had to run for the ship as they were pulling up the gang plank.

I have to attribute all this to good planning and flexibility when something might have gone wrong with the plan. The name of my blog is "Jane's Perspective" and my perspective on this trip as most everything I plan in life is to have a plan A, B, C and however many letters of the alphabet it takes to rest assured that I'm prepared for almost anything. If not, Jane's Perspective is to figure, "well, what's the worst that could happen?" and then figure out what I would do from there. Having my alternate plans helps me adjust to almost anything and keeps me de-stressed.

So having the knowledge of the ports and the transportation available from the ports, I began to research every city and site that I really wanted to see on this trip. I figured if it was the one and only trip I would ever take to Europe, what did I just absolutely have to see, what would I like to see and what would be nice to see if there was time. Then I took on my "Jane's Perspective" attitude that a bad day just walking down the streets of an ancient Italian city was going to be better than a good day at work anyway so if all of the A, B, C, etc plans fell through, I was of a mindset to sit at an outdoor cafe (or even at the window of a MacDonalds) in some fabulous European city and just watch the people go by.

Up until now I've not told you the name of the cruise ship, dates, cities or any specifics cause I didn't want you to think that the cruise ship I was on or the cities I saw would be the only way to take a trip as economically as we did. When I teach my painting classes I never want my students to copy exactly what I do but I teach them to take what I can show them and make it their own. I want you to see if you can do this too, through any cruise line, for any destination, and for any dates.

So, my cruise story starts tomorrow with specifics of my trip but I'll be giving you pointers as to what you can do for your trip too.

The best advice for a European Cruise

If you don't read anything else from my blog and if you want to travel Europe economically here's one of the best websites I've found for getting from the dock of your cruise ship to the sites you want to see. If you want to avoid the expense of a shore excursion but are afraid of going it on your own the you need to go to:

PortReviews.com.

Here experienced travelers go so far as to give you multiple photos of the ports where your ship will be docked along with detailed instructions as to how to flag down a taxi if needed, where to walk based on landmarks (along with photos) and how far you'll have to go to the bus stop or train station. They explain which mode of transportation you'll need to take, how long it will take to get to your destination, which stop you'll need to watch for (again with photos of signs in case they aren't in English), and an approximate cost for each transfer plus reminders to keep you from incuring a fine for not validating your ticket (who knew you had to do that?) and what to watch for so you won't get charged too much for a taxi ride around the block.

That said, I'm going to let this little bit of info sink in and give you a chance to go see what I mean. Then I'll tell you how that little website plus a couple of other "tricks of travel " made our trip as luxurious as any.

Europe on $50 a day

So basically here's what went wrong in the year that we anticipated our European cruise. First of all the economy began it's nosedive meaning my husband's business slowed to a crawl. Secondly, I had another highly anticipated art show which was almost a complete washout (tip to artists - never have a show in December, everyone is buying Christmas presents, not artwork).

We were making our bills OK but all the planned money for shore excursions was quickly being used up on living expenses. We still had our "special vacation fund" which was a small signature loan that we pulled out each year to go the the Brickyard Races in Indianapolis but we had nothing like the $500 per person shore excusion fees. (Yep, that's how much some of the really good excursions cost - mutiply that by 8 or 9 shores and you can see why we were in a panic).

So now we're thinking "Should we stay or should we go?" There was still time to get almost all of our money back if we decided to cancel (through the travel insurance we bought - highly recommended) but the disappointment factor was costing me and now my husband more pain than the lack of funds.

Never one to give up, I began to check out all the ports of call for the cruise ship. You see, basically we had the transportation, the room, and the food. With any other vacation having those three necessities in place, we could find some fun free or low cost entertainment no matter where we went. Why not Europe?

Thus I began my quest for "Europe on $50 or less a day".

Was it enough?

YES it was enough. We signed on to an 11 day cruise which would begin in Athens and end in Barcelona. Plans were made to fly into Athens a day early to get over jet lag and to see the Parthenon and then board the ship for our 30th anniversary cruise.

But remember that we were signing on a full year in advance so the wait was going to be excruciating. To pass the time and make sure that we didn't miss a thing on this trip, I began to research the ship, it's food and amenities, the cities we were scheduled to see and the shore excusions available.

What I found was some rather expensive shore excursions but never fear, we had plenty of time to save up for our choices. Even though they weren't going to take you to the exact spots we wanted to see (in other words I couldn't see both the Sistene Chapel AND the Coliseum in the one day we had in Rome) I could pick out some pretty interesting trips all the same.

Since we were traveling with others all of us were constantly talking about which trip and which shore excusions sounded better than the others. We even had a meeting to see if we could explore setting up our own excusions since we had enough numbers to perhaps split a small bus or get a better rate on several rental cars or getting our own private tour guide.

The excitement continued with each conversation. Well, at least amoung the other travelers. My husband had committed himself to go but basically was he was letting me make all the plans. The good news was that he knew how much this trip meant to me so basically wherever I wanted to go was fine with him. The bad news was that since I was doing all the planning I would probably get all the blame if things went wrong.

And as the date approached for our departure, things did go awfully wrong. But I'm going to show you how we turned all that "wrong" into "right" and had one of the best vacations of our life.

Just the facts,mam.

So I'm trying to convince my unconvinceable (is that a word) husband to take this European cruise with me and I decide to stick to the left side of the brain and go with as many facts as possible.

First of all, since mom had so generously offered to pay for half the cruise as a 30th anniversary gift it would be like one of us going for free and/or both of us going for half price each.

Secondly, the other half of the trip could be paid for from my recent art show at what was then Artists on Central Art Gallery. I almost sold out at this show which was extra money at the time (one of those good small business years before the recession hit).

Third, if I was to add up travel expenses, hotels, transportation and food for another non-cruise trip to Europe, the cost would far exceed the cruise's total package.

Besides, (now the emotional part kicked in) it was going to be our 30th anniversary and what better way to celebrate than on a cruise.

Then I threw in, for good measure, the fact that we would be traveling with other couples (the friend that suggested the cruise in the first place, her husband, plus two other couples and three other individuals) so if he was really bored with the cruise or if he chose not to go with me on a shopping excusion or whatever, then he would have someone to pass the time with.

AND even if we got sea sick on the ship, we would be dry docked every morning with a chance to get off and explore dry land. The worst that could happen, I told him, would be that we would sleep while the ship was in motion and get off as soon as it stopped.

At the very least, we had room and board plus flight all paid for if we did nothing but stay in the room and watch tv.

Whew! Was it enough? Check in tomorrow to find out.

A Cruise? Are you Nuts?

For my 25th wedding anniversary I talked my husband into our first cruise. Money was not an object at the time but time was at a premium. (Isn't that always the way it is, plenty of time but no money or plenty of money but no time - self employed people, I'm sure you understand)

Anyway, we went on a cruise from New Orleans to Cozumel. Little did I know that my planning for the trip to coincide with the exact dates of our anniversary, June 16, also coincided with hurricane season in the Gulf.

Needless to say we were sea sick the whole time. I even have pictures of our suite with water leaking under the stateroom door from the balcony.

So when I brought up the idea of a European Cruise for our 30th anniversary to my husband there was a rather negative response. OK, basically he just said "no way".

So I approached my mom. She was in her late 70's at the time but still ready willing and able to travel. But not on a cruise. Her point was that she didn't think she'd be able to walk enough to enjoy the ports of call and cruises aren't really her thing either.

Now I'm not crazy about cruises, myself, but I've always wanted to go to Europe and I figured having your room and food prepaid plus getting to see more than one place in Europe would fill the bill for me, irreguardless of my lean toward motion sickness.

Suggestions were made to me to take a "friend" but I figured this might be a once in a lifetime trip with the condition the world is in since 9/11 and there was no way I was going to gaze upon the beauty of the cities of Europe without a really close loved one next to me to share it with.

So when a friend who has taken several European cruises came to me with information about a pretty good deal I started my campaign to win over Mom or my husband Ed to the idea of traveling with me.

I read them all the info and showed them all the books. I took them to a presentation from the travel agency and went online to find things they would enjoy doing both on and off the ship.

I became so bothersome that my mother told me that if I would just quit bugging her about it that she'd pay for 1/2 the cruise as a 30th anniversary present to my husband and I. "Now go bug your husband."

So, with the trip even more affordable all I had to do was convince my husband, Ed, to go. How'd I do that? How does someone convince a confirmed non cruise to take a cruise? - more tomorrow.

Best made plans

There is a saying that "man makes plans and God laughs". In all the plans I had to start my blog yesterday, my computer froze up for the first time in the five years I've had it. I finally got it un-froze but my relaxed day long plan for setting up just the right words for the first blog got hurriedly put together way later in the day than planned.

Then I planned to add to my blog each day. It is now 10pm. I forgot all about it til now. DUH.

But anyway, here I am ready to tell you about an article I just finished for the Memphis Commercial Appeal. It's supposed to be max 500 words and it's a little over 700 right now so I've gotta work on cutting it down so they'll consider running it. I'm not a regular contributor to the paper but they have a section that says they'll print personal stories if you submit them, if they like them, and if they are no longer than 500 words. I would have cut it down last night but again, the computer had been frozen for most of the day and all my good intentions didn't get started until way later than I had planned.

My life doesn't usually go like this. The article I am writing about concerns a trip to Europe that my husband and I took. It was planned a whole year in advance (which saved us money and helped me organize everything we wanted to do). I'm a big planner type person and always have plans B, and C as backups so having my computer froze was really plan A and I had no plan B or C.

But anyway, I'm sorta back on track now and having explained myself somewhat I'll start in tomorrow telling you more about that European trip. I want to get that story rolling so that if they publish the article there will be some more good and unique information for those who want to hear more.

Later Gaters.

I am born . . .

Well, I guess that's a good enough way to start a blog. I read today that over 300 million people have a blog. I guess if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So here I am, a new born blogger.

First of all, people say I have a unique perspective on things so I thought I'd write this blog to share those perspectives with you.

Secondly I'm a "wanna be" writer and have submitted some articles for publications that I'd like to say more about. I want to include my blog address so anyone who gets a chance to read those pieces can find out more. And then one day when I'm a world famous blogger, you can all read my first novel.

Well, I can dream can't I?

Thirdly (is that a word?) I'm primarily an artist (a painter in oils and acrylics) and I'd like for you to get to know me, what inspires me, and how I go about my creative process.

If that sounds interesting, check back with me, hopefully on a daily or semi daily basis to follow my "unique perspective".