Pleasent change in Plans

Under our door after supper was a notice that due to stormy weather, our next port of call would not be Amalfi as planned but would be Sorento. OK, so now I knew why I went to bed woozy, we were basically in a storm at sea. So now all the prep time I made exploring via the Internet, Amalfi and the surrounding area, all the times I watched "Under the Tuscan Sun" to see its' neighboring city Positano, I was not going to see either town. What the heck did Sorento have to offer?

Low and behold Sorrento is close to Pompei, a place my husband and I have always found fascinating, and low and behold, they had an excursion that would visit the city of Pompei. We found that here was one excursion we had to take advantage of. AND it wasn't very expensive. Under 60 Euros each, we signed on. Though this was over our budget for the day, the last two days plus the first day at sea we came up way under our budget so the money was available.

Sorrento had to be tendered into. In other words you had to take a small boat from the ship to the town as there was no dock at Sorrento. I painted Sorrento from the photo of the scene from the tender boat. And truly the colors are just as I remembered them. A storm was gathering which created the beautiful cloud formations and cast awesome shadows on the cliffs of the town. Once we boarded our bus to Pompei we found that in Europe, the biggest car wins. Streets were just as tight as Messina, maybe tighter with all the cars parked at either side of the narrow roads. If you met a bus such as we were in, you backed into the closest "hole" to let us pass and thus we made our way to the ancient city of Pompei. And yes, they let you see the dead people.

Most of our time was spent as a tour group waiting for the older folks to walk along the uneven roads of Pompei. Our tour guide was constantly encouraging faster walking so that we could see more of what turned out to be a huge city with markets and it's own coliseum. AND he was hurrying us along because the clouds were gathering heavier and rain was threatening.

As the rain finally began to pour we all found shelter in a Pompei bath house across from the "house of ill repute" complete with a carved penis over the door. We spent the rest of our tour in the bath house but it was really neat to see the carvings and paintings on the wall and have time to savor the thoughts of the ancient Pompeians basking in this luxury.

The worse thing about Pompei is that I let my camera battery die so all I could do was enjoy and try to burn the images of this fascinating city plus the highlights of the streets on Sorrento on my brain instead of on my digital "film". But I did get one more photo of some columns of Pompei and I used them for another of my paintings for my one man show.

Sorrento became one of our favorite stops on our trip and a place that we hope to return to someday. We could have spent a whole day in Pompei and the town of Sorrento was absolutely lovely with it's tight streets filled with shops, quaint hotels and cafes, affordable food and souvenirs, fascinating wood work, and steep cliffs overlooking the sea. Ah, Sorrento.

Messina

Nighttime falls on our first excursion day and I find that sleeping on a cruise ship as it runs from port to port is indeed enjoyable. The humming of the engine lulls you to sleep and if there is a slight roll it just rocks you like a baby in a cradle.

Then here's another of the reasons that we really loved traveling through Europe on a cruise ship. Each dawn brings a new location. Like magic, you awaken with a new city and a new site to see. Fortunately we most always seemed to be on the dock side of the boat. On this particular morning, day two of our excursions, we awoke to this site of Messina, Sicily before the boat docked. This is a good shot of what the view looked like out of our room window. Remember I said we got a "deal" for taking an obstructed view room. Well, our window was approximately 5 feet by 6 feet (no small porthole here) and it never bothered me to have a lifeboat right outside.
From my studies of Messina I found that most of the city was destroyed during WW II and rebuilt so all the ancient buildings were pretty much gone. We found it to be just a nice city and with no particular place in mind that I just had to see while I was there, we slept late, met up with some fellow travelers and just walked the downtown streets. Aimlessly we went armed only with a city map and ultimately got kinda turned around and lost. We stumbled upon some pretty rough sections of the downtown and had it not been for our sheer numbers I might have felt ill at ease. Bums and hobos abounded and most of the people who looked like they belonged there were city workers on their way to jobs.

One thing that my husband wanted to make sure I got a picture of was the motorcycles along the street. It seems that they have super engines that we can't get in motorcycles in the states mainly because of environmental issues. All you motorcycle fanatics take note and enlarge the picture and you can see better what he's talking about.

I found the streets to be incredibly crowded with cars, motorcycles and buses. Motorcycles and small cars were parked anywhere and everywhere they would fit. I couldn't imagine anything larger than a smart car maneuvering through the traffic when I happened upon their means for supplying all the stores along these tight streets. Just take a small car and load it top to bottom like this one.

One of the highlights of Messina was an opportunity to taste my first gelato (Italian ice cream). I told the vendor that it was my first and he added the red waffle cookie to the top.

We didn't start our walk til about 9:00 or 10:00 and with all the wandering around I figured we would miss one of the only events that we needed to see in Messina, the clanging of the clock tower at noon but low and behold just down the street from the gelato store was the town square with the church and clock tower.

This was the Cathedral of Norman and the bell tower is a famous astronomical clock built in Strasbourg and moved here in 1933. It has a lion that roars, a rooster, and many Biblical figures that react to the chimes at noon. We were there just in time and it was well worth the wait.

Along with all the tourists to see this tower were bunches of street vendors with scarves to sell. They were only 5 Euros so here was the perfect souvenir of Messina and it kept me well within my budget as I picked up several for relatives and friends.

After noon, the crowd dispersed and we entered the cathedral, one of many in Europe. As my husband said, "you can't spit in Europe without hitting a cathedral". Upon entering I was flabergasted at the beautiful artwork. Paintings, statues, wood carvings, marble floors - you name it and all so reverent and beautiful.

But as we returned to the dock I took a photograph of a "Jane's Perspective" sort of thing. On the wall across the street front he boat dock were these enlarged pictures. Kinda neat, huh?

Back onboard, it's happy hour time, time for supper in the Grand ballroom and then straight to bed cause I was feeling a little woozy. Tell you why in the next blog.

Souvenirs of Malta

It's been almost a month since I last left you in Malta so what was a one day stopover for me turned into a much longer wait for you. My apologies. I've been working constantly for my one man art show in April. As of this date I only have 6 more paintings to do to have a full show of 26 pieces. Check out my photo albums on facebook and you can see some of the work in progress.

But it's still inexcusable that I attempt to interest you in my blogspot and then don't keep it up.

That said, at the end of the day in Malta I took my $50 budget and began to look for souvenirs of this fabulous town. Having at least googled Malta for it's history I found that one of the most obvious things that came from Malta was the Maltese Cross.

From Jane's perspective, there are tons of "things" that one can get on a vacation to Europe. Clothes, jewelry, purses, shoes, abound but with the devalued dollar at the time we took the cruise, I figured I could get most all of this "stuff" at home, and for less cost. What I really wanted to take home from my trip were items that I could only get in the lands I was visiting.

Thus my souvenirs of Malta became a fabulous sterling silver Maltese Cross for myself and two more masculine Maltese Cross key chains for my sons. Total cost was no more than my budget and I not only have a great souvenir but each piece packed easily for the return trip home. Remember all that luggage that I was trying not to take - well, if you start purchasing glass vases, big boxed items and such for souvenirs then you might even have to purchase extra suitcases for the trip home.

One of my recommendations is that if you really have to have a larger item see if they will ship it home for you or find out if the store has a website and you can order from home when you return from your trip. That would save your trip budget and give you time to re-think the glamour and expense of the item once all the bills from the trip come in.

Once back on board the ship, we slept til "happy hour", used some of our shipboard credit for per dinner drinks, and went to the Toscana (the Italian themed restaurant on board) for a fabulous meal with our fellow travelers.

Malta, Malta, Malta

It's still the first day off the cruise ship and we're still in Malta and even though we never left the city limits of Valletta, we saw some fabulous sites. Valletta is a peninsula and once you leave the cruise ship you can walk almost completely around the city keeping the water to your right and then take most any street on your left into the city. There you'll find quaint shops along tight streets where almost every door leads to a shop or home. Street artists abound with gorgeous sites to sketch and paint like this one of a flower cart. We actually found this as we threw caution to the wind and ambled along basically lost for most of the day. The city is hilly so all you have to do is reach the top of the hill on the street you are on, get your bearings and head wherever your heart desires. Stop and have a gelatto or snack and continue enjoying your stroll.

And speaking of artists, when I returned home I painted this piece from a photo I had of a tobacco shop that was literally as wide as its' front door. Shops were everywhere like this. The painting is titled "Tobaconnist" and will be in my April 2010 one man show in Memphis, Tenn. It's in oil and it's about 24 X 30 on a gallery wrapped canvas. Check out my website at jmcroy.com for into about the show.

Street artists, flower shops, quaint streets and homes. This was just a taste of the Europe that was to come but here are some pictures of things you might be surprised to find on your first trip to Europe.

The world's smallest police cars. Well, maynot the in the whole world but I'd never seen any so small.

And with such narrow roads, where are all the quick stop gas stations like in the good ole U S of A? Well, here they are, like all the other shops, they fit into narrow buildings and service the cars just like any old gas station except the building was probably built in the 1500's.

And you're not going to believe this sign. Ready for lunch?

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.