On Board & Day 1

As I post this, we're in Venice about to begin the 2nd cruise/leg of our journey.  On a "sea day" a week ago, I'd hoped to get the 1st post up, however, internet was sketchy and we just got busy!  It's so easy to do!  Hopefully, I'll get better at posting!!

The 1st 2 legs are quite port intensive, the last two have more sea days!  Perhaps then, a chance to post more! 

Day 1 - Barcelona on Board:

On board, as soon as we were on board, we were offered a glass of champagne!!  Ah yes, back at home on Regent!  

As soon as we checked in and got our cabin keys, we headed there to drop our drag-alongs before heading to lunch.  We were extremely pleased to see that our shipped bags were waiting for us!  Luggage Free came through for us again!

And, on the table in the sitting area, a bottle of champagne and a plate of sweets!  Nice!

  

Checked out the closet!  It is quite spacious and will certainly hold the clothing & stuff we brought.

This is indeed our favorite cabin layout!

Day 2 - Sète, France:

Once upon a time, it was spelled “Cette” and though the spelling has changed, the pronunciation is still “set”!  Our excursion today was “Picturesque Pezenas & Valmagne Abbey”.

 The drive to Pezenas was about an hour through the beautiful French countryside.  Having never seen anything like it, we were fascinated by the huge mussel farms in a nearby bay.

On the way to Pezenas, we passed through Montagnac,  a VERY quiet town with no one on the streets.  

One little shop we passed had a sign that, even without knowing French, we could read!!

Before long, we were in Pézenas!

After a walk through the old historical area, we stopped for coffee then headed off again for the Valmagne Abbey.

Valmagne Abbey was our last stop on this excursion. The Abbey began its life in 1138 as a Benedictine Monastery and 20 years later became part of the Cistercian Order.  After the French Revolution when monasteries were destroyed or confiscated by the state, the buildings of this abbey were sold in 1791 to a gentleman who turned the abbey church into a cellar for curing wines.  The sizes of the barrels in the "niches" are only dwarfed by the large barrel in the Heidelburg Palace!!

    

No trip to a monastery turned winery would be complete without a little wine tasting!  And, likewise, no tour would be complete without a pass through the gift shop.  In this case, one and the same.

One thing that caught my eye was this somewhat smaller barrel with a wine cork top!  It wasn't for sale!

Our excursion ended back at the port where our "home" was waiting for us!
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Barcelona

The past few days have been quite busy with getting settled into the ship and visiting a new port every day!  Finally, today, I got pictures out of my camera and began sorting through them, selecting some for posting.  Thus, we're still in "catch-up" mode!  Now on with updates!  rf

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Regent Seven Seas transportation met us just outside the baggage claim area. I'm sure the driver was pleased to see we only had our two Drag-alongs rather than massive amounts of luggage that cruise passengers typically carry!

Walking into the Fairmont Rey Juan Carlos I hotel, we were reminded of the very pleasant

stay we'd had here in March 2014 at the end of our Rio to Barcelona trip.

We had remembered the open atrium lobby area and the "mushroom cap" lighting suspended over the bar area. A delightful area for a few evening cocktails!

Our room was on the 12th floor as it had been before.  That offered the services of a lounge.

From our room and from the lounge just a few doors down, we overlooked a large athletic grounds consisting mostly of polo and the training of the horses.

 
This picture shows the north end of the polo field, the barns and training ground just beside the hotel swimming pool.


At the bottom of this picture is the far side of the polo field. Beyond that are apartments and beyond that is Montjuic and the Olympic grounds from Barcelona's 1992 Summer Olympics.

And, at a slightly different angle, is the soccer stadium and training grounds.  

On arrival Saturday night, we had a glass of cava to celebrate our arrival in Barcelona and the beginning of our wonderful holiday!  We had had dinner on the flight from Zurich so no more food was needed.  As planned, on Sunday morning, we slept in.  Word is depending on one's age, recovering from jet lag can take 12 to 24 hours for each time zone change... we had crossed 5!!

We were up around 9:30am and went to the lounge for the continental breakfast foods they serve.  There was more than enough food variety and besides, it was a short walk down the hall rather than trekking downstairs (on the elevator, of course)!

This being our fourth trip to Barcelona and having seen all the major sites, we chose to stay in and around the hotel all day, sleeping, reading and catching our breaths.

For dinner, once again, rather than go downstairs, the lounge host, Randall, ordered room service for us and had it delivered to the lounge.  He suggested and we accepted, the roast pheasant!  

When the food arrived, Randall served as our personal waiter!  What a treat!  He also ensured our cava glasses were never empty!  The pheasant was DELICIOUS!!

What a warm delightful last night in Barcelona!

Many more cruise folks had come in on Sunday and Monday the Regent Hospitality desk was fully staffed.  We had paid our hotel bill earlier so didn't have the looonng check-out line.  

Buses loaded and we were off to the port, passing the old "bull ring" on the way.

Also, along the way, the statue of Columbus supposedly pointing to America.  In reality, he is pointing to Africa!!  Oh well, maybe the continents have shifted!  Coincidently, it was Columbus Day!!

And before long, we are at the port and our home for the next 70 days was in sight!!

At least a start on catching up!!  rf

From Home to Barcelona

The plane rides and airport concourses are behind us!!  YEAH!!!  We're now in Barcelona having arrived around 8pm last night.  We went to the lounge on our floor for a glass of cava then settled into our room a little after 9pm.  We're spending today in and around the hotel, vegging out, getting ready for the cruise!

Getting from Home to Barcelona:

We had shipped our big bags and a couple of small duffle bags shipped, thus, only had our "drag-a-longs" to watch over during this part of our journey.  We had them packed up and ready to go long before our 4pm departure.

Last things to get done were: 1) get the car in, a challenge in itself!, 2) unplug the garage door opener, 3) unplug the golf cart, 4) turn some circuit breakers off and lastly, 5) disconnect the cable (the loop in the ceiling, top center of photo).

Once we saw that "our" car had left Burger King, Tom took the bags out front while I shut down the computer.  We locked the door and headed out ourselves.

A neighbor came over for a "so long" and took this pic for us!  Thank you Betty!!

Our ride to the airport arrived shortly thereafter.  We were super pleased to see our favorite ExecuCar driver, Bill Glenn!

Tom headed for the car, Bill went for the bags.  I think he was pleasantly surprised to see so little luggage!

After a very pleasant ride to the airport, we checked in with Edelweiss and headed to the lounge they share with American Airlines.  We were only 3-4 gates from "our" gate and had a great view of the runway and tarmacs.  When we saw "our" plane arriving, we packed up and headed to the gate.

By the time we got there, the caterers were in place but it wasn't long before we were boarding.

We settled into our seats for our 7+ hour flight and it wasn't long before we were offered, and accepted!, a glass of champagne.

Shortly after takeoff, we were offered dinner menus.  Some of the items, we didn't know what they were, then we realized we were looking at the German version!!  A page turn and, voila!, English!









A quick look at the screen showed our route, direct from Tampa to Zurich.  We like that we can now fly directly to Europe!!!

Next trip we'll do the same!



.
.First came the butter, salt & pepper.



Followed by a starter.



Then dinner.  I chose the filet, and Tom chose the Sea Bass.
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After dessert, we "bedded down" for the long flight!




When we awakened a couple hours before landing, the map showed the progress!

We had a pleasantly uneventful flight and arrived in Zurich a little before before schedule.  Fortunately, we didn't have checked bags, thus went straight to passport control and on to our 5 hour wait for the flight on to Barcelona!

Other than having to check my drag along, it was way too heavy for drag along on this smaller plane, the rest of our trip was uneventful.

Update - 15 October 2015:
Just wanted to add a couple of pics from the Zurich to Barcelona flight.


The first is a pic of the airport terminal in Zurich. Inside, a VERY impressive terminal!! Shopaholics would go crazy trying to figure out what you really wanted to buy!!  All kinds of shops and LOTS of duty-free!

The second is of the "island" mountains poking out above the clouds.  If I'm not mistaken they are in the French Alps, possibly in the Grenoble area.

We were totally fascinated!  Folks living below the clouds probably thought it to be a gray and dreary day... little did they know what was up-above it all!







Next post will be from ship!!
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We're Ready!!

And, our car is on it's way!!

We're watching it... looks like it is currently stopped at Burger King... perhaps for a late lunch or a cup of Joe!!

We'll be off before 4pm!!! WHEEEE!!

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About 16 hours 'til D-parture!!

YEAH!!!  Today, Friday (10/9/15), it was yesterday when I started this!, is the day we fly to Barcelona, actually, the day we begin the trip to Barcelona!

Just checked in for our flights and we were able to move up a couple of rows.  With his long legs, Tom likes to have bulkhead seats. DONE!!!

We have 1 D & 1 G which on this weird configuration are next to each other!  We love it because we each have an aisle seat, thus easy access to the "porcelain"/stainless steel facilities!

Our ride will pick us up at 4pm.  We'll have lots of time at the airport so, if there are any hangups we can take care of them.

Our first flight is scheduled to depart Tampa at 8:25pm and arrive in Zurich 9 hours, 25 minutes later at 11:50am Zurich time.  We'll spend 5 and 1/2 hours in Zurich then at 5:20pm, we'll be on our way to Barcelona!  When tonight we got the boarding passes, we learned that boarding time is 19:35 (7:35pm to us Yanks!)!!

We'll arrive in Barcelona around 7:10pm on Saturday, probably be at hotel by 8pm, Barcelona time, 2pm our time but after some 23 hours from home to hotel, we'll be ready to CRASH!!  Into nap mode I mean!!  We're hoping for no other "crashes"!!!

The hotel is the same one we stayed at in early 2014!  Hotel Rey Juan Carlos...


This is where we plan to have breakfast on Sunday morning!!

SOOO excited!!  From the song "It Might As Well Be Spring" comes the line "I'm as giddy as a baby in a swing"... that's me!!

Maybe more tomorrow!  Who knows!
rf

Less Than 1 Week Away Now!

Color me as giddy as a 3-year-old at Christmas!!

At this time of day as I post this, we are scheduled to be settled in our seats and gaining altitude out of Tampa, or perhaps at cruising altitude, on our Edelweiss flight to Zurich!  From there we'll connect on to Barcelona!

The last time we shipped our bags, they spent the weekend hoopin’ it up in Hawaii, this time those partying little trollops are spending the weekend in Paris!!  Just hope they don’t catch some STD while they’re there!!  Sometimes, I think they have more of an adventure than we do!

After tonight, we'll have totally emptied the freezer, well, except for cookies and ice, and closing the kitchen! We’ll be eating out or getting take-out until we leave!

Our "front" fridge has a frozen jug of water and a box of ice cubes, otherwise it's pretty bare as well!

Full blog site is: http://barcelonatocapetown.blogspot.com/
It has itinerary, et al.
rf

Bags On Their Way to Barcelona!

Today was the day bags were scheduled to be picked up!  We had arranged for a time slot between 10am and noon.  The courier service arrived shortly after 10am!  He presented us with a signed receipt for our 4 bags, 2 large suitcases and 2 duffel bags.

The "young" man was in uniform, very pleasant and very efficient.  We were quite pleased with Luggage Free's service when we used it in 2013.  And, they're off on the right foot again!

We had the bags waiting in the garage.  The courier quickly moved them into his truck. I'd forgotten to pick up the camera on my way out so had to run back.  By the time I was outside again, he'd started closing up.  You can see one of the duffel bags sitting on top.

And then they were off!  Yes, it was a rainy day but the rain did stop long enough for the bags to get moved from the garage to the truck!

Around 11am, we received an email from Luggage Free advising that the courier had delivered the bags!!!  YEAH!!!

So, as of now, except for our drag-a-longs, our bags have deserted us!  We look forward to meeting up with them again on the ship in Barcelona when we settle in to our cabin, our home for the following 70 nights!

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Down to Three Weeks!

Ohhhh so close now!!  At this point, it's hard to believe it was 18 months ago we booked this trip!  It seemed soooo far away then!

We started the official packing process today!  Two duffel bags are packed and Tom has his big suitcase almost packed!  I have stuff laid out and will probably pack it up tomorrow.  Bags will be picked up in 11 days, 10 days before departure.

We always keep a countdown calendar and, today, the regular lists got moved down and the calendar got moved to the fridge (every home's bulletin board!).  The calendar has meals outlined so as to get all the frozen food out of the freezers and finish off any kind of food that might spoil.  We have a wonderful window-mate who will watch the house for us, just in case!  After all, we will still be in hurricane season!

Three weeks from now, as I post this, we are scheduled to be a little over an hour into our flight to Zurich, then on/back to Barcelona!
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Another Countdown Day!!

Today marks 4 weeks until departure!  YEAH!!!

We'll head to the airport around 4pm and spend a couple of hours there getting checked in, getting from "land side" to "air side" and waiting for our Edelweiss plane.  4pm weekdays is the middle of Tampa rush hour!  And, this will be a Friday afternoon so who knows what kind of traffic we will run into!!

The milestone event earlier this week was getting suitcases down from the attic!  Tom pulled the stairs down, braved the heat, put on a construction helmet and headed on up the stairs (the ceiling of the attic looks like an upside down nail bed!)

At the time of this picture, the luggage was still sitting in the garage recovering from the high (115-120º F) heat in the attic.  The next day, they graduated to cooler heat in the guest room.  We have begun laying out "take with" items, however, haven't started loading the bags.

The two large bags along with a couple of duffel bags will be shipped to Barcelona, the smaller ones will be dragged along with us.  The ones being shipped will leave about 10 days before we do.

Today brought another, not so surprising, event.  We were originally scheduled to stop in Mytilini on the Greek island of Lesbos.  However, after the number of fleeing Syrian immigrants arriving there, Regent has chosen to take us to another Greek port. We will dock in Kavala on mainland Greece.

Check the Itinerary page Leg 2 for location of Mytilini and Leg 3 for location of Kavala.

Regent wisely does not take us any where there might be danger or unrest.  Friends often ask "Aren't you afraid of traveling in that part of the world?"  My response is always "No.  Regent stays alert to all world and weather events and doesn't take us places where we might be in any danger!"

That's all for today!
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Cruise Documents Arrived!!!

 WHEE!!!  Today our cruise documents arrived.  A couple of days ago, our Cruise Consultant advised they were in her office and were being sent out that day!  We'd received notice from UPS Choice that they would be in today!  SOOO excited!

We heard the doorbell ring and I guessed it would be UPS.  By the time I got to the door, the speedy driver/delivery person was gone but this package was lying there saying "Pick me up! Get me inside to where it is cool!"





The driver must have updated his system on his way back to the truck!  By the time I got back to my computer, we'd received a message from UPS!

Of course, the next thing was to open the package and as expected, all the documents were there!!

Again enclosed in an iPad case... still no iPad itself!!

Checked to make sure everything was there and that details matched the notes we'd kept along the way!  Another job well done by Regent Seven Seas Cruises and, most importantly, our Cruise and Vacation Consultant at TCAVA!


The countdown continues:




We've started the packing by just laying things out and we've started emptying the freezers.  And we are eating out more, thus practicing for letting someone else do the cooking and washing the dishes!!

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Down to 6 Weeks...

... but who's counting??  We've been counting since we booked the trip on March 18, 2014.  That was 18 months and 3 weeks before departure! But who's counting???

Everything is done, I think!  Our passports came back with the India Visas, we've supplied all the additional info that Regent needed and requested for the other visas.

Next major item on the checklist is to get the bags down from the attic and start packing to have the luggage ready for pickup on September 29!!

Passports On Their Way Home!

GOOD NEWS!!  Just received a note from UPS.  Our passports, with the India visas, are on their way home and will be delivered before 10:30am tomorrow!!

That was SUPER quick!  The applications left here on 8/5, arrived NYC on 8/7, CIBT started process on 8/10.  Here it is 7 business days later and, they're on their way home from Atlanta!!

One less item on our to do, my "fret", list!!  Regent has, or will have, all the other visas we will need before we arrive in other ports where they are needed!

Only Two More Months to go!!

Countdown per Excel

Ever since we booked this trip on March 18, 2014, about 18 months ago, we've been counting down the time!  It appears that we have covered all the details that we can up to this point.

Next item up will be making our specialty dining reservations for the Dubai to Cape Town portion of the trip!

Message from UPS... right on time!

In the prior post, I mentioned the India Visa applications were on their way to Visa Central in New York.  Well, about 9:30am on Friday, we received e-mail notice they had been delivered!  YEAH!  Gotta love UPS!!

We're looking to get our passports with the India visas inside sometime between 8/21 and 8/28!

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The Last Pre-Trip Detail!???

Passports off for India Visas!

Hopefully, getting our Visas for India will be the last detail!  But, of course with some of the areas we'll be traveling through, we may get some last minute notices of changes and have to rethink that statement!

We get our Visas indirectly from Regent.  Most they take care of (included in the fare) and some, albeit included, we do the paperwork.  India is the only one on this trip.  Today, we sent all the necessary documents to Visa Central which Regent has paid to do all the details!  YEAH!  We don't deal directly with the embassies or consulates!  And, most importantly, Visa Central will let us know if we missed anything in the application before it goes to the Consulate!

After having gone through this process for China & Brazil, I was surprised how complicated the India visa acquisition is!!  Or, maybe, I forgot!!

Visa Central has been superb!!  I had some questions that I couldn't find answers to and called the number in the Application package.  The young lady I spoke with was extremely kind, answered all my questions and went, in my opinion, above and beyond her call of duty.  If we needed visas for any other trip that didn't include the service, we would use them!

Having sent all the paperwork via UPS today, it should be back by August 21st, 28th at the latest!  Plenty of time before we leave home on October 9th!

WHEEE!  Only 9 weeks from tomorrow!!

And Now it is 5 Months & 1 Week...

...until we head out on our next adventure!
   WHEEE!
When we booked it, it was 1 year, 6 months and 3 weeks to wait so now, we're REALLY getting close!

Last week, we made our final payment and thus, the trip is now TOTALLY paid for (airfare, hotel the night before boarding, shore excursions, gratuities, all beverages, yes, including alcoholic ones!)  Gotta love cruising on Regent Seven Seas.  Basically, the only thing we need our room cards for is getting into our rooms!

We can now focus on learning more about places we'll visit, what the weather may be like, etc., etc.