The main question is: HOW DID 50 YEARS GO BY SO FAST? Our wedding date was March 16, 1961. Yet, it doesn't seem possible that we're close to celebrating 50 years together. I suppose we knew it was coming when our son had his 46th birthday and our daughter had her 43rd! But we didn't have a clue (do you suppose it was a case of denial, beginning senility, or, maybe the Ostrich syndrome - burying our heads in the sands of time??
Whatever the diagnosis....we are in the midst of planning our Anniversary trip (yes, yet another trip!). As anyone who has followed my travel blogs over the past few years knows, we are making up for all of the years of no vacations by taking as many as we can - while we can! So, for this special celebration, we decided to do something that we've never done before -
a River Boat cruise in Europe.
After many weeks/months of deliberation, we decided to go for broke and book with Tauck European River Cruising. For those who don't know, Tauck is clearly an upscale company known for personalized service and an all inclusive vacation. We are excited - knowing this is probably the only time we'll experience such luxury and believing that "if not now, when will we do this?".
We will be flying to Budapest, Hungary - the land of my father's birth - where we will spend 3 days before boarding our boat, the Swiss Jewel .
We will spend one night on our own at the Marriott Budapest then meet the tour group and spend 2 nights at the Budapest Intercontinental. As confirmed Marriott folks, we opted to earn the points at the Marriott where we will have access to the Executive Lounge. If you've followed our blog in London, you know how much we loved having free WiFi, breakfast, etc. in the lounge! The Tauck tour includes 2 nights at the Intercontinental (near the Marriott), so after recovering from jet lag and getting our bearings the first day, we'll move to the Intercontinental to meet the others cruising with us and enjoy the welcome dinner on the 2nd day.
Our pre-trip plans include getting to know more about Budapest and Prague (where we'll also be staying for 4 days) using Rick Steves' books, figuring out the currency we need in the countries we'll be stopping, and trying to learn a few key words in multiple languages (hello, good-by, please and thank you, where is the bathroom, etc.). Since tours are included in all stops, we'll concentrate on seeing sights not on the tours on our days in Budapest and Prague and the 'on your own' times in places like Bratislava, Vienna, Salzburg, etc.).
Our itinerary is:
Days 1-3 Budapest
boarding the Swiss Jewel the afternoon of the 3rd day and beginning the cruise after dinner that evening.
Day 4 Bratislava
Day 5 Vienna
Day 6 Vienna
Day 7 Durnstein and Wacau Valley cruise
Day 8 Salzburg
Day 9 Passau
Day 10 Disembark in Regensburg and late afternoon bus to Prague
Days 11-14 Prague
We invite you to come along with us. Please sign up to follow the blog to be notified whenever there is a new message. And, please, comment as we go...we love knowing who is following and reading your comments/questions. Enjoy! We know that we will!
