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Hooked into a 2 for 1 sale for a 14 day River Cruise/Tour of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Paris. Was too good to pass up. Read more
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  • Gate 1 River Cruise

    Planning Stages!

    October 27, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    Janet just happened to catch the Gate1 Flash Sale email newsletter and saw that it was a 2 for 1 for Belgium/Netherlands river cruising. Upon further inspection, saw a 14 day trip that included Amsterdam, Bruges, Paris, etc and decided to check out prices. Found we could do the entire trip for $5500 which included special excursions, plus all of our airfare out of Charlotte (CLT-BOS-AMS and returning CDG-JFK-CLT). Like all the Gate1 trips we’ve gone on , this was a steal. This will be our first adventure out into the world of Covid (whew) and hoping we survive it. Totally vaxxed and triple boosted and not afraid to wear a mask, but even then…. Of course we are still a long ways out from the trip so who knows what will happen - with covid, with the economy or with Ukraine. One day at a time! Definitely looking forward to exploring some of Amsterdam. And comparing Gate1 River Cruising to Ama Waterways and Uniworld (two other cruise companies we have been with). We’ve been to Paris (prior to our Ama Waterways trip down the Rhone river in SE France), but missed some things so will be good to get back there and try again!Read more

  • Gate 1 River Cruise

    1 month to go!

    April 14, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 73 °F

    Moving closer to our departure date. Hoping my creaky bones hang together a bit longer to get us there and back! :). Managed to score the two remaining ticket slots to see the Anne Frank House (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank ) on our first day of arrival. (Arrive in Amsterdam at 6:05am) Our entry time is 8:35 pm so we should be thoroughly exhausted by then :). Having been a German teacher and student of German history and having watched countless films on WWII, this was pretty much a must see.Read more

  • Gate 1 River Cruise

    The Time Approaches!

    May 8, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    So, just a few more days before takeoff on May 11. So many little things to remember. Fortunately I still use Evernote (www.evernote.com) and have packing lists, etc still stored away there, so that has been easy to pull up and update. Interesting how many things get crossed off and how many new things get added. Just think in a few more years, all of this stuff will be on a chip in my brain and I won’t need to do anything but show up! :)

    Realizing a bit late that maybe we should check on tickets to places like the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay for our final 3 days in Paris, I discover that they are sold out for the days we could possibly go. But all is not lost! Thanks to having downloaded an European ticketing app (https://www.tiqets.com/en/) while in Paris some years back, I was able to find it on my phone (don’t even ask me how many apps are on my phone!) and lo and behold, found tickets for the days we needed and even paid a few euros extra to make them cancellable if things changed at the last moment. Got audio guides as well for just a few more Euros each. That was after Viator failed me which usually comes through. There were a number of guided tours, but they cost big bucks, so this saved us all of that.

    Also looking at many different city map touring apps (Lonely Planet’s Visit My City - https://www.visitacity.com/en/amsterdam?src-sha… ) Also GPSMyCity (https://www.gpsmycity.com). However, may in the end return to Rick Steve’s Audio walking tours which we used in Greece. (Rick Steves Audio Europe organizes Rick's audio content into geographic playlists. http://bit.ly/hr2O2q ) Download the walks, the maps and just listen to Steve and natives talk about Amsterdam, Paris, etc as you walk. Janet and I will probably share my AirPods and that way we are on the same page. So one way or the other we will figure it out. We also use Google Maps to star a lot of things we want to see - also nice for Metro.

    Although we plan to walk most of the time, we might also jump on the trams, etc to get a taste of the local travel and save the woofing footsies! This site has great info on buying tickets for the trams, etc - https://www.amsterdamtips.com/transport-tickets

    Saved some money on parking at Charlotte airport by remembering my days at AAA (shout out to the gang!) and the app The Parking Spot (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-parking-spot/…). Got a nice discount for being a AAA member (thanks T-Mobile for the free 1 year membership, now that I’ve retired!).

    Interestingly, National Geographic is airing a new film on Anne Frank. Strange coincidence. 3 episodes are currently up if you happen to have NationalGeo TV. https://variety.com/2023/tv/reviews/a-small-lig…

    Updated some of our electronic gear so we would have some decent portable chargers while on the move. Like them because they have android/apple cords built in, so no need to carry along extra cables for that. Both are 10000 mAH which will charge our phones at least twice from dead which should be plenty while we’re out and about. Our phones are 2 1/2 years old now and the batteries are starting to dim, plus when traveling we both tend to take a ton of photos/videos and that really drains the battery. This is one of the chargers we bought - https://bit.ly/3pi6hwj . Also bought a new wall plug charger with E/F adapter which seems to be used in the Netherlands/Belgium/France quite a bit. It’s nice for all the outlet possibilities it has. https://bit.ly/3nwAaZu, Also bought an Apple Watch charger with multiple ports for charging other things as well, which saves me dragging along two Apple Watch charger cables. https://bit.ly/42DN8n3. We shall see how all those work out. Also bringing along two tiny little standard Euro adapters just in case some things fail.

    Decided to forgo lugging the bigger camera, which normally I like for the super zoom it has (up to 600mm), but my back has been tricky lately, so the less I have to carry the better. The Phone will have to do the trick.

    In case you have absolutely no interest in any of this gibberish, you have to remember that this is a personal journal so I’m trying to remember things for myself when I look back 10 years from now. :). Hopefully the links though might be helpful to some of you inveterate travelers. That’s all for now folks!    Read more

  • Gate 1 River Cruise

    Clarifying notifications

    May 9, 2023 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 73 °F

    So I was puzzling a bit about why some people weren't getting notified that I had posted something. Some of it was because some followers when originally signing up had different emails than they do now. But for the rest, there are a few steps that are important , so I screen captured them and am posting. There are 2 pictures. . I'm doing all of this because FindPenguins is a great way to capture a trip forever so with the thought you might use it yourself someday, I'm posting this.

    So bottom line - download the app and put it on your Home Screen of your phone. Then you'll notice the little red bubble appear when you have a notification (and it doesn't just have to be me that you're following - you can hit the explore button and find all kinds of people posting trips and you can request to follow them. If you don't click the Follow button for me or any other person you decide to follow, then nothing happens. Any time they post, you'll see the little red bubble appear next to the Find Penguin icon. Then as a 2nd step I'd do this as well. Go into the General Settings of your phone, go to Notifications and scroll down to find FindPenguins (which will be there since you downloaded the app) and turn those notifications ON. (I think when you first install the app, the default might be OFF). This way, when someone posts something and you're following them, a pop up will appear on your phone notifying you there is a new post by someone. That's just a nice backup method to the red bubble icon. Let me know in the comments if you're still confused. It took me awhile understanding exactly how FindPenguins was doing this and for that reason I think the screen captures are helpful. As a final note, Find Penguins may send you an email asking you to verify your email address. Don't skip that step as you probably won't get any notifications without doing that.    Read more

  • Gate 1 River Cruise
    Day 1

    Charlotte airport

    May 11, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    Made it to the gate with an hour twenty to spare. The Charlotte airport is still screwed up as usual. Of course our gate is at the end of the universe. Drive to the airport was pretty uneventful. Flight scheduled for 11:05. For some reason they called Janet and I up to the gate desk to check our passports. No idea why. Obviously we looked sketchy! Tiny plane 2-2 with enough room to barely fit your carryon overhead. Packed plane. Seats are actually not hard rocks which is a surprise. Next stop Boston for 3 hr layover and then on to Amsterdam. Didn’t get much sleep so we are pretty toasted already. Hoping to get a few winks on the big flight.Read more

  • Gate 1 River Cruise
    Day 1

    Boston International Terminal

    May 11, 2023 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 79 °F

    Lots of bouncing around coming into BOS. Arriving on time. Delicious snacks of chips and water - yum! A few folks wearing masks but not many. 15 minute stroll on moving walkways to land in Terminal E where we go looking for grub to try and stay awake. Check out the prices on this menu! We started at the top and worked our way down. Cost more than our entire trip! Actually we ate some not very cheap Chinese grub which was overly sweet and surely spiked my blood sugars to 200+. A moment of vacation weakness!

    Amusing ourselves checking in on Gypsy (our cat) back home with a spy camera we installed. Also spying on our 2 stray kitties who showed up one morning when it was 15° F outside and we started feeding them. Needless to say, they thought that was a pretty good deal and come back mornings and evenings to sample the wares.

    2 more hours to departure (snooze time) and then a 7 1/4 hr flight (more snooze time - we hope!) and then our free day in Amsterdam begins. I think the first park bench we find will be our resting spot for the rest of the day    Read more

  • Gate 1 River Cruise
    Day 1

    2 hrs out from Boston

    May 11, 2023, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 43 °F

    Snoozed for a bit but then came dinner. Actually one of the tastier meals we've had on flights. Pasta dish and an Indian dish with a cold quinoa salad and strawberry mousse. May check out the movie "In Bruges" since we will be going there. Not sure I can stay awake. May add to this post later if anything exciting happens :). It is nice to be a T-Mobile customer- free wifi on the flights!Read more

  • Gate 1 River Cruise
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    Day 2

    First Day in Amsterdam

    May 12, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F

    Whoa- what a first day. Usually I'd break it into parts but since I was delirious from lack of sleep, I'm just going to wrap it up in one big shot. We started the day at around 7am and our room wasn't ready as anticipated. So we hit the streets and man did we walk. About 10 miles all told by the time the day was over at 11:30 pm as I write this. We quickly found out that most places don't open till 9 or 10 so it was like walking around on a Sunday morning. Finally around noon we were crashing badly and called the hotel and hoofed it back and then zonked for about 3 hrs before having our group meeting at 6.

    Seems like a nice friendly group and tour director is great so those are good signs!

    We then headed back out on the streets again for a casual stroll to find dinner and then to visit the Anne Frank House. Dinner was so so. One of those times when you too tired to care! I'm going to post a number of photos in general and will try to caption later.

    One thing for sure we noticed during our stay in Amsterdam was the sheer number of bicycles and I’m telling you - you pay attention and learn to swivel your head constantly or you are going to get run over! For a bit more on the Amsterdam bike scene, check out this article - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10…

    If you want to get around on the metro in Amsterdam, then check out this site -https://www.amsterdamtips.com/transport-tickets    Read more

  • Gate 1 River Cruise
    Day 3

    Day 2 Amsterdam

    May 13, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 57 °F

    Was nice to finally get some sleep! Still not enough but after another one of these great European hotel breakfasts , we are beginning to feel human again! Scrambled eggs, tasty little sausages, good cheeses, nice greens for a nice side salad. Humongous pear to finish it off. Some good plain yogurt with ginger/coconut granola sprinkled on top, multiple coffees.

    Off for a bus city tour this morning at 9 and then we'll be jumping on a boat to explore the canals, followed by a food tour. That should finish us off.! Our tour director Bart is a former native of Amsterdam so that will be nice. He led tours for Europeans throughout the US for some 10 years , which explains why when we mentioned Winston- Salem, he said - ah tobacco - Reynolds family. That was a bit shocking to hear.

    Saw this portable wifi machine in the lobby of the hotel today. Kind of handy if you don't have a plan. https://www.hubbywifi.com    Read more

  • Gate 1 River Cruise
    Day 3

    Day 2 - Canal Ride

    May 13, 2023 in the Netherlands ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    Did the standard city bus tour which is ok but I'm not a huge fan. Fortunately , thanks to Google maps, I had downloaded an offline map of Amsterdam. Then I can pull it up anytime I want and see from the GPS exactly where the bus is en route and what direction it is moving. Helps to orient oneself. I can guarantee you most people would be clueless where they were. Personally I'd rather walk the city. If you know where you're going, you can plot the route on the map while still on wifi. Then just follow the little gps beacon as you walk. If you decide to alter the route, just jump on cellular for long enough for it to map the route, then put it back on airplane mode to avoid cellular charges. I also use iCloud for my photos so be sure to go into Settings/Photos/cellular Data and turn off uploading of photos while on cellular. That will stop it from auto uploading your photos if you happen to jump on cellular for a bit. So many things to remember!

    After the city bus tour , we jumped on a canal boat for an hour+ tour of the canals with narration. Nice sunny day. Wear sunscreen - dang it was hot on that boat. Lots of cool houses along the banks and houseboats.(for an explanation of all the gabled houses you see in Amsterdam, here is an excellent site -http://www.amsterdamforvisitors.com/canal-house…) Living on a houseboat isn't cheap and they allow only so many and you have to have a permit, so if you want to do that, you'd have to get someone to sell you their permit and those can cost you all the way up to a million bucks - whew. Getting a parking permit for your car in Amsterdam can take you 8-10 years and you only get a permit for your neighborhood and you might need to circle the block for 20 minutes till you find a spot. No wonder everyone is on a bike! (Amsterdam is a great place if you have suicidal tendencies - just step off a curb without looking!).    Read more

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