Eastbound T/A ... Westbound Air

Busy day here in Colorado Springs ... finalizing some 2020 travel logistics.

Taking advantage of Cyber Monday sales, yesterday I booked two cabins on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas. Full payment made today.

This Oasis-class ship is a true behemoth that can carry 6,700+ passengers when booked at full capacity. I am hoping that our 1 March crossing to Europe will be closer to 5,000+🤞🏻. The ship will easily be the biggest one we've ever set sail on. Not sure how I feel about it, but the price was good ... and the date worked with our plans to get to Europe before the end of March. As well, our Elite+ standing with Celebrity's Captain's Club will be reciprocated as Diamond in RCI’s Crown & Anchor Club ... a few perks never hurt.

Frankly, I was surprised at how late the eastbound T/As sail from the US. None of our preferred cruise lines leave until April. Oh well. One good thing about the Allure OTS ... there should be plenty to keep us busy on the nine-day crossing. Yup, nine days instead of the usual 6-7 days ... all because there is only one port of call in Málaga, Spain before we disembark in Barcelona on 13 March ... good thing we are not superstitious about that number!

While I was in travel agent mode, I decided to take care of some airfare needs as well. First up ... I booked us on Southwest Airlines from Denver to Ft Lauderdale to embark Allure OTS on 1 March. We decided to add a few days in Florida pre-embarkation, so the date of the flight is set for 27 February. We'll Uber up to Denver to catch our Southwest flight.

Then I booked us on THY from Barcelona to İzmir after we disembark Allure OTS. Too bad it's not a direct flight. We'll have to go through İstanbul ... sigh.

Next, I turned my attention to the flight Mui and I need to get us to the UK to embark Oceania's Marina in Southampton on May 25. Here I lucked out with a Sun Express flight direct from İzmir to London Luton Airport (LTN) ... at a very good price. The only problem? This low-cost carrier operates only on select days ... in this case on May 22. What to do? Add a few pre-cruise days and do some sightseeing in the UK of course.

A few logistics details remain ... booking accommodations for our three nights in Florida; getting from Luton to wherever we want to spend time before our European Quest cruise and figuring out where to stay; getting from Southampton to Gatwick after the cruise. I'll deal with all that another day.Read more