No Set Plans As Yet

Our 2024 Southern Hemisphere summer/fall travels — winter/spring back home in Colorado — brought us Down Under ... where we disembarked our cruise in Hobart, Tasmania yesterday to begin aLæs mere
Eastern Euro Capitals with Viking

We're still in Tasmania.
Should have been overnighting in Bicheno! Instead, we kept going and arrived in Prospect Vale … a suburb of Launceston.
The change in plans gave us downtime this afternoonLæs mere
Airfare: USA to Türkiye via Canada

We've moved on from Tasmania to mainland Australia.
At present, we are camping at the Bathers Paradise Caravan Park in Esperance, Western Australia. We spent today at Cape La Grand National Park ...Læs mere
NCL TransAtlantic Back Home

Moved north from Esperance to Kalgoorlie today ... still in Western Australia. What a difference 235 miles makes.
Where Esperance is known for its turquoise waters on the coast of the GreatLæs mere
Cha-Ching: Viking Paid in Full

The news in Perth today — as we start to wrap up the RV trip that brought us clear across Australia — was the temperature.
Not that the temps were above normal ... as they have been on and offLæs mere
Finally: THY Flying from DEN

The news is not unexpected! It just took a year or two for it to become reality.
We learned of the commencement of the long-awaited THY flight from DEN to IST [İstanbul International Airport] earlyLæs mere
NCL’s Military Appreciation Pgm

Saved a bit of money on the Encore TransAtlantic!
We were still in Australia when we booked this cruise. Before doing so, I had checked for any discounts and came across their Military AppreciationLæs mere
Pre- & Post River Cruise

We always try to add time before and after a cruise ... be it ocean or river. The longer the better ... if we can swing the days.
Before we could do so for the Eastern European Capitals river cruise,Læs mere
Vienna Pre-Cruise Logistics ✓

Our pre-cruise departure from İzmir to Vienna is set for 9 October.
We'll be flying out of ADB nonstop on SunExpress. It's not often that we find a flight that works for us without having to goLæs mere
Bucharest Post-Cruise Logistics ✓

With our departure from Bucharest set for 30 October, another set of logistics for our river cruise got completed today.
We were hoping that we could fly SunExpress nonstop back to İzmir.Læs mere
Pre-T/A Logistics ✓

Flight … bus … hotel!
All of the logistics for our pre-cruise overnight before embarking NCL Encore on 3 December are complete.
We didn't want to take more time away from our family visit. So,Læs mere
NCL Re-Fared

Was it worth it?
Maybe. Maybe not. But it is a done deal. And I was on the phone no more than 5 minutes to get our fare reduced based on the current promo.
Who cares if this re-faring falls into theLæs mere
Cha-Ching: NCL Paid in Full

With final payment for our Encore TransAtlantic due on Monday, I did the deed today.
I've also completed my sightseeing research for the three ports of call on this cruise. We will DIY it all theLæs mere
NCL Itinerary Change #1

An NCLH company after all!
So, no surprise that we got an itinerary change right after the final payment deadline yesterday … while we were on our way to Denver for some sightseeing.
Yeah, yeah. ILæs mere
NCL Upgrade Bid Game

Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Isn’t that what they say? So, when we received an email from NCL today to bid for an upgrade for our TransAtlantic cruise, we decided to play the game ...Læs mere
🚘 & Driver to DEN … ✔️

Uber. Private driver. One-way car rental. These have always been options for us when past trips required us to get to or from DEN.
Often, the car rental rates have been less than the cost of a carLæs mere
MIA-DEN Logistics ✓

After many months of checking for a reasonably-priced flight to return us to Colorado Springs at the end of our fall-winter trip, today we made a decision and took the plunge.
Since the fares on 15Læs mere
Xmas in September?

No. Not celebrating Christmas in September.
Just doing a little early prep work.
You see, we don't return home until mid-December. So, we figured that we would put up the tree and a few decorationsLæs mere
At DEN

With bags packed yesterday, and a flight departure not until this evening, we had a relaxing start to our travel day.
The car service picked us up on time. No traffic to hinder our progress … weLæs mere
Welcome to IST

Have landed in İstanbul … one more flight to go to reach our destination later today.
Arrived in İzmir

Our 7:00p flight from İstanbul to İzmir had a slight delay but was otherwise uneventful. Just 45 minutes or so from wheels up to wheels down and we were on the ground at ADB.
By 9:00p, havingLæs mere
Reunion of the Cousins

We’ve been in İzmir a few days now.
Adjusted to the 9-hour time difference from Colorado. Established our daily routine … at least for now … that will change when we move to our usual digsLæs mere
Cheers!

While we were at dinner last night with Mui’s cousins, my brother (Deniz) arrived in İzmir. Like us, he lives in the USA, but has been traveling in Europe for a couple of weeks before joining usLæs mere
BIL Outing

While I was busy with mom today, the BILs [brothers in law] went out for errands and food.
This year, Deniz reached that ‘magic age’ when public transportation in İzmir has become free for him.Læs mere
Fam Dinner & Anniversary x2

Hard to believe it's been a week since I last wrote and just under two weeks since we arrived in Izmir.
Mui has been out and about a few times with Deniz ... mostly to run errands. I have beenLæs mere