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2019 Europe Trip

Juli - August 2019
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    Day 1 Wgton, Christchurch to Singapore

    30. Juli 2019 in Neuseeland ⋅ 🌧 11 °C

    30/819-01/08/19

    Getting There....

    A somewhat mixed start to the trip. We arrived at Wellington airport in good time for our flight to Christchurch so that we could take a look at the new Rydges hotel and have a drink in their house bar. All well and good so far and having done that we made our way back into the terminal to go to the lounge. The airport was packed and I couldn’t get Christine in as they were accepting no guests so we had to fork out for our own refreshments......

    The rest of the journey to Christchurch was uneventful and we stayed the night at the Sudima hotel which is walking distance (in the freezing drizzle) from Chch airport. I say uneventful, but when Christine unpacked her suitcase she found a note from airport security telling her that her rechargeable power pack had been confiscated and destroyed as they can’t be taken in the hold of an aircraft! We walked back to the airport in the morning (just freezing this time....) to find our flight was delayed by an hour. Still we have a 5 hour turn around in Singapore so hopefully no dramas there and we had to amuse ourselves in the deserted international koru lounge at Christchurch until boarding. We bumped into another couple we’ve met at various travel related events over the years and they were on the same flight en route to Bali to meet their daughter.

    Did I say 5 hour turn around...? Well despite our flight being late arriving, our flight to Heathrow was even more delayed and didn’t leave until 2.55am local time (we arrived at 7pm). I’ve now seen more of the lounge at terminal 2 in Singapore than I ever wanted to....

    The photos show the view from Rydges Airport Hotel in Wellington, our Christchurch hotel, the view from the international terminal in Chch, the “packed” koru lounge and the beer I had with dinner last night!    Weiterlesen

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    Day 2 Southampton

    2. August 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Sometimes things don’t go quite as planned which seems to be a bit of a recurring theme so far... The delay meant we had to jump on-line and change our transport arrangements to Southampton (at a cost of an extra 20 pounds).

    So the flight from Singapore was delayed, and delayed, eventually taking off just after 3 am. The flight itself was pretty uneventful with a sleeping pill ensuing 9 of the 13 hour flight passed with me knowing nothing about it. We were just about to land at Heathrow (literally just over the end of the airport) when we had to do an emergency go around as there was a plane on the runway in the way. Luckily no issue apart from from some startled looks on the passengers faces and we eventually landed safely.

    A quick trip through immigration and then onto the loser cruiser (err...bus) to Southampton arriving about 2.30pm. We are staying at the Premier Inn West Quay which is pretty basic but close to the centre of the city. So we walked down to the Sea City museum to visit the Titanic exhibition and history of the Southampton (both really good).

    While we were there we saw some photos and commentary about Robert Hickens who was the grandfather of a friend of Christines (Deidre) and the Quartermaster on the Titanic. More of him later as we have a special job to do when we get to the Titanic Experience in Belfast.

    We went out for dinner and were going to a local pub (the Titanic) which is cute from the outside (see attached picture) but really basic and I don’t say that lightly. It had a small but friendly crowd of regulars so we had a couple of drinks there and adjourned to the nearby Standing Order pub for actual dinner.

    An early night as we were both knackered after about 38 hours of travel/faffing around.

    Photos attached show our seats from Chch to Singapore; Singapore Airport terminal 3; seats on the much delayed flight to Heathrow; the double round approach to Heathrow; the Standing Order pub; the Titanic pub; the old City Gates Southampton; a bio of Deirdre’s grandfather; a mock up of class 2 Titanic cabin; a article from an April 1912 newspaper again featuring Dee’s grandfather.    Weiterlesen

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    Day 3 Isle of Wight

    3. August 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    About 16 months ago during our last trip in Japan we attempted an epic public transportation challenge, well today we undertook a similar journey across to the Isle of Wight. Now I had been hoping for a little bit of inside information as a colleague of mine had recently been to the UK and planned to go, however she decided that the sites of Leeds were more alluring so no insights were to be had....

    We left the hotel at about 8.45 and typically having just missed one, took the 9.45 train from Southampton to Portsmouth which stops at every lamppost between Southampton and Portsmouth and then caught the bus down to Southsea. From there the day’s transportation highlight - a hovercraft. Yes, the last remaining hover passenger service in the world runs from Southsea to Ryde, it’s an epic ten (!!!) minute journey across the mighty (you’ll have to take my word for that) Solent channel.

    By the time we arrived it was after midday and time for lunch, so after a walk up (and I mean up, it’s a steep little township) the Ryde Main Street for a look around, we went back to the waterfront to the Royal Esplanade pub for lunch. That was nice enough, but there was no time to linger as we had legs four, five and six to complete.

    That involved a bus trip to Newport in the middle of the island on a double decker and we managed to score the front seats on the top deck for a rapid trip through the pretty Isle of Wight countryside. From there it’s a connecting bus and an equally foot to the floor ride down to Cowes. Honestly you’d have thought we were on the Isle of Mann the way those drivers wrestled those buses rapidly through the narrow roads, and getting into the Cowes bus stop involved some of the tightest and best manoeuvring of a large bus I’ve ever seen. These guys must have been failed F1 drivers at some point...

    Cowes is famous for the yachting regatta that takes place each year and as the starting point for the Fastnet classic, a famous open water yacht race that back in the late 70’s resulted in some really tragic loss of life as a big storm blew in. The Fastnet started today and happily there were no weather dramas to report. After a walk through Cowes township we decided a trip to another pub was in order so repaired to the Fountain Hotel next to the large yacht harbour.

    After a quick pint of an underwhelming lager (and a half of berry cider for Christine) we caught the Redjet fast ferry for the 25 minute journey back to Southampton to complete the round trip and arrived back to our hotel (by foot) at about 4.30pm.

    We’ve sussed out a nice restaurant down by the waterfront for dinner and we have the morning in the city before boarding the Nautica in the early afternoon. Ship’s wifi permitting, I’ll report in after that...

    Photos attached show.... Our hovercraft!!; Our Hovercraft from another angle!!; me on the hovercraft!!; a rare slow point of view from the bus; the Main Street of Ryde: the Royal Esplanade pub (pubs may become a recurring theme so be warned); the Redjet fast ferry (with it’s slow cousin the background); the dining room of the Royal Esplanade pub (featuring me at the bar!).    Weiterlesen

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    Days 4 and 5 Southampton/Bon Voyage

    4. August 2019 in England ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    We had a bit of free time on Sunday morning as we weren’t due to board the Nautica until 1 pm. So I went out for another walk early, making it as far as St Mary’s stadium (home of Southampton FC). Typically for a lot of British stadia it is in the middle of an industrial/council housing area but only a 15 minute (if you know where you’re going) walk from the city centre.

    Also typically there a few signs pointing you in the general direction and you can often see the place but it takes a series of dead end guesses as to which actual street is the correct one! Anyway several false starts and curse words later, I found it (see attached photo) and took an alternative route back to town.

    Following that we did a bit of shopping and took the 3 minute taxi ride to the ship. Boarding was really easy and we were having lunch and a drink within 15 minutes of turning up dockside.

    Hotel review.... We stayed at the Premier Inn Westquay. Pros - it’s really close to town, the port and transport routes and it’s pretty cheap. Cons - just about everything else. It has no reception to speak of, the rooms are really basic (no fridge!), and there aren’t too many staff around to do anything.

    We are en route to Edinburgh and had a sea day for the first day of the cruise so not much to report or see. Lots of reading, forming of quiz teams, playing of games and lazing around.

    Photos attached ..... Southampton FC’s St Mary’s Stadium, Central Hall and the Premier Inn Westquay.    Weiterlesen

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    Day 6 Edinburugh, Scotland

    6. August 2019 in Schottland ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Edinburgh, or the Dunedin of the North as some with a very vivid imagination might describe it. We arrived to a really great Scottish summer’s day, well it was raining and about 17 degrees so pretty typical I guess. It got better as the day went (see photos for evidence) and didn’t rain during our entire time ashore.

    We docked in Leigh which is a seaside suburb and were berthed right next to the former royal yacht Britannia (more of that later). We did not have a tour booked so went into the city and walked the Royal Mile which runs between Edinburgh Castle at the top end and Holyrood Palace/the Scottish Parliament at the other with a few side excursions into the small lanes and surrounding streets.

    The Edinburgh fringe festival was well underway and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo is about to start it’s run, so the city was packed and really lively. We walked for bloody miles interrupted by a stop at the Castle Arms for a drink and the World’s End pub for lunch (photos attached...). We didn’t go into the castle grounds as it was chaos up there with thousands of people on site. Lots of Harry Potter themed stuff around as it was the place where J K Rowling wrote the first of the novels. Loved the city, it’s extremely picturesque and well laid out.

    After returning to Leith we went and did the tour of the Britannia which is well worthwhile if you’re ever in town. It’s smaller than you might imagine but did play host to most world leaders at some point up until it’s decommissioning in 1997.

    Ship life update - our newly formed trivia team (4 Americans, 2 Canadians and us) finished second on day one of the ship team trivia contest, beaten by a team that got a perfect score. On day 2 we were forth (there are about ten teams) and the same team that won on day 1 got a perfect score again, I’m a little suspicious.....

    The photos show... The Royal Mile, leading up to the castle; the Elephant House cafe above which J K Rowling wrote the first of the Harry Potter books; Victoria terrace overlooking Victoria Street; Edinburgh Castle with me in the foreground; the Tollbooth Tavern on the Royal Mile; the grounds outside the Castle ready for the Tattoo; the World’s End pub with me in the foreground again; the Queen’s bedroom on Britannia; the Royal yacht Britannia; the Castle Arms where we had a drink on the terrace.    Weiterlesen

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    Day 7 Kirkwall, Orkney Islands

    7. August 2019 in Schottland ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Kirkwall, heard of it? Well I’m guessing probably not so I’ll tell you a little about it. It is the capital of the Orkney Islands situated off the northern end of the Scottish mainland and was a key naval stronghold in both world wars. The township itself is larger than we expected and appears to have about 9000 people living there with a good array of sites, shops and pubs.

    The weather can be challenging but played ball for us today with temps about 14 - 16 degrees and no rain. Remember this absolute peak summer.... Regardless it is a really pretty place with a surprising amount to see. We didn’t do any of the formal tours on offer, instead deciding to find our own entertainment.

    That consisted of firstly a visit to the wireless museum, it’s tiny but packed with old radio equipment, games and gimmicks, including a game of the original Pong which we played and should you ever find yourself in the area, part willingly with the 3 pound entry fee and treat yourself to some old radio nostalgia (see photos!).

    Then off to the actual Orkney Museum to take a look at the exhibition they had about the scuttling of the German Fleet at the end of the First World War. 52 ships were scuttled in Scapa Flow (the area of water almost completely surrounded by the Orkney Islands) by the German Navy commander after they were forced to surrender and sent to the Orkneys where they could be kept secure and boxed in.

    There is also the remnants of an Earls’ Palace, a really large non-denominational cathedral, some lovely shops in a pedestrian area and about 6 pubs!

    We had lunch (and a pint of Orkney Gold for me) at the largest of the Hotels - the Kirkwall, my lunch included a haggis filling which was very tasty.

    The islanders consider themselves to be as much Norwegian as they are Scottish, although that said we were farewelled by the local highland dance troupe!

    Trivia Update - our team was reduced to 6 tonight but still managed second place and we were well happy with that.

    Photos - Highland Dancers waving us goodbye; the Kirkwall Hotel; the Wireless Museum; Pong!; Downtown (me in foreground again), Earls’ Palace (i am again in the way); the Bishop’s Palace; St Magnus Cathedral    Weiterlesen

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    Day 8 Torshavn, Faroe Islands

    8. August 2019 in Färöer ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    The Faroe Islands are a self governing nation and a semi dependant part of Denmark using the Danish currency and military but otherwise a fully functioning nation of it’s own. There are 52,000 Faroese, most of them living in two towns, with Torshavn the capital having about 22,000 citizens.

    We (along with some other fellow passengers) had arranged an independent walking tour of the city in the morning and a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) tour of the sea caves and Puffin colonies in the afternoon. The walking tour was interesting enough but the guide we had (her name is almost unpronouncable in English) over explained everything and a result the tour moved at glacial pace. Too slow for us and after an hour we left them to it so we could conduct our own walking tour of Torshavn, the unintended highlight being when Christine locked herself in a restroom when the handle fell off the inside of the door!

    Anyway she was quickly rescued and in a massive irony the exact same thing happened to one of our companions later in the day, says something for the quality of Faroese toilets I guess....

    The RIB tour was fantastic, we saw heaps of Puffins, a seal swimming in the ocean and the sea caves and sea stacks were amazing, the boats were able to get right inside the caves and in one case all the way through to the other side. Really rugged country, I’m not sure the photos are able to do it justice.

    Trivia update - again only a six but we had a win. The team that had won every day to date were short of their two key players and didn’t even feature in the top 4.

    Photos - Tórshavn old town; grass roofed houses; RIB tour; the suits we wore while on the RIB; a sea stack; the next few are sea caves/sea stacks.    Weiterlesen

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    Day 9 Cruising the Atlantic Ocean

    9. August 2019, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Not much to report today, a day at sea moving between the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Seas have been a little rough and the temps are starting to drop noticeably.

    We have seen a few pods of passing dolphins though, see pictures attached.

    Photos - passing pod of dolphins.    Weiterlesen

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    Day 10 Akureyri, Iceland

    10. August 2019 in Island ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    We arrived early in Akureyri (a ku rare ri) and had arranged another independent tour with 10 other passengers. It was a long day of Waterfalls, thermal activity and hot springs.... Akureyri is Iceland’s second largest city with a population of around 22,000.

    We first visited Godafoss (waterfall of the gods) which is a little like the Huka Falls only a bit bigger. By this time it was apparent that Iceland was going to live up to its name as it was getting seriously cold. The supposed top temp for the day was meant to be 7 degrees but if it reached that I’d be surprised and we had driving wind and sleety rain most of the day.

    That did put a downer on bits of the day as it was just too cold and wet to really appreciate the sites we were seeing. this became especially apparent at the Dentafoss Waterfall (forgive the spelling) which is Europe’s most powerful waterfall and seriously impressive. Unfortunately by the time we arrived the weather was at it’s worst and it is a posted 15 minute walk to the falls from the car park.

    Christine and I managed to do it in about 7 minutes with the rest of our group trailing way behind but it was so cold and wet we literally took a couple of photos and headed back. Despite our rain gear we were seriously wet and cold when we got back to the van. Then it was off to the Myvatn Hot springs where I was the only one of our group brave enough to take a swim (and it was well worth it!).

    We saw some Game of Thrones filming locations and view other scenic locations featuring lava fields and lava stacks.

    Trivia update - we had been on a run of first and second places but came crashing back to earth today, not featuring in the top five.

    Photos - Godafoss falls; and another shot of Godafoss; me (wearing almost every piece of clothing I bought with me) in front of some lava stacks; lake Myvatn’s crater lake; Dentafoss falls; Myvatn baths; another shot of the baths (I’m in there somewhere...).    Weiterlesen

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    Day 11 Isafjordur, Iceland

    11. August 2019 in Island ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

    Isafjordur I think roughly translates to icy fjord which is fair enough as even in the middle of the Icelandic summer it was pretty cold. We had arrived hoping/expecting to be able to go whale watching. Unfortunately due to the weather and poor sea conditions, that got cancelled so we were left to our own devices in this thriving metropolis....

    Well actually it’s a small township of about 4000 people and as it was a Sunday there wasn’t much open, so after a quick trip into town which mostly consisted of having a hot chocolate in a local cafe so we could use the wifi, we came back to the ship after only a couple of hours ashore. As it happened most of the ship was back on board soon after midday as the afternoon excursions were cancelled as well (again due to weather). I didn’t think it was quite as a cold as the previous day, but the forecast top temp was 5 degrees, you’ve got to love an Icelandic summer....

    Ship life update - Christine had a “win” at bingo! She won $65, but having spent $25 that day and the previous day that bingo was played meant she is only up $15, but still...

    Trivia Update - another day another second place. The team that usually gets everything correct had their gun players back and predictably beat us with a perfect score to our 19/21.

    It may be a couple of days until we can post this and the Greenland updates as the wifi access is getting pretty limited. Will post a couple of around the ship shots as well as we have a couple of sea days coming up.

    Photos attached... 1; the only place in town you can buy alcohol (I had hoped to get some Icelandic beer or wine, but being Sunday this photo of the outside is as close as we got.. 2; the Viking Sky also in port that day (it’s the same ship that almost sunk off the coast of Denmark - NB may have been Germany... a few months ago. 3; Downtown! 4; Isafjordur harbour    Weiterlesen

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