Packed and (Almost) Ready

♫ I've got Euros, I've got tickets, I've got stuff packed - who could ask for anything more? ♫

I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!

Off to a River Cruise

In just two more days I'm off to do a river cruise on the Danube from Nuremberg to Budapest!  This opportunity only came about two weeks ago, so I've been in kind of a whirlwind ever since.  Got to make sure my groups are all up to date, my outstanding payments are made, and all clients are as well taken care of as possible before I go.  You just can't leave a business when you are the one and only chick in charge.

I've wanted to do this cruise for at least five years.  Especially during the Christmas Markets which are supposed to be wonderful - guess I'll find that out for myself.  I LOVE Christmas.  Love giving.  Love the spirit of kindness and sharing, love families coming together, love the sights and sounds, the anticipation.  And I buy gifts all year ... I see something in July that I think "oh, my brother will love that" and I buy it when I'm thinking of it.  Then in December I go through the box of stuff in my closet and see what I've already bought and for whom.  One year I had to dust off my presents because I wrapped them so early.

I'm sailing with Viking River Cruises, which sent me a very nice document package including a great travel wallet that will come in very handy once I'm exploring. Things keep disappearing while I try to decide what to pack.  I've lost my camera at least five times in the last week alone (where the he** does it disappear to?).  Just had it this morning when I hooked it up to my new computer (bought a lightweight notebook - much better for traveling than the old trusty dinosaur I've dragged through at least six countries).  Still looking for the cord that connects my flipcam to my computer.  I was going to do a video on packing for a cruise, but not much point if I can't post it.  At least I will print out the packing list that's on my website so I don't forget my toothbrush.  I'm a little discombobulated.

My goal this trip is to become an expert on Christmas Market cruises.  I don't want to miss ANYTHING!  Viking River Cruises even has Cultural Courses on board.  For example:

• Hands-on demonstrations in cuckoo clock-making, wooden shoe-carving or glassblowing
• Classes in cooking specialties like apple strudel and Alsatian flammkuchen
• Traditional performances of folk music and dance, or waltzes by Strauss
• Tastings of local cheeses, coffees, liqueurs and other delicacies 

I ordered several books on Germany, Austria and Hungary from Amazon.com, but of course will not have time to read them all before I go.  Am halfway through the first of four - at least I'm trying.

Okay, you get it.  I'm excited.  I've got to buckle down to real work now.  Keep an eye on my blog for the sights and don't forget to look for the weird souvenir of the day.  Maybe you'll win it!

CruiseWorld 2011 - What a Show!

Wow! I just returned from an information packed 4-days at CruiseWorld 2011 in Ft. Lauderdale.  It was so tempting to keep driving past FLL to Key Biscayne, my home of 40 years (I moved to Jacksonville, FL last week), but in a heretofore undiscovered burst of discipline, I headed to the Broward County Convention Center instead.

The Convention Center is enormous (600,000 square feet) and Cruise World only took up part of it, but I know I walked several miles in my gray suede pumps on day one.  I'll  spare you any gory pictures, but the first day blisters were enormous and painful.  A heartfelt thank you goes out to Joanie Ogg for the blister bandages!  By the end of the day I felt like there were nails being pounded into my little toes with every step.  I limped home to my brother's house, my head full of new ideas, but suffering from "de agony of de feet".

With Diane Churchy-Horan of AMAWaterways

In addition to gathering tons of information and about 40 lbs of new brochures, I also made some great contacts at the convention.  Here I am with Diane Churchy-Horan of AMA Waterways, one of the premier river cruise lines in Europe.  Having determined to increase my focus on river cruises in the coming year I was really glad to finally meet Diane and hope to get to know her well. AMA Waterways sails the rivers of Europe, Russia, Vietnam, Cambodia and beginning in June 2012... Africa!   Imagine taking an African Safari & Wildlife Cruise ... this really sounds over-the-top!  Check out the MS Zambizi Queen - what more could one ask?

I also got to know Eric Molina of Viking River Cruises, probably the best known and most sailed river cruise ships in the world.  Like AMA Waterways, Viking River Cruises offers classical Danube, Rhine & Volga river cruises, but they also have cruises in China & SE Asia; not to mention the great cruises down the Nile in Egypt.  My clients who have sailed with Viking River Cruises have invariably come back to me with rave reviews, I wish I could have recorded them for you to hear.

With Eric Molina - Viking River Cruises

BUT ... speaking of recording testimonials so that other people can listen to them, apparently there is a free program on the internet that allows you to do just that and add it to your web site (one of the amazing internet offerings that various seminars revealed to me this week).  It's going to take awhile to figure out all the new technology I heard about - it seriously has my head swimming - but I'm going to stop blogging now and get started on one or two of the new items on my three page "To Do & To Learn" list!

Next up - touring the Norwegian Epic!