Ready To Be A Part Of This Movement!!

ZODIAC Pin

B&K Escorted Cruisers pin - ZODIAC is the acronym for Zooming Over a Downunder Icy Antarctic Continent

Fears and B!tching!!

I was awake at 6:00am thinking about packing for my Antarctica trip, leaving in 39 days!!!!!  From Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, we are limited to two checked pieces of luggage weighing 44 lbs each.  The one carry on can weigh 11 lbs.  So I got up and put my netbook on my Weight Watchers scale..... it hit the bottom.  No idea what it weighs.  Then put my SLR camera on......14 ozs. OK, so maybe I can get my netbook, camera and meds in a carry on weighing 11 lbs or under. 

On Wednesday, I heard from my TA's office saying that my documents had arrived and they are ready to send them out.  Using the FedEx tracking system, I found out that my docs arrived in Wilson yesterday around 8:30am.  So I called the 800 number and was told my docs won't be delivered until Tuesday.  Now does this make sense?  My docs have to sit in a warehouse 2 miles from me for 3 days.  Since I am back in the working world, until Dec. 16th, I won't be home.  Lucky for me, my good neighbor, Lynn will sign for my docs.  I could be devouring those docs over and over... but know, I wait until Tuesday.

ZODIAC Itinerary

Some of you LCTers know that when Ngaire takes an escorted cruise, each cruise has a name.  My Antarctic cruise is named ZODIAC (Zooming Over Down under  Icy Antarctic Continent).  I was fortunate to have named this cruise!  My travel agent purchases lapel pins for us with an icon.  Can't wait to see this pin!  Below is our cruise itinerary.

 Here is a map of our route.

Shopping for Antarctica

January 2012 will take me to my 7th continent.  Boy, am I excited.

Here is a look at my itinerary on the Silversea Silver Explorer.  I am traveling with my good cruise buddy, Betty from Houston.  I've cruised with Betty twice before, but this time we will be roommates.  Does she know what she's getting into?  Just teasing, Betty.  For those of you who know me well, Crystal can't go on this trip.... she has her winter conference during the cruise.  But we hope to take a Flat Crystal with us!!!  I told Crystal, when she can go to Antarctica, I'll go back with her.  ;-)

Last week, I headed to REI in Durham for my gear that included  2 pairs of wool socks, silk socks liners, merino wool sock liners, waterproof Gore-Tex 3-in-1 Mittens with glove cats,  a neck gaiter, ski goggles, waterproof pants, fleece cap that covers my ears and cap retainer, and a silk base layer.  This was an impromptu visit and I didn't have my list.  Didn't do too bad from memory, I think I only forgot my trekking poles.  Those will have to wait, but then I can use my REI membership discount.  I had already purchased my cuddledud type tops at Smithfield a few weeks ago.  With the three layers we need to wear for our zodiac landings, we should all look like polar bears.  Lucky for us, our parkas will be waiting for us when we arrive on the Explorer in Ushuaia, Argentina.  One less then I have to pack.

more later.......

Rainy Edinburgh

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Arriving In Southampton and Our Ship

The Voyager in Southampton

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

London Saturday, Aug. 6-9, 2011

Our plane trip was uneventful even with 3 children under the age of 4 close by.  When we first got into our seats and I heard a sort of screaming baby, I cringed.  After everyone settled in, all was well.  Though I may have gotten around 2 hours of sleep and watched part of Arthur (the new version) on the plane, I felt ok.  We got off the plane, went through immigration, gathered our luggage, found our driver booked through - info@londonairporttransport.co.uk/, and were on our way into London. From the time our plane landed and stepping since our home for two nights at the Crown Plaza Kensington, it took 1 hr and 20 minutes.  Unbelievable!

Our driver was congenial and also brought our friends, Trish and Dave arriving later that day.  The receptionist, Daniella, was friendly and efficient.  We are paying with our room at the “Clown”” Plaza with Priority Points through my credit card…. Wonderful inventions!  Our room at the CP has two double beds, looks over a nice garden beside St. Stephens Church and worked nicely as our home base until we move to The Chesterfield Mayfair on Monday.  After settling in, we showered and immediately went to sleep for a few hours.

After waking up and taking showers, we headed to the lobby and reached our friends who had just arrived and gotten into their room.  We asked the concierge who was most helpful during our stay at the CP-K for restaurants, and they were only a few blocks up the road.  After lunch, we walked around Kensington and happened on a pub, The Stanford Arms, just a block from our hotel.  We all hoisted a local beer and enjoyed the setting.  When we returned to our hotel, we hit the bar, made friends with the bartender and found a nice little cove to enjoy talking and making plans for our next two days in London.

On Sunday morning the news on the TV was all about the fire in Tottenham the night before.  Throughout our stay in London we were not affected by the riots at all.  We were all well rested nap and a good breakfast at Garfinkels (2 breakfast for 10Ls) we got our Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) tickets, changing to a two day pass and hoped on the top of the bus and saw the sights.  The traffic was extremely heavy that morning as there was a marathon going on in the city.  We saw the biking segment later that afternoon around Buckingham Palace later that afternoon.  Around 1:00pm we were near Piccadilly Circus, and we had to be at the Palace for our 2:00pm ticket pick up, so we hopped off and walked down Piccadilly.  Having stayed at the Park Lane in London a few times, I was familiar with the area, so we walked as I looked for my markers.  We had a great stroll and we made it to the Palace with plenty of time to spare.  The queue to get into the Palace was long, we were moved quickly to our time. 

The Palace was opulent to say the least, but the queen is one of the richest women in the world.  The Palace is both a home and a work sight.  Kate’s wedding dress was on display and it was a draw for many.  It certainly was beautiful, but I liked the cake.  All the special flowers and decorations were intricate and looked good enough to eat!  We could also get closer to the cake than the dress.  As our tour ended onto a back lawn, it was pouring rain.  We walked to the gift shop and then the exit.  Along the way, we splashed through many mud puddles and my sneakers ended up with some Royal Mud on them…..  picture enclosed.

After a walk towards the next HOHO stop, we found a pub (imagine that!) and stopped for lunch/dinner and a beer.  We found our HOHO bus and headed back to Kensington, passing Harrods on the way.  We dropped our stuff in our rooms and found our special corner and our favorite bartender.  

On Monday, we got up, ate breakfast at Garfinkels again and checked out, leaving our luggage for later.  We found our HOHO bus and settled in for the day.  The Kensington area of London is serviced by the blue line, so we road to Marble Arch and changed to the red line.  On this route, we went through Trafalger Square, by Parliament and Big Ben, over to the London Eye, London Bridge, the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London.  When we returned to Marble Arch, we got the blue line westbound and stopped at Harrods.  I have been in London a few times and my visit to Harrods was my first.  We walked slowly around ogling all the finery, through the food court, up the famous Egyptian Elevator to the third floor.  We found Florian’s Café and had lunch.  We made no purchases at Harrods, but headed back to the HOHO stop and caught our bus back to Kensington, gathered our luggage, hopped into a taxi and our next stop was the Chesterfield Mayfair, our included Regent hotel.

 The Chesterfield is a very nice, very English hotel with fabric wall coverings. 

Crystal and I were given our key and we told the bellman our room number.  Our key didn’t seem to work, so I left Crystal and went back to registration.  I was told I had gone to the wrong room.  With a smile on my face, I said, showing the young lady the number she had written on my card, “I went to the right room.”  She corrected herself and our keys were rekeyed for the room across the hall.  When I returned, Crystal was beginning to settle in our first room with our luggage.  We then noticed a nice plate of strawberries in our room….. hmmmmm.  Looking at the card, they were sent to someone else.  Darn!  We checked out our new room that was set up with a king bed.  That would not do, so I called reception and was told they would check on it.  After waiting 15 minutes, I called reception again and was told our beds would be switched out at turn down.  OK, got bags moved, settled in, found Trish and Dave and found a pub for some drinks.  We enjoyed the local flavor, I was on wine by this time.

More later……..

Off to Jolly Old England

Wednesday, I depart home to begin my England sojourn.  After spending two nights with Crystal in DC, we fly to Heathrow.  Crystal's friends, Trish and Dave will be joining us at the hotel and we'll hit the ground running.  We have tickets to tour Buckingham Palace  and would like to see a West End show.  Crystal and I want to take a whirl on The London Eye. 

Trish, Crystal and I have had such fun planning for this cruise.  Crystal and I have been to London before (my last time was in 1994, I think) so we will be enjoying the city through the eyes of new visitors!

Two nights we are staying in a hotel in the Kensington area and our final night we'll be in Mayfair.  Tuesday morning we'll take the ship's shuttle to Southampton and our home for 10 nights, the Regent Seven Seas Voyager.  Regent has named our cruise, Celtic Charms.  The itinerary is:

In true LCT fashion, I named our cruise CHARMS ( Cruising Heraldic Areas: Royals, Mansions and Scotch).  So from hence we will be called the CHARMerS.  Pictured above is our virtual pin.

A Trippy Summer

Well, with Memorial Day Weekend here, it's time for summer vacations.  I am taking three small trips in the US and two out of the country.

My short trips include a visit with my sister in Arizona.  It'll be nice to visit with her and her guy, my niece, nephews and meet my grand-nephew.  He's 5 so it's about time we get acquainted.  Another trip is to DC to visit my good buddy, Crystal and see Wicked for the first time.  I purchased the CD a few months ago and sing almost all the songs with no help.  Luckily I know most of the plot with the exceptions of two major points in the story, so there will be some excitement!  One more US trip might take me to New Jersey to have a mini reunion with my Aussie friend, Lee, her son, Michael and my other good cruise buddies from Cleveland, Kathy and Al.

Now for the out-of-country trips... to be continued.....