Day -1 – Tomorrow is the beginning of this vacation. According to Ancestry DNA, I am 23% Scottish, 50% English and 10% Irish so I’m pretty excited about exploring the Scottish ancestry since two of the three ports are areas where my ancestors were born. I could only focus on one of the three so Scotland won this time.
Robert was not able to accompany me on this trip so my best friend, Diana, will be filling in as we celebrate her upcoming retirement. We have already been upgraded to an XL Sea Terrace on one of my favorite ship, the Scarlet Lady on Virgin Voyages.
Check-in has been accomplished. Thanks to help from Point.me I’m flying First Class and Business class to London (not so lucky on the return)
Follow me for reports from the road. 😉
I boarded the plane in Dallas, unbelievably on time! Though my friend, Diana, was not so lucky. Fortunately with a sprint through O’Hare she made it to her connecting flight to find that it had also been delayed. 😳 Anyway, pretty smooth flight to JFK where I had a little over an hour before boarding my next flight.
While in JFK I thought of going to the Admiral’s Club but didn’t feel like making the hike so I decided to take a short walk in the airport and I found a Minute Suites. I had never noticed these before and I had just received my Priority Pass membership this morning (PP gives me access to the Minute Suites) so I decided to try it out. Cece was great at explaining how it works. Basically you get one hour in a small room with a desk, TV, and a queen sized daybed. I didn’t need (or want) a nap so elected to do a little work on the blog and give Robert a call. It was nice and quiet and relaxing. These will come in handy, if they have them, when we have layovers after a long flight. Would be nice for taking a short nap between flights.
Next to my lovely cubicle on my flight to London.
Now, on this flight I heard something I’ve never heard before. A series of announcements from the Captain went something like this:
“This is your Captain speaking. I want to remind everyone that the flight attendants are an extension of me. If a flight attendant asks you to do something, you can consider it a request from me. Please respect them in the same manner you would treat me.”
Ten minutes later:
“This is your Captain again. If you are in a seat for which you did not pay, please return to your assigned seat. Just a reminder that a request from a flight attendant is a request from me.”
Five minutes later (in a stern voice):
“This is the Captain again. Once again I’m going to tell you to return to your assigned seat. I will land this plane if I have to!! Do not test me!”
I never saw who caused the commotion but since there were no more announcements I can only assume that the response was eventually, “Yes, Daddy, I’ll be good.” Either that or the other passengers put them back in their assigned seat and sat on them.
Day 1 – Arrival, Portsmouth, and Southampton
We arrived in London with no more drama and fifteen minutes early. With a relatively easy walk, though a bit of a trek, through Heathrow, I breezed through immigration (no problems with the new ETA) and moved on to baggage reclaim (as they call it here). Thankfully, my luggage made it as well and with nothing declare I walked through customs and onto my next task which was getting from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 where my bestie, Diana, would be landing in about an hour.
While I was at baggage claim, I saw an ATM and decided I should get a few British pounds just in case I needed to tip someone or found myself needing some cash. I always tell my friends and family to use the ATM at the airport and wherever you are, always do your transactions in the local currency. Your bank at home will give you a better conversion rate most of the time. This again proved to be true. The ATM asked if I wanted to do the transaction in GBP. (103£ with the 3£ transaction fee) or $167.82 USD) I chose £, retrieved my funds and receipt and moved on.
I tried to do a bit of research (I like to be prepared) to figure out how to get between terminals. Apple Maps showed me going downstairs to the Underground and I wondered if I was going to have to take the subway to get to the next terminal. The route also showed the train station. I decided to just start following the signs (yes, there were signs to Terminal 2) and see where it took me. I began another long trek, but also easy, and found myself passing the Underground and the train station, but the signs showed that I should continue on past both of these. As I walked and mused, I realized that travel is not really that difficult, I just have to follow the signs.
I found myself in Terminal 2 with still another 45 minutes to wait for Diana, so I found a coffee shop and ordered a chai latte, found a table, and sat down to wait. While I was waiting I checked my bank, and as expected, found that doing the transaction in the local currency was the right choice. The debit to my bank account was only $140.14 instead of $167.82.
Diana’s flight arrived, we hugged it out, of course, and texted our driver to let them know we were ready to be picked up. The company told me that there was a problem and our driver’s car had broken down. They were sending another car, but we would have to meet them at the ride pickup area in the parking garage. We maneuvered our way to the area, found our driver and were on our way to Portsmouth. We arrived at our hotel and checked in and found that we had no AC. We opened both windows, and turned on a desk fan that we found in the closet.
We were still feeling relatively energetic, so we decided to take the train to Southampton for dinner, about a 45 minute train ride. Diana’s grandfather was born in Southampton and we, at the very least, wanted to walk around the area to say she had been there.
We bought our train tickets and with about an hour before our train, we decided to get a snack since we had both missed lunch. We found this lovely little cafe next to a very busy pub. The cafe was very small, but empty. The reviews Diana had found were excellent, so even though it was empty, we walked in. We met the most lovely old man, obviously the owner, who tried to help us choose something that would be quick enough for us to eat before our train. We decided, with his help, to have a ham and cheese baguette and an order of scones with clotted cream and jam with a pot of English tea. We are in England, so it seemed appropriate. The baguette was fine, but the scones were delicious as was the clotted cream and jam. We enjoyed our snack and headed back to the train station to find our train.
After a bit of a delay at one of the stops (apparently the last two cars on our train had some kind of problem), we arrived in Southampton after about an hour. Usually, I would have had a whole route mapped out, but we had decided to play this trip by ear, so we found a map near a bus station and saw that Old Town was only about a 10 minute walk away, so we decided to check it out. After walking about 10 minutes, we found another map and it said we were still 10 minutes away. We noticed that the Mayflower Memorial was not too far away, so we rerouted and headed in that direction. One bit of research I had done about Southampton was that both the Mayflower and the Titanic had launched for the New World from Southampton. We figured the Memorial would be the best way to prove we had been there.
After leaving the Mayflower Memorial with the photographic proof that we had visited, we strolled through Old Town in the general direction of the train station. We saw some beautiful old buildings and St. Michael’s Church. The first little pub we saw was packed and had no available tables so we strolled on. The next pub we found was called the Titanic Pub which seemed appropriate for the area, so we went inside to have a pint and a burger, both of which were excellent. Then it was time to head back to the train station to return to Portsmouth and our hotel for the night.
Day 2 – Portsmouth and Embarkation
Today we get on the ship!! But first, breakfast…
We brought our luggage down to storage and checked out of the hotel. Our Uber is scheduled to pick us up at 12:45 pm and we have two items on the checklist this morning. First, breakfast and then find a store to buy the wine to take on board. Our first thought was to find our friend from the day before and get a breakfast sandwich. However, on the way to his cafe, we saw the Portsmouth Historic Dockyards. Sounded interesting and we thought perhaps we could find breakfast inside. First we had to go through the bag check and then inside where it looked like we were going to have to buy a ticket. The least expensive ticket was 36£ so we were starting to regret this decision. However, we discovered that if we didn’t want to enter any of the exhibitions, we could wander for free and bonus, there were two places we might find some breakfast.
The Dockyards were an interesting place to wander and we quickly found the cafe which turned out to be pretty much a case of pastries and coffee. Diana was wanting a bit more breakfast than pastry and coffee so we decided to check out the restaurant. The restaurant was in Dockhouse 4 which was hosting an exhibition of women and the sea. We walked upstairs to the restaurant and were escorted to a table by the windows with a gorgeous view of the water. We ordered a Bacon Bap (a breakfast sandwich) with a fried egg and an order of scones. The waiter asked if we wanted the scones afterward, which seemed by his tone of voice to be the obvious choice, so we agreed. We also ordered a couple of flat whites which were very artfully decorated. The baps contained a very generous portion of bacon and a beautifully cooked egg. By the time we finished our baps, we were stuffed and had to pass on the scones. 🥲
After breakfast, we found a coop, loaded up with our wine for the cruise, and headed back to the hotel to retrieve our luggage and meet our Uber. Next step – embarkation! With my status with Virgin, we were in the Priority Group 1 and we were on the ship and in our room by 1:45 pm! We were fortunate to have our upgrade bid accepted and we are in an XL Sea Terrace with a larger bathroom and balcony. I have to say the extra room in the bathroom is awesome! We dropped our bags, did a quick tour of Deck 7 (this is Diana’s first time on the Scarlet Lady and my sixth) and headed for the Dock for tapas. I always have to start my voyage with the Goat Cheese Polenta and a glass of sangria. However, we ordered one of everything since Diana had never tasted any of it. I think her favorite was the octopus. We will have plenty of chances to try it again.
After a little time to unpack and a tour of a little more of the boat it was time to head to Deck 16 for the Sailaway Party. We got there a bit early and were able to get barstools overlooking the festivities. We met a few of our fellow sailors, enjoyed a couple of glasses of champagne and I got reconnect to some of the Happenings Cast we met on our cruise last month. David, the Charmer (magician) stopped by and gave us an appetizer (his words) of his show.
From the sailaway we went to dinner at Extra Virgin where I had to have my favorites, Crispy Artichoke with lemon aioli and an Affogato with whiskey crema gelato topped with meringues and chocolate chips and espresso for dessert. (I forgot to take pictures – I’ll get them the next time we are here.) 🤦🏼♀️
Our final activity of the night was the PJ Party. We started out with Painting in our PJs with Ashlynn, the Artist and then to the Manor (the party was moved inside because it was too cold on deck) for the party. We finally put our heads on the pillows around 1:00 am.
Day 3 – Across the Sea to Amsterdam
The day started off a little rough for me. Diana talked me into signing up for the Bungee Workout. I have always thought it looked fun, so decided maybe today was the day to try it out. Now, I’m not pretending I wasn’t terrified about falling on my head. I texted my sister and told her to tell everyone I that I loved them in case I didn’t survive the morning. As it was, I did survive, but decided that I probably wouldn’t do it again. As a beginner, there was no flying around and it turned out it is a LOT of work. However, I was very proud of myself for the attempt and now know what I am missing, which in my case, is not a lot. 🤣
After our workout, it was time to refuel (breakfast), shower, and get ready for the day. Today we are sailing into Amsterdam. I did not realize how far inland we had to go to reach Amsterdam. We started through the lock around 1:30 pm and reached the other end of the lock around 3 pm. People were lined up along the lock waving at us like we were celebrities. It was just a bit exciting! Then it was on to Amsterdam.
We had reservations for an evening canal cruise in Amsterdam, so we scheduled an early dinner at the Test Kitchen. This is one of my favorite restaurants because I feel like I stepped into one of the cooking shows on TV. Tonight was Menu B (there are three menus in the Test Kitchen and this cruise is long enough to sample all three.) Our first course was a grilled eel with a bbq glaze, over a coconut panna cotta with onion. It was served with a dashi sauce and a tuille of edible charcoal. The second course was smoked scallops with black garlic and pickled cucumbers. The third course was a cheese tart. The tart shell was toasted quinoa and edible charcoal. The cheese mousse was made from blue cheese, goat cheese, and cream cheese. It was prepared to be spread on rosemary rolls. The main course was a study in chicken. The round chicken was chicken breast wrapped in crispy chicken skin. The square piece was three layers of chicken. The top layer was chicken thighs, the middle layer was chicken sausage, and the bottom layer was chicken breast. It was served over mashed potatoes mixed with spinach and asparagus (giving it the green color). It was then served with a chicken gravy. We had two different desserts. The first was a vegan coconut gelato with fresh berries and a spun sugar garnish. The second was two layers of cookies. The first layer had dollops of Italian meringue and the top layer had alternating layers of yuzu and vanilla mousses. It was garnished with citrus and small bits of dill.
Dinner was amazing! We had to eat quickly so I am looking forward to returning and being able to take our time. We left the Test Kitchen right on schedule and headed to our cruise.
It was about a 20 minute walk from the ship to our canal cruise. The passage at the end of the train station to the canal had beautiful tile walls depicting ships on the sea.
Our evening canal cruise included unlimited wine, beer, or sodas, and snacks. We boarded our boat and set off for our first sights of this beautiful city. Our guide told us many great stories and a lot of interesting information about Amsterdam. First, he explained that most of the boats on the edges of the canals do not have engines. They are houses and are never moved. Therefore space is more important than an engine. There are a total of 2500 permits available for houseboats. The permits are not that expensive, but depending upon the location, the boats can be very expensive. They cannot be mortgaged as the banks will not loan money on a houseboat. Many of them are AirBnBs. Maybe an idea for a future trip…. Some of the “houseboats” are not actually boats but built on concrete platforms with air pockets so they will float.
We saw an iconic view of one of Monet’s subjects, and then right around the corner came upon another famous sight, the Drunken Houses. Our guide explained that the houses tend to sink because of all the water. This particular group of houses really shows off how much they can move. If you notice, however, he said, the only house that is not crooked is the one with the Irish pub, because he said, the Irish can hold their liquor. He said sometimes they are call the Gay Houses because none of them are straight. Just down from the Drunken Houses is a house between two others. Our guide asked us what was wrong with it. Turns out it isn’t a house at all but a facade. The person who owned the house across the canal wanted something prettier as a view out of his house, so he bought the lot across the street and built a facade that looks like a house. When you see it from the side, you can see that there is nothing behind the front wall.
By this time, it is getting darker and the canals start to light up. There is one area where you can actually see seven bridges in a row. The lights were not on yet, and so it was a little harder to see them. He told us that if you have one of the special Dutch cigarettes, you can actually see twenty-eight bridges. 🤣 He told us about the narrowest house in Amsterdam, a cobbler wanted to be close to his clients and so he built a very narrow house since he could not afford to pay the taxes for a wider home. In the historical district you cannot change the exterior of the houses, but you can change the interior. So the Waldorf Astoria spans five houses but is all connected inside. You can rent the house on the left end for only 25,000€ per night.
I asked our guide how many cars end up in the canal and he said quite a few. He asked us to guess which one ends up the canals most often; the answer was Teslas because of their auto parking assist that sends them into the canals on a regular basis. (Not sure of the accuracy of that last story, but…) One last story was in the Gentleman’s Canal. The houses were wider here so people could advertise their wealth (taxes were paid depending on the width of your house.) They also had stairs leading up to the front door. They had small doors underneath the stairs to the front door for the servants. These doors were quite small so that the servants would have to bow whenever they entered the house.
We made it back to our dock, said goodbye to our new friends and headed back to the ship. On our way back to the ship, we were reminded that we were in Amsterdam and that many things are permissible here that are not permissible at home. We returned to our ship – tomorrow the Anne Frank House and wandering around Amsterdam.
Day 4 – Amsterdam
Today our plan was to get going early so we did not miss our time slot at the Anne Frank House. These tickets were very hard to get and we did not want to miss it. We were a little nervous because the ship is staying on UK time which is one hour behind Amsterdam time. Our watches have updated to Amsterdam time so just trying to keep it straight is a little crazy. Anyway, we finished our quick breakfast and hit the road. It is a forty minute walk from the ship to the Anne Frank House and as I mentioned, we did not want to be late.
There was quite a bit of construction along the way and we had a few detours but approached the house at, not 12:00 pm, but 11:00 am! We were so concerned about being on time, we forgot that our watches had updated to Amsterdam time. With an hour before our tickets could be used, we walked down the street and lo and behold, found the Tulip Museum! Sounded like a good way to kill and hour so we paid our 7£ each and learned about the history of tulips. I never realized that tulips are not native to the Netherlands. In fact they come from Central Asia! We purchased some tulip bulbs to take home (they had some that were certified to be taken back to the US.) Now it was time to go back to the Anne Frank House. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but suffice it to say, it was quite moving. I was surprised that the Secret Annex was as large as it was (still not really big enough for eight people for two years!) We saw the original bookcase and a few of the belongings that survived. Finally, we saw her actual diary. All in all, quite inspirational and emotional.
After such a heavy morning it was time to relax a little and get off of our feet for a little while, so we found a cafe to have a snack and a beer. On our cruise last night, we asked the tour guide for recommendations for Dutch foods we should try. One thing he mentioned was bitterballen, a fried meatball. At our cafe, we saw bitterballen on the menu and ordered them with mustard. We ordered a couple of Leffe Blond beers to accompany them and enjoyed our table along one of the canals.
After a little refreshment, it was time to make our way back to the ship while catching a few more sights. First scheduled stop was Dam Square and the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. Along the way, we may have done a little shopping…a beautiful store full of creations from a local artist inspired a few purchases, and then the Amsterdam Duck Shop was a big hit. We found a place selling Stroopwaffles and may have indulged a little there as well. Finally, we made it to the Dam Square and the Royal Palace. As with other places, we were reminded we were in Amsterdam where many things are permissible.
As we continued to the ship, we stopped to taste a little cheese, take a picture at the Sex Museum (no we did not go in) and we found another picture op with the large wooden shoes. We stopped at a coffee shop on the way back and were disappointed that they were only selling coffee. 🤣 By the way, we were not planning on testing the wares had there been some, we just wanted to see it on the menu.
Tomorrow, Belgium!
Day 5 – Bruges, Brussels, Belgium
Today was a pretty laid back day. We had no real schedule but to go into Bruges and just walk around seeing the sights. First we had to take a shuttle from the ship to the cruise terminal, then our paid shuttle from the cruise terminal to the city. We were dropped off at the Bargeplein and we started our one mile trek to the Grote Markt which, being Wednesday, was happening today. Along the way we stopped by a meringue shop and bought some meringues. Then we did a walk through St. John’s Hospital, a medieval hospital.
Most of the vendors were closing up when we arrived, but we found a French saucissons (sausages) vendor who was selling little brochettes (finger-sized sausages) for 5€ for 10 sausages. We knew we couldn’t take them back on the boat so we negotiated down to only 5 sausages for 2.50€.
From there we went to the Bruges Beer Experience, because when in Belgium…. We were able to order four beers for 10€. We added some Belgian cheese as well and enjoyed a respite from the crowds while we enjoyed some of Belgium’s best. From the Beer Experience we headed to the Burg Square. We made the mistake of thinking the City Hall was the Basilica of the Holy Blood. We found the basilica, which was very interesting, but decided not to stand in line and pay to see the holy relic. We still had a little time to get back to our shuttle so we found a chocolate shop and purchased three small chocolates to try. From the chocolate shop we found a cafe and decided we had to have a Belgian waffle before we left. We found a table on the square and ordered a waffle with ice cream and did some people watching while we ate. Then back to the shuttle – second to last of the day. We arrived at the cruise terminal to a very long line, but were able to get on the last shuttle of the day back to the ship.
Dinner tonight was at Gunbae, a Korean BBQ restaurant. We met some very interesting people as it is a shared experience. We started off playing a drinking game, and in the final round – me vs. Diana, yours truly was the winner. Note: you didn’t drink until you lost, so we were just the most sober!
After dinner we watched a “performing nerd” and after the show went back to our cabin to go to bed.
Day 6 – Sea Day
Today we slept in, it was lovely! We had a very late lunch and then back to the cabin until this afternoon. We went to a “shot glass exchange” meet up with people I had met on Facebook before the cruise. We brought shot glasses from where we lived and packaged them into a brown paper bag. We then exchanged bags with other sailors. I received shot glasses from New York and Florida and Diana from Belgium and Florida.
We went to the Dock and had appetizers and drinks for Opa Hour and then back to our cabin to get ready for dinner. Tonight was Pink Agave, one of my favorites. We might have had a few too many dishes and we might be stuffed, but it was worth every calorie! Getting ready to head out for a show and then back to the cabin for dinner.
Tomorrow we have a private tour of Kirkwall and the Orkney Islands. I am so excited – the first time to see some of my ancestral lands!!
