Flights from
Index to Photos / Page Updated
Jan. 19, 2008 - (More than 200 additional photos taken on the Nolans' two-week
cruise through parts of Austria, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia are posted in
several Lewis Nolan albums at www.ritzpix.com, a website that requires sign-in)
By LEWIS NOLAN
Return to Nolan Travels Home Page
Nov. 25, 2007, Tuesday – From
We were up before 5 a.m. so we could finish packing for the trip
home and
getting our three pieces of luggage out the stateroom door and
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into the corridor of the boat so the crew could take it from our
cabin and load it onto the tour bus.
Before we boarded the bus for the 1 ½-hour drive to the
call it Munchen), we had the only disappointing meal of the
cruise. Put out for
us in the ship’s bar were trays of leftover pastries and cheese,
along with a
few slices of bread. Nobody was on duty behind the bar so this
non-coffee
drinker had a glass of water, a significant step down from the
wonderful
breakfasts I’d been enjoying for nearly two weeks.
About 10 of our fellow passengers with morning flights home were
on the bus with
us. Others had left at 6 a.m. for earlier flights and still others
were either
heading to the airport a little later or were staying over for a
trip extension
to
and that post-trip excursion had zero appeal for us.
I tried to nap during our bus ride on the Autobahn but rustled
into wakefulness
once the sun peeped over the distant horizon. I was greeted with
the rolling
beauty of snow-covered farmland in
lined up perfectly. The six-lane roadway was in excellent
condition. With very
light traffic, there were no posted speed limits in sight and
several Mercedes,
BMWs and other European cars zoomed by us as we cruised along at
100-120
kilometers per hour.
We were impressed by the size, complexity and modernity of the
major crossroads for international travelers. It has an inviting,
duty free shop
that offers a wealth of tobacco, liquor and souvenir products of
every
description. Betty purchased several boxes of Belgian chocolates
as gifts for
friends and family back home. I had a lousy ham sandwich on a hard
roll along
with a Diet Coke that together cost $12.50.
The Lufthansa flight to
young, good looking and blonde flight attendants. They served us
complimentary
wine and tasty lunches (broiled fish for me and roast beef for
Betty) with Diet
Cokes. We were fortunate to have - through the work of Vantage
Travel - window
and aisle seats on this and other flights. The whole trip cost us
nearly $5,000
for air and boat fare plus another $500 in boat charges for
laundry, drinks and
excursion expenses. Given the variety and scope of sights seen and
excellence of
the food served us, the total expense seemed to be reasonable.
Thankfully, our Lufthansa flight got into
9 hours over the Atlantic Ocean from
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to the often crappy service of so many
several domineering flight attendants and our United plane being 1 ½ hours late
getting into
to two wonderful weeks on a beautiful and interesting river
cruise. On the
positive side, at least I finished one of W.E.B. Griffin’s
well-written books
about World War II, “Secret Honor” about the Nazi war effort in
Ironically, our days in
well that I did not even open the German-English phrase book I had
checked out
of the
at least some English, several to the point where I mistakenly
thought their
country of origin was the
business trip to
and could find not a single person on the industrial town’s main
drag that would
admit to knowing English.
When we at last arrived back in
greatly enjoyed a burger and fries served at the airport by a
locally based chain,
Backyard Burgers. We rode a taxi-van from the airport to our home
in the middle
of town for $25, including tip, and fell exhausted into bed by
9:30 p.m.
As memorable as the sights were, I doubt we will repeat the
anytime soon. We learned Vantage Travel offers the finest food and
service I’ve
ever had on boats. Its nighttime turndown service included candy
left on
pillows. The expert crew tried hard to please and always did. I
feel sure we’ll
look at some of their other offerings for a vacation cruise in the
future.
We are looking forward to picking up Fiona from the greyhound
boarding kennel
after a long sleep and having her home until we all head for Gulf
Shores, Ala.,
for Christmas. We’re also looking forward to having the prints from
10 rolls of
film Betty took plus a couple of hundred of digital photos made
into prints and
sharing them plus these travelogues with family and friends and
whatever
Internet sleuths happen to stumble across them.
Comments and questions are welcome and should be directed to Lewis
Nolan at
lewis_nolan@yahoo.com. Cheers and Happy Trails!
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