I wrote this following post just before we left for our Viking Scandinavian Cruise. I scheduled posts to go up while we were gone because we don't like people knowing we're not at home.
We returned a few days ago and I am thoroughly jet lagged having passed through 12 time zones. I'm told it will take 12 days to recover. Therefore, I won't be posting about the trip until after that. Meanwhile, I have posts I wrote just before we left still scheduled for the interim.
So here we were a few days away from going on our cruise. I was extremely nervous. I'm NOT a good traveler. I worry. I worry even on trips that are planned carefully without COVID lurking in the airplane cabin or onboard ships. I worry even when there are no disruptions like Russia invading Ukraine.
We were traveling with two other couples. We'd been looking forward to doing this together for three years before COVID hit.
Because of COVID and Russia's terrible invasion of Ukraine, our stop in St. Petersburg had been cancelled. Changes to our cruise schedule seemed to be a daily thing. The United flight from Hawaii to San Francisco was changed to a smaller plane and United willy nilly moved people to different flights without telling Viking, our travel agent or us. And this effectively had us missing all our connecting flights. Changes were made to seats that were less than ideal. I did complain to United and got a letter back basically saying, "Oops! Sorry. We'll do better next time."
And so it went from changing flights to excursions being removed and others put in and a constant refund/new payment schedule with us required to just trust whatever they were doing. It was NOT reassuring.
Uuuuummmm..... 🙄 Seriously?
I know it's just a mistake. You can't do an ocean voyage from Norway to Venice.
So am I worried?
Sighhhhh.....
I hope you catch up well and get back into the groove.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing more about your travel experience. We have overseas and flying trips on hold for now. Driving is our only option and the only trip in the works is to Buffalo to see family and then a family vacation at Lake Ontario near Rochester in August.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear the rest! Welcome home!
ReplyDeleteI see many photos to come.
ReplyDeleteFun to travel but alwaysnice to get home.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back! You survived the trip and have lots of memories to share.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness, such travel stress and you hadn't even left town. Hope the rest went smoother and you had a wonderful time. Looking forward to your trip account and pics.
ReplyDeleteGlad to know you made it home and all is okay. I just read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about another traveling couple who were not so lucky. Even being 4x vaxxed, they became very ill with COVID while in a foreign country and had to stay there, unable to travel on until testing negative. Even the travel agents who were interviewed said this was still not a good time for foreign travel unless you were okay with having plans changed and perhaps being quarantined for part of the trip.
ReplyDeleteImagine a big cruise ship in Venice...
ReplyDeleteVenice, LOL. I bet the changes made for even more stress. I know the prevailing rule is 1 day for every hour but I think that's an exaggeration. Perhaps for getting back to 100%? Since I'm never at 100% anyway these days, I probably wouldn't notice. Hope you had a fantastic trip in spite of all the disruptions and concerns.
ReplyDeleteHi Kay. Good idea to schedule posts while away. Take your time adjusting. I try to align my meals with the time zone. Even if the 'meal' is just a snack. Seems to convince the brain that it's TIME better than trying to force sleep. I was usually so tired that sleep was confusing. Food was easier to use to get in sync with local time. Looking forward to your trip stories.
ReplyDeleteM in NC
This is Kay of Musings: Hi, M in NC! I have my meals in sync, but sheesh! My sleep schedule is so kaplooey! I’m always so tired during the day and early evening. I just hope things fix themselves soon.
DeleteThat sounds like a lot of stress.
ReplyDeleteI'm very anxious to here how it all turned out! At least I know you made it back home. We loved our self guided driving tour of Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back! I agree, I don't like people knowing we are away!
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like it was extremely frustrating, and I can't blame you for being nervous about the upcoming adventure. I hope it all goes well and we hear good things about it afterwards!
ReplyDeleteGrateful to know you are both home safe. There's no way I'm going anywhere for a really long time. I know Art is the adventure bug. I admire him but feel lucky to be married to a fellow homebody.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you purchased a ticket for "unplanned, unscheduled adventure." What a bummer to have all of the changes. With all of the mainland flight cancellations just this weekend, it almost seems scary to fly and expect it not to be changed or cancelled. Driving sounds good, but the train to Hawaii doesn't get scheduled very often...Glad you're back. Ready to hear about the big boat to Venice! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteThis is Kay of Musings: As a matter of fact, Linda. It only got worse when we began the trip. We’ve never had so many things go awry like this. But in the end, it was still a happy memory since it was with friends and we dealt with everything together.
DeleteIt's a shame you had that experience of them changing so much of your cruise without consulting you!
ReplyDeleteOh goodness!
ReplyDeleteTravelling is not easy!
Glad you are back ok.
All the best Jan
from Lin it's almost hilarious subbing Venice for Norway-I loved Norway-just beautiful, glad you are still brave enough to travel-our travel days are over now...
ReplyDelete