The Wrap Up

I always find it difficult to close off these blogs/adventures.  But here goes!

People:

One of the concerns that we had before heading off on this cruise (maybe me more than Sue) was having to interact with people who were complete strangers.  All of our past travels have been solo/self directed.  This one forced us beyond our usual comfort zone.  That turned out to be not a bad thing.

We knew that of the 190 passengers most would be American.  With the 'idiotic' politics south of the border and me being a political junky, I was particularly concerned.  It turned out to be unwarranted.  Other than the 2 individuals that I have written about before of course.  The majority of people we interacted with were just like us although most were older than us.  To our surprise, we met some people that we clicked with.  Within a few days, we were having dinner with the same group.  The 2 ladies, one from Michigan who had been a teacher and the other from Chicago who had been an accountant were definitely our favourites.  They could handle my sarcasm and hand it back just as well.  Fun!!!  A couple from Vermont who live close to the Quebec border, soon joined our group.  He was a retired engineer that at one time had worked for Nasa.  The third couple were from Pennsylvania.  He was a former US Army Chaplain who had served in Dessert Storm and in Afghanistan.  He still preaches 2 days a month in a local church. Many hours were spent in the lounge before and after dinner solving all the world's problems especially those created by that 'clown' in the Whitehouse.  I broke the self imposed rule about no political discussions on Day 1.  It was great!

The Viking Experience:

Viking runs a 'first class' operation.  From the time we arrived in Budapest until we were dropped at the Amsterdam Airport we were treated 'royally'.  The steward service was outstanding.  The lounge and restaurant service was top notch.  The food was like eating 3 meals a day in high end restaurants.  The program director was great.  His knowledge and his organizational abilities were second to none.  The excursions were really well done.  When they said your excursion started at a certain time and ended at a certain time they were dead on.  The guides, who were independent contractors to Viking were very good.  We were truly 'pampered'.  Overall, our Viking experience would have to be rated as a A+.

What we Learned:

#1 - We learned that we can comfortably travel in tight quarters with total strangers.

#2 - It re-affirmed to us that Americans really have a lot in common with Canadians despite the fact that over 50 million of them voted for Trump!  Most of the people that we had interactions with were very apologetic about their government's treatment of us as a country.  Admittedly, we never ran into any raving Trump supporters.  At least not that we know of.

#3 - This is probably the most important one.  By spending some time in 4 countries in Europe, albeit briefly, it has made us want to go back and explore more European countries.  We really liked Budapest.  But of the 4 countries we were in, Germany might just require another visit sometime in the future.

It is a Wrap:

We have been asked now on more than one occasion if we are going to book another cruise.  The answer is no.  At least not in the foreseeable future.  Do not get me wrong, it was a great experience and we are glad that we took this one.  But to be honest, it is an extremely expensive way to travel.  It also only gives you a 'snapshot' of the places that you visit.  You could easily spend 3 or 4 days in each of the 'ports of call' to truly get a feel for the places and the people.  For lots of people 'cruising' is the way to go.  Right now we are not yet there.  At this point in our lives, we still want to explore in more depth the places that we journey to.

So many places and things to explore and so little time left to do it!  

Karin and Murray from Pennsylvania, Zoe our bar waiter from Serbia, Carol from Vermont, you know the next 2, Lydia from Chicago, Nancy from Michigan, and John from Vermont - Our Crew!