Kia Ora Family & Friends

As many of you know it's been my custom for some years to post a travel blog when Terry and I have ventured off on our various overseas holidays. For the past couple of trips I thought about not blogging because, well … it does take a fair of time. Time that I could otherwise be doing … umm … nothing really.

A lot of people have commented how much they’ve enjoyed my reflections of our travels and the photos I post. Also, Terry told me the other day quite a few people had asked him on Facebook when and if I’m going to do a blog for our present holiday (29 April – 12 June).

Thus, I’ve decided to arise from my "don’t bother me … I’m on holiday" inertia and hit the laptop once more, to regale you with tales of our latest travels.

Pre-Departure

The run up six months to this trip have not been without challenges and preoccupations. My dad passed away on 7 April after a long decline in health. His passing was a merciful release as his quality of life was greatly diminished and he was in constant pain and discomfort. He passed away at home, which is what we and he wished for, in the company of my two wonderful sisters Ngaire and Huia – Ngaire the older had been father’s primary carer - my aunt and other close family. We gave him a lovely traditional Maori farewell at our family Marae close by our home. A beautiful time of togetherness.

The other major preoccupation of the past six months was our friend Jean Jeffery’s passing last December. Terry and I are her trustees and the executors of her not inconsiderable estate. Like the good tag team we are, we applied ourselves diligently to pulling together the numerous threads associated with administering Jean’s estate and affairs. A massive task, the lion’s share of which fell to Terry. The auction of Jean’s home on 8 April – a beautiful old mansion in Melbourne’s blue-ribbon Toorak was the apex of this undertaking.

It’s funny how things fall into place – call it serendipity if you like. Father’s passing meant we could come away on this trip without the shadow of his impending demise hanging over us – and the heart wrenching decision of having to potentially cut short our trip should he pass while we’re away.

Backdrop – Our Current trip

Before I start my travel blog proper here’s a backdrop to our current trip.

We are amongst those fortunate enough to have travelled the world extensively. We haven’t been everywhere of course, but we’ve given it a very good nudge so far. In terms of the proverbial 'Bucket List’ we have pretty well nailed the ‘primary’ list - places and things we definitely wanted to see or do, such as visit the Galapagos Islands, Machu Pichu, the Great Pyramids, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, walk (or waddle in our case) along Ipanema and Copacabana beach fronts, go on safari in Africa, visit Gallipoli, rent a villa in Tuscany, lose a week in Paris, and be mesmerised by the beauty of the Taj Mahal – the list goes on.

And now we’re working our way through the secondary bucket list … adding places like Gibraltar, the Baltic States and Scandinavia - and returning to places we said of at the time “this is awesome, we’ve got to come back here.”

12-15 months ago Terry spotted an advertisement for a cruise out of Genoa, Italy called “To Russia with Love”. It caught his eye and our interest because the pinnacle of the voyage is 2-days in St Petersburg, a city we fell in love with in 2003 when we visited, and that we declared we would return to. Hence, we now find ourselves in the western Mediterranean somewhere between Barcelona and Gibraltar – on Day 3 of what will be a 22-day voyage taking in a slew of ports including Marseille, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Lisbon, Southampton, Rotterdam, Warnemunde in Germany, Gdynia in Poland, Klaipeda in Lithuania, Riga in Latvia, Tallinn in Estonia, St Petersburg of course, Helsinki, Stockholm and lastly Copenhagen, Denmark.

Cruising is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it certainly lightens the travel burden. No more constant hotel check-ins/check-outs, packing/ unpacking, airport security and flights, or hopping on/off trains or hiring rental cars as you wind your way around Europe – as we’ve done on a few occasions. Of course you don’t get to spend much time in the various ports of call but, to use a dining analogy, if you’re happy with a ‘tasting platter’ rather than a ‘full main course’ experience then you’ll be okay, as we are.

And Off We Go

Having agreed some years ago that we are too old, and too fat to be doing long haul in economy, we upgraded to business class on Emirates for this trip. Sure it costs a decent chunk to do so. But the spend is quickly rationalised as the pampering kicks in from the moment you climb into the complimentary limo for your first airport transfer, to the in-lounge Verve Cliquot and hot showers, on board cocktail bar, your travel cocoon seat, superb food (yep that’s right … airline food that’s enjoyable), and best of all – a flatbed that you can fully stretch out in. Life’s hard, but hey someone’s got to do it!

We are sailing with an Italian cruise line MSC. They’re the same company that serviced the 2015 Gallipoli Cruise we did with 2,500 other Aussies and Kiwis to commemorate the ANZAC centenary. MSC targets the mid-market so while perfectly adequate their vessels, service levels, facilities and food are no match for the higher end providers like Cunard with whom we’ve travelled in the past. But as the saying goes – you get what you pay for; and we are totally happy in that respect. The cost of this cruise per person, including return airfares to Europe would be lucky to get one an open air hammock on Cunard.

Anyway please read on ... as I share our travels with you via the individual entries in my blog.

Cheers now
Keri