We had such a fantastic time with Deb on our tour this year that I wanted to share our experience. The words and pictures here are only a small introduction to what was an awesome cruise. Our cruise left Athens on 1 August 2012 and finished 12 days later in the beautiful city of Venice. Monday 30 July, Athens We met Deb at the Metro station at Athens airport as arranged and caught the train to the nearest stop to the hotel. We had a little difficulty finding the Marriott as the street signs didn't really match what we were seeing on the map, so in the end we caught a taxi after wandering around for 20 minutes or so. After a cheap dinner out at the local kebab shop we went back to the hotel and discovered the roof top pool area had a great view of the Acropolis. Tuesday 31 July, Athens We spent the day sightseeing around Athens and then met the group at dinner. It was a fantastic restaurant and a great bunch of people, we were looking forward to the next ten days. Wednesday 1 August, Quest We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the port. Check in was relatively simple and painless as we had checked in online and already had our baggage tags. Once on board we headed for the back deck and lunch (with our included wine). The ship sailed at 6pm and we met everyone at the Looking Glass bar at the front of the ship for the Cruise Critic cocktail party.  Thursday 2 August, Kusadasi / Ephesus Fantastic … [Read more...]

Nancy was invited to her tutor's village to witness their Rocket Festival.  We were told the drive was about 6.5 hours away.  So after my physical in Bangkok, Nancy's driver, Somphong, picked me up from Nancy's apartment and we started our drive up to NE Thailand to a small village named Wari Sawat.  After driving about 3 hours (Thailand’s traffic is horrendous) we realized we would not get to the village till about midnight so we decided to stay in the town of Korat, also known as Nakhon Ratchasima. Nancy had stayed at a hotel there before so we went there to see if they had a room. It was a pretty big hotel and reminded me of an Embassy Hotel in the States.  We checked in and for a room with 2 beds and a full breakfast in the morning it cost $57. Great deal and I was very happy not to be driving many hours in the dark.  We decided we didn't want hotel food so we went in search of some authentic Thai food on the streets. We found a small outdoor restaurant and luckily Nancy knows Thai and tried to order us some pad Thai but no luck.  We ended up with seepad noodles with pork and fried rice and a big Singha beer. It was very tasty. I went back and ordered another beer and it turns out they just send their 10 year old son to the 7/11 store to buy the beer as they don't sell it themselves.  Our total dinner bill was $4.20. Next morning after our full buffet which you could choose from fried eggs, omelet, cereal, toast, fruit, pastries, not to mention all the Thai and … [Read more...]