You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
PARKLAND LIFE<br />
by Jill Vogel<br />
Thirty Heron Bay friends went on a Baltic<br />
Cruise together this past July. Yes, 30 Heron<br />
Bayers plus 18 others from North Carolina,<br />
New York, and Dallas. The youngest of the<br />
group was mid-60s, the oldest mid-80s.<br />
The trip was the brainchild of one of our<br />
friends and his travel agent. We booked<br />
a 12-day cruise, three additional days in<br />
Amsterdam, and all related land tours to<br />
keep us busy for 15 days in Amsterdam,<br />
Berlin, Stockholm, Helsinki, St. Petersburg,<br />
Tallinn, and Copenhagen. We didn’t want to<br />
miss a thing.<br />
You can only imagine the discussion,<br />
planning, and sharing of information<br />
that occurred on a daily basis.<br />
• What clothing to bring — How many<br />
pairs of shorts are you bringing? Capri’s?<br />
Tops? Make sure you bring layers. Are<br />
you bringing anything dressy for the<br />
evening? Are the men bringing sports<br />
jackets? Dress slacks?<br />
• Loss of civilization items — Bring<br />
disposable toilet seat covers (you<br />
can get individually wrapped ones on<br />
Amazon Prime), antibacterial wipes, and<br />
Lysol.<br />
• Financial advice — how many euros are<br />
you bringing? How much do we tip the<br />
guides? Can it be in dollars? Make sure<br />
to get the Platinum Card so you can use<br />
the airport luxury lounges. Bring $5 bills<br />
for street purchases.<br />
50<br />
• Knowledge we shared — We can bring<br />
two pieces of luggage on the flight for<br />
free. Luggage can’t weigh more than 50<br />
pounds. We have a luggage scale.<br />
• Handbag information — Only small<br />
handbags will be allowed into the<br />
museums. Get neck wallets for the<br />
men, they are harder to pickpocket. If<br />
you don’t have one, put rubber bands<br />
around wallets as this make it harder<br />
to steal from pants pockets. Take a<br />
backpack, it is easier on the spine.<br />
• Medicines — Pack your meds in your<br />
carry on. Bring extra antibiotics, cold<br />
medicine, and antihistamines.<br />
Then there was the meeting we had<br />
about dinner seating and other cruise<br />
arrangements:<br />
• I can’t have dinner that late.<br />
• If we eat then, what show can we see?<br />
• What specialty restaurants should we<br />
reserve?<br />
• Is anyone buying the drink package?<br />
• What about prepaid tips?<br />
The travel arrangements:<br />
• Should we go business class or extra<br />
roomy seats?<br />
• How do we arrange to get all of our<br />
luggage and us to the airport?<br />
• Where do we meet our guide in<br />
Amsterdam?<br />
OCTOBER <strong>2018</strong><br />
TRAVELING<br />
with FRIENDS<br />
• When do we check into our hotel?<br />
The technology talks:<br />
• Did you download WhatsApp?<br />
• Who is getting the Internet Package on<br />
the ship?<br />
• How do we turn off the data so we don’t<br />
get charged for overseas usage?<br />
• What is the emergency number of the<br />
ship for our family?<br />
Panic occurred just before we left when<br />
the weather turned from beautiful and cool<br />
to mid-90s in every city, including Russia.<br />
We all scrambled to repack lighter weight<br />
clothing. BTW, are you taking an umbrella or<br />
a rain jacket or both? Nothing was too trivial<br />
to discuss and as we neared our departure<br />
date the frenzy grew.<br />
Departure day finally arrived and armed with<br />
Global Entry Cards, a ton of luggage, our<br />
iPhone cameras to capture every moment,<br />
and plenty of antibacterial wipes. We all<br />
went by car service to Fort Lauderdale<br />
Airport. The adventure had finally begun and<br />
we were ready.<br />
Of course, I’m not sure if Europe was ready<br />
for the Parkland seniors. P
Change language