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Post by whollygoats on Oct 14, 2017 23:02:48 GMT
Farther Kye, that is. Our peripatetic cleric.
I believe that Moose herself was urging me to travel again. (But I think that was a weather thing.)
Well, the barge people are at it.
They are dangling offers of no-cost airfare if we sign on to one of their river tours...aka 'barging'. We have had our eye on the Vienna (or Budapest) to the Black Sea for some time. I had always wanted to close that with Istanbul, but that seems unlikely at this time, and the 'Greek islands' are offered up instead.
Swimmer, of course, wants to fly in early and visit a number of spas in the Budapest area. She'd also be very enthusiastic to return to Prague.
We're hovering...
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Post by JoeP on Oct 15, 2017 8:56:23 GMT
Hovering uses up a lot of energy.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 15, 2017 15:06:38 GMT
Yes, I know.
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Post by Moose on Oct 15, 2017 19:05:38 GMT
Father No R.
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Post by Moose on Oct 15, 2017 19:06:01 GMT
Unless that was a joke
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 15, 2017 21:24:10 GMT
It was intended. She is no 'father', but she certainly does go farther than most. I think it far more apt.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 16, 2017 15:58:17 GMT
This looks like the way to travel the Scottish islands.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 16, 2017 16:37:06 GMT
I am, by the way, enjoying her pix from the Sahara that she is posting on FB.
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Post by Moose on Oct 16, 2017 19:50:32 GMT
Yeah they were cool. I'd love to ride a camel.
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Post by Sarah W. on Oct 17, 2017 20:54:51 GMT
That Scottish cruise company looks wonderful!
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 17, 2017 21:05:23 GMT
That Scottish cruise company looks wonderful! Yeah. I was afraid to look at prices. It is pure fantasy for me. The lands of the Lord of Isles still call to me. I've only been to Skye (Kyleakin) and down the inlet to Mallaig, and thence by train to Glasgow, most of it in a driving rainstorm.
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Post by Sarah W. on Oct 18, 2017 14:16:47 GMT
I thought the prices looked fairly reasonable. Around £200 per night, which includes food, lodging and transportation.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 18, 2017 14:55:48 GMT
Hmmm...I just kept thinking about how, if somebody was focused and dedicated, and had a decent investment source, they could build a small fleet of these 'small ship' tourist vessels and run them out of a port like, say, Whitehaven, plying the loughs and lochs of the Kingdom of the Isles, spotting wildlife and scenic vistas, and spewing history and romantic nonsense, from the struggle of the neolithic peoples to erect megaliths across the landscape, to the blossoming of the great ocean liner companies of the early 20th century. "Somerled's Legacy Tours".
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Post by Sarah W. on Oct 18, 2017 15:06:46 GMT
...Mallaig, and thence by train to Glasgow, most of it in a driving rainstorm. Too bad it was raining; that West Highland Line is gorgeous.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 18, 2017 15:41:29 GMT
...Mallaig, and thence by train to Glasgow, most of it in a driving rainstorm. Too bad it was raining; that West Highland Line is gorgeous. Hey...I'd just had a glorious mail packet ride down the inlet that separates Skye from the West Coast, from Kyle on Lochalsh in to Mallaig. The storm didn't hit us until we berthed at Mallaig, at night. Fort William was a blur, as we could barely even see out the train windows, with all the moisture, inside and out. I spent the night in Glasgow and departed for Larne, via Stranraer, the next morning. It was 1980 and I was 27. For some reason, this has left me with a desire to see the Hebrides. Funny what such things do to the minds of wanderers. I really like the idea cruising the Scottish isles. I wish these St. Hilda folks success.
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Post by Sarah W. on Oct 18, 2017 15:55:20 GMT
I'll have to post some pictures that I took out the train windows. If I ever ride that sleeper again, I'll get up at sunrise and glue myself to the window.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 18, 2017 16:38:29 GMT
I'll have to post some pictures that I took out the train windows. If I ever ride that sleeper again, I'll get up at sunrise and glue myself to the window. I've done the Inverness/Kyle line twice now, return...beautiful both times. I understand we went through the center of Loch Lomond. I think this is all just a heartless mistress demanding I return.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 18, 2017 17:26:41 GMT
I thought the prices looked fairly reasonable. Around £200 per night, which includes food, lodging and transportation. Hmmm...You're right. Particularly if that is three meals. Transport, ship and shore. Guides. Entrance fees. Docking fees. Bed and breakfast.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 21, 2017 21:36:48 GMT
Okay...Swimmer and I booked in to the Constanza to Budapest barge up the Danube for late April. Early to mid May in Budapest....We're tacking on two additional weeks so Swimmer can do some spa visits in and around Budapest. I'd like to make a run to Poland and Berlin, myself.
Genie...Are you too busy around May Day?
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Post by Kye on Oct 22, 2017 0:36:30 GMT
Wow! That sounds fab, Goat!
I want to go to Budapest at some point. My mother was Hungarian and I have family there.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 22, 2017 3:16:20 GMT
You mean you haven't been there yet? So, are you back home, or are you posting here from Afar? And where is Afar in Morocco?
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Post by Mari on Oct 22, 2017 8:54:22 GMT
I thought the prices looked fairly reasonable. Around £200 per night, which includes food, lodging and transportation. Hmmm...You're right. Particularly if that is three meals. Transport, ship and shore. Guides. Entrance fees. Docking fees. Bed and breakfast. Are you kidding me? That's insanely expensive! I went to Japan for 1300 euros for 3 weeks. My trip to the US was also around that mark.
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Post by Kye on Oct 22, 2017 9:13:00 GMT
So, are you back home, or are you posting here from Afar? And where is Afar in Morocco? I am indeed back home. Now I can write my posts using a human-sized keyboard!
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Post by tangent on Oct 22, 2017 12:45:40 GMT
We have booked a holiday in Mexico at the end of March - Pat's 70th birthday.
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Post by Kye on Oct 22, 2017 16:08:44 GMT
Nice, tangent! I hope you have a great time! Where in Mexico?
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Post by tangent on Oct 22, 2017 21:10:25 GMT
Playa del Carmen, on the Yucatan peninsula about 150 miles from Cuba. Have you been there?
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Post by Kye on Oct 22, 2017 23:07:26 GMT
Yes I have! It's a... lively little town (kinda touristy). Are you staying at a resort there?
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 23, 2017 1:00:00 GMT
Most excellent, tangent! Far better than Orlando!
I hope you dodge any cyclonic action.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 23, 2017 1:06:10 GMT
Hmmm...You're right. Particularly if that is three meals. Transport, ship and shore. Guides. Entrance fees. Docking fees. Bed and breakfast. Are you kidding me? That's insanely expensive! I went to Japan for 1300 euros for 3 weeks. My trip to the US was also around that mark. Hmmm...It's a little pricey. My recent foray in the UK cost me near that. Nightly accommodations alone cost me 70-80 quid a day (~$100), sometimes more. Add in travel and meals and you're within striking distance of the aforementioned $200/day. And, I had I highly favorable exchange rate, double that of the rate of exchange on my prior trip, in 1980. I have found that travel costs have varied immensely over time and space. In 2004, central Asia and the Far East, including Japan, was reasonably priced (China was cheap), but airfare was hideous. Of my Silk Road trip, the airfare to Japan and from Germany cost MORE than the accommodations and travel costs from Beijing to St. Petersburg. Now, we are having the major cost of air fare to (and from) Europe (Bucharest, actually) folded in to a more than reasonably priced 2 week river cruise tour. Central Europe seems inexpensive, while even thinking about the Baltics or Scandinavia is sphincter-puckering expensive in the view of most Americans. 1300 euros = $1500. Three weeks is 21 days. $1500/21 = $72/day So...You saw Japan, and the US, on $72/ day? First, I'm going to assume that you excluded the cost of the airfare to get there. Then....Y'know what? I checked on the Motel 6 over on Highway 26, a half mile away. The Motel 6 chain of motels is known as one of the most inexpensive accommodations in the US. They are the firm for which Tom Bodette promises, "they'll leave the light on." It's cheap crud; the origin of the phrase, "No Tell Motel". Guess their current posted nightly charge for a single room....It's $72. Really. It changes from day to day, of course, but it is always posted in flashing lights at the highway. Then, three blocks the other way, a guesthouse charges $70 to $80 per night for their rooms and the closer one is even more expensive. The hostel (a mile away) is still $25 a night, but it is dormitory style and won't accommodate my CPAP machine (and you are limited to ten nights). If you saw the US on $72 a day, I'd like to know how. Was it a superior exchange rate? Were you staying free with friends? Hostels? Flopping on sofas? Cardboard mattresses? Eating from dumpsters? Crashing the Hare Krishna temples to feast? Because in today's market, I'm not sure how you could do that on $72 a day without somebody subsidizing you in some way. I'm open to cost-saving hacks.
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Post by tangent on Oct 23, 2017 7:20:39 GMT
Yes I have! It's a... lively little town (kinda touristy). Are you staying at a resort there? Yes, the Playacar complex just 3km south of Playa del Carmen.
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