I'm sitting in the admirals club - funnily in the same spot I was sitting before I left for South America- waiting for my flight to London. My goal this year was to travel as much as possible and visit 10 more countries. I'm pretty close to accomplishing that!
I originally had only planned to go to San Francisco in May to see my brother with my family, but I couldn't pass up on another overseas jaunt!
My good friend from college called me a few months ago and said, "We need to go on a graduation trip". You know me - anything that involves getting on a plane means I am all in! We decided on Europe because it is relatively easy to get to, and what a better place to spend some time in May. We went back and forth on whether or not to go country hopping in Eastern Europe, go on a tour through Croatia or go on a cruise in the Mediterranean. Tough decision ... I know! Then Margo found a Baltic capitals cruise. Once I saw the itinerary, I was immediately in! So we booked it, and here I am at the airport again. I just connected my two trips and my itinerary for the next 24 hours is SFO --> DFW --> LHR --> MAN. Lots of airports :)
We are going on Norwegian Cruise lines - a nine night cruise through the Baltic Capitals. Our ports of call include Warnemunde, Germany (we are taking a day trip into Berlin), St Petersburg, Russia; Stockholm, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland and Talinn, Estonia. All of which neither of us have been to.
Before that, I'm spending a quick 24 hours with my grandparents in Liverpool, then heading to Copenhagen to meet Margo and explore the city for an afternoon and a morning before we head over to the cruise ship for 11 days of fun!
I'll try to update as much as possible on the trip, but certainly will detail all when I get back with lots of pictures of course!
Now on the plane!
I'm on a new Boeing 777-300. Brand new airplane which has all the latest and greatest in entertainment, lie-flat business class seats (too bad I'm not in one!), and feels nice and open with tall ceilings. I would say a very welcome improvement. The flight to London was oversold by 8 people and they were offering $800 each and a flight to London 2 hours later. Tempting, but definitely not worth it - I want to spend as much time as possible with my grandparents because it is so short!
I always love getting on the London flight because I'm amazed by where people are from and fascinated where people are going when they connect in London. I am sitting next to two pleasant ladies and both of their final destinations are not London. One is headed to Budapest, Hungary then driving to Transylvania, and the other is headed to Beirut, Lebanon. What possible connection could I have with these ladies? Let me just say - the world is just too small. One of them has been a nurse for 40 years in labor and delivery and used to work at Parkland - now works in Odessa, Texas. And the other lady's son is a first year medical student at UT Southwestern and also went to SMU. Always nice to have something in common with your seatmate for the next 9 or so hours.
I'm going to sign off from 32,000 feet in the air (thank you American Airlines for free wifi on the flight!)
Picture below:
Patriotic wings of Virgin Airlines this morning in San Francisco
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