PassPorter Community - Message Boards and Forums - Globetrotting: General Trip Reports http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/ Share your adventures to all sorts of destinations with your fellow vacationers here! en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:02:42 GMT vBulletin 120 http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg PassPorter Community - Message Boards and Forums - Globetrotting: General Trip Reports http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/ A Tale of Two Capes: Steve and Sue - Some Massachusetts Magic Oct 2009 Day 2 Complete http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/208510-tale-two-capes-steve-sue-some-massachusetts-magic-oct-2009-day-2-complete.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:27:54 GMT Who: Sue and Steve

Where: Cape Cod (Yarmouth) and Cape Ann (Gloucester and Salem)

When: October 22 to October 27, 2009

And away we go! I finished my Penn State trip report so that I could begin this one! :woot: :woot: It's full of hauntings, happenings, harbors and harvests! And pictures! Over 600 of them!

So let's start at the planning stage.... ;)

If you read one of my last trip reports, this will be redundant, so I apologize in advance. In November, 2008, my DS popped the question , and my DDiL said yes! On October 3, 2009, they tied the knot in their Penn State Wedding . That meant no expensive WDW trips for us this year, so we planned a few road trips. Our first one was in May, which was Hilton Head and Assateague Islands, and then we decided to go back to Cape Cod.

Cape Cod holds a very special place in our hearts. It was the first place we took a real "couple's" vacation (we had been to Disney, but that was our whole family.) The Cape Cod trip was just the two of us, in 1992, and we had a wonderful time. I had never been to the Cape before that, and I really enjoyed it. We returned in 1994, and in 1996, we honeymooned in the Cape. In 1998, we took my DS and DNephew for a few days, and in 2001, we returned on Labor Day weekend. That was our last trip to the Cape, and we really missed it. When we started talking about driving vacations, the Cape was high on the list.

I did a little research, and found 4 DVC/RCI exchange properties on the Cape. We chose The Cove at Yarmouth, and I called Member Services. Recently, DVC had started to do something called "short stay exchanges" with RCI. I would understand later in the trip why they can do this, after talking to a wonderful gentleman at the resort. :D MS did some searching, and found a 5 day stay (or so I thought...keep that in mind :dizzy: ) in late October. We booked it, and we were good to go!

The wedding came and went, and I decided I really needed to do some planning for this trip as it was only 3 weeks away! :rofl: I had the kennel (ahem...that's camp to Cody and Belle) reservation, but not much else. "So honey, what do you want to do?" Steve was as bad as me, and said something to the effect of "Whatever you want dear..." :rolleyes2: Sigh.

I logged on to a few websites (God bless the internet :D ) and poked around. I decided to check out the Salem, MA website. We had been to Salem several times also, three times for it's "Haunted Happenings" October festival, and once with DS in the summer. We really like this town, so we decided that we were going to spend a day in Salem.

Then, we decided to add a little something different to our trip. We are both fans of the movie The Perfect Storm (OK, anything with George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg in the same movie is never a bad thing... ;) ) but in all honesty, I love the movie, love the book, love Diane Lane and think Linda Greenlaw (the female captain who plays opposite George Clooney's character) is just awesome! (I've read all her books, too!) So, a visit to the site of the movie, Gloucester, only 20 miles from Salem, seemed like The Perfect Sidetrip. We would tour the town, visit The Crow's Nest (site of the movie) and see the sites.

Thsi was our itinerary:
Arrive Thursday, chill out.
Gloucester/Salem on Friday.
Nantucket Island on Saturday.
Hyannis/Provincetown on Sunday.
Sandwich/Nauset Light on Monday.
Home on Tuesday.

But you know, we always have adventures.... :whistle: It wouldn't be a Steve and Sue trip without adventures. These adventures started before we even left home. And that's up next... ]]> Globetrotting: General Trip Reports rescuesk http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/208510-tale-two-capes-steve-sue-some-massachusetts-magic-oct-2009-day-2-complete.html Slainte! DH’s first trip back home to Irland in 8 years and he’s bringing his wife and MIL PTR! http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/207795-slainte-dh-s-first-trip-back-home-irland-8-years-he-s-bringing-his-wife-mil-ptr.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:12:58 GMT Who: Lori (42-this will be my 5th trip to Ireland), DH (32-he’s from Ireland, but hasn’t been home in 8 years), my mom (84-has been to Ireland once back in ’97)

What: A Welcome Home/Congratulations trip to Ireland which will include an American Thanksgiving at my Irish inlaws!

When: We leave on Thursday Nov. 19 (arriving on the 20th) and will return on Sunday Nov. 29.

Where: We will be taking Aer Lingus (Ireland’s national airline) and landing at Dublin Airport. DH is from Portlaoise, Co. Laois in the midlands, so we’ll be based out of there. My mom wants to go to Galway and we didn’t go back in ’97, so we’ll be there for 2 nights (with DH’s parents). DH and I will travel up north to Derry for one night as one of my best friends from college lives there with his wife and amazingly cute little baby. (My friend is American though, went to Derry to get his PhD.) We’ll also do a day trip to Dublin as DH has family there.

So, I’m trying to think of what has happened so far…

We decided to rent our own car for a number of reasons. First of all, our flight lands in Dublin at 5:30am and DH’s parents live like an hour and a half from there, so I didn’t want them having to wake up at 3 am or something to come get us. Also, I knew we would need a car in order to get up to Derry. Thirdly, I just thought it would be handy since we’re three extra people...I mean, I didn’t think all of us would fit into one car to go to Galway or even out to the shops or whatnot.
I did drive in Ireland and Scotland back in ’97 and found it pretty easy actually (my mom still talks about it to this day. About how I just got in the car at 6am after our flight, buckled in and just drove off. LOL…she cracks me up sometimes, she’s so cute) Plus on all my other trips to Ireland I never got to drive. I love to drive and I really loved driving over there, I don’t know why to be honest, maybe because it was an adventure, or maybe because some of the roads were small and different than what we have here. I can still remember driving up in the Highlands in Scotland….just beautiful. It took my breath away.

Anyway, so yep, we’ll be renting from Enterprise at Dublin Airport. I think I got a pretty good deal, but there was definitely some confusion when I booked it. Plus, the insurance was just recently figured out when I called my mom’s AmEx and found out about a program that costs $19.99, so I’m glad that’s all sorted, because DH and I are paying for the car and I would hate to have to spend another $300 or $400 just for insurance! :eek:
I think the only other main thing I can tell you right now is the night we get there, DH’s parents are throwing us (him) a party. I think there’s going to be a LOT of people there! And his mom told me they were having a band and some sort of Irish Dance troupe with audience participation! Ugh. This is sooo not us! :rolleyes:. I hope she is not expecting me to get up and dance because I totally won’t and I don’t think DH will either (most Irish mothers are totally in the dark about the fact that their sons would take the $ they got each week to go to dance class and just buy cigs or beer and go hang with their friends!) :rofl2:
But, who’s to say? The party is probably more for them than for DH or us I guess. I do want to meet all his family and everyone though. Hopefully it’ll be a good time. I will tell you all about it when we get back and I’ll take loads of pictures!
We leave 3 weeks from today! OMG! I have so many things to do still! (well, maybe not, but it seems like it). I wish I could tell you more about the trip but I can’t think of anything right now…oh wait! There is one more thing!
DH and I are going to do a “Hawk Walk” on the grounds of Ashford Castle in Co. Mayo. I’m very excited about it! Here’s a link to the site:
www.falconry.ie
Basically, during the “Hawk Walk” you learn how to handle and fly one of the school's Harris hawks, a species renowned for their easy-going temperament and unusually sociable nature. The instructor will introduce us to your hawk and, within minutes, we will be setting off around the magnificent woodlands to fly our hawks free.
As we fly the hawk around the gardens of Ashford Castle, our instructor will explain about the history of falconry, the hawks exceptional eyesight, their speed and agility and how the hawks are trained.
It’s about an hour’s drive from Galway, so according to DH’s mom, we’ll go to Galway on Monday, stay over, then on Tuesday take a side trip so we can do the Hawk Walk and then back to Galway for another night of entertainment etc….

Let’s see, also…I finally got my passport with my new married name on it, so thank goodness as I sent it in kind of late….
I’ll call a car service a few days before we go to take us to the airport, the pet sitter is arranged…I have to bring stuff for DH’s mom which included wedding pics, so I have to work on that as well…
Can anybody think of anything else I need to do? LOL… I haven’t travelled overseas since like ’04 I think, so it’s been awhile (even longer for DH and my mom). If fact, the only trips I’ve taken (except a weekend in DC) since my last trip to Ireland has been to WDW!! LOL And the packing is not quite the same, you know? ;)
I guess that’s it for now! I’ll update with anything that comes along in the meantime.
Thanks for reading! J ]]> Globetrotting: General Trip Reports Lorelei528 http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/207795-slainte-dh-s-first-trip-back-home-irland-8-years-he-s-bringing-his-wife-mil-ptr.html In the Footsteps of the Incas: From Mountains to Jungle to Ancient Ruins http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/207691-footsteps-incas-mountains-jungle-ancient-ruins.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:32:51 GMT *In the Footsteps of the Incas: From Mountains to Jungle to Ancient Ruins * * Sneak Peek photo: Image: http://i1000.photobucket.com/albums/af127/Madtraveller/CopyofIMG_0737.jpg * The very first conversation I had with my boyfriend, Craig, was discussing how I would love to go hiking to see Machu Picchu. He was so excited by that. It turns out he is a hiker kind of a guy. He had recently gone hiking in the Swiss Alps and walks in Ireland. I never expected that 10 months later the two of us would be exploring Peru. I honestly did not know much about Peru except for some incredible video footage seen on TV travel shows like Samantha Brown’s Passport to Latin America. I saw images of the mist lifting from the Andes and I was mesmerized. Fast forward a bit and I have found myself in a long distance relationship. Craig lives in the heart of Illinois and I live in Philadelphia. If you told me a year ago I would be dating a guy who lived over 700 miles away I would have told you that you were mental. What I didn’t count on was meeting the right guy on so many different levels. Pretty soon after we spent a long weekend together in NYC Craig suggested that we take a vacation together hiking the Andes. Now, my former self would have questioned going on such a journey so soon after meeting someone. 2009 I wanted to leap at the chance. Go figure! My biggest problem was money. It always is. I told him financially there was no way I would be able to undertake such a venture. His response was, “No problem. I’ll pay your way for the most part. You pay what you can.” I told him I would think about it. Why hesitate, you ask? I have a fierce independent streak. I just didn’t like the idea of someone else footing the bill. Then I thought some more. When would I have the opportunity to do something like this? I wasn’t sure. I had a talk with my roommate Tristan (We share a two bedroom flat on the third floor of a house). He said I was crazy. There are other ways in which I could contribute. He said after a full day’s hike a back and leg massage would definitely be worth quite a bit of money. Why not think of other ways to “pay your share”? He made a good point. Next thing I knew we were researching various tour companies. What we discovered is that it would be best if we tailored our own trip. Basically, I did a ton of research to come up with a trip which we could afford (not much), good quality, and flexibility. Due to work demands I determined that I could only be away for about 10 or 11 days. The day prior to my departure was spent in preparation. Why does packing always seem to take longer than I anticipate? Months earlier I had made a packing list. It gave me plenty of time to add things I might have forgotten. I was able to pack everything into 1 9x21x14 bag and 1 back pack. I was able to pack everything except my little bottle of DEET insect repellent. It just would NOT fit into my 1 quart Ziploc bag. Ugh! Due to the nature of our trip I insisted we be able to NOT check any luggage. Our itinerary has us constantly on the move. If the airlines were to loose our luggage then they would never be able to return it until our trip was over. Additionally, we would be using trains, planes, buses, taxis, all manner of transportation. We needed to travel light to be easily mobile. Tristan is a night owl and when I left our place in the wee hours of the morning he was amazed at how light I was traveling. “That’s it!?! A big backpack and a smaller one?” I was using a convertible carry-on that had straps so it could function as a backpack and are able to be tucked away when need be. The hours leading up to my departure involved my usual restlessness. I had significant trouble sleeping but I managed to get more hours in than I thought I would. I probably had about six hours of fitful sleep. My finances proved to be in better shape than I anticipated. Ironically, I ended up being prepared to purchase my plane tickets months before Craig. I found an excellent fare and booked as soon as I saw the fares start to climb. In doing research I discovered flights from the US to Lima Peru all tended to arrive at the same time. Craig was not able to book his flight until several months later. As a result we took separate flights to Lima with arrivals within one hour of each other. When all is said and done I ended up paying 90% of my share of the trip after all. *NEXT: What do you mean you have no idea what happened to that bag!?! OR If his head wasn’t attached he would have lost that too.*
In the Footsteps of the Incas: From Mountains to Jungle to Ancient Ruins

Sneak Peek photo:





The very first conversation I had with my boyfriend, Craig, was discussing how I would love to go hiking to see Machu Picchu. He was so excited by that. It turns out he is a hiker kind of a guy. He had recently gone hiking in the Swiss Alps and walks in Ireland.

I never expected that 10 months later the two of us would be exploring Peru. I honestly did not know much about Peru except for some incredible video footage seen on TV travel shows like Samantha Brown’s Passport to Latin America. I saw images of the mist lifting from the Andes and I was mesmerized.

Fast forward a bit and I have found myself in a long distance relationship. Craig lives in the heart of Illinois and I live in Philadelphia. If you told me a year ago I would be dating a guy who lived over 700 miles away I would have told you that you were mental. What I didn’t count on was meeting the right guy on so many different levels. Pretty soon after we spent a long weekend together in NYC Craig suggested that we take a vacation together hiking the Andes. Now, my former self would have questioned going on such a journey so soon after meeting someone. 2009 I wanted to leap at the chance. Go figure! My biggest problem was money. It always is. I told him financially there was no way I would be able to undertake such a venture. His response was, “No problem. I’ll pay your way for the most part. You pay what you can.” I told him I would think about it. Why hesitate, you ask? I have a fierce independent streak. I just didn’t like the idea of someone else footing the bill. Then I thought some more. When would I have the opportunity to do something like this? I wasn’t sure. I had a talk with my roommate Tristan (We share a two bedroom flat on the third floor of a house). He said I was crazy. There are other ways in which I could contribute. He said after a full day’s hike a back and leg massage would definitely be worth quite a bit of money. Why not think of other ways to “pay your share”? He made a good point.

Next thing I knew we were researching various tour companies. What we discovered is that it would be best if we tailored our own trip. Basically, I did a ton of research to come up with a trip which we could afford (not much), good quality, and flexibility. Due to work demands I determined that I could only be away for about 10 or 11 days.

The day prior to my departure was spent in preparation. Why does packing always seem to take longer than I anticipate? Months earlier I had made a packing list. It gave me plenty of time to add things I might have forgotten. I was able to pack everything into 1 9x21x14 bag and 1 back pack. I was able to pack everything except my little bottle of DEET insect repellent. It just would NOT fit into my 1 quart Ziploc bag. Ugh!

Due to the nature of our trip I insisted we be able to NOT check any luggage. Our itinerary has us constantly on the move. If the airlines were to loose our luggage then they would never be able to return it until our trip was over. Additionally, we would be using trains, planes, buses, taxis, all manner of transportation. We needed to travel light to be easily mobile.

Tristan is a night owl and when I left our place in the wee hours of the morning he was amazed at how light I was traveling. “That’s it!?! A big backpack and a smaller one?” I was using a convertible carry-on that had straps so it could function as a backpack and are able to be tucked away when need be.

The hours leading up to my departure involved my usual restlessness. I had significant trouble sleeping but I managed to get more hours in than I thought I would. I probably had about six hours of fitful sleep.

My finances proved to be in better shape than I anticipated. Ironically, I ended up being prepared to purchase my plane tickets months before Craig. I found an excellent fare and booked as soon as I saw the fares start to climb. In doing research I discovered flights from the US to Lima Peru all tended to arrive at the same time. Craig was not able to book his flight until several months later. As a result we took separate flights to Lima with arrivals within one hour of each other. When all is said and done I ended up paying 90% of my share of the trip after all.

NEXT: What do you mean you have no idea what happened to that bag!?! OR If his head wasn’t attached he would have lost that too. ]]> Globetrotting: General Trip Reports DouglasE http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/207691-footsteps-incas-mountains-jungle-ancient-ruins.html Best French Kiss Ever (Au Revoir) http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/207333-best-french-kiss-ever-au-revoir.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:19:41 GMT . Before heading out for the day, I ask the staff to store my bags while I explore the city for one last time. I will return to pick them up by 3 pm. *More fountain pictures Image: http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/attachments/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/35476d1256231645-best-french-kiss-ever-au-revoir-img1252.jpg Image: http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/attachments/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/35477d1256231645-best-french-kiss-ever-au-revoir-img1254.jpg *]]> Best French Kiss Ever! Au Revoir :wave:

For those of you who have missed this trip report keep in mind the following:


A French kiss can be a transcendent experience. At least when it is done well I feel like I have been transported to another plane of existence. This trip surpassed the limits beyond my ordinary existence. What a wonderful gift travel can be! The year 2006 has been a year of personal growth for me. This journey marks a milestone in personal growth. The trip was a challenging one. I was traveling outside North America for the first time totally on my own. There was no one to take up the slack or make sure all the dots are connected. Also, I’d be journeying to a land where I only spoke a little bit of the language. I’d be experiencing a culture that does things differently and has a different perspective. My challenge was to live like a local.

If you have missed reading this trip report you can start from the begining. Here are the earlier chapters.

Part I: Loire River Valley Best French Kiss Ever! (Loire River Valley)

Part II: Bienvenue a Paris Best French Kiss Ever! (Bienvenue à Paris)

Part III: Historic Heart of Paris Best French Kiss Ever! (updated 01/19/07)

Part IV: Impressionists' Paris Best French Kiss Ever! (Impressionist's Paris)

Part V: Marais Mania Best French Kiss Ever! (Marais Mania)

Part VI: Well-heeled Paris Best French Kiss Ever! (Well-Heeled Paris)

Part VII: Royal Versailles http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...ersailles.html

"L'Homage a Stravinsky" Fountain outside of Centre Pompidou



This is my last day in Paris. I head down to the breakfast room of the hotel. I fully anticipated having a meal with my fellow tour members who were all so great. This was not to be. Everyone is busy with their various plans. Most are embarking on new destinations. As I sit having my breakfast a wave of melancholia sweeps over me. It is coming to an end all too quickly. As I savor my tea various acquaintances come and go off to pursue new adventures. No one seems to have any time to sit and chat <sigh>. Before heading out for the day, I ask the staff to store my bags while I explore the city for one last time. I will return to pick them up by 3 pm.

More fountain pictures
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]]> Globetrotting: General Trip Reports DouglasE http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/globetrotting-general-trip-reports/207333-best-french-kiss-ever-au-revoir.html