Change is a Way of Life

Our itinerary has changed slightly.

HAL has contacted everyone to let them know we will not be stopping in Libya anymore. The new full schedule looks like this:

May 26 Sail from Piraeus, Greece
May 27 Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
May 28 Santorini, Greece
May 29 Sea Day
May 30 Salerno, Italy
May 31 Civitavecchia (Rome)
June 1 Monte Carlo, Monaco
June 2 Marseille, France
June 3 Barcelona, Spain
June 4 Sea Day
June 5 Cadiz (Seville), Spain
June 6 Lisbon, Portugal
June 7 Sea Day
June 8 Sea Day
June 9 Le Havre (Paris), France
June 10 Debark Ship Harwich (London), England

I'm a Legal Beagle

Yesterday I received my new passport (with my married name) in the mail. It's so exciting, I just had to share :-)

Let the Planning Begin

On Saturday I went to Borders and bought some travel books. We are trying to decide if the excursions in each port offered by the cruise line are worth the money. My gut tells me the answer is yes in some cities, no in others.

I've pretty much made up my mind to "go it alone" in several of the ports. Our itinerary is long and inviting. We start in Athens, Greece and end in Harwich (London) in the UK. In between we will see many cities of varying size and historical value.

Here is a look at the complete itinerary:

May 23 depart for Athens via London
May 24 arrive Athens, Greece
May 25 Athens, Greece
May 26 ship departs Athens via the port at Piraeus
May 27 Santorini, Greece
May 28 sea day
May 29 Tripoli, Libya
May 30 sea day
May 31 Rome, Italy
June 1 Monte Carlo, Monaco
June 2 Marseilles, France
June 3 Barcelona, Spain
June 4 sea day
June 5 Cadiz (Seville), Spain
June 6 Lisbon, Portugal
June 7 sea day
June 8 sea day
June 9 Le Havre (Paris), France
June 10 depart for home via London

In other words, it looks like this...

The tricky thing about this trip is that some of the ports are actually quite far from the cities they are attached too. Paris, for example, is a healthy 2 1/2 hours from the port at Le Havre. Lucky thing that the coast of Normandy (where the port is located) is just as beautiful, and more doable in a day, as the City of Light.

As far as the books I purchased, one was on Spain, one on France and the other on Lisbon. After searching for a book that would be helpful in all ports I decided to focus on the countries/cities that I think will be doable without a cruise ship tour.

Barcelona, here I come!