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I’ve been watching a YouTube video series, posted by a guy named Robert Morales. His channel is titled “Traveling Robert.”
He and his wife travel all over the country, towing their little RV trailer. He has covered a lot of areas I’d like to visit myself, and probably never will. He also has toured places I never would have dreamed were as nice as they are, and in some cases — beautiful.
If I was a couple of years younger (well, maybe 20 years) I’d probably try it myself, but I’m not sure if Sharon would be as eager as me.
Our overseas travels have been with tour companies (except for our very first trip overseas to Britain with our daughter Carrie and her husband David, that I covered in my column a couple of weeks ago).
We found wonderful travel partners with Sharon’s cousin Lynn Brown and her husband Mike. We’ve taken three European jaunts with them.
One epic adventure, was a monthlong odyssey, starting with a weeklong bus tour, north from Munich, Germany to Kiel, Germany, where we boarded a cruise ship and made our way to New York City, with quite a few stops in between.
We’ve found the package land tours to be comfortable and easy. The tour guides we’ve had have all been knowledgeable and friendly.
It’s a simple process, your tour director handles all the reservations at the various hotels, gathers up the room keys and distributes them to the tour members. Your luggage is handled by the tour director and the bus driver. You go to your room, and a few minutes later, your bags are delivered.
The day of departure, you place your bags in the hall outside your room, and the reverse is done. It’s repeated each day of your tour.
Mike, Lynn and Sharon and I had all been to Germany on previous trips, but we did travel through areas we hadn’t visited, so it was still fun. Once on the ship, we could choose to take prearranged tours or, as we did, hire a taxi, (with an English-speaking driver), paying him to show us the sights. It is a much more informative way to see the sights and cheaper than the tours.
Our first cruise stop after leaving Kiel in the afternoon was the next morning at Copenhagen, Denmark. We hired our cab and saw the sights.
You have probably heard of the Little Mermaid sculpture situated in the harbor. I imagined a fairly good-sized work, out in the bay. Well, it is “Little” and just a few feet off shore. Anyway, the tour we had was fun and when we were ready to head back to the ship, all we had to do was let the driver know. Easy.
Next on the agenda was the town of Zeebruge, Belgium. Another nice little town, the most memorable thing I recall was a small Catholic church. It was absolutely beautiful.
The next morning found our ship in the harbor of Southampton, England, the same place where the ill fated Titanic left from on her maiden voyage.
We found a very personable taxi driver when we stepped ashore and asked if he would be interested in taking the four of us on a tour of the sights. We saw a section of an old city wall that had been erected in the 1400s, the oldest lawn bowling court in England, some 500 years old, and many other interesting things.
Vigo, Spain was our next port and it was a beautiful city, with a suspension bridge that looked surprisingly like the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. Once more, we found a personable driver, who seemed to be better as a tour guide than a driver — but we survived.
The next port of call was one we had looked forward to — Lisbon, Portugal — and we did sign up for a package tour. Our tour took us to Fatima, the village where the three youngsters saw the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sharon was disappointed that the site had obviously changed during the last 100 years. It is now an immense shrine and surrounded by gift shops. Inspiring, but too busy.
So, back to the ship for a great dinner and awaiting the next morning and our next stop (one that I was really looking forward to) the Azores. The port was Punta Del Gada. Here we took another package tour. It was worth the money.
We had five days at sea, blessed with great weather and smooth sailing, made a brief stop in Bermuda, and the next day docked next door to the World War II aircraft carrier Intrepid.
We were ready to get home. A night in Newark, New Jersey, and I was really ready to see the Front Range, Denver International Airport and good old Loveland.
After all we saw on the trip, we’ve both decided Loveland is best of all.
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