Prologue
Sunday 6th July, 2014
think I will write a prologue to this trip because I have anticipated it for a long time. Mac and I have planned an APT River Cruise in Europe, starting on 11th May, 2015. The tour starts in Prague, in the Czech Republic, where we have three nights with touring and getting to know some of the other passengers. Then we bus to Budapest, Hungary to board our luxury river cruise boat. We have chosen an upgraded cabin with balcony because we felt that sometimes you like to be able to get away from other people and the cheaper suites had windows only and at water level. The cruise is about three weeks down the Danube, Rhine and Main Rivers to Amsterdam. To finish up the tour we bus to Paris and have four nights. It should be three but we have taken advantage of a deal with APT as we are members of their Discoverers' Club and have an extra night, free.
All this has already been booked and a deposit paid for the tour. The flights have been booked with Singapore Airlines, Sydney/Singapore, Singapore/Munich, Munich/Prague and we get a credit of $1000 per person off the flights. So that makes it pretty cheap.
We finish up in Paris on 31st May and on 1st June we take the Eurostar under the Channel to London where we meet Geoff who will fly in a few days before. We have our hotel, the Bedford in Bloomsbury already booked and paid for and have four days in London. Then we will all take the train to Glasgow on the Friday, stay overnight then pick up a rental car at Glasgow airport. We have a week booked and paid for in the cottage in Strachur, Loch Fyneside where we stayed last time. We all enjoyed Tigh an Uillt and we wanted to see more of the area than we had time for last time when Mac got sick.
From here we drive to North Yorkshire where we have a farm cottage booked and paid for near Leyburn in Wensleydale. This should be a good centre for the north of England.
hen down to the North Midlands to Stoke on Trent where we pick up a narrowboat from Black Prince Holidays for a week on the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canals. This is also paid for.
We always enjoy our canal trips and look forward to visiting Little Moreton Hall near Congleton, which is accessible from the canal.
rom here we drive to South Wales to another farm cottage about an hour from Cardiff, also paid for. We have not been to this area of Wales before, always being in the north and mid areas, so we are looking forward to seeing the Dr Who experience and Cardiff Castle.
fter Wales, we have two weeks booked and paid for in a cottage in the Cotswolds, between Oxford and Stratford on Avon. This is for relaxing and not too much racketing around because we all get tired at the end of our trips and don't want to be absolutely exhausted to come home.
So, there are our plans. All organised and mostly paid for with nine months to go.
It passed really quickly and soon it was time to pack and go.
