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6AM:  Walking to the Frankfurt airport terminal to get checked in for our flights to Palermo. Sleep last night was good….until 2 AM when we both awoke ready for the day. Refusing to accept that we dosed fitfully until 5:30 when we admitted defeat and got up, figuring we would get additional sleep time on our flights.

The airport was surprisingly busy at 6AM; even the shops were already open for business. Check in and security clearance went smoothly and we soon found ourselves in one of the many Lufthansa business lounges where we had a nice breakfast. The lounge itself is radically different than most lounges. There are a series of rooms with couches, chairs, small tables, etc. almost like being in a home. There is even a sleep room with long lounges to stretch out on. Never have seen this setup before.

History lesson for the day:  Sicily history dates back 3,000 years. Originally three tribes occupied it; then around 734 BC the Phoenicians showed up followed by the Greeks, then the Romans, then the Arabs. The Greeks ruled from 734-264BC. Ancient Syracuse (now Siracusa) became more important then Athens at the time. Plato and Archimedes lived there. The Romans ruled Sicily from 264BC until 410AD. Barbarians came next. The Arabs arrived in 827 and changed the culture as they ruled until 1060. Their considerable influence on Sicily remains today. The Normans arrived in 1060 and prevailed until 1189 when the French showed up. They were quickly displaced by the Spanish who prevailed from 1282-1860 when Italy was unified. But then Sicily got ignored by the powers on the mainland, allowing the emergence of what began known as the Mafia and the dictators of Italy. The culture of Sicily today reflects elements of all the previous occupiers of the country. End of lesson!

You have to be impressed with German efficiency!  Our Lufthansa flight to Zurich takes only 35 minutes. There were 36 passengers in the business class section of the plane. The flight attendants served us a breakfast basket (apple, cucumber/ cream cheese sandwich on a nutty bread, and a breakfast bar) and drinks in that 35 minutes!  US flight attendants complain when they have to do it in 1 hour! Needless to say we were impressed.

Almost no face masks seen in the Frankfurt airport; however, once you are on board a Lufthansa aircraft you are required to be masked up. The same story at the Zurich airport but when we boarded our Swiss Air flight to Palermo we were not required to wear masks. Swiss airlines is owned by the Lufthansa group but mask rules are different, possibly due to different government rules (German vs Switzerland). Scheduled flight time to Palermo is 1.5 hours.

All went well. We arrived on time, our luggage was there and so was our driver! Our hotel in Palermo was once a palace. It is delightful. Lots of public rooms decorated with antique furniture and our sleeping rooms are huge. The best part is that the AC works and is able to keep the rooms as cold as we desire.

Still fighting jet lag a bit we grabbed a hour nap before proceeding to the delightful roof top deck for cocktails where we met up with our travel companions, Gerry & Sue Bishop, who had arrived several hours before us. The bartender was friendly and maintained that he makes the best Manhattans in the city so we put him to the test. Yvonne was tempted by his suggestion and enjoyed a lemoncello spritzer. We quickly caught up with Gerry & Sue over drinks and then walked about ten minutes to the restaurant where I had made 7:30 (their opening time)  reservations for dinner. Every restaurant we saw along the way featured al fresco dining; it is the what they do in Sicily! We were treated to an excellent meal in a wonderful evening setting.

This ended our first evening in Palermo, Sicily. Tomorrow we will do a bit of local sightseeing on our own and will meet our local tour guide at 6PM.

 

We have been to Italy at least five times, but had never spent any time in Sicily (except for a one day visit when we were on a cruise in 1995). Thus, in 2020 we had planned a trip to explore Sicily in a more in-depth way. And since we were in the neighborhood we  planned to also visit the nearby country of Malta, thus adding it to my “Countries Visited” list. Well, we all know what happened.  Naively, we moved the trip to 2021, again a no-go, so it became “2022 or bust”!  The good news is that the cost of our trip has decreased because the Euro has dropped 15% since we first made our reservations. Our travel companions will once again be my brother, Gerry and wife, Sue. Luckily he has the same travel bug that I have contracted and we enjoy their company.

Lately we have traveled with smaller group tours and thus chose to go with Secret Italia (based out of Malta) who I discovered when searching the internet for companies that had extensive experience and presence in Sicily/Malta. It will be our first experience with them but previous travelers speak highly of them.

Getting to Palermo from Seattle would have taken 3 flights so I opted to break up the flight by spending the night in Frankfurt before traveling to Palermo, Sicily, our first stop on the tour. It will also allow our bodies to adjust somewhat to the new time zone before we begin touring. I use several glasses of wine with dinner to help me sleep on the plane but Yvonne always has problems getting any decent hours of sleep on the plane so this extra layover will help her catch up on the missed sleep.

We chose to fly Condor Airlines from Seattle to Frankfurt because we have flown them before, and their prices were much better than the competition. There are also several Marriott hotels right at the airport terminal so it is convenient for our arrival and departure.

We always make sure we arrive early at the airport in case some glitch occurs. Today one did-we actually arrived so early (4 hours before departure) that the check-in counter had not yet opened!  We had to wait for 45 minutes before we were able to check our luggage and get our boarding passes.  We had a good laugh.

Flying business class gives us access to their lounge so we had a pleasant location to await our flight. The lounge was not as elegant as others we have been in but the seating was plentiful and adequate, and there were decent snacks to occupy our time while we waited for our flight departure, which turned out to be delayed 55 minutes.

The boarding process was a bit unorganized but once we were on board we were impressed. The seating arrangement in business class was radically different from others we have experienced. It was well laid out, with plenty of storage space and convenient places to keep things. Yvonne really loved it. Oh, by the way, we were asked to wear masks when on board.

As expected the German flight crew was organized and efficient. Preflight drinks were offered, followed by a menu of the meals to be served, a hot towel to freshen up and pre-dinner drinks and snacks once we were in the air. The meal was excellent, one of the better ones we have had over the years.

Entertainment options were so-so. Movies and TV show selection were somewhat dated. We both started watching “The Lost City” but I lost interest about 2/3 of the way through it and decided to try to grab some sleep as it was now almost 9PM. My two glasses of wine with dinner did its trick and I managed to get almost five hours of rest before awaking in time to be served breakfast. Surprisingly, Yvonne who always seems to have trouble sleeping on planes said she slept 3-4 hours.  Flying Condor is now her preferred mode of travel since our business class seats had pulsating massage feature in every seat!

Although we left late we arrived on time in Frankfurt. I had forgotten how big the Frankfurt airport is and we wandered around a bit before we found how to find our way to baggage claim (signage was not up to what I had expected). No lines at passport control and our luggage arrived within 5 minutes of us arriving at baggage claim.

We are staying at the Sheraton hotel here at the airport, which is attached to the terminal so getting there only involves a fairly short indoor walk to reach it. Because Bill Marriott gave me “lifetime platinum” status (while I was still working) we try to stay at their chain whenever we can as I am usually granted upgrades and other perks when staying there. Indeed we were upgraded to the club level floor, given access to the club lounge (free food and drinks). The fellow at check in was super nice and even walked us to the elevators, pointing out where the club was located.

We crashed for three hours and then visited the lounge where we were offered “bento” boxes as a dinner snack. It was a delightful change of pace and we really enjoyed them.

Sending Yvonne back to the room I decided to return to the airport lobby to determine how/where we need to go in the morning to catch our plane to Zurich and then to Palermo Sicily, our ultimate destination. It took a few stops and questiong local staff to learn how to do it and I am glad I went through the effort as I do not want to wander around lugging luggage in the morning trying to maneuver the airport.

So far, so good. I have even managed to upload pictures and issue this blog entry before we call it a day! Hopefully things continue running smoothly for us.

No alarm clocks and a quiet lake setting led to sleeping in this morning. People awoke at different times and congregated on the deck for morning coffee, awaiting the rest of the group to join the early risers. The agenda for the day was somewhat undefined, other than a walk up the road about one block to tour the lake home of Betsy & Allan Rand. Betsy is also a niece of Judy Jensen and the sister of our daughter-in-law, Julie Bishop.  Allan & Betsy bought their Lake Chelan home a few years ago, excited it was only a short distance from their relatives. Betsy was not due to arrive until Thursday night but was eager for us to tour their home to see what modifications they have done to it. So after a leisurely breakfast we walked the short distance  to the Rand compound and got a tour of their getaway home. It is lovely, made more so by the renovations that are underway.

On the walk back  a mandatory tour of the garage that Jim Jensen built was included in our tour. It is locally known at the “Garage-Mahal”. It is every man’s dream-big, well laid out and stocked with all the necessities, although I did not see a recliner or TV! Jim also proudly gave us a tour of his most recent addition to the compound- a high class outhouse he built about six years ago. They certainly do not need one; I guess he simply needed a fun project to occupy his time.

It was now late afternoon and  time to leave the Jensen compound and do some local sightseeing. Luckily Chrissy had a vehicle large enough to carry the six of us so she graciously offered to act as chauffeur. She drove us through the town of Chelan, pointing out items of interest, then to Manson with its more elegant homesteads.  She also wanted to show us one (or more) of the local wineries and we suggested we visit Succession Winery as it is owned by the son of one of Yvonne’s local gym group. It turned out to be much larger and elaborate than I had imagined.  Rather than doing a wine tasting we simply did the Billy Joel “a bottle of red; a bottle of white” routine and sat on their veranda enjoying the ambience of the locale.

Soon it was time to head to a second winery which also features a popular outdoor restaurant. It is called Tsillan Cellars. Education aside: It is pronounced “Chelan” and is the Native American language spelling for Chelan. It was named the 2020 Washington Winery of the year and is the home of Sorrento’s Restorante, our destination for dinner. It is spectacular- vineyards overlooking Lake Chelan, landscaping to be envious of, and a marvelous open-to-the-outdoor restaurant featuring an Italian menu and white table cloth table settings. It is one of the prettiest locations I have ever seen. And luckily the food (and wine) lived up to its reputation.

It was a marvelous way to end our visit to Lake Chelan, as we head home tomorrow morning. Many thanks to Judy Jensen for planning this fun trip for everyone.

 

Our return boat was scheduled to leave Stehekin at 12:30PM but we had to be on the 9 AM bus back “to town”. No problem, as there were a few things to see/do at the ferry landing that we had not experienced upon our arrival two days ago.

Another great breakfast started the day, where I opted, not for the featured egg casserole but asked for an omelet with “the works”. OMG, when delivered it was huge! Luckily Yvonne, who tried a bit of the casserole, said she would help. It was fresh, hot, loaded with fresh vegetables and cooked perfectly. That, and a warm biscuit (with butter & honey) made for a marvelous meal.

Knowing that the bus would make the obligatory stop at the Bakery Yvonne suggested we buy some cinnamon rolls to take to the Lake Chelan cabin for tomorrow’s breakfast-an excellent idea. Upon stopping I hurried in and ordered four of the giant cinnamon rolls to go. And as long as I was there I added two of the sticky buns for good measure, and if our boat broke down we would not starve! Then we made the obligatory stop at The Garden and this time I did tour it as I wanted to buy some of his homemade goat cheese to have as an appetizer once we returned to Lake Chelan.

Once we arrived at the ferry landing (about 10:15AM), to await our boat, we anticipated we would visit the local museum, now housed in the old hotel, do a bit of shopping in the two shops selling local artists’ goods and have a bit of lunch at the local eatery. What we did not know  was: A.  The museum did not open until 12 noon and B.  The restaurant was closed on Tuesday. Shopping was brief and to pass the time until our boat arrived we opted to simply eat some of our survival food, the famous cinnamon rolls!

Our ride back was with the other boat company, The Chelan Boat Company, whose claim to fame is that it dates back to 1889.  Its most famous boat is called “the Lady of the Lake”. The company was bought by another member of the Courtney family, Reed Courtney, and a partner in 2019. We will be riding on one of their smaller boats, “The Lady Express”, is licensed to carry up to 145 passengers. By the time we left the boat was at near capacity. We ventured to the upper deck (for better viewing) and found that the seating was not as nice as on the Sunny Jo; these were simply folding chairs. Oh well, it will do. The ride was smooth and I think most of us managed to doze a bit during the two hour trip back to Field’s Point where our cars awaited us.

Ten minutes later we were at the summer home of Jim & Judy Jensen, located on the shores of Lake Chelan. It would be a disservice calling their home a lake cabin as it is a beautiful authentic log cabin built by Jim & Judy in the 1970s. We were met by Chrissy Jensen, the wife of Lance Jensen, one of the three Jensen sons, who had prepared hors d’oeuvres, cold drinks and dinner for us. Our decadent life style continued for at least another day!

Tomorrow the agenda calls for some local sightseeing and wine tasting, as the Lake Chelan area has become one of the latest hot spots for vineyards and wineries.

We slept comfortably through the night with the screened windows open and a fan bringing in cool mountain air, and not a mosquito in sight! Breakfast is served from 7-8:30 so we could not leisurely extend our sleeping time. Breakfast was another amazing meal with an egg casserole, fresh fruit, bacon, sausage and absolutely heavenly biscuits with a big pot of local honey and a plate of a 1lb slab of butter. Could it be the mountain air that caused me to load up my plate?

Judy had reserved a CanAm off-road vehicle for 4 hours so we could explore the area. Because it was located back in town we had to catch the “white” bus back to town when it left at 9 AM to deliver people returning to the ferry and pick up newly

arrived tourists. Jake would simply stop and drop us off at the rental agency to pick up our vehicle. The other riders with us were mostly young backpackers; I am certain we were the oldest people on the bus! As mentioned in the previous post the bus stopped at Rainbow Falls so we decided to get off and walk the short distance to view the 392 ft, two tier waterfall. The second tier is 312 ft high. Normally in the spring one can get a good dousing from the mist but we were spared as it is late in the season and water flow has been reduced. It was still an impressive amount of water however. Back on the bus with a quick stop at the Bakery for the other passengers (we passed as we were there yesterday and had already eaten a big breakfast), then the Garden (I passed) and finally we were dropped off at the rental shack near the ferry terminal.

Speaking about backpackers we chatted with a few on the bus as we progressed to Stehekin. The backpackers were young and hearty! Most have been walking the Pacific Crest Trail which runs 2,653 miles from Mexico to Canada! Stehekin is one of the populated areas where hikers can replenish their supplies and simply rest a bit before continuing on the last 70 mile leg to Canada. One young man said he has been on the trail since April! We were astonished when he told us he was married with an 11 month old child who was at home with his wife. When we asked why she was not with him he said she will be doing the hike next year while he watches their child. Boy, this is certainly a new generation! Another young couple said they had started to trek earlier this year but fires in California forced them to abandon the hike in California, travel north to Canada and trek south as far as they can, then complete the rest of the trek in the future. The several buses that run this road will stop and pick up any hikers if waved down. Rides are free but a tip jar sits by the front door.

Ted, the youngest of our group, was our designated driver for the off-road vehicle excursion. We piled in and off we went seeking some of the local sights. Our first stop was the one room school house (grades1-8) that was used from 1921-1989 until a newer school was constructed. The old school house is now a museum open to the public. We wandered through it, seeing the old school desks (that we all remembered from our school days), historical pictures and even some examples of school projects. There was more than one “I remember that” from our travel group.  By the way, there are 11 students presently attending the school. High schoolers must either go the Chelan to continue their education or be home schooled.

We next drove to the other “major” attraction in the area: The Buckner Orchard. The Buckner Orchard is one of the Stehekin area’s oldest homesteads and dates back to 1889. The homestead cabin is still there,  along with several other buildings, old farm equipment and hundred-year-old apple trees whose fruit is still harvested each year. The land was sold to the National Park in 1970. A gentlemen cutting the lawn turned out to be a distant relative and we spent some time hearing about the orchard, its trees and history. Our discussion period was limited because of a hoard  of mosquitoes that prompted us to move on. He told us how to drive to the nearby Stehekin River via a dirt path on the property. This was the closest to “off-roading” that we did!

 

By now it was decision time as lunch loomed. Do we stop at the Bakery or head back to the ranch for lunch ? We wanted to travel north  of the ranch to High Bridge and then to the “end of the road” so it was decided to eat lunch at the ranch as it was on the way to our destination.  Lunch choices were make you own sandwich or try the hot casserole called “cheesy cowboy casserole”, which likely consisted of all the leftovers (meat & vegetables) from last night’s dinner. It was excellent!

Visits to High Bridge ( basically a bridge high above a raging Stehekin River) and the end of the road (caused by landslides year ago) completed our touring excursion. High Bridge is important as this is where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the river. Hikers, who want to pause their hikes congregate here and wait for a ride to/from town as they start, stop or continue along the Pacific Crest Trail.

 

Our vehicle was due back by 2:30, so off we went to bring it back-safe and sound, I might add. To get back to the ranch we simply had to wait by the road and wave down the white bus who would be returning to the ranch after meeting the ferry in Stehekin. We had to wait a bit but it arrived and soon we were back at our cabins for a quick nap and preparing for the evening cocktail ritual. By the way, until very recently there was no internet service in Stehekin. This has changed with the advent of the Starlink satellite service. We were told you had to go over to a nearby log to get a clear view of the sky to get service. Sure enough, it worked, so part of the daily ritual was to check up on our emails and world events.

After last night’s great meal the cocktail hour discussion included speculating about tonight’s dinner, and, more importantly, what would be on the dessert menu!  When the dinner bell rang we responded like Pavlov’s experimental subjects and joined the other hungry residents of the ranch for yet, another marvelous meal which featured a marinated flank steak with chimichurri sauce. And the dessert menu did not disappoint, with many new pies and cakes to choose from.

We ate tonight in the outdoor, screened-in room and lingered afterward reliving today’s adventures until it was time to retire. Tomorrow we retrace our steps to civilization!

 

Stehekin, Washington is at the northern tip of Lake Chelan in eastern Washington. You can only get to it by boat or float plane. It is considered to be “off the grid” and holds an aura of a place you need to experience.  We had never been there so I guess I can say it has been on my bucket list since 1963 when we first came to Washington.

Our son, Steve’s wife (Julie) has an Aunt (Judy & Jim Jensen) who have a summer home on Lake Chelan and they suggested we spend a few days in Stehekin followed by a couple of days at their home on Lake Chelan. What made it even more fun was Judy’s baby brother and his wife (Ted & Judy Dengler) would be visiting from North Carolina and would join us. We first met the Denglers at Steve & Julie’s wedding 21 years ago but had not seen them since, so it would be a nice reunion.

Judy Jensen acted as the trip planner for this excursion so all we had to do was show up. It is a leisurely 3.5 hour drive through the mountains to Lake Chelan from the Seattle ferry terminal. We were to be at the Fields Point Landing( #2 on map) by noon for a planned boat departure at 1 PM. Several boats provide ferry service to Stehekin. Although listed as separate companies the two companies are owned by members of the Courtney family, a famous local pioneer family who date back to the early 1900s. Our trip “up lake” would be on a boat owned by the Stehekin Ferry Company. As promised, the “Sunny Jo”, a 32 passenger, 57 foot catamaran showed up and the 6 of us boarded the boat for a leisurely 2 hour ride to Stehekin. Our gracious hostess, Judy Jensen, had even provided box lunches to keep us happy as we headed into the wilderness.

By 2:45PM we pulled into the Stehekin dock where we were met by a “vintage” old white school bus that would take us to our ultimate destination, the Stehekin Valley Ranch, located 9 miles from the ferry landing. I was somewhat perplexed when I read the 9 mile trip would take one hour. How could that be?  Are the roads that bad?  I soon found out. The only other passenger on the bus besides the 6 of us was a delightful young lady (one of many we later got to meet) who we learned was one of the workers at that ranch. It was her day off and she had ventured to Stehekin to visit a friend. Two miles up the road the bus pulled into the parking lot of the famous “Bakery” for a 15 minute stop. The bakery is famous in the state of Washington (and probably elsewhere) for its home baked goods-pies, huge cinnamon rolls and sticky buns, and cookies of various types.   This would be the first of multiple stops there while we were in Stehekin, for which we were thankful! We left the bakery after having snacks and continued on our journey to the ranch.

A few more miles up the road we made another planned, 15 minute stop at the “Garden”, a local pea patch of sorts run by a barefooted gentleman who grows vegetables, raises flowers, sells honey from his hives and makes/sells goat cheese. We were offered a third stop at Rainbow Falls, but passed as we knew we would be seeing it the next day and we were eager to get to the ranch. So now you know the “rest of the story”, as Paul Harvey used to say:  Why it takes one hour to make the 9 mile trip from the ferry terminal to the ranch. The bus stops at each of these locations on every trip down the road-going and coming.

The Stehekin Valley Ranch was started in 1983 by one of the Courtney boys (Cliff) whose father, Ray, had purchased the 20 acres in the 1950s. It is only one of two “hotel” opportunities in the Stehekin area. They are only open from June-October as winter brings 4-6 feet of snow to the area. By the way about 85 people live in Stehekin year round-obviously a hearty bunch! Judy had arranged for us to have the larger (sleeps 6) cabins, while they slept in the newer (but smaller) “wagons”, basically tiny houses on wheels. There was indoor plumbing in all units and lighting but we were asked to limit electrical use (no hair dryers) as the entire ranch runs on solar power. There was no AC, but Stehikin is at 1,220 ft elevation and the nights were pleasant.  Fans were available in the units and we found sleeping was not a problem even though daytime temperatures were near 90 degrees..

Wine and cocktails (we were told to bring our own as none are sold there) on the porch was enjoyed before dinner. Then at 5:30, the dinner bell was sounded and we experienced the next fun activity-eating homemade meals in the “cookhouse”, a sawdust covered floor with picnic benches and a roaring fire where huge coffee pots were brewing.  Meals are served cafeteria style. Each night there is a set menu but with an option for several other items if you did not like the main course of the evening. There is always salad makings, a hot vegetable, a starch and heavenly homemade bread or biscuits. But you had to be careful to not overdo dinner as the dessert table beckoned! Tonight there was a choice of at least 6 different freshly made pies and a couple of cakes. and of course, the ladies serving them offered you a side of Tillamook ice cream and/or whip cream. Who could resist?

Our day started very early so everyone was eager to call it a day. Thus ended our travels to the wilderness area called Stehekin. Tomorrow we are touring the area.

In all respects-a success! Covid did not prevent any of us from going (or coming home)! Planes were on time. We got to travel with old friends and meet new ones. We ate (too much), we drank (too much), we laughed a lot and I think everyone had a good time. For the most part the weather was phenomenal- not too hot and hardly any rain. What more can one ask for?

The ship was elegant, the food spectacular and the entertainment, entertaining! A big question might be is it worth the premium you pay to sail with Regent?  It is certainly more expensive then sailing on more modestly priced lines like Celebrity, Princess or Holland America. But the rooms are significantly larger, the food is more elegant, there are fewer people, you are flown business class and you sign for nothing (well, not quite true as the spa and shops are extra $). At our stage in life we choose to indulge a bit and treat ourselves by sailing with them.

My biggest complaint, as I said earlier, was the trip was almost TOO busy-too many ports of call!  Part of that is my fault as I will always go on an excursion when in port; I do not want to miss anything! With only two days at sea we missed appreciating some of the amenities offered on the ship. We laughed in that no one ever went to the 12th deck to see, let alone, play any of the outdoor games offered there-no time. No one lounged by the pool. I think only Dave Romoser visited (and actually used) the fitness center!  It was a busy 15 days! We never made it to the afternoon tea, which I recall from previous cruises are really good.

Biggest disappointment: Not getting into La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona to see what has happened since the last time we saw it. Biggest surprise: Bilbao and the Guggenheim museum. Worst meal: the Mexican luncheon buffet on the ship. Best meal: dinner at Arcada in Bordeaux and the meals in the specialty restaurants on the ship. Not that the rest of the meals were bad; food was above average at all meals.

I am thankful we had the opportunity to travel once again!

Thought for the day:  “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer”  (Anonymous). Very, very true!

We were in our disembarkation port of Southampton, England early this morning. The disembarkation process worked smoothly. We had enough time to grab a fairly leisurely breakfast as our “yellow luggage tags” suggested we would be called to depart around 8:20AM.  We were actually called a few minutes before 8. We had to briefly pass muster with UK immigration personnel who came on board the ship to review our paperwork. It took all of 3 minutes. An aside: all passengers were scheduled to be off the ship by 9AM.  I queried the front desk to see how many of the passengers were staying aboard for the next trip- 10 days circling England & Scotland. Turns out there were 78 people doing that.

Our luggage was waiting for us off ship neatly sorted by color. They were easy to spot. As Southampton is at least an hour from Heathrow airport, Regent offered bus service (free for certain category rooms or $69 if you were in the low rent district. Ours were free).  We were on the road by 9AM and arrived at Heathrow around 10:30; plenty of time as our flight was not until 3:10 PM.

There was very little mask wearing at Heathrow-by workers or flyers. The Delta/Virgin Atlantic desks were chaotic-lines everywhere, even the priority lines for business class  check-in. It took almost 30 minutes to check our luggage and get our boarding passes. And they did ask to see our Covid test results (I had wondered if they would). Although the check-in was agonizingly slow getting through security was rapid- less than 10 minutes.

Delta uses the Virgin Atlantic business class lounge at Heathrow. It was our first visit to one and we were blown away. It is the most modern, futuristic and fun lounge we have ever seen. It certainly reflects its owner- Richard Branson. There is a small gym, a pool table, variety of funky seating chair options, and even a sit down restaurant (besides the usual help yourself buffet). And everything is free. We ended up having a sit down lunch which rivaled those we have had in conventional restaurants.

Boarding of our Delta flight was on time. There was hardly any headwind so our flight time was to be about 9.5 hours, over the pole as is the usual route to Seattle from Europe. Food was pretty mediocre on this flight, certainly not as good as we had going to Paris. Also the plane was an old 767, which has been pretty much retired by now, but it was clean and performed beautifully, so I cannot complain.

Whole we were gone Seattle had tons of rain but today it was sunny and 70 when we landed a bit after 5 PM local time. We got to go through the brand new international arrival terminal. It is big and glitzy. There has also been a change to entering the country. Previously you passed immigration and then collected your baggage; now you are required to collect baggage first. Also the kiosks for global entry are gone; you do a face-to-face with an agent who does a facial recognition scan and clears you to leave. We were the only plane landing so the entry hall was empty and clearance went quickly.

We managed to not have to wait long to catch our ferry home-tired, but safe and sound. I have always been a believer that unless you come home from a vacation tired it was not a good vacation! Opinion:  It was a good vacation!

 

Our last port of call was to been Saint-Malo, France. However, a couple of days ago the captain said because of tide issues (?) we would not be able to dock there and he was going to have to divert us to Le Havre, France. Bummer, as the former port is in a beautiful location (Mont-Saint-Michel is nearby) whereas Le Havre is simply a major industrial seaport with no particular famous landmarks people might want to see. We had previously visited both Saint-Malo and Mont-Saint-Michel during a land tour of the Loire Valley so it is not as disappointing for us as it is for others. C’est la Vie!

So here we are in Le Havre, France. The local weather is not promising; rain is predicted, so it might simply be the equivalent of a relaxing day at sea. It will be a busy day on board as we must get our Covid antigen tests to allow us to fly home tomorrow. The ship is providing and administrating the tests for us which greatly simplifies our lives. We also have to pack as our luggage must be outside our doors by 10 PM tonight. One of the major perks of sailing with Regent is that they provide laundry service free of charge so we have been gradually having all our clothing laundered and will arrive home with mostly clean clothes-ready for another trip!

Some interesting statistics about the sailing habits of people on this cruise. As is typical cruise lines award people for their loyalty with on board perks depending on how often you have sailed with them. The Regent program is :

Bronze membership achieved upon completion of your first voyage. Silver membership achieved upon reaching 21 nights sailed. Gold membership achieved upon reaching 75 nights sailed. Platinum membership achieved upon reaching 200 nights sailed. Titanium membership achieved upon reaching 400 nights sailed. Diamond membership achieved upon reaching 1,000 nights sailed. Commodore membership achieved upon reaching 2,000 nights sailed.

We achieved Gold level status on this trip, having now completed 78 nights sailing with Regent. What is mind blowing to me is the makeup of our fellow travelers on this cruise. On board our ship there are 432 Seven Seas Society members with the following classifications:

2 Bronze (1 cruise)

225 Silver (21+ nights)

169 Gold (75+ nights)

25 Platinum (200+ nights)

11 Titanium (400+ nights)

What really astounding is that there are 5 people in the world who have reached the Commodore level! Do the math. They must virtually live on a ship.

By mid day it was raining pretty hard so not going ashore turned out to be the right decision. Surprisingly other than the brief showers we had in Santiago this is the first rain we have seen in two weeks. Also, for the most part, the temperatures have been pleasant other than the two hot days in Bordeaux. The locals say it is rare to have this high a temperature this early in the season. Global warming?

The ship’s medical staff scheduled several time frames during the day for free Covid testing of the passengers as we needed clearance to fly back to the US.  I was a bit concerned that it would be a messy process and was pleasantly surprised at how efficiently it was run. No lines, a quick swab (antigen test) and a request to remain in our rooms for a short period until the test results were in. Within 20 minutes we got the “all clear” text and we were told there would be an official paper copy delivered to our room that evening. It was. By the way we never heard that there were any Covid incidents on the ship during our cruise.

Today was the last day for trivia and, no, we still did not take the top prize. We agreed we all needed to go home and dig out the old trivia game and practice for the next cruise! After trivia it was time to redeem those “Regent Reward” tickets. I was amazed at how many people showed up and how many had enough points to redeem the coveted Regent fleece jacket (with hood). Unfortunately I had nowhere enough points but I did manage to have enough (25) to get a Regent golf shirt! Others in our group managed to get  lesser gifts, like a golf hat, so everyone was happy!

There was to be one final pre-dinner production staff entertainment show but it had to be canceled because of illness of some of the members. We sat and drank in the observation lounge instead. Dinner tonight was back in the Compass Rose main dining room.

There was a scheduled 9 PM movie, ” Marry Me” with Jennifer Lopez, but many of us has seen it. Besides we had to finish packing and prepare to leave the ship tomorrow morning when we arrive in Southampton, England. It was time to say goodbyes to our travel companions as we were all going separate ways and were scheduled to leave the ship at varying times.

Steps today:  4,397. Winding down!

 

 

Our biggest complaint about this cruise is how busy it is, with ports of call almost every day. There is no time to simply rest!  Today is one of the few days we can do that. We actually slept in until 9 AM. Yvonne says I am the energizer bunny, always on the move. Today I attended the 10AM lecture on the history of wines in this part of the world, giving by our on-board history professor from California. Later on I attended a question/answer session with the production staff, which gives us a chance to delve into the lives of young people who perform on cruise ships. I find the discussions to be informative and interesting.

Yvonne and Marlene tried their luck again at morning Bingo. This time Marlene won the first game and received $91 for her effort. Yvonne had won a game earlier in the cruise, but today she had no luck.

The promise for the luncheon buffet by the pool was Mexican and we were ready for it, after eating rich food this entire trip. Unfortunately, it was a bust in our opinion-everything was bland and there was no salsa! Given how fabulous the rest of the food has been on this trip the buffet was a big disappointment. We did soothe our egos by having some of the marvelous cookies the pastry chef produces each day.

My afternoon was consumed by playing a bit of blackjack (broke even) and joining the sports competition to win the coveted reward points that can be redeemed for prizes at the end of the cruise. The sports competition include such strenuous activities as ring toss, ladder toss, shuffleboard, putting on the carpeting in the atrium and other crazy activities that the sports staff can come up with. The good news is even if you are not the best you are awarded “participation points” so gradually your point total increases throughout the cruise. My goal is to receive enough points this trip to earn a Regent baseball cap!

Yvonne’s afternoon goal was to watch the 2 PM movie about Kurt Warner in the theater. Unfortunately, she fell asleep in our cabin and she missed it!

Our team showed up for trivia again but we probably should not have bothered as it was one of the toughest we have endured, scoring on 8/15 points! Luckily cocktails soothed our bruised egos.

Prior to dinner we went to a show put on by members of the staff. This has become a tradition on many cruise ships and we are usually surprised at how much talent some of the staff have. There were some folk dancers, and several singers as part of the show.

Dinner tonight was in the last of the three specialty restaurants on the ship-Chartreuse, where the cuisine was French inspired. Most of us chose one of their specialties, Dover sole, and we were not disappointed. It was superb! I added escargot and lobster bisque to my meal while Yvonne treated herself to foie gras. Even the desserts were exemplary. We all agreed it was one of the best dinners we had experienced this trip. Too bad we do not have time to visit it again.

The after dinner entertainment was performed by our English lady fiddler. Tonight her performance featured more fiddle/jazz numbers which did not appeal to me but she did finish the show with a rousing version of Orange Blossom Special.

Tomorrow we will be in our diverted port of Le Havre, France, rather than the original scheduled visit to St. Malo. Needless to say we are disappointed at the change, but cruise lines have the ability to make these sort of changes if they deem it necessary.

Steps today:  surprisingly, 4,348, more than I expected since we were on the ship the entire day.