Eastern Caribbean Fantasy Oct. 5, 2013

[Viking]

We got a holiday today (Corpus Christi). It's not a federal holiday, but in the southern states of Germany we get that day off. Fortunately my DW doesn't have to work in the hospital and so we're spending a lazy day at home.
We did a very tough workout in the gym last night. They offered a new class and so we gave it a try. Lots of push-ups, squats, lunges, etc. - all the fun stuff and before that we were on the treadmill for 30 minutes.
Tomorrow we're doing an hour of Power Yoga and an hour of Zumba and so we're resting today.

Talking about working out:
We also intend to work out on the ship during the sea days. We want do to some classes in the gym and perhaps do some running. If Nassau makes it into our itinerary we'll to do some running there. Depending on the temperatures we'd do between 6 and 10 miles, running speed between 8 and 10 minutes per mile.
Anybody wanna join us?

 

[pixiehallow]

Talking about working out:
We also intend to work out on the ship during the sea days. We want do to some classes in the gym and perhaps do some running. If Nassau makes it into our itinerary we'll to do some running there. Depending on the temperatures we'd do between 6 and 10 miles, running speed between 8 and 10 minutes per mile.
Anybody wanna join us?

Eric,
I will have to talk to oldest DS. He is a marathon runner (well, not in full training currently as work is demanding for him with 70 to 80 hour weeks through the summer). But I think he is definitely looking for someone to run with on Castaway.

 

[pixiehallow]

WOW!!! So much to reply to
I feel like I have been gone from the board for way to long.

Where to start

TiggerB ~ I am so proud of yours and Mikes efforts. Please keep us posted on your progress. Oh and remember I am here for you (your sponsor, your artist, your shoulder, and your friend)

Viking ~ Guten Abend (maybe a little early for that, but not sure what to say for 6 pm or so) I was reading about your travels and youngest DS's response was. 'Oh My Gosh! He is soooooo lucky. I want to go there (speaking of Tunisia of course)

FridayFun ~ Welcome to the group
I will send out a PM to you shortly about our Yahoo group page.

JGamy ~ DH and I have looked at doing the Tram ride for a romantic couple time.

All past Fantasy Cruisers ~ I am so excited to have experts in our group. Any input and tips would be a blessing to everyone.

Oh and I forgot 1 thing ~ TiggerB thank you for your kind words as usual.

 

[Viking]

I guess on CC we won't do any running, as we love Serenity Bay too much.
The only island where we intend to do some running would be Nassau as we don't care very much for that place, but wouldn't like to stay on board all day.
No marathons for us, we just do half-marathons (13.1 miles). We did three so far (Spring of '09, '10 & '11), finishing all under two hours, the best being 1:55.
For the last year we put our focus more on doing Zumba and pumping iron. We reduced our running to just 10 to 15 miles per week.
But we change our training every six months or so and perhaps we're doing another half in spring '13.
You can tell your DS that that area in Tunisia is just sand. They removed the sets completely when they were finished. So we didn't even go there, but just stayed in our club - even tough I'm a big Star Wars fan right from the start in the seventies. My room has a lot of memorabilia in it, i.e. 'The Path of the Jedi', a large X-Wing, an R2D2, an AT-AT and some more. And of course I got all movies on VHS, on DVD and on BluRay - but I guess I have to buy them again when they are published in 3D

 

[pixiehallow]

Viking~ DS just got home from work, and he said he would love to run with y'all where ever you choose to run. His only stipulation is that you are talkative.
Oh, by the way this is not the son learning German, this is the one celebrating his graduation.
I am going to shoot you over a picture of him as Darth Maul in just a minute.

The boys would love to see pics of your collection also.
They are working on small collections of their own (no where near as impressive though)

 

[Viking]

I'll need to shoot a couple of pix then

We're on vacation
Tomorrow we'll finalize the plans for our three days in Bamberg, Bavaria and Sunday morning we'll leave very early. The forecast predicts 'convertible-weather' and we expect to be able to do the whole trip with the top down
It's about 140 miles on the Autobahn, about two hours hours with the top down as speeds above 80 or 90mph aren't fun. Fortunately the gas proces have dropped considerably in the last six weeks. I paid $7.40 per gallon today. Around Easter we had to pay between $9 and 10

 

[tiggerb]

Guess we shouldn't complain about gas prices here... YIKES!

Thanks Tink for all the kind words (even on days I don't get back to you). Fell off the wagon though, haven't had a workout session with Tony since Monday (he kicked my behind and still feeling it), but tomorrow is a new day again. Especially after eating cupcakes @ the Food Networks Cupcake War Winners Champion! His bakery is by hubby's work! Just waiting to try his Slushie cupcake...

Hey, as I talk with the group of cruisers we were originally going to go with from Dis on FB... wondering if any really tech-savvy person knows how to set up a FB account that is totally private from the rest of your posts. I know we had to send a request to one person who then added us/granted us access to the specific cruise group. It is amazing how much they got to know people over the last 18 months because of FB. (I am not a regular on there, but have been recently as I follow all of them prepping for the cruise).

Ok... long enough

 

[Viking]

Total privacy on FB?
I would never ever post any vacation dates on Facebook. Just my two cents

 

[pixiehallow]

I have to completely agree with Viking on this one. I would not post anything on FB even if it was labeled private.
Plus DH has a firm rule against the boys (DS #1 and DS #2) having FB access. So, it would be a bit hypocritical for DH or I to be on FB even for a cruise group.
So, sorry B~ you would have to count us out on that.
But we can use the Yahoo group just the same.
There are places to post pictures, messages, calendars and even have chats.
I know a great number of us have signed up (I am still waiting on one person though....and she can sign in with her FB account if that makes it easier), we just need to start taking advantage of it.

Speaking of posting pictures, Eric, when you get back off your little drive with the top down maybe you could post your Star Wars Pics on the Yahoo group board.

 

[pixiehallow]

Calling all past Fantasy Cruisers
We want to see pictures of the boat and great locations we will be sailing to.

*PLEASE**PLEASE*
Go to the Yahoo group page and post some pictures.

Any Fantasy specific tips you have would be great as well.

Thank You!!!

 

[pixiehallow]

~~~~~MerciNursi~~~~~



Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to Debbie,
Happy Birthday to you.

Here's a cake

and a party

Just for you.

 

[TamaraH]

Happy Birthday MerciNursi! Hope it's a fabulous day!

 

[Roxy217]

Happy B-day MerciNursi!! Have a great day & a fabulous year!!

 

[tiggerb]

~~~~~MerciNursi~~~~~



Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to Debbie,
Happy Birthday to you.

Here's a cake

and a party

Just for you.

Tink did a great job w/this, so, I will just Repeat it. HAPPY, HAPPY Birthday!

 

[tiggerb]

ok... my THIRD attempt on this particlar post. ...(Don't ask...) But, I am getting a foot, leg, head & back massage out of it from the boys so they can stay up later. My older one could earn his way thru college w/ his feet massages!

So, I am totally on board w/ going the Yahoo route. I didn't know it could work that way Guess I need to take care of that soon. I am not one to post vacation plans on FB. If ever I say anything, it is AFTER the fact too. I talk in code there.

Plus, I discovered this weekend going from a prehistoric phone to a smart phone how technology isn't always the greatest. Many of my contacts weren't on the SIM card and now I have a bunch of FB people's #'s that I DON'T want and am trying to delete them. Yet having trouble doing so... my old phone was soooo much simplier.

I just want us to get to know each other over the next 15 1/2 months. Sounded like many from my other group actually met @ hotels or even had dinner the night before, at the parks, etc...

 

[tiggerb]

Ok... FINALLY got the whole Yahoo thing taken care of .. now you just need to grant me permission to join!

Sorry, don't mean to be a Post-er hog tonight

 

[Mercinursi]

Thank you Tink for the wonderful surprise and birthday"card". Thank everyone with their wishes too!

I agree with the FB thing. I know too many people that post way to personal info on there. In management, I have had to deal with it as well. Don't understand why people do not get that it is "social media" and then open to anyone with the right skills.

TigerB, I would be up for a meet. Love the idea of getting to know each other and then cruising with friends in 15 months!

I do have an FB account, started it when my nephew was in Afganastan. It was a quick way for him to contact us and get the love and encouragement all deployed military need. Never post anything but updates on the family, and about trips only when we have returned home.

But I can tell you here that we are on our inland "cruise" with DH's family. We are in Ky and have rented some houseboats. With a family member having a third one, we deginately look like a "redneck yaht club" all lined up together in a cove. Lots of swimming, skiing and tubing! Even did the bonfire thing with 'smores last night. This is fun, but wouldn't mind someone else doing the cooking and cleaning like on the cruises.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week, and thanks again for the birtday wishes!
Debbie

 

[Viking]

Alles Gute nachträglich zum Geburtstag, Debbie - Happy Belated Birthday to you, Debbie.

We returned from a four day trip to Bamberg on Wednesday. The WiFi in our hotel only worked in the lobby and the 3G reception in our room was poor. So we were offline for some days.
The city was wonderful. It is the largest collection of undamaged historic buildings in Germany with 2,500 houses that survived WWII unharmed, which gave the town its status as World Cultural Heritage.
It looks like people who have visited the German pavilion at World Showcase expect all of Germany to look like

Yesterday we signed the contract for a new car. We traded our convertible for a hybrid. It's the European version of the Prius C, a compact car that's rated at 66mpg over here, we managed well over 50 during the testdrive. Here in Germany we don't buy cars straight from the lot, we prefer to order them built to our wishes and so we can enjoy our convertible well into August or September till the new wheels will be delivered.
We'll certainly miss the convertible, but since we moved to the city center of Frankfurt two years ago, we do urban driving mostly and it doesn't make much sense to drive a 200bhp turbo in town. Of course it was fun to do 150mph on the Autobahn from time to time, but at our gas prices you don't wanna do that very often.
Additionally we live in an apartment with a carbon footprint of Zero. Our house is heated by the waste heat of our appliances and solar and geothermal energy, hot water is produced the same way and even our electricity comes solely from regenerative sources. So it was time to adapt our means of transportation accordingly.

A meeting before the cruise would be fun. We'll be in Florida for two weeks this September. So if anybody lives in the Tampa Bay area we're up for a meeting.

 

[Roxy217]

Hi Viking : )

We will be in WDW from July 13 thru the 21st or so. We just miss you!! But we can send yo a post card to get you ready for your visit as well as the cruise : ) We too would love to meet before the cruise - we will arrive one day early so perhaps drinks or dessert?

 

[Roxy217]

I'm sorry - we are going this year as well & I always confuse my boards! But the PC offer remains