From the Sea to the World - Completed!

[Poolrat]

All caught up and inbox cleaned out....


I am always frightened of sleeping through an alarm needed for an early flight or work schedule.

And yes more often than not I wake without need that alarm.

Glad your trip across the sea had little adventure and some decent food. And who can say no to champagne??


As for vacation, right now I have 3 weeks and at 10 years ( I am at 7 ) I will get 4 weeks. However I got a rough time for taking about 4 weeks total through out last year because ours builds and will roll over up to 30 days where it then can be bought out or anything over 240 hours rolls to sick time.
I had to buy out 40 hours and that was nearly the deal tax wise as actually taking the vacation so now I am determined to keep mine from accumulating that much.

This year in fact, I am really just taking long weekends instead of a full week and well..... I don't like it.

I wish I could just take 2 weeks off but even though the closest I came was to couple it with a conference ( work related) to total about 12 days away from the office, I really got the vibe that I shouldn't do that.


Look forward to hearing all about the beach, the cruise and of course Kidani ( and OKW)

 

[englishrose47]

I have 270 + hours of vacation on the books right now !!! I also seldom take a full week, although I will in December for my Grannie Trip !!!!

 

[lovealldisney]

Hi Magdalene!

I'm here! Better late than never! That's what happens when you go away for a long weekend. So excited on reading your TR! Sounds like you had a fantastic time. Thanks for sharing...my friend

I always love taking guests on a walking tour and watch them being amazed at how pretty it is. If it had not been for the war (the old city was actually 90% destroyed in an air raid in February 1945) it would be even prettier. Before the war Nuremberg had the nickname of "Germany's Jewel Box"...

YES Nuremberg is VERY pretty! But then again ALL of Germany is pretty.
Can't wait to come back next summer... We need to explore more not just Nuremberg but the surrounding area as well...

 

[englishrose47]

Just checking in for another update !!!!

 

[jameswilson799]

Lovely trip! And long report focusing on food items. Jokes a part!

 

[Flossbolna]

I am here! May take me a bit to be caught up being in Aulani at the moment and all but.... Can't want to read all about it!

I am impressed that you even checked in from Hawaii!! I stayed away from the DIS for nearly the whole time while I was away!

But I am happy to have you here!!

I am here. Sorry I need to really clean out that Inbox.

Heading to work soon. Hopefully it will be quiet enough so I cm catch up

Can't wait to hear about this trip

Pat!! Great to see you here!

I sure do! I would love to do a month long European vacation, Italy, France (Disneyland Paris of course!), England, Germany... Was für ein toller Urlaub, das wäre! (I don't know German, I looked that up on Google Translate)

Google did a great job for you there! It actually came up as a correct sentence!

The thing about long vacations is however, that you also need to have the money for them... I think this is actually one of the reasons why I see many of my German friends being much more frugal travellers than what I read about here on the DIS (of course you and Rosie have an exception frugal way of vacationing... ).

 

[Flossbolna]

All caught up and inbox cleaned out....

Well done!!

I am always frightened of sleeping through an alarm needed for an early flight or work schedule.

And yes more often than not I wake without need that alarm.

The way it worked out this time was actually ok. I had other nights when I woke up once every hour, checked the time and then realised that it still wasn't time to get up. Not very restfull...

Glad your trip across the sea had little adventure and some decent food. And who can say no to champagne??

See Katharina!! Pat agrees with me!!

As for vacation, right now I have 3 weeks and at 10 years ( I am at 7 ) I will get 4 weeks. However I got a rough time for taking about 4 weeks total through out last year because ours builds and will roll over up to 30 days where it then can be bought out or anything over 240 hours rolls to sick time.
I had to buy out 40 hours and that was nearly the deal tax wise as actually taking the vacation so now I am determined to keep mine from accumulating that much.

This year in fact, I am really just taking long weekends instead of a full week and well..... I don't like it.

I wish I could just take 2 weeks off but even though the closest I came was to couple it with a conference ( work related) to total about 12 days away from the office, I really got the vibe that I shouldn't do that.


Look forward to hearing all about the beach, the cruise and of course Kidani ( and OKW)

I think a lot has to do with workplace culture. Obviously the German economy still hasn't crumbled under the stress of people regularly being away for three or four weeks at a time... But I also think that long absences put a stress on colleagues, but it is accepted because everyone does it. However, in higher level jobs there is more pressure that people are not away for longer than two weeks at a time, too.

I have 270 + hours of vacation on the books right now !!! I also seldom take a full week, although I will in December for my Grannie Trip !!!!

Wow, that's a lot!!!

Hi Magdalene!

I'm here! Better late than never! That's what happens when you go away for a long weekend. So excited on reading your TR! Sounds like you had a fantastic time. Thanks for sharing...my friend

Hi Wendy!!! Good to see you here and

The trip was truly so wonderful!

YES Nuremberg is VERY pretty! But then again ALL of Germany is pretty.
Can't wait to come back next summer... We need to explore more not just Nuremberg but the surrounding area as well...

Maybe I need to show you some of the not so pretty parts of Germany...

Just checking in for another update !!!!

Oh! Someone seems impatient!!!

Lovely trip! And long report focusing on food items. Jokes a part!

Hi and

Yes, there will be a lot of talk about food and food pictures!

 

[lovealldisney]

Maybe I need to show you some of the not so pretty parts of Germany...

Knowing DH he would be all for this... He wouldn't care... Anything is better sometimes with the things he see's with his job....

Yes, there will be a lot of talk about food and food pictures!

Yes please! Food is one of my favorite things...

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Sorry I'm late to the party! But now that I'm here, you can start posting the important stuff.

 

[Flossbolna]

Knowing DH he would be all for this... He wouldn't care... Anything is better sometimes with the things he see's with his job....

Yes please! Food is one of my favorite things...

Ok, I think I need to come up with ugly stuff for you and your DH now!!

And the food pictures will become much more interesting after the first few days...

Sorry I'm late to the party! But now that I'm here, you can start posting the important stuff.

I was afraid you might have already left for Hawaii!!

But since you are still here, I guess I can now post an update.

 

[GoofyFan1515]

This looks like it should be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to read about the cruise since I would love to do one of those someday!

Going back to read up.

 

[Flossbolna]

Since Michael lives in Florida having him as a travel companion would also have the wonderful side effect that I had a car and chauffeur for the whole trip. So we just went out to his car and I could sit back and relax and let him do the driving!

It did not take us long to get to the hotel despite the enormous amount of building work that was happening. Mainly to introduce toll lanes on a formerly toll free highway. A concept that seemed very strange to me, but then in Germany all roads are toll free for cars (trucks over a certain size on the other hand have to pay on nearly all multi-lane roads).

But I guess you are less interested in road financing than in our lovely hotel in Fort Lauderdale. The hotel had a high rise tower (I think 15 floors) and then some lower buildings. Thanks to Michael who chatted with the front desk person we got a room in the tower on the 8th floor overlooking the port and the high draw bridge that would sometimes open up for yachts to go under it.

Our room was really nice, even though I could not understand the choice of the light coloured carpet as it seemed to be difficult to keep it stainfree.

After check-in we walked around the grounds of the hotel a little bit. First the view down from the elevator lobby:

And this is the view off into the distance from the elevator lobby:

The hotel had a really nice pool area with a pool bar:

And you can walk around the hotel and admire a number of yachts anchored there, some of them rather huge and expensive:

Seeing the pool I decided that I wanted to celebrate my arrival in sunny Florida with a dip in the pool, so that’s what we did. It was the best way to get rid of all the tiredness travelling brings with it. After a quick shower we decided to just get something quick and easy for dinner and went to a chain called Pollo Tropical where I had some kind of bowl with some pork, lettuce and toppings – I think I had beans, tomatoes and corn. You could then add sauces. And I also got a side order of fried plantains. All very delicious, but I forgot to take a picture. It appears that the chain is mainly present in Florida and there are a number of them in Orlando. So if you want to get some fast food in Orlando that is different from what you have at home, I can recommend this chain!

After dinner we headed to Publix to pick up some drinks for the room. I was very excited about this as I have read so much about Publix here on the DIS that it felt like I finally found out what people were talking about. Of course it is just a supermarket – but supermarkets in other countries are always full of interesting things as there are different brands – and even items that you had no idea that they existed. Liked Cool Whip. I was intrigued that there was a whole cupboard full of it:

Overall this Publix was especially interesting as it was the one closest to the yacht harbour where our hotel was, so I guess the chefs from the yachts were buying there as the selection was definitely much more upscale than the Publix we would visit later in the trip in Orlando!

After all this excitement of the day I finally fell into bed extremely tired…


Next: Olives or Grapes?

 

[Flossbolna]

This looks like it should be a lot of fun, and I can't wait to read about the cruise since I would love to do one of those someday!

Going back to read up.

Hi GoofyFan, you did a Ninja post there! But I also ninjas to my TR!

The cruise was really wonderful - I can only recommend going on a Disney cruise! And I hope to get to the cruise soon!

 

[jedijill]

I love going to grocery stores when I travel to other countries too! Its so cool to see the differences!

Your hotel looks really nice...love the views.

Jill in CO

 

[dizneeat]

Ah, I love the look of your hotel room, even though you are absolutely right about the carpet. Is it a European thing that we notice things like this.

We just love shopping at Publix. There are several around WDW. I especially like the one behind the former "Dixie Stampeed". They have a huge wine selection and several "Silverado" wines.

Patiently waiting for more now!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Very nice hotel room and some very nice views! I like light colored carpet so I can see how dirty it is....kind of disgusting, I know...but then I can ask for a room and stress (that) the carpet must be clean.

I had no idea there was so much luxury in Fort Lauderdale! When I was a teenager, about a hundred years ago , Ft Lauderdale was known as the place college students went for Spring break - a place I would never have dared to even think of going. Definitely not a classy place - maybe it has changed over the years.

Oh, yes, me too - I love going into grocery stores (or any shop) in other countries - it is so interesting to see what locals like. We do not have Publix in North Carolina (or Boston where I am from) and I was not impressed with the ones we visited in Florida (in St. Augustine and St. Petersburg)... My gosh, that's lot of Cool Whip!! In Boston (Cambridge were we lived) some markets did not event carry Cool Whip, never mind so many options - guess it is very popular in Florida. Very yucky stuff.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[nodnol]

I had to google Cool Whip - very strange stuff... I would love to take this walk around your hotel now, summer and sun seem so far away right now!

 

[Flossbolna]

I love going to grocery stores when I travel to other countries too! Its so cool to see the differences!

Your hotel looks really nice...love the views.

Jill in CO

I think that by looking at groceries you get a glimpse of everyday life in the foreign country - that's what makes it so interesting.

The hotel was very nice - it would be perfect if one plans to take a cruise that departs from Fort Lauderdale.

Ah, I love the look of your hotel room, even though you are absolutely right about the carpet. Is it a European thing that we notice things like this.

We just love shopping at Publix. There are several around WDW. I especially like the one behind the former "Dixie Stampeed". They have a huge wine selection and several "Silverado" wines.

Patiently waiting for more now!

To be fair, I noticed the carpet mainly because there were so many comments about it on Trip Advisor... The hotel gets very mixed reviews there as people think it is dirty. But I think the problem is just that they chose colors that show normal wear and tear more than others.

The Pubix we went to from WDW was kind of behind AKL - not sure whether that is the one you are talking about. And what are Silverado wines???

Very nice hotel room and some very nice views! I like light colored carpet so I can see how dirty it is....kind of disgusting, I know...but then I can ask for a room and stress (that) the carpet must be clean.

I had no idea there was so much luxury in Fort Lauderdale! When I was a teenager, about a hundred years ago , Ft Lauderdale was known as the place college students went for Spring break - a place I would never have dared to even think of going. Definitely not a classy place - maybe it has changed over the years.

Oh, yes, me too - I love going into grocery stores (or any shop) in other countries - it is so interesting to see what locals like. We do not have Publix in North Carolina (or Boston where I am from) and I was not impressed with the ones we visited in Florida (in St. Augustine and St. Petersburg)... My gosh, that's lot of Cool Whip!! In Boston (Cambridge were we lived) some markets did not event carry Cool Whip, never mind so many options - guess it is very popular in Florida. Very yucky stuff.

Looking forward to reading more!

The carpet in our room actually looked clean, it was more an issue in the hallways. I just think a carpet that colour needs to be replace much sooner than something in a little bit of a darker colour.

From what I understand Fort Lauderdale has gone through quite a lot of change recently. Especially along the beach were a number of very new huge hotels, all built in this century.

And interesting that Boston is not as much of a Cool Whip capital as Florida! I was totally intrigued by the product!

I had to google Cool Whip - very strange stuff... I would love to take this walk around your hotel now, summer and sun seem so far away right now!

I know what you mean - I just walked through rain at 45°F weather to lunch. Not nice!!!

 

[lovealldisney]

Hey don't knock the Cool Whip... LOL I love it.. I think the closest thing you can compare it to is a whipping cream... the fat free version is I like it on an Angel Food cake with strawberries. Or just plain fruit or Jello.... Or just right out of the container....

Nice start to your trip... wish we could have some of that sunshine right now... Crazy Spring weather we are having I'm so sick of rain...

 

[dizneeat]

The Pubix we went to from WDW was kind of behind AKL - not sure whether that is the one you are talking about. And what are Silverado wines???

Oh, I know that Publix. Definitely not my favourite one.

The one we go to is "kind of" behind the Outlet Mall that you can see from the highway when you are close to DTD.

The Silverado winery belongs to Diane Disney Miller. There wines are really good, lots of very yummy whites.
We visited the winery when we visited California in 2006 and went on a tour through the wine cellar.
They are still a small winery, so you cannot find the wine easily, that's why I was so surprised that that particular Publix carried a few different ones.