Think of all the joy you’ll find …….. Update - January 06

[dizneeat]

Of course i'm here!!

GREAT!!!!

What the heck? Last year when we took a flight to Las Vegas out of one of our local airports, we actually had to walk out to the plane itself. It was probably as far out, if not a little bit further out, than the plane here! Guess they didn't care about our safety

It is a bit annoying if you have to get on board the bus, wait until everyone is one and then you drive for literally 15 seconds and they let you get off. But I do understand their concept and you can/must walk to the plane if it is parked the other way around and you do not have to cross under it.

DH saw this and loved it cause this is the only beer he drinks now, but he loves that mug!

Tell him he needs to travel to Europe as we have A LOT more to offer when it comes to beer and there are plenty of mugs to drink from and to take home.

Both of your dishes look amazing, but of course, you picked the winner! It's like your go-to vacation dish

I only have Eggs Benedict while on vacation, so it was the perfect dish to kick off the vacation.

With your travel day so long, it's nice you started with a delicious breakfast. Don't tell me you're going to have to change planes

That is the good thing about the long layover - there is enough time to have a hearty breakfast. The door situation had me really worried, and you'll soon find out what happened.

YAY!!! Happy Birthday to Tom!! And I can't believe I missed you by a week!! That is just not right!! Oh well- someday....... so happy you went to Key west- we will be going there 2 weeks from Monday on the last Bahamas cruise before the Magic sails for Europe- looking forward to reading all about it! Thanks for the Bat Signal- xo

Great to have you here, Ellen.
Hope you enjoyed your cruise to Key West as much as we did. It DID make up for the crap cruise we had had in the Med.

Your breakfast (both) looked AMAZING- I want to fly into Frankfurt just to eat there!

Breakfast WAS amazing, Frankfurt airport not so much. It's huge and not the nicest sight either.

Here and caught up.

Great to have you! And caught up as well - guess it is time to update more now!

Not too sure how I feel about that plane being close.

It looked closer that it actually was. And it was really interesting to watch.

5 hour layover I get antsy over an hour layover. If I am not running to catch the next plane I don't know what to do with myself but International I would want more time but not 5 hours.

We could have done it with a 1 and a half hour layover, but in the colder months, not knowing if we have snow it is the safer option. I'd rather stay at the airport for 5 hours and catch the only plane going directly to Orlando than crying my eyes out over not only a missed plane, but a missed cruise as well.

 

[Flossbolna]

Loved the pictures from your drive to Passau!

I have heard of the Kristallschiff! Does it only do day trips from Passau? A very very long time ago, my family did a river cruise down the Danube from Passau to Vienna (I think I was 10 or 11 then...) and I thought it was the most boring thing ever!! But it really was nothing else going on than just sitting on the ship watching the landscape. Today I would probably enjoy it.

Your plans for this summer look amazing! I have heard only great things about Cinque Terre and and Lake Garda has long been on my list of places that I want to visit. I guess I need to take fewer Disney trips to fit in all the other amazing locations on Earth that I want to see!

 

[dizneeat]

Yea!!! Another trip. I am here also. Thanks for the invite.

Kate

Great to have you for this one as well, Kate!

Hi Karin! Joining in, of course!

Your travel days are always just so insane.

Great to have you along for another vacation, Roni! This one was a real great one - no moaning this time.
Our travel days are long, yes, I agree with you. But, who cares, it's all out of love for Disney.

OK, I'm here, thanks for the notification!

Great to have you here as well. This was such a fun trip!

Oh yay! I just love your reports! Def one of the deciding factors in booking our first DCL cruise (13 days to go!) was yours and many other awesome TRs!

Can't wait to read more!

-Ally

Great to have you, Ally!
And I really hope you enjoyed your cruise. Is there a TR floating around somewhere?

 

[dizneeat]

Loved the pictures from your drive to Passau!

I have heard of the Kristallschiff! Does it only do day trips from Passau? A very very long time ago, my family did a river cruise down the Danube from Passau to Vienna (I think I was 10 or 11 then...) and I thought it was the most boring thing ever!! But it really was nothing else going on than just sitting on the ship watching the landscape. Today I would probably enjoy it.

Your plans for this summer look amazing! I have heard only great things about Cinque Terre and and Lake Garda has long been on my list of places that I want to visit. I guess I need to take fewer Disney trips to fit in all the other amazing locations on Earth that I want to see!

Isn't that drive along the Danube so beautiful? I love those trips to Passau, even if we would just drive up and down - it's so scenic.

We looked up the Kristallschiff and at the moment it is only doing 2 hour trips up and down the Danube from Passau to Kasten (A) then to Obernzell (G) and back to Passau. But to be honest, that does it for me. When I was still at school we went from Linz to Passau on a ship and it was really boring. There is not much to do other, like you said, watching the landscape. And at that age we did not enjoy it. I might enjoy the two hour trip and once we have a really nice day we will just try that and see.

As for our summer plans - I have been to Lake Garda while travelling with my grandparents when I was still in school. It will be nice to revisit and the Cinque Terre is just breathtaking. I booked us into a little apartment at Manarola and we will take boat trips (weather permitting) or use the train to go to the other villages. We might even attempt to walk the Via dell' Amore between two villages - must be so scenic.
So in a way, not being able to travel too far this summer gave us a perfect excuse to revisit some of our beautiful European cities and villages. We will try our best to take some good photos and maybe you could convince Michael to come and see a bit more of Europe with you.

 

[Flossbolna]

I will be looking forward to read about your time in Cinque Terre!

And I am sure that I will have no trouble to convince Michael to go there with me! It is just a question of timing and fitting in all the stuff that we want to do!!! Money and vacation days not being in unlimited supply is truly a bummer. And I should not complain, with 6 weeks I am much better off than most of our American friends here!

 

[dizneeat]

That's a long layever. It's crazy that they over booked it so much. I never get why people don't do online check in unless I guess they were on vacation and had no computer access.
Those breakfast bars didn't look all that appealing. LOL

As I mentioned earlier, Jen, there are two flights out of here to make that plane to Orlando. In the summer we usually go with the later one, which only had a short layover. But in the winter/early spring I'd rather be safe than sorry. If we miss the flight to Orlando we will miss the ship - so the 5 hour layover does not matter too much if we will be on time to catch the ship.

I don't understand why people don't do online check in either. Nothing easier and you have everything settled and only need to drop off your luggage when getting to the airport.

I'm finally here and caught up. Can't wait!

Great to know that you are on board as well.

I am all subscribed. This should be a good one. I really, really hope you are not about to encounter a serious delay with your flight!

Great to have you on board for this trip as well! Will we fly out without too much delay ...... you'll find out in a bit.

Subbing will go back to read !! My Laptop has been giving me problems and I have not been able to get on the Dis at home in 2 weeks

Rosie!!! So glad to have you. Sorry about the laptop, but I was glad to read that your operations worked out so well for you.

 

[dizneeat]

Yay! Your reports are one if the reasons we are sailing Disney very soon!

How awesome is that!

Karin, I am so sorry the illness knocked you for such a long time! I hope you are feeling better now?

Seeing your Italian adventure is making me want to back!

Being ill really got me off track as it had me spend so much time home and in bed. But I am feeling all well again. Having to catch up with work just didn't help with the time that was left for the DIS.
Italy was really relaxing and I cannot wait to go back.

Karin, I am sorry to hear you were so sick after coming home and that it took so much out of you. Loving the Italy updates thus far.

I have not been so ill in a long time, but it's all better now. Glad you enjoy(ed) the Italian trip.

I"m sorry you were so sick! Glad you are back to posting. Those pizzas look delicious!

Jill in CO

Thank you, Jill! Italian pizzas are so yummy and those were no exception.

 

[dizneeat]

So sorry to hear you got so sick with bronchitis. That can really knock your socks off. I am so glad you were recovered enough to take your trip to Italy. I always enjoy seeing pictures from your drive.

I have not been so sick in a long time and I was so tired, I had to force myself to get up to do something. But I am much better now and trying to catch up with real life.

Your flat is adorable and certainly stocked up with some yummy provisions. Yum!

We have stayed there quite a few times and it is right on the main street and gives us lots of room. Needless to say we make good use of the fridge.

I think the second pizzas look far more appetizing than the first. Did someone forget to turn on the oven???? WTH????

Both pizzas were nice but it would have been better had they at least warmed up the cheeses and tomatoes. It was truly something new for us.

Love those beach pictures with the umbrellas.

Aren't they neat? I just love that they are put up in such neat rows.

Gelato for me please. And what pretty flowers.

For me too. We loved that everything was already in full bloom. Felt a lot like early summer.

That sounds like you really were taken down for a bit...Glad you are on the road to recovery!

What a nice weekend trip. I enjoyed the pictures!

It knocked me out cold. But I am trying to catch up with real life and get back to normal.
It was an awesome weekend getaway and even though the weather did not cooperate we had such a good time.

Ugh, that just sounds awful i'm so sorry. DH has gotten brochitits 3 times in the last 10 months, one time as bad as yours, so I totally know what you went through. Hope you made a full recovery by now

OMG having it three times in 10 months! Your poor DH! Hope you took good care of him. But honestly it really takes its toll on you.

That's it?! Only 3 1/2 hours. That's soooo nice!

It takes 3 1/2 hours to get to the border. Then it is about 2 more hours to our destination, but it is a nice as we can just drive there and not have to fly.

Very interesting. Yeah, I like piping hot pizza. As good as this looks, i'm not sure i'd be a fan.

I like hot pizza too! And while it was tasting nice, it would have been nicer if the Mozzarella and tomatoes would not have been stone cold.

So do people really nap during this time or is this just the time to get things done at home

People actually stay home and relax - not sure if the nap, but they sure to take it slow and not work around the house. It gets pretty hot and there are not as many ACs in private houses as there are in the US, so people stay indoors to get out of the most brutal sun.

Such a cool flat/apartment! Is this way usually cheaper than a hotel? It looks really spacious but curious to see the difference in price between such a big apartment and a 350 square foot hotel room.

The one we stay at is as much as a middle class hotel. Thing is that it is called aparthotel and they do clean every day (apart from the kitchen/stove - that is your responsibility). For us it is just the space that we get and the convenience of having a kitchen. Not that we want to cook, but a fridge is not a staple in an Italian hotel room, so this is much more convenient to us.

If we ever visit, can you please make us some of this?! And your marvelous snack spread would be great too

No problem - just let us know when you will be here and both, the mussels and breakfast/dinner goodies will be on the table.

 

[dizneeat]

All caught up. Sorry you have been sick !!! Italy looedk fascinating !! All those Pizzas Yummy !!

We really enjoy our short breaks in Italy. It is beautiful and I am really looking forward to our summer trip. And yes, the food is yummy too!

All caught up. Sorry to hear you've been poorly. I was off work for 6 months with bronchitis, so understand how debilitating it can be

You were off for 6 months? OMG Then I was really lucky as two weeks at home and the half weeks we had with all the catholics holidays helped me to get well again.

How nice that you caught the opening ceremony!

And those umbrellas are just so cool. I can't imagine that beach full of people when all those umbrellas up.

Castaway beer. Love it!

Your lunch looked lovely!

It was fun seeing the ceremony. And the weather held out as well.

You would not like the beach as much, when it is full of people. We used to go to such a beach when we were kids and it is FULL of people, really FULL. But I just love how they put up all the umbrellas in such a neat fashion.

Food was yummy all weekend long!

So happy that you are better, Cant wait for the report!!!

Thank you, Linet! Just a few more replies and the we can go on with this TR.

 

[dizneeat]

I'm glad you caught the ceremony, and the food, as always, looks good. I think I'd like that amuse gueule, but I'll skip the mussels.

It was really neat to see how they celebrated the start of the season with the opening of the Terrazza.
I had to smile on your comments about the mussels, as I don't usually eat them, but these were so fresh and therefore really good.

Wow...that sole and calamari look wonderful (I LOVE calamari!).

And ice cream looks yummy too.

OMG, that sole was delicious. And the bits and pieces I stole from Tom's calamari were so good too. Oh, and don't remind me of the ice-cream ... heaven.

Your trip to Italy sounds relaxing and delicious!

It definitely was!

Lots of great food in Italy! But what is the bacon wrapped sausage called??? My mother used to serve this when we were kids (I think the sausage was even filled with cheese), but I have never seen it served in a restaurant!

Those bacon wrapped sausages are called "Berner Würstl" and they are such a thing of the 70's. Showing off my age here. They were all the rage then, but we have not seen them on a menu in a long time and they were a nice trip down memory lane.

You could have had some more sunshine in Italy, but it seems that you made up for the lack in sun with lots of delicious food and drinks! Looks like a very relaxing vacation!

Yes, the weather could have been better, but so we had an excuse to stay in and indulge in plenty of food.

 

[linetbo]

OMG Karin, how awesome!!!!

 

[dizneeat]

What a lovely (though cloudy/rainy) weekend in Italy! The food looks amazing! I miss the food at the rest stops...always yummy!

Jill in CO

Yes, the weather was not as nice as it could have been, but it made for a really relaxing holiday. And the food was not bad either!

Karin - I am so sorry that you got so sick. I hope you were feeling a LOT better for your mini-vacation.

I loved reading and seeing all the pictures from your trip - you know how much I love the non-Disney TRs. And I'm always a huge fan of your trips to Italy.

I feel a lot better again, thank you, Roni!
Guess you are going to see a bit more non Disney trips reported about this summer, but I guess it will be interesting too.

What charms do you have? Do you have many from Disney?

I actually need to start a third bracelet. I started out just collecting DCL charms, then we went to Venice and I got a lot of the Murano beads. I took a few pics so you can see for yourself.

This is my vacation momento bracelet

And that's the one with the Disney beads

Such a cool idea! Never thought about that, that is really simple and nice.

I had never seen a table decoration as simple but then as nice as that one. And they had something different every day.

Wow that is some dark chocolate! That looks delicious.

It was really dark chocolate and had that really great flavour of dark chocolate. It was really rich though and that one scoop was more than enough.

What a beautiful shot. Oh and the mountains and lake is cool too

We really tried to make it a "scenic" shot, but the ice-cream took centre stage.

I will be looking forward to read about your time in Cinque Terre!

And I am sure that I will have no trouble to convince Michael to go there with me! It is just a question of timing and fitting in all the stuff that we want to do!!! Money and vacation days not being in unlimited supply is truly a bummer. And I should not complain, with 6 weeks I am much better off than most of our American friends here!

I am really looking forward to it all.

Have to admit though that we have the same issue that you have too. There is not enough vacation time and funds to travel as much as we wish.

 

[dizneeat]

OMG Karin, how awesome!!!!

Thank you! I hope it will be a great vacation, even without a Disney touch.

 

[pas130]

Karin, I LOVE those charm bracelets

 

[englishrose47]

All caught up and what a lot to catch up on. The food as always is wonderful as it the scenery. Your new summer plans sound great. Hopre you will be able to visit WDW in February ????

 

[KatMark]

LOVE your vacation memento bracelet.

 

[jenseib]

Happy Belated Birthday!!!

I love your bracelets!

You upcoming summer plans look fabulous. I know it's not Disney but still looks beautiful and I am sure you will have a wonderful time!

 

[dizneeat]

Karin, I LOVE those charm bracelets

All caught up and what a lot to catch up on. The food as always is wonderful as it the scenery. Your new summer plans sound great. Hopre you will be able to visit WDW in February ????

Yeah for being caught up, Rosie!

Unfortunately we won't be able to go to WDW in February, but we have some awesome plans for 2016. I'll let you know about them in my next update.

LOVE your vacation memento bracelet.

Thank you, Kathy. It holds some special memories.

Happy Belated Birthday!!!

I love your bracelets!

You upcoming summer plans look fabulous. I know it's not Disney but still looks beautiful and I am sure you will have a wonderful time!

Thank you, Jen!

Thank you again for approving on our summer plans. It's hard not to have anything Disney planned for the rest of this year, but it is what it is and we should have a good time exploring Italy as well. And you already know what is on the horizon for us in 2016, well at least you know about the most important part.

 

[dizneeat]

Okay, only ONE more real life update before I will post another update to this trip report. And this one IS Disney related to say the least!!!!!!!!











When it became clear that we would have to cancel 2015's US summer vacation plans I needed to decide what to do with my on board bookings. I checked the options for 2016 and then we decided that a Fantasy back to back cruise just wasn't in the cards as the first part of the trip (we are set with my school holidays) was just way above budget. We decided to do the one that was supposed to be the second part of the back to back, then I priced out what a back to back to back on the Dream would cost us.
Well, it turned out that a 3 and 4 night Dream back to back was about the same price as the Fantasy cruise we had decided on and all three were in our budget and would give us 2 full weeks on two ships. I changed everything over online and we were pretty happy with our plans. I was already checking DVC points charts to check how we could stretch our points to allow us to stay two weeks on property.







Now, last week DCL released the new itineraries and since we were all set I glanced at them the day before Platinum and Gold CC members were able to book, not giving them much thought until I got an email from Magdalene (flossbolna) that I should check the dates for a cruise I might be interested in. Well, I did and had a sleepless night over it, but in the end we were just SO happy that Magdalene pointed this out to us as


now

this is

what is

in store for us in 2016

(thanks for letting me borrow this, Magdalene )

So, if you know us, in the summer we will not only travel to the US for two weeks.
So we discussed going to California for three weeks before the cruise, but somehow this is stretching our budget a bit too far. And then I remembered that we had promised to meet with some friends of ours as we had not been able to squeeze a meet in for the birthday trip and last year we had been doing the Med.
And another idea got into my head.
Priced it out.
And it WORKS!!!

So this is what we are aiming for in 2016 (dates are not set in stone yet)

We will fly to Orlando about 3 weeks before the cruise and visit

WDW and friends for 2 weeks (no plans on where to stay yet, but DVC could be in the mix)

after that we will fly across the country and check in here for one night
(always wanted to stay there)

and after that we will spend 4 more nights and days at

we have not visit in the last ten years and cannot wait to walk in Walt's footsteps again and see all the new stuff.

Next stop

San Diego for a night before

boarding the Wonderful Disney Wonder for the Panama Canal cruise. Unfortunately when we reach Port Canaveral it will be time to head home, but I guess after catching the best of both worlds that bitter pill will be a bit easier to swallow.

Can't wait for the planning to start

(and it gives me a little time to finish all my trip reports too )

​

 

[Flossbolna]

Yeah!!! I am so happy that "the cat is out of the bag" (not sure if that is a term in English as well...).

I love the new ticker!! That will be a long countdown. But Katharina and I started counting down to the Norway cruise about the sam about of time - and now it is nearly here!

I really just caught the dates of the PC cruise by chance as I was trying to figure out some really tiny pictures someone had posted of the brochure on my phone. I was so surprised that they said something about PC and August. And then I remembered our discussion about how that was a cruise you always wanted to do, but that that had to wait until after you retired. Now you can do the Eastbound one now and then a Westbound one once you are retired to see the new locks!

Actually - you might even already go through the new locks in 2016!!!! So exciting!!

And I feel very honored that you adopted my magnet design!!