London Day 1 (or Vacationing and Sleep Deprivation)

Our first day in London took us to the Tate Modern and the London Eye.  The Tate is undergoing extensive renovations and expansion.  It boasts some of the finest modern art collections in the world.  I can’t show you any of that, but I can show you what you see on the terrace of one of their cafes.  That’s my name sake, St. Paul’s Cathedral, across the Thames.

We thought about taking the pedestrian bridge you can see in the photo and checking it out, but we had trouble staying awake.  Two hours of sleep doesn’t cut it.  We went back to our room and took a nap.  That helped a great deal.  It allowed us to head to the London Eye in the early afternoon.  It looks like a cross between a Ferris wheel and a Gondola.  You get spectacular views as your car climbs slowly upwards. 

Parliament is not currently in session.  For the moment they’ve said what they want to say about phone hacking.  The Queen is headed to her summer residence too.

Our airplane ride was certainly a penance but the weather is beautiful.  One local described the previous week’s weather as atrocious.  It is hot.

A full day of adventures is on tap for tomorrow.

We Are in London

The plane touched down at 6:30 AM.  After 5 1/2 hours of a screaming child (and I mean that really shrill kind) the possibility of spending $300 on BOSE noise canceling headphones doesn't sound extravagant. 

No matter what sleep aids people were using this kid cut through them all.  No one get more than an hour of sleep.

We've been out seeing things, but our gas tanks hit empty.  We are going to nap for a while and then venture back out. 

The Benefits of Newark

By driving to Newark we are insuring our flight. It's direct. The connecting flights from Albany to the New York area are frequently behind schedule. Plus the flight is cheaper.

But... You are on highways for three hours and you work your way through airport transit systems. To comply with international travel requests we arrived three hours before departure. That means investing six hours of "pre-flight."

Sent from my BlackBerry. Please excuse the typos.

Final Weigh-IN

Final packed weight. Jan's 48. Paul 44. It was a short lived symbolic victory.

And our bathroom scale agreed with Continental!

Preliminary Weigh-IN

Currently Jan's suitcase weighs nine pounds less than mine. She hasn't finished packing yet but she is very proud.

Packing, Packing, Packing.....

Fifty pounds.  Sixty one inches.  Those are Continental's transatlantic luggage limits.  Or you can write them a check for $200.  I put everything in my suitcase except a dress shirt and a suit for formal nights and the scale says 33 pounds.  Even if the scale is a little off we should be good to go.  Looking at my travel companion's assortment of clothing and accessories I'd say it's going to be very close.

Blog Publishing At Sea

People on the ship complain about the internet connection speed.  I could fairly compare the bandwidth to fast dial up.  The cruise ship people aren't being cheap.  It's a moving ship.  There's a satellite dish that needs to track its target and the platform the dish is attached to yaws, pitches and rolls.  The further away from the equator the ship gets the more difficult it is to maintain the signal.  Considering the obstacles the connection in plenty fast. 

This blogging tool (blogger.com) is easier to use than what I used previously.  I can pre-compose all of my entries in a document editor (MS Word) and size my pictures using Photoshop.  Then it's merely cutting and pasting once connected. 

I get somewhere between 150 and 200 minutes of "free" connect time as a perk now.  It's not difficult to burn through that quickly.  Even with all of the advance work it usually takes 12 minutes to post an average entry 

The first few days in London I get access to a WiFi signal.  After that we are at the mercy of good winds at our backs and sun on our faces. 

I may actually start packing tonight.  Of course I'll work on the electronics first. 

The Final Countdown

The bags are not yet packed.  We've identified which suitcases will be used.  Jan finished the football.  For the uninitiated it is a three ring binder that contains all of the travel arrangements, tickets, confirmation numbers and anything else trip relevant.  It is laid out, day by day by day.  It is called the football because that is the nick name the armed services give to the briefcase with the nuclear missle launch codes that follow the president. 

As always trying to decide exactly what should go in the suitcase it a challenge.  Weather conditions vary quite a bit, but that happened in Alaska too.

One Week To Go (more or less)....

With a week to go the push is on to stay out of the heat.  Really.  That's what we are doing today.  There is no special travel accessory I need.  I could use a few video tapes, but otherwise I'm pretty much set.

Incidentally, the luggage penalties on Continental are worth mentioning.  $200 if the suitcase is over size or over weight.

The Phone Thing

For a variety of reasons we'd like to have a cellular phone with us during the trip.  It's not for social calls, but for emergencies.  Plus, we have so many private tours booked the guides might need to contact us.  It's not easy.  Shelly Palmer wrote about it in his blog a couple of weeks ago.  On Friday I will visit Verizon and see what we can create.

Social Media Competition II

If you followed us during the spring on our NCL cruise to the Bahamas you might remember what a big deal Norwegian thought it was that we used Cruise Critic.  Because Jan arranged a "meet and greet" of people in our roll call Norwegian gave us VIP status.  They provided a place for the gathering.  They brought the entire bridge crew (well maybe someone remained to pilot the ship) and executive staff to say hello. 

We were curious if that approach to inviting social media input might filter its way into other cruise companies, specifically Princess, which we tend to use more often.  Nope!  The roll call for the upcoming cruise to the British Isles is eager to meet.  Jan asked Princess about it and they weren't terribly excited about helping. 

They have their own social media connection via Facebook with something called a roll call as well, but there isn't much passenger to passenger sharing of tour information which is what most passengers do with Cruise Critic's roll call. 

Disappointing.

Contis along the Mohawk

We did not ask Walter D. Edmunds or John Ford to join us, but Jan, Jessse and I took Kayaks up and down parts of the Mohawk River this afternoon.  There were 3,077 fewer passengers on each of our ships than the Crown Princess supports.  We're getting used to being on water.

Social Media Competition

Cruise Critic is a web site all about what the name implies.  One of the key features of the site is a message board.  Think Facebook except all about cruises.  The message board is divided into sections for each cruise line and each ship of that cruise line.  After a couple of clicks you can find people who are sailing on the same ship and intinerary as you.  It's called a "roll call" in Cruise Critic parlance.  Jan uses it to find partners who might want to join us on private tours.  Princess decided to start their own roll call within their Facebook page.  I'm not sure what the advantage is to them. I suppose it's easier to pitch products to your own customers inside that environment, but I wonder if people who use Cruise Critic, which is independent from any cruise company, will be quick to leave that bulletin board in favor of one that is owned by a cruise line?

Buy stock. Cruise for less.

Princess Cruises is owned by Carnival.  Quite a large company.  They own Holland America, Cunard, Seaborn, Costa and several others.  One of their marketing strategies is to offer an onboard ship credit to current stockholders.  The credit is scaled based on the length of the cruise. 

What's Our Ship Doing

Cruise companies keep their ships busy.  When a ship weighs 141 thousand tons, like the new Royal Princess, you pay big money.  Our ship, the Crown, cruised the Carribean during the winter and now sails various ports in Europe.  Currently it is starting a Scandanavian itinerary. 

Time Doesn't Exist

According to science that may be true, but the blog time stamps everything.  It was set, by default, to another time zone.  Now, it will reflect EDT until we arrive in London.  That way it won't appear as if I work on the blog at 3 in the morning.

Getting Ready

Jan shops.  I make sure the blogging tools are working correctly.