Sometimes you just have to act. Where travel is concerned, if you don't act quickly, you may lose out on an opportunity for a bargain priced trip and all the fun that goes along with it.
This spring, my dear friend and I were both unemployed, frustrated by the lack of interesting jobs in our respective fields and each had a little bit of money that we could devote to travel. We started researching opportunities and found an incredible deal on a cruise to the Baltic and Scandinavia that was just too good to ignore.
Of all the destinations, my interest was mainly in St. Petersburg, Russia, in particular the Catherine Palace and the Hermitage, and I was not disappointed and was so glad we had two days there. There were ports I wasn't especially interested in - Tallinn, Estonia and Gdansk, Poland - but I enjoyed the brief stops.
All the Scandinavian cities were beautiful, with interesting museums, incredible water views and beautiful people. They were also very expensive. We longed to stay and were sad each time we returned to the ship. The weather was spectacular, the air was crisp and the routes in and out of the ports were filled with gorgeous scenery. We were thrilled to have a balcony and got accustomed to having room service on our perch for the departures and enjoyed magnificent late-night sunsets and early sunrises.
The last day, we visited Tivoli. It had been more than 30 years since my previous visit. Few things had changed. It was still beautiful, with lively music, flowering gardens, and beautifully painted carousels. Everything was much as it had been except the cost, of course. One change was the robot arm prize machine that previously offered trinkets and now has IPods!
We went back and forth about making the commitment and finally decided that we would do it if we could each use our airline miles and get business class fares on flights that worked on our schedules (which at that point were pretty flexible since we weren't working). Remarkably, we got the flights and business class accommodations we wanted with miles to spare so we kept our promises and made the commitment. We booked a 10-day cruise beginning and ending in Copenhagen with a double room and a large balcony on one of the upper levels of a huge ship. We were going on a trip.
We both admit now that we had tiny twinges of buyers remorse immediately after making our payment and debiting our airline mile accounts. But, that lasted only a few minutes. From then on, between time spent hunting for jobs, we had a wonderful time researching each port and making long lists of places to hit. I made excel spreadsheets for most of the ports with museums and sites and their respective hours of operation, costs and other details. We were organized.
We booked this trip about a month in advance so we did not have the usual amount of planning time. Honestly, that was a good thing. We would have otherwise over-planned and panicked that were were doing something so impractical when unemployed.
We had the hardest times telling our respective Mothers who are both frugal and practical and thought we were nuts. But they didn't make us feel too bad. Friends were saluting our bravery given the economy and our situations and encouraged us and wished us well.
We vowed not to buy gifts or souvenirs and to watch out for our spending. We have traveled together before and although I am the worst, we can both splurge when it comes to buying (ask us about buying rugs in Turkey). But, we remained true to our vows and did not buy unnecessary items.
A cruise does not afford the luxury of getting to know the countries or the people or even the food since you dine primarily on the ship. With daytime stops, usually 8:00 a.m. until about 4:00 p.m., it was only possible to hit the highlights of the ports of call. We got a taste of Oslo, Helsinki and Stockholm.
The place we got to know best was Copenhagen, after spending three nights and four days there. It is a beautiful city, full of history, with very accessible museums, castles and public buildings. The people are extremely hospitable and speak English. There is an energetic vibrancy about the place that is probably due to the healthy, young-looking people who walk and ride bicycles everywhere. The public transportation system is simple to navigate. By the end of the trip, we felt we knew Copenhagen pretty well, and had a glimpse into the lives of the Danish people and their fantastic city.
In the end, we spent a little more than we had budgeted, in part because the dollar was so devalued. We paid in advance for many things, kept our credit cards only for essentials and used cash where possible.
I am so glad I wasn't afraid to be a little bit spontaneous and just a little bit frivolous. And I am pleased to have something that registers high on the fun scale for this period of uncertainty.
You never know what is around the corner and sometimes you just have to live a little. I certainly don't regret the decision and I know I would jump at the chance to go back to Scandinavia again.
Photos taken in Copenhagen
No comments:
Post a Comment