Wanderings on Wonderings: Choosing Planes, Ships, Trains, Buses or Automobiles

row of buses at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium

We disembarked from the MV Explorer at Southampton, England and quickly looked for a car rental. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday. It turned out that on Sundays car rental companies are closed during season because by then their entire fleet would have been rented out for the weekend to be returned on the following Monday.  We had to take the train and so we ended up with 3 kinds of road trips in the UK.

plane from Seattle to Oslo

We had designed this European Swing in three parts leading to my daughter April’s wedding at Scotland’s Guthrie Castle on July 2. The first two weeks was through a combination of airplanes (except for Finland to Russia which was by ferry) to transfer from one country to another and the use of public transportation in the cities of Oslo, Helsinki, and Stockholm (at St. Petersburg we were with a bus excursion from the ferry). We chose this mode because the price of car rentals and fuel are sky high (as with everything else in Scandinavia).

The second part was a cruise on the MV Explorer’s second segment of its Iron and Ice Enrichment Voyage through Denmark, Scotland, Iceland, Ireland, and England and embarked in Stockholm, Sweden, England. We did walking tours in Copenhagen, Denmark, Lerwich, Scotland, Isofjordur, Iceland and Belfast, Northern Ireland and took .bus excursions for Rekjavik and Akureyri, Iceland.

MV Explorer

train at Brighton train station

Part 3 was divided into 3 sections, one with just the two of us, another with my eldest Trisha and her daughters Krishna and Yeye, and the third with BFFs Jingjing and Ann. On the first section, we traveled by trains from Southampton to Brighton, then Brighton to Canterbury, and, finally, Canterbury to Gatwick where we were to pick up my girls. We simply walked the towns.

On the second section, we rented a Renault Captur, big enough for all 5 of us and our 5 bags. In two days we covered Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath from the Farmers’ Hotel base in Warminster. Then for two days we toured the famous towns of the Cotswolds and southwestern Wales from our base at the Central Hotel in Cheltenham and, on the last day, Heathrow Lodge from where we toured Windsor Castle. On the third section, we are using trains, buses, cars, cabs, and the tube, whatever is appropriate and available through London, Liverpool, and Edinburgh.

the Renault Captur we rented

Bill had ordered a UK chip for our GPS and it did not fail us.  I will tell you about each town we visited on these 3 sections of our road trip after each of the ports we visited on the cruise. Part 1 posts have been completed. But I do have a huge backlog for Parts 2 and 3. But next week we will fast forward to April’s beautiful wedding before I tackle this backlog of about 12-14 towns and cities. 

 

Here is what we learned. Cruise ships can be the least expensive, especially if you get a highly discounted one like we did, you join the expensive organized excursions only when necessary and explore on your own if possible. If you take advantage of the many excursions offered, the cost can climb dramatically and there is not even enough time to do all of them!  The biggest drawback, however, is that you also get the least sense of a place and the people; how can you with a just 8 hours?

However, you can get the best variety and quantity of food in a cruise ship! We had duck l’orange, roast lamb shank, prime rib au jus, cog au vin, turkey saltimbocca, pork medallions, veal shank osso bucco, lobster thermidor, tenderloin pepper steak, etc. for entrees. Snacks were equally varied: dim sum, Cuban sandwiches, pancit bijon, burgers, pizzas, all kinds of pastas and the sweetest of papayas, grapes, oranges, apples, pears, and other fresh fruits and all the ice cream in the world!  What is more, there is a ready community and people with like interests to travel with! Finally, there was no need to carry luggage around, no need to pack or unpack! You stay in one place!

Planes, trains, and buses may be less convenient, especially the hassle of hauling luggage through different means of transfers, even cabs, especially on windy, damp, and cold days. In addition, at the endless security lines in major airports, you risk the confiscation of your allergy gel or shaving cream for being in the wrong size container by .01 ounces (although country to country travel in Europe is not much of a hassle anymore with the growing popularity of regional planes)!

cab to the train station

But, like road trips, they can give you the best sense of place and people because you can stay as long as you want. In fact, the longer you stay, the cheaper the lodging becomes, albeit still more expensive than home! With car rentals there isn’t a cancellation fee for choosing to extend your stay. As a matter of fact, they get cheaper the longer the rental period, as long as the drop-off is the same as the pick-up point.

Besides, they even give you the means to conveniently get from one place to another as you drive to and from your temporary home and the places you want to visit (as long as parking fees aren’t exorbitant). However, since driving in the UK is on the wrong side of the road, the back roads are very narrow for 2-lane driving, and the speed limits on such roads are higher than those in the US, sometimes it became quite a scary proposition!

So we concluded that, like in North America, a car rental road trip gives you the best sense of place and people and can be the most convenient way to travel, as long as the roads and speed limits are as you are used to. And if car rental rates are not reasonable, then trains, buses, and planes are the next best, depending on overall cost. Cruise ships we will reserve only for exceptional conditions.

The only question we now have is: when will we travel next and, more importantly, where to? As we say in Tagalog, ‘Abangan!’

Our Lifestyle Adventures: Sailing on an Enrichment Voyage!

70% of the crew was Filipino!

Bill in front of our home for 2 weeks
 June 1-15 2014, the MVExplorer

In 1926 the first ship sailed from New Jersey for 7.5 months to 90 ports. Its mission was echoed by the Dean: ‘This is not a mere sightseeing tour but a college year of educational travel…to train students to think in world terms…’ It was called the University of Seven Seas; later it came to be called  the World Campus Afloat. For the last 51 years the Institute of Shipboard Education has been conducting their successor, Semester at Sea. Its fourth sponsor's, the University of Virginia, tour of duty ends in 2016. The search is on for its 5^th!  

MV Explorer docked at Akureyri, Iceland

For non-students, the Institute has Enrichment Voyages in 2 or 4-week segments. The progran is actually being dropped, leaving the Lifelong Learning Program in conjunction with Semester at Sea, as the only option available for us. Instead of 15 days, it will be a minimum of 30 days with the added advantage of 3-5 days at a port, not just 1!

at the completion of our voyage in Southampton, England

We have just completed Segment 2 of the last Enrichment Voyage covering Denmark, Scotland, Iceland, Ireland, and England from June 1 to 15, in 7 ports. We found this on Groupon for an unbelievable price of $1,399 per person!  We embarked in Stockholm, Sweden and disembarked at Southampton, England. I will write about each of the ports we visited later but, for now, let me describe the entire cruise that is so different from any other cruise I have known.

Bill, attending a seminar

While at sea, visits to ports are complemented by classes, seminars, and workshops. Students have classes (a few universities and colleges had special programs on our voyage) while lifelong learners such as Bill and I choose from either seminars or workshops. Seminars are political, economic, historical, geographical, art and architectural discussions of the ports or the region they belong to and seminar leaders hold PhDs in their fields of expertise. Those who we
re most engaging were our favorites!

at the Ship's Medical Clinic

 The workshops, on the other hand, are arts and crafts, writing, book club, dance, yoga, tai chi, etc, sessions. Those who did not want any of these organized their own bridge, mahjong, or other sessions. There were about 700 voyagers in our group and the seminar venues were always almost full to capacity. The workshops had pretty good crowds, too, and the other games were going on!.

at one of three viewing decks of MV Explorer

Tour of the Bridge

The ship’s facilities, although not as luxurious as regular passenger cruise ships, are enough to fill one’s needs for the time of the cruise, whether 2 weeks or a semester. They include 10 classrooms, 1 large seminar/show room, another large seminar/ballroom, a piano bar, 2 dining rooms (1 buffet and 1 with waiter service), a pool and poolside bar, 3 viewing decks, a wellness center that includes a gym, spa, sauna, and massage rooms, a library, a computer lab, a cruise ship store and a medical clinic. Wifi facilities were very limited and slow though. All we could do were email and download public folders of the sessions. We had an allowance of one hour of internet use!

an oil rig in the North Sea

my yellow hat for the New Year in June Party!

Special activities were a Tour of the Bridge (the navigation center of the ship) and viewing of special things we pass by such as the long bridge between Stockholm and Copenhagen, huge oil rigs that dot the North Sea, Surtsey, the volcanic island that made headlines in 1962 when it just appeared, offshore wind turbines, birds and whales, and the Aurora Borealis. The maneuvering at each docking and leaving of a port was a marvel to watch, too. There were also special nights: a Captain’s Dinner when we had to be in semi-formal attire, Two’s Company, a Variety Show by a Scot, a Comedy Show about Icelandic history, and a Party the Captain threw as we passed the Arctic Circle, a Crew Talent Show, a Passenger Talent Show, a Magic Act, an Irish duo, and a ‘New Year in June’ Party.

offshore wind turbines

@ the captain's Reception and Dinner

There was a noticeable difference among the seas we sailed. The Baltic Sea, Denmark Strait, Irish Sea, and English Channel are quiet seas that confined themselves to countries that surrounded them.  The North Sea, south Norwegian Sea and North Atlantic are much bigger and rougher seas. Around Iceland were 2-4 meter swells so the MV Explorer swayed a bit more, giving us some level of seasickness. Those huge seas are a large source of the world’s petroleum. 

Tom and Marivic, Bill and me at dinner

Purser's Office

Out of the 700 passengers, five were Filipinas. Marivic and I are married (to Tom and Bill) while the other three are 2 sisters and a friend:  Lily and Cora and Carmen. What thrilled me the most, though, is that 70% of the 218 crew is Filipino! As a matter of fact, 2 of the 5 on the Captain’s senior management team are Filipinos, the Purser Lito Untivero and the Executive Chef Danilo Yatco! The Ship Doctor, Jocelyn Franco, and Ship Nurses, Jocelyn Reyes and Cristina Tablizo, are also Filipinas. (They had two other doctors for passengers on the cruise.)  It is just too bad they had no Filipino entertainers. But half the Crew Talent Show was provided by Filipinos! One Filipina represented us in the Passenger Talent Show. If I had not contracted a cold the week before, there would have been 2 representatives!

2 of 5 in the senior management team is Filipino!

Bill and I signed a petition for the continuation of the Enrichment Voyages Program. After being seasick for a night, I don’t think we will like being at sea for a month though. Perhaps we will confine ourselves to shorter cruises around the Caribbean or Mediterranean. But this particular Enrichment Voyage was a definite Experience!

Our Lifestyle Adventures: Loving Stockholm

Billl just loved the courtyard!

As soon as we emerged from Customs in Stockholm, we were told at the Airport Visitors’ Centre that the express train to the city was not operating, down due to electrical problems…the first time in its history! There was a mad rush to the buses but the wait there was more than an hour. So we took a cab for SEK 470, about $75! When we got to our Hotel, HTL Khungastan, we were pleasantly surprised!  It was where the nonsense of hotels had been removed, hence HTL, just opened last May 2 on a promo!

It was right in the city centre, 2 blocks from the T-Centralen (Metro), half a block from the bus station to the cruise terminal and a block from the train central station.  It would have been perfect had we taken the express train! We enjoyed Stockholm a lot because of this location. We wandered through the shopping centers, boutiques, and eating places. We even found a courtyard of an old hotel among old fine dining restaurants amid lots of greens and flowers around a pond. At the T-Centralen, on sidewalks along the shops, hot dog kiosks led us to feed our American fancy, even though Bill had bratwurst. Another time McDonalds’ burgers won!

the Royal Palace

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Stockholm is the most populous city in the whole of Scandinavia, with 1.4M in the urban area and 2.2M in the SMSA. An important global city, she ranked 27th in the world, 12th in Europe and first in Scandinavia by the Global Cities Index in 2012. In 2013, Stockholm was named the 8th most competitive city in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Sweden, in fact, has the world's eighth-highest per capita income and ranks highly in many performance indicators for national performance.

Drottningholm theatre, oldest living theatre in the world

Founded in 1250 (possibly as early as 1187), Sweden had been part of the Kalmar Union (Norway, Sweden, and Denmark). But uprisings and the breakup of the Union led to the accession of Gustav Vasa in 1523, establishing the Swedish royal power and the city began to grow. In 1634 Stockholm became the official capital of the Swedish empire.  The Royal Palace is the official residence and principal workplace of the Swedish monarch, while the Drottningholm Palace, a World Heritage Site on the outskirts of Stockholm, serves as the Royal Family's private residence.  It is likened to Versailles, including the huge garden, in France. At the Drottningholm grounds we took a wonderful tour of the oldest living theater in the world.

The first part of the name Stockholm, “stock”, means log in Swedish or it may have come from an old German word –“Stock” - meaning fortification. The second part of the name “holm” means islet, and is thought to refer to the islet Helgeandsholmen in central Stockholm. Old Town (Gamla Stan) was built on the central island next to this islet from the mid-13th century onward. It is just next to the Royal Palace.

oldest street in Gamla Stan

We walked the oldest street in Stockholm, Merchant Street, still full of quaint little unique shops. It led to the Nobel Museum right at the Center Square. The Nobel Prize is a set of prestigious annual international awards established by a bequest in the will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in 1895. Since 1901, a total of 791 men, 44 women, and 21 organizations have received the Prize. The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo while the other prizes are awarded in Stockholm. As of 2012, each prize was worth US $1.2M.

the Nobel Museum at the Square of Old Town

our favorite restaurant so far, in front of the Nobel Museum

There are many colorful restaurants around the Square. We chose to dine at the one which had on its menu a section called Swedish Cuisine. We were served the best Swedish Meatballs we have ever had, paired with lingonberries and pickled cucumbers, and shrimp and asparagus soup served with delicious dark bread made in their kitchen which we called Peter’s bread after our cheerful waiter, Peter.

One day we went to the Skansen Open Air Museum and actually enjoyed the Zoo (both the tropical animals and Nordic animals) more than the relocated Swedish farms and houses like the stone cottage and the Sami (indigenous tribe) dwellings.  But it was raining, so I bought a throwaway raincoat and simply breezed through everything.

Sami dwellings in Skansen

unforgettable Vasa 

Close to Skansen is the Vasa Museum where we found a long line of people waiting to get in. It’s good we already had the Stockholm card as that allowed us to bypass the line. The Vasa (a ship) sank in 1628 as soon as it was launched to sea! It was too tall for its narrow bottom, a foolish order by the King. It sat on the bottom of the ocean floor for 333 years until it was discovered, brought back up, and restored for 11 years. The ship is enormous and contains about 700 very well preserved sculptures which do a remarkable job of representing 17^th century life.

Our visit to Stockholm would have been complete had we not had the misfortune of tickets being sold out in two places we wanted to experience, the Skyview at the Globe Ericson, largest spherical building in the world, and the City Tower at City Hall. We suspect that, since it was the day of the 'best marathon in the world', the Stockholm Marathon where 20,000 participate in running 2 loops of the city, these two places, where you get a great view of the city, was in high demand. Oh well, so we cannot give you an aerial view of the city.

City Hall Tower

But, before signing off, let me tell you about the HTL. Minimalist in design, check-in was via a kiosk at a reception area that doubled as a small shop. Before reaching the elevators is a large lounge and bar at the center.  The rooms are brand new, quite like efficiency studios but with lots of leg room. There are no chairs and no table (except for 2 night tables on each side of a firm Queen-size bed), just like our bedrooms at home, encouraging guests to hang out at the lounge area. There are also no closets,  just artistic buttons and places to hang clothes and bags, etc. spread throughout the room. At the lounge area, food served is always prepared from scratch. The breakfast buffet, where you choose 4 out of 7 items, is unlike any other hotel buffet and actually provides guests a brown bag for lunch option, if you don’t eat it for breakfast as we did the first day!  

Skyview at the globe Ericsson Building

On the same block as HTL, we boarded the Bus 1 to go to the Terminal where we were to begin our 2-week cruise through Demark, Scotland, Iceland, Ireland, and England on MV Explorer and the unique Enrichment Voyage of the Institute of Shipboard Education.

Our Lifestyle Adventures: Getting a Chance to Tour Russia!

St. Isaac's Square, less known cathedral in St. Perersburg

When Bill inquired about tourist visas to Russia, he found out that it would cost us about $600. A 2-night, 1-day cruise from Helsinki is a little more but is inclusive of a 2 night cabin stay, breakfasts and dinners, and a visa-free one day tour of St. Petersburg.  We thought it was such a great opportunity because, although St. Petersburg with 5 M people is the second largest city after Moscow, it is the cultural capital. The Historic Centre and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Valentina and Boris with us on the best seat in the ship

In the afternoon of May 26 we embarked on St. Peter Line’s Princess Maria at the Lansiterminale in southeastern Helsinki. At 5:30 pm we went to the dinner buffet where we had the best seat in the house. There we met Valentina and Boris who were going home from a tour of Helsinki. They recommended that we visit the home of Fyodor Dostoyevsky. We also found out from them that the day we were visiting St. Petersburg is the city’s 311th anniversary of its founding.

Bill with the pretty Cruise Manager

We wanted to be up early for the 9:30 am excursion to the former capital of Russia so we skipped the 10 pm Show at Columbus Bar. We were at the breakfast buffet by 8 am. Then the tour participants were led to the car deck. And when they opened the door, a blast of Russian cold hit our faces. We wondered how people could live there during winter! It was cloudy, in the low 50s, with light showers, and winds of 16 mph in late spring. But a small band was there to welcome us.

flames and flags for the 311th anniversary of St. Petersburg

Peter and Paul Fortress

The city is located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. Founded by Tsar Peter the Great, it was the imperial capital of Russia from 1713 to 1918. Huge flames and countless flags were on display all over the city. On Zayachy Island, Peter the Great laid the foundation for the Peter and Paul Fortress, the first building of the new city, whose cathedral became the burial vault of Russian emperors from 1725 until the end of the era. The names of Saints Peter and Paul coincidentally were the names of the first two assassinated Russian Emperors, Peter III and Paul I.

Palace Square and the Alexander Column

During its first few years, the city grew around this Fortress. By 1716 the city centre was transferred to Vasilyevsky Island which is shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. Peter the Great appointed a chief architect but in 1725, he died at the age of fifty-two and his plan was not completed. In 1736 the city suffered from catastrophic fires. A new plan was commissioned in 1737. Palace Square became the main square of the Russian Empire and the setting of many events of historic significance.

St. Nicholas Church

part of the Hermitage

Our excursion turned out to be an introductory city bus tour of the highlights of this city-museum where each building is either a piece of art or history or both. But we were plagued by a van that died several times on us, interrupting and cutting short the tour. We were still able to take pictures of many attractions as we passed them such as the Russian Orthodox Church and the place where Rasputin was killed. We made stops at Santa Claus’ St. Nicholas Church, The Hermitage, Russia’s equivalent of the Louvre or the Smithsonian and a huge souvenir shop where I had several samples of Russian vodka and liqueur to counter the cold!

Maria dolls galore

With the emancipation of the peasants undertaken by Alexander II in 1861 and an industrial revolution, the capital experienced a significant influx of former peasants. Poor boroughs emerged spontaneously on the outskirts of the city. St. Petersburg surpassed Moscow in population and industrial growth and it developed as one of the largest industrial cities in Europe. In 1881, however, Alexander II was assassinated by Narodniki. In his honor His son built the fascinating Church of the Spilled Blood.

at more known Church of Spilled Blood

the ship that launched the Revolution

We also stopped to view the ship that fired the shot that launched the Revolution of 1917. It began in St. Petersburg when the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace. In March Nicholas II abdicated both for himself and on behalf of his son, ending the Russian monarchy and over three hundred years of Romanov dynastic rule. On November 7, 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, stormed the Winter Palace in an event known thereafter as the October Revolution, which led to the end of the post-Tsarist provisional government, the transfer of all political power to the Soviets, and the rise of the Communist Party. On March 12, 1918, the Soviets transferred the government to Moscow.

traditional eats

At about 1:30 pm we had to decide whether we wanted to return to the ship or explore a bit more. Unfortunately, the weather was very inhospitable, rain started to fall, and the wind made the cold even colder.  But we wanted to see a little bit more. So Bill and I looked for a restaurant where we could be warm. We found a local eatery at the famous Nevsky Prospect (the city’s main street) and had local favorites (probably) but we did not get to know the names of the dishes. Then we had enough energy to tour the magnificent interior museum of St. Isaac’s Square. At 3:15 pm we looked for the tour van that would take us back to the ship. Fifteen minutes later, after running around the Square, we found it!

Kronstadt!

Back at the Princess Maria, we had another buffet dinner. As we sat at comfy chairs looking out to the ocean, Kronstadt, a municipal town with a population of over 40,000 suddenly came into full view. It belongs to the federal city of St. Petersburg land is ocated on Kotlin Island, 19 miles west of the city near the head of the Gulf of Finland. It is St. Petersburg's main seaport, the seat of the Russian admiralty, and the base of the Russian Baltic Fleet, guarding the approaches to the city. The historic centre of the town and its fortifications are part of the World Heritage Site of St. Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.  

The next day we had another buffet breakfast then disembarked at around 10 am. We took Tram 9 then shifted at Hainikem to Tram 7B and took our set of big luggage that we had stored at our hotel in Helsinki, Hotel Ava. We then took Bus 615 to the airport for our flight at 4 pm, arriving there 3 hours early (glad there was free wifi!). At 6 pm we found ourselves in Stockholm, Sweden!