Choosing Planes, Ships, Trains, Buses or Automobiles

Our six-week European Swing was designed around my daughter’s wedding in Scotland’s Guthrie Castle. It was indeed memorable. But it was also highly educational. It gave us a great view of the differences among the different modes of transportation.

The first two weeks were in Scandinavia and Russia through a combination of airplanes and a ferry (from Finland to Russia) to transfer from one country to another. We used public transportation in Oslo, Helsinki, and Stockholm. In St. Petersburg, we were on a bus excursion from the ferry. We found that car rentals and fuel were sky-high.

The next two weeks were spent on an MV Explorer cruise through Denmark, Scotland, Iceland, Ireland, and England. We embarked in Stockholm, Sweden, did city walking tours in Copenhagen, Denmark, Lerwich, Scotland, Isofjordur, Iceland, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, and took bus excursions for Rekjavik and Akureyri, Iceland.

The last two weeks were in the UK. We disembarked in Southampton, England. It was a Sunday and car rental companies were closed during the season because their entire fleet would have been rented out for the weekend to be returned only on the following Monday.  So besides car rentals, we used trains (and other modes) for road trips across the UK.

First, when it was just my husband and I, we walked the towns and used trains from Southampton to Brighton, Brighton to Canterbury, and Canterbury to Gatwick. That’s the airport where we picked up my daughter and her two daughters.

The five of us then rented a Renault Captur, big enough to carry us and five bags. In two days, we covered Stonehenge, Salisbury, and Bath from our hotel  in Warminster. Then we toured the Cotswolds and southwestern Wales from an Airbnb in Cheltenham for the next two days. On the last day, we visited Windsor Castle from Heathrow Lodge.

Third, after my daughter’s wedding, we joined our BFFs and partners using trains, buses, a private car, cabs, and the tube, whatever was appropriate and available, touring London, Liverpool, and Edinburgh. 

Here is what we learned. Cruise ships can be the least expensive mode, especially if you get a highly discounted one like we did through Groupon. Organized excursions, however, can dramatically raise the cost. Use them when necessary and explore by yourselves, whenever possible. The biggest drawback, however, is you get the least sense of a place and people with just 8 hours at port. But if you are a foodie, you can get the best variety and quantity of food on a cruise ship. There is also a ready like-minded community to travel with. Finally, there is no need to pack or unpack!

Planes, trains, cabs, and buses are less convenient, having to haul luggage through different means of transfers, especially on windy, damp, and cold days. But these road trips can give you the best sense of place and people because you can stay as long as you want. The longer you stay, the cheaper the lodging becomes.

Even if you must drive, a road trip by car may be even more cost-effective (car rentals become cheaper the longer the period), as long as parking fees and the cost of fuel aren’t exorbitant. But maybe not in the UK since driving is on the wrong side of the road, the back roads are very narrow, and the speed limits are higher than those in the US. It can sometimes be quite scary!

We concluded that a road trip gives you the best sense of place and people. We always prefer to travel by car but if fuel and parking costs are not reasonable or driving conditions are unfamiliar, then trains, buses, and planes are the next best. We will reserve cruise ships only as an exception. One such exception is short ferries from one country to another. But when in town, walk around and use public transportation!  

            

Our Lifestyle Adventures: Being Surprised by Belfast

the Titanic Museum on the site where the Titanic was built in Belgast, Northern Ireland

William Street for Bill

We foolishly thought we would be covering nine countries on this European Swing until the political science professor on the Enrichment Voyage said Belfast is not part of Ireland! It is a city in Northern Ireland which is a part of Great Britain, like England, Scotland, and Wales are. And that the United Kingdom is comprised of Great Britain whose capital is London and Ireland whose capital is Dublin! 

my own yellow gazebo at Victoria Square

The name Belfast comes from the Irish, Béal Feirste meaning "mouth of the sandbanks". It is the administrative capital of Northern Ireland and one of the largest cities in the UK in terms of population (579,276) as a metropolitan area. We had a very exciting presentation of Belfast architecture by the charming professor and were surprised, after studying the map that was given us at the Tourist Information Centre at the shuttle bus stop, that they were all within walking distance!

elegant City Hall

The elegant 1906 City Hall just across was the inspiration to Durban, South Africa’s own City Hall, almost an exact replica built four years later. It was the former site of the White Linen Hall, Belfast having been a leading player in the linen industry of the time. After getting a good shot, we walked north to the Albert Memorial Clock, Belfast’s answer to the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Belfast's Leaning Tower

The Clock Tower was designed by Barre who won an 1865 competition for a memorial to Queen Victoria's late Prince Consort, Prince Albert. The second-placer, archrival Lanyon secretly got the prize money until a public outcry corrected the anomaly. Constructed between 1865 and 1869, it stands 113 feet tall. But, as a result of being built on wooden piles on marshy, reclaimed land around the River Farset, the top of the tower leans four feet off the perpendicular.

Just another block from the tower is the 10-meter long Big Fish, a printed ceramic mosaic sculpture by John Kindness constructed in 1999 at the Donegall Quay near the Lagan Lookout and Custom House. It tells of the history of Northern Ireland on its tiles. Then a long walk or one short bus ride away is the Titanic Belfast. We took the bus, of course!

the Big Fish that carries the history of Belfast

Titanic Belfast is a monument to Belfast's maritime heritage (it was one of the major shipbuilders of its time) on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city's Titanic Quarter. It was where the Titanic was built. The clever design of the monument is reminiscent of both the ship and the iceberg that caused it to sink. The Museum tells the stories of the ill-fated RMS Titanic, which sank on her maiden voyage in 1912 and her sister ships RMS Olympic and HMHS Britannic.

the little alley under a building

Then we took the bus back to the same station and traced our steps to the Belfast Cathedral. On the way there, we found a William Street for Bill and my very own yellow gazebo in Victoria Square. A street we were directed to, named Pottinger's Entry, didn't at all look like a street!

St Anne's Cathedral, also known as Belfast Cathedral, serves two separate dioceses yet being the seat of neither. Thus, technically it is not a cathedral which is supposed to be the seat of a bishop. Its architecture is also unusual since the front, sides and back are of different type, not having been built at the same time.

beautiful, haunting graffiti/mural

As we took a walk back to the Grand Opera House just past the bus stop on the opposite direction, we found different kinds of graffiti displaying the angst of the people, especially during “the Troubles” or the time of deep division. No wonder Irish pubs abound. We went to the most famous, the Crown Bar, near the Opera House on the other side of the street. 

Grand Opera House in Belfast

It has been refurbished to a high standard in 1885 as an outstanding example of a Victorian gin palace. The exterior has polychromatic tiles and the interior features a red granite topped bar of an altar style. There are also ten booths, or snugs, built for the more reserved customers of the Victorian era. And, that is where we found seats with fellow voyagers of the MV Explorer. We all even had a second round at another famous pub beside it, the Robinson’s. Just across this pub is the Europa, Europe’s most bombed hotel.

inside a snug at the Crown Bar, for reserved customers in the Victorian era

our second pub, Robinson's

We couldn’t have survived a third round for we all needed to hurry on to the bus stop if we were to make the on board time of the ship and sail with it an hour after to Southampton, England!

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!