2 Toevs (half+) World Travelers

Helsinki, Finland: Uspenki Cathedral and Market Square

Tallinn, Estonia

Riga, Latvia

Berlin: Brandenburg Gate, remnants of the Berlin Wall, plaque commemorating Reagan's words and Check Point Charlie

Skagen, Denmark

July 23 - 31, 2024

To those who didn't know, we rejoined the Ultimate World Cruise in Southampton, England and will finish in Miami, where we started last December.

There's a single person onboard who'd been difficult to be around before we got off in Dubai. Mid-June, others assured us she had managed to alienate all but one of the original core members and it was "safe" for us to return. I began the rebooking process, plus flight arrangements and just like that we were going back.

We started out of San Luis Obispo Regional Airport at 6:45am on July 23rd to San Francisco. Next was Chicago, where we were supposed to go on to Edinburgh and then Southampton. Due to the cabin thermostat being undependable, the Captain announced he had to cancel the flight. United provided hotel rooms for all of us who were stuck, but the cancellation messed up everything else. The next flight to Southampton wasn't until Friday, when we were scheduled to get back on the ship. I got the agent to understand the situation and our flights were changed to one direct flight to London/Heathrow, on Wednesday afternoon, arriving early Thursday morning. That meant getting a different transfer and losing a prepaid night at our hotel.

All went well after the sorting out. We were the first flight into Heathrow that morning and now you scan your passport at a kiosk and you're done. Our driver was waiting and soon we were on our way out of London and a little over an hour later we were at the Leonardo Hotel (on Charlotte Ct, not to be confused with two others with the same name in Southampton). Our friend, Ruth, had been there since the previous day. The weather was cold and wet, so we agreed to have our meals and leisure time inside.

A movie kind of miscommunication and confusion over Ruth meeting others on the ship for lunch on Friday started Thursday afternoon and was never quite reconciled. This was (again) because of the one person who'd been difficult before Dubai. The get together had been talked about for months and when Ruth asked when she should plan to meet there was no response. Another passenger reached out and said she'd walked to the hotel and was in the lobby. We thought maybe we'd missed her coming in, but it turned out she was at a different Leonardo Hotel.

Ruth said she'd grab a cab and come over. When she arrived there were five passengers waiting, but "difficult" woman told Ruth you have a long drive home, then turned and walked away. We were more than surprised when Ruth was back at our hotel 20 minutes after she'd left. She's never received any kind of explanation why the plans fell apart or why she was dismissed.

We said real goodbyes to Ruth (as we hadn't expected to see her again after she'd gone to the port for lunch) when our transfer arrived. Our dock was less than two miles away, but the ride took 20 minutes. The roads aren't laid out very well.

We received our new sea pass cards in the terminal, left our luggage and we were back on the Serenade of the Seas, our home away from home. Our stateroom is a mirror image of the first as we're now on the starboard side.

For now, I just wanted to let you know this blog should be back and relatively current in a couple days. Tomorrow: Latvia