2016 Travel Review
As we do our 2016 travel review we can’t help but realize that is was a year of unprecedented travel for us. We set foot in 14 different countries, most of them for the first time. Our visits ranged from the United States to Central America and a wide cross section of Europe. We spent two weeks in Russia (something we never really expected to do) and just days in some places like Poland and Estonia.
Every year we do a recap of our travels and every year we have trouble thinking of things we didn’t like. Either we’re really easy to please or we do such a good job of picking the companies we travel with that nothing noteworthy actually goes wrong. This year we had excellent experiences with UnCruise Adventures, Viking River and Viking Ocean Cruises and Go Ahead Tours. In each case they had a variety of factors that made them so appealing but the one none of them skimped on was having truly top-notch talent who make it their mission to ensure that their guests have a happy, memorable experience. The only thing that annoys us is that none of those charming people ever consent to come home with us. So far..
Here’s where we went and our brief pluses and minuses for each place. As always we welcome your comments.
Panama City, Panama
What we liked:
- The Biodiversity Museum has fascinating exhibits, is architecturally stunning and situated along the water – it’s all around wonderful.
- Old Town – Casco Viejo – in Panama City is a UNESCO site, full of history, has an open air market with locally made crafts and some tasty restaurants
- They use the U.S. dollar for currency so it’s easy for Americans
- The climate in January was lovely (but avoid it in May when it’s apparently a fairly miserable swamp)
- It’s interesting to go to the Miraflores locks and see ships come through the canal and check out the museum.
- The honest, helpful, English speaking driver we stumbled upon who made our trip easier and more pleasant. You can reach him at williamsjacinto@yahoo.com
What we didn’t like:
- The rip-off prices for the quality at the restaurant at the Miraflores Lock
- Forget trying to use the red double-decker sightseeing bus – the people are never in the booth to sell tickets and it doesn’t seem to keep to any schedule. Keeping to a schedule is not a strength in Panama City over all.
- Don’t bother signing up for a snorkeling day trip from the city. There’s probably good snorkeling but you need to go farther afield to find it.
Iceland
What we liked:
- Photographing the Northern Lights (even though I couldn’t see them with my naked eyes)
- Going to several excellent restaurants in Reykjavik
- The surprising amount of daylight available after expecting near total darkness
- A helicopter ride over the city to a volcanic summit
- That Uber is now readily available in the city
What we didn’t like:
- Shaking uncontrollably in bed for the whole night after standing out in a very cold, windy field taking those pictures of the Northern Lights
- How crowded and expensive the restaurants have become with the overwhelming number of tourists now visiting Iceland
- IcelandAir still has incredibly uncomfortable seats and woefully inadequate food and entertainment options
Florida
What we liked:
- Swimming with manatees at the Plantation at Crystal River
- The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg with extra credit for their good cafe.
- Seaplane ride from Naples to Key West was exciting, had beautiful views and was a major timesaver.
- Dry Tortugas National Park was a fun outing with interesting history and a tropical island feel.
- Old timey Weeki Watchee State Park and its cheesy underwater mermaid show
What we didn’t like:
- Having to get up so early to snorkel with the manatees. Don’t they have some who sleep in?
- Brunette getting stuck in her wetsuit and nearly having to be cut out of it. (Actually Blonde got a kick out of this.)
- Disappointing snorkeling at Dry Tortugas (may have been snorkeler error or time of year)
UnCruise Legacy of Discovery Cruise
What we liked:
- Very pleasantly surprised by the high-quality cuisine and choices on the ship.
- Kenne the “Heritage Guide” who acted out the parts of historical characters, served as a guide and generally made sure every day was special for the guests.
- Learning history about Lewis and Clark was interesting and made us realize that we didn’t pay much attention in school when we originally were supposed to have learned this stuff.
- Free massages turned us into happy noodles
- Interesting guest speakers
What we didn’t like:
- The tiny windows in our room that meant to enjoy the scenery we had to leave the room.
- The record-breakingly hot weather and the ship lounge’s air conditioning not really being able to deal with it so it was freezing. Poor us – we had to put sweaters on!
Russia
What we liked:
- Our guides (special shout out to Sasha) on the Viking Torgil Waterways of the Tsars river cruise were smart, humorous and unfailingly helpful.
- Our verandah that we could sit on and watch the scenery going by.
- Learning Russian history from Russians was fascinating – the parts about how they view Gorbachev negatively and why were particularly interesting.
- Free wi-fi
What we didn’t like:
- Blonde didn’t like the Russian wines but Brunette liked the house white which was a Chardonnay.
- The hard to open and harder to close verandah doors.
- The cost and minor hassle of getting of getting a Russian visa.
Viking Homelands with Viking Ocean
What we liked:
- The Viking Star was a lovely, comfortable ship that never felt crowded and we especially enjoyed the infinity pool.
- Afternoon tea was a very civilized affair.
- Good entertainment that was in bite sized amounts (45 minute shows) that fit our attention spans.
- Shore excursions were well organized and there was a terrific selection to choose from.
- Getting samples of different destinations where we probably wouldn’t go for a whole vacation (Estonia and Poland).
- Free laundry on every level – you don’t even need to provide the detergent.
- Excellent local guides that brought every destination to life
- Having a verandah was lovely as was the room service for no extra cost
- Free wi-fi
- The restaurant wait staff and housekeeping were truly exemplary
What we didn’t like:
- Days we over-scheduled ourselves with too many back to back shore excursions.
- Those damned verandah doors again (but they did give us a good excuse to call handsome young men to help us).
- The Guest Services staff was surprisingly unhelpful unless a manager was asked to intervene.
Montenegro
What we liked:
- The rocky, wooded coastal scenery that was reminiscent of the Costa Brava in Spain.
- Kotor, a World Unesco city, was fascinating and pretty (like us).
- Nice swimming opportunities as long as you’re prepared for pebbly beaches.
- Running into Mitt Romney at the baggage claim carousel in Dubrovnik (gave us a story to tell)
What we didn’t like:
- Noise in Budva from the open air discos
- Stunningly uninterested wait staff in the restaurants.
- Driving was like a game of wack-a-mole trying to avoid other cars and pedestrians and cops with over eager radar guns.
- Its immense popularity as a low-cost destination for Russian tourists
Croatia
What we liked:
- Tamara, our Tour Director with Go Ahead Tours was smart, funny, warm and an all around delight.
- Friendly people, a high percentage of whom spoke English
- The Mediterranean climate
- Gorgeous scenery and lots of interesting history
- Good roads made for easy transit and we had a bus driver who made the trips a delight.
- Prices low relative to Western Europe
- Good quality drinking water produces some excellent beers
- The excellent itinerary and mixture of free and scheduled time
What we didn’t like:
- The seafood menus with everything seeming to be cooked in its own ink.
- Not being on the euro because it made for more of a challenge to not end up with extra currency
Slovenia
What we liked:
- The Go Ahead Tours extension trip was well-organized and delightful
- Slovenia has some of everything in Europe in a tiny country – beaches, castles, mountains, forests, skiing and city life
- Excellent bargains for travelers.
- You can drink the tap water
- They use the euro
What we didn’t like:
- We can’t think of anything so are going to be reduced to mentioning a rat we saw swimming in the river! We know this is pathetic.
Disclosure and thanks: We were the well taken care of guests of UnCruise Adventures, Viking River and Viking Ocean Cruises and Go Ahead Tours and deeply appreciate the wide range of travel opportunities they gave us in 2016. As always our opinions are ours – that’s why they’re on our blog! Happy New Year.