Summer 2015: Cruising to the Arctic!

August 2015 was a significant month for Ross and me, as we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary.  Due to school holidays and exhausting heat, celebrations were in July when we could be together.  Following significant negotiations with our Halfling we all agreed on a Disney Cruise (yeah right!) up into the Arctic Circle (yes, this was Ross and my input).  Combined with a few other activities, we made it a Go!

This is the first part of our Summer Holiday 2015:  Doha to London, over to Copenhagen, into the Arctic and back to England for a week's old fashioned beach holiday while we waited for Teagan's International Brownie Camp in the New Forest.

Would I go on a Disney Cruise again?  Highly, extremely unlikely.

Was it a really good cruise and worth recommendations?  Absolutely, top marks, exceptionally well run, superb condition, great care of passengers, fantastic safety for children, superb staterooms.

Why wouldn't I do it again?  How much forced happiness (and piped music) can a good old Southern Kiwi take?

Would Teagan do it again?  Absolutely, totally!

Does Teagan prefer Cunard ships to Disney ships?  Yes, because of the Kids Zone on Cunard - shock horror, she was not swayed by rampant commercialism.


Summer 2015 Part 1_Overwrite from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.

Our next big adventure is upon us, so now its time to load our Nepal video....

Quite understandably, we have been hesitant to post our video of our Nepalese adventure in April.  Teagan and I met with our long time "Besties" and spent one of our most fabulous holidays ever, together.  It was merely seven days after returning, that parts of Nepal were devastated by the earthquake.  Since then, we have been in touch with our trekking company and gave our donations directly to one of the affected villages.  No one we trekked with was physically harmed, but many were very badly affected.

Here is our video for you to enjoy, it was absolutely fantastic and we were truly lucky in many many ways.



Nepal April 2015 from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.

Overdue videos... they were complete but just not loaded....

Since my last post, there have been two prepared videos.  One of our November trip to New Zealand and our Christmas 2014 video.

As I didn't specifically ask for approval from some of my New Zealand movie stars, I will not be sharing that movie on this site, however, I am loading our Christmas movie; England to New York and back!  So please enjoy.


Christmas 2014 from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.

Final videos are in process...

It is well into October and a quick return trip to New Zealand is imminent for Teagan and me, this means that I need to complete our 'Big Trip' videos so that I can cut them onto one LONG DVD for Alison and to effect that, I need to spend some time in front of the computer, not so fun.

Here I leave you with a short video of our Transatlantic Crossing.  Truely a lifetime experience and one that the Meanderers would recommend to everyone who has the means to complete.  Clearly, the 'Crossing' is expensive if travelling from New Zealand but for those located in New York and England, it is surprisingly affordable when all costs are accounted for and a deal or two is hunted down.



Across the Atlantic on QM2 from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.

We are about to go home....

We have had a relaxed final day in Istanbul. All of us have been a bit too tird to tour the city much but we enjoyed a bit of quite shopping an early dinner and in bed well before 10 pm! This morning is very relaxed also as mum leaves the hotel at 9:30 am and. Teagie and I leave mid afternoon.

As for vlogs...li have updated/extended my previous one to include our travel up to Sofia. Enjoy!

 

Budapest to Istanbul from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.

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First part of our journey to Istanbul

As this section of our journey is quite long, I am posting an unfinished vlog....it I finishes suddenly mid-music in Belgrade. As I get more opportunities I will update it and repost.....

 

Jessie, there is a little message for you from Teagan as she hasn't been able to send you any postcards! Watch out for it after her Budapest zoo visit!

 

Budapest to Istanbul from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.

 

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The video of our trip into Budapest

The trip from Belgium to Hungary was a near Breeze. All connections were faultless and trains more than comfortable. For us, the journey was really reasonably priced as I booked on-line the day bookings opened...and within an hour of opening at that! I did note that the deluxe sleepers were only available on some days from Cologne and did not cost much more that the regular couchettes if booked well in advance.

I think I will repeat the journey sometime as the view of the castles over the Rhine was unbelievably good - a fairytale!

Right at this point in time we are still in bed after a long long slow train to Serbia. We have one full day here, catch up on some laundry and do a city tour methinks.

 

 

Iepers to Budapest from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.

 

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