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.
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.
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.
Rather surprisingly we made it to Budapest via one long interconnected set of train journeys....one of which was a comfortable 13 hours! I must say, there were a couple of points once we had arrived into Budapest when it did look like the custard was being made: (1) Teagan decides that the fact that she doesn't want to stand up is my problem because I decided on the trip (got me there kid) and (2) when one confident young traveller and hotel explorer gets caught out not knowing the symbol for the lobby/ground floor...nothing more shall ever be mentioned!
Our time in Iepers/Ypres was fabulous....the 100 year anniversary of WW1 and a key focus of our Europe trip. Here is my video of that section.
Across the North Sea and down to Belgium from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.
As I have been sitting contemplating the next leg of our journey (Ypres to Brussels to Cologne to Vienna to Budapest in one set of train rides), I have finished a short iMovie of our time mostly in London.....hopefully, I shall get plenty of time to put together a movie covering our sobering time in Ypres and visiting Flanders Fields.
Southampton to London to Hull from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.
As we leave London enroute to Belgium (via overnight ferry), I thought I would load our New York Video Log.
New York, New York from Kirsty Merriman on Vimeo.
Supping on my coffee in bed at 8 am I am too aware of this being our last day aboard the QM2. What a way to cross the Atlantic (and cheaper than flying too).
This sector of our Journey has been rather better than expected. Many reviews from previous passengers ran down the liner, claimed it was less than they thought it would be; for our group that has not been the case. Yes, QM2 is its now 11th year of service and as any liner would have, does have its were and tear but she is a great ship and she is very well groomed. It is all about the little things: the service has been exemplary, the Kids Zone staff fantastic, the food superb, and the ship itself, so large that you need to leave your stateroom with seven minutes to spare in order to arrive at the Britannia Restaurant three decks below and aft (we are forward - just under the fog horn!).
Would we recommend a crossing? You betcha! All inclusive with three people in a stateroom, the price has been less that our one way flight from Doha to Prince Edward Island and that is all inclusive. That said, I did book through my US travel agent and I do know that some people aboard booking last minute in the UK had excellent prices including one-way return flights....they were free to accept and thoroughly enjoyed their short notice 70th birthday celebrations. Thanks QM2 for a wonderful crossing, it exceeded my expectations. Where tie is on my side, I shall be sailing the Atlantic rather than flying in future.
Tomorrow it is off into London with an evening West End show - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Photo: the Captain leading us in our Sunday Service
Posted with Blogsy
