Planning No.2...

Because we've had more time to plan this next big trip, it gave us the chance to re-evaluate just where we really wanted to go. We hadn't done as much of Scotland as we would have liked, and when one day, I pressed Lee into telling me where it was she had always wanted to see, she said, Norway. We believe some of her forebears originated there, and although we don't have any substantial proof, we just thought well why not try to include it. Having been twice to New Zealand, and into the fjords there, the idea of seeing more scenery of that kind really appealed. 

What I now love about the internet, is the ability to "surf" the world, and actually get instant results. I found a cruise from Southampton to Norway and other countries, for fifteen days in June 2011. Once we saw the cruise itinerary, (check out Cruise A114), and the opportunities it gave us to see some of the places we'd been thinking about, then all we had to do was keep all the information, and let our travel agent know that we wanted that cruise. Everything else would then slot in around it, and we decided to make it the last part of the fourteen or so weeks we would be away.

The other major thing you have to think about, is where you don't want to go!

For both of us, places like China or India have never held any appeal, and the thought of trying to "do Europe" put us right off, and although I could get around France with my high school French, one of the main things that determined where we would go is the fact of driving on the other side of the road. 

Don't want to ever have to do it! It's bad enough that a lot of the rental cars in the UK are European built, and when you want to indicate turning, and the windscreen wipers come on, then that's enough for me to cope with!

However, having said that, I know we would miss a lot of the beautiful scenery and historic buildings, and the cultures of some of the european countries, but you can't do it all. The cruise helps us compensate, by having a day in Dublin, and one in Bruges, and a two-day stop in Iceland, and we'll do our own crossing to Calais from Dover, just so we can say we've been to France!

Next, Bills, Money, deposits, car hire, accommodation websites, thankyou's, etc....