-14 Days and Counting

Two weeks?! How can our trip only be two weeks away?!

The funny thing about 'Type A' personality types is that we love to be organized and make lists. The depressing thing about 'Type A' people is that the more lists we make, the more we realize we have to get done before we leave. The good news is that I am trying to take more things off of my 'Things to Do' list than I actually put on in a day. I don't always succeed, but at least I am trying. :)

I went to Michael's (http://www.michaels.com/art/online/home) yesterday to see if I could get inspired to be creative. They had a TON of Disney and Mickey stickers and stamps that I hope to use to decorate our cabin doors. You can't put stickers (or tape, or glue of any kind) on the doors, but they sell magnetic paper that allows you to place decorative items on your door. If you want to get an understanding of how creative some people get, check out this thread on the DIS boards - http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=925792

I spent most of today getting the ground transportation finalized for Paris and Barcelona. Here are the companies that we are using:

Barcelona - 3 adults 1 child, round trip to and from the Cruise Port - 100 Euros

http://www.bcntaxis.com/?p=home

Paris - 3 adults 1 child - Charles de Gaulle to Disneyland Paris Marriott - 75 Euros - then back to Orly from the Marriott for 80 Euros

http://www.trvtransport.com/

Both companies allowed us to book online and pay by credit card.

We are flying 'Club World' (which is a step down from First Class) on British Airways and we are trying to get all of our flights linked together. The reason for doing this is you can check your bags all the way through to your destination they allow you MORE BAGS for Club World passengers! Our Iberia flight will even allow the 3 bags at 50 lbs each instead of just ONE bag of 44 lbs! I will let you know if we are at all successful.

Speaking of air travel, we are REALLY trying to avoid the effects of jet lag. We hope that having the sleeper bed on the plane will assist us in getting to bed early. I ordered some products from Magellan's Travel Supplies (http://www.magellans.com/store/catalog?Args) called No-Jet-Lag and Badger Sleep Balm - you are beginning to see what a sucker I am, aren't you. I have ear plugs and sleep masks too. I am told these really make a difference, so I will let you know how everything works. I found a link that provides excellent tips on trying to recover from jet lag quickly - http://www.nojetlag.com/jetlag3.html.

That is all for now. I am off to enjoy our Memorial Day festivities! Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

-16 Days and Counting!

I just can’t believe all of the stuff I have to get done in 15 days! I have found transportation to and from the Paris airports, but I still do not have the Barcelona airport transportation.

I spent a lot of the afternoon getting into the DCL door decoration experience. This is REALLY not an easy task when you have absolutely NO creativity. The good news is that the DISers (http://www.disboards.com/) are so generous in sharing what they have done and how they have done it that I really got some great ideas. I think Peyton will get a big kick out it since even HE knows how terrible his mother is at crafts! If you have been on a previous Disney cruise and have a door decoration, I would love to see them. Creative people just amaze me! I guess I am just fascinated by stuff I have absolutely no idea how to do. :)

I am also trying to think of little gifts to leave the rest of the DISers we run into – if you have ANY ideas, please let me know.

-19 Days and Counting

Oh my goodness, we are less than 20 days away!!!

There are several of us DISers (http://www.disboards.com/) that are heading to Paris in the days that lead up to our cruise. Even though the cruise does not begin until the 16th, we are leaving the States on the 11th to spend some time at Disneyland. Our plan is that this will give us time to get over jet lag and we can really enjoy the cruise.

We agonized over where to stay at DLP and finally settled on the Marriott's Village d'Ille-de-France (www.marriott.com/pardp). It is a lovely 2 bedroom villa with a kitchen and laundry (which will be handy to wash clothes before we get on the ship). My Mom had a ton of Marriott points due to all of the travel that she does, so we were able to get Marriott 'checks' to help cover the cost - thanks Mom!

We arrive in Paris after 16 hours of flying nice and early at 11:20am. I am hoping that we would have gotten some sleep on the plane and will arrive somewhat refreshed - ok, a girl can dream, right? We are using BS Transports (http://www.bstransports.com/) to get to the hotel since the cost is not that much different than the VEA and they will take us right to the Marriott.

My plan is to get to the hotel and get settled and head to DLP. I am not sure which park we are going to do first, but we may just do the Disney Village if we get in too late. We are going to try to fit in both parks and Nex in the three days we are there.

Our friend, Sue Clonan is going to meet with us at some point during the trip. She is a friend of my Uncle and now lives in Paris. We are hoping to get an excellent translator as well as a knowledgeable tour guide. On the 15th, we plan on spending the day in Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, ride the Bateaux Mouches and Notre Dame. I know what you are thinking - "When are you going to see the Louvre?". Well, with my 6 year old son in tow, we are trying to do things that will be fun for him. I think walking through a museum looking at pictures will just not be his cup of tea and I would not want to ruin the experience for everyone else. My husband and I figure this will just be an excellent excuse to go back to Paris!

-20 Days and Counting!

We still have about a million things to try to get done in the next couple of weeks before our trip. I have really been enjoying the Davidson family blog about taking the Magic over to the Med.

You can read about them here: http://davidsondrifters.blogspot.com/

If you are wondering which tours my husband and I will attempt, here is a list of the tours that we are planning to do:

June 16 - Barcelona - Nothing other than trying to make it on the ship before it leaves! We have a flight on Iberia Airlines from Paris that arrives around 3:30, but the ship is not scheduled to leave until around 9:00pm.

June 17 - Day at Sea - Palo brunch - My Mom and I have had the Brunch at Palo's before, but this will be a first for my husband. I remember a huge anti-pasti display and several kinds of pastries and meats. I am hoping to get my husband acclimated to the ship and maybe even spend some time at the spa. I belive that by now jet lag should have worn off, so I don't expect to be exhausted all the time!

June 18 - Palermo, Sicily - Erice and Segesta - My husband and I picked this tour mainly because I saw the ruins on The Amazing Race. Living in Florida, we have seen tons of beaches, but America does not have too many ruins to go see! We will also go to Trapani where we will get to ride a cable car to Erice. At the top of a mountain, there is a temple that ledgend has it that the son of Venus and Poseidon built a temple to honor his mother. I hope to take tons of pictures of this to show my son what a good boy does for him Mommy! :)

June 19 - Naples, Italy - Mt. Vesuvius Hike and Pompeii - After having seen several History Channel specials on the history of Pompeii, we just could not pass up the opportunity to visit this ancient town. It is hard to imagine that over 20,000 people were lost when Mt. Vesuvius erupted.

June 20 - Olbia, Sardinia - Day at Sea at Maddalena Archipelago - I am ashamed to admit it, but I never even heard of Olbia, Sardinia before we booked this cruise. By the expression on many faces when I speak about our cruise, I don't think many other people have heard of this country either. This will be the first excursion that we take my DS along with us. We expect that he would really enjoy the boat ride since he always loved going on boats since he was a kid. My Mom is also joining us for this excursion. I am not really sure what an Archipelago is, but I am guessing that I will learn on this trip!

June 21 - Civitavecchia, Italy - Jumping Back Into Eternal Rome - Wow, I just can't wait to visit Rome. This tour is really going to show the highlights of the city including the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Colosseum, Vatican and Navona Square. Of course, my husband and I plan on throwing a coin in the fountain!

June 22 - Day at Sea - Palo Dinner - Ah yes, a day of rest and relaxation. I hope to spend the day with DS, but my guess is that he will still be addicted to camp!

June 23 - La Spezia, Italy - Florence and Pisa - What is a trip to Italy without seeing the leaning tower of Pisa? I am not too sure about Florence, but I expect 'Il Duomo' will be pretty cool.

June 24 - Marseille, France - Calanques of Cassis - Another boat ride, so DS and Mom will join us again. This trip takes you around Cassis where these huge limestone cliffs have formed. The pictures looked incredible, so I just can't wait to see them.

June 25 - Villefranche, France - We don't have anything planned for this day, but our choices are Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo. I would like to see all of it, just so I can say that I saw everything.

June 26 - At Sea - High Tea at Palo's - I think not too much will get done today other than packing and lamenting that our vacation is almost over!

June 27 - Barcelona - We have a flight that does not leave until 2:15pm for London, so I am not too sure how much time we will get to spend in the city - especially since we will be lugging around our suitcases!

I will go into other details about Paris and London in my next report. I still can't believe that after almost a year we are only 20 days away!

Karen

-22 Days and counting

We FINALLY have all of our flights booked! Hooray! We have been trying to finalize the flights for over 6 months! We made the mistake of using frequent flyer miles and it has just been one nightmare after another.

We are flying from Tampa to Miami to London to Paris (stay at Disneyland for a few days) to Barcelona where we jump on the Disney Magic.

Being one of those 'Type A' personality types, I already have a packing list that I keep adding useful tidbits too. Traveling with a 6 year old on three flights for over 16 hours takes careful planning. :)

I think the only MAJOR items that I have left are Barcelona airport transfers and the airport transfers to the hotel by Disneyland Paris.

For anyone needing great travel tips, here are some great sites that I found useful:
Great site for packing tips and traveling with kids:
http://www.travelite.org/basics.html

For all that is Disney:
http://www.disboards.com/

Here is our trip itinerary:

June 11 - Tampa - Leave for Miami/London/Paris
June 12 - Disneyland Paris
June 13 - Disney Village - Nex
June 14 - Disneyland Paris
June 15 - Paris with Sue (family friend who now lives in Paris)
June 16 - Leave for Barcelona and board Disney Magic
June 17 - Day at Sea
June 18 - Palermo, Sicily
June 19 - Naples, Italy
June 20 - Olbia, Sardinia
June 21 - Civitiavecchia, Italy
June 22 - Day at Sea
June 23 - La Spezia, Italy
June 24 - Marseille, France
June 25 - Villefranche, France
June 26 - Day at Sea
June 27 - Land in Barcelona, fly to London
June 28 - Leave London from home
June 29 - 3 minutes after I wake up, go see my horse!!


Well, I am off to a horse show this morning. Wish me luck!

-25 Days and counting!

Cast of Characters:

Me: I am an enrollment SME for Medicare Part D for a health care company here in Florida. I am a mother to my wonderful son Peyton. I am also an avid equestrian. I ride hunters at a farm named Kingsmeade and own a horse named Sydney.

Patrick (DH): Avid gamer. Works in IT for an International Banking corporation.

GeeGee (aka my Mom): Travels around the country lecturing on executive training (project management, disaster recovery). Retired IBMer.

Peyton (DS): My son. Think of what Stitch would be like if he made it to SIX! Doesn't eat anything except for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

My family and I are planning a whirlwind tour of Europe this June including England, France, Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, Italy and Monaco.