23 August 2012 - fly to London
27 August to 4 September - on a coach tour - Britain Sampler with Globus. Mostly in England but also see some of Scotland and a tiny part of Wales.
Once that's over, we've got a few days free before we need to be in Copenhagen by 7 September.
Then on 8 September we leave Copenhagen on the Brilliance of the Seas for a transatlantic cruise. This one stops at a few really interesting places including an overnight stay in Reykjavik - that's one from my bucket list!
We arrive in New Jersey on 21 September and we'll stay in New York overnight. Next morning we'll probably catch an Amtrak train to Washington, and join a Cosmos tour 'Historic Trails and Blue Ridge Mountains' that starts that day. We get to see a few Civil War sites including Gettysburg which Paul has always wanted to see, and a bunch of other interesting places. And some not so thrilling - I've never really had Colonel Sander's Original KFC restaurant on my list of 'must see' places - but, just the same, if the last Cosmos tour is anything to go by, we'll also discover some gems of places!
That tour finishes back in Washington on 5 October, and we'll fly straight to Fort Lauderdale that day. Another overnight stay and then onto the wonderful Oasis of the Seas for a 7 day Eastern Caribbean cruise. I have wanted to cruise on the Oasis since I first heard of it, and it's supposedly just an astonishing experience - I really can't wait for this!
The Oasis of the Seas cruise finishes back in Fort Lauderdale, where we have another overnight stay and then one more cruise - onto the Coral Princess for a 14 day cruise to Los Angeles via the Panama Canal.
Then finally we fly home - after 67 days, two continents, 11 countries - and get back to work to pay for it all and save up for the next one!!
Actually though, the cost of this one is astoundingly small compared to our first big overseas trip in 2002. That time, the three of us went on a 7 day Alaska cruise in an inside cabin, followed by a four day trip to Fairbanks and then a few days in Los Angeles. Around 14 days away, and we paid just over $20k for that one for the main components alone - cruise / airfares / LA accommodation. This time, sure there's only two of us, but even so, it's 67 days away including three cruises - all with balcony cabins! - and it looks like it will all come out for well under $30,000. Of course, the $AU was buying 52 US cents back then; now it's buying more than a dollar - seems to make a BIG difference.
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