SempreMare

Am using Luggage Forward for the first time. I purchased my usual trip insurance policy a while back from the wonderfully informative Steve Dasseos at the Trip Insurance Store @iamtrustworthy I later decided to use Luggage Forward to ship my luggage instead of checking it in I did not buy additional insurance through Luggage Forward when I signed up because I knew I already had purchased a trip insurance policy that covers lost luggage during travel. Then, I suddenly realize, Uh-oh... This is probably not considered "during travel" since I'm shipping the luggage in advance. A quick call to Deanna at Trip Insurance Store confirmed: travel insurance does not cover shipped luggage. Gah! Plan B: I tried to phone Luggage Forward to add on coverage. Only received a voicemail "our offices are now closed" Wonder why they have closed offices all day on a Tuesday? In any event, FYI on a lessons learned.

Yep. It's the "There's always a first time" aspect of it. He gave as an example of something that held up luggage going through customs before: Tea, either loose leaf or in bags. He said they try to intervene with customs to not have the luggage returned or to instruct to discard and not spend time "testing" the tea. However, no guarantees there wouldn't be a delay if I risk it by including my favorite Genmaicha tea I was considering to bring in case of quarantine. Had I realized the implications of the "no medications" meaning "no aspirin" problem with customs, I might have risked it by shipping several days or even a week earlier to my hotel. I planned for the luggage to arrive on time including a 1 day delay, but not more. I didn't think the hotel wants a bunch of extra luggage sitting around for long.

I'm packing and soon to ship to London via Luggage Forward. Noticed that the Luggage Forward rules state "No Medications". I certainly wouldn't include prescriptions given that, but I squinted at that and thought... " Will my packed aspirin and Advil be a problem? I was assuming OTC common things like aspirin and anti-seasick meds would not be a problem. Wrong!... These rules are based on their experience with customs officials. So I just made myself this handy reminder sheet. Anyone using Luggage Forward should read it closely. Luggage Forward - REMEMBER No Medications, whether prescription or over the counter Ex: No aspirin! 'They would have to test it to make sure it’s actually aspirin, not meth.' 'UK customs is strict about this'. 'This could delay your luggage for days or it would have to be returned." NOTHING Consumable! i.e. Nothing edible. Ex: NO chewing gum, life savers, nuts, energy bars. NO medical equipment Ex: No Band-Aids. No pulse oximeter. NO metal knives. Plastic eating utensils are OK Nothing pressurized. Ex: No perfumes. No hair spray. NO Jewelry NO Electronics Ex: No iPad. NO Batteries. Ex: No power banks.

What a great idea @eddieg07410 ! That probably implies a lot of other 'life view' adjacencies as well. I enjoy friends with differing opinions. Ex - I enjoy marksmanship, occasionally compete (bowling pins), teach 1-1, have a LTC, etc. 100% of my closest friends are against it, but they still are my buddies. But if they were racist, anti-semitic, etc they would not be my buddies. Choosing to mask when in public seems to be another one of those things for whatever reason. Darn, I wish I had done @eddieg07410's idea before booking all my excursions on Sept British Isles Explorer trip! Last time I was challenged on why I was wearing a mask inside a Batteries Plus store here in Austin, TX, my answer was, "I just look cuter with a mask on."

Did someone say pistachios? Combined with 'raisin bun' ::BeStillMyHeart:: Might there be any cinnamon in that? And is it available in Mamsen's too? I make a Shades of Green salad: pistachios, avocado, green apple, maybe some blue cheese, green goddess dressing + the greens on hand... This makes me crave the amazing pistachio + pomegranate delicacies experienced in Dubai.

Look forward to hearing your feedback! In Amsterdam I was amazed at the variety of non-alcoholic beers. They were genuinely craveable and as interesting as any locally brewed alcoholic beer. I've not enjoyed the taste of the non-alcoholic Gins / whiskeys I've had here in the states. Would love to find some good ones. Re: alcohol or not... For me it's the 'buzzed' feeling I don't want. Plus now that I can see (Oura ring) what having alcohol near bedtime does to pulse rate and amount of deep sleep, alcohol has become a day-time only thing for me unless with friends or traveling.

Thanks! That's probably the path I'd take. Right now my only intended purchase is a London School of Economics tee-shirt. (A buddy from college rails on economists. Can't resist the idea of him wearing a LSE tee-shirt. I noticed that my London hotel, One Aldwych, is very near the London School of Economics. As importantly, it is near this amazing hall for the "Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn" ( a society for barristers?) that I absolutely must try to get into.

British Isles Explorer London (Greenwich) to Oslo. Luggage space looks tight. If I see something I absolutely can't live without ☺️ in one of the many ports and need to ship a box home from Oslo, how to best do that? I'll be on a post cruise extension, staying in Hotel Bristol, Oslo. Looks like there's a DHL service point at a Mail Boxes Etc < 10 min walk away. Does anyone here whose shipped home something from Oslo have 'lessons learned' ?

Agreed. I do 3 things that have worked so far for me while on 2 amazing but "densely populated" 2 week+ land vacations in the past year: - Dubai Expo (World's Fair) Dec 2021: Many masked, many didn't. At the Expo it was 50-50. At the Grosvenor hotel, 100% thanks to policy. - Amsterdam / Netherlands April 22 - including King's Day and the peak of Keukenhof (the Disney World of Tulip festivals) and Floriade (a once every 10 yr festival) As you can see in the collage, I was literally the ONLY person to mask amongst THOUSANDS not masking on King's Day (the really crowded pics in Amsterdam and Utrecht). The Dutch are so chill. No one cared that I was wearing a mask! They were just happy to say Hi and talk! I'm 1 of 89,000 people enrolled in the TexasCARES antibody response study. I receive a text message then get blood drawn every 3 months. So far, my blood tests: N-antibody negative (antibodies made in response to natural infection. So I've never had Covid.) S-antibody positive (antibodies made in response to vaccine / booster) I do 3 things : 1) Wear Powecom KN95s as they give me the best fit + comfort. I love how transparent the parent distributor company (BonaFideMasks) is with data, standards, etc., 2) Practice basic hand hygiene Wet Ones singles after grocery store / crowded places, hand wash when arriving home. 3) Sniff oregano oil before going in crowds. I keep 1 in my car, 1 in my purse, 1 in backpack. It's not been tested vs Covid specifically, but you can skim PUBMED studies of oregano oil vs other viruses and bacteria. These things don't seem like a big deal anymore. Just a part of life. ALL that said, I do expect to get Covid on my September British Isles Explorer cruise. Because... Like the doctor on TWIV (or a diff pod) said, "If someone starts a camp fire in a poorly ventilated room, you are going to smell the embers sooner or later, even if you are wearing a mask." Then he made his main point: room / building ventilation is as important as masking Has Viking improved the ventilation on its ships?

What are the column headings in your spreadsheet ?

https://amateurtraveler.com/travel-to-london-england/ Timely episode from Chris Christensen's travel pod for those departing or arriving from London. Interesting comment about his wife breaking down and crying in exhaustion while crossing under the River Thames in... (where was that...) Greenwich(?) because every single escalator / elevator they needed while traveling in London that day (with their child in a stroller) was broken. If you use Overcast, my fave iPhone podcast app, tap on this handy link: https://overcast.fm/+Ourp4IZ3g

All the 20's expiring have Adam Smith on it? SO ironic. That rascal is the economist with the invisible hand about to make my money disappear! ::sniff:: ! I know I know... Bank of England... Makes me think of MBA school day 1 Macroeconomics. Professor: ::Tears up a $1 bill into tiny shreds:: then asks, "What just happened to the US economy?"

Result of my experience with booking several trips' (land and sea) policies with Trip Insurance Store: I would never use any other business for trip insurance. 2 reasons: 1) It's simply SO rare to find staff that are as expert as they are, who are willing to talk through all the If-Thens, etc. ex: I marveled at Steve Dasseos' July newsletter: "Insuring Future Cruise or Travel Credits is an area that appears simple on the surface, but has ..." ; the way he addressed the question. 2) The many stories of how they have gone to bat for their customers when something does go wrong Now that I've booked several times and they already have my info, I simply email them "hey Deanna, please book me with same type of policy as _previous trip___ for ___upcoming trip ____" and include Departure, Return, locations, amount paid, amount anticipated, etc (Not sure if I should mention that publicly - i hope that doesn't make it harder on the staff to create a policy like that.)

I missed that part, thank you Andy!

Quick FYI "The Bank of England will be withdrawing legal tender status of paper £20 and £50 banknotes after 30 September 2022." https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/news/2022/june/100-days-left-to-use-your-paper-20-and-50-banknotes Checked my currency drawer. I definitely have some of these (20£ notes with Adam Smith, Queen Elizabeth, and a fancy hologram.) These bills certainly don't look like money on the verge of expiration! Just set 2 different reminders (Alexa and iOS Reminders) to deposit this soon-to-be-worthless currency with my London hotel on check-in day 1 in September before British Isles Explorer.

Wow, thank you @Twitchly! is there a mega list somewhere of allll the official cruise port websites? Similar to the one you posted above? I remember googling the sites for all the ports in Alaska to see which ones were going to be the most crowded with other cruise ships on Seward to Vancouver with Holland.

Yep, that's why I emphasized in italics in my reply "If I could..." while on the ship. The above config is what I could use for before and after hotel stays. Separate from the HDMI discussion, The travel router aspect brought up by @ericosmith Reminded me this would be a way around the device limit 1) without needing to convince anyone to increase my device limit because I'm paying for 2 people but I'm only 1 person :-).

I do have a Asus 330 travel router for this purpose. But I was hoping to not bring it. Using that travel router always seems to require 15 min of debugging / fiddling with settings at a moment when I least want to do that. On the other hand, it would be a lot lighter than a long HDMI cable. That cable in the pic above weighs a ton. Much less suitcase space too. And, this would be a way around the device limit without needing to convince anyone to increase my limit since I'm paying for 2 people but I'm only 1 person :-). @ericosmith which travel router do you use?

Question for @CurlerRob : Even if I have already saved the movies I'm watching locally to my iPad, IF I COULD (I realize the above replies confirm that I can't) IF I COULD connect the Amazon Fire Stick to the Viking TV's HDMI port, Then I would still be creating WiFi network congestion since both the Firestick in my room and the iPad in my room connect to each other over WiFi. Is that correct? So the proper way to watch locally saved movies but NOT create network congestion IF I COULD access the HDMI port Would be to connect iPad to the USB-C --> HDMI adapter from Apple. HDMI to HDMI cable to the TV This [See picture below] is how I typically do it in hotels when traveling for work... Pic taken in the Hong Kong (Tsim Sha Tsui) amazing hotel , The Langham. Ironically, here I'm using this just to listen to a podcast over the room speakers and in the bathroom, not even to watch TV ;-). I actually almost never watch TV shows / movies of any kind when I'm traveling! 😂 Too much to do! But if confined to the room, I 100% would.

My TA definitely needs replacing. Because of my recent Viking Air experience (before my first Viking cruise), I have not booked any new Viking cruises despite the sales that would have motivated me to do so otherwise. So I'm actually no longer Viking focused. At least I don't feel that way at all at the moment. But for my remaining Viking cruises booked, I have a specific question. From what else I've read here, the answer is probably complicated... If you were me, in order to move away from current TA who gave me incorrect info re: Viking Air Plus, then did nothing to correct the problem, in total causing me a ton of grief and time already not to mention future grief and time on my return flight, which would you do: a) Transfer reservation ownership back to Viking 1) Move my booked cruise reservations back to being 'owned' by Viking 2) Lose out on the TA's benefits I would have received OR b) Cancel the reservations and re-book with a new TA Since I'm well beyond the 60 days post booking limit of when I could move a reservation to a TA / new TA in order to move my existing Viking cruises to a new TA, I'd need to 1) Cancel my future cruises 2) Completely re-book with a new TA in b) Hopefully I could re-book quickly enough to not lose my stateroom reserved for existing booked cruises.

Great tip. What # would you rate as "enough" / good / great for each question ?

Many thanks for your so very helpful replies! Just to emphasize, I really hope I won't want or feel the need to watch TV while on the cruise. In other words, I really hope I won't get sick. And, I'll already have downloaded iPad content for use on flights to and from. While everyone else were away on their excursions 😥, and I was stuck in the room, I'd definitely want the TV on with my fave things playing. A book might be too much energy to consume when sick. @TayanaLorna LOL Harvey 😂! I'm so going to quote you! To which Viking person (which role?) would I address that request? Has anyone experienced the device limit as a per-stateroom thing? (easily done via geo-fencing) Ex: If your partner was not using any device in your stateroom, could you use [ Limit + 1 ] devices? Or, is it a per-guest logon with a password where you are timed out after a certain period? My opinion & experience: That's the type of thing that might not sound too bad right now. But in the moment, I'd be really annoyed by that. It's interruptive. It creates future task of reconnecting the other device. 99% of the time, I just want to get a straightforward planning task done for the next day or day after using multiple screens. Then, get to sleep as soon as possible. Most common use case: Look up Email confirmation on my personal iPhone, while looking at Google Maps directions on my iPad, and looking at my whole Calendar on my work iPhone Good point. Sometimes a VPN to connect to a US server could fix that, sometimes it does not (ex: Netflix). How did you accomplish that? Just by logging into your account via the Viking TV as-is? Or... No login needed? Great point! Though I'm going to bring my iPad with my favorite espionage thrillers* downloaded for the flights there and back. * The Little Drummer Girl I want to re-watch. If you like espionage thrillers and Alexander Skarsgård, The Little Drummer Girl was SO good... Links: Imdb, Amazon Video * The Ipcress File Haven't finished this. Links: Imdb, Amazon Video

Wow, I did not realize that. Using my iPad and Phone at same time when traveling is a common use case the night before for finalizing next day plans. hmm. Since I'm traveling solo but paying THOUSANDS for a non-existent second person in my stateroom, I wonder if that device limit could be upped to 2 devices for me?

In the category of: Things on my Pack List that I hope I never need... Aka Hope for the best, plan for the worst... If I catch Covid, Noro, Monkeypox, etc. during my upcoming cruise and become confined to my stateroom for a week, I'll want to have something on hand to decrease stress and relieve boredom. 2 related questions: 1) Would an Amazon Fire Stick work with the TV in my stateroom? I purchased one during Prime Day last month to bring with me during Q1 work travel. I have not tested it yet. At home I use AppleTV boxes for streaming. Ex: An Amazon Fire Stick streaming content downloaded from my iPad via the Prime Video app would be a good distraction and stress reliever. I believe making this work would require at least 3 things: a) The Amazon Fire Stick + iPad be on the same WiFi network. b) an accessible HDMI port on the Viking TV c) Power to the Amazon Fire Stick from either a) a USB port on the TV b) a power bank + a USB cable that I bring However, I'd like to avoid using a power bank to power the Amazon Fire Stick. Question related to this: 2) Is a USB port available on Viking stateroom TVs? Not sure if this matters, but I'll be in a Penthouse Junior Suite (PS-2). I believe that means 2 TVs from memory of Viking's room pics. Are both TVs identical?

:eek: I thought the answer would be no! Glad I asked!