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[jpalbny]

No matter how good the deal, I would never trust my flight plans to someone else. I want to choose my itinerary, airline and seats. Flying is my least favorite part of any international trip. I want to make that choice for myself.

 

Since we started flying in the front of the plane, it's transformed the flight portion of the trip from drudgery into a (semi)enjoyable experience. While I still wish that teleportation was ready for mainstream, business class isn't a bad way to go. And like you, I am pretty fastidious with picking my own flights, times, seats, connections, etc., to maximize the comfort and convenience of the journey.

 

I find that a nice relaxing flight that allows us to rest makes the first few days of the trip much more pleasant. And since our usual MO is to go to work on our departure day, rush to the airport that evening after work, arrive in Europe the next morning, and hit the ground running from day one, we don't usually leave ourselves the luxury of allowing a few days to catch up on our rest. We don't have enough vacation time to extend all of our trips on either end, so having control of the flights allows us to get the most for our time.

 

When we first started cruising in Europe 10 years ago we used cruise air a few times. It was OK, but once we realized that we could make it a better experience if we took control, that's become our preference too.

 

I won't argue with your decision for yourself, but I'm adventurous enough that I'll take free (okay, included at a very good price). Over the years I have flown across the Pacific in the cargo hold of an Air Force C-141, across the Atlantic in an Aeroflot Il-62 leaking both oil and fuel, landed in a DC-3 on the old dirt strip right in the middle of Tikal, etc and those were luxury compared to some of the local ground transport I have done in Asia, Africa and South America. I used to have business cards with the tag line "Any trip can be turned into an adventure by proper lack of planning" - a joke, at least sort of:p. It has been a fun ride that I wouldn't have missed, but I will admit that my trips across the Atlantic and Pacific in First Class were more pleasant:cool:.

 

Thom

 

Thom, I love your sense of adventure (especially from my position of safety, here in my armchair) and I bet you have some great stories to share about these trips. I think I'm more like caviargal than you, but we have crammed into some small planes in Africa, and I am less than excited about some of our internal flights coming up this fall when we're in Madagascar.

 

Our favorite airplane adventure was when we flew in a tiny 6-seater to the Addo elephant park, and had to land on a grass runway between two mountains. But before he could land, the pilot had to make a first pass to buzz a few giraffes that were standing on the runway! After he chased them away, we circled back to land. Wild, and a great memory...but not the most fun while it was happening!

Edited March 10, 2016 by jpalbny

[caviargal]

Since we started flying in the front of the plane, it's transformed the flight portion of the trip from drudgery into a (semi)enjoyable experience. While I still wish that teleportation was ready for mainstream, business class isn't a bad way to go. And like you, I am pretty fastidious with picking my own flights, times, seats, connections, etc., to maximize the comfort and convenience of the journey.

 

I find that a nice relaxing flight that allows us to rest makes the first few days of the trip much more pleasant. And since our usual MO is to go to work on our departure day, rush to the airport that evening after work, arrive in Europe the next morning, and hit the ground running from day one, we don't usually leave ourselves the luxury of allowing a few days to catch up on our rest. We don't have enough vacation time to extend all of our trips on either end, so having control of the flights allows us to get the most for our time.

 

When we first started cruising in Europe 10 years ago we used cruise air a few times. It was OK, but once we realized that we could make it a better experience if we took control, that's become our preference too.

 

 

This year our three trips to Europe are all in business class and I agree that this allows us to anticipate the flight with pleasure instead of dread. And we also have no days off either before or after. I have my own business and do need to work a bit each day no matter where I am in the world.

 

We also are quite content to fly Premium with Virgin when business class fares are just too over the top for us to afford.

 

If we have to fly standard economy, we really just won't go anymore.

[TravelerThom]

...Thom, I love your sense of adventure (especially from my position of safety, here in my armchair) and I bet you have some great stories to share about these trips. I think I'm more like caviargal than you, but we have crammed into some small planes in Africa, and I am less than excited about some of our internal flights coming up this fall when we're in Madagascar.

 

Our favorite airplane adventure was when we flew in a tiny 6-seater to the Addo elephant park, and had to land on a grass runway between two mountains. But before he could land, the pilot had to make a first pass to buzz a few giraffes that were standing on the runway! After he chased them away, we circled back to land. Wild, and a great memory...but not the most fun while it was happening!

A lot of my stories are much more enjoyable in retrospect than when they were going on. It was exciting but more than a little off-putting to encounter an 8 year old in the Congo with not one but two AK-47s, each taller than he was:eek:

 

Your Addo airport story made me think of landing on St. Barth's - it's not just that the 650 metre runway ends in the water and that the approach is over a traffic circle on top of a hill where planes have been known to hit cars, but add in the burnt out planes on one side of the runway and the large cemetery on the other and it can give you qualms.

 

Thom

[crafter188]

In doing research, we found Emerald Cruise lines, a subsidarary of Scenic formed in 2014 that had bigger cabins, more inclusive, less money and more amenities than Viking. Their ships are all new. We're trying Emerald this summer as our 1st river cruise after many ocean cruises on luxury, near luxury and mid market lines.

 

 

Hi there. I'll be very interested to hear your feedback on Emerald Waterways, so hope to see a review after your trip. We are booked for August 2017 with them. The price was so much better than other itineraries I looked at, that I couldn't resist!

 

Planning a trip is so much fun: if only the family didn't need to be fed, laundry washed or house cleaned!!

 

Cheryl