Vitality Stories

Floating on the Rhine

Cologne, Germany

I am so grateful for your enthusiasm and support of my travels and I feel I should explain what kind of traveller I am before I continue.

I love to travel and to see new places. My favorite part of any trip is clipping on my pedometer and walking for hours with my partner. I like to explore each new place by foot. I am invigorated by being in cities and amongst people–but only as long as I have flexibility. On vacation, I won’t commit to anything that has a time or a line (I’ve been to Paris, France, twice but I’ve yet to get in line at the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa).

On the river cruise, if I wanted to do a guided, walking tour of Cologne’s historic downtown and the Gothic Cathedral that somehow survived the bombings in WW2, I was going to need to get off the river cruise two hours before Cologne, walk with my river companions to a tour bus, ride on the bus for an hour, and then walk slowly around the city with earphones to listen to my guide and then meet up with the boat as it docked in Cologne a few hours later.

Needless to say, I said no way. We stayed on the upper deck of the boat and except for the crew, had the ship mostly to ourselves as we floated to our rendezvous point in Cologne. When we docked in Cologne, we took our own long, merry walk and didn’t have to stand in a line to walk through the ancient streets or cathedral.

The cathedral was stunning. The detail of the architecture and craftmanship was gobsmacking (If I was a travel writer or historian, I would do the cathedral justice and share details and historical facts, but to be honest, I don’t like to write/share more than my high-level impressions of areas and landmarks so stunning and gobsmacking the cathedral shall be). And the ancient cobblestoned streets? Well they don’t seem too impressive when they are lined with H&M, Subway, Claire’s Accessories, Dollar Stores, and “Closeout Sales.” But we enjoyed our walk, and later that night after dinner and during our evening stroll on deck, a carnival lit up the horizon from the other side of the Rhine. We were happy.

My neighbors on board

In case you are considering a river cruise after seeing the amazing images on PBS and BBC, let me tell you about the fellow cruisers.

Everyone is there for fun. Yahoo! It’s a very social environment. If you like meeting new people and making friends, a river cruise is the perfect trip for you. They serve three meals a day in the restaurant where people are seated at group tables. You will be able to get to know your new community throughout the week over each meal (and on excursions). If you grow fond of anyone in particular, you can request a table together. I’ve heard from other cruisers that they’ve made friends they’ve stayed in touch with on Facebook and have even planned future trips together. How cool is that?

For me, group dining isn’t a good thing. I like people, but I’m not as outgoing as most, and I don’t like to have dinner–a set amount of time–with strangers where sometimes the conversation is forced and stilted. The cruise was also challenging for me because 95% of the guests were American with ‘unlimited’ drink packages and it was the week before elections.

That’s right, we got on a floating island during one of the most controversial and ugliest presidential campaigns of my lifetime. In all fairness, I think most everyone avoided the topic. We certainly did.

We took advantage of Dining Option 2: eating the lighter fare meals in the lounge at the front of the ship. Most meals, Ted and I were alone with the staff (who enjoyed singing while they worked) and we grew fond of most of the crew, and to be honest, the only people I’ve added to my Facebook from this trip are crew members.

What is your ideal vacation and what kind of traveller are you? I’d love to hear from you, please email me.

Until next time, thanks for being you, and I hope you are having a healthy and happy holiday season.

Teri

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