Welcome And Travel Mindset

Speaker 3 0:01

Hi, and welcome to my Z Mikalsen Travel Podcast, a ZMax Travel Radio production presented by Collage Travel Media Network. This is your space for inspiration, confidence in travel, and a little bit of luxury. So whether you're traveling across the world, rediscovering America, or simply dreaming about your next escape I hope we can help guide you. And of course, I am Z Mikalsen. I am a travel advisor, a media host, and an advocate for all those who love to travel and who refuse to wait to see the world. I hope you have been enjoying some of my podcasts on solo travel and travel hints and tips, but today we're bringing Jay Lawrence back in as he has become a world traveler, and we wanna hear all about it

Speaker 0:49

Hey, thanks for joining me today. I appreciate it, and as promised, I brought Jay Lawrence back into the studio because Jay has been the world traveler lately.

Speaker 2 1:00

I, I'm panting. I'm panting because I'm traveling so much.

Speaker 1:05

I know. You've been a world traveler.

Speaker 2 1:06

Yes, I believe I'm now a world traveler.

Speaker 1:09

Very much so.

Booking Late And The Swan View

Speaker 2 1:10

Yeah.

Speaker 1:10

So now, you went on Viking, I hear.

Speaker 2 1:12

Well, I have my Vs mixed up, you know? I was on Virgin, and then we were on Viking, so.

Speaker 1:17

Are you working your way through the alphabet? Is that what you're

Speaker 2 1:19

doing? Well, no, I think I need to start with Ama.

Speaker 1:24

Well, tell me a little bit about what you did. You went on Viking, you went on a river cruise with Viking. Correct.

Speaker 2 1:30

You- Viking, the river, they have three boats now, you know, they have the ships, they have the rivers- Right and they have the river, the boats. And, yeah, we were on the river. We were on- You were on

Speaker 1:38

the river we

Speaker 2 1:39

were on- You didn't

Speaker 1:39

go on their ocean liner.

Speaker 2 1:40

No. What we went, we were on the tour was the Grand European Tour, which was 14 days, and we, we were in four different countries, but we went from Budapest to Amsterdam.

Speaker 1:53

Okay, so I'm gonna slow you down a little bit.

Speaker 2 1:55

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:56

Okay, so you went on a 14-day Grand European Tour. You went from Budapest to Amsterdam. Yes. So you went north.

Speaker 2 2:03

Yes, yes. You

Speaker 2:04

did the northern track.

Speaker 2 2:05

Yes.

Speaker 2:05

So when you do that, you stop in many different countries, right?

Speaker 2 2:08

Yes, yes. Well, we were, we were in four different countries.

Speaker 2:12

Four different countries.

Speaker 2 2:12

Uh-huh.

Speaker 2:13

Tell me a little bit about the ship first. Tell me about your ship.

Speaker 2 2:16

Oh, great. Uh, well, one thing, we didn't book until, I mean, it was like a month and a half out. I mean, it was amazing.

Speaker 2:23

You were last-minute.

Speaker 2 2:24

Yeah. Oh. And so they didn't really have anything available, so we got the basement.

Speaker 2:29

Oh, what they call, they don't call it a basement. They call it the Swan View.

Speaker 2 2:34

Right, right. And, and the funny thing is, when you're in your room, you have a window, and it's right at the river level.

Speaker 2:42

Right.

Speaker 2 2:42

So you're looking at the river.

Speaker 2:43

And you're looking at the swans. Right. That's why they call it the Swan View.

Speaker 2 2:46

Right. And, and it's actually, someone suggested it's even better because, um, there's a, there's a window sill on the window, and it's a good place to store things. Because, you know, the rooms aren't that big. But-

Speaker 2:59

Well-

Speaker 2 3:00

they were comfortable

Speaker 3:00

they're about 240 square

Speaker 2 3:02

feet. Right. Yeah. They were comfortable, but they, we... my wife put her things up on the shelf.

Speaker 3:07

Right.

Speaker 2 3:07

And I had the drawers, and we were able to take care of things.

Speaker 3:10

Well, Bruce, you were on the ship for 14 days.

Speaker 2 3:12

Yes. Okay. Yes.

Speaker 3:14

Now, you're, when you start going on these rivers, because you were on different rivers-

Speaker 2 3:18

Right. Now-

Speaker 3:19

Or one river

Speaker 2 3:19

you, you asked me to talk about the boat itself. I believe- Yeah, tell

Speaker 3:22

me about that ship.

Speaker 2 3:22

Well, it, it was great. We really enjoyed it. There's- Do you

Speaker 3:25

remember the name?

Speaker 2 3:26

There's Vali, the Vali, V-A-L-I. Okay. Vali, yeah. And there's three levels. We were, in the Swan level, the, the main level. Right. And that's where the, dining room is. Right. The third level's the lounge.

Speaker 3:39

Right.

Speaker 2 3:40

And oh, it was such a great time. I-

Speaker 3:42

And they have a deck, too.

Speaker 2 3:43

Oh, yeah. Yeah. The problem was it was kinda cold, and so we didn't get on much deck time. But, um-

Speaker 3:50

Well, it was still spring

Speaker 2 3:51

it was spring, yeah. And it was-

Speaker 3:53

Spring, and it's a little nippy over there in the spring.

Speaker 2 3:55

And then the other thing is, there's a time when they say they have to close the upper deck because the bridges are so low, they have to lower everything down. The wheelhouse actually goes down into the ship.

Speaker 4:10

Ooh.

Speaker 2 4:10

Yeah. That's

Speaker 4:11

interesting.

Speaker 2 4:11

Yeah. It, so it has to... I mean, the clearance on some of the bridges was inches at times. So it was quite amazing.

Speaker 4:20

Well, that, that too is also part of when the rivers are too high- Yeah or too low, they have to change routes and change ships- Yeah and people change all the time. Yeah. So people don't realize that with river cruises, that that is a possibility.

Speaker 2 4:32

That's, that's a possibility. The other thing was, we've always talked about, and I've heard about, if there might be more than one boat a- at a dock.

Speaker 4:40

Yes.

Speaker 2 4:41

Well, okay, here's what, I found out. The boats on the dock were all Viking boats.

Speaker 4:46

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 4:47

Now, there are other companies. Right. Their boats are all docked. They can stack up as well. Right. So a couple of times, we had three boats, so you gotta remember which boat you're on-

Speaker 4:57

Right

Speaker 2 4:58

because they all look alike.

Speaker 4:59

And sometimes you have to walk through the boats-

Speaker 2 5:01

Right, right. That's what I mean to

Speaker 5:02

get to

Speaker 2 5:03

where you wanna be. You're walking through it, and it was

Ship Life Bridges And Docking

Speaker 2 5:06

it was kind of fun, so I enjoyed that.

Speaker 5:08

Well, that's good. Now, tell me about your meals on the ship.

Speaker 2 5:14

Three meals a day.

Speaker 5:15

Right.

Speaker 2 5:16

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Speaker 5:17

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 5:18

Beer and wine with any, either, any meal.

Speaker 5:21

Right.

Speaker 2 5:21

And the meals were always great, no matter what you wanted. And then in certain countries, they had a menu from that region for foods. Cool. And s- and sometimes I didn't... I chose I chose the American hot dog.

Speaker 5:36

Oh. Coward. You coward.

Speaker 2 5:38

And there was a great hamburger, but the food was fantastic. Always right. And one thing my wife liked about it was the, the servings were just right. They weren't over. You know, here in America, we get too much food.

Speaker 5:50

Oh, right. We're always, we're always eating.

Speaker 2 5:52

Yeah. And of course, on, when you're on a cruise most anywhere, if you want two different entrees, you can get two entrees. You know? It's, great,

Speaker 6:01

well, that's good.

Speaker 2 6:02

Yeah, the food- So if

Speaker 6:02

you wanted more, you could get

Speaker 2 6:03

more you could, wanted more, you could get more. It's-

Speaker 6:05

Now, was it, uh, the seating? The s- Did you, or assigned seats? Or did-

Speaker 2 6:09

No. Okay. No. The dining room is wide open, and we've sat with different folks all the time.

Speaker 6:14

That makes it nice when you're traveling. Yeah. Everybody has a different story, and it's great to hear all their stories.

Speaker 2 6:19

Right.

Speaker 6:20

So tell me, you said you were at the Swan View, your cabin was nice.

Speaker 2 6:24

Yes.

Speaker 6:25

Nice. A decent size.

Speaker 2 6:26

Yes.

Speaker 6:27

And you had great meals. Is there entertainment on board?

Speaker 2 6:30

Well, on our ship, and I think it's on all the ships, there's a piano player in the lounge.

Speaker 6:34

Okay.

Speaker 2 6:35

And Oh, you didn't know when he was playing. I mean, he was so good that- you know, you think they've got music in the background, and then suddenly there's this other. And he was so good. But that was great. Yes, and a couple of nights we had special lectures on certain things. And, the one night we had an ensemble come in that was a guitar, a clarinet, and bass, and it's... like a jazz from Europe. It's Gypsy jazz is what it's called. Oh, cool. And that was very good. So yeah, the, I think three or four nights we had that-

Speaker 7:08

Mm-hmm

Speaker 2 7:08

as extra. The amazing thing is we didn't eat till 7:00. Dinner was at 7:00 each night.

Speaker 7:15

Right.

Speaker 2 7:15

Yeah. You're

Speaker 7:16

in Europe.

Speaker 2 7:17

I'm used to eating at 5:30. Come on. And then dinner at 5:30, I mean, at 7:00, and it w- then you finish by 8:00, 8:30.

Speaker 7:26

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 7:26

And then, yeah, I mean, it was almost bedtime, so.

Speaker 7:29

Wow.

Speaker 2 7:29

Oh, then a couple of nights we had, uh, uh, music bingo-type things

Speaker 7:33

So you had fun things

Speaker 2 7:34

to

Speaker 7:34

do-

Speaker 2 7:34

Fun, fun things on

Speaker 7:35

board.

Speaker 2 7:35

Yeah.

Speaker 7:35

That's nice. Fun

Speaker 2 7:36

things.

Speaker 7:36

That's nice. So now you're going from Budapest-

Speaker 2 7:41

Yes all

Speaker 7:41

the way up to Amsterdam. To

Speaker 2 7:42

Amsterdam, yes.

Speaker 7:43

And so you started in Budapest, and did you stay at Budapest when you got there

Speaker 2 7:48

before you went on the ship? Well, actually, we stayed the first night, and then we stayed a night, you know, so we left the next day, I believe. It was said two days, so.

Speaker 7:55

Okay. So you didn't, you weren't, were you on a round trip on this ship?

Speaker 2 7:58

Round trip.

Speaker 8:00

Going from Budapest to Budapest, or were you, you disembarked in Amsterdam?

Speaker 2 8:03

Oh, yes. Disembarked-

Speaker 8:05

Okay

Speaker 2 8:05

in Amsterdam. But in Budapest, uh, the first day when we first got there, we went to a place called the New York Cafe.

Speaker 8:13

Okay.

Speaker 2 8:14

Which is very opulent.

Speaker 8:16

Uh-huh.

Speaker 2 8:17

I mean, it was one of those places that's just out of this world that... And so we had coffee and ice cream. That was great.

Speaker 8:26

Always-

Speaker 2 8:26

And then we- It's always

Speaker 8:26

good.

Speaker 2 8:27

Yeah. Then we had a tour the next day, uh-

Speaker 8:29

Okay

Speaker 2 8:30

i- in Budapest.

Speaker 8:31

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 8:31

And then we got to start seeing, you know, there are so many big churches over there.

Speaker 8:37

Yes.

Speaker 2 8:37

Big churches. So-

Speaker 8:38

Right, the architecture overseas is unbelievable.

Speaker 2 8:41

Yeah.

Speaker 8:42

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 8:42

And that's, that was the first day, first trip- Okay basically.

Speaker 8:46

So now when you boarded the, when you boarded the ship and you got into your room and you're setting sail.

Speaker 2 8:51

Yes.

Speaker 8:52

Did you set sail during the day or at night?

Meals Drinks And Lounge Nights

Speaker 2 8:55

I don't remember. I think it might have been at night. I think it was probably, Budapest, we probably left at 7:00 at night or something like that.

Speaker 9:01

Oh, nice.

Speaker 2 9:01

Uh, the other thing I wanted to share was that how, uh, Viking took care of us from airport to the, the boat.

Speaker 9:10

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 9:10

Yeah. I mean, they, they got us there.

Speaker 9:14

They're called transfers.

Speaker 2 9:15

Yes. They're-

Speaker 9:15

Yeah

Speaker 2 9:16

but transfer, yeah. Yeah. And the people that met us and greeted us was very excellent.

Speaker 9:21

Okay. Yeah, Viking has a good, good ratio of customer service. Yeah. Now, what rivers were you on?

Speaker 2 9:28

We were on the, Danube to start with.

Speaker 9:30

Okay.

Speaker 2 9:30

Then we went to the Main.

Speaker 9:32

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 9:33

And, and then the Danube-Main Canal.

Speaker 9:36

Okay.

Speaker 2 9:37

And then the Rhine.

Speaker 9:38

Okay, so you were on three rivers.

Speaker 2 9:40

Three rivers, yeah. Okay. It was, we were on water all the time.

Speaker 9:44

Well, yes.

Speaker 2 9:45

The boat didn't go on dry dock at all.

Speaker 9:47

Oh, that's good. Now, because you are on a river-

Speaker 2 9:50

Yeah

Speaker 9:50

you can see from shore to shore. Yes. Not like being on an ocean liner.

Speaker 2 9:54

Yeah.

Speaker 9:54

Okay. So, um, there are a lot of locks on these rivers. Tell me about those.

Speaker 2 9:59

Oh, there, on this cruise-

Speaker 10:02

Mm-hmm

Speaker 2 10:02

there are 67 locks that you go through.

Speaker 10:05

Wow.

Speaker 2 10:07

67.

Speaker 10:08

How was it going through the locks?

Speaker 2 10:10

It's very simple.

Speaker 10:11

Okay.

Speaker 2 10:12

It just takes time. Just takes time. You go in, you go... You either go in and go down, or you go in and go up. And go

Speaker 10:17

up.

Speaker 2 10:17

One way or the other.

Speaker 10:18

And how quick is it? It seems like you're doing your fair share of going through locks. Last time you were in going through the Panama Canal.

Speaker 2 10:26

Yes, yes. And that's, that was amazing thing. We, we, we commented on that, that the Panama Canal, it's only basically two locks, uh, on the West Coast and the East Coast. That's it. And that's it.

Speaker 10:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2 10:38

Here there are 67, and the amazing thing is the canal that they built across Germany-

Speaker 10:44

Right

Speaker 2 10:44

is phenomenal. I mean, think of how far that water was that they, to dig that.

Speaker 10:51

Right.

Speaker 2 10:52

I mean, to me, it's almost better than the Panama

Speaker 10:55

Canal. But not a lot of mosquitoes.

Speaker 2 10:58

Well, right, right. It, it's quite an amazing feat.

Speaker 11:02

Okay.

Speaker 2 11:03

A- and it's been, they've been there a long time.

Speaker 11:05

Okay. So you also, not only did you go through 67 locks, you went on 12 guided tours.

Speaker 2 11:13

Right.

Speaker 11:13

Right. How many tours did you do in a day?

Speaker 2 11:15

Well, one a, one a stop.

Speaker 11:17

Okay. One- One a, one a stop basically.

Speaker 2 11:19

Yeah, one a stop.

Speaker 11:19

Okay.

Speaker 2 11:20

Yeah.

Speaker 11:21

All right.

Speaker 2 11:21

So tell me. And most of the, most of the tours were a walking tour within the city that we were at.

Speaker 11:27

If- So you stayed kind of on a mellow

Speaker 2 11:29

track. I, for, for me it was- Yeah mellow, yes. Right. And, and if we, if the boat was, uh, docked and it was farther away to the location where you'd want it, they'd bus us in so we didn't have to walk- Okay all the way.

Speaker 11:45

So you didn't go on any of the bicycles that might've been on board or anything like that?

Speaker 2 11:49

Well, they didn't have bicycles on board, but they did have two bicycle tours that you could, and they rented bikes locally.

Speaker 11:57

Okay.

Speaker 2 11:57

So- So

Speaker 11:57

they did that.

Speaker 2 11:58

Yeah. And I was gonna do one, and then I backed out. I-

Speaker 12:02

Chickened out on us.

Speaker 2 12:03

I, yeah, I wanted to do it, and it's 'cause I wasn't feeling good.

Speaker 12:06

Okay, so tell me about some of these guided tours. What places did you go? What did you see?

Speaker 2 12:11

Well, b- basically everywhere you went there was another cathedral. Or a castle.

Speaker 12:18

Right.

Speaker 2 12:18

Or a, an old town.

Speaker 12:19

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 12:20

And cobblestone streets and, aw, the, the, that was great. You know, that wasn't really my bag. I-

Speaker 12:26

Well, cobblestone streets, you have to wear comfortable shoes.

Speaker 2 12:29

I wore comfortable shoes. Good. I was walking all right.

Speaker 12:32

Good.

Speaker 2 12:33

Yeah.

Speaker 12:34

And then you went to... What, what was your first stop when you left Budapest?

Speaker 2 12:38

Vienna.

Speaker 12:38

Vienna. The second stop- So your first stop was

Speaker 2 12:39

Vienna

Rivers Locks And Daily Tours

Speaker 12:40

was Vienna. Okay. Yeah. So you went to Vienna.

Speaker 2 12:42

And of course that's where the city for the waltz is.

Speaker 12:45

Of course, waltz.

Speaker 2 12:46

And they did have a tour to- Did you

Speaker 12:47

waltz?

Speaker 2 12:48

They did have a tour to go to the waltz, uh, at concert at night.

Speaker 12:52

Oh,

Speaker 2 12:53

nice. Uh, but we passed on that because we actually saw the Vienna, uh, Christmas concert in Orlando.

Speaker 13:00

Oh.

Speaker 2 13:00

So we said w- "Oh, we've heard the Vienna orchestra do the, the waltzes."

Speaker 13:07

So now you saw the art school that turned down good old Adolf?

Speaker 2 13:11

Yes. Yes. That was one of the things that was pointed out. That, you know, Hitler was, tried to get into that art school twice and he was turned down. And if they'd only accepted him, the world would have changed.

Speaker 13:24

You never know, right?

Speaker 2 13:25

Yeah,

Speaker 13:26

yeah. He might have been an artist instead- Yeah of a lunatic. Okay, so now you went and did you wander around Vienna a little bit? What did you see there, other than castles and churches?

Speaker 2 13:36

Well, in Vienna, yes. We had a bus tour. Okay. And then they let us out to a square, and we walked into the square. And, uh, oh, the o- the other thing about Hitler was, it was, the first place he made a big speech

Speaker 13:50

Was there.

Speaker 2 13:51

Mm-hmm in, yeah. Yeah. From that point, and then we looked up and oh my goodness. And the thing was, in the 1930s, the, the economy was just so poor. Oh, yes. And he, he was bragging that he could make it so much better.

Speaker 14:02

Well, you

Speaker 2 14:02

know-

Speaker 14:03

And people- This, is a little bit background on my family. Yeah. Um, my grandmother was over in Germany during Hitler.

Speaker 2 14:08

Oh, no.

Speaker 14:09

And she always said Hitler was an extremely smart man that got Germany out of depression.

Speaker 2 14:15

Yeah,

Speaker 14:16

yeah. However, he went crazy.

Speaker 2 14:18

He w- yes.

Speaker 14:18

That was w- her, her exact words. That, yeah. He went nuts.

Speaker 2 14:21

Yeah. So, so, uh, then, then we went to Melk-

Speaker 14:25

Mm-hmm

Speaker 2 14:26

which was in Austria

Speaker 14:27

Austria. Mm-hmm

Speaker 2 14:27

a- and there's a 90-year-old Bistine abbey that we went to

Speaker 14:32

900-year-old

Speaker 2 14:33

Nine- 900. What did I say? You

Speaker 14:35

said 90. You-

Speaker 2 14:36

It's 900 you

Speaker 14:36

made it young. Yeah. You made it young and spry. Yeah. Yeah, those Benedictine abbeys, they can be pretty old.

Speaker 2 14:43

Yeah.

Speaker 14:43

It's amazing to see the architecture overseas. When we look here, you know, we're lucky we see an architecture building- Right that's 100 years old. Right. And over there, it's, like, almost 1,000.

Speaker 2 14:53

Right. Yeah. And, and if it's 100 years old here, they're gonna tear it down and put something up. Put something else.

Speaker 14:58

Yeah. Yes.

Speaker 2 14:58

Yeah. And a lot of the architecture along the, the coast as we traveled- Mm-hmm was beautiful. A lot of great looking homes.

Speaker 15:06

Mm-hmm. Now, I'm gonna bring this into play.

Speaker 2 15:08

Yes.

Speaker 15:09

Uh, both you and your wife are not 30-year-old young sprites-

Speaker 2 15:12

No,

Speaker 15:12

no chickies. Um, how did, how did you feel during... Were you able to keep up with the walking? Was it easy to walk through? I mean, 'cause I have a lot of listeners that are in their 70s- Yes and they're saying, "Well, can I do this?"

Speaker 2 15:24

Yes. You know. Well, it definitely, if you have a walker or you're in a wheelchair, this isn't for you.

Speaker 15:29

Not a wheelchair.

Speaker 2 15:30

No.

Speaker 15:30

Okay.

Speaker 2 15:31

But, you need, you do need to be able to walk.

Speaker 15:33

Okay.

Speaker 2 15:34

And then the other thing, all the guided tours had a, a headset, a microphone- Right so, so that you always heard... 'Cause a, a couple of tours I had before, you had to keep up with the tour guide- Oh, so you can

Speaker 15:46

hear them

Speaker 2 15:47

because you couldn't hear him. Mm-hmm. You know. But this way, they provided a headset for everybody. Right. So

Speaker 15:51

he could have been three, you know,

Speaker 2 15:52

30

Speaker 15:52

people-

Speaker 2 15:53

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah from him, you could

Speaker 15:54

hear him. That's great.

Speaker 2 15:54

And of course my wife is, uh, lingering, lingering, lingering, taking pictures.

Speaker 15:58

She wants to see.

Speaker 2 16:00

Yeah. So, so she knew where everybody was.

Speaker 16:05

Well, that's good.

Speaker 2 16:05

Yeah.

Speaker 16:06

That's good. So did you ever go off on your own and explore?

Speaker 2 16:10

No.

Speaker 16:10

Oh, you never did? No. So you always stayed within the tour?

Speaker 2 16:13

Oh, I always did.

Speaker 16:14

Oh.

Speaker 2 16:15

I always did.

Speaker 16:16

Okay. Sometimes going off on your own helps.

Speaker 2 16:17

Oh, yeah. And they offered it. Uh, sometimes most of our tours were in the morning.

Speaker 16:22

Right.

Speaker 2 16:22

Like 9:30 to 11:30 or n- you know, get, get us back in time for lunch.

Speaker 16:27

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 16:27

And then you, you might have had time if you wanted to go do something on your own, or there were other afternoon tours- Right that were available that were not included, but you could, you know, you could book them.

Speaker 16:38

Okay. So it was a 14-day. You did 12 guided tours. So was there any time where you were a whole day up the river without stopping?

Speaker 2 16:47

I believe there might've been one day.

Speaker 16:49

One day.

Speaker 2 16:50

There might've been one day. I don't remember.

Speaker 16:52

Okay.

Speaker 2 16:53

Yeah.

Speaker 16:54

All right, and so you

Vienna Melk And Walking Comfort

Speaker 16:55

had a, there was a lot of scenery I'm sure as you were-

Speaker 2 16:58

Oh, yeah

Speaker 16:58

sailing up. What was it like at night sailing on the river?

Speaker 2 17:03

Dark.

Speaker 17:04

Well, you were on, there were cityscapes on both sides, or- Some one side.

Speaker 2 17:08

Yeah.

Speaker 17:09

So did you have, did you go out on deck and watch

Speaker 2 17:11

that? Well, i- it was some. Mm-hmm. You didn't, there weren't, there wasn't that much. Um, I, I remember in, I believe it's in Vienna-

Speaker 17:20

Mm-hmm

Speaker 2 17:20

where I have some nighttime photos- Oh, cool of, of the river and the bridges and stuff like that.

Speaker 17:25

Okay.

Speaker 2 17:26

But, uh, yeah, dinner at 7:00, 8:30. You know, there wasn't much time to go out on the deck. And, and again, I, it was early spring- Mm-hmm and it was cool.

Speaker 17:36

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 17:36

So it

Speaker 17:37

wasn't- Now, Viking is also an adult-only-

Speaker 2 17:40

Yes

Speaker 17:40

cruise line.

Speaker 2 17:41

Yes,

Speaker 17:41

yes. So that's something else, too, that you didn't have a lot of children running around. Ma- mainly everybody's over 18, and probably in the age category of 55 to 75 was-

Speaker 2 17:50

Yeah the main adult. Yeah, definitely. Mm-hmm. Definitely. Yeah. Uh, and h- we almost felt like we were, There were people from Australia and, um, England and different countries.

Speaker 18:02

Different countries- Yeah were all on board. What language were they speaking on board?

Speaker 2 18:05

Everybody spoke English.

Speaker 18:06

Everybody spoke English.

Speaker 2 18:07

Yes.

Speaker 18:07

Okay.

Speaker 2 18:07

Yes.

Speaker 18:08

There are several cruise lines, river cruise lines, that they don't speak English as their main language. Yeah. So you gotta find out when you're going and doing these things.

Speaker 2 18:16

But the serving staff was phenomenal.

Speaker 18:18

That's nice.

Speaker 2 18:19

They were all right. And then they, they learned your name, of course, and, uh-

Speaker 18:23

Nice

Speaker 2 18:24

you know. Yeah.

Speaker 18:25

M- and the ships are not that big. There are only a couple of hundred people on board.

Speaker 2 18:27

Right, 140- Yeah I believe.

Speaker 18:29

Yeah, that's about, that's about it.

Speaker 2 18:31

Yeah.

Speaker 18:32

So now you went, you did Budapest, you did Vienna, you did Melk, you did a little scenic sailing. Now, what about Nuremberg? You went to Nuremberg, I hear.

Speaker 2 18:42

Well, you know, that was where, that was one of the stops that I wanted to make sure I saw, because one of the tours, the extra tour, was the World War II history. Right. And, and it had where, I don't know if you remember, Hitler had the, the big rallies.

Speaker 18:57

Oh, yes.

Speaker 2 18:57

It was there in Nuremberg.

Speaker 18:59

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 18:59

And so we went to that coliseum. The weird thing is, uh, parents, the older generation doesn't wanna talk about the war.

Speaker 19:08

Right.

Speaker 2 19:09

The younger generation wants you to remember it.

Speaker 19:12

Right.

Speaker 2 19:12

That's the good thing. Right. A- not to e- embellish it,

Speaker 19:16

but- No, you have to, you have to know your history so it doesn't repeat.

Speaker 2 19:19

Right.

Speaker 19:20

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 19:20

And so we went to that site, and another site which Hitler was building a, another big coliseum, uh, and that, that we saw. And then the other thing was the field where Hitler had the rally was called the Zeppelin Field.

Speaker 19:33

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 19:34

After the guy, the balloon, the Zeppelin, you know. Zeppelin. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But the other was the Palace of Justice, and that's where the Nuremberg trials took place.

Speaker 19:43

That's where they were held.

Speaker 2 19:44

And if you've seen the movie lately, it's called Nuremberg, but we were in that courtroom where they, they did it. Right. It, it was-

Speaker 19:53

That sounds cool

Speaker 2 19:54

it's, it's still a- My

Speaker 19:54

husband would like that.

Speaker 2 19:55

Yes, yes. Yeah. I thought of him a lot- on this tour.

Speaker 19:59

Yeah. He would've liked them.

Speaker 2 19:59

Yeah.

Speaker 20:00

As a matter of fact, we're gonna go see that new movie coming out, which will be out by the time this airs, but it's Pressure with Brandon, Brandon Frazier.

Speaker 2 20:08

Oh, really?

Speaker 20:08

Yeah. He plays, um-

Speaker 2 20:12

Yeah, I, I don't-

Speaker 20:12

General Eisenhower

Speaker 2 20:13

Oh. Oh, wow. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Speaker 20:15

Yeah, regarding D-Day.

Speaker 2 20:16

D-Day. Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Boy, I would like to see that as well.

Speaker 20:19

Right, so-

Speaker 2 20:20

Yeah

Speaker 20:20

there, you heard it from me first.

Speaker 2 20:22

Okay. Now- So, Nuremberg was a highlight for me.

Speaker 20:26

Cool. Very cool. So you did that, and again, that was a tour.

Speaker 2 20:30

Yes.

Speaker 20:30

Okay, 'cause you said you did all tours. Yes. You didn't do any self-explorations.

Speaker 2 20:34

Right, right.

Speaker 20:34

Okay,

Nuremberg And WWII Memory

Speaker 20:35

now you also went to Cologne.

Speaker 2 20:36

Cologne. Now, Cologne is a, amazing city. It has a 1,300-year-old s- uh-

Speaker 20:44

13th century?

Speaker 2 20:45

cathedral. Mm-hmm. Yes. And the cathedral has two towers. What do they call it? Steeples.

Speaker 20:52

Right, spires

Speaker 2 20:53

or whatever.

Speaker 20:53

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 20:53

And of course, they were very, they were very, f- in World War II, there was a lot of bombing in Cologne Right And the, they did not bomb the church because they used those steeples to guide the planes in.

Speaker 21:07

Oh. Well, that's interesting, 'cause half of, half of that area was all blown to bits.

Speaker 2 21:12

Yes, yes. And-

Speaker 21:13

So a lot of them had to rebuild.

Speaker 2 21:15

Oh, and the rebuild was phenomenal. Mm-hmm. You know, it, it, it's a beautiful old city. So here, this is my big story. This is my big story out of the whole trip.

Speaker 21:24

Big story, big story.

Speaker 2 21:25

So we're on the tour, and the tour guide is talking about what's happening in Cologne.

Speaker 21:30

Right.

Speaker 2 21:31

And so I ask him, "What was the manufacturing life in the 1940s in Cologne?" And he said, "Well, the Ford Motor Company made trucks here."

Speaker 21:41

Oh.

Speaker 2 21:43

And I immediately started a idea in my little head- that Jay Lawrence is gonna write a book- Yeah about the 1940s, starting in Cologne, and it's a, it's a war story, a war, a World War II. Jay Lawrence is going to be a war correspondent.

Speaker 22:01

Ah.

Speaker 2 22:03

And, and I've got eight chapters written so far.

Speaker 22:05

Fabulous

Speaker 2 22:06

And,

Speaker 22:07

and- Well, now that you're traveling and you can do more things, now you have time for this, so

Speaker 2 22:10

you always wanted- Yeah, the weird thing is I, you know, I like to think of ideas when I'm traveling and giving me ideas, and up until then, I had not had an idea. I, you know, I didn't wanna, uh, this is a boat, and we're on the boat, and, you know- it, something like that. It, this was a real wild idea that I had.

Speaker 22:28

Yes, it was. Okay. So yeah, I mean, all of this is, all of this is history. All of it is a lot of fabulous history. But also, you have a lot of relaxation on board that ship.

Speaker 2 22:41

Yes.

Speaker 22:41

So that's kinda nice. Now, when you got into the Amsterdam region, you went to, uh, Kinderdijk.

Speaker 2 22:47

Yes. And that's where the, you could see the old windmills.

Speaker 22:51

That's something I would love to see.

Speaker 2 22:53

Yeah, those were beautiful.

Speaker 22:54

Oh, you were a l- you were a little late for the tulip time.

Speaker 2 22:57

Yes. Yeah. We just missed it.

Speaker 22:58

You just missed it.

Speaker 2 22:59

Yeah. But the other thing is Amsterdam.

Speaker 23:02

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 23:03

Well, it was a beautiful city. We got there at 7:00 in the morning, boarded a bus, got to the airport, and got on an airplane and came home. We didn't see much of Amsterdam.

Speaker 23:13

You did that, too, when you went through the Panama Canal. Yeah,

Speaker 2 23:16

to LA.

Speaker 23:17

You got, you got to LA. Yeah. You got on a plane and left. Yeah. You should stay another day. Right. I always tell people-

Speaker 2 23:21

Should have

Speaker 23:21

stay one day before, one day

Speaker 2 23:23

after. I, I agree with you wholeheartedly. And I wish we'd kinda done that, but we just didn't have the time. Uh, another couple- Why?

Speaker 23:30

You had to get back to work?

Speaker 2 23:31

We had a, we had, we came with another couple, and they actually had to get back to Chicago. Oh,

Speaker 23:36

they had to get

Speaker 2 23:36

back. So-

Speaker 23:37

Mm-hmm

Speaker 2 23:37

um, so yeah. But Am- Amsterdam, beautiful city. Beautiful. Mm-hmm. Uh, the roadways and all that, you know, uh, beautiful, beautiful.

Speaker 23:46

Cause there's so much to see in Amsterdam.

Speaker 2 23:48

I bet.

Speaker 23:48

All the, all the little streams that you can go through and travel through, and you, you didn't go. You... Right. So you'll have to do that the next time. Right. Maybe you should do it reverse,

Cologne Sparks A New Book

Speaker 23:55

Amsterdam south.

Speaker 2 23:56

Thought about it. Thought about it. A friend of mine is actually doing that in July.

Speaker 24:00

Yes.

Speaker 2 24:00

And he's invited me to go with them, but I- There

Speaker 24:02

you go

Speaker 2 24:03

uh, yeah. So reverse, yeah.

Speaker 24:05

A reverse, a reverse sailing.

Speaker 2 24:07

Right.

Speaker 24:08

Well, Jay, where are you going other than you might do that?

Speaker 2 24:12

Well, uh, next, my next trip is I'm going to Denver to see my son.

Speaker 24:16

Oh, Denver.

Speaker 2 24:17

Yeah.

Speaker 24:18

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 24:18

Gonna go to a baseball game, and with both my sons, actually.

Speaker 24:21

Oh, fabulous.

Speaker 2 24:22

And so, uh, uh, we're looking forward to that. And after that, we do not have any plans.

Speaker 24:28

I don't buy that for an instant.

Speaker 2 24:29

We do not have any- Well, my wife has a plan in September, but she- There you

Speaker 24:33

go.

Speaker 2 24:33

But she's, that's, that's not me. You know, when I- You know, when I got married, we had to sign a prenup-

Speaker 24:39

Right

Speaker 2 24:39

that she could go with, with her friends in September.

Speaker 24:42

Oh, wherever she wanted,

Speaker 2 24:43

yeah. When it, where... Yeah. Right. So that's one of the things. So she's going to Banff, and-

Speaker 24:48

Oh, she's going to Banff? Yeah up in Canada.

Speaker 2 24:50

In Canada, yeah.

Speaker 24:51

In Canada.

Speaker 2 24:52

Hopefully she doesn't get snowed in, i- in September.

Speaker 24:54

Well, she can.

Speaker 2 24:56

Yeah.

Speaker 24:56

It can get very snowy up there.

Speaker 2 24:58

Yeah.

Speaker 24:59

So Jay, you're working on your new book, you're doing all of this traveling, and we're probably gonna bring you back in after you do another round of travel, and

Speaker 2 25:07

you- I would love

Speaker 25:08

to

Speaker 2 25:08

do that see the sights. You know, I'm so good at this.

Speaker 25:11

You just, you just love traveling, that's all.

Speaker 2 25:13

I'm trying to th- I'm try-

Speaker 25:14

I got you hooked.

Speaker 2 25:16

I'm tr- Yes, I'm trying to be better at it, but, uh- Yeah.

Speaker 25:19

Well, now you have to-

Speaker 2 25:20

Boy, I would-

Speaker 25:21

start showing pictures

Speaker 2 25:21

we, we would recommend a river cruise again.

Speaker 25:25

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 25:25

A river cruise.

Speaker 25:26

And there are so many cruise lines that are- Yes on the river these days.

Speaker 2 25:30

Yes.

Speaker 25:30

You know, j- you just pick one that suits your needs and wants.

Speaker 2 25:33

Yeah. And it was weird, 'cause we saw the boats go by.

Speaker 25:36

Oh, yeah.

Speaker 2 25:36

It's so, you know, and-

Speaker 25:37

Bread and butter, bread and butter, bread and butter.

Speaker 2 25:39

Yeah, looking at 'em. Yeah. And of course for some of, we were looking right at the river level.

Speaker 25:44

Right.

Speaker 2 25:45

And then sometimes we were on the deck- Right we could see 'em go by.

Speaker 25:47

Right. Well, the, the river level, or as they call in the industry, the swan view.

Speaker 2 25:52

Yes.

Speaker 25:52

They call it the swan view because you can see out to the river, and usually the swans are swimming past.

Speaker 2 25:57

And, and, and don't be put off by that at all. No. It was fabulous.

Speaker 26:01

Yeah, you can still see a lot.

Speaker 2 26:02

Yeah.

Speaker 26:03

And that's really great. So Jay, thank

Amsterdam Exit Tips And Farewell

Speaker 26:05

you again for coming into the studio and talking to me about this in particular cruise, and how you had so much fun. And now you're working on a whole new book.

Speaker 2 26:13

You're welcome, and thank you for having me.

Speaker 4 26:16

Well, you've been listening to my podcast, and of course, I am Zee Mickelson. This podcast has been brought to you by Collage Travel Media Network. If this episode or any of my episodes have inspired you to travel, feel free to share this with all of your friends and family, and anyone who has been waiting to travel, whether in a group or solo. And I'm reminding you that you deserve the journey, so go boldly, keep exploring, keep dreaming, and keep discovering the world around you. Thanks again for listening, and like I always say, shoot for the stars, and if you only get to the moon, at least you made the trip. I'm Zee Mickelson. Hope to see you on your next adventure