New Flights to Nice for Our France’s Finest Cruise

Prior to our France’s Finest river cruise in May, we will be spending a few days in Nice. We had booked our flights way back in July of 2022, but in October, United cancelled our reservations due to a change in scheduling. We could no longer fly Denver-Newark-Nice.

Although we were able to book a new itinerary, I was never too excited about the fact that our outgoing flight was now on Lufthansa, not United, and that we would be changing planes in Frankfurt, with a very long layover. We had only selected that flight because it was so much less expensive than any other option. It certainly wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t great.

In December, we received an email from United, notifying us of a schedule change, giving us an even longer layover in Frankfurt. We could change our flights, but the options were still too expensive. I did make a point to regularly check availability and pricing, hoping something else would open up. And it did!

Today, I saw that the fare on a United flight had dropped below what we had originally paid. Even better, we would connect through Munich, not Frankfurt. It was quite simple to change our reservations to the new itinerary.

I am so excited that we will get to experience United’s Polaris business class and its lie-flat beds. I know we will be forever spoiled, but I don’t care. I’m too old to sit up on an overnight flight when there’s another option. Now I’m really happy!

Our Seat Assignments in United's Polaris Business Class

Might Selling the Condo Be this Easy?

This morning, I received the following text from my friend and real estate agent. Keeping my fingers crossed!

We Did It!

We did it! We fully committed to the world cruise by making our very substantial deposit. While most of Viking’s ocean cruises are only requiring a limited-time $25 deposit, the world cruisers were not so lucky! Thankfully, we have until May 15, 2024, to make our final payment. I’m not sure the reality has sunk in yet, but that’s okay. I have 699 days to get used to the idea (and to sell the condo so we can pay the final bill)!

Status - CONFIRMED!

Surprisingly, I only realized today that I’ll be celebrating my 75th birthday while on the cruise. We are scheduled to be in Lofoten, Norway, that day. I love Norway and look forward to exploring the northern coastline.

What a way to start the new year! In less than two weeks’ time, I committed to selling my condo in Miami, Tim and I accepted three-month volunteer positions at AGFO, and we booked and made a deposit on a world cruise. WOW!

Oh yeah – one more thing. I decided to put words to paper again and started this blog! You can read about how the blog came to be in “Our Story.” The “Our Story” page can be found in the tab below the top header.

A New Museum Project in our Future

In looking further into volunteering at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO), we learned that the park was hosting an MLK Day of Service event on January 16. The project was to organize and index the park’s historic photographs. Since AGFO is only three hours away from us, we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to learn about the museum collection, meet the staff, and talk about the volunteer opportunities. We called the park on January 13 and registered for the event. 

We left Loveland on January 15 and drove to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, where we spent the night. We took the opportunity that day to visit Scotts Bluff National Monument and had a great conversation with the ranger on duty. Although we had previously visited the park, it was fun to see it in the snow.

Scotts Bluff National Monument

We arrived at AGFO the next morning and met the volunteer coordinator and museum technician, both of whom we immediately liked. We enjoyed working with the photographs and were able to view a portion of the park’s collection.

We checked out the two volunteer RV sites (now covered with snow) and confirmed that we would have internet reception (a very important consideration). Although the park is in the middle of nowhere, we decided that we would enjoy working there. As we left, we hoped the park would offer us the positions

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (group photo courtesy of AGFO)

Today, we received an email from the park, and we are in! One more pending decision to check off our list!

What About the RV?

Deciding to sell the condo in Miami prompted me to ask the question, “What should we do about the RV?” “Should we sell it?” After hanging up our keys in 2019 and settling into our home in Colorado, we continued to use our RV for one purpose only – volunteer and/or contracting museum projects at national park units.

Should We Sell the RV?

We had traveled to New River Gorge National Park and Preserve in West Virginia for two months each in 2020 and 2021, and to Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park in Texas for two months in 2022. Since March of 2022, however, the RV had mostly remained in storage, and I wasn’t sure if we’d ever do another project.

When I posed the question today, Tim surprised me and responded that he wanted to volunteer at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (AGFO) in Nebraska from August to November 2023. I had just seen the posting at Volunteer.gov, and I immediately jumped on the idea. I love working with museum collections at national parks, but I hadn’t thought much about future projects while we were so focused on world cruises.

I quickly switched gears and updated our resumes, and we applied for the volunteer positions. It was less than two hours later that we called our travel agent to book the world cruise! Two major decisions completed!

Let's See What's Available

My tenant notified me this morning that he had decided to look for a house instead of purchasing my condo.  So, my dream of a quick sale evaporated.  It’s a good thing we had picked 2024-2025 as our year to cruise, since I gave my tenant until May 1 to move out!  Luckily, one of my closest friends is a real estate agent in Miami, and I contacted him to list the unit for sale.

After a lot of hemming and hawing, Tim and I bit the bullet and called our travel agent this afternoon to book Viking World Voyage I.  Cabins had sold out quickly on previous world cruises, and we wanted to make sure we could reserve one of the more reasonably priced cabins in a location that we prefer.

We heard back from her in no time, and we now have a tentative booking.

Viking World Voyage I

We have a week until January 19 to make our deposit.  In the meantime, we still have to ask ourselves if this is the right thing for us to do.  Should we be spending so much money on something like this?  Are we being foolish?

Which World Cruise Might Be Right for Us?

While waiting for my tenant’s decision, I reminded Tim of my promise to use the money from the sale of the condo for a world cruise. Tim and I talked seriously about the idea and discussed the pros and cons. Could we really do this? Although a world cruise was my idea, not Tim’s, he went along with the idea. He seems to indulge me in almost anything I set my mind on.

When deciding on a world cruise, there are many factors to take into consideration. Which cruise line? Which itinerary? Which dates? We immediately narrowed our choices to Viking and Oceania. I loved our Viking cruise, but I had heard wonderful things about Oceania as well.

World cruise itineraries generally follow two routes – one is the South Pacific to Asia to the Mediterranean, and the other is South America to Africa to Asia. Tim and I both decided that the first option would be our first choice.

Our first choice for dates was 2023-2024. Why should we wait until 2024-2025? It soon became clear that we would probably have to wait, however. Final payment for a 2023-2024 cruise would be due this May, and the condo might not be sold by then. So, 2024-2025 it was.

Next came checking itineraries for 2024-2025. Oceania had posted its options, and all cruises followed the South America to Africa route – our second choice. We waited for Viking’s announcement and were happy to see that its itinerary was our first choice. So, Viking it was.

Viking World Cruise Press Release

The final decision was a surprisingly easy one to make. Now we just need to wait for my tenant’s decision.

Dipping Our Toes Into Cruising

I guess it was during our COVID lockdown that Tim and I started seriously discussing the possibility of taking a cruise at some point in the future, and in January 2021, we selected a cruise on Viking and booked the Viking Homelands cruise for May 2022. In April 2021, we added the British Isles Explorer itinerary to make our cruise a 30-day, back-to-back journey.

During the year prior to the start of that cruise, I continued to learn all I could about various cruise itineraries, as well as the basics of cruising. I found the Cruise Critic forums and regularly perused the postings there. I continued to follow blogs about cruises, including several from the Viking World Cruise of 2021-2022. For me, reading a good blog gives me a much better idea of what to expect than simply reading a guidebook.

Although Tim and I had fun selecting potential cruise itineraries, I never seriously considered a world cruise. Yes, I continued to read and dream about one, but the cost was not even remotely feasible for us.

Our Viking Homelands/British Isles Explorer cruise on the Viking Venus in May-June 2022, was simply wonderful. We loved the cruise! In fact, we enjoyed the experience so much that we booked an additional two cruises for 2023 while we were on board.

We enjoyed being on the ship for 29 days, and the idea of a much longer cruise seems even more appealing.

We Loved Our Cruise on Viking Venus

A Little Background About Us and Cruising

Despite all the travel that I’ve done the last 44+ years, the idea of taking a world cruise never entered my mind until fairly recently. I had a tiny bit of experience with cruising, including two very small ship cruises in Alaska and one on the Columbia and Snake Rivers. I had also taken a wonderful cruise from New York to Bermuda on the QE2 while living in Miami, and Tim and I celebrated our honeymoon with a Mediterranean cruise on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator in 2009. Still, cruising was not really on my radar.

Previous Cruises I Had Taken

I suppose that began to change when I began to read blogs written by RVers. One in particular, Two to Travel, included tales of cruising as well as RV travel. In 2017, I began reading about Erin's world cruise. I followed her entire journey and became intrigued by the idea of taking a world cruise. The seed was planted.

Big Changes – Possible Opportunities?

As 2022 drew to a close, I had no idea how many changes would await me in the next four weeks.

On December 19, 2022, the condo board for the unit that I continue to own in Miami voted to increase the maintenance fee by 31%. I knew that the board’s action would force me to raise my tenant’s rent by at least $250. Unfortunately, I doubted that he could afford this steep increase. This realization finally prompted me to think seriously about selling my unit. Property values had finally rebounded to more than I had paid for the unit, and now seemed to be an ideal time to put it on the market.

Today, I notified my tenant that I was planning to sell the condo. Although he was devastated, he quickly regrouped and spent a week researching whether he might be able to purchase the unit himself. The possibility of a quick and easy sale really got my hopes up.

While I waited for my tenant’s decision, I recalled a promise I had made to myself several years ago. I had joked to Tim that if I ever sold that condo, I would use the money to take us on a world cruise.

Happy New Year

My ritual on New Year’s Day is to prepare a traditional Southern dinner.  To ensure good fortune in the new year, black-eyed peas and collard greens must be eaten.  Black-eyed peas (symbolizing coins or wealth) are said to bring wealth and prosperity.  Adding cooked greens (the color of money) makes them even luckier.  

It’s a fun tradition, and it sometimes even brings me luck and good fortune!  Although not a “good luck” food, I do like to make a banana pudding to accompany the meal. 

Tim and New Year's Day Dinner

Might this tradition bring us good fortune in 2023?