Until a few days ago the only parts of the upcoming 10-week around-the-world trip (starting mid-September) that we had booked were the two cruises – the 23-night transpacific and the 14-night transatlantic. But this week we booked a lot more. Many of the transportation details are now set. This is how it will go:
- A flight from Ft Myers to Seattle-Tacoma and one night in Seattle.
- The 23-night transpacific cruise on the Carnival Luminosa, Seattle-to-Sydney via Hawaii and Tahiti.
- 3 nights in a hotel in Sydney near the Opera House.
- A flight from Sydney to Rome via Chengdu China (with a 20-hour layover in Chengdu).
- 2 nights in a hotel in Rome near Vatican City.
- 14 or 15 days touring Europe by car (the car is booked but the hotels are not booked). The city sequence will possibly be: Venice, Munich, Paris, Blois (and the Loire Valley), Grenoble and Pisa.
- 2 or 3 nights in a hotel in Rome.
- The 14-night transatlantic cruise on the Carnival Miracle, Rome-to-Tampa.
- A car or bus ride from Tampa home.
The only significant portions not booked are the hotels in Europe, the hotel in Rome after the car tour and the trip from Tampa home. We also have to arrange a number of transfers (e.g., home to the Ft Myers airport at the start, from SEATAC to Seattle, from the cruise terminal to the hotel in Sydney, etc.) but those are easy and relatively inexpensive.
The choice of the flight from Sydney to Rome via Chengdu was driven by price: the total package price for airfare for both of us and 2 nights in Rome was under $1,200! That is amazingly cheap, cheap, cheap! The flight is over 21 hours in the air. It means we have to forego Mumbai or Istanbul, but we will see China (from inside an airport terminal) instead.
The use of a car instead of trains (via Eurail pass) was driven by my concern over how difficult it would be to haul our large suitcases on and off trains and to/from hotels. Plus we have more freedom to see what we want when we want. I also discovered that the cost of renting a car was surprisingly low: the cost for a 2-week car rental is about the same as one Eurail pass, so with gas it will probably be about the same cost. We will also have more freedom to find cheap food.
Anyway, it looks almost certain that this epic trip will really happen. We just have to stay healthy.