Thursday, November 29

We did a trial pack this afternoon, and it worked out well enough that we are leaving it the way it is, except for those last minute items tomorrow. To checked bags weighing 28# and 33# respectively, my camera bag, and the wife's backpack. We leave tomorrow night and fly direct to Munich, then Viking transfer to Passau. We are looking forward to meeting those we have talked with both here and on Cruise Critic. Saturday night I will do my first post of the cruise, hopefully with a couple of pictures.

Cheers!

Wednesday, November 28
Well, it looks like we will be chasing the cold front that hit the East Coast all the way to Europe. As the temperatures rise in Northern Virginia to the 60's by this weekend, we will be facing low to mid 30's upon our arrival. So far no really bad weather is predicted, and by the end of the cruise the temperatures in Budapest should be in the high 40's to low 50's, with sunshine. As we are staying there for a couple of days after the cruise that is really great news!

I did a trial pack on my camera gear and laptop today, and it looks like I need to regroup and pick another camera bag. I tried my smaller sling bag but by the time I put the camera gear in, plus accessories, plus the laptop, it really was jammed up, so I will switch to my backpack one. I can put everything in that along with my heavy hiking boots and still have room. That will save us some weight on our checked luggage.

Tomorrow we will start looking at what we will take with us for clothing. Not too worried as we do not fly out until late evening on Friday.

For those not familiar with Viking's new ships, the Njord is a completely new design. You can read about her at http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/cruiseships/europe/viking-njord/shipinfo.aspx. With a lot of new innovative features, we are looking forward to exploring her.

That's all for now, so until later, happy holidays!

Five days to flyaway! Started packing electronics today to see which case I will need. Hoping to get everything into one of my smaller ones but may not. The wife started laying out clothes to see what she will bring. With snow predicted for the upcoming weekend and temperatures in the mid 30's, we certainly will be packing warm! I am going light on camera gear this trip, and only taking two lens and my tripod. I want to try and get some good night shots of the Christmas Markets and some of the towns as well. Hopefully the internet will cooperate and I will be able to post a couple of pictures each day along with my thoughts.

That's about it for now, my next post will be next Saturday night after arrival!

Less than a month to go and we will be off to Europe once again, to embark on one of Vikings newest longboats, the Njord. We will be cruising from Passau Germany to Budapest Hungary, and staying in Budapest for a couple of days after the cruise is over.

During the cruise, will be visit Passau, Linz, Salzburg, Melk, Durnstein, Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest.Depending on how the internet access on board, I will try and post a daily update of our thoughts and discuss what we did for that day.

We will be flying out of Dulles Airport in Washington DC direct to Munich, and then taking Vikings transfer to Passau which is about a two hour ride. We anticipate arriving at the boat around 3pm, so our cabin should be ready and we can get unpacked and rest a little before dinner at 7pm. We are in cabin 116, down on the lowest deck. We usually do book cabins there as we have found them to be somewhat quieter than the upper decks, and really do not mind having a smaller window and no balcony. We do not spend that much time in the cabin anyway so it really does not matter to us.

This will be our fourth cruise with Viking cruise line and the first on one of their new longboats, so are quite excited to see what they are like. I will most likely do at least one more post prior to our departure, so until later,

CHEERS!