DAY NINE

The journey is coming to an end. We had a wonderful time and it perfectly matched our needs. It was very relaxing – even though we had high winds, huge waves, overcast skies and rain. Entertainment was always available all day and night. There was always food in sight and it was hard to stick with healthy choices when the most delicate deserts were twinkling at us. So for 10 days we tossed all health and weight concerns out of the window and ate whatever our taste buds desired.

Cunard provided an excellent service. All staff members were most helpful, always very friendly, looked after our room twice a day to keep it spotless and waited on us royally. If we requested something or voiced a need, the response followed within minutes. It will take a moment to get back to the reality of having to cook our own food and then to do the dishes. It is super easy to get really lazy in this environment. – Just what we needed –

Now, almost all the bags and suitcases are packed and ready to go. Waiting for the washer and dryer to be done to complete the packing. We place the luggage outside our state room and it will magically, in silence, disappear until tomorrow morning when we leave this beautiful ship.

We, wholeheartedly, recommend travelling on the Queen Mary 2. This will not be our last time. We are already looking at west bound crossings into New York.

You will hear from us again tomorrow.

APPROACHING A NEW PHASE IN LIFE

With great excitement and anticipation, the date of our retirement is inching closer. Yes, there is a bit of worry and uncertainty mixed in, but generally we are looking forward to go wherever the nose points. 

To start the journey we are planning to take a 10 day Trans Atlantic cruise from New York City, NY to Hamburg, Germany.

We believe that a cruise is the perfect way to ring in retirement.  

We know nothing about cruises at all. Everything is hear-say from friends that took cruises in the past. The other reason we decided in favor of the cruise is the fact that we will establish our headquarter residence in Germany. It will be somewhat of a little international move and we will need more luggage than for two weeks of vacation. The airlines would heavily charge us for extra luggage while there is no limitation on board the ship as long as each piece doesn’t exceed 50 lbs. and fits comfortably in your stateroom for no extra charge. 

From Germany, many destinations all over Europe are in driving distance. We plan on utilizing the wonderful network of public transportation via bullet trains,

planes,

busses,

City trains,

ships

 

as well as bicycles (this one is perfect! Tom will do all the work and I snap pictures)

and our feet.

For now, it is crunch time! We still need to sell our home here in the US and tie up all lose ends before we leave. For any remaining responsibilities we will put our adult children in charge.

One very helpful and money saving change is already in place. We started using the “Service Credit Union”

https://www.servicecu.org/index.asp . This Credit Union is available for anybody that has some sort of connection to service members in all branches. The benefit for us is that they maintain branches in many countries where the United States has military installations. With this US account we can perform transactions in Euro and other currencies without incurring additional charges from foreign banks involved in the transaction. That can become rather expensive in addition to the possible currency exchange loss.

We plan on frugal living and traveling without sacrificing the quality of life. To start with, we've already set up camp on a 4 season campground on the island of Fehmarn, Germany, in the Baltic Sea.

At this point, the plan is to explore the north-eastern areas of Germany and further north located countries in short trips of one day to a week. We are not sure yet what the upcoming cold months will have in store for us. Camping might not be the most desirable option.

We would like to invite you to follow us on our blog and see where we are and how we are doing. We also appreciate your input and experience you've gained in your travels.