Lots of Planning and Lots of Details

After weeks of research, checking out possibilities and options, a trip to Europe began to look like an idea whose time might have arrived. However, what looked like a fairly simple task started evolving into a major planning effort. That’s OK though, as I typically enjoy planning and the power of the Internet makes it something like fun, just different.

As I dug into the potential of this trip the better I liked it. But, to pull it off was going to take more time and money than the Europe 2022 trip. That trip was mostly about lots of flying here and there and with only Scotland (The Open) and Denmark (Tour de France and Frank) as countries to schedule the trip around.

Planning this new and relatively long 2023 outing was not going to be a linear project. There were lots of ideas that ended up as dead ends but often a new possibility would appear and off I’d go checking it out. For example, I originally thought it would be an excellent idea to travel to Miami a few days before my cruise departed, rent a car and explore the Florida Keys. But, the more I research the logistics and time necessary to really see the Keys including Everglade National Park and Key Largo, the more I realized it was simply too much to try to do ahead of taking a long transatlantic cruise. Similarly, the idea of revisiting all three of the Balearic Islands I had explored 30-plus years ago would not work. Getting to and around Mallorca, Ibiza, and Formentera was too much of a reach with the time I would have. So, for as much as I would have liked to see the two smaller islands, Mallorca would have to suffice.

And the details! Lots of ’em. Big ones, little ones, and in-between ones. These details were everything from having my snail mail held to arranging for my ongoing bills to be paid on time and that there would be sufficient funds in the bank to cover all the charges. And I needed to obtain an International Drivers Permit if I wanted to rent a car in Mallorca. And I needed to make sure my U.S. passport was current and that I had all the tickets and passes and other travel documents with me both in digital form and paper. And what to pack? And equally important – what to not pack! As you can see – lots and lots of details.

Getting to Miami and on the Valiant Lady

Then I had to plan for and figure out how to get from here to there. That meant arranging for a shuttle ride from Bend to the Redmond Airport to catch my way too early 5:00 AM flight to Seattle. Then, after making my flight transfer in Seattle onto the Miami flight, getting to my hotel for the night, and then getting to the Virgin Voyages Pier in time for the next day’s afternoon scheduled boarding time before debarkation. And, of course, there are lots of pre-boarding procedures just to get on the darn ship. Miss the ship and the trip is – well, no longer.

Being on the Valiant Lady for a couple of weeks was beginning to look like a place I could relax and recharge before land in the shape of Europe arrived.

Fast forward 16 days of cruising and I now must debark the safety of the Valiant Lady at Barcelona. A new set of schedules begin.

Now I’m in Europe

I need to get from Barcelona to Palma to be able to spend some quality time on the island of Mallorca. This is both simple and complex. Simple if you just want to debark the cruise ship in Barcelona, take a taxi to the airport, wait around for hours, and then hop on a short, 50-minute flight over to Palma. However, if I wanted to see at least a little bit of Barcelona it was going to be complex as there is not much time from when one must debark from the cruise ship and when a flight could get me to Palma in time to secure my rental car and drive across the island to my Port de Pollensa Airbnb before it was dark. I really didn’t want to be driving in the dark in a foreign land trying to find an address among the narrow streets of a never-before-visited town.

I wanted my four days in Mallorca to be different than the first time all those years ago. This meant less passive tourism and more active exploration. And that meant bicycling a world-class cycling “paradise”. I planned three days of road cycling to just sample what Mallorca has to offer. And to bicycle, I needed to book a rental E-bike in Port de Pollensa well in advance.

It was becoming very clear during each passing trip-planning day that details were going to be the key to my trip’s success.

Mallorca to Denmark via Oslo

I then began to look into how I could get to Denmark from Mallorca. At first, flying into Copenhagen seemed like the easiest. And it was. But after video chats with Frank, the possibility of going to Oslo and then to Copenhagen first surfaced. Even though I had lived in Germany for about three years back in my Army days I never made it to Norway, the country my father’s relatives immigrated to America from. I’m half-Norwegian and half-German so a stop in Oslo seemed like the right thing to do. So I booked a direct flight from Palma to Oslo that would take me across central Europe over Spain, France, Germany, and Denmark to Norway.

Since I wasn’t going to be able to properly see all of Norway, a couple of days in Oslo was going to have to do. And, of course, a bit of bicycling was in my plans, as Oslo, like many other European cities, is very bicycle friendly.

Now I needed to get from Oslo to Copenhagen. At first, of course, I thought of flying. But somehow I stumbled on a YouTube video that explained how taking the overnight ferry from Oslo to Copenhagen was a great bargain. After a bit of research, I was sold on the ferry idea and booked a passage on what was to become my second-ever “cruise” even if it was only for one night.

Frank liked the ferry idea. He explained that where the ferry docked would be a much closer and easier place to pick me up than it would be at the huge and more distant Copenhagen airport.

So now I’ve got myself to Denmark and I’ve even got my very own personal Danish guide to show me around. I’d say that was some pretty good planning. I booked a Copenhagen Airbnb for us so we could explore the city by foot, bike, canal boat, and public transit. To visit attractions a bit away from the city we’d utilize Frank’s car. And yes, even though Frank put up a bit of resistance there’s at least one Copenhagen bicycle outing as I booked us with Bike Copenhagen with Mike. I’m hoping I can talk Frank into taking advantage of Copenhagen’s bicycle friendliness by exploring by bike Copenhagen attractions missed by Mike’s tour.

After our nearly five-day stay in Copenhagen, it’s off to Aalborg in northern Denmark where Frank lives with his wife Bente. Frank lives among some of the best-known ancient Viking stomping grounds. I’ll spend another five days or so in northern Denmark with Frank again as my guide. As this part of Denmark is pretty much off the beaten tourist path we’ll not have to battle the tourists like in Copenhagen and will get to take some E-bike rides. Frank said he and Bente have their own E-bikes and I’ll be able to use Bente’s as it’s larger than Frank’s.

Stay tuned. There’s more to come if only I can get the underpaid, overworked, and soon-to-be-off to Somewhere blog author to just sit down and type!