I guess that I did tease about my upcoming trip. This leads to two of my personal philosophy truisms:
You always need something to look forward to.
Enjoy those things three times. Planning them. Experiencing them. Savoring them in the remembering.
Most of my trips evolve from a seed. A special event or experience that my inner child craves to fill a void. In my limited number of trips around the sun I have the rare opportunity to fill that void. To scratch that itch. To taste, hear, see, feel, and smell the moments that make the memories that last a lifetime. To ignore that gift and spend my remaining days at leisure in front of the television or living in virtual reality when I have actual reality at my fingertips would be a waste in the most extreme.
So... The seed.
Keukenhof. This is the botanical gardens in the Netherlands that hosts the Tulip Festival every Spring. I have never been there, but the more I looked the more I liked. With my retirement in motion I referred to my first truism: You always need something to look forward to.
As I searched websites like Trip Advisor and Viator for ways to build a one or two day visit to a botanical garden into a meaningful adventure I found the transfers, connections, lodging, and options to be complicated and expensive. Neither one of which I am fond of.
In the course of searching ways to get around Europe I came across the idea of using River Cruising as a means of getting from place to place. I have always liked the idea of a European river cruise, but had yet to pull the trigger on one. I started with the big names and found big prices. Then I came back to another travel philosophy that had served me well in the past. Locals do local best.
Amadeus River Cruises is an Austrian owned company that has been doing river cruises in Europe for over forty years. They had an eight day cruise called "Tulip Seranade". Traveling through the Netherlands and Belgium with a special stop specifically to visit Keukenhof during the Tulip Festival it screamed out that we could have our strudel and eat it too. With a ship that launched in 2022 and Austrian chefs specializing in local cuisine and fresh baked goods including wine with the meals the only consideration was cost.
At less than half the cost of the big name cruise lines I spent a little time searching out the best room at the best price. By using a German based travel broker I was able to get a suite with a balcony for the cost of a basic room It was the last one available. Even the owners of the cruise line could not match the price or get a suite at any price. Perseverance and dumb luck have served me well over the years.
We plan to take advantage of the resources of Amadeus River Cruises to visit the sites in the Netherlands and Belgium. Beer. Chocolate. Flowers. What is not to like? As always some of the time is scheduled and some is left to serendipity or just time to rest.
Our flights are on Iceland Air. They allow up to seven days layover in Iceland on flights to Europe at no additional cost. We are taking five days to rent a car and visit the Westman Islands south of Iceland for two days to view, and hopefully photograph, the world's largest Atlantic nesting population of puffins. From there we drive the coast to see rock formations, black sand beaches, geysers, and waterfalls. The remaining time will be at a cabin in the woods with a hot tub. The rest is up to our imagination and energy level.
Ceramic Puffin made by my father
I hope to have better pictures of tulips and puffins by June.
Stay tuned!
Oh yes... A third truism is that if you don't schedule that wonderful thing it may never happen. So schedule that wonderful thing.
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