Planning ahead
Written 6 July 2017
As you can probably tell from a perusal of my 2015 travel diary, the Viking folks have totally sold us on the pleasures of river cruising. What a great way to see, and find out a whole lot about, places you might not go on your own. (Face it, David and I are pretty timid travelers when it comes to places where we don't speak the language or know the culture.)
So this year, we're going to Russia with Viking, and even better, our friends Ev and Rachel Sinnett (parents of young CJ and proud grandparents of CJ's new baby girl) are coming with us! We're cruising from Moscow to St. Petersburg on the Viking Akun in August!
To see the itinerary in detail, go to https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/cruise-destinations/russia/waterways-tsars/2017-moscow-stpetersburg/. You can click on the map to see a larger version or the itinerary or click on the day-by-day "Cruise Overview" at the left-hand side.
Our plan is to fly up to BWI a couple of days before we leave for Russia and to stay with the Sinnetts in Rockville. Then all four of us will to fly together out of Dulles, via Paris, to Moscow. As before, Viking folks will meet us at the airport and whisk us to the ship, where we'll settle into our staterooms and have free time until dinner.
We'll need visas to enter Russia, so we sent the requisite forms and our passports off to the agency that Viking recommended. They were returned within a few weeks, appropriately decorated with impressive visas. Viking has sent us a red leather luggage tag each (just as well, as my Portuguese one disappeared from my checked luggage a couple of flights back), a personalized information booklet each, and a round red sticker each to wear as we get off the plane, to help the Viking folks spot us. Also, a handsome zippered amenity pouch as a free gift for signing up for a second cruise.
I must say that my "planning ahead" pages are a lot duller when I don't have to make my own maps or arrange 11 hotel and 27 restaurant reservations!