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The last 6 weeks we have packed up our big house in Reno (a very serious and large project!), sold a car, bought a car, bought a condo in Incline, moved stuff from the Reno house into storage for the condo, packed a 26 ft Uhaul truck to the max, drove it to Carmel, unpacked the truck and, along the way binge watched about 10 episodes of Baggage (sad but true, Jerry Springer and all, but if you want a good laugh watch a couple episodes). All that baggage inspired us to take a trip.
And, it just so happened that Regent had a fantastic deal on a 15 day cruise in the Mediterranean. Turns out that they have a brand new ship called the Explorer coming out in 2016 and it’s inaugural voyage is very similar to one that is taking place this May. Apparently enough long-time Regent cruisers like us decided to book that trip and that left some excess capacity this year. So, they had a sale (about 50% off) for this year’s cruise and we jumped on it, knowing we would need to relax after all that crazy packing. Here is the itinerary (Updated after the trip to include every day and our return).
| Date | Port | Arrive | Depart | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAY 23 | SAT | Spain, France and Italy Here we Come! | PreBoard | |
| MAY 24 | SUN | Repositioning to SFO | PreBoard | |
| MAY 25 | MON | Flying to Barcelona | PreBoard | |
| MAY 26 | TUE | Barcelona, Spain | PreBoard | |
| MAY 27 | WED | Barcelona, Spain | 6:00 PM | |
| MAY 28 | THU | Provence (Marseille), France Morning | 8:00 AM | 7:00 PM |
| MAY 28 | THU | Provence (Aix), France Afternoon | 8:00 AM | 7:00 PM |
| MAY 29 | FRI | Saint Tropez, France Morning | 8:00 AM | 11:59 PM |
| MAY 29 | FRI | Saint Tropez, France Afternoon | 8:00 AM | 11:59 PM |
| MAY 30 | SAT | Antibes Morning, France | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| MAY 30 | SAT | Antibes Afternoon, France | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| MAY 31 | SUN | Livorno (Pisa), Italy – Morning | 8:00 AM | 8:00 PM |
| MAY 31 | SUN | Livorno, Italy – Afternoon | 8:00 AM | 8:00 PM |
| JUN 1 | MON | Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy | 8:00 AM | 8:00 PM |
| JUN 2 | TUE | Portofino (Genoa), Italy Morning | 9:00 AM | 7:00 PM |
| JUN 2 | TUE | Portofino (Genoa Artwork), Italy Morning | 9:00 AM | 7:00 PM |
| JUN 2 | TUE | Portofino, Italy Afternoon | 9:00 AM | 7:00 PM |
| JUN 3 | WED | Cannes, France | 8:00 AM | 11:00 PM |
| JUN 4 | THU | Monte Carlo, Monaco – Morning | 7:00 AM | 11:59 PM |
| JUN 4 | THU | Monte Carlo, Monaco – Afternoon | 7:00 AM | 11:59 PM |
| JUN 5 | FRI | Cannes, France | 8:00 AM | 10:00 PM |
| JUN 6 | SAT | Saint-Tropez, France | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| JUN 7 | SUN | Toulon, France | 8:30 AM | 6:30 PM |
| JUN 8 | MON | Ajaccio (Corsica), France | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| JUN 9 | TUE | Portofino, Italy | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| JUN 10 | WED | La Spezia (Cinque Terra), Italy | 8:00 AM | 6:00 PM |
| JUN 10 | THU | Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy | 7:00 AM | |
| JUN 11 | FRI | San Francisco-Carmel |
The amazing thing is that the cruise included about 8 places that we had never been. And, who could complain about going to Saint-Tropez, Portofino and Cannes twice in 15 days?
We start the trip on Sunday by driving from Carmel to San Francisco, staying overnight by the airport and then departing on an American/USAirways plane to Barcelona via Charlotte, SC, arriving at 8 am. After staying over night in Barcelona we depart on Wednesday at 6 pm for a well-deserved relaxing two weeks.
We’ll try to give you the flavor of the places we visit through words and pictures and we hope you enjoy our trip along with us.
Dale and Margaret