Travel Maven Blog ...... David Molyneaux posts from TheTravelMavens.com

My year without travel: Reflecting on the pandemic and staying close to home

Fran Golden and David G. Molyneaux, Sitka, Alaska 2017

'I miss connecting with fellow travelers, even simple smiles and nods of recognition ... I miss the kindness of strangers that appears naturally on the road — and from locals I encounter along the way'

By David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com, republished from The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com

 

Without a building or human in sight, we arrived at a fork on a woodsy trail with no idea where we were going, for which we were grateful.

A serendipitous choice passed through a patch of red and yellow leaves still dangling in November, perhaps just waiting for these two world travelers who were thankful even for the slightest sense of being lost in Berlin.

No, not that Berlin. Germany and all the other countries of the world are off the discovery charts in this self-protective year of 2020. Instead, we were exploring a ridge of trails about an hour’s drive west of Cleveland in Edison Woods MetroPark in Berlin Township, Erie County.

Poland? No, Cleveland. The bust of Frédéric Chopin, composer and virtuoso pianist, is in the Polish Garden on East Boulevard in Rockefeller Park (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

What a lifestyle change this year has been, without travel.

Living a dream-like suite life on a cruise ship

A growing demand for bigger, grander suites

Big, fancy, expensive suites, with butlers, are among the fastest growing accoutrements on cruise ships. Their size and number seem to increase with each new ship. 

 

Silversea's Silver Spirit, docked at Rhodes, has Grand Suites that measure about 1,400 square feet, bigger than many apartments (Photo by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

The top suites, which can cost $1,000 a day per person, or more, tend to be among the first accommodations sold out (along with the least expensive cabins to people on a tighter budget), an indication that an increasing number of well-heeled couples and families are willing to spend big chunks of their disposable income vacationing at sea. 

Living and dining areas in the Grand Suite of Silversea’s Silver Spirit. The bedroom, bathroom with big tub, and walk-in closet are off to the left

Popularity and profitability explain why cruise lines, from luxury to mainstream, are putting new emphasis on their most spacious suites. This blog also appeared in the Miami Herald

Breezing into a larger fleet of small ships on Windstar Cruises

With two additional ships in the Mediterranean Sea after major drydock renovations this spring, the course is clear for expanding Windstar Cruises.

At a time when many lines are building bigger cruise ships, Windstar intends to be the leader of the world’s small ship fleets.

Star Breeze at Elba Island in the Mediterranean

Windstar now owns and operates six small vessels, ranging in passenger capacity from 148 to 310. Three are predominantly sailing ships, though they use engines as well. Three are motor yachts, with more luxurious accommodations.

If you love the sounds of wind on canvas, choose the sailing yachts. If you prefer a walk-in closet and a big bathroom with marble, go for the motor yachts.

No English, no Piraeus, no Odyssey

In Athens, as I attempted to leave town, I managed to flag down a taxi driver who knew no English. I mean, no English. He didn’t even know the English words for Greek cities. Never heard of Piraeus, which is the port for Athens. For all I know, he had never heard the English word Athens, either.

After I threw my suitcase in his trunk, we lurched around for a few blocks before the full extent of the dilemma was clear.

Wandering Athens, eating well

Among the occasional advantages of advancing age are the opportunities to return to special places, destinations with meanings from the past. I suspect that I look to see what has changed, and usually I have changed the most.

In my first visit to Athens and the Acropolis, images from books, study, and expectations came alive for my wife and me in the early 1980s. Both of us lovers of human history, we soaked up the words from our tour guides and called the visit one of our best trips.

My second tour was at the guiding hand of my art-history-educated daughter, after her graduation from college. That trip I saw through her eyes the wonders of Greek art and culture as she took it all in for the first time. “Dad, this is huge,” she kept saying, explaining yet another unknown to me.

This time, with fewer expectations, I returned to the wonder of the Acropolis, visited the outstanding new Acropolis Museum, then roamed the area around Monastiraki with a goal of relaxing and eating with the locals.