Planning

Where to go on my first retirement trip wasn't an easy decision, but Europe was in my mind the most. My family treated me to a cruise for my 60th birthday last year to see a couple of the more famous fiords but rather than satisfying my appetite it made me want even more to take the coastal ferry route called the Hurtigruten that I've read about in the New York Times travel section over the years. I was surprised when I contacted them that they would set up the whole trip for me and it was a good bit cheaper than doing airline and hotel stays on my own. Their web site http://www.hurtigruten.us/ has phone numbers and everything you'd want to know about making the trip. I decided to take the 12 day round trip and stay an extra week so I could explore Bergen and Oslo. I set up the arrangements in the first week of April to leave May 14th. They booked me to fly from Philadelphia to Bergen via Washington DC and Copenhagen. I arrive in Bergen on the 15th and transfer directly to the ship (MS Nordkapp) which departs for the north bound leg of the trip at 8:00 pm. I hope to get to see some of the city that day but I'll have to see how the arrangements work out. The ship returns to Bergen on May 26 and a hotel stay in town that night (Best Western Hotel Hordaheimen) was included in the package and I booked an extra two nights on my own and I'll take the train from Bergen to Oslo and fly home from there on June 5th. My daughter Becky encouraged me to do a travel blog while I'm away and set the blog site up for me. I hope to post pictures daily with a paragraph or two about what's going on for the day. As I do more of the preliminaries I'll post now and then with what's occupying my time. Thanks Becky for the encouragement and getting me started with John's Travel Blog.