The genesis of our next big adventure was a phone call from Cindy, one of our close friends from Boise, in late summer 2023.  She was interested in a particular Holland America cruise because it included western Ireland and asked if we were interested. Of course we were in!  We love traveling on our own, but also appreciate the opportunity to go with friends and family.

We have been fortunate to travel internationally with Cindy and Darrell several times over the years – as well as many times in our RVs.

We have been on two cruises with them. The first was to Alaska and the second was the infamous cruise to Quebec City when Randy was quarantined with COVID.

Shortly after talking with Cindy, Randy and I were on a Holland America cruise.  Being on the ship allowed us to get extra perks when booking the new cruise.

Almost two years out, we had our choice of cabins.  I pay attention and make notes about unusual cabin attributes and how to find them on deck plans. We selected a verandah cabin with an extra large balcony. Ours is V6115 – visible on the bottom right of the picture below. The extra gray lines indicate the larger balcony.

There aren’t many of these cabins on the ship and we felt fortunate to get the same cabin for back to back cruises. More on that in a minute!

This is the map itinerary for our Wild British Isles Cruise with Ireland’s West Coast – with Cindy and Darrell.

Because we were going all the way there, we decided to add on the next cruise as well, Viking Trails and Celtic Origins. There is a bit of overlap but its lure is to cruise around Iceland.

Once the trips were on our calendar, I started collecting information.   I don’t think I’ll ever get the British Isles vs Great Britain vs the United Kingdom committed to memory.  Hopefully, being there will help.

The map of the United Kingdom seems a bit more straightforward.

We went to a class and watched a Rick Steves show about visiting Iceland – quite the trendy thing to do these days! 

Cruises are usually fully booked so it is essential to purchase the shore excursions you really care about early on.  The first excursion I booked for these cruises was in April, 2024 – over a year out.

I’ve also researched and booked several tours in Rotterdam and Amsterdam including food tours, Kinderdijk windmills and The Hague. Randy is pretty flexible and, after all this time, I have a good idea about what he will like and not.

For the first time, we had to submit an application to enter the UK.  It wasn’t hard or expensive, but struck me as sad that it is now required given the state of the world.

Cindy and Darrell are getting on the ship in England, a day before us, so they can visit London.  I opted for us to begin in Rotterdam for two reasons.  First, I wanted us to stay in the New York Hotel, the site of the original Holland America offices that so many emigrants passed through heading to the United States.  I’m sure I’ll be writing about that later.

Even more important to me was for an opportunity to go to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, a short distance from Rotterdam.  We were in Amsterdam briefly last year and saw the house on our canal tour.

I can tell quite the dramatic story about my quest for tickets to the Anne Frank House! It involves researching the exact day and time tickets became available for the day I wanted us to go.  (They are released a week at a time.) Tickets became available at 1:00 am on June 10, 2025.  It was also the night that this girl, who rarely gets sick, had the flu.  I set an alarm and was on my computer at 12:55 am. I had done web site recognizance so had an idea of what would happen. The moment the queue opened, I was number 305 – I chose my tickets but accidentally checked Visa when the number I put in was for Mastercard – Declined.  I got back in the queue and was number 680+. This time, my credit card was declined for suspected foreign transaction fraud.  I told the bank the charge was fine but it was too late – Declined.  I got in the queue a third time and was person 1350-ish.  My hopes were diminishing but I tried again and was able to reserve tickets for only 30 minutes past my target time.  I just needed to be able to pay for them!  I put in the same card, hoping it would go through, instead of beginning all over with a different card. It worked!  A stressful 20 minutes after I began – I HAD TICKETS to the Anne Frank House! 

I keep a travel book list, always adding to it when I hear of a book set in places we might someday visit.  I really enjoy having a sense of place when we travel.   A couple months ago, I went through all the possibilities I had gathered and condensed it to 3-5 books per country. I knew I wouldn’t get through that many, but its a goal!

Since we start our trip in the Netherlands, I began by reading The Map Colorist.  In 1660, Amsterdam was the map printing capital of the world. Colorists enhanced the maps with simple or elaborate paints and decoration. The main character is a young woman in a man’s world.

My second book was The Last Painting of Sara De Vos,  partially set in the 1600s. The Dutch Golden Age included artists such as Vermeer and Rembrandt. Artists were mostly men and members of artistic guilds.   Again, the main character was a woman in a man’s world.

I read two books on the internationally researched cold case of who betrayed Anne Frank.  The Betrayal of Anne Frank is, by far, the better book. Randy also read this book, expanding his knowledge of Anne Frank.

In addition to reading, I listened to a variety of podcasts including Scottish Blethers, and pertinent episodes of Stuff You Missed in History Class, History Daily, Strong Sense of Place, Travel with Rick Steves and Noble Blood.  

As I write, we are four days from embarking on this adventure. This morning I made one addition to our shore excursion itinerary.   About a week ago we were offered a new excursion to the Edinburgh Tattoo. I knew nothing about it.  It looked like a big deal but the tour was expensive so we decided not to pursue it.  Then – twice in conversations with people who have some knowledge of Scotland – the Tattoo came up.   So, we decided to jump in and get the tickets.

This is from the Edinburgh Tattoo website:  An experience like no other, our Show brings together the best of British Military with international performances from a global cast. Presenting emotionally charged entertainment featuring cutting edge lighting, sound and military precision. Sounds like fun!

All this planning is not unique to this trip. I enjoy the process and do it for almost every trip we take. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little foray into my trip planning world and will join us in reading about the trip itself!