Author: donhall930

                     “Ok, everyone please point to Vilnius on your maps.”

                                (Crickets)

                     “Hmm, ok how about pointing to the Baltic countries.”

                                (More crickets, and a few Spring Peepers)

                     “Well then, let’s get out that big map and get everyone going in the right direction! Timmy, show me where the Baltic countries are located please.”

                                Timmy points to a definitely veiled area in an attempt to hide what he is sure might not be quite the correct answer…. he doesn’t have a clue. He’s thinking Baltic Avenue.

                                “Congratulations Timmy, you’ve managed to point to the map.”

                                “But did I pass GO and can I get my $200?”

                                “Wrong game Timmy, now go and take your seat back in Marvin Gardens,”

                                Now not only are the crickets and Spring Peepers making noise, but they are joined by the now inordinately loud ticking emanating from the clock on the wall.

                             +++++++++++++++++++++++++

           We had a meeting this morning with our now entire Group. The pre-trip to Poland is behind us, and the Main Trip, The Baltic Capitals, has begun. There were three folks that joined us this morning for the rest of the two weeks of the trip. Our Tour Leader, Aida, (the ‘Phil’ of this trip) went over the various points that she wanted to emphasize to us. One of them was that on this trip we will not be visiting Bosnia.

                                Which is in the Balkans.

                                Not the Baltic.

                     Apparently during one of her past initial group meetings some guy asked when they were getting to Bosnia.

Oops! Wrong trip!

You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to!

So, where is Vilnius anyway?

I will confess that I didn’t know!

This part of the world is a mumbo-jumbo of seemingly alike sounding countries that have boundaries that get moved and swapped with reckless abandon at the whims of geopolitical forces that keep mapmakers as busy as they can possibly be, never mind throwing in those other “B” places….. the Balkans!                                       (Yes, that was one sentence and Mrs. Tee, my 7^th Grade English teacher, is probably not happy!)

           Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and I know that you’re probably sick of me writing this, but it couldn’t be cuter, or nicer if it tried! Old city, new city, medium city, it doesn’t matter, this place is great! English is almost the second language as it is taught from the Second Grade on and they need to pass an exam to continue on in school, so communication is not a large issue. It’s as clean as it can be, no litter, no graffiti….and quaint cobblestone streets (even the newer ones!)  

                     We will be visiting Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland. The first three are contiguous, with Finland just a ferry ride across the Baltic Sea. The first three were also part of the old U.S.S.R. and if you don’t think that they are scared to death with what’s going on in Ukraine you would be badly mistaken. There are signs of solidarity with Ukraine wherever we go, and these countries have pledged support, both militarily and financially, to their friends in Ukraine. It’s kind of a ‘All for One, One for All’ situation.

                     They all remember what it was like under the control of Moscow and no one wants to go back there!

           What’s fascinating about these small regions is that they all have their own languages and customs. In reality, they are no larger than a few of our States. For example, Lithuania and Latvia are the size of West Virgina in area but speak a different language than the folks in (Maryland) and (Virginia) and Estonia is around the size of New Hampshire or Vermont. All of this can be traced back to the old pre-Germanic Tribal days with so many different reasons why they were easily kept separate that it would take an entire semester and then some to get familiar with the nuances of the roots and differences of all of them!

                                We’re not going there!

                                We’re just happy that they all have some nifty and delicious regional foods to sample!

                     We had a walking tour of Vilnius yesterday; it could not have been a nicer day as you will soon see. Gorgeous blue skies, great contrast, beautiful colors…. Incredible architecture…. a photo-takers dream!

                                I hope that you enjoy your tour!

Below you will find an assortment of photos, some identified, some not, because in some cases it just doesn’t make any difference!

“Why are we going to Warsaw anyway? All it is, is a modern city. They just cleaned out the rubble and put buildings back up after WWII. New ones! No character! Boy, am I happy that we got to see Krakow! At least that one is all original! I’m glad we really only have a day and a half in Warsaw, any more would be a waste of time.”

                             Don Hall (3:00 PM – April 17, 2026)

“How come we have to leave so soon? Only a day and a half to explore Warsaw? Who planned this mess? An old KGB guy hired by Krakow?  C’mon let’s mutiny! They can’t make us get on the bus!

                                Here we go… War-saw! War-saw! War-saw!”

                                     Don Hall (9:30 AM – April 20, 2026)

                                                

                     “What a difference a day makes….”

                     Holy Smokes was I ever wrong!

                     (For the next few minutes [two minutes and thirteen seconds reading normally to be precise! ] I will bore you with a short history lesson, but it is crucial to what you are about to witness!)

           If there ever was a city that could claim the title of being a Phoenix, this incredibly beautiful city is it. During its long history, Warsaw has seen itself ‘completely’ destroyed and rebuilt not one, not two, not three, not four, but five times! We’ll talk about the two most significant of those sieges, the first being by the Swedes (yes, those Volvo / Ikea loving folks!) in 1655 – 1660, when they destroyed the city to the extent that 90% of the population was decimated and most of the buildings razed. The next are closely related by being contained within the confines of WWII. The first of these was in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland in September. As per the usual modus operandi of the Germans, all the Jews were moved into a ghetto and confined for further processing. Next came the infamous date of April 19^th (check your calendars and note where we were yesterday, and the date). This date marks the start of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising which although ultimately ended in defeat, took almost a month for these incredibly resilient fighters to succumb. After the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto rose up, Nazi forces systematically razed the district, using flamethrowers and explosives to turn the area into a wasteland. This destroyed an additional large part of the city center. Next, during the 63-day Warsaw Uprising by the Polish Home Army, roughly an additional twenty-five percent of the city’s buildings were destroyed in active combat. By now the Germans had had about enough of these strong, challenging people and following the surrender of the uprising, German special units systematically burned and blew up the remaining districts, street by street, building by building, including historical landmarks and residential areas. That operation completed the destruction of what once was one of the most beautiful cities in all of Europe having once been known as the “Paris of the North.”

                                Yesterday was April 19^th, the 83^rd anniversary of the 1943 Ghetto Uprising. We were there for the commemoration, which has turned into a celebration (and rightfully so!) of the heroic resistance of a people that refused to give up. We stood outside the restaurant that we were to have lunch in so that we made sure that at precisely noontime, we could hear the sirens wail for the Minute, reminding all of the sacrifices made by those in the Past for those in the Future. And if those sirens didn’t remind everyone of an air raid siren, I don’t know what would.

                                So, now basically no more Warsaw. The Red Army moved in and ‘liberated’ this area, and I write that with ’tongue in cheek’ because while they may have liberated Poland from the Germans, it would take an additional 45 years for them to ‘leave’. (1989!)

Meanwhile, since Poland was liberated by Stalin and his Russian troops, they were not eligible to be included in the Marshall Plan which helped any of the countries that were freed by the non-Russian Allies. Even West Germany benefitted from this plan to help get Europe back up and running again.

                     (End of History Lesson)

           That was kind of necessary for you to appreciate what will soon be in front of you, a collection of photos that defy explanation except that now you know the makeup of the Polish people and if they won’t let a few fights get in the way, they’re certainly not going to let anything else get in the way of restoring their beloved city! Obviously, everything that you see will be post -WWII but it was reconstructed so well that eventually their efforts were awarded an unprecedented inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site! Yea, there was some controversy there, but hopefully you can agree that after witnessing the outcomes, it is/was well-deserved!

Now for the proof!

I hope that you can see why I was o mistaken in my judgement about Warsaw! That event ended our Pre-Trip to Poland, on to the Baltic capitals, the Main part of this trip. I can say that without a doubt we could go back to Poland and spend an inordinate amount of time!

Our last day in Krakow was spent exploring the old Jewish Quarter and the Ghetto, along with an experience at the site of Oskar Schindler’s factory. The story of the Jewish people is nothing short of fascinating on any scale. For today, this will focus on one small city, Krakow, Poland. The smaller city of Kazimierz, directly adjacent to Krakow, was the site of the newly established Jewish settlement in the 14th century. Eventually assimilated into Krakow proper, it became the Jewish Quarter, and eventually part of the Old Town as the city grew.

Enter the Nazi’s with the invasion of Poland in 1939 (the beginning of WWII) and we find that the planned extermination of the Jews needed a little more ‘organization’. The residents of the Jewish Quarter were then moved to a ghetto on the other side of the Vistula River in the Podgorze district where they were quarantined or, in fact, ‘sealed’ in. They were told that they were to be transported to the East for relocation purposes. They were sent to the East, but we now know what was located there.

The term Ghetto has had several meanings since its genesis in the Venice in the 16th century. Back then, a “gheto” was a foundry and as such, not located in a desirable part of town. In 1516 the Venetian authorities decreed that all Jews must live in this rather confined area. Obviously, we now use the term ghetto to describe just about any segregated, impoverished area of a town where people are ‘confined’, and as a place where they in fact live. The Germans used these locations as a formal area of confinement before transporting the Jewish people to the camps.

Because Krakow was relatively undisturbed (artillery and bombing) during the war, all of the synagogues that were in the old Jewish Quarter were still there after the War and thus became usable again as the Jews started to move back into Poland. The oldest was built around 1494 and is still there, now serving as a museum. We saw several synagogues on our tour and as it was the Sabbath, there was activity surrounding them.

After our walk around the old Jewish Quarter, we went across the river to the Podgorze neighborhood where we visited two important places. One was the square in the middle of the ghetto where the Jews all gathered, waiting to be transported, they brought with them all things important, even furniture. This is symbolized by these random bronze chairs placed in various positions around the square, empty they are, further symbolizing the fact that no one would be home to use them anymore.

We then worked our way out of the Ghetto to the site of Oskar Schindler’s factory. This site is now being used as a full-on experience illustrating the path of what was to happen to Poland after the German invasion of 1939. It was a kind of multi-media production, very well done, that would be hard to show any kind of pieces of as they would need to be taken out of context and thus rendered ineffective, so for that reason you will see only one photo from this experience.

The more time we spend here the more we realize just how resilient these folks are. Tomorrow we will be in Warsaw, a city that was leveled during WWII and while almost everything there is post WWII, it promises to be quite an experience. Report to follow!

                     It was a long, narrow passageway, a tunnel of sorts.

                     The only sound was a muted voice.

                     It was obviously of a Hebrew man; he spoke the names of the victims.

                     Avraham Ostfeld,

                     Elana Eiderman,

                     Jacob Tennenbaum,

                     Motti Lichman…

                      … and six million more.

We walked in silence.

+++++++++++++++++

Auschwitz…

Birkenau…

Obviously German names for obviously Polish places, an attempt by the conquerors to eradicate even the names of places that did not suit their needs.

                     Just like the six million……

This excursion was a significant part of our experience here in Poland. Located just a little over an hour from Krakow, most of the atrocities attached to those two names were committed here on purpose, none were completed in the Fatherland, it was as if they knew even back then they did not want the stains of their actions to be anywhere in Germany.

                     We were not the only ones there.  Experiences like this, emotional ones, I try my best to face by myself. I am not interested in anyone else’s comments. I want and need to come to grips with my thoughts by myself. Except maybe here.

                     I was prepared to be upset by the lack of respect (?) shown by visitors to these sacred grounds…. You know, “selfies” and the like. In fact, I was seriously wrong when I attributed these actions to what I was sure would be from visitors on the younger side…. School Groups, the most feared collection of people to attend anything with. I walked in single file past these younger folks as we switched back and forth through the barracks turned exhibits in Auschwitz. I studied their eyes as we encountered each other, vacant they were not, and amused they definitely were not. Respectful and thoughtful they were. This is when I felt that having others around in moments like these was not a bad thing. Commiseration has its benefits.

                     We filed past the carefully curated collections of photographs, belongings, and intensely personal articles of the victims of hatred and lies. They were told that they were being relocated…. So “bring your most prized possessions with you, bring what is important.” They were filled with the hope of completely being pushed out, that would be alright, wouldn’t it? Finally, getting out from under the stare and control of the Nazi’s. They hadn’t done anything wrong, so why would they expect anything else?

“Just let us go.”

But when the doors of the railcars opened after many days of putrid suffocation, their eyes squinting in either the daylight or the floodlight, their worst nightmares were far behind them as the full realization of what was about to be extracted from them became painfully, on their part, and sinfully on their captors’ part, aware.

Hence the collections of suitcases, combs and brushes, eyeglasses, shoes, and toys and dolls, that were carefully strewn behind protective glass walls in muted light to further protect them. Thousands upon thousands of these ‘relics’ and I use that term with all of the full ecclesiastical meaning behind it, were laid bare for our inspection and introspection. These were the articles that would no longer be needed anymore.

                     Each room, visited in a specific order, became more and more personal until we entered a very dimly lit one….. one that had several thousand pounds of human hair that was shaved from their heads. This hair would have been eventually used for making fabric and the like, just as the over forty tons of the hair found bailed and stored would have been.

                                I heard the names, I saw many, many more. I saw even more photographs of the people murdered here. I read their stories, finished what I thought that I maybe could not have. It was done respectfully as you would expect. We were told that we could take photographs, what better way to promulgate the purpose of this Memorial. We were asked only in two places not to take photos, the rooms in Block 4 that contained the human hair and the basement of Block 11 which was used as a punishment area where prisoners were effectively starved to death, it is now treated as a Memorial. I elected not to take photographs of several other areas, strictly on a gut feeling as we filed past them. It is somewhat of a blur now, so I cannot explain exactly what you may be missing, but rest assured, the neglection of these was done with the highest possible intentions.

                     Now looking back on the photos that I did take, they seem rather ‘innocent’ as it were.

Just buildings and places that could be anywhere.

 But they are not just anywhere.

They are there at Auschwitz and Birkenau……

……..Szmil Oskola

Benzion Eisenbaum

Mosczk Pirovicz

….. and six million more.

 “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.

Winston Churchill quoting George Santayana House of Commons Speech – 1948

                     I want to move here.

                     This city could be one of the nicest and best-preserved ones we’ve ever been to and if it weren’t for a definite language barrier, well…. my initial statement stands. The reasons for the non-destruction are many and varied, but the facts remain that Krakow stayed untouched during WWII, hence its “I Want to be Here” charm index is off the board!

                     One theory is faith-based. There are so many churches in Krakow, and each one has a ‘Guardian Angel’….  so, when danger was looming the angels all opened their spiritual umbrellas and created an impervious cover over the entire city.

                     Another is that the Russian troops advanced quick enough to ward off any bombing necessities as the city was then under Allied control.

                     Don’t know about you, but the first reason is a much nicer remedy! In any event, the buildings and infrastructures around here, dating from the 1300’s, are largely intact. While the population of Krakow (proper) is comparable to San Francisco or Indianapolis, at about 900,000 people, its metropolitan area is more comparable to Austin, Texas or Jacksonville, Florida. Krakow is the second largest city in Poland with Warsaw coming in first.

                     Since the Solidarity movement shook up Poland in 1989, Krakow has sprung forward, embracing its new -found freedoms and celebrating its resilience against the former Soviet Bloc overtures that held it back for those forty or so years.

                     Walking around the city is an absolute pleasure…. the pedestrians have the right-of-way (except for the trams!) and the population exercises this perk to the Nth degree by just stepping out onto the crosswalk where the drivers expect them to do this and stop accordingly. And the Trams are all free to those over 70!

                     Now all that is needed to complete this Nirvana is having the Cukiernies (pastry shops!) also be free to us in the ‘Over 70 Club’!

Stanislaw and Zbigniew were out hunting one day back in 1044. Stan was eying up a nice buck while Z-Big took his turn as the ‘Spotter’. Stan let his arrow fly, but due to the amount of slivovitz consumed the night before (and as a warmer-upper just a few hours prior), his arrow missed his mark and instead buried itself in a small hilly outcropping. Stan grunted to Z-Big to go and do his job as ‘spotter’ and find his arrow. Stan then promptly passed out. Z-Big dutifully found the arrow and when he went to pull it out of the hillside, he noticed that it was a rather wet area with a good amount of crusty white stuff around it. And just like good ol’ Jedd Clampett when he was hunting and missed his mark, and “out from the ground come a’ bubblin’ crude, oil that is…. Texas Tea….  Z-Big had discovered a rather lucrative find, not oil, but salt, which back then was probably way more valuable than a black, greasy liquid that needed several hundred more years to become even useful!

                     Z-Big let his friend sleep and went to the King (Casimir I) and was granted a ‘Privilege’ which he shared with the local monastery, they in turn, began collecting the brine from the area, drying it, and produced some of the first Sodium Chloride (table salt) from what would become one of the world’s oldest and most prolific salt mines…..  the Wieliczka Salt Mine just outside of Krakow, Poland.

                     Well, that’s the story and I’m stickin’ to it!

                     Yesterday we spent the better part of the day at the Salt Mine which had become a central figure in the past commerce of the area to today when it is one of the top tourist attractions, amassing over 1.91 million visitors alone last year. Yesterday was a Wednesday in April and then place was packed! The Guides said the “You should see it in the High Season, July and August!” No Thank you! It was crowded enough yesterday! But it is well worth the visit!

                     This place is about as cool (Fifty-four degrees Fahrenheit all year-round) as it gets! And it is massive! We spent almost two and a half hours down there walking in the endless tunnels and chambers, learning about how they mined this stuff from the old days to the recent past. They really didn’t start digging down until the 1300’s and the process ceased in the late 1990’s because of mine flooding and the price of salt on the market. But not until the mine reached a depth of 1076’ and a total tunnel length of 178 miles!

                     Another feather in its salty cap is that it was one of the first twelve sites from around the world that began the UNESCO World Heritage collection back in 1978. That original list includes such places as Yellowstone National Park and the Galapagos Islands! Now if that’s not a recommendation for a visit I don’t know what is!

Our afternoon concluded with a search for the otherwise ubiquitous Pretzel! Try as we might, finding a place that sells these masterpieces proved harder than it should have. Search we did, walked we did, and finally ate we did, some ‘traditional style’ (but stuffed!) pretzels! Ours was one stuffed with Mozzarella and then sprinkled with sesame seeds. Just enough to hold us over until a nice dinner was had a ‘locals only’ restaurant.

Another recommendation for you to visit Poland…. the food!

                     Well…. to be honest with you, everything (so far) has turned out just fine. If you remember from yesterday, we had our times/flights/airlines/cities/ and psyches all misenjumbled and strewn through the stratosphere, which did not exactly give us any sort of peace of mind, especially when travelling overseas. And…. if you’ve been following or even noticing the stories coming out of this industry of late, even the favs of the peeps have come under fire as of late! Southwest Airlines is a good example.

                     Enter our situation, with no notice that the change was looming and scary situations such as, “I’m sorry, we can’t seem to locate that reservation. Please check that your numbers are correct and try again. Or try back later. Thank you for contacting Austrian Air and have a nice day!”

“What do you mean you can’t find my reservation! You’re the one that gave me the numbers in the first place!” (I screamed at my laptop)

           No reply.

I’d have to say that feeling like an enigma is not a good way to start a relationship!  (Miss Austrian Airlines!)

Ok, I’ll try another way. I found my Ticket Number, so in it went. The screen did that swirly deal like a dog chasing its tail…… “I’m sorry we can’t seem to find that reservation. Please check the numbers and try again later. Thank you for contacting Austrian Air and have a nice day!”

Now I’m really feeling like an orphan. I called Austrian Airlines, got through and even they could not get us checked in!

“Mr. Hall, I can see your reservation here, but the system won’t allow me to acknowledge you. You’ll need to just check in at the airport.”

Not acceptable and that’s all well and good until we get to the airport….. I can hear the nice person at the counter,

 “I’ve never seen anything like this Mr. Hall. I can see your reservation here on my screen, but the system won’t let me proceed any further, and the days of handwritten Boarding Passes are long gone. I’d get my supervisor, but she just left for her lunch hour and is unreachable, we’ll just have to wait until she returns.”

           “But my flight leaves in an hour! Check in starts in ten minutes!”

           “Maybe you should have gotten here a little earlier?”

“I arrived on time, but I failed to account for the 15 million people who apparently need to get to Vienna today! The line was way too long! What is it? Mozart’s birthday or something?”

She just smiled and said with a laugh, “No Mr. Hall, Mozart’s birthday is January 27^th and besides he lived in Salsburg not Vienna” ……  as she indicated with a wave of her hand to a few chairs off to the side apparently reserved expressly for these ‘meetings’… you know, like the ones right outside the Vice-Principal’s office.

“I’m sorry Mr. Hall, I guess, we’ll just have to wait for Miss Sophie to get back from her lunch, now if you don’t mind …….. Next please!”

           And with that I was shuffled off to the Enigma Bench to await our fate as the clock ticked ever closer to that Witching Minute when they close the cabin door that a sound that eerily brings up reminisces like those doors on creaky hinges down in the dungeon.

           The Newark Airport Dungeon.

That was the scenario that was bouncing around in my head with the speed of a pickleball, and I was bound and determined not to let that happen to us!

Question for you…..

Are you one of the folks that are comfortable getting to the airport in enough time to grab a bottled water and hop on board? Or…. do you get panicky if you’re not already on your way to the Airport at 9 AM for a 5PM flight?

           To be honest, I am definitely a card-carrying member of the latter group and in fact, I’d feel much better if we left at 9AM the day before the day we needed to be there. Suffering from this Aeroleftbehindagain Phobia is only compounded by the fact that I also contract a dose of Doomisonthewayitis with every trip. This scenario flies in face of the Conventional Wisdom on this subject, but I can’t help it, so I am not endeared by anyone who possesses a more normal state of mind.    

           All of this is brought about by having an over-active sense of imagining doom descending upon us like the Veils of Armageddon when it comes to having aspects of control issues being pilfered away from us (me!) And in my mind having a need for an abundance of extra time to counteract the Gremlins of Travel who spend all their time conniving against and thwarting the plans of innocent goers-away is the only way to counteract these evil nogoodniks!

                     Hence the need to arrive three days before travel should commence. In this case we had no idea if any of the changed details was, in fact, going to be able to be implemented forthwith. For all I knew, that scenario just painted with the Supervisor out and the lines too long, and the plane whisking away without us was a possibility. Now, mind you, not a probability but for me the only downside was that we’d arrive too early and the counter would not be open yet because all of these flights are in the evening.

                     Oops! Did I say that?

Yup, but it did not stop me from calling our ‘Uber’ Driver Matt (Paula’s son) not once, but twice, upping our arrival time by an additional two hours. This, I believed would take into account any “lunch breaks” etc. that anyone may be on. Well, that’s exactly what happened and when we arrived there wasn’t even a wisp of evidence that an Austrian Airlines even existed! Their only means of identification were these advert poles that get placed in front of the velvet ropes that designate the entrances to their counters and these poles were safely hidden from view by several well-placed vending machines, But first the Air India sahibs needed to finish their check-in process and then vacate that Zone (B) so that the overhead LED signs can be clicked to Lufthansa, Austrian, and Swiss Air.

           But wait! There’s more! The other downside of arriving too early is that we’d be first in line (which we were) to get our ‘situation’ looked into and thereby getting into the First-Class lounge that much earlier! Not bad, right? Our plan was not to say anything to the guards of the Boarding Passes and see what they would come up with. We approached His Highness with a veiled feeling of trepidation and waited for the verdict. I watched his eyes as they glanced furtively back and forth across his screen and I could not tell if he had a nervous condition or was first checking his stock portfolio before he worked on our issues. Minutes went by, he’d glance up at us, study our faces, then quickly avert his eyes and continue examining his stock portfolio or whatever it was, until he just blurted out, “Here ya go!  Just go through those doors and show them that little green dot I put on there, it’ll get you into the Fast Lane for Security. Have a good flight!”

           Ta-Daaa! Not a word was needed from us except the ‘please’ and thank-you’s offered in sincerity. We walked away quickly with our coveted Boarding Passes tucked into one of Paula’s carry-on pockets, AKA, The Pack of Many Zippers.

Now we could start the trip! Early we were, by choice it was not, but the silver lining was that w could spend some more time in the Lufthansa/Austrian Air/Swiss Air First Class Lounge! We’ve been able to do this one only once before (on United) and it was by a Decided Chance that it occurred. In reality, we don’t come even close to be able to afford a First/Business seat, it’s only by that Decided Chance that it can even happen and then the Factors need to be weighted and then weighed, throwing all of the other variables into it. We’d been lucky once before and unfortunately, once you experience that kind of service and amenities, your appetite gets whetted for more when the next opportunity arises. Like this one.

           We were already in what is termed as ‘Premium Economy’ and this category is only available on International/Long Haul flights and in my opinion, is the best ‘value’ on the aircraft. These seats are closer to First Class on a domestic flight than they are to an Economy configuration and with all of the freakin’ issues I have with my legs and brain, getting that kind of room is crucial to my well being and saying crucial is not an exaggeration. I can slip into a Panic Attack in a heartbeat thinking about my legs spasming out and me not having any control over it and then the Air Marshall shows up and I find myself strapped to the wing for the duration of the flight which is actually better because it gets me out of my seat and into a different position!

           Anyway, we did weigh the weights, input the variables, then slid those calculations through the calculator, and then took that number and brought it to the Ultimate Authority of what gets decided on in the Motorhome…… Frank. Frank is our little Sea Otter mascot who sits up front and watches out for us. He has since been joined by Bucc-ee of the Bucc-ee’s Fuel Heaven Stores that we like to frequent. But Frank has the most experience, so we usually defer to him. When the problem was announced, and the situation discussed, Frank promptly fell over (he’s becoming rather ‘not firm’ as most little stuffed animals end up suffering from). We took this as a sign of astonishment and then promptly upped ourselves from Premium Economy to Polaris on United. But we were now on Austrian Air! What kind of seats do they have? How’s the food? What else is different?

           Great! We get into this level of service just once and all of a sudden, we ‘ve become “First Class Snobs” (I know that can be taken two ways, but I don’t know how to fix it!) In reality all is good the in First Cabin, albeit different. The seats were not as good for sleeping according to Paula who was really looking forward to just snoozing her way across the Atlantic, but the food was extraordinary. The Chef came out of the Forward Galley and went to each passenger and discussed what everyone wanted to be served from the available menu. Now let’s not go crazy here, it is a Commercial Flight and is subject to the Rules and Reg’s of Flight Safety and I’m fairly sure that I would not have found a full-blown commercial kitchen up there. But what is able to happen is that instead of having meals assembled elsewhere, chilled, then wrapped for eventual heating and then being served, they have the ingredients ready to go. They do get heated, but then the “chef” gets to plate them individually which assures that everything is equally prepared and presented on a plate that defies the description of something just coming out of a heater apparatus. Plus, he comes out into the Cabin and helps serve the meals. The impression is quite effective, if not downright impressive!

For me, this was the Highlight of the flight on many levels as I did not attempt to do that lay-flat deal with my seat. I pretty much stayed in a dozing seated position watching that little airplane icon work its way across the Atlantic on the seatback monitor in front of me.

           After landing in Vienna all went well, Immigration was easy, waiting the five hours between flights was easy, getting snacks was easy, and getting on our next flight to Krakow was easy, but sitting there for the thirty-five-minute flight was torture. Don’t ask me any questions cuz I don’t got no answers. Lots of theories, however. So as soon as the Fasten Seat Belt sign was jettisoned, I sprang up and went aft to hang around the lavatory/galley/crew area, just to stand and not be constrained in my seat. The Flight Attendants were understanding and when I complimented them on the quality of the little chocolates that they were handing out one of them promptly gave me five more!  😊

                     That made my day better!

We met Sherry and Harold at the hotel and promptly walked out to find a good pierogie place to celebrate our successful arrival in Poland.

           Off to sleep (?) and a few hours later, our first full day is awaiting us tomorrow! Good night!

           Zzzzzz !

The rest of the early morning Photo Shoot!

It’s now getting light out and breakfast and our first full day awaits…..

We leave the sunny, warm, (?) environs of northern New Jersey for the still (more) chilly regions of the Baltic tomorrow at 5:20 PM. It was supposed to be at 7:05 PM but when Paula opened an email request from United asking her to pre-choose her meal (which had already been accomplished) curiosities took control and as it turns out, we are now NOT on United, but on Austrian Airlines, NOT into Frankfurt, but into Vienna, NOT arriving at 10:15 Am, but at 7:50 AM, NOT flying to Krakow via Lufthansa, but continuing on with Austrian Airlines and NOT arriving in Krakow at 11:15 Am, but now 2:05 PM.

In the Grand Scheme of Things, this is really a non-issue. But the way that we found out was just a tad disconcerting…… choosing a meal for a flight that had been already changed. One hour and twenty-two minutes of On Hold with United gave us the probable reason why we were jostled around the tarmac and ushered on to a totally new airline. Apparently, the pilots of Lufthansa are having employment issues with their parent company, and it is disrupting flights emanating from Munich, Berlin, and Frankfurt! So, the mavens at Overseas Adventure Travel jumped to the rescue (or so it seems as we’ve not as yet had any meaningful communications with OAT) and re-booked us on flights that could actually get us to our destination in a timely manner. This will be ascertained at exactly at 9:00:000001 AM today as I plan on being the first caller when they open their lines.

Luckily Austrian Airlines had two seats still available in their First Class/Business Cabin because that’s where we were on United. We’ve learned that if we start looking at changing seats just a few days before departure and snag that Mysterious Algorithm that the airlines use to determine seat availability/pricing, and catch it just right, we can score an upgrade for a fraction of its original cost. Remember we accomplished this on the past Houston to Tokyo leg of the Vietnam trip. Austrian Airlines still has the lay-flat seats, but they are not in those cool pod-like enclosures like United has. Oh well, beggars can’t be choosers and we’re still on schedule, so kudos to OAT for monitoring this still-evolving situation and getting us to our destination on time!

My next Post will probably emanate from Krakow, Poland as that’s where we’ll be for a few days. We are scheduled to visit some cool-looking Salt Mines that have been around for (yup, here it comes!) about a thousand years or so and way far underground these constructors’ extraordinaire have built at least one Cathedral-like room down there. It looks like our Tour will hold true to the moniker attached to most of these outings, that of the ABC Tour or translated, a Another Beautiful (or Boring!) Cathedral and it starts underground!

Film at 11.

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

It won’t be too long,

Before we’re seeing (most) of you!

___

Tomorrow’s the day

We pull up the stakes

And put ‘er in drive

And test out the Brakes!

___

Northward we’ll go

(It’s too late for the Snow!)

Three days on the Road,

Into Appomattox we’ll pull,

Easter Dinner with Brian and April,

Our bellies, quite full!

(Good thing I don’t have to rhyme with Appomattox!)

___

One more day on the Road

And at Yetter’s we’ll park,

But only for a week,

And then we’re off like a Lark!

(I didn’t know Larks were known for just flitting away! But apparently they like to soar off singing their little hearts out, so I’m gonna go with it plus it rhymes so nicely!)

___

Soon, we’ll be Rollin’ into Poland,

And a few others ta boot,

Lithuania, Lativia, Estonia, and Finland

Rhyme they don’t and I don’t give a hoot!

___

For three weeks we’ll be gone

And I’m already tired,

Cuz sleep I don’t

Cuz I’m way too wired!

___

While we’re vamoosed,

Miss Biggie goes in

Some work she needs

Like a shampoo n’ trim!

___

Way up top,

The ‘roof’ so to speak,

Gets a new waterproofing

So we don’t spring a leak!

Her sides will be glowing

The result of a waxing

But it’s a ceramic being applied,

Which is really quite taxing!

So watch out for that ‘Light’

Put your sunglasses on,

It’s really just us

Driving Miss ‘Bright’!

___

Yup! We hit the road tomorrow with a projected ETA at YTR (Yetters’ International) sometime Easter Monday evening. We’ll be there for a week before we wing our way over the Atlantic for another O.A.T. trip, this one is called The Baltic Capitals (with a Pre-Trip to Poland). One of your fellow readers, Karen (my sister-in-law) took this exact same OAT trip a few months ago and the reports were everything that we had hoped for and then some. Can’t wait!

            So that you can plan the rest of your summer and know how many days that you’ll be gone (so you can request off in enough time!) I will outline the Projected Schedule of Travels here for you.

                        13 April – 4 May   Baltic Capitals

                        16 July – 1 August  Iceland, Svalbard, & Norway

                        7 August – 15 August   Alaska Cruise

            We will probably exit New Jersey for points North and West about a week later. Travels to include:

• the Upper Peninsula of Michigan
• Minneapolis
• Seely Lake, Montana
• (A town in Idaho) which I know but escapes me right now!
• Vancouver, Washington
• Pacific City, Oregon
• Newport, Oregon
• Maybe a stop in California
• Durango, Colorado
• Brenham, Texas

We should be rolling into Brenham sometime in the year 2525 (Zager & Evans 1969) or October, whichever comes first and just in time for the temps to decrease to about 97 degrees!

                        So get those “armchairs” warmed up because it looks like a busy season!

                        Remember back in the day in school the anguish displayed on everyone’s faces in the classroom when Miss Crabtree presented a Word Problem to you?

                        “Ok Class, here is your assignment for tonight…. If Sally left NYC at 8:12 AM (EDT) on a train headed west at 85 miles per hour, and Jack left San Francisco at 8:12 AM (PDT) on a train headed east at 150 miles per hour (he was on one of those newfangled electro-magneto-levatronated Super Acela trains) and the distance between NYC and San Fran is 2,851 miles, what time would they meet and how many apples would Sally have left after giving Rosie six (6) oranges to give to her kids for school to trade for brownies because they didn’t like oranges?”

                        Bonus Question:  “What kind of apples did Sally have?

                                                “Huh?”

                                     “Uhh, Sally had apples not oranges so how….”

                        “Not my problem, You figure it out! Use your Inside Voice!”

                                                “Huh?”

                                    “Sheeh! Kids these days…….”

              So, the Motorhome is about to clock in at 100,000 miles.

            This is a momentous occasion mainly because in this age of digital information displays, it is much harder to ‘roll back’ an odometer to a more reasonable number! (Did I just say that?)

                        Anyway here is your assignment:

                        If Paula and Don leave the Texas Home Base to go to the local Dump Station which is 4.3 miles away, how many trips will it take to get to the 100,000 miles mark? And….. there are only two more scheduled “Dump Runs” because they need to be done every nine (9) days, and we leave soon for NJ on April 1st, so how far into the upcoming trip to NJ will this Event take place and how many apples will there still be in the fridge (I like them cold) after Paula gives her granddaughter Maddie, six oranges to trade for brownies in school?

         Don’t ask any questions! Use your Inside Voice!

(And don’t even think of calling Miss Crabtree… her number is wisely unlisted!)

And no comments on the Humans either!

(Unless they’re good!)