Travel is . . .

. . .Consistency

For quite a few years now, South Florida has been the site of an annual boat show . I don't mean the kind where you choose a boat you want to own.

No, these boat shows are a parade of lovely new cruise ships joining an existing fleet of vessels and offering the newest, largest, most exotic, (supply you own superlatives, they'll all fit) amenities at sea. Really, it is a competitive business and in-room amenities, variety of eating venues and entertainment offerings are a sea-going version of the can-you-top-this concept.

Earlier this year Silversea Cruises launched the elegant Silver Spirit and last summer Norwegian Cruise Lines debuted Epic, a wonderful new ship with wall-to-wall entertainment. In mid-November top-drawer Seabourn Cruises will introduce the intimate and gracious Seabourn Sojourn and a few days later Royal Caribbean shows off its new Allure of the Seas, a sister to the popular and year-old Oasis of the Seas. A few weeks ago the venerable Cunard Line introduced its third ship with the regal name and majesty of Queen Elizabeth.

More are scheduled to sail from Port Everglades and Port of Miami later this year, but it's a parade that, as a cruise writer and a cruise aficionado, warms my heart.

I strongly believe a cruise vacation is the easiest means of travel. It is a way of seeing the world without schlepping through security and customs at airports, flying long hours and dragging luggage in and out of hotels. On a cruise you unpack once, and voila! That's it.

And while the basic cruise and meals is all-inclusive, a per-person, per-day fee for tips is added to your bill at the end of the cruise. It is still an great value.

So while I wait to review this new generation of ships, let me tell you "I love a parade."

Travel is . . .

...NOT about fear.

I arrived in Germany three weeks ago. A couple of hours later I took a train from Frankfurt to Hamburg. After an all-night flight and a four-hour train ride, I was grateful to get into my room, my tub and my bed in that order.

I slept for about two hours and turned on TV. BBC World informed me that the U.S. State Department had issued a travel advisory for Germany, France and the UK based on possible terrorist attacks and that the terrorist cell was located in, drum roll please, Hamburg. I knew that the news would make the Sunday morning talk shows, so I hooked up by trusty laptop and emailed friends and family that I was fine and would be careful. Within a few hours one of my sons had responded, "when are you flying home."

I didn't leave. I didn't feel fear. I have a rather fatalistic outlook that what will happen will happen, and while I don't take risks, I do try to be cautious. Obviously, while I enjoyed my more than two weeks in Germany and the UK, (I am saving France for the next trip,) I got home all in one piece. In the mean time I toured some fascinating places in Europe.

Frankly, the concept of bed bugs frightens me more.

About a month or so ago I met a woman in the Atlanta airport. It was a Saturday evening and while we waited for our flight to Fort Lauderdale she told me about her business. She is an account manager for a line of medical-related products and carries something called Organic Avenger Natural Bed-Bug Killer. Any travelers to any city these days has heard about the threat - and bed-bugs aren't only in low-rent hotels. Properties at all price points have been infested and I have seen stories about the bugs on television in four different cities in recent months..

My new friend sent me a sample of a small aerosol spray the kills the bugs without staining bedding or using harmful chemicals.

It's a wonderful insurance policy and I am delighted to have it. So far, those little rascals haven't been on my dance card, but I am fearful. I am very afraid.

But travel in general, no. Not really.

Travel is . . .

. . . Often completely unexpected.

It's the totally out-of-the-blue situation that pops up every now and then. It's an OMG moment and extremely unusual, like unexpectedly running into your college roomate in Switzerland.

I purchased an Ipod before leaving for Europe. All my kids and grandkids have them and I love music and had hours of travel time ahead of me, so I bought one for myself. It took my 10-year-old grandson seemingly seconds to program it. He paused only to ask for my credit card number.

The Ipod was exactly what I wanted and was wonderful company on the flight to Frankfurt.

I used it on several long bus tours in Germany only to find I was providing entertainment for my fellow travelers. No one ever told me that singing along to your music is an embarassment. I found out when I heard everyone on the bus laughing and discovered it was me they were laughing at!

The lesson learned? Singing isn't part of my skill set, and tapping my fingers might be a better choice.

I evidently did not pack it when leaving Leipzig for Frankfurt. At the Steigenberger Hotel at the Frankfurt Airport I completely unpacked. No Ipod. I was frantic and called the Leipzig Westin and was connected to a wonderful employee who checked her records and sure enough, an Ipod had been found in my room. I explained that I was going to London but would be back at the Steigenberger on Sunday. Not only did she find it, but packaged it carefully in bubble wrap and corrugated paper, and when I returned to the airport hotel it was waiting for me.

Serendipity? You betcha! Would that happen in your home town? Would an MP3 player be found and returned so promptly and graciously? I'm not sure.

I thanked my new found friend at the Westin, and flew home with my favorite music in my ears.

Only this time I didn't sing along.

Travel is . . .

. . . . A hard habit to break.

Sometimes that break is forced upon us: Maybe it's a job change, sickness or surgery, or loss of a loved one. Any life-altering experience will prompt a change in habits.

Short version: I had a back problem, had surgery, recovered and hit the road in August after a three month break. In the process I neglected this blog but it is good to be back. And I am really back.

Literally.

I just returned from two-and-a-half weeks in Germany and a weekend in London to visit a grandson going to school there. I went to Germany for a Society of American Travel Writers Convention in Dresden and Leipzig.

Before the convention I spent five days in Hamburg. The trip entrailed four train and four plane rides, three boat excursions including an exciting sail on the River Weser from Hamburg to Bremerhaven. It was a culturally and historically interesting time and included visiting the new Beatles Square in Hamburg, exciting and memorable emigration museums in Bremerhaven and Hamburg, the regal Dresden Museum or a tiny town named Markneukirchen - the Music Town - in a corner where Bavaria, Bohemia and Germany meet in the former GDR. The townsfolk have made musical instruments since the 1670s and we had the opportunity to interview a 50-something violin-maker who continues the process.

My mind is still reeling, but the trip - though tiring - provided terrific information. Seeing my SATW friends - and the collegial feeling we share - was fun, and now it is time to put things in perspective.

I hope to do that soon, and I will share some of these experiences in the next few days.

As I said to my dry cleaner this morning, it was a wonderful trip, but it's good to be back home.

Travel is

Travel is...

Change. It is one of the many interesting things I enjoy about travel, the change in scenery, opportunity to learn something new, see something different, meet new people, and share my experiences with others.

Some changes are easier to deal with than others and technology has sometimes been a hard sell as far as I'm concerned.

I recently bought a new cell phone and have mastered the texting thing, although I am still amazed that I can access the Internet on a phone not much bigger than a business card. I had another interesting technological moment the other day. I was at the doctor's office and while waiting for her, I finished the book I was reading. I only had one or two books left on my Kindle which I hadn't yet read, and none appealed to me. In her examining room (which obviously had wi-fi), I purchased two new mystery novels from Amazon, they were beamed to my Kindle in seconds and I almost immediately received notice on my cell phone that I'd purchased the two items.

Now the office no doubt contains hundreds of thousands of dollars of sophisticated medical equipment, but those two high-tech moments symbolized the changes in technology that I have come to enjoy. (Okay, I may not totally understand it all, but I do enjoy.)

It seems a fitting way to embrace the new decade, to embrace new technologies and new ways to look at things.

And they are always interesting.

Travel is ...

Travel is..

Sometime all consuming - or like that wedge of really gooey chocolate cake - too much of a good thing.

In November I sailed on three cruises, flew back and forth from South Florida to San Francisco for a trade show and for Thanksgiving went to Orlando to my son and daughter-in-law's home. It was too much. I spent most of the past month exhausted. The holidays were on their way so it was time to arrange greetings and gifts and prepare for visiting children. Days off were few and far between.

I last wrote this blog in mid-November, I returned to the gym today for the first time in about six weeks and slowly but surely am getting back to what seems to be normal.

Then I look at the calendar and see we're almost at 2010 and the numbers are numbing! I can't believe we have gone through a decade already and will be beginning another one in 10 days.

It is a time in travel when things seem to be slowly looking up; hotels and airlines are making positive noises about the future and the cruise business is busy building new vessels. Now that I've started to play catch up I look at the future and am already making travel plans well into the new year.

The beat goes on. My 2010 resolution is to keep dancing, but to a slower beat.