The Avid Traveler

I’m currently in Alicante, Spain. It’s interesting that all the news about the high cost of Europe isn’t a reality here.

We’re staying in a beautiful two-bedroom villa, three levels, with three outdoor terraces. Very close to the beach, lots of room for everyone, two bathrooms, washer/dryer, etc. It’s $150 a day for five of us. Not $150 each, but $150 a day for everyone.

We dined out on tapas and drinks two night’s ago (five people) for $90 - not a real dinner but satisfying nonetheless, and in a good setting.

Last night, with dinner, we enjoyed a bottle of wine that was only $1.50 and actually quite good (the cheapest wine at the supermarket was 75 cents).

Our dinner, which we cooked here, was around $20 for turkey, potatoes, etc.

Of course, Americans still have to deal with the high cost of air travel and pay exorbitantly, often, for lack of knowledge in being able to get around - from the airport to the hotel, for example. Public transport is one of the greatest values in Europe.

I can go from Helsingborg, Sweden, to Copenhagen’s International Airport, for a little more than $10. It’s a 1.5-hour journey by bus, ferry and train. And the train drops me conveniently at the airport.

Tags: Spain

Reason number 8,028 to book a balcony stateroom: the early-morning view in Sitka, Alaska. It was 7 a.m., and my stateroom was immersed in darkness until I rose from my bed and stood in front of the curtains. I used both hands to draw them back for a view that caused me to audibly express my awe.

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Finding Bliss in the Baltic

SOMEWHERE IN THE BALTIC SEA, July 1 — It is near midnight, or at least that it is what my watch tells me. The sun and sky suggest otherwise. The bright orange orb hovers over the watery horizon, casting a reddish-yellow glow on a cloudless sky.

My (then) wife and I stand on our stateroom balcony waiting for the sun to dip below the horizon. Our body clocks are out of sync, six times zones east of our home (we’ll lose two more hours as the clock moves forward one hour on each of the first two nights of our cruise from Copenhagen).

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