Trip Report Our 19-Day Mediterranean Adventure – Greece, Turkey and the Search for Free Wifi

Finally, right? It seems like I’ve been waiting forever to start this, but really we’ve only been back three weeks! And in that time I’ve lived in a hotel for two weeks and driven across the country from Washington DC to our new home in...wait for it...Las Vegas! For some reason I have chosen now, surrounded by boxes that need to be unpacked, as the time to start my trip report. Stalling maybe? :D So here it goes!

What: A massive 19 day (13 days on the cruise with 6 more including travel time and extra days in Europe) trip extravaganza. A 12 night Mediterranean cruise with a day in London beforehand and a few days in London and Barcelona afterwards. So yes. This is going to be a long stinking trip report. Oh, and I took 5239 pictures. On my camera! That doesn’t even count the Instagram/iphone photos you’ll see scattered throughout the report.

Great day in the morning.

Why: Because cruises are awesome mostly. But also because I was able to do a last-minute 11 night Med cruise back in April of 2010 with my daughter and some other family and friends, so this was a makeup cruise for my son and husband. It worked nicely as a graduation trip/present. :)

When: June 13-July 1, 2013

I booked this cruise the day it came out, back in January of 2012.

As time got closer we realized it was going to get crazy. My daughter was going to have to miss the last day of school, my son was graduating from high school the Saturday before the trip, we had a house full of family that whole weekend and a big graduation party on Sunday, he then left and was coming home one day early from his senior trip to make it on time, and we were moving across the country to Las Vegas so our household goods were all moved the day before we left. Then the kids were traveling with their youth group to Scotland 3 days after the cruise ended, so it really didn’t make sense for us to come all the way back home and we needed to stay in Europe for three more days before we dropped them off in London Heathrow. Got all that? Yes. Like I said, a little crazy.

Totally worth it though. :)

Who: Us! Here we are a few days before we left! This picture is a celebration of the whole Whiting family – but mostly Chase. The high school graduate. Also appearing in this photo are myself-Tammy, hubby-Stephen, and daughter – Ally.



My parents! My parents were on our last Med cruise, and have been in several of my trip reports. They had quite the trip in store for them. Here they are in Monaco:



My in-laws! My in-laws were also on my last Med cruise, as well as a few other cruises with us, so they may look familiar if you've ever read one of my reports. Here they are in Palo:



My brother-in-law! Scott has appeared in a few trip cruise trip reports as well. He’s the oldest of three boys with my hubby falling in the middle. Here he is in Mykonos:

 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After a little more walking, we decided Mom needed a break and we wanted to try a double decker bus! Unfortunately the ones with the open tops were tour busses so this wasn't quite as exciting.



We knew our next destination. Platform 9 ¾! Yay! We’ve always been huge Harry Potter fans and we weren’t missing this.

We took the Underground to Kings Cross.



Platform 9 ¾ was actually outside of the turnstyles now. They’ve turned it into quite the destination!

There was a line to take pictures.



An employee stood outside and threw the scarf in the air:


There was also a store (of course) and Ally (the biggest Harry Potter fan of all) bought a sweatshirt and a really great poster. It’s the entire text of book one all printed on one poster.




The next stop was for Chase! Nike. See? He has a bag!



After a little more shopping we walked to a spaghetti restaurant. It was great! I don’t know why I didn’t take any pictures of food!







I love this picture:

 
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Mkmommy

Member
So I have to ask, why you had no reservation for London? I spent 3 months in Europe many years ago and no idea where we were going or staying, but I can't imagine that now.

You sure got a lot done in London in a day, was this all just winging it, or did you have a vague plan?
 

lbrad

Well-Known Member
WOW!!!
You covered a lot of ground in a day!!!
Barcelona, Wimbledon & Big Ben ... I need to travel with you & your family :D
Your pictures are breath taking!!!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So I have to ask, why you had no reservation for London? I spent 3 months in Europe many years ago and no idea where we were going or staying, but I can't imagine that now.

You sure got a lot done in London in a day, was this all just winging it, or did you have a vague plan?

I just ran out of time before we left! It was hard with 5 of us. Every time I thought I found something great, it wouldn't work for 3. Plus my parents weren't with me when I was searching most of the time and I hated to make a decision for them on how much to spend!

I wasn't worried. I knew there were hundreds of hotels to pick from! :)

We had a vague plan, but it was a lot of winging it.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
WOW!!!
You covered a lot of ground in a day!!!
Barcelona, Wimbledon & Big Ben ... I need to travel with you & your family :D
Your pictures are breath taking!!!

Thank you, Lisa! We did get a lot done! You can totally come next time! :)

Harrods! 9 3/4! Ahhh, awesome London pictures. I want to go! (Mostly to eat everything in Harrods).

Lol! You could spend all day in Harrods!
 

pumpkin7

Well-Known Member
Buckingham Palace was beautiful:













Family shot with a random little boy!







While we were facing the statue out front, we heard the crowd scream behind us. I turned around and saw 2 cars entering the palace. A lady passed us and said to her daughter, “I can’t believe we saw her!!”

Ack!! Her?!! That was the car that the Queen or Kate was in!!

Yay!! That totally counts as seeing them right?

Here’s the car leaving with no passengers:


I was about to say that the Royal Standard was flying so the Queen was in, but seen as you saw the car, I guess you knew that already!

But Hi! Welcome to my side of the pond :D
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I was about to say that the Royal Standard was flying so the Queen was in, but seen as you saw the car, I guess you knew that already!

But Hi! Welcome to my side of the pond :D

I like your side of the pond, pumpkin7! :)

I think the fact that the standard was flying before we saw the car meant the queen was already there and the "She" in the car was Kate right?
 

pumpkin7

Well-Known Member
See how many people are taking the picture? Pretty much everyone.



After we had our fill, we walked across the street to catch the bus back.



Ally was starting to stress about missing her appointment and she was stressing me out a little too.:p

It was Africa hot waiting for that bus, so that didn’t help.

Cute train:



Bus stop:



On the bus:



I wish we had enough time to walk back because there are so many (other) picture opportunities in Pisa!


Hey, forget the Tower, You want to come to Birmingham and experience the Crooked House Pub!

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562635_10151741205799557_1976563338_n.jpg
 

pumpkin7

Well-Known Member
I like your side of the pond, pumpkin7! :)

I think the fact that the standard was flying before we saw the car meant the queen was already there and the "She" in the car was Kate right?

I'm not sure if it means she's actually in the Palace or just currently living there, as she 'holidays' in Balmoral for a few months of the year, at which time they fly the Union Jack. I presume it just means she's living there; surely they can't take it down every time she pops off to do a meet n greet? I'm not sure!
You could have seen either of them. Very exciting though. I've never seen a Royal and I live here!
 
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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm not sure if it means she's actually in the Palace or just currently living there, as she 'holidays' in Balmoral for a few months of the year, at which time they fly the Union Jack. I presume it just means she's living there; surely they can't take it down every time she pops off to do a meet n greet? I'm not sure!
You could have seen either of them. Very exciting though. I've never seen a Royal and I live here!

I thought it meant she was actually home!! Could be wrong though! :)
 

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