4 planes, 2 busses, a ship, 3 trains and 8 countries

I have found the best way to travel, bar none.

And it's name is the Cruise Ship.

I love the Oosterdam.

Awesome Cruise Ship Advantages:

1. Your hotel room travels with you. No unpacking/repacking and dragging your bag across cobblestone roads.
2. You go to sleep at night in one place and in the morning, you're in another! You travel while you sleep so there's no wasted time yet you still get a good night's rest.
3. Picturesque coastal and sea scenes.
4. Silence in the middle of the sea.
5. There's always something on the ship to do: trivia, shows, swimming, eating... And when you don't want to do anything, you go and sleep, or read a book, or sit on the deck.
6. There is constant food. All the time. And it's "free".
7. Room Stewards. Your room gets cleaned twice a day!
8. No Visas for countries that require visas! Just walk right in!
9. Did I mention that you unpack once? Mmmm....
10. Chocolate chip cookies.

If I could only cruise for the rest of my life, I think I'd be okay with that! Except then I'd miss the interior of great countries such as Russia, Canada, most of Europe, etc. Oh well.

A few downfalls (although I'd hate to dwell on the negatives) but, some things are very expensive, since it is very tourist-based, such as drinks, tours and photos. But for the most part, you can spend very little if you don't drink, if you plan tours ahead of time, and if you take your own pictures!

I like to think of it as the most blessed trip.

Here are our blessings/miracles.

1. Pam had 4 overweight bags. She didn't have to pay overage charges for any of them.
2. I was allowed to carry both of my 2 pieces of carryon luggage.
3. Pam's lost luggage was found and she wasn't charged for a third bag!
4. All of our luggage made it to Germany, safe and sound! (About 12 pieces of luggage, at least)
5. I wasn't charge for my extra kilo on Ryan Air.
6. We were all upgraded to nicer rooms on our cruise ship - Melissa and I even had a verandah!
7. We had perfect weather for the entire cruise! Sunshine every day!
8. Steph and I made our train from Brussels to Lille with about a minute to spare.
9. I was upgraded to Business class for the long flight from Frankfurt to Toronto (Hallelujah!!)

It was a pretty amazing trip. There are likely a million more blessings that I overlooked as just *awesome* on our trip.

And now, to force myself to see the good side of this cold Canadian weather, this incessant rain, these sick, whiny kids...

(All 177 pictures are on Facebook, if you want to see them!)