Day 4 Viking Vesta ‘Malta, Morocco and the Med’ 16 day cruise Civitavecchia, Italy #vikingvesta #maltamoroccoandthemed #italy #Civitavecchia #rome #checkthisoffourbucketlist We woke up this morning in Civitavecchia, docked next to our sister ship the Viking Mars. The Mars is on a 20 day repositioning cruise which embarked in Ft. Lauderdale and ends in Athens. It was interesting to see the slight differences in the two ships, with the Vesta being a 2025 ship and the Mars bein

Day 3 Viking Vesta ‘Malta, Morocco and the Med’ Cruise from Barcelona to Barcelona Ajaccio, Corsica, France. March 15, 2026 Neither one of us has ever visited Corsica before so we were both quite interested to see what the Island was all about We knew that Napoleon Bonaparte was a native of Corsica but little else did we know about this island that houses 360,000 people. Corsican flag or ‘A Bandera Corsa’ features a black Moor’s head (Testa Mora) with a white bandana on a w

Day 2 on the Viking Vesta ‘Malta, Morocco and the Med’ - Marseille, France #viking #myvikingjourney #myvikingstory Arriving in Marseille this morning I stepped out on the balcony to watch as our ship the Viking Vesta entered the old harbour of Marseille guided by a pilot boat. I was surprised by how cold Marseille was after our balmy few days in Barcelona! I know why I packed warm clothes and layers for this trip! It is hard to believe when you are in Florida all winter th

Day 1 Viking Vesta “Morocco, Malta and the Mediterranean March 13, 2026 Our first glimpse of the Viking Vesta which was built in 2025. We are onboard for the next 16 days on the “Morocco, Malta and the Mediterranean” cruise. It is always so exciting the first glimpse of the ship. I remember feeling this same way when we finally saw the Viking Neptune in 2022 when we boarded in Ft. Lauderdale for our 138 day Viking World Cruise. Booking a cruise 2 years in advance and the a

Day 1, 2, 3 Tampa, Florida to Toronto, Canada to Paris, France, to Barcelona, Spain. 4 flights out of 12 flown so far! Our departure from our home in Plant City, Florida on Tuesday was fairly uneventful. Our wonderful neighbour Ray rode with us to the airport, to drop us off, so he could bring our trusty old Mazda MPV back to our garage to await our return. Traffic was horrible going into TPA but we leave lots of time so we do not stress when we travel. We thought we would

Today starts another big adventure! We have been planning this 5+ week vacation for over 2 years and we are finally going to embark on another trip of a lifetime! 2026 is the “Year of Ruth” as Richard is calling it. I turn 65 this month on March 20th and I wanted to be somewhere special for my BIG BIRTHDAY! One of the places I have always wanted to visit happens to be where we will be on my Birthday! Our adventure begins from Tampa, Florida where we have spent the winter

#avalonsaigon #vietnam #avalonwaterways #hochiminh #checkthisoffourbucketlist #saigon Day 1 of our land portion in Ho Chi Minh or Saigon…it seems no one can give me a straight answer on whether we should say Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City. Apparently the city was renamed in 1976 after the Vietnam War but locals with a sentimental connection to the city pre 1976 still call it Saigon. We left our luggage outside our cabin this morning at 6:45am and headed to the buffet on the Aval

Day 7 Avalon Saigon River Cruise on the Mekong Delta #avalonsaigon #avalonwaterways #checkthisoffourbucketlist #snakes #poprice #vinhlong This morning we had our last Sampan ride of the cruise. Our early morning excursion brought us to Vinh Long to a workshop. We got to experience some traditional Vietnamese foods and drink at this ‘one stop shop’ on the Mekong River. We disembarked at what look like a covered open air building which had various stations set up inside. Our

#avalonwaterways #avalonsaigon #checkthisoffourbucketlist #vietnam Day 6 on the Avalon Saigon on the Mekong We did not travel very far overnight as you can see from the map above the border of Cambodia and Vietnam is still pretty close. Our destination this morning was a very small place called Long Khanh A. Apparently there is a Long Khanh B and C but we were only visiting A today. As more silt builds up in the Mekong delta, more islands form and instead of figuring out n

Day 5 Avalon Saigon River Cruise…leaving Phnom Penh #avalonjourney #avalonwaterways #checkthisoffourbucketlist #cambodia #vietnam We started off from Phnom Penh this morning at 2am to sail on the Mekong River until we reached the border with Vietnam. Apparently we would have to ‘get in line’ with any other ships which were crossing into Vietnam, so arriving early in the morning was the plan to make sure we were not delayed too long at the border. Approaching Vietnam the Mek

#RoyalPalace #privatetour #cyclotour #tuktuk #phnom penh #cambodia #avalon #checkthisoffourbucketlist Day 4 Avalon Saigon Mekong Delta River Cruise Docking in Phnom Penh for a few days meant that we could have some free time this afternoon and we could go on an included excursion this morning. Cyclos all lined up to take us through the streets of Phnom Penh. Phnom Penh has a population of 2.8 million and the traffic is very chaotic. Rather than have a tour bus to drive us ar

#cambodia #avalontours #avalonjourney #avalon #checkthisoffourbucketlist #oxcart #killingfields Day 3 of our Mekong Delta River Cruise on the Avalon Saigon How do you get to work? Many of us that lived near Toronto would commute via GO Train or Subway, with a few brave ones willing to risk rush hour traffic and sit in their cars for hours at a time. Well today’s commute was a wee bit different to get to the village of Kampong Tralach! Ox cart!! Who knew there was a specific

#avalonsaigon #mekongrivercruise #checkthisoffourbucketlist #wathanchey #angkorban Day 2 on the Avalon Saigon Mekong Delta River Cruise We had the option today of climbing up 390 steps to the temple or take a bus. Humidity was 90% and it felt like 39C. We took the bus. We knew we would have lots of opportunity to sweat today, so why start out sweaty! The bus dropped us off at an 8th century Buddhist temple compound where we were to experience a water blessing ceremony by the

#busrides #avalon #checkthisoffourbucketlist #avalonsaigon We started off our morning leaving our luggage outside our hotel rooms at 7am....

#siemreap #bantaysrea #taprohm #cambodia #ricenoodles #avalon #checkthisoffourbucketlist #angkorwatsunrise 4:30am wake-up call! Up bright...

#avalon #checkthisoffourbucketlist #cambodia #siemreap #ankorwat In the 16th Century Portugese traders and missionaries discovered a vast...

#avalon #checkthisoffourbucketlist #vietnam #tamcoc #lagooncruise #gogoyears #retiredtravellers Day 2 of our Fascinating Vietnam,...

#avalon #hanoi #vietnam #checkthisoffourbucketlist Day 3 Hà Nội After two day in Hanoi with a guide and on our own, it was finally time...

#hanoi #avalon #streetfood #streetmurals #checkthisoffourbucketlist #gogoyears #retiredtravellers After another wonderful breakfast on...

#hanoi #hanoistreettour #avalon #checkthisoffourbucketlist We both had a great night’s sleep for our first night in Hanoi. With an 11...