Soap Size

I don't like big soap, bath size. I like the small ones you get at hotels on on a cruise ship.

The Art of Reading

On the last cruise I had taken, two years ago, I ran into this guy carrying an armload of books. As it turned out, it was six books and he was reading them at the same time. If it had been a contest to see how many books you could carry, I would have won hands down with my kindle downloaded with twelve books. As to the number of books to read, I  myself always read two books. It's the recommended number I'm told. I tried reading three books but found it too confusing. Every time I saw this guy, he was reading. At the dinner table he sat alone, five books stacked on the table, one book in one hand, fork in the other. I wish I had asked him how many books he read in a year.

Cruise Ships

Seeing the vulnerability of cruise ships, being a tour guide may be taking unnecessary risks. 

“The most troubling issue in many European cities these days is not migrants, its tourists.”

Having done a lot of travelling, I can relate to this. On my first trip to Rome, it was by way of a cruise ship. We were bussed in. At the Trevi Fountain, we could hardly move. Had trouble throwing my coins in. At the Vatican, we couldn’t get in because of the long lineups.

A week later we disembarked the ship in Venice, then took a train back to Rome, where we stayed awhile.

Now this was a totally different atmosphere. There were hardly anyone at the Trevi Fountain but too late for me, I already spent my coins. We went to the Vatican at 8:00 a.m. and there was maybe a dozen tourists. Took all the photos we wanted without a people background.

Last year we went to Germany and stayed in Munich and Fussen, a week each. It was just normal life, no pushing or shoving. Although any tourist attraction like Neuschwanstein castle, will have a lot of visitors, even from their own country.

Tourists bring in a lot of money, but it comes at a cost.