PokerGrinder Europe 2

Quote: JohnnyQ

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Yes, of course we had to do the Gondola ride in Venice:

For a second I thought that was Vegas

Posting from River cruise on stop in Wurzburg. Started with 3 days in Prague. Ends with 4 days in Paris. My wife may be the youngest passenger!

So on a tour bus…. Guy in front of me is playing craps on WizardofOdds site! We get to chatting…. I’m teaching him Pai gow on the boat!

We’ve been super lucky with the weather. Not been too hot! On our walking tours been 70’s. Guide told us the week before was 100!

Quote: SOOPOO

Posting from River cruise on stop in Wurzburg. Started with 3 days in Prague. Ends with 4 days in Paris. My wife may be the youngest passenger!

So on a tour bus…. Guy in front of me is playing craps on WizardofOdds site! We get to chatting…. I’m teaching him Pai gow on the boat!

We’ve been super lucky with the weather. Not been too hot! On our walking tours been 70’s. Guide told us the week before was 100!
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Have a great time Soopoo

Second day went smoother than the first but I have to say it was travel hell due to a lack of sleep. I tossed and turned in the hotel until I finally got around 3-4 hours of sleep. I woke up for the comped breakfast which combined with the stress of travel destroyed my stomach. After breakfast I had a few hours before the shuttle back to the airport in Toronto so I tried to take a nap. I didn’t have a do not disturb sign so I told the housekeeping I had a late checkout and no sign, she wrote it down and said no worries. I managed to fall asleep for 45 minutes or so until the loud banging on the door 5 times at noon from housekeeping… good job guys. Oh well, got up showered and felt slightly human before packing up and heading down for the shuttle.

I found the Scottish lady who also missed her connection the previous day and we waited for the shuttle. Shuttle comes and the Winnipeg couple is nowhere to be found. We get to the airport and the couple hasn’t texted us back. They eventually let us know that they hadn’t gotten back from the lunch in the city in time so they would just go straight to the airport. Wendy and I got through baggage drop and security in just over a hour and the couple still hadn’t gotten to the airport. We were having a drink in the bar when Scott and Jen texted they had just arrived at 3;20 for the 5:00 flight, good luck I guess. They managed to make it but I have no idea why especially after the previous day you would ever chance missing the flight.

Our flight to Amsterdam thankfully left on time. We landed and my plan was to rent a hotel pod in the airport for 4 hours for €40 and get some much needed sleep. Sadly both of the hotels in the airport had no vacancy so there I was as stuck with nowhere to sleep. I tried to find a comfy place to take a nap to no avail. All I could find was a 3 foot long hard couch and after 20 minutes of trying to sleep I gave up. Luckily there were kids there to bang on the piano and wake everyone in the airport up at 7 am, I gave the mother a dirty look and she luckily told them to stop banging away. I spent the 6 hours walking up and down the airport playing Pokémon Go and mostly being bored out of my mind. I did take a break from my boredom to have really bad ramen that cost €25 cause well, it’s an airport. The flight to Edinburgh was delayed by almost a hour cause of course it was lol. The Winnipeg couple against everyone’s advice went into Amsterdam for two hours and did manage to make it back through security in time for the flight. Schipol airport has been a disaster for months and security has been taking 4-8 hours to get through so they were quite lucky to make it.

We landed in Edinburgh, I grabbed my bags and grabbed an Uber to the hostel. Normally I would have saved £20 and taken the train or bus in but at that point I had been awake for 48 of the previous 52 hours roughly. I got to the hostel with the very nice and chatty Uber driver and sadly had to wait 20 minutes to check into my room. That was the LONGEST 20 minutes ever. At 3 they checked me in and I went bed, plan was to sleep for only 3 hours so I didn’t screw up my schedule but ended up making it 4 hours after my first alarm. I took a shower and get some much better. To be continued…

Quote: PokerGrinder

Sounds amazing, I cheaped out and didn’t pay for the gondola ride in Venice. It seemed like a lot of money lol especially when I was travelling alone at the time.

I totally understand and I am sure I would not have done it either if I had been travelling by myself.

The three of us had a nice time on the gondola ride, and after a 20 euro tip ( I think about right for 3 people ? ? ? ), it was only 33 euro per person.

And now we can say we have done it.

Looks like it costs a little less to take a ~1/2 hour gondola ride in Venice than it does at the Venetian ? ? ?

Quote: PokerGrinder

The Winnipeg couple against everyone’s advice went into Amsterdam for two hours and did manage to make it back through security in time for the flight. Schipol airport has been a disasteer for months and security has been taking 4-8 hours to get through so they were quite lucky to make it.

YIKES. Security at the Rome airport was pretty quick and easy. We got there plenty early though by booking the transfer through the cruise ship.

Scipol is currently ranked the worst airport in the world. Last month they delayed or cancelled 52.5% of their flights. Customs and security was taking up to 8 hours as per the articles that I read.

Quote: PokerGrinder

Scipol is currently ranked the worst airport in the world. Last month they delayed or cancelled 52.5% of their flights.

That must be a hub for Spirit.

€25 for ramen?! Yikes!!

Sorry to hear about your lack of sleep. That sounds like torture. And I can only imagine trying to wake up after only 3 hours of eventual sleep!

Quote: JohnnyQ

Yes, of course we had to do the Gondola ride in Venice:

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Although the Mrs. and I were in Venice for our honeymoon, we didn't do a gondola ride because it seemed ridiculously expensive (in 2004). At the time, I was thinking "is this going to haunt me for the rest of my life?" But fortunately, I think the Mrs. also agreed that it wasn't worth it because she has never mentioned it.

And for our one-year anniversary, we did take a gondola ride in the U.S.!