InvictaMoto's Family Travels

All paid up and waiting for the receipt to arrive and the list of the excursions that we can go on from the ship.  Some of them look like it might be difficult to do as a self-traveller as getting off the boat, there and back up a glacier and back to the boat looks quite complex. So those "once in a lifetime" trips will need to be done as part of a bus tour. Ironic, as when we are away on the bike I hate the pretend buddy-buddy of the car tourist and the influx of coach parties of the boats in the harbour.

I have been looking at car hire in Florida. This is after I tried to ignore the lure of $101 a day with Eaglerider to have a Harley.    I'd like to have a decent big American car this time. Last time we were on Long Island the hire car was a 2.2L Camry. And whilst it wasn't too bad it wasn't right!  Luckily Claire's cousin lent us his 03 model Crown Victoria sedan.  It was very nice and amazingly economical for a 4.7L V8.   So.  What can the Florida car hire companies provide us with?  Mostly mid range cars that seem merely to be US versions of European cars from Ford and GM.  Then on the Thrifty Rentals page I saw the Ford Crown Victoria full-size.  Gotta have it.   Or maybe the Mercury Grand Marquis.

Two months until we set off and it's time to pay the balance.  Luckily you can do it online and with a debit card to avoid paying any charges.  It's always annoying when companies charge for using a card, considering that without the card, they might not get any business at all?

The Big Six-O has to come around at some stage and it has arrived on our front step, crying and mewling like a new born kitten, or 2014 as it is also called. So what to do to celebrate?  Unless we win the National Lottery or the Euro Lottery in the next year or so, it looks as though my annual leave expenditure will rise to ever higher levels. This year we are cruising to Norway and the Fjords.  Not a biking holiday, but I guess something has to give a little as age and impending senility beckons.  At least they feed you 24/7. So where to go? At a travel show earlier in the year we looked at some exotic and some less exotic places. The proviso was that we could use the timeshare exchange system and cover our accommodation that way.  Touring sounds good, but Claire wants a mixture of looking at things and quiet time.  So after my brother's experience on Route 66 on a Harley that was scratched off the list. With Claire off the bike for a while, we'd have to hire a car in any cas