The Journey To The Journey

A photo from our time a Keukenhof Gardens near the end of the trip

Gayle here! If you read the previous “Origin Story” you know the basis for this adventure was booked more than a year in advance. Not only do I/we regularly book this far in advance, but also this is needed when you have limited offering, must-haves for an international trip! That means A LOT of things can and did happen along the way. So here’s a run-down of all that transpired (& a great example of how a Travel Advisor can be invaluable)!

Travel Insurance - In order to ensure we had coverage for pre-existing conditions - a vital aspect with elderly parents at home, medical conditions, and MUCH more - we initially purchased the policy within a few days of the original river cruise booking. Each time we added a notable financial component, I edited the trip cost to ensure coverage. Key examples were international air, tours, and theatre & train tix.

International Air - When bookings opened in May 2024 (for the April 2025 trip), we booked the incredibly rare itinerary of a daytime flight to Europe! This prompted us to only purchase Premium Economy instead of Business this time, as we’d land just in time to go to bed! As someone who struggles with jet lag (no matter what I do), this sounded perfect. However, at the end of Dec. 2024 we were notified the daytime itinerary was cancelled - just our luck.

The airline automatically now had us arriving a day later. (Wrong!) In an efficient call, because it was the airline’s change, we were able to back that up. Now we were leaving a day early, but still arriving the same day. (Now dog Kona would need an additional day of “boarding” with family.) So we were set on another red eye flight in Premium Economy. Not ideal. However, we picked the latest arrival flight of 11:45am. By the time we clear customs, get our luggage, and travel across London to our hotel, it will likely be 2 or 3pm. I’m hoping we can do what we did in Copenhagen, which was get into our room immediately, catch a quick nap, grab some dinner, and then get a good night’s sleep. (I know this isn’t what is recommended, but it worked great for us last time!)

Keukenhof Tour - As we are arriving into Amsterdam 2 days before the river cruise, we were looking forward to extra time at the world-renowned tulip gardens. In Aug. 2024 Kara booked us a private transfer with tickets into the garden. However, in Jan. 2025 we were notified this was cancelled. After notable research, we discovered our planned day was part of “The” Tulip Parade that seems to shutdown the nearby town and most of the area around the gardens. After hunting for other options, considering our dislike for crowds, and accepting our river cruise already includes a tour of Keukenhof and another tulip garden, we easily accepted the refund. So instead, Kara booked us for a Food Tour in Central Amsterdam. (Food tours are our jam - pun intended!)

Next up… Cheerio! Let's go to London!

On that note… Disclaimer: I (Gayle) am a travel agent with Authorized Disney Travel Planner agency - Off to Neverland Travel. Contact me today for a no-obligation quote!

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