Grandma and Grandpa Go to Europe

My husband calls this the year of four. By way of explanation, I was born in 1954 and we were married in 1974, so with this being 2024, I am soon to be 70 and we have been married for 50 years. Both big milestones for sure and thus Grandma and Grandpa’s trip to Europe to celebrate! And what an experience it was; 20 days of action packed travel with time in Paris and London and a cruise of the British Isles.

Having endured my fair share of peoples’ endless vacation photos and blow by blow descriptions of their daily activities while on vacation, I decided to take a more creative approach in telling you about our vacation, so without further adieu, I proudly introduce Grandma and Grandpa’s Top Thirteen Trippy Awards

The I’m On It Award

The Nominees are: Me ☺️

This being our first trip abroad, I wanted to make sure that we were prepared. I scrolled through blogs and you tube videos for weeks and by the time we left I felt I had any and all eventualities covered.

My award winning list included:

• Power plug adapters, voltage converters and a portable charger
• Laundry detergent, stain remover and fabric softener
• Pain meds, allergy meds, sea sickness meds and wristbands
• Hand soap and sanitizer, antibacterial wipes
• Neck pillow and travel blanket
• Umbrella
• Compression socks

It will come as no surprise then that my checked bag weighed in at 47 pounds and we ended up travelling with four suitcases.😉

And The Winner Is: Me

Best Dressed Award

The Nominees Are: My Husband

I tried my best to win this category by dressing up for formal nights on our ship and even wearing makeup. But, I have to give this award to my husband who completely and proudly embraced wearing compression socks on the plane even though he wasn’t totally convinced the he needed them. In fact he liked them so much he wore them off the plane too. He does cut quite a dashing figure don’t you think?

And The Winner Is: My Husband (Even though I tried really hard to out do him😔)

The What Was I Thinking Award

The Nominees Are: Me Again☺️

This award goes to me for thinking that it would be a good idea to take four suitcases on our trip. Unfortunately, this decision proved to be seriously flawed when we discovered that we had to ride two separate trains, the London Underground and too many escalators to count to get from Paris to our cruise ship. We found out the hard way that elevators are few and far between and navigating an escalator with four suitcases can be “difficult.” Carry ons only from now on.

And The Winner Is: Yup, It’s Me

The Let Their Be Light Award

The Nominees Are: Our Hotel Front Desk/Me

Technically this award should go to the front desk at our hotel in Paris. All was good until it came time to turn on the lights in our room. Try as I might I couldn’t get them to go on, so thinking maybe there was a power outage in the hotel I called the front desk, only to be told we had to use our room key in the slot at the door for the lights to go on. Just slightly embarrassing.

And The Winner Is: You Guessed It……Me (Because I was brave enough to phone the front desk)

Sentimental Journey Award

The Nominees Are: Grandma’s Birth Place /Irish Music

And The Winner Is: Grandma’s Birthplace (But I will cherish the music memory forever.)

You Meet the Nicest People Award

The Nominees Are: The London Bus Driver/The Nice Young Lady in London/The Off Duty London Tube Employee

This category was a tough one because we encountered so many kind and helpful people along the way. In Paris a young woman walked my husband back to our hotel after he got lost on his run. Then there was the off duty employee at the London tube station who helped us figure out which train we needed to get to Southhampton, carried one of my suitcases. and walked us to our train. The ‘hands down” winner, however is the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus driver, who despite his shift being over, drove his bus several miles out of his way to our hotel. Without his help we might still be wandering around London.😂

And The Winner Is: The London Bus Driver ( Because he could have easily just abandoned us)

Food Glorious Food Award

The Nominees Are: Paris/The Princess Cruise Buffet

Hands down the winner in this category was all the typically French food we had in Paris – baguettes, croissants, macarons, chocolate and the best, fluffiest quiche I have ever had. And I can’t forget the cheese – we found a fromagerie just down the road from our hotel and I was in heaven. We did also sample the odd bit of French wine. The Princess Buffet was also spectacular. It just seemed to be calling to us all of the time, so we did indulge, but we’re are both very proud of the fact that our pants still fit.😉

And The Winner Is: Paris ( Because it’s Paris, for goodness sake)

Shop Till You Drop Award

Nominees: Harrod’s Department Store/Blarney Mills Gift Shop

And The Winner Is: Harrod’s Department Store (Because we felt like Royalty!)

When Life Gives You Lemons Award

The Nominees Are: National Art Gallery of Ireland/The British Library

And The Winner Is: The National Gallery of Ireland (Because it’s right across the street from Trinity College)

The Iconic Attraction Award

The Nominees Are: The Eiffel Tower/Notre Dame Cathedral/Arc de Triomphe/Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace (Yes, we saw all of them and more!)

And The Winner Is: The Eiffel Tower ( Because it truly is “Iconic”)

The Well This is Kind Of Weird Award

The Nominees Are: The Floating Heads Exhibit/The Statue of Elvis/The Statue of The Duke Of Wellington/The Pet Cemetery at Edinburgh Castle

And The Winner is: The Duke of Wellington ( Because that’s a long time to hold your head still and balance a traffic cone)

Surprise! Award

The Nominees Are: Big and Little Sis/Princess Cruise Line (for their exceptional service)

Because we were celebrating our 50th anniversary we received many heartfelt congratulations and chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate. But the biggest anniversary surprise on our trip was a beautiful brunch served to us on the first morning of our cruise, courtesy of Big and Little Sis and their spouses. It was an amazing spread complete with a bottle of champagne! Thanks Big and Little Sis, you are the best!

And The Winner Is: Big and Little Sis (Because they would probably sulk and be miserable if they lost)

The I Sure Didn’t Expect That Award

The Nominees Are: The Inverness Tartan Shop/The Shetland Islands Town Of Lerwick/The two Ladies Swimming In The Frigid Atlantic Ocean

Apparently the Shetland Islands are on the same latitude as Norway, and the combined Nordic/Scottish heritage perhaps explains the fortitude of the two ladies we saw swimming in the frigid North Atlantic Ocean without a care in the world. Whaaat? We also visited the tiny town of Lerwick that felt like you were going back in time, with beautiful buildings, hundreds of years old. But Inverness was where we found hubby’s family tartan. We had been searching for it for years so we were thrilled.

And The Winner Is: The Inverness Tartan Shop (Because it was like finding a needle in a haystack)

But Wait, There’s More

Despite this lengthy tome there is more, much more that I didn’t cover, but dear reader if you’ve made it this far, you too deserve an award. That said, I can’t resist leaving you with a few more pictures…

Thank goodness, I returned in time to join Big and Little Sis on our next fantastic Sisterhood adventure. Yes, We’re going to Antigonish Nova Scotia to see their famous Highland Games. Can you believe it? Neither can we. 😉There will be even more fascinating stories, I’m sure. Stay tuned!