Tuesday, November 22, we’re up early to have the luggage ready to go by 7:15am – Viking staff will pick it up from the room and load it on the bus for us. We have another great Portuguese breakfast in the hotel dining room, and make our way down to board our coach for the trip north.

We will be stopping in Coimbra, to visit the university there, and to have lunch. We are meeting more folks along the way, having some great conversations, and the weather so far is fabulous.

After lunch, we continue on our way toward Porto to join the ship. There is a short stop at a service area for coffee and bathroom break about halfway there, and then we roll  into Porto around 5:20pm (or 17:20 as the Europeans typically use a 24 hour clock). Actually, we roll into Vila Nova de Gaia (also known simply a Gaia), which is the actual location of all the Port warehouses, as well as the quay for the river cruise ships. Gaia is directly across the Doro River from Porto, connected by several spectacular bridges.

We transfer from the bus to our new home for several days, the Viking Osfrid, a brand new ship just launched this year. Access to the ship is through the lobbies of two other river cruise ships (different lines than Viking). As in the hotel, our luggage is brought to us by the industrious and gracious crew, who, one should note, would have begun their day around 3:00am, loading the luggage of the folks on the previous crew off the ship through the two other ships, and onto the various busses that would take them to their planes, or on to their extension trips.

We have a welcome drink and briefing immediately after boarding, then within the first couple of hours there is a safety drill with instructions on donning the life vests.

(Still working on this page, more to come)