Hong Kong, Cruise and Paris - August 2014

[KeithS]

Beth should be in Barcelona now as she'll be boarding the ship sometime tonight. Have fun Beth!

[KeithS]

Beth has posted some great updates from her cruise - go check out her blog if you haven't already done that!

[churros]

Hi everyone, we disembarked this morning. While I could have continued on sailing, 12 nights was great and I felt satisfied. So wonderful to be just immersed in Disney for so long. The best part? The staff, the food , the entertainment, the music on the lifts and corridors...

The ports of call were amazing and all our private tour guides were just brilliant.

Everyone was quite amazed when we told them we were 7 women without husband or children on a Disney cruise but all my friends are converted and now see the benefits of a Disney cruise.

We are in Barcelona now for 2 nights before we travel on to Valencia and Madrid.

If you haven't caught up with my blog yet in summary HKDL was stinking hot and I will never return in summer. You just could not queue in Toy Story Land it was like standing in a furnace. I love this park but the local custom of pushing became very unpleasant. I think I have seen a real change in behaviours in park attendees too. I remember commenting on my first trip how well behaved the children were and how calm the parents were. Now 7 years later the kids were feral and the parents just whacked away. Must be the heat

[KeithS]

Glad you had such an awesome time on your cruise! Your blog was brilliant and the photos made me very jealous!

Don't despair for Hong Kong - when it first opened, it was mainly local Hong Kong residents going and they were well behaved, but now the majority of visitors are from mainland China and they definitely have a different social code - however with the opening of Shanghai, I would think the balance will start to slip back towards local Hong Kong residents again and other foreigners.

I sort of despair for what Shanghai will be like in that regard - which is one reason why we won't go to the opening, we want to see it settle down a bit before heading over there.

I hope there rest of your holiday goes well - keep updating your blog!

[KeithS]

Hey Beth - loving the photos and updates on the blog. I'm glad the hotel in Valencia found Glenda's wallet!

[KeithS]

Great updates from London Beth - loving the photos! Would have been sad to say goodbye to all your friends but it sounds like it was an amazing trip with them.

[churros]

http://www.travelpod.com/z/bethalexandra/2/1408320000

A little Disney in London at Harrods Disney store and cafe and also the Disney store in Oxford St which is the biggest in Europe.

[KeithS]

Love those photos of the Harry Potter exhibition at the Warner Studio. I'd love to see that one day.

[KeithS]

Wow - your tour of the UK is fantastic Beth. You've got a fan club at my office too as every day they come around to see your photo updates

I love Salisbury and the downs - I've never gone to the UK without visiting Stonehenge either - just a traditional habit of mine!

I can't wait to show Della the Port Isaac - Della always watches Doc Martin.

[mushu mama]

I'm loving following along on your adventure too Beth... I've never been to any of the places you're visiting but I'm adding stuff to the bucket list by the day ...
Thanks for sharing -/

[churros]

We hit the half way point tomorrow, 6 weeks down and 6 to go - missing my boys terribly!

We are currently staying at a distant cousins place in Buckinghamshire, England and spent the afternoon at Althorp where Lady Di is buried and visited her memorial, today being the 17th anniversary - fluke really.

We also spent some time looking at a little village of our ancestors - not part of the aristocracy unfortunately.

I was successful in booking Remy's for my birthday in October -/

[mushu mama]

Such an amazing journey Beth... really enjoying following along. -/

[KeithS]

Yep, keep those updates coming Beth - loving the commentary and photos. Only half way, how will you ever recover from this epic trip?

[KeithS]

Beth - your travels around the Highlands have been breathtaking. Can't believe those blue-sky photos you captured up in Skye! I've been up there plenty of times when I was younger and hardly ever saw the sun Beautiful party of the world though - makes me want to re-visit. It has been nearly 20 years since I spent time up there!

[churros]

Off to Ireland today - hope to find the Disney store!

19 days until Paris Disneyland!

My sister and I haven't killed each other yet but I missing my boys terribly.