A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 75 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Sunday 12 June – part two: do we have seats together?
Finally, our platform number showed up, only our driver was window shopping at the time, so we dutifully waited for him to notice, then he panicked and took off, with us doing our best to follow him.
We had to go through security, which was frankly laughable. They get you to put all your bags through an X-ray machine, which I have no problem with, but it's the metal detector you walk through that made me laugh. It went off for every single one of us I think, and the security guys couldn't have cared less. We ended up all discussing why on earth they bothered.
We made our way over to platform seven, which is where we'd be catching our train from, but there was no sign. We passed the time admiring the lovely colour scheme of the trains in the station. The red and grey combination really reminded me of communism. I don't think any other country in the world has a fleet in these colours.
Finally, ours was pulling in, and I think we were all relieved to see it was more in the shape of a bullet train.
When it pulled up, Mark went to open the door, and was told off by our driver. Obviously not how you do things here...
We stood there waiting and waiting, and eventually we were told in Russian that we needed the next door up. Our driver had wandered that way, and was already in line for us. Phew! The reason only certain doors opened is that they check your passports when you board, which was a bit odd, as I thought they'd have checked the tickets too, but
We were taken to our seats, but there was a bit of confusion, as I thought I had seat nine and Mark had seat 35, meaning we'd be at opposite ends of the carriage. Our driver kind of shrugged his shoulders, which wasn't very helpful, and headed off, although in fairness, he returned a moment later. We did have seats together, nine and ten. The seat 35 was for the return journey. Phew!
We settled down into our seats, which were pretty comfortable...
They had a magazine, with some of the information in English, which was good, so you could see what the food offerings were - they were pretty expansive:
They also had souvenirs you could buy, some what you'd expect, and some not, shall we say?
We left a little after 7:10am, and I was relieved that they at least did the on board announcements in Russian and English, as while I could make some educated guesses about a few of the words, without the English translation, I'd have been stuck.
We seemed to be coming out of the station for about 20 minutes. All we could see were trains all over the place. This looked like one massive train yard.
Finally, we were pulling out of St. Petersburg, and into the countryside, and it was nice to be away from the cities, and see what the country looked like outside of those...
We both dozed for a little while, as we were tired after two nights of not-so-great sleep, but it didn't do me a lot of favours, as for some reason, the problem with my hands (pins and needles and/or numbness) seems to be worse when I sleep sitting upright.
Glad your seats were together!
Looks like some fairly gourmet offerings on the menu! I know Amtrak doesn't have nut-crusted salmon, or duck breast!
And do you think a lot of those leatherman tools are sold? I think I'd find that a little worrisome, wondering if I was surrounded by weapon-wielding spies!
The driver sounds interesting. He understands English, but maybe can't speak it?
I see borscht on the menu! Lots of choices actually, that's pretty impressive. I'm sure you already mentioned, but I've forgotten, how long is this train ride?
And yes, very interesting... souvenirs.
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my goodness, that is an extensive menu for a train ride! How long is your journey?
I too would be quite worried that each of you beeped and the security did nothing...unless there is just a beep that someone went through and there would be a different tone if something were untoward! At least I'm going to think that. After all, they've had one train incident in that country, you would think MORE vigilance would be the answer!
Looks like some fairly gourmet offerings on the menu! I know Amtrak doesn't have nut-crusted salmon, or duck breast!
I don't think we have it either. I know Eurostar might, but only in their first class service.
Quote:
And do you think a lot of those leatherman tools are sold? I think I'd find that a little worrisome, wondering if I was surrounded by weapon-wielding spies!
The driver sounds interesting. He understands English, but maybe can't speak it?
That was certainly a possibility...
Quote:
I see borscht on the menu! Lots of choices actually, that's pretty impressive. I'm sure you already mentioned, but I've forgotten, how long is this train ride?
my goodness, that is an extensive menu for a train ride! How long is your journey?
It was pretty long... about four hours.
Quote:
I too would be quite worried that each of you beeped and the security did nothing...unless there is just a beep that someone went through and there would be a different tone if something were untoward! At least I'm going to think that.
Maybe it was that...
Quote:
After all, they've had one train incident in that country, you would think MORE vigilance would be the answer!
I must've missed that one. I can only think of the recent ones in Germany?
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This sounds like a bit of a stressful morning, especially with your driver not being particularly communicative. It would have made me very nervous, as I'm not used to the trains and have a NEED to know what's going on.
Glad you got a good train and the cabin looks quite nice! That is quite a menu they have on board!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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. I am ready for a little ' boring'.
I think I'd find that a little worrisome, wondering if I was surrounded by weapon-wielding spies!
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