A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 8 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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The outside just does not match the inside. At all!!
That last room is beautiful though. Papier mache?! That's so weird! And clever.
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Ok I began singing when reading about the horn room - "I use antlers in all of my decorating ..." - Gaston!
His kind of place [emoji2]
I absolutely adore the banquet hall - just stunning!
As for being there early - you deserve your own private castle, Cheryl
I still can't believe you're headed back home ... I wasn't caught up at the time but if you don't mind my asking now - how did Mark react to the passport issue when you broke the news? Yikes.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
The Durbar Room takes my breath away. Stunning! I do love how bright and airy the whole house has been for the most part. The exterior is so classic. I've tried to imagine what it would feel like to descend all those steps to the grounds. Again beautiful!
Ok I began singing when reading about the horn room - "I use antlers in all of my decorating ..." - Gaston!
His kind of place [emoji2]
Oh my goodness, you are so right! I hadn't thought of that at all.
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I absolutely adore the banquet hall - just stunning!
As for being there early - you deserve your own private castle, Cheryl
Well, I always thought that...
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I still can't believe you're headed back home ... I wasn't caught up at the time but if you don't mind my asking now - how did Mark react to the passport issue when you broke the news? Yikes.
I don't mind you asking at all. He just looked at me in shock and couldn't believe it. He told me later he thought I was joking and I told him there was no way I'd joke about something like that. He was remarkably calm, probably much more calm than I was!
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The Durbar Room takes my breath away. Stunning! I do love how bright and airy the whole house has been for the most part. The exterior is so classic. I've tried to imagine what it would feel like to descend all those steps to the grounds. Again beautiful!
I bet you felt very special going up or down those steps!
Saturday 4 June – part seven: I can see why Queen Victoria fell in love with this place
When we got to the beach, I could immediately see why Queen Victoria fell in love with this place. While the house itself may have been quite formal and cold, this was truly an area that a family could come and enjoy and relax at.
This was Queen Victoria’s bathing carriage, which was built specially for her. She used this to preserve her modesty when she went swimming. This was installed in 1846, and she first used it the following summer. Prince Albert suggested she start bathing in the sea, as he believed it was beneficial to health. In fact, many people did in the Victorian era. That’s why seaside towns became so popular in the UK at around that time. It has a veranda at the front, and curtains would’ve been hung here, concealing the Queen from view as she entered the water. Yes, that’s how private the Victorians were! It’s even got a plumbed in toilet – not bad for the Victorian era!
Of course back in those days, perish the thought if anyone saw you in your swimming stuff. How things have changed… well, for me anyway. Given I swim regularly, you do get to the stage where you have to get past that.
We headed into the beach café…
… and both got ice creams. I went for mint choc chip and real coffee, and my goodness, it was!
Mark had rum soaked raisin and chocolate…
We both sat here…
… and admired the view…
It was lovely and peaceful. There must’ve been maybe a dozen or so people here, just perfect. Although it was cloudy and hazy, it was at least dry and pretty warm, although a little humid.
Once we were done, we went to find out where the minibus went from, and headed over there to wait for it. When it arrived, there was a group of older people on it, shall we say? Honestly, they just didn’t have a clue. At one point, I thought the driver was going to have to herd them away, so he could move off, as they were milling clueless around the bus. They asked him where the beach was, and he just about kept a straight face, when he pointed and said “see the sea?” The beach is there…
We had to stop ourselves laughing out loud, and as we boarded, he told us a classic story about how an old guy had asked him if he’d worked for Queen Victoria. Apparently, the rest of the minibus were all laughing, but this guy was serious, so he decided to give it back in spades… and told him he had, then he’d been put in the box, a few years later, they’d got him out of the ground, given him a new head, two new arms, two new legs… you get the idea. Classic!
On the way back, we saw a neighbouring castle…
… and this, which is called the White House. Now obviously it’s not your White House, but apparently it does belong to the Chelsea Football Club chairman, Roman Abranovich, who just happens to be one of the world’s richest people. It almost didn’t look good enough for him, if you know what I mean?
The guy dropped us right off at the gift shop, rather than the house, saying he’d kept us talking at the stop when he picked us up, which was really sweet of him.
We headed out, getting the obligatory fridge magnet on the way. On the way out, I called the valet car parking company again, and finally got through. At first the woman was a little frosty, shall we say, about us changing the time of our booking, but I did explain that we had absolutely no option, and I also said I was very surprised that Celebrity hadn’t let them know out of courtesy. She said they hadn’t, and thanked me, as anyone else on our ship who’s booked valet parking with them will also be affected.
We made our way out, and saw signs of the Isle of Wight Festival, which will be happening shortly…
My goodness, it takes up a massive plot of land!
By now, as Mark remarked, the island had woken up, and we found all the traffic as we headed through Newport. As a result, it was a bit of a painful journey over to our next destination for the day…
That's so funny. Where is the beach?!!
The carriage down to the beach for the Queen seems so crazy! But I guess that's how life was then. So very strange for us to even imagine now.
Yes, the festival is huge, very huge and goes on for days! Imagine the traffic once that starts up!
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
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Your hotel looked nice at the Marriott, but too bad the breakfast spread wasn't all that great.
That is such a sickening feeling to know you left your passports at home! At least you had time to return home to get them and didn't realize it the morning of your embarkation!
I did this once some years ago on a tour of Spain, Portugal and Morocco! I had the hotel staff keep my passport in their safe, since my room didn't have one. This was when we were leaving Lisbon for a day stop in Portugal and on to Seville. I realized I didn't have it with me about twenty minutes or so into our trip. I told my tour director about this, so they had to get a tazi for me, return to the hotel to get it and take the taxi to the day stop and meet up with my group! It was costly, a big headache and never did that again!
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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!
The Osborne house is amazing and especially that last room you visited.
I especially like this photo and this hallway is quite striking!
The beach is quite nice as well and love those stories about the older folks looking for the beach and whether your driver had worked for Queen Victoria!
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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!
Your hotel looked nice at the Marriott, but too bad the breakfast spread wasn't all that great.
That is such a sickening feeling to know you left your passports at home! At least you had time to return home to get them and didn't realize it the morning of your embarkation!
Oh that would've been the worst!
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I did this once some years ago on a tour of Spain, Portugal and Morocco! I had the hotel staff keep my passport in their safe, since my room didn't have one. This was when we were leaving Lisbon for a day stop in Portugal and on to Seville. I realized I didn't have it with me about twenty minutes or so into our trip. I told my tour director about this, so they had to get a tazi for me, return to the hotel to get it and take the taxi to the day stop and meet up with my group! It was costly, a big headache and never did that again!
Oh my goodness, that must've been an even worse realisation!
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I do love how bright and airy the whole house has been for the most part. The exterior is so classic. I've tried to imagine what it would feel like to descend all those steps to the grounds. Again beautiful! 
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Oh my goodness, you are so right! I hadn't thought of that at all. 
He was remarkably calm, probably much more calm than I was!
Given I swim regularly, you do get to the stage where you have to get past that. 
At least you had time to return home to get them and didn't realize it the morning of your embarkation! 
It was costly, a big headache and never did that again! 
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