Virtually Cruising

Day 1: Virtually Embarking on our Cruise!

All Aboard for the Virtual Cruise!! After the obligatory "boarding photo" was Pina Colada Time! Then, after the horrifying life boat drill, I took a class in chocolate making and Laird Thomas took a "Make Animals out of Towels" class. I returned to the cabin to see a towel SeaTurtle. Then as we set sail, we opened champagne on our private balcony! Enjoyed high tea in Bermuda comprised of crumpets with Kerry Gold butter, home made ginger bread (similar to spice cake), finger sandwiches of ham with dijon and roast beef with horseradish sauce; then on top were strawberry tarts and the chocolates from class! (please note the home-sewn tropical tablecloth!)

Obligatory Boarding Photo

Terrifying Life Boat Drill

Pina Coladas!

Tom's Sea Turtle

Ro's Chocolate Class

Bon Voyage from Balcony

High Tea in Bermuda

Day 2: Canary Islands

In-Home Day Spa!!! Since Laird Thomas is busy planning his guest appearance as Executive Chef in the galley, I treated myself to the spa! Mani-pedi, facial and many thanks to my dear friend Susanna Fitler Fera for introducing me to Secret of the Islands Sea Salts from HHI!! It is working magic on my poor-washed-sanitized-deep cleaning-hands! I really did up my trip to the spa complete with robe, slippers, candles and new age/zen musical sounds! Then we grabbed binoculars and camera to go birdwatching in the Canary Islands! (pun intended). Since the Canary Islands are owned by Spain, Laird Thomas's special was Valencia-Style Paella! Laird Thomas is also enjoying help-yourself anytime ice cream cones! We ended the day seeing an Improv Show in the pub! A day to remember!!

In-Home Day Spa

Any Time Self Serve Ice Cream

Tom Finding Ice Cream Delicious

Birdwatching in "Canary" Islands

More Birdwatching

Even more birdwatching

Improv Show in Pub

Day 3: France!

Bonjour mes amis! Oo-la-la and Viva La France!! Many thanks to Terri for the virtual tour of the Louvre museum and Maureen for the virtual tour of the Palace of Versailles! We met a lovely lady at the palace named Marie and she kept insisting on letting us eat some cake…So we did! She did seem a bit overwhelmed by the crowd though, so we warned her not to lose her head…hope it worked…finger’s-crossed! Then we shared a scrumptious platter of charcuterie! (meat and cheese plate) Followed by luxurious, instant chocolate mousse!! In the evening, we just absolutely had to go to Monaco to try our luck at a hand of cards. Tom had his martini, James Bond style, “shaken, not stirred” but personally, I prefer the Mame Dennis version, “stirred, never shaken – it bruises the gin”. Mousse and martinis, means midnight run for pizza! But only to fall asleep, exhausted into the pizza! What can I say – at least it wasn’t the first time (pat and mike)! Au revoir ‘til tomorrow mes amis!

Obligatory Excursion Photo

Inspired by the Louvre

Eating Cake in the Palace of Versailles

Card Playing in Monte Carlo

Martinis in Monte Carlo

Midnight Pizza Run

 Day 4: Austria

Guten Tag! Need to give a shout-out to Craig for teaching me the magic spells necessary for turning Ro’s Garden of the Seas to a river boat cruise ship! When I heard the Alps were going to be blustery today, I went running back to the Cabin to get my kite (yes, I always travel with a kite). The hills were indeed filled with the Sound of Music and my singing goat. After touring Salzburg, we traveled to Vienna and again many thanks to Maureen for the virtual tour of Schönbrunn Palace! Very cool! Then, Tom and I enjoyed the national break-time of Kuchen and Kaffe (cake and Viennese coffee). When we returned to the Cabin, I found that Laird Thomas had made a very cool elephant out of towels! Laird Thomas was requested to return as Executive Chef to the ship’s galley where I was also invited to attend as his sous chef – we were delighted with the reception of our sauerbraten and potato dinner! Then it was off to join our friends, Sarah and John for a game of trivia in the pub – many thanks to Sarah for finding Buzzworthypubtrivia.com. After trivia, we headed to the ship’s theater – as an homage to the famous fashion designers of Europe, they were performing “Kinky Boots”! Loved it!! Many thanks to Dede for recommending BroadwayHD! And with that – we wish you Auf Wiedersehen til tomorrow!

Vienna

Tom's Towel Elephant

Trivia in Pub

Onboard Theatre

Broadway HD

 

Day 5: England and Scotland

Cheers Mates! We started our day taking in the sights of LONDON!! Many thanks again to Terri for the virtual tour of the British Museum! We weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, so we took a selfie outside! Then, Maureen took us on a great virtual tour of Buckingham Palace – we were trying to do the touristy thing and make one of the guards laugh but when he seemed a bit perturbed we knocked it off – the hot money is on him laughing buckets when he got home! Then, we went to Scotland where Tom won the [British] Open Golf Tournament! Also, for those new to Ro’s Garden, you may wonder why we are often referred to as Laird Thomas and Lady Ro – easy, because we are indeed landowners in Scotland! Here is Laird Thomas welcoming you to our home-away-from-home Dunans Castle! It’s lovely to be here and even posed for our formal here – so nice to have our formal dinner in our very own Castle! Then after dinner, thanks again to Maureen, we zipped down to watch the cool light show on Salisbury Cathedral before retiring! Alas dear friends, another day draws to a close, “parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight, till it be ‘morrow”.

Selfie at British Museum

Buckingham Palace

Tom Winning the Open

Tom in Clan Anderson Tartan

2020 Formal

Salisbury Cathedral Light Show

Day 6: At Sea and Alsace

When we awoke, we indulged in a close-as-we-can-get-it authentic English Breakfast complete with English Breakfast Tea. But as our ship got underway, it became rather dangerous looking in the English Channel. So, from the ship, we skyped with our dear friend Craig who lives in Alsace, France. (Alsace is in Northeastern France and borders Switzerland and Germany). He said that we need to transfigure the ship back into a river cruiser again, sail the Rhine to get to him and that we could stay with him ‘til calmer seas prevailed…So We DID! We had a GREAT time hanging with Craig, it is really warm in Alsace despite the squall in the Channel, so he even had his pool ready – what fun! Then he took us over to Switzerland for fondue and then into Germany for Black Forest Cake. What a wonderful day and, as always, Craig was a wonderful host! So lovely to see him again and spend some time with him…too bad it took a storm to make that happen! When we got back to the Cabin – Laird Thomas surprised me with a hanging towel monkey!! Well it’s off to the pub for a night cap and a thank you to Beth for teaching us about online Pictionary for the pub!! And with that mes amis, I wish you Bon Soir ‘til tomorrow!

Rough Seas

Skyping with Craig from Ship

Hanging at Craig's Pool in Alsace

Fondue in Switzerland

Black Forest Cake in Germany

Tom's Towel Monkey

Last Day: Virtually Homeward Bound:

WE WON!!!!!! We played a pretend game of online Bingo for a FREE virtual cruise and won!! So, Laird Thomas went to the shops and made me a souvenir ship-in-a-bottle! I just love it, him and the symbolism it represents! I also love that it is a tall-ship – very similar to the one Peter Pan sails to NeverNever Land – because when the young people in my life would come to visit me at Ro’s Garden they would say they were going to “Ro-Ro Land”! It is always going to be in a place of honor in the pub among the mementos of our other cruises! Well, we need to sail back to Ro-Ro Land and start planning our virtual cruise of the Pacific! Please message me any ideas you may have for ports of call or virtual tours and excursions we can take while virtually cruising the Pacific! – BTW, if you go to my wall and scroll down you can see my previous travel blog posts if you missed any – also, since we couldn’t have Easter IRL, we hid some symbols in the photos and texts aka “Easter Eggs” – let me know if you found any. Their location and what they contain will be posted next week. I so hope you can all visit me soon in Ro-Ro Land! It’s really easy to get to- just second start to the left and straight on ‘til morning!

We WON!!

Tom's Ro's Garden of the Seas Model

Ro's Garden of the Seas in Pub

Sailing to Ro-Ro Land

Thank you so much for joining us as we went virtually cruising!  We hope you found it diverting!!

In love and Friendship, Lady Ro and Laird Thomas

Maritom After Hours: How We Escape!

My husband Laird Thomas and I were having a bit of a reverie looking back over our past travels and in particular, cruising. Then I realized we could do it – we could magically transfigure the house into a cruise ship and go virtually cruising...

Tips on Working from Home due to Current Events

Many of people have telecommuted for a day or two due to bad weather or a business trip. However, working from home, day-after-day for the next few weeks seems a daunting task. Which working from home can be, however, I have found that the following tricks-of-the-trade have served me well over the past twenty years of working virtually:

Don’t go to work in your pajamas – whatever your routine is to begin work, keep it as close to the same as possible. Even if you don’t have any scheduled meetings, you still want to set an alarm, brush your teeth and get dressed. Your mind and your body are used to a certain routine for workdays versus weekends. Keep your weekday routine as close as possible to your normal way of getting ready and it will help trigger your mind into work mode....