LL,

I like relaxing too but hiring a car or bike provides more freedom and greater access to a country.

Being stuck on a ship with short lame excursions doesnt compare.

Fortunately there are many ways to travel the world. No one way is more right than any other. It all boils down to what each person enjoys.

Many of us do not consider being on a ship as being "stuck"! There is absolutely no reason to do the "short lame excursions" No one is forcing you. Walk off, walk, get a bike, rent a car, catch a taxi, bus or what ever local transportation suits you and explore.

If you want more than the day or two that the ship calls at the port, either stay ashore and catch up to the ship at the next port or just do a land tour to begin with. For us, replacing as many of the long haul flights with cruises as we can, is just the icing on our travel cake especially for Asia and Africa travel.

LL, you haven't seen rough until you experience the "Drake Shake" in an Ice Breaker during a horrible storm on the way to Antarctica...36 hours holding on to anything anchored to the walls or floor. The bolted down bed in our cabin broke free during the night and we woke to the ride of our life!!!

We had so much fun we did it a second time!

cwn. LOL, I spent almost 4 months during the South Atlantic winter in 1982 experiencing this sort of thing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZircpEsbws

I was on this beast...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=HM...w=1024&bih=653

We were at sea for 108 days, and I never even saw daylight for over 80 of them!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...science-virus/

http://www.internationalcruisevictim...uise_Ship.html

The best excursions we have had were all private. Some we prearranged before we got off the ship and others we just winged it. All were great and much cheaper than ships tours.

We had 4 days in Israel when on the Constellation with private and licensed Israeli guides and it's like being with a private history professor. The experience was amazing.

It's easy to do private excursions. It just takes a little research.

Glad that I opened up this line of communication. Lot's to think about! We are both retired, so the time is not of the essence, except that we know our student is free the month of December. We're actually in Chicago today, taking the train to San Francisco(California Zephyr sleeper, flying back) so we'll have plenty of time to discuss. We will eventually do Sweden in winter, as I have family there, and have been there for midsommar twice.

sunnypm,

Glad you are still reading. Recently the this forum has not been as helpful as in the past with some going off on personal tangents. Stick with us as you have questions about you plans. There are some really helpful posters, in spite of what it sounds like at times.

Sweden in the winter time would be wonderful with the added bonus of family to visit. Once you have made it to Europe, go for it.

With your freedom of time, you should be able to put together a super trip to visit you student in Thailand in Dec and some or all the other places you mention.

If cruising interest you, look at cruises leaving from the US in say Nov and coming back in Jan. Look at both Pacific and Atlantic crossings. At this stage of our life, we find a long trip bookmarked with a cruise or two to be a great way to go. Also look for a cruise that would get you from Europe to Thailand or maybe Singapore. The website Vacations to Go, cruise section, is the easiest place for me to see what cruise line is doing something that might work with my plans. But do book with a TA as they have access to the best discounts.

Look at Iceland's national carrier, FinAir and Turkish Air ....we have found some interesting and well priced deals with them and of course if you have points on an airline, that helps also. In 2009, I put together a 145 day ATW trip that started as a first visit to Australia. Once I got to looking at air fare cost just to get there, it made sense just to keep going. We are doing it again this winter...this time I have cobbled together FF tickets and cruises for a 6 month trip working our way around the world again.

Look at my blog for the 2009 trip. It might give you some ideas...we did spend some time in Thailand and Italy on that trip.
www.aroundtheworldin132days.blogspot.com

Thanks, cwn. I looked at your blog, and it was a comprehensive tour around the world. I'd like to hear more about the nuts and bolts of it sometime. What travel agent do you recommend? I'm sunny sundquist on facebook, and we live in Surfside Beach, SC. Maybe we could connect there. We're back from our trip out West and I'm scouring websites, but not coming up with anything that entices yet. I have a blog on this site about one of our last trip to Sweden/Europe:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...m#last-comment

Well we went ahead and booked this trip. We're driving back to Ohio, on Dec.6 and got roundtrip open jaw airfare for $1400pp. Columbus, OH to Singapore, where we'll pick up a Princess cruise for 9 days and disembark at Phuket, Thailand(skipping the return to Singapore). We'll spend a couple days in Phuket with our former exchange student, then on to Bangkok and North with her, before flying back to U.S. from Bangkok on the 23rd, with a change in Tokyo. Surprised to see it was less expensive flying from Ohio than out of Atlanta. Now, just need to find a hotel in Singapore...we get there at 1AM. Thanks for all the comments!

Sounds like a great trip. What a fantastic way to see Thailand, enjoy ! And report please.

That's a good way to incorporate a cruise and seeing Thailand.

Some hotel recs in Singapore: The Fairmont is ideally located above a shopping mall and MRT station, across the street from Raffles. I also like the Grand Hyatt, near the corner of Orchard Road and Scotts Road.