The Lazy Days of River Cruising ...are not really so lazy. Whether you choose to visit the land of Pharaoh, Czars, Emperors, or Kings it is hard not to like river cruising. If you're used to the large ship experience - this will be a bit different. When you cruise with say 175 passengers and crew as opposed to 3000 things get a little bit more intimate. It's nice. If you're used to land tours where you visit three or four destinations it'll be a bit different for you too. First of all you have that cruising benefit of boarding and unpacking once. Meals included inclusive of wine and beer with dinner - not uncommon. Most tours included with some optional tours, and you can sit on deck or inside at a window and check out the amazing countries. Cruising the Danube Two weeks before I went I didn't know I was going. A friend saw a deal grabbed it and we were off. Now I love cruising and this was my first river cruise. I had an idea of what to expect and I was anxious to see for myself. The stateroom was a bit of a surprise, twin beds only - very comfortable, adequate room to store luggage. It was an ocean view. The tour began in Prague where we spent a couple of days at the Don Giovanni Hotel. A little far out from the action, however was steps from the metro which was good - normal metro service for Europe is very good. Independent travel was easy and the tours were good - did you know that Prague was at one time the seat of the Holy Roman Empire? Also, I had some totally excellent garlic soup here. After Prague we stopped in Cesky Krumlov a medieval town on the way to Linz. We had lunch with a family here which was very good. Very wonderful people. The town itself is just; fantastic vendor's booths were set up, or you could go into one of the restaurants for a latte (which was excellent). The street that Mozart's home in Linz is on is full of shops, and people, and excitement (but not too many ATMs. Next the Melk Abbey in Austria - an absolute must see. There's a museum inside, and our local guide actually went to school there. Students come from all over the world. Ahhh Melk - I got lost there - it'll always have a place in my heart. Then Vienna - on board there was a discussion about Austrian history after breakfast then a city tour. It's a fascinating city we saw Doppler's home (Doppler Effect), talked about Gregor Mendel (father of genetics), and learned of others with ties to Vienna. Bratslavia, Slovankia the city tours are always good, and one of the highlights of this stop were the two men that came on board to talk about life at the university one went to public and the other to private the differences, and the challenges young people face. Very interesting. Our last stop was Budapest - as we arrived I just stood on deck in awe. The architecture is absolutely beautiful. We visited both cities Buda and Pest and what I would say. You must see for yourself. Where to next? Well to cruise the rivers of Europe, the Nile, or even Vietnam is one way to learn, to relax, and meet new friends and I'm ready - Next - why not the Seine. Does river cruising sound like something you'd like to do? What an enjoyable way to travel - if not now - when? There's a great video at this link - from Avalon River Cruises http://www.engagingvagabond.com/rivercruise1.html Sharon

Danube River Cruise .

Traveling with my Kindle

Note to self: file this under great technology. I have discovered that I love my Kindle. In case you don't know the Kindle is a wireless reading device made by Amazon.com. The reason - when I fly I like to read, and on longer journeys the Kindle is particularly good because of the amount of data - books, magazines, journals it holds.

Recently on a 12 day trip to Eastern Europe which included a river cruise I found out just how useful the Kindle could actually be . Now mind you I was prepared (or so I thought) to communicate with customers, and folks back home while traveling. I visited a local office of my wireless provider to pick up a broadband card with international capabilities and I'd previously set up and used international calling on my phone.

Well long story short the international broadband card did not work. However, I was able to send a message to my wireless phone company via my Kindle to ask for assistance and to let them know the card wasn't working. I accessed their web site on my Kindle and filled out whatever form they provided to report the problem.

Now I don't want you to think that entering the report on my Kindle solved my broadband problem - it didn't, and the main reason is that the wireless company did not answer my request for assistance until 2 weeks after I returned from Europe.

But, back to the Kindle. I was able to send and receive emails in the Kindle browser as well as maneuver to any site that I wanted to visit. During some down time I was really examining the Kindle and checking out what it could do. In the menu I saw search and decided to click on it to see what came up. Several options appeared - go to web, search wikipedia, and search google (SEARCH GOOGLE!!!) were among the choices, and the simple fact is- it works.

There is no charge for wirelessly receiving books, single periodical issues, browsing the Kindle store or using the experimental web browser internationally. The first time I pulled up the web browser a message came up regarding using the device internationally, and everything it said - I liked.

Quite a few of the other travelers on the tour were fascinated with the Kindle. They like me had brought along computers ( I had two) for use along the way, however we were all out of luck on that front. However, there was so much interest amongst the group that I can't help but think that a lot of folks will think that this is a really neat gift.

The Kindle uses the same high speed data network as cell phones and you never have to look for a hotspot. I do turn the wireless off when not using it to preserve the battery. For example; I last charged the Kindle before I returned home on April 12th. Today is May 9th and the battery is a little over half full. Having the wireless on is a pretty large draw for the battery, but if you let it go to sleep I think it'll be there for you when you need it.

Would I recommend this reader? Definitely!