Travel Maven blog

Moving a household back to U.S. from Germany

Hello from Germany where I am helping my son and his family of five pack up their house and move all their belongings back to the United States after three years abroad.

All is well, or will be totally when the U.S. passport arrives for one-month-old Bethany, who will need it to make her grand entrance into the United States. The passport is in the mail. Somewhere.

Meanwhile, we are, on a Sunday, getting ready for the house packers who arrive Monday morning at 8, with a crew to pack up everything that isn't moving.

In Europe, house packing is quite a business. Now that summer is here and school is out, families are moving to new jobs, from country to country, all over the world.

Theroux travel book on my bedside table

"The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road" by Paul Theroux (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; $25).

Paul Theroux celebrates his decades of wandering the globe in his latest book by collecting the best writing about travel from others, whose work shaped him as both a reader and a traveler.
 

He writes of the essence of travel experiences, of places that peoples consider to be "the navel of the earth," odd items that famous travelers carried with them, the fears of legendary travelers, and the best imaginary journeys.

Theroux's essential Tao of travel:

Leave home, go alone, travel light, bring a map, go by land, walk across a national frontier, keep a journal, read a novel that has no relation to the place you're in. If you must bring a cell phone, avoid using it. Make a friend.

I might add, read Paul Theroux.

David Molyneaux is editor of TheTravelMavens.com

 

Applause for cruise lines’ new non-smoking policies

Starting with cruises this weekend, there will be no smoking in any of the piano bars on the ships of Carnival Cruise Lines.

That’s great news for all the piano bar lovers who can’t stand the heavy haze of second-hand cigarette smoke. I thank you, Carnival, and so do most of the piano players.

The new non-smoking rules announced this week by Carnival -- and by  Princess and Holland America -- go far beyond the piano bars.

The piano bar on Carnival Magic, above, has been smoke-free since the May inaugural

My guess is that the cruise lines will hear applause from around the world from non-smokers, including many of us who have serious allergies and are concerned about the negative health impact of second-hand smoke.

Take a cruise on Seabourn Quest, come home fit

On a recent pre-inaugural cruise aboard the new Seabourn Quest, a full cast of executives from Seabourn and parent company Holland America was aboard to answer questions from media and select travel agents. You can only imagine how much these folks liked their own ship.

Still, the best spin for Seabourn came from a personal trainer.

Vincent de Jager works in the expansive spa that Seabourn has placed on its three newest 450-passenger ships, Odyssey, Sojourn, and now Quest.

The trainer was demonstrating a Kinesis machine made by Technogym. I tried it, used its system of ropes and pulleys, and it was the best and safest tough workout I ever had. The machine is expensive, however, and few cruise ships offer it.

“Anyone can work out on this machine, which can be adapted to each body and level of abilities,” said de Jager.

“Once you get the hang of it, you can walk off the ship in better shape than you started out.”

Artwork abounds on new Seabourn Quest cruise ship

If you wake up from a vacation dream some morning and can’t tell which Seabourn sister you slept with last night, take a look at the artwork. The three newest Seabourn ships are identical triplets, but they dress a bit differently.

On the Seabourn Quest, which is cruising this week in the Mediterranean toward Barcelona and its naming ceremony on Sunday, you’ll see the same spacious two-deck spa; elegant restaurants and alfresco Colonnade; a marina (pictured above) that folds down from the stern on calm days for boating and swimming; all-suite accommodations; open bar lounges; and nooks and crannies for sunning and naps.

So, the key is to look at the art, including what one of my colleagues called psychedelic coffee beans, below.

Cruising on Seabourn Quest in the Mediterranean

Seabourn, on a quest to be the lead dog in the luxury business at sea, introduces its third new ship in three years on Sunday, June 20. Blythe  Danner, an actress seen lately in the movies of Fockers fame, will do the honors at a sunset ceremony in Barcelona.

Until then, the new Seabourn Quest is on a casual pre-inaugural cruise  from Rome.

I was aboard from Rome to Monte Carlo, and, as usual, found Seabourn ready to serve.

Seabourn Quest follows two nearly identical sisters, the Odyssey, which debuted in 2009, and Sojourn, introduced in 2010, joining three older, smaller Seabourn ships, the Spirit, Pride and Legend.

These are ships of plenty, without crowds, without a wait for service.