Traveling the world has been a dream of mine ever since I can remember. Fifteen years ago I retired from teaching and began my journey to destinations I never imagined I would see. My husband, Justin, and I decided we wanted to explore smaller ships. That's when we found Viking River & Viking Ocean. We do enjoy our road trips and you'll find those adventures featured here as well. Enjoy the road less traveled and adventure onward!
Zam's Zany Travels began our Viking journey back in 2014 with "Cities of Lights" from Prague to Paris. I'm so excited to be returning to this beautiful city in 2023. We have scheduled a combination cruise with Paris and Heart of Normandy and Cities of Lights. It will be interesting to see how the city may have changed and be able to explore different areas. I remember the markets well and sampling my first Prague ham and wishing I could bring one home with me.
Many more Viking explorations are on our calendar for 2022-2023. Now, when will Viking open their 2024 calendar? I have quite a few on my wish list. I hope you enjoy a few moments of our walk about town.
Happy travels to all...and wishing you very safe travels,
Docking in Monte Carlo, Monaco during our Viking Mediterranean Odyssey Ocean cruise provided quite the sight of opulence! Large private yachts surrounded the bay area and the shoreline was filled with bright fair-like stands which had a definite American influence. We walked about town and enjoyed a beautiful day. This would a lovely place to visit again. We didn't go into the casinos, but we did explore downtown quite a bit.
During early February 2020, we were able to cruise to the Falkland Islands with Viking during our South America & Chilean Fjords cruise. This trip has been filled with all breeds of penguins and in the Falkland Islands we saw Gentoo and King Penguins along the shore at Bluff Cove Lagoon.
The area is very rugged and terns, geese and skuas often frequent the beach. It was fun to watch the penguins interact with each other. You'll notice the white flags. They were there to tell us to not go past them so as not to disturb the breeding pairs.
There are more than 1,000 breeding pairs of Gentoo and a growing colony of King penguins.
The Sea Cabbage Cafe provided relief from the wind with a complimentary beverage and delicious home-baked treats while providing a lovely panoramic view of the cove. The gift shop had a variety of items and that's where I stocked up on Christmas presents for my grandchildren. Many of the items, if not all, can only be purchased at that location. They are not available anywhere else. Not even in England where they originate.
A must see and delightful excursion...Penguins of Bluff Cove Lagoon.
Last January 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning to ravish Europe, we traveled to South America with Viking Ocean Cruises "South America & the Chilean Fjords". We embarked in Buenos Aires and traveled to Santiago, Chile. This particular video shows highlights of our arrival in Buenos Aires and our travels through Argentina and Uruguay. It was a wonderful trip and I highly recommend
Key excursions that are featured....
A TASTE OF ARGENTINE GENEROSITY: Dining with local Argentinians was a delight. We traveled by motor coach to our host's home and experienced a typical 3-course dinner. Visiting local homes is one of our favorite choices for excursions. Conversing with locals and learning more about their culture is something we enjoy.
PARANÁ DELTA & RIVER CRUISE: Another excursion while in Buenos Aires was cruising the Parana Delta which is north of the capital. It is an idyllic stretch of small islands and canals is one of the world's largest deltas. City dwellers enjoy escaping to this destination and being immersed in nature. There were several very unusual villas and tiny islands, some built on stilts over the water. Most are only accessible by boat.
Discover Viña Juanico Winery: One of Montevideo's most outstanding wineries provided us with an interesting tour and of course wine tasting with delicious platters of cheese and cold cuts. This is an organic winery that produces 1.5 million gallons per year.
All in all, this cruise is one of my Top 10 from Viking. I often get asked, "What is your favorite cruise/destination?" That's often difficult because we have found joy in all of our adventures. We hope to travel again soon as I'm sure you do as well.
In the meantime, please stay safe and find joy and light in your life.
October 28th, 2017, we set sail with Viking River Cruise's Poland, Prague, and Elegant Elbe. We spent four days in Berlin prior to our departure and explored the Topography of Terror, Reichstag with a building dome tour, and of course A Taste of Berlin. We also toured Berlin by Night, plus a panoramic Berlin with a stop at the Memorial of the Berlin Wall. Berlin was a fascinating city to explore. And it was very easy to get around on our own.
This would be one city I'd enjoy returning to. More explorations ahead! But first, I need to get a new "traveling knee!"
Cities of Lights was our very first Viking River Cruise and it has set in motion a strong desire to travel so much more. Our love of Viking has grown since this initial cruise in 2014 to more than 20 cruises, including six upcoming through 2023. In fact, we will be returning to this lovely cruise in 2023!
This particular day took us into Miltenberg, Germany. We were traveling to Heidelberg and stopped along the way to walk the quaint streets and visit the shops. One of the highlights of this day was a visit to a local bakery for a Bavarian pretzel demonstration and wine. In the old town many businesses operate in much the same way as they have for generations.
For more about our Cities of Lights cruise, try our Search feature!
October 2015 began our first ocean voyage with Viking and aboard the Viking Star. Mediterranean Odyssey was our itinerary as we traveled from Venice to Barcelona. Along the way we stopped in Split, Croatia.
We docked in a stunning bay with its Adriatic setting and beautiful islands. During our included Walking Tour excursion we explored 3rd century structures of Diocletian's Palace and noted how it seamlessly blended with the modern city. We even toured its subterranean storage tunnels that had now become thriving markets. Outdoor cafes were festive and bright with that beautiful Adriatic backdrop.
Be sure to check out my other videos on the Viking Star and the Mediterranean Odyssey! Our Search function works well!
May of 2014, we experienced our first river boat cruise aboard the Viking Odin. Our itinerary was the "Cities of Lights." We traveled from Prague to Paris for twelve beautiful days.
During our stay outside of Paris, we were able to go on our own to Versailles! We'd tried to get there previously and even had metro tickets saved from that previous trip that we were able to use. I remember that day I made over 20,000 steps! That was a milestone for me.
And now, I'd like to share my moments at Versailles with you. I hope you enjoy it.
Traveling the high seas with Viking aboard the Viking Sky in 2017 was quite a treat! One of our destinations during our "Into the Midnight Sun" itinerary was Honnigsvag, Norway. Traveling aboard a rib boat was a wildly fast and exhilarating experience. And consuming fresh King Crab from the ocean in a Sami tent over an open fire with Sami reindeer grazing along the ocean banks provided a very unique experience. I highly recommend this excursion if you're ever in Honnigsvag.
Here's a brief look at our day and for more about this itinerary, check out my "Into the Midnight Sun" blogs! Searching is very easy on my website.
Traveling the world has always been a dream of mine and since retirement eleven years ago I've been going full steam. At least until 2020 spring hit. We've all had our challenges during this pandemic, but I remain positive that traveling more safely will be in our future. In the meantime, I've been taking a look back at my "Memories" and came across our first day in Venice, Italy back in 2015.
We were sailing the Viking Star with the "Mediterranean Odyssey" itinerary. We began our journey in Venice with a two day pre-extension and stayed at the Hilton Molino Stucky. We traveled to our hotel in a private water taxi. You'll see it was raining that day and actually our entire Venice stay was raining. That didn't dampen our spirits.
Be sure to check out my additional blogs on this itinerary, and for now, here's our first look at Venice!
Traveling with Viking had been a dream of mine for many years and once I retired I was able to live my dream and travel with them to many places around the world. This particular voyage took me to Iceland where we explored Reykjavik during a pre-extension. Seeing the hot thermal springs and breathtaking waterfalls was quite the site.
But our journey would not end there. Before our journey ended in Montreal, we would travel the North Sea from Bergen, Norway to Lerwick, Scotland and across the ocean to Greenland and ultimately rest in Montreal, Canada.
It was a lovely journey filled with unusual sites and we actually felt as if we were traveling in the wake of the Vikings. It's a journey I highly recommend. While we did experience a few deviations in the itinerary due to weather, Viking provided us with alternate options that worked out well.
I hope you enjoy a few of the visual aspects of our journey. Stay safe and here's to more traveling in the future!
It's hard to believe, but I never put together a video of my trip to Alaska with the Viking Orion. While we may not be able to travel at this time, it gives me an opportunity to look back and fill in some of the gaps of my travels.
We arrived in Anchorage and spent the night at the Hyatt House on our own. The next morning we caught the Alaska Railroad and traveled to Seward. It was a very scenic ride with the Goldstar Service. Once we arrived in Seward we stayed at the lovely Seward Windsong Lodge just outside of town. All of our pre-cruise travel arrangements were done through Alaskan Pursuit. They offer a great package deal including hotel, the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Seward, plus a Kenai Fjords Tour! Everything worked out so well and it was a smooth transition between locations.
Once we arrived in Seward we took advantage of the Kenai Fjord Tours and opted for the dinner cruise on Fox Island. We departed at 10 a.m. and arrived back at the dock around 6:30 p.m. It was very worthwhile as we were able to spot numerous wildlife! And the food was delicious! Lunch was served while we cruised Resurrection Bay and later we had a prime rib and salmon dinner on Fox Island.
We enjoyed being on our own for a few days before our cruise began. Once we boarded the Viking Orion we set sail for Valdez and the Inside Passage. We arrived at the usual Alaskan ports along the way and enjoyed Viking's excursions. It was a memorable experience and Viking took very good care of us.
Here's to more Viking travels! I hope you enjoy Alaska or Bust!
Puro Caballo's horse-breeding ranch was our excursion choice when we landed in Valparaiso, our final destination during our South America and Chilean Fjords Viking cruise. The Viking Jupiter put into port and we took advantage of the great weather. The sun was shining and it was really warm!
We drove to Puro Caballo and saw an introduction to the traditional Chilean horsemen. They are similar to our American cowboys. While enjoying a glass of wine or pisco sour, we watched a demonstration of a Chilean rodeo.
Here are some moments of their demonstration! Enjoy these magnificent creatures and their talented riders!
