Gearing up for London is no easy task! It literally takes months of plotting, planning and a willingness to change direction.  Actually we did not have London on our minds this year even though we have spent Christmas there for the past three years. It began in September, 2018, over a year ago, when I received an Email from Vacations to Go offering us a 7 day cruise up the Rhine on Viking Cruise Lines https://www.vacationstogo.com. The offer was a “buy one get one free,” with discounted air fares over the Christmas holiday. Sounded like a pretty good deal and after conferring with my wife, Elizabeth, I began “the process.”

Working with J.R. Hernandez from Vacations to Go was an absolute delight (his Email: jhernandez@vacationstogo.com). He always got back to me in a timely manner, answered all my questions, and worked with me on deposits. Over the next few months Elizabeth and I talked at length about our choice of Christmas vacations and that perhaps we were too hasty in our selection; then came my brother’s assessment. You see, he and his wife took more-or-less this same cruise in December, 2018 and were not very positive about it. It was not the cruise line, or the “longboat”, or the crew, or any of the service, it was the river! The Rhine was exceedingly low in water level and they spent much of their time on motor coaches being bused around places their “longboat” couldn’t go. Each time packing and unpacking their bags, which is not something you want to do while cruising.

We chickened out! After careful consideration we canceled our reservation and decided to go back to London once again (J.R. very graciously helped us with this). Christmas in London is sheer delight for Elizabeth and me. After all, Christmas as we know and celebrate it in the west, was reinvented there by none other than Charles Dickens. His Christmas Carole published in 1843 brought back the spirit of love and giving that we celebrate today. London is truly magical with lights and decorations, food and drink, shopping and festivities and we just totally immerse ourselves in all of it.

However, before I get too deep into the weeds regarding this year’s journey I’m going to go back and reconstruct, no change that to reminisce, about our other Christmases in London beginning with our first trip n 2016.