She’s a Europe Girl - episode 115
We begin our Le Voyage en France series today. In English, the trip to France. Now that Ron and I are empty nesters, we’re ready to travel. Today’s guest volunteered to help us navigate our first big trip. Kathy Klage is a woman who came into my life when I was a teenager, so, young and impressionable. I paid attention to her love of life and her sense of adventure. I invited her on the show as she is an avid traveler having done so for work and pleasure.
Kathy gave us some good tips like saying basic phrases in the language of the country you are visiting. It shows we are thoughtful. “Thank you” is a gracious way to receive a compliment even if we don’t agree with it. And I love the simplicity of “Remember who you are” as a seed to plant in our kids and also something for each one of us to remember as well. Thanks, Kathy.
Outgoing. Passionate. Caring.
— Kathy Klage
Le Voyage en France
Thoughts from She’s a Europe Girl
Kathy knew I was not a well-traveled individual and was eager to help us embark on our first big trip. Now I’ve been to Hawaii a bunch and to quite a few different states, but heading “over the pond” as they say, was another thing all together. I was glad she understood what a novice I was, and I leaned on her years of experience. Now that Ron and I are empty-nesters (it seems as though the kids have all successfully launched), we were ready for some more ambitious traveling.
Ron’s heritage involves the countries of Germany and England for starters while mine begin in Norway, Sweden and Puerto Rico. Of course that was before we did ancestry.com which blows the lid off what we were told as children. Who knew? Well that’s another blog post all together. As we were thinking of places we wanted to visit none of the aforementioned spots made the first round. Perhaps another time. We felt drawn to France. Why? Hmmm, not sure. I think it’s two things. First, the language is beautiful sounding to my ears. Second they have rivers!
Ron gets seasick easily and I have a strong vein of anxiety running through me, so being on an ocean cruise with thousands of other people, did not sound at all appealing to either one of us. What about a river cruise? You would get to see some less traveled places, in more intimate settings and there would be no ongoing fear of getting sick. It seemed to check all the boxes. After talking to Kathy she suggested Amawaterways having found them to be highly reputable, big on customer service, and committed to guest comfort and experience. Well that certainly checked all my boxes!
I looked into their cruises and we decided to take Kathy’s recommendation. We choose a Colors of Provence tour because the pictures of the lavender fields in full bloom did me in. This way we could see some stuff with some structure around us and wouldn’t end up, hopefully, looking like an “idiot abroad.” Or those “ugly” Americans you hear about. (The limited series Idiot Abroad is where we got that particular phrase and I feel comfortable using it as a nod to the funny show by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant where they send an inexperienced friend to different countries, immerse him in the culture and then laugh as they watch him trying to manage it all.)
Kathy did her stuff and the next thing you know we are booked for the trip. Ok, it wasn’t that easy because COVID hit and we had to reschedule. I will tell you the experience we had on Amawaterways was exceptional in every way. There isn’t anything I would change and I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat. We talked to quite a few passengers who base their trips solely around where Amawaters sails. I appreciate customer loyalty and that says a lot.
Let me say I am not being compensated for this. They didn’t ask me, and I didn’t ask them. I wanted to share with you the excellent experience we had in case you are looking for something along those same lines. And if not, maybe you will enjoy our tales vicariously. These next few blogs will be rooted in those.
Wherever you go, go with all your heart.
— Confucius
