A “combo vacation” seems to be a new thing with Marlene and me. On CV1 we did 8 days on a cruise followed by an auto trip to Charleston SC, Acworth GA (near Atlanta), Orlando and Coral Springs FL. Our next combo trip will start August 10 with a 7-night cruise followed by an auto trip to MA, with 2 stops going north and at least 3 stops going south. And 3 weeks in MA for a total of over 5 weeks.
I will designate the cruise portion as CV2 (which suggests both a combo vacation and the name of the ship) as it will be our second on the Carnival Vista. If you recall, that was the ship on which I won over $2,000 in the casino. But that was pretty much the only good thing about the ship. We can only hope that embarking and disembarking will be smoother this time.
Because the auto portion is quite long, both in terms of miles and time, I will give the auto portion its own designations: TN_10 for the trip to MA and TS_10 for the trip back to FL. It is my 10th trip from FL to MA and back. It will be Marlene’s second trip south but just her first trip north (she flew up to join me last time).
There is a lot of planning yet to be done but I can give you the rough outline.
CV2
If we didn’t like the ship the first time, why are we going again? Because Marlene’s son and daughter-in-law will be on board. They don’t know yet that we will be joining them (shhh… don’t tell). It will be a surprise. Hopefully a good surprise.
The main ports are Aruba and Curacao – places we have been to recently, but we like both and are happy to return.
TN_10
The ship leaves from Port Canaveral so the first hop of TN_10 will be Lehigh Acres FL to Port Canaveral FL. From there we will drive about halfway to Virginia – perhaps to Florence SC. It will just be an overnight stay – no sightseeing planned.
The third hop will be to Dumfries VA where we will spend two nights with one of Jett’s sons. The fourth hop will get us to Worcester MA where we will take up residence in the home of Jett’s brother and sister-in-law. That will be the end of the TN_10 auto trip. Four hops, about 1,500 miles, just one night in a hotel.
In MA we will do some sightseeing. We haven’t decided yet what we will see but I am pretty sure we will get to VT – the only New England state that Marlene has not yet visited. Maybe NY and CT too. And very likely a couple of casinos.
TS_10
The trip back will probably start with a drive to Hershey PA where we will, hopefully, tour the Hershey chocolate factory and sample some Pennsylvania Dutch food. Just one night there and one night in Wheeling WV (with a possible stop at the Flight 93 memorial in Shanksville PA) then down to Louisville KY for just two nights with my cousin Keith. A long trip to Destin FL for two nights then a final hop back to Lehigh Acres. That is 5 hops, 6 nights – 4 in hotels – and about 2,200 miles.
Should be fun. But it will also be a lot of long hops. Good thing I enjoy driving. We will take some audiobooks to amuse us while we travel.