River Cruise | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Please join me in welcoming our newest contributor to BCN, Kathy Manos Penn, a native of the "Big Apple", by way of the "Peach City" - Atlanta. Kathy is a former English teacher, author of The Ink Penn blog, and a communications professional in corporate America.

    This year for the first time, we're going on a European river cruise. We've taken several bike and barge trips over the years, one in the Netherlands and two in France, and one biking/sailing trip to the Greek Islands. A river cruise will be a new experience for us. Not only are we not bicycling, but we'll get to sleep in a decent size bed and shower in a bathroom with an actual separate shower. On a barge, you shut the door to the bathroom and pick up a handheld shower head for luxury bathing.

    We're traveling the Danube, so true to form, I researched books set in the area and created a reading list. I always like to prepare for a trip by reading novels set in the cities we're visiting. Oh, I'll read a travel book or two about Prague, Vienna and Budapest, but the novels seem to bring the cities to life. We're traveling with friends, and they already have the Prague and Budapest travel books to share. I've read three Viennese mysteries, two set in 1899 and another in 1934. I've read a modern novel about expats in Budapest in the '90s who wish they were in Prague and a mystery that takes place in 1936. A "Da Vinci Code" type mystery in modern-day Prague and a WWII novel about the final days of the German regime have set the stage for our stay there. Now that I've covered all three major cities, I think I'm set.

    We've planned trips via the internet in the past, and they've worked out fine, but all that planning takes time. This trip, we were fortunate to be able to work with a local travel agent to plan our travel. She advised us to spend a few extra nights in Prague, where we'll land before traveling to Nuremburg to embark on the cruise. She booked the cruise, airfare and Prague hotel so we were never overwhelmed. She also helped us select several Prague tours.

    We visited the Habsburg Exhibit at the High Museum in January to begin getting in the spirit. Like most folks, I was familiar with Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose assassination led to WWI, but wasn't familiar with the extent of the Habsburg dynasty. For example, I had no idea Marie Antoinette was a Habsburg.

    My husband heard from a friend who once lived in Prague that we should try the city's bike paths, a suggestion which prompted me to google cycling in Prague. I found several guided bike tours, and Leslie also booked one of those for us. So we'll get in a bit cycling-just not five days of it.

    While cruise attire is described as comfy and casual, it will be nice to dress a bit fancier than we have on our barge trips. I also hope not to be as exhausted as I usually am on our cycling trips and better able to enjoy a leisurely evening. Not that our days will be spent lying around; no, we'll be enjoying walking tours almost daily in the port cities on the Danube and perhaps coffee in a Viennese coffee house, but nothing too strenuous.

    Because our travel agent is handling all of our plans, I can get back to stress-free anticipation and focus on checking Danube weather forecasts and planning my wardrobe. If I've piqued your interest, you may want to check out the Viking website.