Between Trips
Relaxing at home before heading out on another journey, this time on a riverboat and driving in the eastern US
Our house - when it was actually not snowing a couple of summers ago…
First, let’s just say that Barb is MUCH better now, thank you! She’s recovering from the abdominal abscess and the surgery that accompanied it, as well as from the effects of the super-doses of antibiotics that she had to take to fight the infection.
What are we up to now? Preparing for another trip, this one being a river cruise followed by a drive around a part of the country we don’t see very often. The cruise is on American Queen Voyages on their American Countess steamboat.
We have been on several river cruises in the US before, one from Memphis to New Orleans in 2004 on the Delta Queen, a diminutive former car ferry and true stern wheeler that is no longer cruising.
The Delta Queen, Photo © 2004, Steven Sande
In 2007 we took a similar trip on the Mississippi River from St. Louis to St. Paul, this time on the American Queen. That trip was memorable for two reasons: we had Barb’s father with us (he LOVED cruising and at that point was 93 years old), and the Colorado Rockies MLB club made it to the World Series while we were on the trip.
The American Queen on the waterfront in St. Louis, Missouri. Photo © 2007, Steven Sande
After we debark in Louisville, we’re picking up a rental car and will drive to Dayton, OH to visit one of our favorite museums of all time — The National Museum of the United States Air Force. This place is huge, containing many one of a kind aircraft and rockets. Barb will definitely be getting around in a wheelchair at the museum!
The next stop is Charleston WV, followed by Roanoke VA, Asheville NC, the Great Smoky Mountains, Knoxville TN, and then back to Nashville before flying home. Being fans of live music of all sorts, we’re checking out the music scene in Nashville at the beginning of the trip and the Grand Ole Opry at the end. The driving trip should be a lot of fun, with many stops along the way. We’re actually renting a cabin for three nights in the Great Smoky Mountains!
Before anyone asks, the answer is no - we have not done a river cruise in Europe. We were supposed to do one in 2020 that was canceled due to some bug that was going around…
Trip Insurance
For many years, we’ve purchased trip insurance for big trips. The travel agent who does our cruise bookings won’t let us slide on trip insurance; it’s required to do business with them.
We’ve had to file a claim before. In 2008 we had plans of going on another river cruise, this time on the Columbia River and once again with Barb’s father. Sadly, he was diagnosed with a form of leukemia and went into hospice care, passing away in June shortly after his 94th birthday. Although we had to send the insurance company proof of his hospitalization and death, we were able to recover the complete cost of the trip.
Airlines and cruise lines have fortunately made it much easier to cancel trips with little or no penalty; that’s about one of the only good things that has come out of COVID. But what if you’re on a trip and need to rush home? That’s where trip insurance can save they day.
There are several different varieties of trip insurance. For our cruises and other trips, we usually get coverage through Travel Guard. Their coverage isn’t cheap (perhaps about 7 - 8 % of the total trip cost), but it is very comprehensive. It covers:
Trip Cancellation
Trip Delay
Trip Exchanges
Trip interruption (and return to home)
Emergency Evacuation for health and security reasons and repatriation of remains
Flight coverage
Non-flight accidental death and dismemberment
Medical assistance and expenses
and a lot more. They’re basically at your beck and call 24/7 if anything goes awry.
RV owners can get similar coverage. For example, Good Sam has a program that starts at $90 a year that covers things like:
Emergency medical transportation
Ground ambulance service
Security evacuation assistance
Flights home after emergency
RV & vehicle return if you are unable to drive
Return of deceased remains
Physician, dentist and pharmacy referrals
24/7 nurse help line
Available for extended family and pets
Medical case monitoring
Transportation home if a family member is critically ill
Home hospital evacuation
Replacement glasses/prescription assistance
Yeah, you may think trip insurance is a waste of money until you need to be rushed home because of an illness. We’ve been on cruises where people have been evacuated by helicopter because of life-threatening situations, and had a fellow passenger die on a trans-Atlantic cruise.
Once we depart on our next trip, we’ll start up the daily updates again with lots of photos! Those won’t be posted on the Facebook RV groups we’re members of, but we’ll have links on our Facebook pages and of course those of you who are subscribers will see our updates in your email inboxes.