New England & Canada by Sea & Rail

It’s no secret that we love mixing it up. While we consider our homebase to be a vintage bus conversation that we roam the continent in, we love traveling and exploring by other modalities too.

When we bought our bus five years ago (wow, where on earth has the time gone??), we did so with the intention of parking it for bits of time and doing other things. Last summer, we took off for Alaska by rail & sea (leaving the bus behind to for some upgrades).

This year, we wanted to share some exploring with my mom.

April found us embarking from Florida for a 13-day cruise to Canada, then followed by a week of getting back to Florida by rail.

Planning the Adventure

It all started one evening a few months ago with a text message conversation with my mom.

‘Let’s go on a cruise when we get to Florida!’

I half jokingly tossed out a couple potentials to her that weren’t the typical 7-day round trip Caribbean cruises so commonly departing from Florida.

Spring time is when ships reposition to distant lands, creating some interesting & affordable options.

The first one I found was a repositioning to Spain. Intriguing, and likely one we’ll catch another year.

Then I saw Holland America’s Atlantic Coast itinerary (the link goes to April 2017’s cruise, which is similar but a bit different than ours).

Their smaller ship the Veendam spends the summer and fall cruising back and forth from Boston to Montreal, and this particular cruise was the repositioning from their winter Caribbean itinerary with 3-days at sea.

We were all pretty smitten with it from the first look.

And the price for a 13-day cruise (just $999 pp, plus fees, for an oceanview cabin – and they didn’t charge my mom full double occupancy for traveling solo) was pretty darn enticing.

It would be our first more than week long cruise, and our first time being out at sea so long.

We booked it the next day, and the adventure was on!

Cruising the Atlantic Coast

 

This particular cruise was jam packed with unique ports of call, mixed in with some darn right relaxing days at sea. Here’s a brief re-cap of the stops, and what we did:

Ft. Lauderdale Departure: We started our journey in Melbourne where my mom lives. Kiki stayed with a cat sitter and the bus was left in storage. My mom would be returning to Melbourne by air – so it was just easiest to get a one-way car rental. From the return point in the Fort Lauderdale airport, we took a free shuttle over to the port. Easy, peasy.

3-Days at Sea: During the repositioning part of the cruise to Boston, the ship was only at half capacity (it only carries 1200 passengers at full capacity). It was absolutely delightful to have no internet (yes, we survived!) and nothing to do but relax. We so appreciated it, and this was the full on ‘vacation mode’ part of our adventure (the rest of the time we snuck in some work hours.) We soaked in the spa, indulged in a couple’s massage, read books, and just enjoyed the ship’s activities. I hardly even took my phone/camera outside of the cabin – so thus, not many pictures to share.

Boston: A stop to pick up the ‘regular’ cruise passengers, we were in port most of the afternoon. With no plans, the three of us hopped on a public transit bus to town center, and the followed the Freedom Trail on foot over to the USS Constitution. We then took a water taxi back to town, and strolled back to the ship. A lovely way to explore the city.

Bar Harbor, ME: The weather was getting downright cold, especially for April. Ice was found on desk in the morning. We tendered ashore, and strolled around this darling little touristy feeling town. We opted not trying to rush to see Acadia National Park (Chris and I presumably returning this summer), and instead took advantage of season close out sales to stock up on mittens and scarfs. The weather ahead was looking chilly.

Halifax, Nova Scotia: The ship docked right in the heart of town. The three of us however opted to seek out renting a car for the day to explore the ‘Lighthouse Trail’. We drove down to Lunenburg to stroll around town, and then followed the windy coastal trail back. Regrettably, only one lighthouse is left standing on the tour, that being the iconic Peggy’s Cove. By the time we reached it, we only had a few minutes to get out and snap some pics before we needed to return to Halifax. Overall, we loved the vibe of the area, and could see spending time in Halifax in the future.

Sydney, Nova Scotia: Located on Cape Breton, we arrived to this quaint little town’s dedication of a new memorial statue right on our dock. We spent the day strolling the walking trail and not doing too terribly much else.

Extra Note: I know it seems silly, but it had never clicked for any of us that Nova Scotia means ‘New Scotland’. Even my mom, who grew up in New England and had her honeymoon in Nova Scotia never put it together. Duh!  It was wonderful seeing the Scottish cultural influences during these stops. And we’d definitely consider RVing up this way.

Charlotte Town, Prince Edward Island: Next stop was on PEI. The only official shore excursion we booked would be here. After all, how could we resist one called ‘Lighthouse & Cellars’?  We got to climb to the top of Point Prim and Wood Islands Lighthouse and then visit a winery for a tasting. They very wisely put the tasting last. It was a great way to see the area by tour bus, but in general none of us are really ‘tour people’ dealing with getting on/off a crowded bus at each stop and rushing to see the stop we’re at.

Gaspe’, Quebec: We awoke to the Captian announcing there was ice on deck, and to bundle up if you were taking a tender ashore. Gotta admit, none of us could gather up the inspiration. Which is a shame, the Veendam only stops at this port once the entire season. But between windy cold conditions, tendering ashore and having just had 5 back-to-back stops – it was nice to just stay on ship, soak up some bandwidth (for those curious, T-Mobile’s ‘Mobile Without Borders’ totally rocked it up in Canada – high speed LTE data wherever there’s signal, at no extra cost!) and relax. Lame? Maybe.

Saganeuy, Quebec: After a day at ‘sea’ (actually entering the Saint Lawrence River at this point), we arrived to this former aluminum mine town. This was probably the town most welcoming of cruise ships, and they rolled out the red carpet for us. Cute town to explore on foot, but really not much to offer for a day ashore. However, the cruise out of the fjord that evening was spectacular.

Quebec City, Quebec: We had a lot of anticipation built up for this stop, hearing this town was just like a small French City. It did not disappoint one bit – just strolling down the streets it felt like Disney characters should be jumping out the doors singing & dancing about bread or something. We did a pretty epic self-guided walking tour of the Citadel and town, and absolutely loved it – including riding the Funicular, and going up and down by stairs.

Montreal: And finally, Day 13 arrived and we were in Montreal.

All and all, an absolutely scenic, quaint and iconic cruise. We loved the smaller ship, the days at sea, the extended itinerary and getting to experience so many unique ports of call.

We had no idea when we booked pretty much on a whim what a treat we were in for. Of course, a little less snow might have been welcomed.

But the best part? So many memories made and shared with my mom.

Chris and I came off the boat relaxed and ready for the continuation of our journey, and hugged my mom ‘until next week’ as she flew back to Florida.

Montreal

One thing we learned after last summer’s Alaskan adventure is that cruising is even MORE fun when it’s not just a destination, but a transportation mode. So we knew we just had to book some time after disembarkation to explore.

We booked a little 1 bedroom apartment on AirBnB for a few days to get some decompression post cruise. We scored by settling on a unit in Old Montreal, and our apartment was ideally located just a block from the Old Port area.

During our five nights, we sure did explore.

• There was just lots of general strolling around town soaking in the atmosphere.
• We discovered Cirque du Soleil’s latest production Luzia (Montreal is the birthplace of Cirque du Soleil, where many of their shows originate from before going on tour) was just around the block – so of course we got tickets (it was AWESOME!!!).
• We rented bikes a couple of days from the Bixi stand (Bixi = Bike + Taxi) out our doorstep for just $5/day with drops offs around the city (think we got in over 25 miles of biking over 2 days).
• New friends Sue & Doug drove up from Vermont to spend an afternoon with us, it was wonderful getting to know them.
• And we just generally enjoyed having an entire apartment to ourselves for a few days, and indulged in being slugs a bit.

We loved Montreal, for sure!!

Back to Florida, by Rail

We love train travel.

When I discovered Amtrak runs out of Montreal, we knew how we’d make our way back to the bus.

First, we’d take the Adirondack into New York City – a 10 hour train trip. Little did we know this route is rated as one of the top 10 most scenic in the WORLD.

Having not yet done all of the train routes in the world, we can’t verify this rating – but it was pretty darn spectacular. Hugging the coast line of Lake Champlain and the Hudson River almost the entire way.

Since we’d be arriving at 9pm, we’d need at least one night in NYC – so we decided on two so we can could spend a little time exploring. We used Hotwire.com on the way into town to book a last minute discounted room, and ended up at the Districk Hotel right on the border of the Theatre District.

We wandered around the city on foot covering many miles – including Central Park.

We got tickets to see Avenue Q (since we didn’t win the lottery to get last minute seats to Hamilton). It was on our list of shows to see, and were easy enough to snag discounted tickets ($49/each).

While there’s lots to love about New York – NYC is a crazy busy city, with a constant hustle and bustle. I have to admit, it’s not my favorite and I quickly got overwhelmed with it all. It would take a bit more time to acclimate and feel at ease there. Then again, I’m not sure I would want to – the quick pace and stress levels are just not my thing.

On Saturday, we hopped on the Silver Meteor for our 22+ hour train ride back to Florida.

We’ll be spending the next couple of weeks in Melbourne catching up on life in general before we start heading back up to New England by RV.

Summation:

An absolutely wonderful trip and break from RV life for a bit.

Heck, we’ll even call it at least semi-vacation (we did get a bunch of work done – including publishing the results & analysis of Cellular Antenna Testing for our members).

It’s just nice to mix it up and explore other modes of travel.

And the absolute best part? We returned home to our bus ready to move right back into! (We learned THAT lesson too last summer – don’t leave your home behind for renovations!)

---

Next Live Video Chat: RV Lifestyle vs. Vacation

When: THIS Thursday, May 19
9:30pm EDT / 6:30pm PDT

Topic: RV Lifestyle vs. Vacation

RVing can be a wonderful travel style for vacations and camping trips. For those who embark on RVing as a lifestyle (full time or seasonally), it’s however not necessarily a full time perpetual vacation. Despite what it might feel or look like at times.

Whether you’re retired or working on the road — it’s a balance of attending to life’s daily chores that can also integrate in new adventures, beautiful locations and the occasional campfire.

In this video chat (fresh off our own vacation!), we’ll compare and contrast elements of a RVing lifestyle that are indeed like vacation, and talk about the parts that aren’t. We’ll share some tips on creating a sustainable long term RVing lifestyle, and how to handle people in your life who assume you’re on perpetual holiday.

Join the Chat on our Livestream Channel

 

You will need to create a quick free account with Livestream to view the video cast. Just click the link and setup an account in advance… a couple minutes ahead of time should be sufficient, but you can do it anytime. At the end, we’ll be happy to field questions. And if you can’t make it, you can catch the archive later.