I definitely did not get enough time in Florence. The day was so hot and we only had a few hours, so we just went to the Basilica di Santa Maria, did a bit of street shopping, and then had pizza at a cafe. But we did get to stop at Piazza Michelangelo and take some scenic pictures of the city, which is so incredibly beautiful! Next time I go to Florence I am definitely taking several days to see everything.

On the last day of the cruise we stopped in Cannes for a little while, and Helen and I took a bus tour of the French Riviera (which is basically a glorified beach resort). Not much to impress, but we did see the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès where they hold the Cannes Film Festival, so I pretended that there were celebrities nearby. (I have a good imagination.)

And that concludes Joy’s European Vacation Extravaganza! The cruise itself was so much fun (I won the karaoke contest!), and, of course, Europe was fantastic! Just enough to get a taste and convince me that I have to go back as soon as possible!

Rome is nothing short of fantastic. Helen and I spent 6 hours on our own in the city just taking in the sights and trying to figure out how to catch a taxi (apparently they won’t stop if you try to flag them in the street, who knew?). We visited everything we could in that time, including the Colosseum (which really was amazing) and the gorgeous Trevi Fountain (although I didn’t throw in any coins). And, of course, we ate real gelato – yum! Unfortunately for us, the Sistine Chapel was closed that day because of a Vatican holiday, but we did go into St. Peter’s Basilica, which is one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen. I definitely want to go back someday so I can see the Sistine Chapel, and really, you can’t see all of Rome in just 6 hours! But it was enough to get a taste of some of the magic the city holds.

I have to admit that before this vacation, I wasn’t 100% sure that Malta was actually a country. But once I got there and saw how absolutely gorgeous it was, I was so glad it was on our itinerary. We took a bus tour of the main island and got to see the Blue Grotto where they filmed The Count of Monte Cristo (one of my favorite movies of all time) and saw some amazing historical buildings from the Knights of Saint John. We also got to visit a fishing village and the marina, and I got some amazing pictures. (If you want to see all of my Europe pictures, check them out at my flickr account!) We even found the Hard Rock Cafe so Helen could buy a shotglass. The island was so beautiful, it would definitely be worth a second visit – especially the Blue Grotto. Maybe next time I’ll get to see a Maltese Falcon (although Sue did let a trained seahawk perch on her arm). ;)

As much as I love to travel, I hate the actual traveling process. Airports are often the source of many tears for me, and this time was certainly no exception. When I left Bangkok on Friday night, I was only looking forward to meeting my parents in Barcelona and starting our cruise. By Saturday night, I just wanted to make it out of the airport with my sanity.

I was traveling with my friend Helen, but unfortunately we were on different airlines. We had agreed to meet in baggage claim in the Barcelona airport before heading to our hotel together, where we would meet my parents. It seemed like a simple enough plan, but I should have known better. My first flight was delayed, and I spent over an hour sleeping on the freezing cold tile floor of the Bangkok airport.

By the time we arrived at London Heathrow (which is definitely on my list of worst airports ever) I was cranky and tired, which only added to the fact that my bags had not been checked all the way through to Barcelona (my travel agent booked two separate tickets, don’t ask me why), so I had a fragment of time to run to baggage claim, get my bags, speed through customs, find the airline counter (which was, of course, in a different terminal), check in again, and run to my connecting flight. Normally I’m an airport-running expert, but this time I was caught at the Iberia Airlines desk when the handsome young Spaniard behind counter told me that since I was not technically on a connecting flight, my bags weighed too much and I couldn’t take them. Faced with the prospect of missing my flight (and possibly my cruise ship), I naturally burst into tears, which is just what I do when I am angry or upset (and in this case I was both). Luckily for me, this terrified the airline representative and he frantically got on the phone and talked to someone in charge, who graciously allowed my excess baggage in just enough time for me to catch my flight to Barcelona.

Normally one bout of tears is my standard fare for airport travel, but then I arrived in Barcelona and it all went downhill. My flight arrived behind schedule because of problems on the tarmac, and Helen had been waiting for me in baggage claim for over 4 hours at this point, so I was already in a bit of a tizzy by the time I got into the terminal. After waiting forever for my bags and not seeing Helen anywhere around, I went out into the main terminal to search. An hour of walking up and down the terminal, but no Helen. I was, of course, totally freaking out that I had lost her. I finally went to an information desk and asked about her flight… and was told that it had come in at a completely different terminal. I pushed my baggage cart down to the next terminal and proceeded to wander up and down that terminal for another hour… no Helen.

After calling the hotel to see if she had checked in without me (she hadn’t), I was in a full-blown panic. In utter desperation, I went up to an airport worker who wasa standing outside that terminal’s baggage claim and begged him to go in and just see if Helen was inside waiting for me. Apparently he had just taken his daily dose of rudeness pills, and he basically told me to bug off and just suck it up and wait. Which, of course, set me off into another round of tears. I sat on my baggage cart and cried for a good 20 minutes before deciding to give the terminal one last walk-through… and there was Helen, who was also crying after having waited for me for over 5 hours in a cold, unwelcoming airport. Needless to say, we went straight to the hotel and fell asleep.

The only good part of the “adventure”? Seeing Ethan Suplee at baggage claim (who was apparently having his own European family vacation) and secretly wishing I was brave enough to ask for an autograph.