792 miles, 3 countries, 3 cities, 1 overnight ferry, 1 panicked incident, 2 hotels, 1 Airbnb, $14.41 UNDER budget.
We originally planned to leave Amsterdam on October 2nd, but extended our stay for a day when Marla left her bag on the tram on the way to the ferry to NewCastle, England that held her passport, credit cards, and iPad. In case you missed that post, we most definitely have had angels on our shoulders on this adventure. Maybe we were lucky, or maybe humanity really is good, kind, and honest. Believing in the latter makes me feel better about the world.
We headed from Amsterdam to NewCastle on an overnight ferry which is a pretty cool option if you have the opportunity to try it. I’ve never been on a cruise before, but I assume this ferry was similar to a low-budget cruise: multiple dining options for dinner, an ensuite cabin to sleep in, two movie theaters, and multiple bars/lounges you could go to. It was a lot more than I expected and the cost for both of us (including dinner and the cabin) was just under $300 which is less than our daily budget.
NewCastle is the start of our 3 week Schengen Detour. The Schengen Area is 27 European countries that allow free travel between the countries without border control. The catch is that you can only stay within these countries for 90 out of 180 days. Because we are planning to be in Europe for 105 days, we have to leave the Schengen Area for at least 15 days to make sure we comply with that regulation. Lucky for us, the United Kingdom and Ireland are not part of the Schengen Area so by diverting to the British Isles and Ireland for a bit, we meet the Schengen requirement.
Cheers to more good beer, excellent tea and baked goods, good whisky and terrible coffee!
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