Sorry, Denise. I'm just being a mother hen. I do that when it comes to hearing horror stories about what passes for air transportation sometimes. Trust me, I was even looking close at Tahiti Nui's safety record before I took the RSSC air for our PG cruise!! It's that we pilots at United go through so, so much training, all year long, to make us the safest we can be and it's not easy and I know not all outfits do that--in fact, very few and especially outside the country, thus my protective tendancies. However, one would assume Regent would check into such things if part of an official excursion.b(tho, I would still be cautious if something doesn't sound right)


PS--on these international flights I fly, many of the flight attendants are "relics of the 60s" too, and some earlier. Several are 70+ years old. I view the manifest on every flight and still see numerous bithdates in the late 1930s through 40s.

I think the questions and worrying go with your profession, Sue. So, no need to apologize. We were simply looking to tour Moscow and didn't give the flight there a second thought. In retrospect, we should have asked questions. We assume that if RSSC is contracting with tour operators/charters, that's good enough a stamp of approval.

BTW, I didn't mean for my comments about the flight attendants to be age-bashing. I'm a relic of the '50s. To clarify - their uniforms were something out of the '60's.

Knowing what we know, we would take that excursion to Moscow again if given the fantastic opportunity.

We fly United quite often. Do you ever fly out of John Wayne or LAX? Hope we are able to fly with you one day. We'd feel very secure with you at the controls! ;)

Oh, I know! My reply was given with a big grin. We have one lady who is 81 and still flying as a flight attendant. I don't know how she does it!

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We fly United quite often. Do you ever fly out of John Wayne or LAX? Hope we are able to fly with you one day. We'd feel very secure with you at the controls! ;)

I hope so too! I fly out of SFO, though, but if you're ever headed to Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and very occasionally Frankfurt, it might be me. It's always fun when someone you know is onboard. So rarely happens though.

How great is that to be an 81 year old flight attendant. If she's got the stamina, more power to her.

Hope we are able to fly with you someday!

Denise - you didn't tell me that little story when insisting I pluck up enough courage to take the flight to Moscow. Sorry, but there's just no way I could do it now. It'll have to remain on my 'maybe I should have' list!! It was bad enough when I read somewhere that the air conditioning doesn't come on in the plane until the engines start! From someone who has a terrible fear of flying, it's all too much!

I'm having enough trouble trying to cope with the fact that United have flight attendants older (much) than me!! Panic stations! Thank heavens they have restrictions on the pilots - they do don't they Sue? I've never flown with United but am this time as it's the airline my son uses and he's using his points to upgrade me - good enough reason?? Lee

Denise - you didn't tell me that little story when insisting I pluck up enough courage to take the flight to Moscow. Sorry, but there's just no way I could do it now. It'll have to remain on my 'maybe I should have' list!! It was bad enough when I read somewhere that the air conditioning doesn't come on in the plane until the engines start! From someone who has a terrible fear of flying, it's all too much!

So as not to lose the opportunity, you might try booking on your own through a more major carrier. Just like we do in the States, airlines run between 2 major cities frequently. If done in advance, it wouldn't be that much more expensive, I would think, and if so, it'd be worth it for your peace of mind. Sometimes even outside-Russia carriers would do the routes--try Lufthansa, for instance. Based on what Denise said, I would not feel comfortable on that little airline, regardless of Regent's blessing.

I'm having enough trouble trying to cope with the fact that United have flight attendants older (much) than me!! Panic stations!

But they're awesome. Very no-nonsense. They've seen it all!

Thank heavens they have restrictions on the pilots - they do don't they Sue?

Yes, although some are trying to get this changed because when we lost our pensions, the PBGC penalizes us for retiring at 60 vice 65, even though it's mandated by the FAA. So they're trying to raise it to 65. (my personal opinion: I hope it doesn't pass, and the PBGC changes its rule instead.)

I've never flown with United but am this time as it's the airline my son uses and he's using his points to upgrade me - good enough reason?? Lee

Well, I do know alot of inside info that has me assuring you without reservation that UAL's maintenance practices & pilot training make it about the safest airline flying these days--along with others, of course, but it's this one I know intimately, and things the average traveler wouldn't know, like employee attitudes, training, etc. Even when we were in the throes of bankruptcy, I was amazed at the high level of professionalism I saw, at least in the cockpit.

Sue: We flew United last February SFO to Sydney - it was the smoothest flight so bet you were "driving" !!! Joanna

One of the most frightening rides I had was a New York City cab ride....not all are hair raising ,but this one (thank goodness I had a couple of Martini's :banana: ) was the worst, I just had to close my eyes and hold on for dear life...
The donkey's are still in Santorini ,we took them down the hill, to get the tender back to the ship.

Sorry, Lee. I left out a few "minor details!" Actually, I thought you had read my posts when I sent seamail from our Baltics cruise.

We've been flying United forever. With a few exceptions, we've had no major complaints and remain loyal Mileage Plus members.

We've been to Santorini. We opted to not take those stinky donkeys.

If you think the drivers in NYC are hair-raising, you should see how they drive in Moscow! Kicked-up many, many notices with their road rage, cutting people off with hair-pin maneuvers, stopping in the midst of traffic and getting out of their cars to curse, yell and flip people off, and parking wherever they choose, including sidewalks! You have to experience it to see just how nuts they are!

We had no choice in Santorini as tram was not working - stinky stinky - :mecry: :mecry:

We were fortunate to have the tram up and running when we were there. I don't think I would have liked that smelly ride!

It was atrocious - BUT if we wanted to see Santorini - that was it - the crew on the Diamond teased us that night, upon our return, suggesting we use the laundry asap -

If we had no other choice, we would have done the same.

I would have sent our clothes to the laundry ASAP! Or, thrown them out, if they were that ripe!

We had NO choice and it turned out to be a funny funny wonderful experience!!

I will count that donkey ride as a very fond memory of many I have. Another was when our ballon basket turned over in the cow field upon landing! Wish I had digital camera to pass it along. That's what makes travel fun, when there is a thrill, or a glitch that turns out right (remember Ngaire with the taxi in China taking him to the top of a skyscraper to show him the ship?), or a new thrill, or even a moment with a local. So many things to enjoy with travel, even if it is just meeting new friends aboard with nary a travel experience!

So true Olivia - many of our laughs have been due to our "mishaps"

Here is a mishap story. On that trip to Burgundy, it was back in the late 80's as I remember, and I had found something called Hertz chauffer drive or something to take us from Paris to Beaune, and then on to Lyon for our flight to Nice. Anyway, for 9 of us we had a 15 passenger bus to take us everywhere. When we were on our way to Lyon to get a plane to
Nice, we ran out of gas! Driver was frantic. I was saying to him in fractured French from high school, "Il n'a pas de quois" or something like that. Then all the ladies went to sit on the grass on the hill beside the highway. One went a little further down, and sat in the grass and got attacked by red ants! So many fun travel memories I have!

Oh, and there was that time when we were on a chartered sail boat in the BVI's anchored at Virgin Gorda. A toy on the boat was a wave runner, and my 8 year old son decided to go out for a ride and went UNDER a big catamaran anchored nearby. It gave everyone a fit, captain of that boat almost had a heart attack along with the folks onboard. Luckily, his head cleared and he came out on the other side with it on, not having a clue. True story. I would have died of heart failure had I seen it. I was nursing the other son for an inflamed lymph node on the boat, and missed the whole thing.

Denise, it's my fault for not reading (or remembering) everything you wrote.

Sue, thanks for the words of wisdom and I'll remember you on the Sydney/San Francisco/New York and then New York/London flights. I'm flying Singapore from Copenhagen to Sydney. Can you imagine - I'm actually flying around the world this time but can't let myself think about it. One flight at a time!

I do realise I have far more chance of being killed on the road than from a plane falling out of the sky, but my silly little brain keeps forgetting that!

Lee

Lee, you may well have tried to erase our experience out of your mind, considering how fearful you are of flying!

In my opinion, a huge aspect of having a great trip are experiences such as these. In fact, I'd venture to say these experiences and mishaps will linger in our memories far longer than the usual everyday tourist experiences. I can't wait to see what's waiting for us during this year's journey.

This thread made me smile. What great stories, scary and otherwise. On our trip to Santorini I watched people ride those donkeys up that steep path. (We took the easy way, the funicular.) It looked like a riot to me -- maybe a little uncomfortable and stinky, but extremely memorable. Denise, I didn't recall about your hot air balloon ride in Tuscany. Sounds heavenly! A balloon ride somewhere -- all the better if it's Tuscany -- is still on my life list. And Sue, good to have your wise counsel on airline matters on this board.

Priscilla,

Do you think we can find a hot air balloon ride in Budapest or Prague? ;) Let the research begin!

Denise, we can work on it .... or, of course, you and Alan can come to visit us in New Mexico and we can float through the skies there at one of the balloon festivals. :) See, I'm relentless. Someday I will entice you and Alan to jump on a plane to Albuquerque!

We HAD to ride the donkey to top of Santorini as funicular had been hit by lightning night before - OH MY it was stinky - thanks goodness it was fixed for return trip back to ship - one donkey ride was plenty!!! Joanna

You're welcome! Like I said, apologies for me mothering everyone on the subject. :) I'm such an adventurer when it comes to every other kind of excursion though! Just not flying ones. The donkeys sound stinky and wonderful and I hope to do that someday. Ever since I saw the movie Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, I've wanted to do the donkeys.

Priscilla, I think a hot air balloon ride in NM with you and John would be sensational. We need little enticing. Prepare for the day when we are on your doorstep taking you up on the offer. We may well need to do this soon.

Denise, a hot air balloon floats over our house every morning (I guess we're on the scenic route.) You can fly by any day and drop in for coffee! You can come too, Priscilla.

I would love that, Donna! Thanks for the invite. Hope you and Alan are back in Irvine soon so we can have dinner together.

Denise, I think we'll be in Irvine a good bit this summer. Dinner with you will be on our list!

That's great news, Donna! Looking forward to it!

Gil and I will probably be in Albuquerque in July...that's if I get into the colored pencil show being held there. Ifind out in May

Donna, I would love to "drop in" at your house, with Denise in tow (or me in tow, whatever). If only ....

Arlene, keep us posted about your show in Albuquerque. We will be spending much of the summer in our vacation home in Angel Fire, so maybe we could make a run to Albuquerque and see your work. That would be fun! Plus, then we wouldn't have to wait until our British Isles cruise to meet you!