Short runs are all I seem to have time for and parking lots are hardly inspirational. I continue to have problems posting in an attempt to keep anyone up to date on our travels. We were supposed to be within walking distance of the Biltmore Estate, but GPS somehow took as 16 miles out of the way. We rushed to make our entrance time and the rest of the day was equally off schedule. We were misdirected to a lunch spot, and instead took an early time for the DaVinci exhibit. The Vanderbilt property is much more expansive than we anticipated, so we ended up doing a lot more driving. The same guide that led us astray for lunch also screwed up our wine tasting reservation and downtown Asheville was difficult to navigate. As I write this, my wife is antiquing while I found a park bench.

Also, we were just notified by Viking that our once scheduled Alaska, Russia, Japan cruise for next month is now just been revise to just Alaska and Hawaii, so we’ve not getting to experience any ports outside the U.S. This is a major disappointment considering the money we invested in this trip. We’re already headed to Hawaii in December, so why pay all these bucks to visit places we’ve already been multiple times? It’s been bait and switch too frequently in the cruise business, although mostly unintentional, but we’ve now missed out on Bali, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Finland, and Norway.

We’ll now need to hassle with our travel agent to make changes again, wasting her time and ours. I still need to get to Alaska to add to my 50-state bucket list, but can hopefully redirect money to a shorter, less-expensive trip when we’re already in Portland and Vancouver, easily accessible to Anchorage. We also won’t need to be away from home so long if we do some re-planning.