Most wonderful email I've ever had

5:27 PM |

May 30, 2011
Congratulations! FY11 was our year - and you've certainly shown that it was YOUR year! You've earned a spot on the Achievers 2011 "Mediterranean Fun Cruise!" You and a guest will Set Sail on a six-day cruise aboard the Celebrity Solstice, visiting some of the best ports-of-call in the Mediterranean; Barcelona Spain, Tunis Tunisia, Civitavecchia and Livorno Italy and Cannes France.

That was a forwarded email I got from my husband. After reading the email, I felt like I was in the sky flying up and up. I stopped dreaming and started thinking what I should do next. Kids were in concern initially and visas and money and ...

We finally decided to take two kids along. They were 4 and 6. I guessed they grew enough to recognize where they were, hopefully.

..................

I started applying for Tunisia visa at first and continued with Schengen visa from Spain embassy. In Japan, it took about a week to get Tunisia visa (http://www.tunisia.or.jp) and 10 days for Schengen (email for visa information emb.tokio.info@maec.es).

Next step for this cruising trip was to reserve the ticket for four. We found out there were Singapore and Austrain Airlines which are in the group of Star Alliance to collect mileage. We picked Singapore due to the flight schedule and transit issue. We wanted to visit Singapore city when the connecting time (both returning flights) were allowed! I wondered when the ticket prices were quoted that the engine and airport charges costed us a lot, as same as the ticket itself.

Last but not least, before packing luggages and preparing money for exchange, I searched for all information for independent traveling in Singapore, Barcelona, Rome, Vatican City, Pisa, Florence, Cannes and Monte Carlo, Monaco (an extra country we could visit when leaving the port of Cannes, France). Tunis was the only city we would take a tour with Celebrity since it was reasonable price and might be difficult for us to travel around within a half of our day.

Lastly, everything were all done for our fantastic trip. We had about 9 days to explore those 6 countries and experience the cruises in the Mediterranean.