Day 5, July 12, 2025

 Today our pre-trip extension was over and this was the first day of the VBT trip.

The weather gods were smiling on us because we only had occasional sprinkles the previous few days and this morning it was pretty wet out. But that was ok because our morning only consisted of a bus ride the the first port town, Regensburg, Germany where we would board the ship.

We were met in the lobby by the same VBT representative who met us at the airport. She basically made sure the bus arrived. I don't think it was really necessary except that we don't know if the driver actually spoke any English.


There's nothing much to report about the bus ride except we arrived a little after noon in a different spot than what was planned. Because of low water, the ship was in a different spot than planned, so that's where we met the VBT guides, our bikes, and the ship.

The bus dropped us off as close as it could get to the ship and we walked the rest of the way. There were a couple of other boats docked nearby. Our luggage was already in our rooms.


Here's half of it.


Here's what our room looked like. We are at or below water level so there's not much to see out the window. Walter said the sound of the water passing by was like someone was running a very long bath.


Here's the top deck.

Here's the lounge where almost all of the 170+ guests are assembled to hear a briefing.


Here are our VBT guides, Natalia and Damian doing an intro meeting.


Here's the familiar VBT van and the guides getting the bikes ready for our test ride.


Here's my bike, pretty much the same bike that VBT has used the past few years.


We did a short test ride and here's my strava post: https://www.strava.com/activities/15090080352
It was a little under 5 miles and flat as a pancake.

Dinner was really loud with most of the passengers in the same room. We started to pull away from the shore. No getting off now.





The ship has programming to keep even the most hyperactive adult busy. Tonight it was "oldies" night (a relative term at our age). Some of our VBT companions were eagerly awaiting the music to start. I'm not sure about all four of us, but Walter and I retired. Oldies indeed.


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