In the next 8 months, our son was graduating high school, our daughter was getting married, and then our son was moving away to college. We saw the Christmas of 2022 as the last chance for a family vacation (or at least the last chance that would be easy to schedule). Our initial thoughts were to go to Disney World, but holiday pricing was ridiculous. Then my daughter reminded me that we spoke about going to Europe before covid, so I looked into it. I found a 5 day cruise for $200 a person, and we were sold. An upgrade to $300 got us a balcony room with MSC Cruises. We would visit Marseilles, Barcelona, Rome and Genoa on the cruise, with a stop in Frankfurt on the way home. Flights were booked, bags were packed, and we were ready for a new adventure. Besides a 48 hour trip to Barcelona, to speak at a conference in 2008, I had never been to Europe. This was going to be a whirlwind trip, but a great one.