Heathrow Airport Lounge Edition
One of the reasons I choose the Silversea world cruise was that it started in San Francisco – I only had to drive an hour to get to the evening-before hotel. Which turned out to be a good thing, as many guests (and crew!) missed the ship because of flight delays due to the storms around the Bay Area at that time.
However, I will not be able to drive home from London, and since I booked the entire world cruise Silversea is flying me business class. I’m taking the direct London-to-San Francisco flight by Virgin Atlantic. I’ve heard good thing about Virgin, and I assure you the lounge measures up – it’s like a 1960s fantasy with (very good) WiFi. They even have a barber shop/hair stylist!
Right, this is supposed to be about lessons…
Bring New Money
Many places accepted US Dollars. However, in Africa no one would accept dollars of any denomination made before 2009, and most wanted dollars made after 2013. I spent about an hour online trying to figure this out but did not have any luck. I think it’s about counterfeit protection built into modern US dollars.
However, that does not explain why any money with even the smallest tear is not accepted. US banks don’t care about that, so I think there must be something with how local merchants exchange the dollars with local banks.
Credit Cards
Let’s stay with the money theme. I brought a credit card and a debit card with me on the cruise. I have a second credit card that I use only for online purchases – I used that one when I bought my replacement mobile phone.
I advise bringing at least two ways to buy products and get cash. Take a picture of each card and 1) save it somewhere on your phone and 2) leave a hard copy in the cabin safe. In fact, do the same thing with your passport, shot records and other “get in and out of countries” documents.
Note: many merchants that accept credit cards prefer you buy with cash. I assume that way it’s easier to not report the sale for tax purposes.
Magnets
Many guests decorate the door of their cabins with magnets as a way to personalize the every-door-looks-the-same nature of the living quarters on the ship. Silversea gave the world cruises a magnet (and post card and book mark) for every segment of the cruise, some most had a door-starter-kit.
It was only after I visited some other cabins that I realized many decorated the interiors as well. Some had towels/shawls on the walls for large splashes of color. But that takes a certain type of magnet.
You need to bring strong magnet hooks to hang heavies things. But I advise also bringing medium strength magnets, the stronger ones were actually difficult to shift and remove and are overkill for most things.
Room Keys and Business Cards
We had a credit card sized door key, and a month into the cruise I received a set of “business cards”. Silversea provided a small wallet to carry them, but it is handy to have something larger to allow you to also stash money or small notes.