We have done four other Viking River cruises on the rivers in Europe. This trip we decided to do two more back-to-back. The first leg of our trip was this 7 day cruise through the Bordeaux wine country. We booked a balcony stateroom a year ahead.

We flew to Bordeaux from the west coast via London/ Gatwick. Since this cruise was the first one of two cruises back-to-back we wanted a convenient return flight from Vancouver to Europe. Once overseas, we took convenient and low-cost short flights to get from Gatwick to Bordeaux, Bordeaux to Basel (the start of our next river cruise) and Amsterdam back to Gatwick for the journey home.

Our flight to London arrived in the early morning and our fight to Bordeaux was not until 7 PM. We made our layover much more comfortable by booking a day-use room at the Gatwick Hilton. The hotel is an easy 3- minute walk through the terminal and we were checked in by 9 AM. Our room was a very comfortable place to have a nap, a reviving shower, and a light meal before continuing on the journey. There is a small grocery store in the terminal and Gary picked up sandwiches (which were surprisingly good) drinks, fruit, and a couple of cookies. We are always impressed the selection of real food available in European train stations and airports. Gatwick is typical. Along with bars and restaurants, there is a very nice grocery store with fresh produce, sandwiches, dairy products and bakery items. Read more