That's why cruise lines and tour companies deserve compensation for seamless packages with transfers than you might pay when you travel by the seat of your pants.
AmaWaterways has a wonderful pre-cruise package in Prague, featuring a comfortable hotel with daily breakfast, your choice of a city tour or guided hike to Prague Castle, and a friendly expert at your beck and call throughout your three-night stay.
Their representative will pick you up at the airport and whisk you to your hotel upon arrival, and after three terrific nights, take you on a comfortable bus to Regensburg for a tour of that UNESCO World Heritage site.
After lunch, it's on to Vilshofen to board your ship for a 7-night Romantic Danube cruise.
You have zero stress, and most people who can afford a river cruise believe these land add-ons to be well-worth the price.
Instead of going that route, Julie and I went cheap and potentially stressful, booking hotels and tours through our vendor Travel Bound, with all the arrangement gaps that entails (although TB does actually offer private transfers, like those we had at the airport in Prague, if we had splurged for them).
Our hotels were not as lovely or perfectly located as those used by AmaWaterways or other river cruise companies, but for us, they sufficed.
And while those gaps in the arrangements and gaffes getting around can be tedious and tiresome --and fortunately, as Julie pointed out, were not so in this case --- we always seem to have enough energy to muscle our way through in order to save some money.
Of course, others may prefer a la carte travel to stay in complete control, and they purchase private transfers as well as advance train tickets to smooth the way, even if it costs more.
To each his own, but for most of you considering a river cruise (or any pre-cruise travel arrangements), don't underestimate the value of the cruise line taking care of everything for you.
Walking from the train station, we found ourselves following some other independent travelers dragging suitcases in the general direction we believed the ship would be.
Not being certain, however, we didn't want to assume they knew where they were going, so Julie pulled out her trusty map, printed off some internet program weeks before we left home, and surveyed it.
With her keen sense of direction, she pointed like Sacajawea and I followed like Charbonneau.
Before long, we found the other suitcase-draggers were now following us.
About 20 minutes later, we arrived at the small village street that is the heart of Vilshofen but still weren't exactly sure exactly where we were heading until a young Asian man saw us approaching and asked, "AmaCerto?"
We nodded, and he said he was heading there and to follow him.
By now, the pack had fallen pretty far behind us, as we tend to be fast walkers, so Julie waited for them to catch up so she could show them the way, while I followed the guy we assumed to be a crew member to find the ship.
He led me to a tent pavilion that obstructed our view of the ship, and that turned out to be the site of our first excursion, an Oktoberfest-like celebration, which I wrote about in my overview of AmaWaterways.
Before our "Oktoberfest," we had a complimentary snack on board and then wandered back into town.
Some of our fellow bag-draggers were already back ashore eating ice cream, which as in Regenburg seemed to be a preferred activity of locals and tourists alike. Soon we headed back to the ship to enjoy the lovely views of the river and the small airstrip along the hillsides on the other bank.
It was a beautiful place to rest up from all the stress of our pre-cruise travels.
We had time to wander into town the next morning, and then at noon we began cruising the Romantic Danube while we enjoyed a delicious lunch on board.
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