I am curious a few people have hero etc. below their name, who decides who and what and when these monikers are bestowed? RR

I am no expert but I believe these names are given by the moderators in recognition of something. For instance, Cristina and Dave (Happy in Paris) both got “Hero” after their names after they went out of their way to help other slow travelers in need. Others got “Gathering Hero” after putting in countless hours of prep work for the ST Gathering in Savannah. So it is an informal recognition of having done something (actually, more like a lot) for ST. Oh, and then there are some I think are just for laughs, like the “Favorite Bootlegger”!

Yep, Chiocciola nailed it; that's pretty much how they all came about (including our formerly favorite moderator).

Doru and I got our monikers simply for being old.

Marian! Actually, at lunch in Toronto the other day Doru explained to us how he and BobtheNavigator had to "duke" it out for the "old" title.

quote:

Originally posted by Marian:
Doru and I got our monikers simply for being old.

That was before we got into discussing traffic and parking tickets in Italy, ZTL, etc. Those made me much, much older... So old that, to my own total astonishment, we just signed up for a cruise!?!?!? That was planned for about 10-15 years in the future, not for the coming September

Doru

Don't feel bad. I got suckered into a cruise this spring and I am younger than you. It was to the Bahamas - a place I never really cared one way or the other but it was a family thing. Turns out I had a blast. So if you are traveling with people you like (or love) it can be a great experience. Just don't think of it as travel - think of it as floating. Because you sure don't see a lot of anything.

quote:

Originally posted by Rome Addict:
Doru, Don't feel bad. I got suckered into a cruise this spring and I am younger than you. It was to the Bahamas - .

Bahamas? I could be a guide there, I've been so many times for work.

Our cruise is, irony of ironies, from Venice to Barcelona, so in some ports I'll have no reason to get off the ship anyway. But there are some locations for which it will be worth taking a local guide or a taxi to town: Dubrovnik, Corfu, Livorno, Elba, Portofino, Palma de Mallorca, etc. Josette may go to Sorrento, while I will go to Pompei. Loaf for the rest of the way...