Any Travel Plan for 2019?

[NW-Bound]

I looked, and there has not been a new thread on this popular topic for 2019. So I am starting one.

I just booked flight for a Spring trip to Spain and Portugal. The duration will be a bit more than 5 weeks. The time is mid April to mid May.

We have been to Spain before, but this time will visit some new places in addition to going to Portugal and the Basque region, the latter two we have not visited.

Flight to Barcelona is cheapest, so that's our flight to/from destination. Will pick up a car to drive to Andorra, then cross the Pyrenees and visit Toulouse, France. After that, will continue on a counterclockwise direction to San Sebastian, Bilbao, Oviedo, A Coruna, before arriving in Portugal. Cities to visit in Portugal are Porto, Coimbra, and Lisbon.

The return to Barcelona from Lisbon includes stops in Cordoba, Granada, Cartagena, and Castellon. We have been to Seville and Valencia, so will skip these.

Most driving legs are of less than 300 km (190 mi), and the stays at each city range from 2 to 4 nights. So, the driving should not be too bad, even though the total distance will be around 2,000 mi.

 

[audreyh1]

Nice! Those are areas I plan to visit, like San Sebastián, Santander and Portugal. Maybe in the fall? A Portugal birding trip caught our eye and we may plan around it.

Cordoba and Grenada were very enjoyable last year in May. Awesome food wine and sights.

They have some very interesting liquers and fortified wines in Southern Spain, Portugal and the Basque region. I ran into a basque one I would like to try again. Pacharan or Patxaran (Basque).

It starts warming up in May, but you’ll likely catch the bitter orange trees in bloom in one of those cities - awesome fragrance.

 

[Souschef]

Alaska Cruise

We booked a cruise to Alaska for April.. We were in a minisuite on our last cruise, but DW wanted to go in a full suite this time. It is more expensive, but since we are traveling less it fits our budget.

The best part is that we leave and return to LA. NO airports

 

[NW-Bound]

Nice! Those are areas I plan to visit, like Santander and Portugal. Maybe in the fall? A Portugal birding trip caught our eye and we may plan around it.

Cordoba and Grenada were very enjoyable last year. Awesome food wine and sights.

They have some very interested spirits and fortified wines in Southern Spain and the Basque region. I ran into a basque one I would like to try again. Pacharán or Pxaran.

Porto is the origin of port wine. Yes, I am looking forward to trying Basque and Portuguese cuisine.

Now that the flight is booked and the two endpoints of the trip are fixed, I am working on fleshing out the trip.

The details I work on include lodging (hotel or Airbnb), places to visit, public transportation inside the cities, and last but not least, where to park the car during each stay.

 

[Dtail]

So far definitively just a Caribbean cruise. First one that DGF and I are taking as a couple.
Pondering a few other trips in the US and Canada.

 

[Fishingmn]

Spent 2 weeks in Portugal in fall 2017. We really enjoyed the country and people. We did Lisbon, Nazare (along coast), Pinhao (Douro river/wine area) & Porto. You mentioned the food and that's probably the thing that sticks out least.


Our big trip in 2019 is 2 weeks in Greece this coming fall which will include 3 days on the mainland, a 7 day island cruise and 4 nights on Paros.

 

[hausfrau]

We are going to the Dominican Republic later this year. This will be my first time out of the country. It is our first real vacation since our honeymoon almost two decades ago (I am not counting a couple cabin rentals a couple of hours away from our house). I'm pretty excited, but it doesn't seem real. It feels like the sort of thing other people do, lol.



We kind of booked this on a whim. I've always wanted to see the Caribbean though. It should be fun I hope. Who knows? We may start traveling more in the future.

 

[W2R]

None. I know that didn't surprise anybody, given that we have been open about the fact that we prefer not to travel.

Actually we have no travel planned, unless we have to evacuate for a hurricane in 2019. I hope not! We haven't done that since our evacuation for Hurricane Isaac in 2012, and we are older and the idea of evacuating sounds so much harder now than it seemed seven years ago. We are out of practice.

I hope all you travelers have a great time exploring the world in 2019!

 

[Gumby]

Going to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons in September

 

[corn18]

2 week African safari glamping.

 

[Nemo2]

Scheduled to take a repositioning cruise, late April, from Ft. Lauderdale to Copenhagen; thence a flight to Riga, Latvia, where we hope*, (*hey, I'm an old guy, everything is based on "hope"), to spend a few days before moving on to Gdansk, Poland.

Currently juggling....contemplating a cheap flight from Gdansk to Kiev, Ukraine. Spend a few days in Kiev then grab the train to Lviv, Ukraine, before heading up to Lublin, Poland.

(The first paragraph - ship, flights, accommodation, are already booked - the rest is in the "Hey, how about....?" stage regarding dates/direction.)

To use Bob Seger's lines "I could go east, I could go west
It was all up to [-]me[/-] us to decide".

 

[Nemo2]

2 week African safari glamping.

A far cry from our 2010 Botswana accommodation:

 

[happy2bretired]

I’m taking a cruise around Norway in a few months. I finally booked a business class lay flat bed.

 

[NW-Bound]

Spent 2 weeks in Portugal in fall 2017. We really enjoyed the country and people. We did Lisbon, Nazare (along coast), Pinhao (Douro river/wine area) & Porto. You mentioned the food and that's probably the thing that sticks out least...

The Portuguese eat a lot of bacalhau (cod), yet it is imported from Norway. I am not sure I can eat bacalhau day-in-day-out. They eat a lot of seafood, and if one does not like seafood, well, the alternatives may be limited, though there's always sausage and peri-peri chicken.

Basque cuisine is a bit more diverse, from what I have read, though they also eat a lot of seafood, and fresh seafood is good for the palate, the soul, and health too.

 

[gayl]

I don't drive more than 10 miles away anymore. I really don't enjoy driving and as long as there is Bart I don't have to drive to get to SF. So instead of city escapes, I've booked 3 cruises for 2019 with pre-cruise stays:
1. Star Princess Santiago to LA
2. Caribbean FLL to Quebec
3. Golden Melbourne to Auckland
But I'm on the fence about a week in either Dublin or London

 

[brett]

We are counting down the days to leave snow and cold weather behind us.

We leave in just under two weeks for a month in Thailand followed by a month in Australia, and a short stop in Hawaii on the way home.

This will be our fourth winter in Thailand. We are very much looking forward to it.

 

[gayl]

Although I love Thailand the only place I've ever been hacked was in Phuket last month

 

[brett]

Phuket is not high on our list. If we go there, it is only to access the airport or to take a ferry south. We may be doing the latter on this trip. Not certain. We only have the first week and the last two nights sorted out.

 

[gayl]

I had to go through it to get to Patong ... crowded / grungy

 

[Red Badger]

So far, two weeks at the beach in Feb with arctic based sibs (ND, MN). September meet up at the Grand Canyon with even more sibs. Staying in a large AIRBNB house not far away. And since I hate early AM flights slightly less than red eye flights, we'll add a stop (perhaps Austin or San Antonio) on the return trip .As I mentioned in a separate thread, a train ride with scenery. But not planned when or where yet.

We also sneak up to the mountains a half dozen times or so during the hot months. These are just 2-3 night stays. But when its hot as Hades at home, the cool mountain mornings and evenings are a decadent pleasure.

No big trips in 2019. But we are planning on Alaska in 2020. For us, that's about the same travel distance as Prague if we fly. We might add a cruse from Pacific NW in lieu of an 11 hour flight.

 

[savory]

Our big adventure is another self-contained bicycle trip from Venice to Paris beginning in April. We will also be going to Yellowstone in August for a reunion of summer workers from the late 60s. Then Door County, WI in October.

 

[wyecrabber1]

Yellowstone & Grand Tetons were part of our trip this past September, weather was perfect and the crowds were gone. You'll have a great trip.

 

[susswein]

leaving next month for 10 weeks of backpacking through myanmar, laos, and vietnam.

 

[grasshopper]

2 week African safari glamping.

Looks just like the 12 days we have in the fall in South Luangwa National Park Zambia. A couple of days at the Mfuwa Lodge and 3 different bush camps.

 

[Ronstar]

Road trip Arizona - Illinois though south Texas late March. Would like to do Glacier NP and Banff this summer, but I need to finalize accommodations soon.