Anyone got any travel planned?

[Moscyn]

April and May are travel months - a trip to Beijjng (China) and its vicinity. I also plan to see a very remote part of The Great Wall. Another trip will be to Florence. I have been before and did the museums, duomo and sights. This trip would be focused on wine and food and golf.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

Understanding this is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, though definitely ours, am booking a 300 mile walking tour of Scotland (8 days/100 miles) and the coast to coast walk in England (15 days/200 miles). We'll be using a tour company for purposes of booking the hotels/lodges along the route, arranging for our luggage to be moved on each day to the next hotel, and receiving detailed walking guides. We'll break up the two legs with a little sightseeing in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. This is to be a celebration for DH's 60th birthday, though I'm as excited about doing this as he is.

 

[sayhey24]

in Boquete Panama now! beautiful!

 

[Accidental Retiree]

Understanding this is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, though definitely ours, am booking a 300 mile walking tour of Scotland (8 days/100 miles) and the coast to coast walk in England (15 days/200 miles). We'll be using a tour company for purposes of booking the hotels/lodges along the route, arranging for our luggage to be moved on each day to the next hotel, and receiving detailed walking guides. We'll break up the two legs with a little sightseeing in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. This is to be a celebration for DH's 60th birthday, though I'm as excited about doing this as he is.

That sounds like a cool trip!

 

[Helen]

Understanding this is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, though definitely ours, am booking a 300 mile walking tour of Scotland (8 days/100 miles) and the coast to coast walk in England (15 days/200 miles). We'll be using a tour company for purposes of booking the hotels/lodges along the route, arranging for our luggage to be moved on each day to the next hotel, and receiving detailed walking guides. We'll break up the two legs with a little sightseeing in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. This is to be a celebration for DH's 60th birthday, though I'm as excited about doing this as he is.

This is my kind of trip! I love to hike and backpack. Do you have good raingear? I live in Oregon, so I have really good raingear. I was very glad I had it while I was in New Zealand, and I am always glad I have it while at home. I have heard that Scotland and England are rainy almost year round.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

This is my kind of trip! I love to hike and backpack. Do you have good raingear? I live in Oregon, so I have really good raingear. I was very glad I had it while I was in New Zealand, and I am always glad I have it while at home. I have heard that Scotland and England are rainy almost year round.

You betcha! We previously did the Alpine Pass in Switzerland with this company, which required purchasing sturdy rainwear, both top and bottom, so we're good to go.

 

[Valen]

We're taking my 15 year old nephew to New Orleans for 5 days in April. I asked him what city in the U.S. he'd most like to visit and he wants to see N.O. My DH and I were there a couple years ago and told him how much we enjoyed the food, music, architecture, culture, etc. (Before that, he'd always wanted to visit NYC.) To top it off, his Sacramento Kings will be playing the N.O. Pelicans so we'll catch a basketball game there, too. Yeah, I'm the cool aunt.....

 

[ShortInSeattle]

Just got back from 4 days in San Francisco, finally got around to touring Alcatraz, which was mildly interesting and well organized. Walked 20,000 steps a day with lots of hills, which was great. Now looking for another city to do 4 days in in late April. We usually look for last minute deals, but very open to suggestions!

San Fran, Portland, Vegas, and San Diego are all recent destinations.

Where else should we try? We usually only get 4 days, so Western US or Canada is best.

 

[Victoriaplh]

I am planning a 2 weeks’ vacation with my daughters driving from Nice to Italian Riviera. We'll go inland through the Tuscan hills, to Pompeii/Amalfi/Salerno and then head up to Rome via coastal route (Gaeta, Sperlonga, etc). From there, we take the car ferry to Sardegna and proceed on to Barcelona on car ferry via Genova if time permits. We'll drive along Barcelona/Costa Brava through the Pyrenees to San Sebastian. Then we spend time to see the Spanish Basque coast and head on to the French Basque coast and then go straight to Paris for shopping?
BTW, this trip will provide them perfect opportunities to practice driving manual cars as they have only been driving auto in the States. Will depart in late April or early May when they weather is still cool and avoid the Easter rush. Look forward for this vacation for years and particularly delighted to be travelling with my two daughters.

 

[panacea]

Driving the family out to Colorado this summer. We plan to spend time in Rocky Mountain National Park and Mesa Verde National Park. We're also going to make a stop to see the US Air Force Academy and the great sand dunes along the way. We've got a couple other activities booked as well, including a jeep tour in the mountains and a river rafting adventure. Really looking forward to it- especially our youngest who is really the outdoors type.

 

[Sarah in SC]

panacea, we'll be in the Rockies around the first week of June, and also looking forward to seeing a few places along the way: Shambala Mountain Center, a bunch of breweries, and also the Trail Ridge Road (hoping there is no late snow to delay it opening).
We'll be taking about 4 weeks to drive from Seattle up to Yukon and then back down and across to SC, closing the loop on our circumnavigation by short bus at last. This leg is about 6000 miles. Right now this is our route: http://goo.gl/OdtHQ7

 

[Meadbh]

I am planning a 2 weeks’ vacation with my daughters driving from Nice to Italian Riviera. We'll go inland through the Tuscan hills, to Pompeii/Amalfi/Salerno and then head up to Rome via coastal route (Gaeta, Sperlonga, etc). From there, we take the car ferry to Sardegna and proceed on to Barcelona on car ferry via Genova if time permits. We'll drive along Barcelona/Costa Brava through the Pyrenees to San Sebastian. Then we spend time to see the Spanish Basque coast and head on to the French Basque coast and then go straight to Paris for shopping?
BTW, this trip will provide them perfect opportunities to practice driving manual cars as they have only been driving auto in the States. Will depart in late April or early May when they weather is still cool and avoid the Easter rush. Look forward for this vacation for years and particularly delighted to be travelling with my two daughters.

Can I come along?

Oh wait, I will be in Hungary, Austria, Germany, Czech Republic, followed by Ireland, at the time.

 

[Meadbh]

panacea, we'll be in the Rockies around the first week of June, and also looking forward to seeing a few places along the way: Shambala Mountain Center, a bunch of breweries, and also the Trail Ridge Road (hoping there is no late snow to delay it opening).
We'll be taking about 4 weeks to drive from Seattle up to Yukon and then back down and across to SC, closing the loop on our circumnavigation by short bus at last. This leg is about 6000 miles. Right now this is our route: http://goo.gl/OdtHQ7

Sarah, all I can say is: you do like remote! At least you have a crowd to help out if anything goes wrong.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Thanks, meadbh, we will have a Kewlona, BC native with us all the way, and she's as excited as we are to get to see some of the these places. I'm especially looking forward to the Hyder/Stewart side trip, where we'll cross into Alaska and back while on the Stewart Cassiar. Wish we could make it all the way to the Arctic Circle, but weather and time worked against us. The Icefields Parkway is a reasonable substitution, I think!

 

[explanade]

I am planning a 2 weeks’ vacation with my daughters driving from Nice to Italian Riviera. We'll go inland through the Tuscan hills, to Pompeii/Amalfi/Salerno and then head up to Rome via coastal route (Gaeta, Sperlonga, etc). From there, we take the car ferry to Sardegna and proceed on to Barcelona on car ferry via Genova if time permits. We'll drive along Barcelona/Costa Brava through the Pyrenees to San Sebastian. Then we spend time to see the Spanish Basque coast and head on to the French Basque coast and then go straight to Paris for shopping?
BTW, this trip will provide them perfect opportunities to practice driving manual cars as they have only been driving auto in the States. Will depart in late April or early May when they weather is still cool and avoid the Easter rush. Look forward for this vacation for years and particularly delighted to be travelling with my two daughters.

That's a lot of ground to cover in two weeks?

I pay much higher rental fees to get automatic. Some of the hilly roads in Tuscany with switchbacks and some portions where only one car can pass do not seem to be ideal places for learning to drive manual.

But I should really do it one of these days ...

 

[FUEGO]

I figure if Sarah in SC is hitting up Canada, we will too!

We'll be on the eastern side along the St. Lawrence. Tentative plans are to head up the east coast from NC to Quebec City. Then stay in Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto for roughly a week per destination (maybe longer in Quebec City, and less in Toronto - advice appreciated!).

On the way up and back, we'll see Philadelphia (I've never been!) and NYC headed north, then Niagara Falls headed south toward the end of the trip.

So far, we haven't booked any accommodations, but we'll probably rent an apartment for each of the 1+ week stays in the Canadian cities.

Total trip should be right around 5-5.3 weeks from late June to early August.

DW wants to see fireworks in NYC on the 4th, but that will cut out a few days in Canada (our trip availability is sandwiched on both ends by DW's work schedule and the kids' summer camp schedules). Thoughts on NYC fireworks for 4th also appreciated.

Oh, we'll be traveling with our 3 young children. Road trip!!!

 

[panacea]

panacea, we'll be in the Rockies around the first week of June, and also looking forward to seeing a few places along the way: Shambala Mountain Center, a bunch of breweries, and also the Trail Ridge Road (hoping there is no late snow to delay it opening).
We'll be taking about 4 weeks to drive from Seattle up to Yukon and then back down and across to SC, closing the loop on our circumnavigation by short bus at last. This leg is about 6000 miles. Right now this is our route: http://goo.gl/OdtHQ7

Now that's what I call a road trip! Looks like you have a lot of fun ahead of you. We'll be in the Rockies later in the summer than you, otherwise I'd wave to you on our way through!

 

[sengsational]

Understanding this is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, though definitely ours, am booking a 300 mile walking tour of Scotland (8 days/100 miles) and the coast to coast walk in England (15 days/200 miles). ...

Just curious...do you "train" for your travels? If so, what's your training consist of?

 

[braumeister]

I figure if Sarah in SC is hitting up Canada, we will too!

We'll be on the eastern side along the St. Lawrence.

It must be Canada's year to be invaded. We're heading up to Halifax this summer, then a week in Newfoundland, back through Montreal, then Detroit and turn left to get back home. Most of it will be outdoor stuff. Heading up to Detroit next week for our NEXUS interviews to speed the border crossings.

 

[Meadbh]

It must be Canada's year to be invaded.

Have you seen the exchange rate lately? It's in your favour. Sorry, favor.

 

[FUEGO]

Have you seen the exchange rate lately? It's in your favour. Sorry, favor.

I was actually checking out all the countries we considered visiting and seeing what the year over year exchange rate gains/losses were. Chile was the front runner at a 17% loss versus the USD. The next biggest loser was only off 9% versus the USD.

Then we decided to visit Canada without even checking the forex rates (it's been 1:1 for a while now, after all).

I was so pleasantly surprised to see the Canadian peso, err dollar was 10% weaker versus the USD. That means everything in Canada is 10% off!! Woo hoo!

Maybe that's why everyone is headed north?

 

[braumeister]

That means everything in Canada is 10% off!! Woo hoo!



Maybe that's why everyone is headed north?

You'd have to be loony to pass that up!

 

[haloFIRE]

. Groaning..

 

[Sarah in SC]

We just don't have a good sense of direction is why we are heading north to go east. If I really wanted to go on the cheap somewhere, we'd go back to Kazakhstan! I just hope the campgrounds are mostly thawed in mid-May as we move further north.

Thanks for the Nexus reminder--we got the little cards when we did Trusted Traveler, and I put them away somewhere. Not that it helps much when you have a stack of passports and a busload of people. You wait as long as it takes to process the slowest one. We had 14 passports in hand for our trip last summer at one point: from the UK, NZ, Italy, Peru, and USA--was interesting in Moldova, to say the least.

 

[RetiredAndFree]

Understanding this is not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, though definitely ours, am booking a 300 mile walking tour of Scotland (8 days/100 miles) and the coast to coast walk in England (15 days/200 miles). We'll be using a tour company for purposes of booking the hotels/lodges along the route, arranging for our luggage to be moved on each day to the next hotel, and receiving detailed walking guides. We'll break up the two legs with a little sightseeing in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. This is to be a celebration for DH's 60th birthday, though I'm as excited about doing this as he is.

Just curious...do you "train" for your travels? If so, what's your training consist of?

Yes, absolutely. Although physical activity is a hobby for us in and of itself, we ratchet it up when preparing for this type of adventure. For Switzerland we followed a half marathon training schedule (which you could walk, instead of run, if not a runner) plus one increasingly high mountain peak hike per week for the four weeks leading up. The highest peak in my area is just over 10,000', so we did that last.

For these upcoming trips, where altitude won't be an issue, but daily mileage will, we'll follow a marathon training course, plus two days at the gym doing the Stairmaster and strength training.

We very much enjoy the training process, which is likely why we are drawn to these type of challenges.

Edit: I should add that we are not 'talented' athletes. We are just average people committed to remaining active into our senior years. Even at 51 and 58 (DH) we continue to be pleasantly surprised at what our consistent conditioning allows us to do.