Any Travel Plan for 2019?

[Souschef]

We leave Tuesday for a 12 day Alaskan cruise in a 5633 sq ft suite. We get all kinds of perks including bar setup, wine, free internet and free specialty dining on embarkation day
The best part is the ship leaves from Los Angeles NO FLYING

 

[Markola]

A 5633 sf suite is twice the size of my three story house!

 

[Souschef]

A 5633 sf suite is twice the size of my three story house!

OOPS! I suffer from FFS (Fat finger Syndrome) It is 533 Sq FT. I have got to do better proofreading

 

[Christine]

We leave Tuesday for a 12 day Alaskan cruise in a 5633 sq ft suite.

OOPS! I suffer from FFS (Fat finger Syndrome) It is 533 Sq FT. I have got to do better proofreading

Fantastic! I spent all morning imagining how such a grand suite would be. Thank you for entertining me!

 

[Time2re]

We are doing a 14 day self drive tour of Norway in June. https://norway.nordicvisitor.com/travel-deals/self-drive-tours/norway-explorer/722/. Anyone have their list of what we must see / must do in Norway?

 

[txtig]

Leaving this week for a 25 day stay in San Pedro, Belize.

 

[Chuckanut]

I recently returned from a trip to Central Europe (previously known as Eastern Europe). The weather was cool but not cold. We had one very chilly day when we returned to the hotel room early for lack of proper clothing, but the weather dudes also gave us several days of eating lunch at outdoor caffès with only a light jacket on. Alas, our last night plans in Poland got rained out, that was the only real problem.

We used public transit to get around. Planes and buses between cities, and, where possible, unlimited multi-day transit passes in the cities.

No 5000 sq. ft. suites, but nice smaller hotels with some character were the order of the day. All had coffee available 24/7. Several had wine available - one 24/7! Another provided afternoon sangria and/or lemonade. With cookies!

The Spring music festival was going on in Budapest which proved a delight. Prague was interesting and busily crowded, but not the mobs that I hear about as we approach Summer. Krakow was less crowded than Prague, but certainly not empty. We loved the castles of Czechia and Poland and the palaces of Vienna.

Hungarians have some issues with how the present government presents WW2 atrocities and have created a protest monument in front of a official monument that blames only Germany.

They make a great cafè latte just about everywhere.

Central Europe is getting more expensive and starting to match Western Europe in some areas. Beer is still a deal in Czechia and Poland.

 

[brett]

Starting to think about a winter trip. Looks like it might be Thailand and Malaysia again. Have not broken the news to DW yet but I know she suspects something. Need to have the discussion!

 

[NW-Bound]

Oviedo was a surprisingly modern city. Around the cathedral, not too many old buildings remained.

Today being an Easter Sunday, there was a procession out of the cathedral, which went around the neighborhood. There was also a dance group performing in a square that we happened to pass by.

Afterwards, we lingered after the crowd thinned out. I sampled a couple of local beers, while my wife had her coffee.

 

[WestUniversity]

You will not regret being on Oceania. We love the small ships instead of a group grope on the Oasis. We got married on Santorini while on an Oceania cruise from Venice to Istanbul
Enjoy!

A couple I know has been on Oceania multiple times. They have nothing but great things to say about the line. They are hooked...

 

[tulak]

I’m taking a two week solo trip to Europe the first part of May. The highlight is a world championship hockey game in Bratislava. Then a weekend in Vienna, followed by a week visiting family.

First time flying Norwegian Air to London. That might be a little iffy if they strictly enforce the overall carry-on weight limit. I’m not sure I can keep it under 10kg. The unfortunate part is my ticket includes checked luggage, but I’d really prefer to stick with carry-on.

 

[EastWest Gal]

We toyed with a couple of ideas-mountain West, Grand Canyon, but we’ve done that before when DS was 5. It felt like...meh. Yesterday we got the idea of combining a trip to visit friends who recently moved to New Hampshire from Atlanta, with visiting Boston and Newport Rhode Island. 20 years ago I visited with my former residency mentor and toured a couple of the mansions there with him. It was amazing. DH and DS both thought this trip was a great idea.

Funny, when it feels right it feels right. The money we save not flying anywhere can be plowed into more upscale accommodations.

We only have about a week between music events, so this will be perfect.

 

[phil1ben]

I retired two years ago never having more than 5 business days in a row off. I owned my own business. Since retiring at 57 we have been making up for the lost time. We have the following planned so far for the remainder of 2019:

May: Scotland and England for 12 days with one of our two sons who is 21 and a senior in college.

May: Bahamas for 5 days with our oldest son (25) and his girlfriend (we like her very much).

September: Heading to Couer d' Alene Idaho for a family wedding then extending our trip for 12 days to Sand Point, ID, then slowly through Montana to Yellowstone and Jackson Hole.

October: Going to France for three weeks with a Thomas Jefferson scholar and a very small group tracing where Jefferson traveled in France between 1784-1789 (when he was minister) including a 6 day barge trip up the Canal du Midi.

 

[Souschef]

We toyed with a couple of ideas-mountain West, Grand Canyon, but we’ve done that before when DS was 5. It felt like...meh. Yesterday we got the idea of combining a trip to visit friends who recently moved to New Hampshire from Atlanta, with visiting Boston and Newport Rhode Island. 20 years ago I visited with my former residency mentor and toured a couple of the mansions there with him. It was amazing. DH and DS both thought this trip was a great idea.

Funny, when it feels right it feels right. The money we save not flying anywhere can be plowed into more upscale accommodations.

We only have about a week between music events, so this will be perfect.

Those are great places to visit. I have attached a trip story of a New England tour.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We love Boston, Maine and the Mansion tours.

 

[Lsbcal]

Those are great places to visit. I have attached a trip story of a New England tour.

Took a look at your PDF Souschef. Thanks and this looks like a great trip. Would you mind mentioning where I might see the tour options for this tour group? We generally do vacations on our own but being west coast peopld we find the east coast kind of a daunting challenge. Probably all in our heads.

Would it have been possible to do that tour basically on your own with perhaps some day tours thrown in? What would you have missed?

 

[MichaelB]

We’re headed to Panama during the summer for a wedding. Made the plane reservations a few weeks ago, and the hotel yesterday.

The bride’s family are good friends and told us of a discount at the hotel where they will host the reception. I called and asked, at first they denied the discount, so I insisted, and they gave in. It’s like a senior discount, only they refer to it as “retired people” (jubilados). To qualify a man must be 68 and the woman 64. I don’t qualify but DW does so the reservation is in her name.

 

[Freedom56]

I have had those Virgin Atlantic Business Class tickets in my Google flights que. I really want to try them. Give us a blow by blow after your trip

Part 1 - Waiting for our Flight at AX

Here's my "blow by blow" after the LAX to LHR leg on Virgin Atlantic Upper Class last Saturday. The leg from LHR to GVA was on British Airways Euroclub business class which is nothing spectacular, but it was a short 1 hour 20 minute flight.
The Virgin Clubhouse lounge in Terminal 2 at LAX was about the same as last time (2 years ago). It is obviously nothing like the one at LHR but still nice. It is a full service lounge with all the food and drinks you want. Everything is made to order. All food and drinks are included with your Upper Class fare. The menu has changed since last time and is very good. The food is better than most restaurants and other lounges at LAX. The mushroom truffle risotto was fantastic. My wife ordered the salad and said it was good. Overall the lounge was comfortable and the service was great.

 

[Freedom56]

Part 2 - The flight

The plane was a 787-9 Dreamliner with the cool Virgin decor and mood lighting (no change from last time other than the menu). The seats convert to beds but are not as nice as the one's on Air Canada's or ANA's 787 Dreamliner business class. If you are heavy set, these seats are not for you. The bar is a nice touch. We sat in seats 2A and 3A which have more privacy than the E and K rows. The service was great and so were the food and drinks. There is also a self-serve snack bar in the cabin behind the mini-bar. We skipped breakfast as the multi-course (5 course) meal was too much and we had a connecting flight with a full meal plus the lounge at LHR. They did offer a full hot breakfast with multiple choices.
Overall it was a pleasant flight (not too different from last time). I found Swiss and Lufthansa business class to be a little bit better but then again for $2924(non-refundable) for each return ticket we were not going to complain. We normally pay about $4200 (non refundable) each for business class to Europe. There is no way I would pay he $12,248 refundable fare for these seats. The flight attendants told us that they are updating the Upper Class cabins in late 2019 and 2020, so we can assume that it will be even better next time.

 

[NW-Bound]

On the way from Porto to the Douro Valley, I diverted from the freeway routing provided by Google Map and took some winding mountainous roads. The reward was some charming little towns serendipitously discovered by getting lost, and the views that could not be had from a freeway.

Walking the larger town of Peso da Regua, we ran across a musical performance by a school reunion group in an auditorium. They sang and played mostly Portuguese music, but there was one song that we recognized. It was "The Sound of Silence", but in Portuguese.

It was a wonderful travel day, with lots of walking and too many photos to share.

 

[Chuckanut]

On the way from Porto to the Douro Valley, I diverted from the freeway routing provided by Google Map and took some winding mountainous roads. The reward was some charming little towns serendipitously discovered by getting lost, and the views that could not be had from a freeway.

Thanks for the lovely photos.

Have you had chance to try the white Port they make in that area? I found it quite enjoyable and definitely different from the normal ruby red Ports. I've looked for it locally but so far no luck.

 

[Lsbcal]

On the way from Porto to the Douro Valley, I diverted from the freeway routing provided by Google Map and took some winding mountainous roads. The reward was some charming little towns serendipitously discovered by getting lost, and the views that could not be had from a freeway.

...

Thanks for the travel info NWB. Sounds like you are having a great time.

Would it make any sense to rent a car, maybe in Lisbon, and do a loop of some sort? Rather then going all out with the car experience, just doing some short driving trips. Then using bus or train to get to other towns.

Also how is car navigation working for you? What GPS unit are you using? Phone or GPS to satellite?

 

[capjak]

Booked our anniversary trip to Greece.

3 nights Athens, 5 nights Paros and 5 nights Santorini.

Never been there so should be interesting.

Thanks to "Scuba" for information on Greece.

 

[Scrapr]

Part 2 - The flight

The plane was a 787-9 Dreamliner with the cool Virgin decor and mood lighting (no change from last time other than the menu). The seats convert to beds but are not as nice as the one's on Air Canada's or ANA's 787 Dreamliner business class. If you are heavy set, these seats are not for you. The bar is a nice touch. We sat in seats 2A and 3A which have more privacy than the E and K rows. The service was great and so were the food and drinks. There is also a self-serve snack bar in the cabin behind the mini-bar. We skipped breakfast as the multi-course (5 course) meal was too much and we had a connecting flight with a full meal plus the lounge at LHR. They did offer a full hot breakfast with multiple choices.
Overall it was a pleasant flight (not too different from last time). I found Swiss and Lufthansa business class to be a little bit better but then again for $2924(non-refundable) for each return ticket we were not going to complain. We normally pay about $4200 (non refundable) each for business class to Europe. There is no way I would pay he $12,248 refundable fare for these seats. The flight attendants told us that they are updating the Upper Class cabins in late 2019 and 2020, so we can assume that it will be even better next time.

Thanks @freedom56.Virgin Atlantic is always on my google flights que. Glad to have some "on the ground" experience

 

[NW-Bound]

Have you had chance to try the white Port they make in that area? I found it quite enjoyable and definitely different from the normal ruby red Ports. I've looked for it locally but so far no luck.

My wife does not drink, so I did not even visit any cellar while in Porto. I will keep an eye for what you describe while still in Portugal on this trip to see if I can have some to try.

Would it make any sense to rent a car, maybe in Lisbon, and do a loop of some sort? Rather then going all out with the car experience, just doing some short driving trips. Then using bus or train to get to other towns.

Also how is car navigation working for you? What GPS unit are you using? Phone or GPS to satellite?

There are several cruise boats plying the Douro from Porto to Regua in a long 12-hour day trip. This is possible because the water route is a lot shorter than the roads through the hilly region.

Much better than a day cruise is a one-way boat trip from Porto to Regua, then a night stay in Regua, then a one-way train trip back to Porto. Both the boat dock and the train station in Regua are just a few hundred feet from the main drag of Regua and the hotels.

From the center of town, a walk of perhaps 2 miles roundtrip along a riverwalk will take you across a footbridge to the south bank or the other side of the river, where I looked back at Regua and took one of the photos posted earlier. From the boat, you will not have the higher vantage points looking down on the river, but I am sure the trip is enjoyable and worthwhile.

My trip is auto-based, so I did not investigate the above possibilities until I saw several cruise boats docked in Regua. There were a couple of Viking boats, and they went up the river a few more kilometers to the smaller town of Pinhao, which I did not visit. Viking cruises are of course pricey.

About car navigation, I just used Google Map, which had improved a lot since my 6,000-km Europe auto trip in 2017. They did not have lane info then, which required me to have to switch to the outermost or the innermost lane to prepare for a right or left veer. This added a lot of work and stress on busy highways and streets.