Any Travel Plan for 2019?

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RetireAge50 said:
Booked a last minute Panama Canal cruise Miami to Santiago Chili. Will stay in Santiago until we decide to head back home.
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A couple at church was telling us about the fantastic deal they saw on a cruise from Miami to Santiago- possibly this one. If so, you got a steal. Wish we could go- maybe next year.
 
ugeauxgirl said:
A couple at church was telling us about the fantastic deal they saw on a cruise from Miami to Santiago- possibly this one. If so, you got a steal. Wish we could go- maybe next year.
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For the 15 night cruise the base rate was $399. After adding all the taxes and port fees we paid just under $1,000 per person. Plus airfare of course.

It’s not too late. Leaves on Friday!
 
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Airfare to or from Santiago can be pricey,but we used frequent flyer miles for that. We have found some excellent deals on repositioning cruises (one way cruises to move the ship to another region). Combined with frequent flyer miles, these can be a super deal.
 
jcfradio said:
I was in Tallinn last winter and found it totally enjoyable, especially the old medieval town section. I stayed a little bit out from the old town and had to walk through some slightly run down areas, but never felt unsafe. Not something that I would say about many US cities.
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Good to hear. I'll be staying right in old town. I'll be there the weekend between Christmas and New Year's. I'm hoping it doesn't get too crazy with weekend partiers while I'm there.
 
I just got back from Krakow this weekend. What an amazing city! It actually exceeded my expectations. I wanted to see Auschwitz, but tickets were sold out for the very busy weekend. Oh well. There was far too much to see and do for a quick weekend trip. But this is a city that I'll definitely be back to one day! Next weekend I'll be in Riga, Latvia, and then two weeks later Tallinn, Estonia. And that'll be it for 2019, and 2020 will be FAR less traveling for me.
 
I loved Krakow. We can't wait to go back to Eastern Europe. Let us know how your other trips go too!
dirtbiker said:
I just got back from Krakow this weekend. What an amazing city! It actually exceeded my expectations. I wanted to see Auschwitz, but tickets were sold out for the very busy weekend. Oh well. There was far too much to see and do for a quick weekend trip. But this is a city that I'll definitely be back to one day! Next weekend I'll be in Riga, Latvia, and then two weeks later Tallinn, Estonia. And that'll be it for 2019, and 2020 will be FAR less traveling for me.
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dirtbiker said:
I just got back from Krakow this weekend. What an amazing city! It actually exceeded my expectations. I wanted to see Auschwitz, but tickets were sold out for the very busy weekend. Oh well. There was far too much to see and do for a quick weekend trip. But this is a city that I'll definitely be back to one day! Next weekend I'll be in Riga, Latvia, and then two weeks later Tallinn, Estonia. And that'll be it for 2019, and 2020 will be FAR less traveling for me.
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Loved Krakow, including the lunch at had at one of the Milk Bars. I failed to see the new Schindler's List museum. Apparently, one should reserve a space at least a month ahead. Back then they had signs all over the place showing Gary Cooper in High Noon. Instead of a gun he was holding a voting ballot.
One of the most famous and powerful images of the Solidarity campaign was the combination of this iconic American figure (Gary Cooper in the western movie, "High Noon") with Solidarity text and images. Note that the image as Cooper wearing a Solidarity badge on his chest and carrying Solidarity ballot in his hand.
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dirtbiker said:
I just got back from Krakow this weekend. What an amazing city! It actually exceeded my expectations. I wanted to see Auschwitz, but tickets were sold out for the very busy weekend. Oh well. There was far too much to see and do for a quick weekend trip. But this is a city that I'll definitely be back to one day! Next weekend I'll be in Riga, Latvia, and then two weeks later Tallinn, Estonia. And that'll be it for 2019, and 2020 will be FAR less traveling for me.
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Hows the weather and sun or daylight this time of the year?

I've been to Norway and Sweden in the summer when there are really long days.

Krakow isn't that far up north, actually in the souther part of the country.

But I'm imagining shorter and colder days than most of the US this time of the year?
 
Bigdawg said:
Tortola in Feb with my brit friends. Northern Arkansas to finish some work on DS (sister) house with my DS (son). Probably in March for a week. Work half the day and then golf. Maui in the fall with DW. We have done Oahu and Kuwai so far. 2021 planning on a WW1 battelfield tour with USMC buddies (France).
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All of the above plus will be in Tampa for the Outback bowl on New Year's day.
 
ugeauxgirl said:
I loved Krakow. We can't wait to go back to Eastern Europe. Let us know how your other trips go too!
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I've been absolutely loving Eastern Europe. It has a certain charm and warmth quite different than the much more popular Western Europe. I will definitely report back!

Chuckanut said:
Loved Krakow, including the lunch at had at one of the Milk Bars. I failed to see the new Schindler's List museum. Apparently, one should reserve a space at least a month ahead. Back then they had signs all over the place showing Gary Cooper in High Noon. Instead of a gun he was holding a voting ballot.
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I tried to go to the Schindler museum as well, but tickets were all sold out. And they told us you can't pre-order them. If you want to go, you've got to get there early.

Last month I was in Gdansk and went to the Solidarity museum. It was a really, really, really good museum. If you're in Gdansk, it's a must-see in my opinion.

explanade said:
Hows the weather and sun or daylight this time of the year?

I've been to Norway and Sweden in the summer when there are really long days.

Krakow isn't that far up north, actually in the souther part of the country.

But I'm imagining shorter and colder days than most of the US this time of the year?
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I'm stationed in Northern Poland, and it gets dark pretty early. It's dark by about 3:45 pm, but it's pretty much always cloudy and overcast, so most days by 3-3:15 pm, it's practically dark. In Krakow, I'm sure it got dark a bit later, but I didn't actually pay much attention, plus the city lights mask some of it too. I wasn't here during the summer months, but some of the guys here who were here then said the days were very long. I was in Iceland in mid-June a few years ago, and it was daylight nearly all day, as we were close to the Arctic Circle. I came to very much appreciate the blackout curtains in all the hotel rooms!
 
dirtbiker said:
I've been absolutely loving Eastern Europe. It has a certain charm and warmth quite different than the much more popular Western Europe.
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We also enjoyed Poland....and Romania & Bulgaria. On the wish list are Lviv & Kiev in Ukraine...(among others)...but the proverbial sands of time are.....
 
Nemo2 said:
We also enjoyed Poland....and Romania & Bulgaria. On the wish list are Lviv & Kiev in Ukraine...(among others)...but the proverbial sands of time are.....
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I spent four days in Kiev last month. The city really surprised me. I mainly went to Kiev to go on the Chernobyl tour (which was amazing). I expected the city to a vestige of the old Soviet Union, drab, depressing, etc., and I had a bit of trepidation about safety, especially going by myself. However, it was so far from that. It was beautiful, opulent, safe, and lively. Not at all what I expected. I never expected to want to go back to the city, but now that I've been (by myself), I plan to go back with my wife in the future, and to spend more time there. It's a very large and spread out city without a typical Eastern European Old Town section, so to see all the sights requires a lot of walking. However, Uber is very good and very cheap there, so if you're not into a ton of walking, or can't, it's easy to get around. Of all the places I've visited, English was much less spoken here, so it pays to learn a few key phrases before going.

I've heard Lviv is pretty amazing as well, but I wasn't able to squeeze both cities into such a tight time frame.

If you do go to Kiev, I HIGHLY recommend watching the Netflix documentary "Winter on Fire" (actually, I recommend watching regardless of travel plans). It really made seeing some of the parts of the city seen in the documentary that much more incredible. Plus, the events of the documentary are very much so fresh on the mind of Ukrainians in Kiev, and there are lots of memorials throughout the city to the people who lost their lives in that conflict.

Romania and Bulgaria are both high on our list of places to visit in the future, particularly Romania.
 
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I got back from Riga, Latvia last night. It was a nice city with a fairly big old town, but a little too full of partiers for my taste. I know when most of us from the US hear Latvia, we don't have images of a lively party city, but that's exactly what Riga is.

We stayed in an AirBnB that was right above a dance club. It was great if you love hearing techo music blast through the walls from 9pm to 6am every night. Lol. The second night I decided that since I couldn't beat them, I might as well join them. No, I didn't step foot inside a dance club. But I did go out and drink way too much beer and had no problems falling asleep. Lol.
 
Nemo2 said:
3) O.K. did you ask them for the one fingered salute, or was it spontaneous?
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Every time someone breaks out a camera after dinner (which always includes many beers).
 
dirtbiker said:
I've been absolutely loving Eastern Europe. It has a certain charm and warmth quite different than the much more popular Western Europe. I will definitely report back!

I tried to go to the Schindler museum as well, but tickets were all sold out. And they told us you can't pre-order them. If you want to go, you've got to get there early.
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Eastern Europe (Actually Central Europe to many Europeans) is certainly different from what I expected before going there. The architecture, art, and overall culture can be very sophisticated.

The politics is interesting also. In Budapest we viewed a home-grown counter-memorial that makes it quite clear that many people do not buy the government's position on certain ethnic cleansing events that occurred during WW2. This counter-memorial is made up of pictures of relatives who 'disappeared' during the war. And they have a very nice statue of Ronald Regan walking through the park. Apparently it was put there to impress Americans.

IIRC, about a week before arriving in Krakow, I tried to reserve tickets ahead of time for the Schindler museum but found I had to go out about six weeks before any were available. And that was before Prime-Time tourist season.
 
We walked the Kerry Way (11 days), then 6 days in (a suburb) of Dublin--took the bus and rail everywhere. Loved it.

In a couple years, we may hike the Dingle Way and explore north along the Atlantic Coast.



dirtbiker said:
I wish we had three weeks there. I'm jealous! We only had one week. Four days in Dublin and three days out of the city. Whenever we get the chance to go back, we'd like to see Cork and Galway, and spend most of the time exploring the back roads.
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North to Fort McMurray, Alberta for a few days to spend Xmas with family. It will be cold. It will make us appreciate our winter trip south in the New Year.
 
I just got back from Tallinn, Estonia yesterday. Wow! What an awesome city! It has a much more Scandinavian than Baltic feel to it, yet has a very large enchanting medieval old town, altogether different than the Scandinavian feel of the rest of the city. Winding, cobblestone streets, beautiful Christmas square, and very friendly people with an incredible handle on the English language. This is now my second favorite city in Europe, very close behind Prague. The only real downside was that it was fairly expensive. Not Iceland or France expensive, but still not at all Eastern European in their prices.

And that's the last of my travel for the year (obviously) and the last bit of travel while I'm in Europe with the army. I should be sitting home on my couch with my wife and kids in about 2-3 weeks.
 
Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam for all of February, 2020. First time there. I'm doing some pro bono work; my wife will just be having fun. We hope to make side trips, schedule permitting, to Hanoi, Hoi An, and the Mekong Delta.

Advice gratefully accepted!
 
Of course Halong Bay in the north is one of the most scenic places. It's a long, long day trip from Hanoi. There are day trip operators who will take you there and package with a cruise and bring you back. Like 3 hours eat way.

Alternately, maybe spend a night or two over there. Some people advocate for taking overnight cruises, where you sleep on the boat and get served a couple of meals. I just went for day cruise.

In Hoi An, I had to pay a driver to take me from Da Nang to Hoi An and back to take flight out of it. Very reasonable prices. Actually went from Hoi An to Hue and they charged me $15-20 for about a 2-3 hour drive.
 
Too late for 2019 travel. See the 2020 thread.
 
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