Travel Plan 2023

[explanade]

Yeah I haven't tested positive either.

Had cold symptoms though, like sore throat, some coughing, but never fever or fatigue.

I spend more time outside on trips than I used to. So I didn't go to museums in Europe -- been to most of them already, more than once.

So landscapes in the country, hiking in beautiful natural locales and such.

Don't mask outside though when I went to Monaco for a day trip, the cops were enforcing masking outside too.

I used to do day trips on coaches. Some of these take 10-14 hours. They take you in a shuttle or a larger tour bus and they may drive you 100 miles or so and hit a couple of attractions and then drive you back to the city.

I haven't done these because I don't want to be cooped up in a bus for 4-6 hours with strangers. So I've rented cars more often, at higher prices than before the pandemic, and have done self-guided day trips.

 

[tulak]

I flew to Europe four times last year and planning on a couple of trips this year. I didn’t get sick. I mostly wore a mask on the flights and will continue to do so, to minimize the risk of getting sick with anything and having it affect my vacation.

Odds are if you fly during the off season, the plane won’t be full. At least they weren’t last year.

 

[Lsbcal]

Thanks for the positive comments on travel while there is still some Covid about.

We can take a nonstop Premium Economy United flight from SFO to either Rome or Amsterdam. We were looking at both and DW got very excited.

Might consider something like Rome ->Pisa -> CinquaTerra -> Varenna plus some additional ideas. Would really like to get back to Varenna and the great hotel we stayed at on Lake Como.

 

[athena53]

I flew to Europe twice last year and to my knowledge never got COVID. Munich and Malta: spent a lot of time walking outdoors in Munich with some time in sparsely-populated museums. Malta: well, I lost my passport and made multiple trips with Bolt (similar to Uber) drivers to and from the embassy, to get passport photos, to get between my hotel and the Old City, etc. Some masked, some didn't. (Embassy had a new passport in my hands in less than 24 hours, bless them.) Required test to re-enter the US was negative. E. Europe last October: guided tour, lots of time on a very large bus even though there were only a dozen of us, all vaccinated and two women had mild cases of COVID and stayed behind at our hotel in Zagreb but flew home on schedule. I tested negative on my return home.

I flew Busines Class and always masked on planes and on those awful jammed shuttles between terminals or between the plane and the terminal.

In April I'll take my 2 granddaughters back to Chicago- a 1-hour flight- we did that last October and used the subway system as well and had a blast. No illnesses. (They've had COVID twice before- mild cases, thank heaven.)

In May, provided the tension in Peru eases, I'll be in Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos. October- back to E. Europe but different countries (Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania). Same company, Overseas Adventure Travel, for both.

I think my last booster was in November- second booster after the two initial Moderna doses. Not planning any additional. At this point for most of us it likely won't be any worse than a bad case of the flu so that's my hope, but I'm still being cautious.

 

[USGrant1962]

Leaving for Egypt on Tuesday. A couple of days in Cairo/Giza, 5-day Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan, a couple days in Aswan including a day trip to Abu Simbal, then head for Port Ghalib and a week on a dive boat on the Red Sea. We splurged for business class tix - they were reasonable for business class, $2150 from IAD to Cairo. It is a red eye going over so worth it to me. Coming back are two day flights with an overnight in Zurich, so biz class wasn't necessary but still really nice! BTD.

We have 3 other scuba diving trips booked this year:
- Roatan Honduras in May
- Little Cayman in July
- Turks and Caicos in October

We're also looking at visiting our two sons who both moved west in the last few months. One to Utah and the other to Hawaii. We did visit our son in San Antonio in January (the one who moved to Hawaii courtesy of the USAF) and did the tourist stuff there.

We did 4 scuba diving trips to different places in the Caribbean in 2022 as well.

We're doing revenge travel from Covid, I suppose.


Non-Mod Note: let's keep the Covid/masking talk in the Covid Containment Area please?

 

[gayl]

View attachment 44829will be in Rome a week before Transatlantic Mediterranean Passage. FWIW I can afford it

Just added a 3 night / 2 day whitewater rafting trip in July.

 

[perez99]

After a couple of family oriented trips this year, we will be going to London for a flower show (3 days, earning some points with DW ), Rome (7 days), Florence (3 days), Venice (2 days), plus a quick pass thru Zurich (1.5 day), and Munich (2.5 days).

We have done a major (read expensive) trip each year, plus several smaller ones. I retired in Jan 2022, so thinking for 2024 I will slow down on the expensive trip hoping to reduce some anxiety on the SOR side of the financials.

 

[rodi]

Trips planned for 2023:

A week in Mazatlan in early April with my BFF and my sister. (DH will stay home with the pooch.)

Then Mid April-Mid May we are going to Italy: Sicily to visit husband's cugini, ferry to Genoa for a week hiking Cinque Terre, Florence, Venice, and Milan. Older son is seeing if he can join us for the Cinque Terre portion.

Younger son is likely doing a semester abroad in Florence or Turin in the fall... We'll probably go visit him while he's there... because, well, it's an excuse to go back to Italy.

2024 I'm in early planning stages for a trip to Cambodia, Thailand, and Japan.

Update to this. Older son is not able to join us. Darn. But BIL is in Sicily now with his daughter, going to all the places I told him to go to. (He's happy to have had a list.).

For our own trip to Italy I have spent some $$ on getting timed tickets to the following:
Uffizi in Florence
Last Supper in Milan
Duomo and Roof with 'skip the line' elevator access.

The last supper was challenging because they release tickets based on calendar blocks. The window to buy tickets was closed for tickets for April on until 3am PT this morning... I was able to get our tickets. It's a small church with very limited numbers of people allowed in at a time... I was online at 6:30am (about 3.5 hours after the window for May opened at noon Italy time) and there were only 2 time slots left for the day we will be available to see it. Glad I paid attention and set calendar reminders. (Backup plan would have been to pay a tour guide about 6x the nominal price.) I needed the Last Supper time slot before booking the Duomo since we only have 1 full day in Milan before we fly home.

I've also booked 2 of the train legs since the discounts were starting to disappear (discount on high speed trains are first come first serve.) Didn't bother to book the regional trains we'll be taking.

Oh - and younger son has officially applied to the CEA study abroad for Florence... we'll see if that happens.

 

[bmcgonig]

Update to this. Older son is not able to join us. Darn. But BIL is in Sicily now with his daughter, going to all the places I told him to go to. (He's happy to have had a list.).



For our own trip to Italy I have spent some $$ on getting timed tickets to the following:

Uffizi in Florence

Last Supper in Milan

Duomo and Roof with 'skip the line' elevator access.



The last supper was challenging because they release tickets based on calendar blocks. The window to buy tickets was closed for tickets for April on until 3am PT this morning... I was able to get our tickets. It's a small church with very limited numbers of people allowed in at a time... I was online at 6:30am (about 3.5 hours after the window for May opened at noon Italy time) and there were only 2 time slots left for the day we will be available to see it. Glad I paid attention and set calendar reminders. (Backup plan would have been to pay a tour guide about 6x the nominal price.) I needed the Last Supper time slot before booking the Duomo since we only have 1 full day in Milan before we fly home.



I've also booked 2 of the train legs since the discounts were starting to disappear (discount on high speed trains are first come first serve.) Didn't bother to book the regional trains we'll be taking.



Oh - and younger son has officially applied to the CEA study abroad for Florence... we'll see if that happens.

Great. Keep us updated. I love Florence.

Also let us know your plans for Asia when you figure them out [emoji16]

 

[Scrapr]

Well...it wasn't planned until we did it.Couple weeks ago a tour guide i follow said she had an opening on a late cancellation in Rome. This was late on a Wednesday night. i thought about it overnight. Gave my partner my best sales pitch & decided to go. So I had Thursday/Friday to get planned because we needed to be in Rome Monday morning. Meaning that we pretty much had to leave on Saturday to arrive on Sunday. Thursday got flights booked (not great flights but doable) Friday got the dogs to the sitters & packed. Left Saturday morning & 21 hours later we are in Rome.

We had a good time. Spent a week in Rome. The tour guide was with us for about 4 hours a day then we had time to explore on our own. We did not do the Vatican or the other super popular spots. We did go to a restaurant that a Italian grandmother has been cooking for 60 years. Claims to not have taken a day off. No menu. You eat what she cooks that day. Saw a church designed by Bernini before he got popular. Saw the Coloseum at night with about 3 other groups of 15-20 each.

Spent the next couple nights in Siena in Tuscany (3 hour bus ride) It was awesome. Really loved it. Lots of little alleys to explore. We did a wine tasting & lunch that was about 3 or 4 hours. Lots of wine. We need to spend more time in Tuscany

Got back late last night. 24 hours travelling time door to door. It was fun. I think we came to the conclusion we aren't tour people. We kind of like to do our own thing. And supplement with half day or full day city guides.

Another trip for September-October that will be a lot of fun. That will have a tour in Ireland for a week.

 

[jollystomper]

Going to Ireland in April, then France (40th wedding anniversary celebration, oh-la-la!) in May.

Still analyzing the timing/length/destination for our first ever cruise. Friends are lobbying us to join them on a 10 day Mediterranean cruise in October, but we are not ready to take that leap yet.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Scrapr, we spent 10 days in sienna and rented a car so made day trips to the surrounding towns. It worked out well and we didn’t have to change hotels. I loved Luca and Pisa. We walked up all the steps in the leaning tower of Pisa. That region is really beautiful.

 

[audreyh1]

Short road trip, but going up to visit the TX Hill Country spring wildflowers in a couple of weeks. We’ll stay several days in Fredericksburg as a base, and explore several areas around there. It’s really been decades since we’ve spent time in that particular area although we’ve visited the more western and southwestern hill country quite a bit over the past two decades.

Anyway, apparently US290 between Johnson City and Fredericksburg has become a major winery area catering to tourists. Also a Bavarian brewery with restaurant and biergarten has been built a few miles to the east of Fredericksburg (the Aldstadt Brewery) which looks to be worth visiting.

It will be interesting because we regularly traveled in the area 25+ year ago, so curious about the changes. The wildflowers are already blooming in some parts, hopefully they will be even better when we get there.

 

[aja8888]

Once the snow clears and the tomato plants are put in the ground in Connecticut, I will be off to visit friends and family on a driving trip (I'm famous for those) to the following stops:

Cary, NC.
Waynesboro, PA.
Waterbury, CT.
Joplin, Mo.

Then home in Texas. Looks like a 5,000 + mile trip with some side visits. I will be solo on this trip of about three weeks.

 

[audreyh1]

Joplin Mo! Beautiful country around there as you get to the edge of the Ozarks. We enjoyed several state parks in our RV. Roaring River State Park for example.

 

[aja8888]

Joplin Mo! Beautiful country around there as you get to the edge of the Ozarks. We enjoyed several state parks in our RV. Roaring River State Park for example.

Old friend of mine has a 20 acre farm there. We worked together in manufacturing in the 70's and early 80's.

 

[audreyh1]

Old friend of mine has a 20 acre farm there. We worked together in manufacturing in the 70's and early 80's.

What does he farm?

20 acres is a pretty small farm. Sorry I was thinking about DF’s 300+ acres that I had to deal with for many years.

 

[aja8888]

What does he farm?

He has a few head of cattle, but no crops. He's a widower like me and just likes his space.

We were running buddies in CT when we were doing crazy things like running marathons in the mid 1970s. When the heavy manufacturing plants shut down in CT, he moved to Missouri and started his own engineering business. I went to Ca and worked for big oil. We have been in contact ever since and see each other a couple of times per year.

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah, if you have a few horses or cattle you don’t need a large acreage.

That’s so cool about your long friendship and that you will connect in person.

 

[MRG]

He has a few head of cattle, but no crops. He's a widower like me and just likes his space.



We were running buddies in CT when we were doing crazy things like running marathons in the mid 1970s. When the heavy manufacturing plants shut down in CT, he moved to Missouri and started his own engineering business. I went to Ca and worked for big oil. We have been in contact ever since and see each other a couple of times per year.

Cool.

Do you know about chiggers? Cause if you go to Joplin in the summer you'll have an educational experience if you don't.

It took me a while to get a real dose to appreciate. But you don't forget.

 

[aja8888]

Cool.

Do you know about chiggers? Cause if you go to Joplin in the summer you'll have an educational experience if you don't.

It took me a while to get a real dose to appreciate. But you don't forget.

I know chiggers! But thanks for the heads up! I was stationed in Missouri at Whiteman AFB for the last two years of my tour.

 

[gailwinters]

We’re going to Ireland/Scotland in April. We are scheduled to arrive in Belfast on April 16, and we just discovered that the Clintons, as well as a bunch of other dignitaries, will be at Queen’s College for a conference April 17-19, for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. There’s an excellent chance that President Biden will be there on those dates as well.

We have some tours booked, but I suspect that we may have some issues getting to where we want to go. We’re waiting to see if anyone cancels.

 

[brett]

We have narrowed it down to one of two trips in Sept/Oct. 6 weeks.

Either Bulgaria/Greece or Morocco/?

Plus a few weeks on the Pacific coast of Mexico in Nov/Dec. We did this last Nov/Dec and enjoyed it so much we plan to do it again. Just came back from three wonderful weeks in Zihuatanejo.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

We’re going to Ireland/Scotland in April. We are scheduled to arrive in Belfast on April 16, and we just discovered that the Clintons, as well as a bunch of other dignitaries, will be at Queen’s College for a conference April 17-19, for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. There’s an excellent chance that President Biden will be there on those dates as well.

I’ll be in England and Scotland a couple of weeks after you.

After a few days in Windsor and then up for a week in Scotland, I‘ll be back in London for the coronation. I’m a little excited about seeing how London will celebrate that occasion.

 

[audreyh1]

We are finally going to visit Monterey CA early next month. Visit the famous aquarium, Cannery Row, hiking along the beaches/cliffs, wildlife watching. Thanks to RobbieB we’re spending a few nights at the Monterrey Bay Inn before moving inland Pacific Grove area. Looking forward to good eats and cool weather too.

I always been meaning to visit, but we never got around to it. That’s kind of what I’ve been working on lately - places we always meant to visit but hadn’t gotten around to.

This one is going to end up in the Blow That Dough thread.