2025 Travel Plans

I can rationalize a lot of things. One of those is travel. I help with a Rick Steve's travel group in our area. It's just a loose collection of people to talk about travel......where'd you go, how'd you get there, what'd you do, etc. After our meeting Saturday I had to go somewhere.

Rick Steve's is hawking his new book (On the Hippie Trail) He is talking & signing in a few places around the country. I first looked at Minneapolis. Delta controls that market & it's not cheap to get there from Portland. we were just in SoCal & going to San Diego in May. So then I looked at NYC. Bingo Bango bongo. Mrs Scrapr donated her Alaska air miles, I bought the book signing tix & we are off to the big Apple in a couple weeks. We have been a couple times and there is still much to see
He had a robotic radical prostatectomy in September. Hope he is OK.
 
We are travelling to Tennessee this June. I got my Florida drivers license in 2018. I assume I have because there is no US flag on the bottom of it, then it must be updated for a Real ID insignia.
Thoughts?
 
My 2025 travel plans are firming up, finally...

March - A week in a Bradenton, FL AirBnB with friends to go to a few Spring Training baseball games and more.
May - 2 1/2 weeks doing a UK train trip to several destinations in England, Wales and Scotland.
July - A week at a lake house with friends on Lake Gaston, NC
Sept - A full-transit Panama Canal cruise from Miami to San Diego (not booked yet, but likely)
Nov - Thanksgiving week in Newport, RI and surrounding areas

Still looking to book something in April and/or June.
 
We are travelling to Tennessee this June. I got my Florida drivers license in 2018. I assume I have because there is no US flag on the bottom of it, then it must be updated for a Real ID insignia.
Thoughts?
Look for a star in the upper right hand corner.

The REAL ID Act became effective nationwide on May 11, 2008. Florida began issuing REAL ID compliant credentials after January 1, 2010. The new credentials have a star in the upper right corner of the card, as shown in the sample license example on the right. Florida is a REAL ID compliant state and all Florida licenses should be accepted nationwide.
 
Look for a star in the upper right hand corner.

The REAL ID Act became effective nationwide on May 11, 2008. Florida began issuing REAL ID compliant credentials after January 1, 2010. The new credentials have a star in the upper right corner of the card, as shown in the sample license example on the right. Florida is a REAL ID compliant state and all Florida licenses should be accepted nationwide.
Thanks. Yeah read about the star after my question proposal. So all good and thanks again for responding.
 
Looks like both sons will be graduating college this spring. So a long weekend to Berkeley in May and a long weekend to San Luis Obispo in June. Hotels are booked, but prices are about triple the normal rate for graduation weekend.
Congrats!!! These are super special occasions.
 
9 day trip to Tennessee in June. Nashville/Dollywood/Smoky Mountains.
 
We are going to Japan in March.
Grand Canyon in June.
Australia( Sydney mainly) in August.

Never been to the Grand Canyon or Australia before. Excited to begin planning for Australia.
We were in Australia last October - a 4 week visit - and spent 5 days in the Sydney area. The highlights for us were the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk (there was a sculpture exhibit along the trail); the Royal National park (had a hire car to get there and the walk along the coastal cliffs was beautiful). We saw lots of migrating whales from the cliff tops; The Blue Mountains (rental car to get there with lots of great hikes, especially the grand canyon trail) and the Sydney Opera house. Book early if you want the small group backstage breakfast tour of the Opera House. We didn't know about it in time and it was sold out :( We had to settle for the standard tour, which was great but we heard great things about the "special" tour).

We didn't do the harbor bridge walk - it seemed too expensive and we didn't like the restrictions (especially no phones allowed). We went up the bridge support tower which gives a good view over the harbor.

In Sydney we used public transit and stayed in Potts Point (Spicers hotel). We really liked the hotel and recommend it. It's an old part of Sydney with a European vibe and lots of great food.

Hopefully you'll enjoy yourselves as much as we did!
 
For the first time in our retirement apart from 2020 (COVID), we have no major international trips planned. We moved to FL in 2023 and traveled extensively in 2024. I got a bit burned out on planning long trips, and we have several family events this year, plus DH had major health issues in late 2024 that he isn’t fully recovered from yet. Also, we want to explore our new state. For all of these reasons, we are doing trips only locally and in the SE US this year. Maybe we will be ready to go abroad again in 2026.
 
For the first time in our retirement apart from 2020 (COVID), we have no major international trips planned. We moved to FL in 2023 and traveled extensively in 2024. I got a bit burned out on planning long trips, and we have several family events this year, plus DH had major health issues in late 2024 that he isn’t fully recovered from yet. Also, we want to explore our new state. For all of these reasons, we are doing trips only locally and in the SE US this year. Maybe we will be ready to go abroad again in 2026.
Hope your DH continues to improve. I also got burned out on planning European trips last year. So this time we’re using organized small group trips which is saving a lot of headaches and hassle. I still have a break between two that I am organizing but I’m trying to keep that simple, we’re just staying two places with a few day trips.

Lots of great places in FL. We enjoyed traveling there in our motorhome and particularly remember Silver Springs State Park near Ocala one January. And if you can stand the drive, heading to north Georgia and the Smoky Mountains NC/TN is very enjoyable in the summer.
 
Lots of great places in FL. We enjoyed traveling there in our motorhome and particularly remember Silver Springs State Park near Ocala one January.

Agree wholeheartedly! We just went to Silver Springs State Park and absolutely loved it! We stayed in a cabin inside the park and thoroughly enjoyed the indoor gas fireplace on cold nights in early January. Did a glass bottom boat tour and saw mantatees. Highly recommend!
 
Agree wholeheartedly! We just went to Silver Springs State Park and absolutely loved it! We stayed in a cabin inside the park and thoroughly enjoyed the indoor gas fireplace on cold nights in early January. Did a glass bottom boat tour and saw mantatees. Highly recommend!
We rented kayaks from outside the park and paddled all the way up the Silver River from the mouth to the huge spring headwaters and back. Most of it was a real jungle, even with monkeys. Very scenic and such beautiful water. At the time the big spring was privately owned. I guess that has changed because the park was called Silver River state park.
 
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No big trips this year, yet.
Heading to the Oregon coast next week for Valentines Day/week.
 
Very strange experience this morning.
I have a trip scheduled for later this year, multiple airlines, multiple stops.
There were two legs, both codeshares with Air France, where I arrived at Paris about 3 pm and departed at 5 pm. Normally I would want a bit more of a gap at CDG, but it was OK.

This morning I got an email from Air France that the departure was moved up to 2 pm. Too bad about the 3 pm arrival, and when I went online I was told I could not change anything without paying a change fee. :facepalm:

The good news is that the whole trip had been booked through American Express, and when I contacted them they were not only able to fix it, but they gave me a better itinerary as well. (y)

I've used them before, and it really is a wonderful way to set up an overseas trip. Better price and better service.
 
Not set yet, but planning a driving trip this Spring to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, then Wisconsin and Missouri on the way back. Visiting friends and family and burning off the remaining balances of my hotel points accumulated over near 40 years of business travel. Birdie will be on a separate vacation at the boarding facility at the same time (see avatar).
 
Switzerland in June.
What sort of itinerary are you doing? I spent 2+ weeks in Switzerland in 2023 and I think it's my all-time favorite vacation so far. June should be wonderful. I enjoyed it so much, that I'm thinking of booking another one in the next year or 2.

I went in September and stayed in 5 locations and connected them via train travel (which was wonderful, I might add). Great trip.
 
Just returned from the 9 day trip to Paris. Back in October, we found that American airlines had a deal on flights. $386 round trip per person. We were not planning a trip, but decided that we should take advantage of the really cheap fares. I was a bit concerned since it was basic economy seats, but it turned out that both transatlantic flights were only about 40% full. On both legs my wife and I each had a three seat row all to ourselves. That made the trip quite comfortable. So huzzah for off season flights. Paris was cold and with light rain most days, but the city was uncrowded and I enjoyed the trip. Plus we found four new restaurants that were great. And if my fitbit is to be believed, I walked 45 miles that week.
 
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What sort of itinerary are you doing? I spent 2+ weeks in Switzerland in 2023 and I think it's my all-time favorite vacation so far. June should be wonderful. I enjoyed it so much, that I'm thinking of booking another one in the next year or 2.

I went in September and stayed in 5 locations and connected them via train travel (which was wonderful, I might add). Great trip.
We're going to stay in the lauterbrunnen area most of the time, wengen to be specific. We're going to bounce around throughout that area. We have a 4 year old so we won't be able to do any real long hikes but it seems like there are more than enough shortish hikes. We do plan on visiting Bern for a day. We fly to/out of zurich.

Do you have any recommendations or some of your favorite things you did? We really enjoy mountains/hiking so we're really excited to go.
 
We're going to stay in the lauterbrunnen area most of the time, wengen to be specific. We're going to bounce around throughout that area. We have a 4 year old so we won't be able to do any real long hikes but it seems like there are more than enough shortish hikes. We do plan on visiting Bern for a day. We fly to/out of zurich.

Do you have any recommendations or some of your favorite things you did? We really enjoy mountains/hiking so we're really excited to go.
That sounds perfect. I spent 4 nights in Wengen and think it is the perfect place to base yourself in the area. Smart choice. You can easily get anywhere in the valley (and above) from there. I loved taking the cable car from Wengen up to Manlichen and then walking as much as you want up there. You could hike to Kleine Schneidegg (probably even with a stroller if needed). There are videos on YouTube. It’s one of the most popular hikes. I know it’s expensive and touristy, but I absolutely loved taking the trains up to Junfraujoch. Another favorite was taking the gondolas up to First from Grindelwald. Lots of places to walk in that area too. There really isn’t much that isn’t wonderful in the area.

I also did a day trip to Bern when I was staying in Lucerne. I really liked Bern a lot. It’s definitely worth the trip if you have the time to spare.

Enjoy your trip. I’m sure you’ll love it there.
 
We like to hike too. We were in Switzerland in 1972 and the alps are amazing. Nowadays we'd rather just get into our car and drive up to the Sierras. We can stay in Mammoth Lakes and there are a lot of short hikes around there. Plus we can drive up through Tioga Pass and enter the higher elevations around Toulumne Meadows. The drive itself is very scenic. There are several day hikes at about the 8000 ft level. And in mid-August the mosquitoes are taking a break plus the weather is generally agreeable.

There is also Mono Lake and a nice visitor center too. There is Bodie State Park which is a well maintained mining ghost town.

For us that means not having to travel so far and deal with airports and such. Now I just have to convince myself that with all the $'s saved by avoiding Europe this year we can easily splurge on good dining and nice accommodations. Too often I forget that, but DW will remind me.
 
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