2018 Travel Plans?

[Mom83]

We’ve visited several WWI and WWII sites, so I’ll be able to help you plan. If you plan to take your UK car across on the ferry, I know a bit about this too.

You have some nice trips planned!

Oh, Pauline...I would so appreciate your help! I have only done a little preliminary research, so I still need to do a little more research on my own before I start asking you a lot of questions. My thought right now is that we will rent a car upon our arrival at Heathrow, spend a week or so in Oxford and the Cotswolds, take the car on the ferry across to Caen, spend 3-4days exploring that area, and then ferry back to Portsmouth and return the car to Heathrow before we fly home. I believe the ferry I was looking at left from Portsmouth...Brittany Ferries if I remember correctly. If you have a better idea than this, please tell me. I know there is a special form I have to get in order to take a rental car from the UK to France...not sure where I get that...the rental car company?

 

[Linda Yoder]

We will be in Greece for 10 days with our whole family and grandkids at the end of May. The week before we meet them we will be in Italy somewhere but haven’t decided where yet. I’m feeling feeling quite indecisive for some reason.

 

[Pauline]

If you have a better idea than this, please tell me.

I'll start a new thread in the UK forum!

 

[PokeyMindy]

Everyone's adventures sound fantastic! How lucky we all are to have these wonderful opportunities.

 

[Linda Yoder]

We arrive in Rome on May 20th and head the next week to Capri to celebrate our 40th. The next week we fly out of Rome to Greece to meet up with our whole family to keep on celebrating!

 

[Sandrac]

I've just returned for a long weekend in Milan and really enjoyed the city! I have lived in Rome for more than 6 years and made numerous visits to Italy before that. Yet I had never seen Milano - what a shame. I was able to see Leonardo's Last Supper, the magnificent Duomo, the very impressive Pinacoteca Brera. street markets, and ate really well. I may have to return!

But for the moment, I am planning a short hop to Spain for a couple of weeks in April - a week in Seville and perhaps a few days in Madrid. From Seville, perhaps a few day trips? Cordoba perhaps? I loved Granada two years ago but probably won't return, this time.

Cheers,
Sandra

 

[kay perigo]

Hello all, while I participated in the #walk1000mile challenge last year I am new to the travel forum. Though I lurked often.

In September my husband and I will leave the US for 6 nights in Paris where we visit often. We will then train to Switzerland for 3 weeks of walking. Returning to Paris for a few days before flying home.

Switzerland will be new to us. We will be 6 nights in Wengen, 4 nights Kandersteg, 2 nights Zermatt, 4 nights Sils Maria, 2 nights Lugano, ending with 3 nights Lucerne before returning to Paris.

I am recovering from a bad fall back in December so currently nothing else scheduled. That may change. I hope so.

 

[Rome Addict]

As I plan for the coming year and think about a new direction or two, I'm wondering where others might be heading.

We're hoping to be able to do a 7-10 day trip in early Spring to celebrate Larry's 60th and our anniversary, we're still mulling over a destination. Someplace new to us would be fun.
In July we'll be escorting my MIL to Switzerland for 10 days. And exploring the local wines.
September I'll be joining a Grapehops trip to Sicily, Larry will meet me at the end for an additional week in southern Italy, either Sicily or Calabria.

Where are others aiming?

Our PA has a grant application with FAWCO for project protein. If he wins the Hague in June. Then.....Italy. again. This time south.

 

[Sharon J]

Sant'Antonio, outside Montepulciano, June 9th - 16th, followed by Rome for four nights, before heading home. We still feel we can't be away from home for very long, as our two Pups are pretty old, and we worry about kenneling them for very long.

Then, for May, 2019, we will return to Sant'Antonio for a week again, then spend four nights in Varenna on Lake Como, finishing up in an apartment in Venice for four nights.

Then, if we can still get around, we are doing a first for us. A Viking Small Ship cruise in the Spring of 2020. We have always wanted to see Croatia and Greece, so thought this might be the best thing at our age. Ten days, beginning in Athens, then Santorini, Katakolon, Corfu, Greece, Kotor, Montenegro, Dubrovik, Croatia, Zadar, Croatia, Koper, Slovenia, ending in Venice, where we will stay in our favorite apartment for a week. Not slow travel, but certainly some places we have really wanted to see. I have always hated the sight of those big ships arriving and leaving Venice, so this has been a hard pill for us to swallow.

If we can still walk after 2020, it will be right back to Italy. I think I mentioned that I lived in Gaeta when I was in my late teens, so my love for Italy goes way back.

 

[Ann]

Sharon, while I was walking the dogs on the beach this morning, I started talking to a couple from San Diego. They said they spend one vacation here in Hawaii and the next in Europe, always in Italy and in one other country. So I asked where in Italy, and they said a small place near Montepulciano. You guessed it -- they've been to Sant'Antonio NINE times and know Nico and Elena well.

Our plans for the year: return to Venice for 3 weeks in April (if we're lucky, before the hordes hit), with a few days in Verona, and then probably back to Sablet, in northern Provence near Vaison, in the fall.

 

[Chris]

Portugal! A few days in Lisbon, then Shannon's Shannon's tour of Northern Portugal, then a few days in London on the way home. I'm really excited about it because I've wanted to go to Portugal for a long time, and I've been wanting to take one of Shannon's tours.

 

[Sharon J]

Sharon, while I was walking the dogs on the beach this morning, I started talking to a couple from San Diego. They said they spend one vacation here in Hawaii and the next in Europe, always in Italy and in one other country. So I asked where in Italy, and they said a small place near Montepulciano. You guessed it -- they've been to Sant'Antonio NINE times and know Nico and Elena well.

Our plans for the year: return to Venice for 3 weeks in April (if we're lucky, before the hordes hit), with a few days in Verona, and then probably back to Sablet, in northern Provence near Vaison, in the fall.

Small world Ann. Any plans on returning to Nico and Sant'Antonio? As long as we are able, we will return there every year. We took a break last year, and went back to Beynac, only to rush home after five days, as the Hurricane was heading for Beaufort, and we needed to secure our home. No more Fall trips for us. Fall Hurricane season is too unpredictable.

 

[Jerr]

Our travel plans are a bit more limited than our norm - it is just too hard to manage work and time away. :-(

I have an 8 day solo trip to Rome at the end of March. The rest of the trips are within Canada so not really a topic for these forums.

 

[jonathan]

It's Portugal for Philippa and me, too, this May: a week walking in the Western Algarve. As with our excellent La Palma (Canaries) holiday in December 2016, it's organized by Inntravel; the last time we were in S Portugal was way back in 1992, and we're very much looking forward to getting back.

Before that, I'm taking advantage of my free time (I retired from teaching in summer 2017), and taking my sackbut (= renaissance trombone) abroad for a few concerts: 5 days in Berlin at the beginning of March, another 5 in Venice in early April (Philippa's coming for that one, too), and 5 in San Sebastián in late April. For that last trip, I've decided to take the train: now that we're based in London, it's possible to leave on a 7am Eurostar and get down there in under 12 hours. Flying with a valuable musical instrument is always a bit fraught: it will be a lot more relaxing on the train (and, booked a few months ahead, hardly more expensive than the overall cost of a Ryanair trip).

Granddaughter no.2 is due to arrive in May, and so we're heading over to California for the last week in July, and staying through for most of August. Nick, our son, moved to San Francisco over 6 years ago now, and this will be our 8th trip over there. One of the great joys of Pauline's communities, first at Slowtrav, and now here, is that we had a ready-made network of friends on the other side of the world - many of whom we had already met at ST GTGs here in Europe, and others that we knew online - we're looking forward to seeing you all again in August!

 

[Anne]

I'm heading to the south of France for 3 weeks in April with my mother and my older daughter (she's with us the first two weeks.) We're renting apartments in Pezenas, Lagrasse and Bonnieux.

And, on a spontaneous impulse this evening, I'm also going to Paris in Sept with my younger daughter! WestJet added Paris to their summer routes, beginning this year. They just announced it a few days ago, and have return flights as low as $463, which is phenomenal out of Halifax. I couldn't resist. Haven't even told work yet!

I'm so excited for both of these trips!!

 

[BJinNM]

I didn't realize I hadn't posted. Here are our 2018 plans:
Leaving Thursday for South America, then New Orleans in April, Rocky Mountains in August, and a river cruise down the Danube, the Main, and the Rhine with extended stays in Prague and Budapest this Fall. Planning 2019 already. Hi, my name is BJ and I am a travel addict!

 

[PokeyMindy]

Sounds like a busy 2018! Hi BJ, my name is Mindy and I too am a travel addict. Thinking about 2019 as well

 

[BJinNM]

Sounds like a busy 2018! Hi BJ, my name is Mindy and I too am a travel addict. Thinking about 2019 as well

Definitely Sicily with Shannon in Fall 2019 with extensions to Lucca and Venice. I think in the Spring we may road trip in the US and finish our Mississippi River Road journey.

 

[Pauline]

I’ve been busy booking our trips. Two weeks in Israel in March booked. Two weeks in Brittany in June booked. Three weeks in Switzerland in September booked. Currently working on May, two weeks in Italy - Liguria (Levanto) and the Piedmont. For local trips: A trip up to the Cotswolds some time. And a week on the Isle of Wight. Exciting!

 

[Christine]

Italy within the next year, two different options:

November - fly to NoCalifornia for Thanksgiving with my in-laws, then leave from SFO for 3-4 weeks in Italy. Return to California for Christmas with the in-laws, then back to work for another 6 months, retiring in July 2019.

Or

Retire at the end of this year and have a month in Italy January-February, leaving from Vancouver. We LOVE traveling from Vancouver, closer to us than Seattle.

Either option includes my sister-in-law traveling with us, meeting the Italian relatives for the first time, and a side trip from Rome to Figline Vegliaturo to see where my MIL was born. I'll probably stay in Rome while SIL and husband travel south; I'll leave for Florence and get an extra day or two there. For some reason, no one loves Florence as much as I do.

Ideally would love to travel in January-February and then retire in July, but I'd lose a couple of weeks of vacation if not used by the end of the year.