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2018 Travel Plans?

Amy

100+ Posts
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?
 
I am celebrating a "big" birthday in November next year, but with school holidays in September we are planning to celebrate a little early. We will have our 2 daughters, a son in law and 2 children ( 5 and 8) with us.
We meet in Paris for a week, then take the TGV to Avignon before having a week in a villa in Goult.
One daughter will fly home, while the other, with her family will have some time in London before returning home.
Kevin and I plan a few days in Lyon, before travelling to Venice via Switzerland.
We are still in the planning stages for this part.
We have 4 weeks in Venice. I always wanted to go to Venice when the weather was cool ( even if we get some rain) so we will have most of October there. I've been looking at Hotel Concords webcam and there has been some Tshirt days, and some jacket days.
In November we travel to Bologna to tour with Bluone Tours http://www.bluone.com/emilia-romagna-fall--winter-tour.html for 5 nights. They are part of Slowtravel Tour group.
Then it's time for home, in time to celebrate my actual birthday!
It seems a long time to wait but there is no excuse for no research which is part of the excitement for me.
 
Sounds like a great trip Fletch.
We have been travelling to France every two years since 2006, so it will be France again. I know we should branch out a bit, but we just love France and always have a wonderful time. We were there last year in Autumn ( see my trip report ) and will be going again from September to November.
We are looking at Burgundy ( one of our favourite regions ) around Nuits St Georges , the Puy de Dome , the Lot, somewhere around the Tarn gorges, the Gard, the Var. That is the plan at the moment but may still change. It will be ten weeks again so we can settle in and enjoy each place in a mix of one and two week stays in self catering.
So we are doing lots of research and looking for gites to suit our somewhat modest budget. In the meantime I am reading books, both fiction and non fiction, set in France, watching French movies, listening to French music and watching French news on TV. This time next year we will be in France.
 
In March I will be traveling to London, Florence and Rome. My original plan was to go to just England for 10 days, but I can't skip my beloved Italy. So now it is a short trip to London to get a taste before heading to Italy.

Later in the year (November) I will try for a trip to Croatia and Italy but no concrete plans yet.
 
Everyone's plans sound great! I want to go everywhere! I would really like to go back to Turkey, but that probably won't happen. We still haven't seen Vienna, or Budapest. And due to circumstance beyond our control we missed several days in Copenhagan, so I'd love to go back. I loved the Dordogne so much I'd treturn to France in a heartbeat, and another trip to Scotland, esp in August for the Royal Tatoo, would be wonderful. Alas, too many places, too little time and money to do them all.

Our plans have changed a few times over the last several months. When we learned that our (former) house in Umbria was for sale (and for less than half what we sold it for in 2010!!!) we had some serious conversations about moving back. In the end we decided that altho we love Italy and will always return, we also just love traveling, and that keeping our base in the states just makes more sense in the long term.

So.....travel plans for 2018, still subject to tweaking are as follows: fly to DC for a visit with our granddaughters before flying to Ireland for 2 1/2 weeks. We've never been to Ireland before so this is our 'something new' for 2018. From Ireland we'll fly to England for 2 weeks in Yorkshire then 2 weeks in Sussex. From England we'll then fly to Austria to spend a week outside of Innsbruck, maybe a day or 2 in Switzerland, then on to Italy for 2 1/2 months. We take a transatlantic cruise back home in November.
 
I’ve been thinking a lot about this. So far I’ve got one trip booked, 2 weeks in Israel at the end of March. This is a new place for both of us and I am still working out the details.

I want to be in northern Italy in May, to go into the Aosta valley to see the Ibex at lower elevations. We tried to see them last year in September but the weather was warm and they were too high up for us to hike to. Apparently in May they come down to get the new grass. So maybe a trip to Tuscany and then to northern Italy.

This year we took our car on the ferry to Brittany and I want to do that again in June or early July. This time for two weeks and to explore western Brittany.

Two weeks in Lenk, Switzerland for a walking holiday. The first two weeks of September I think. If we drive there we could add on a week in France. I want to stay in Kathy’s Bonnieux house (that she rents out).

Steve’s upgrading his German so maybe a trip to Berlin? We’ve never been.

Europe travel is different for us because of living in England. We do more frequent but shorter trips.

I’ve been thinking of new places too and am considering Japan in 2019.
 
I am retiring in July 2018 (yay!), so we're planning a big trip for next Fall: Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, then two weeks in "our" villa (one we rented earlier this summer) in Umbria, five days on Malta and then two weeks in Sicily. 6 weeks in total! My husband and I will be joined by my sister and BIL for most of the trip, and we plan to connect up with friends at various points along the way. If we get adventurous, we may tack on another two weeks and go to southern Spainand drive up the coast of Portugal.

Now that airplane tickets are set (at least for the outbound flight), I can start planning in earnest.

DD
 
I've booked my annual trip to Paris, but for only a week in May, because I'm flying on to Venice to experience the Fruili region of Italy for a week with Bluone Tours (and @PokeyMindy); then, I'll spend a few nights in Venice before returning.

I'm trying to figure out another trip to the UK for July or August. I was with @Kathy's Cotswold Experience this summer and fell in love with the area. I'm researching Scotland, too.
 
Hmmm... Maybe I'll see some of you folks in May.
Here's our plan:
We leave in late March. 8 nights in Portugal (4 each Lisbon and Porto)
A week in Rome, a week in Naples.
4 nights at Poggio Etrusco near Montepulciano, 2 nights Ravenna.
A week in Reggio Emilia.
5 nights in Torino
2 in Bergamo to visit a friend.
May 10 we arrive in Venice until June 7--so maybe a day trip to Udine???

Then we may go back to California in August/Sept.

That's it.
 
We are off to Italy for 2 months.
We will be in Venice from 2 June for a week...

Rome, Assisi, val d'orcia, Lastra a Signa, Verona, Venice, Florence, Bologna, Turin, Milan.

Also we will be having a few small holidays around Australia: the Gold Coast and Melbourne.

Next year is going to be awesome!
 
When will you be in Melbourne?
We live in Queenscliff at the moment. Not too far for us to meet for a coffee while you are there. Not many opportunities to have an Australian GTG!
Jill
 
Hi Fletch, we come to Melbourne at least once year as I grew up in Victoria. I will be down there in November this year, but that is a bit of a whirlwind trip with two reunions and an engagement party. It will be in the second half of the year next year, normally around Oct/Nov when it's a bit warmer...although we froze last year LOL. Queens cliff is such a beautiful place!
 
My mom and I are spending a few days in Paris and Reims, then doing a week tour with Kathy & Charlie's European Experiences tour in Alsace. Then she flies home & I take a train to London & up to Yorkshire to walk the Dales Way with a friend.
 
I have plans to travel within Europe, still thinking about the destinations. It is difficult to choose because I have already seen most of the famous cities. What would be your suggestions? Maybe some not famous but really nice cities?
 
Porto (Portugal) or Bilbao, which I think is worth the visit just for the art and architecture of the building.
 

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