artnbarb
1000+ Posts
After our transatlantic cruise from Florida to England was cancelled I had to completely rethink our plans for next summer. I'm updating here because our travels involve multiple countries, I'll be posting questions about each leg on the appropriate board as the time comes. @Pauline has already been a huge help, and spending time with her and Steve in Switzerland helped her to better understand what kind of travelers we are. We're not really hikers, we're walkers, and we're also sightseers. Our new plan, while still not definite, is starting to take shape.
* Use FF miles to fly from the states to Dublin. I may have to pay for a domestic flight to Philly, then use miles for a direct flight to Dublin. Right now all AA is giving me are flights stopping in London, and that just seems pointless.
* We plan to be in Ireland for about 17 days. We'll start and end in Dublin, roughly following Rick Steves' itinerary, with adjustments from SE input and what we discover in our friends' new guidebook for Ireland: "Ireland: Small-town Itineraries for the Foodie Traveler"
* From Dublin we'll fly to Leeds, England, then drive to a vacation rental in Thirsk, Yorkshire. We'll pick up our rental car at the airport and return it to our departure airport when we leave England. When we had to re-think our plans, Yorkshire was the one place I really, really wanted to include. So now we are! Two weeks here, midway between the moors and the dales, near York, and within driving distance of the coast. AND the cottage comes with a cat!
* Two weeks in Rottingdean, Sussex is next. I only hope two weeks is enough! After this we'll fly out of Gatwick or Heathrow to (most likely) Salzburg.
* We want to rent an apartment in Austria for a week, and plan to do lots of walking. @Kathy suggested St Gilgen, and for a variety of reasons, that seems the most likely. I really wanted to go back to the Saafelden area where we did Hiking Without Luggage over 20 years ago, but St Gilgen and the Salzburg airport might work out better. We may also spend a few nights in Salzburg, or extend our rental beyond a week, if that's possible. We'll rent and return a car at the Salzburg airport. (An alternative is flying into/out of Munich - served by more airlines)
* After Austria we wanted to spend a few days with our friends in Switzerland, near Lucerne, but at this point I can't figure out a logical, not-too-expensive way to do that, so we'll probably just fly from Salzburg to Rome. I'm not finding great flight options out of Salzburg, so although the Innsbruck airport is small, I need to see what they offer. We could also fly to Milan and pick up a car there. Peugeot usually waives the one-way charge if you book early - I'm hoping they have the same offer for 2018. If we fly to Rome then we have to drive 2 hours back to Umbria, and if we pick up the car in Milan we have a 4 hour drive, but hopefully a shorter flight. I guess the cost of the flights, and if it's a direct flight will make the final decision.
* After that we'll be in Italy for just over 2 months. We have to time everything so that we're not in Schengen countries for more than 90 days. Most countries in Europe are Schengen, but England and Ireland are not.
I'm trying now to get an idea of various costs, but it's hard because it's so far out. Many places don't have their 2018 prices yet, but I can get a rough idea based on 2017 prices. The car rental prices seem to be the craziest - very high right now, and I have no way of knowing if they'll drop. At least with AutoEurope I can keep checking the prices and they'll refund the difference if the price drops. For this year I found a better price on our car through Kemwell, and AE matched it.
That's it for now. Still talking about our options, and still open to changes. Sometimes I get so excited about planning that I just want to book everything, but after so many false starts I'm trying to slow myself down.
* Use FF miles to fly from the states to Dublin. I may have to pay for a domestic flight to Philly, then use miles for a direct flight to Dublin. Right now all AA is giving me are flights stopping in London, and that just seems pointless.
* We plan to be in Ireland for about 17 days. We'll start and end in Dublin, roughly following Rick Steves' itinerary, with adjustments from SE input and what we discover in our friends' new guidebook for Ireland: "Ireland: Small-town Itineraries for the Foodie Traveler"
* From Dublin we'll fly to Leeds, England, then drive to a vacation rental in Thirsk, Yorkshire. We'll pick up our rental car at the airport and return it to our departure airport when we leave England. When we had to re-think our plans, Yorkshire was the one place I really, really wanted to include. So now we are! Two weeks here, midway between the moors and the dales, near York, and within driving distance of the coast. AND the cottage comes with a cat!
* Two weeks in Rottingdean, Sussex is next. I only hope two weeks is enough! After this we'll fly out of Gatwick or Heathrow to (most likely) Salzburg.
* We want to rent an apartment in Austria for a week, and plan to do lots of walking. @Kathy suggested St Gilgen, and for a variety of reasons, that seems the most likely. I really wanted to go back to the Saafelden area where we did Hiking Without Luggage over 20 years ago, but St Gilgen and the Salzburg airport might work out better. We may also spend a few nights in Salzburg, or extend our rental beyond a week, if that's possible. We'll rent and return a car at the Salzburg airport. (An alternative is flying into/out of Munich - served by more airlines)
* After Austria we wanted to spend a few days with our friends in Switzerland, near Lucerne, but at this point I can't figure out a logical, not-too-expensive way to do that, so we'll probably just fly from Salzburg to Rome. I'm not finding great flight options out of Salzburg, so although the Innsbruck airport is small, I need to see what they offer. We could also fly to Milan and pick up a car there. Peugeot usually waives the one-way charge if you book early - I'm hoping they have the same offer for 2018. If we fly to Rome then we have to drive 2 hours back to Umbria, and if we pick up the car in Milan we have a 4 hour drive, but hopefully a shorter flight. I guess the cost of the flights, and if it's a direct flight will make the final decision.
* After that we'll be in Italy for just over 2 months. We have to time everything so that we're not in Schengen countries for more than 90 days. Most countries in Europe are Schengen, but England and Ireland are not.
I'm trying now to get an idea of various costs, but it's hard because it's so far out. Many places don't have their 2018 prices yet, but I can get a rough idea based on 2017 prices. The car rental prices seem to be the craziest - very high right now, and I have no way of knowing if they'll drop. At least with AutoEurope I can keep checking the prices and they'll refund the difference if the price drops. For this year I found a better price on our car through Kemwell, and AE matched it.
That's it for now. Still talking about our options, and still open to changes. Sometimes I get so excited about planning that I just want to book everything, but after so many false starts I'm trying to slow myself down.
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