2023 Travel Plans?

[Elizabeth86]

I wish so, but not in the budget. I see lots of hikes and camping trips in the summer though. That is my favorite thing, BUT we couldn’t hike much this summer due to me being sick because of pregnancy, so here is to hoping I’m back to my old self again by summer and we have a baby that tolerates my love for the outdoors. My other 4 were good hiking babies, I hope my new baby likes it too. 

[mommyoffive]

13 hours ago, BeachGal said:

We mask a lot when traveling and use nasal sprays. An unmasked passenger was coughing non stop in front of us all the way to Hawaii. Whatever he had we luckily didn’t catch, probably because we wore an N95 mask the whole way. Most were not masking though. 😬

I was going to ask what you are doing while traveling.  As we will be doing airline travel as a family coming up.  What nasal spray do you use for traveling?

[Lady Florida.]

I live in a subtropical climate so tropical vacations aren't all that enticing to me. In March I'm going to Crete (with a few days in Athens first). There are four of us who have been friends since our now adult kids were little and homeschooling. We met in our hs group and remained good friends after our kids were grown. Now we call ourselves The Golden Girls. One is currently living in Crete while her husband is stationed at Souda Bay Naval Base. The other three of us are going to stay with her for 10 days. Spouses are not coming.

Dh wants to go on an Alaska cruise but we also want to go to the UK. And we would like to travel somewhere in the fall to see turning leaves - something we don't get to see here in Florida. None of these are set though. The Greece trip is the only one actually officially planned for 2023 with plane tickets and hotels already booked.

Since dh retired at the end of 2021 we took a week long Caribbean cruise and spent a week in Savannah, GA. We want to do more traveling but I don't know if we'll go somewhere in 2023 or wait until 2024.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Lady Florida.

[BeachGal]

7 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

I was going to ask what you are doing while traveling.  As we will be doing airline travel as a family coming up.  What nasal spray do you use for traveling?

I bought comfortable N95s that were recommended by a persnickety MD and wore them on the plane. We didn’t eat but used straws that we slid under the mask to drink.

In stores, etc. we just used surgical masks.

For nasal sprays we first used Xlear with grapefruit seed extract, blew our noses, and then followed with a diy iota carrageenan saline spray blowing our noses again. The nitric oxide spray from Israel or a diy 1% povidone iodine nasal spray would probably be good. I also think NAC supplements might be helpful so we take that as well.

[mommyoffive]

Bump. 

I am trying to get some motivation to pick somewhere for a trip and I just can't come up with anything I am drawn to.  

Do you have any new travel plans?  Or how was your travel already?

[Ottakee]

Just now, mommyoffive said:

Bump. 

I am trying to get some motivation to pick somewhere for a trip and I just can't come up with anything I am drawn to.  

Do you have any new travel plans?  Or how was your travel already?

Went to Utah, Arizona and Nevado hiking with 5 other ladies for 6 days.  That was wonderful.

Spring break will be Cancun with a friend(one from the group above).

July will be backpacking nearly 50 miles on Isle Royale in Lake Superior.

Mackinaw with the family.

Summer will rounded out with several camping/hiking/backpacking trips.

Then the next big trip will hopefully be Italy and Ireland next spring.

[theelfqueen]

I ended up roadtripping to Kansas City for my Aunt's funeral with DS17. We spent a day doing KC stuff and stopped at the Cosmosphere on the way home. It was a necessary trip. 

We went to Disneyland with friends last week and it was an awesome trip. 

We are heading to Belfast in Mid-May. 

 

[sheryl]

LOL!  I'm dreaming of cold and snow!  Miss the snow!  We have heat almost year round.   Some years we have a winter, but NC runs warm.  Would love to go to a cabin in the snowy rocky mountains and revisit skiing!  Would love to go back to UP of MI (upper peninsula of Michigan).  Would like to travel to TX and surrounding areas as well as west during cooler weather months.   Would love to return to ME and visit VT, Delaware, Connecticut.  Would like to return to Canada for a visit.   List continues....

[Ottakee]

6 minutes ago, sheryl said:

LOL!  I'm dreaming of cold and snow!  Miss the snow!  We have heat almost year round.   Some years we have a winter, but NC runs warm.  Would love to go to a cabin in the snowy rocky mountains and revisit skiing!  Would love to go back to UP of MI (upper peninsula of Michigan).  Would like to travel to TX and surrounding areas as well as west during cooler weather months.   Would love to return to ME and visit VT, Delaware, Connecticut.  Would like to return to Canada for a visit.   List continues....

I am in West Michigan.   We had snow again yesterday……

[katilac]

On 11/18/2022 at 12:45 PM, Faith-manor said:

 WiFit yoga,

You still have your Wii and WiiFit? I'm so jealous! 

Our Wii got glitchy a few years back, and it all went out in a big purge. I regret not trying to fix it, even though I don't miss it calling me fat, lol. The yoga tracking really kept me on top of things. 

The Switch doesn't have yoga, and the leg strap accessory is a sharp comedown from the WiiFit board. It was a Pandemic Purchase, and not an improvement imo. 

If anyone has Switch exercise suggestions, I'm all ears. I don't like the RingFit Adventure game very much, I do like Just Dance. 

On 11/19/2022 at 9:46 AM, Carrie12345 said:

 most all inclusives seem kind of pricey for people who don’t want to do all the special things that are included.   
 

Where are you looking? Jamaica and Dominican Republic have reasonable rates for what you get, imo. I wouldn't call it cheap, but $2500 - $3500 for two people for a week is a lot of value. If you eat out on vacation, just that plus lodging goes a long way towards paying for an all-inclusive. Of course, flights are on top of that, yeah, definitely not cheap. 

You'll pay more for better rooms, better views, and adults only. I haven't been, but my sister has gone a few times in that price range. 

On 11/19/2022 at 4:51 PM, mommyoffive said:

Yes!!! It saves so much $$ when you calculate how much  would spend on breakfast and supper. Especially in the teen and up years when you can just let them eat until they are full.   There are some other hotel chains that do the same thing. I know Embassy Suites does, but I know there are others.

Drury Inn! 

We have nothing big until fall. Four days at our cabin in the woods in April, three days in May - always a nice break and change of scenery. Hopefully a weekend or two over the summer, but that's always more cabin and less woods, because of horse fly season followed by lovebug season, lol. Also hoping like heck for a calm hurricane season and no unexpected trips, aka evacuations. 

We'd like to plan a week in October that our two adult kids could hopefully join in on. I'd really like to have one last family trip with just us, if we can make it happen with four people with full-time jobs. We had one planned that was cancelled by covid 😟and I know it just gets less and less likely to happen. 

Geographically, we're a bit challenged - we're near the bottom of Louisiana's boot, so you drive a long time to get anywhere nice other than the beach. 

I do very much like the beach, and would not be at all pressed about winding up in Destin, but also trying to look at other options. I probably need to start by finding destinations with decent flights, because we are also airport-challenged and a lot of places have such long layovers that it's pretty much a full day of traveling each way. Grand Canyon is on our 'someday' list, but I have a really strong fear of heights - I've hiked in wooded mountains with no problem, but we weren't near giant drop-offs and all of the greenery is visually soothing. High-floor offices with large windows

I know one of the kids would adore DC but probably not so much the other. 

Tall office buildings with big glass windows definitely cause anxiety, so I'm not sure I'd love staring into the abyss. And, honestly, planning and implementing that seems like a fair amount of work. It's been a very busy few years, and I'm tired 😄but I'm willing to be persuaded that we should do it at some point. I do like vacation planning when I'm motivated. 

Gatlinburg/Smoky Mountains is ten hours, one long day of driving each way. dh and I used to live right near there, but the kids have never been. 

dh's brother lives in San Jose and we've never visited. We're invited to stay with him, but I'm not sure that I'm down with the no air conditioning thing, lol. I would definitely prefer to stay in a hotel versus be uncomfortable, and unable to sleep. Further weather research required. 

Thrown into the mix is a likely visit to dh's parents in Louisville at some point. They said they were coming here, but I do not think that's going to happen (as they said 'spring' and it's near the end of March with no mention of plans). I don't mind that at all, especially now that we have a decent flight, but it's harder for the kids to take time for that and also have time for a vacation. 

If they manage to come here and I can just plan on dh and I going in the fall for a long weekend, I'll be the best-est d-i-l ever for that week. 

We don't like the cold and we don't ski or anything like that. 

 

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, Ottakee said:

I am in West Michigan.   We had snow again yesterday……

Us too.  Just had some again today.  So over the snow.

[SKL]

Over winter break, we did end up going to San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bali.  The enjoyment quotient was mixed.  The destinations were cool, but so much of the trip was the air travel - and the complexities of crossing so many borders during covid ....  My kids were being annoying since they didn't choose the destinations, though they did admit to liking Tokyo and Singapore.  And maybe I'm getting too old for all of that.

It's almost time for our spring break trip.  The girls leave for Disney (band trip) this Saturday, and we will pick them up from there and go to Guatemala.  The airline keeps changing our flight times, so I'm not sure how smooth this is gonna be.  Originally, we built in time buffers, so we'll see.  We have some lovely plans for the 4 days we'll be there.

Summer, people want to do a cruise that includes some places we've been (in 2014) and some we haven't been in Europe.  I don't remember all the stops ... a couple of Greek islands, Venice, somewhere in Croatia, and I don't know where else.  I do want to see the places we haven't been to before, and a cruise might honestly be the only realistic way to do it.  So I will most likely suck it up.

Been talking about South Africa / Madagascar for the next winter break.  There's talk of bringing friends for that one.

This all feels like way too much, but as my older friends point out, for them it may be now or never.

 

[dirty ethel rackham]

I missed this thread the first time around.  So cool to read everyone's plans. 

Dh and I plan to go to CT in July to see a my son's friend defend her dissertation.  It was so sweet of her to invite us - her parents can't get a visa in time and my son can't afford to come back from NZ for this.  She hopes we can do a side trip to NYC to see some art museums - aside from her upcoming PhD in biology (something computational related), she is an artist and wants to show us all her favorite things.  (I'm currently working through the 12 impressionist paintings puzzles set she gave us for Christmas.) 

Speaking of DS, we plan to visit him in New Zealand in late September, early October.  He is there until December and is based in at University of Auckland.  We plan to see some LOTR sites, but haven't figured out our itinerary at all.  I'm nervous about driving on the "wrong side of the road." 😁  If anyone has any must-do ideas, we're open to suggestions.  In the meantime, I need to up my hiking/fitness game.  The knees are screaming these days. 

 I'd love to plan more travel, but having an older 70lb dog and nobody to leave him with makes it difficult.  

 

 

[mommyoffive]

Just now, dirty ethel rackham said:

I missed this thread the first time around.  So cool to read everyone's plans. 

Dh and I plan to go to CT in July to see a my son's friend defend her dissertation.  It was so sweet of her to invite us - her parents can't get a visa in time and my son can't afford to come back from NZ for this.  She hopes we can do a side trip to NYC to see some art museums - aside from her upcoming PhD in biology (something computational related), she is an artist and wants to show us all her favorite things.  (I'm currently working through the 12 impressionist paintings puzzles set she gave us for Christmas.) 

Speaking of DS, we plan to visit him in New Zealand in late September, early October.  He is there until December and is based in at University of Auckland.  We plan to see some LOTR sites, but haven't figured out our itinerary at all.  I'm nervous about driving on the "wrong side of the road." 😁  If anyone has any must-do ideas, we're open to suggestions.  In the meantime, I need to up my hiking/fitness game.  The knees are screaming these days. 

 I'd love to plan more travel, but having an older 70lb dog and nobody to leave him with makes it difficult.  

 

 

Report back on that please!  I know dh would love to do that someday.

I hear you on that dog part

[lovinmyboys]

We are living in Europe right now, so we went skiing in Slovakia in January and that was fun, except the drive there was quite treacherous. 
 

Then we went to Morocco in February and there was snow for the first time in 6 years, which was great, but also made for a treacherous drive across the high Atlas Mountains.

I am ready to just stay home for awhile. I for sure want to go to London and Spain before we move, but we have a couple of years. Having to pay for college and buy a house when we get back is making me want to put all of our extra money into savings rather than travel.

[JustEm]

Dh and I love Puerto Rico so much that we are eagerly awaiting jan 2024 flights to come out on the airline we want to fly so we can book a trip for the whole family.

[Frances]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

Over winter break, we did end up going to San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Bali.  The enjoyment quotient was mixed.  The destinations were cool, but so much of the trip was the air travel - and the complexities of crossing so many borders during covid ....  My kids were being annoying since they didn't choose the destinations, though they did admit to liking Tokyo and Singapore.  And maybe I'm getting too old for all of that.

It's almost time for our spring break trip.  The girls leave for Disney (band trip) this Saturday, and we will pick them up from there and go to Guatemala.  The airline keeps changing our flight times, so I'm not sure how smooth this is gonna be.  Originally, we built in time buffers, so we'll see.  We have some lovely plans for the 4 days we'll be there.

Summer, people want to do a cruise that includes some places we've been (in 2014) and some we haven't been in Europe.  I don't remember all the stops ... a couple of Greek islands, Venice, somewhere in Croatia, and I don't know where else.  I do want to see the places we haven't been to before, and a cruise might honestly be the only realistic way to do it.  So I will most likely suck it up.

Been talking about South Africa / Madagascar for the next winter break.  There's talk of bringing friends for that one.

This all feels like way too much, but as my older friends point out, for them it may be now or never.

 

I’m curious as to why you spend so little time in places that take a significant amount of time to get to, such as your winter break and spring break trips (not talking about the cruise)? It sounds completely exhausting to me and difficult to really get any sense of the place except for a few highlights. Is it because you all enjoy the traveling more than the destination? My son was a bit like that when he lived in Europe. He couldn’t get enough of taking the trains to different places every weekend.

[WildflowerMom]

1 hour ago, hjffkj said:

Dh and I love Puerto Rico so much that we are eagerly awaiting jan 2024 flights to come out on the airline we want to fly so we can book a trip for the whole family.

Did y’all do an all-inclusive?    
Rent a car when you got there?    

PR is on my short list. 

[helenalarson]

I'm having a vacation in June, and my friend and I are planning a trip to Spain. We are considering spending a week at a resort and maybe 3-4 days in Barcelona. I've never been to Spain yet and want to go there.

And what about the rest of the year - no idea. I'll think about it later.

[Faith-manor]

Update to my plans:

I am not going to Colorado. It didn't work out for two different reasons. One: I spent so much time in Alabama after Baby T was born preemie, that I was hedging on speaking ding the time and money to take that larger vacation. Two: Cousin also has a new grandbaby, born the beginning of December, and her daughter needs surgery which is scheduled for May, and she is going there for three weeks to take care of grandchildren so she would only be home a few days before I would have come. Pretty hectic.

That space had been filled, however, with a four day quick trip to Virginia and back to volunteer with National Association of Rocketry to put on the American Rocketry Challenge national finals.

Our 35th anniversary is scaled back to just three days up by Sleeping Bear Dunes for kayaking and walking, a ferry ride out to an island in Lake Michigan. But we still have our week in North Carolina with my nephew and his wife in July, and we are very much looking forward to that.

[Faith-manor]

5 hours ago, Ottakee said:

I am in West Michigan.   We had snow again yesterday……

Us too, and with freezing rain before the snow. It was so nasty our son and daughter in law ended up staying over and not driving home after dinner. that was fine. We played cards and had a lot of fun with them. But I am sick of it. Today has been blue skies, everything melted off, somewhat warm. Hello, Michigan. Darn it all! Make.up.your.mind!

 

[JustEm]

2 hours ago, WildflowerMom said:

Did y’all do an all-inclusive?    
Rent a car when you got there?    

PR is on my short list. 

No and no. We stayed at an Airbnb in condado and walked a lot. We took a few Ubers to get to old San Juan, to get home from places when it was too late to feel safe walking, and to and from the airport. Ubers we're very reasonably priced. We did pay for one excursion where the tour guide for the day and took us on hikes through caves and rock formations in two separate locations.

We were planning on renting a car one day to go to the rainforest but after the all day cave excursion decided we'd save the rainforest for the next time we came because we were absolutely coming back. 

We went to Walgreens one morning, bought snorkel gear for the two of us for $17 each and walked to a place we could snorkel. We snorkelled on and off for hours, seeing many groups who paid $50+ for an hour tour. That was unnecessary because there was a huge map showing where snorkeling was good and things you might see.

On our first full day there we walked to a small public beach and met a man who told us all the best places to go and eat at. We followed many of his suggestions and loved them all.

We can't wait to go back

[Bootsie]

DH and I are hopefully going to make it to Copenhagen this summer--it is the fourth summer we have planned on going: 2020--cancelled due ot COVID, 2021--cancelled due to COVID, 2022--Russia invaded Ukraine a week after we planned our Baltic trip (which was to include several days in St. Petersburg).  Hopefully, fourth time will be a charm; we have booked a cruise that starts in Amsterdam, cruises to several ports in Norway, and then on to Denmark.  

I will then go to Austria to visit DD who is living there and she and I will be traveling to Greece, spending a week on a Catamaran, visiting some of the smaller islands.  

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, Bootsie said:

DH and I are hopefully going to make it to Copenhagen this summer--it is the fourth summer we have planned on going: 2020--cancelled due ot COVID, 2021--cancelled due to COVID, 2022--Russia invaded Ukraine a week after we planned our Baltic trip (which was to include several days in St. Petersburg).  Hopefully, fourth time will be a charm; we have booked a cruise that starts in Amsterdam, cruises to several ports in Norway, and then on to Denmark.  

I will then go to Austria to visit DD who is living there and she and I will be traveling to Greece, spending a week on a Catamaran, visiting some of the smaller islands.  

Oh wow, your summer sounds amazing!!!  I hope the 4th time is the charm!!

[ScoutTN]

Planning a car camping trip with Dh in NC in June.

 

[Spryte]

So many great plans!

We went to Germany this winter, which was fun.

Current summer plan is to do a 3-4 week half loop road trip in the southwest. A week in Sedona, AZ doing day trips from there (Grand Canyon, various ruins, Slide Rock), then a drive to NM and a few days in ABQ — not sure yet if we will go the long way around or straight across. From there we head to the Jemez Mountains (my favorite), Santa Fe and Taos. Then on to Durango and various southwestern CO places. Finally Denver and home.

Switzerland is a possibility, and Sweden later in summer. DH will go regardless, I am a maybe. 

That’s all we have scheduled.

[Ottakee]

3 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Us too, and with freezing rain before the snow. It was so nasty our son and daughter in law ended up staying over and not driving home after dinner. that was fine. We played cards and had a lot of fun with them. But I am sick of it. Today has been blue skies, everything melted off, somewhat warm. Hello, Michigan. Darn it all! Make.up.your.mind!

 

And now we are getting a thunderstorm🤪.  Yesterday I honestly had rain falling from the west on my deck and snow falling from the East.  Wish I could have captured that on video.

[Starr]

It's fun to read about everyone's summer plans. Ours will be centered around new grandbaby coming in July in the Boston area. 🙂 And possibly depending on the baby a memorial service in Alaska. My childhood friend died of covid this winter. 😞 And ds out in Newfoundland  is always worth a trip. Budgeting has not yet been looked at carefully so it may just be the baby!

[MEmama]

We were in Portugal recently and loved it, especially Lisbon. We met up with DS for a couple of days in Porto near the end of his spring break and had a terrific time exploring with him.

This winter we are hoping to go to Finland, Estonia and Sweden, though we might decide to take a break from the cold and go to Spain instead. 

[Faith-manor]

8 hours ago, Ottakee said:

And now we are getting a thunderstorm🤪.  Yesterday I honestly had rain falling from the west on my deck and snow falling from the East.  Wish I could have captured that on video.

Michigan is just a barrel of laughs right now. (with all the dripping sarcasm I can muster)😤😤😤

[Lady Florida.]

I got back from a 12 day trip to Greece last Wednesday night. I went with 3 friends and we were visiting our other friend who lives there while her husband works (DOD) at the naval base. We spent 2 days in Athens then the rest of the time on Crete where she lives. It was amazing and I'm sure my family is tired of hearing me say how wonderful it was lol. We bought our plane tickets last Sept. and I'm glad we did. The cost kept going up and by the time we left tickets were more than double what we paid. 

 

Dh and I have a cruise scheduled for Jan. 2024 with a group but I'd like us to go somewhere this year. I was thinking of New England in the fall to see the leaves. I know it can be hit or miss and an early snow could change everything so I'm trying to figure out how to plan it to our best advantage. I'm also trying to figure out logistics - what airport to fly into, where to stay, car rental, and what states/cities to travel to. I'm thinking somewhere in Vermont and New Hampshire but since we've never been there I don't know if that's best. 

 

I'd love to go to Canada at some point but I doubt that will be this year.

[wintermom]

I didn't post before this trip, but dh and I, along with another couple, went to Costa Rica in Feb to visit friends who had moved there. I fell in love with the beach and scenery! I've been annoyed with the snow and colourless life back in Canada ever since coming back home. I'm already planning returning to CR next winter. 😉  

I'd totally recommend this destination to others! 

[ScoutTN]

We have simply not had funds or bandwidth for travel over the last 6 years or so. Trying to look ahead to plan and save so that we can change that.

2027 will be our 25th anniversary and I am hoping for a trip. I was originally thinking Charleston, but now am considering the various Costco all inclusive trips. Anywhere warm with a beach! I really don’t want to have to shop and cook as I would if we did a vrbo. Dh will not plan, so it’s up to me.

Also looked at Dd’s college calendar for 23-24. I think we will begin setting aside Memorial Day week as annual family vacation week (probably the beach) for the next few years. 

It makes me sad that we have not been able to give our kids the opportunities to travel that I had as a kid and a teen. We did have a few fun trips when they were younger. It is hard having friends and extended family who take $$$ vacations every year while we might get a few nights camping or in a nearby city. 

Edited March 27, 2023 by ScoutTN

[Starr]

1 hour ago, Lady Florida. said:

I'd love to go to Canada at some point but I doubt that will be this year.

Montreal can be cheaper than flying to Burlington, VT. You could get some of both in one trip.

[SKL]

19 hours ago, Frances said:

I’m curious as to why you spend so little time in places that take a significant amount of time to get to, such as your winter break and spring break trips (not talking about the cruise)? It sounds completely exhausting to me and difficult to really get any sense of the place except for a few highlights. Is it because you all enjoy the traveling more than the destination? My son was a bit like that when he lived in Europe. He couldn’t get enough of taking the trains to different places every weekend.

Yeah we really don't have the luxury of staying at a vacation destination long.  We all have full-time work and school.  We run several local businesses that require some level of hands-on by us.  Even when we do travel, we have to work for hours every day, dealing with client and business emergencies etc.

Two of us are in their 60s and have health problems.  It's getting harder for them to walk.  But they want to "see the world."  And as for me, would I do it alone, even if I could do it more slowly?  I don't know.  Maybe I'll find out someday.

I used to complain about one person's apparent attitude that we go somewhere, click some pics, and move on.  I insist that we build in at least one or two hands-on local experiences each non-travel day.  It's not the full immersive experience, but it's better than staying home.

When possible, we do road trips or travel by train or boat, which is much less stressful than air travel.  It just isn't always an option.  In the case of last winter, the locations were separated by ocean.  But it's not like we would have made trips from the US to each of them separately.  That would have been a lot harder.

[Lady Florida.]

12 hours ago, Bootsie said:

DH and I are hopefully going to make it to Copenhagen this summer--it is the fourth summer we have planned on going: 2020--cancelled due ot COVID, 2021--cancelled due to COVID, 2022--Russia invaded Ukraine a week after we planned our Baltic trip (which was to include several days in St. Petersburg).  Hopefully, fourth time will be a charm; we have booked a cruise that starts in Amsterdam, cruises to several ports in Norway, and then on to Denmark.  

I will then go to Austria to visit DD who is living there and she and I will be traveling to Greece, spending a week on a Catamaran, visiting some of the smaller islands.  

 

That sounds wonderful. Dh would love to do that type of cruise and I've been looking into it. I wish we had traveled more while he was working. He always had plenty of vacation days but he preferred to staycation. What's past is past but now that he's retired I'm making sure we travel. While I was raised by the Italian side of my family I have the Irish wanderlust from my dad's side. 

[mommyoffive]

14 hours ago, Spryte said:

So many great plans!

We went to Germany this winter, which was fun.

Current summer plan is to do a 3-4 week half loop road trip in the southwest. A week in Sedona, AZ doing day trips from there (Grand Canyon, various ruins, Slide Rock), then a drive to NM and a few days in ABQ — not sure yet if we will go the long way around or straight across. From there we head to the Jemez Mountains (my favorite), Santa Fe and Taos. Then on to Durango and various southwestern CO places. Finally Denver and home.

Switzerland is a possibility, and Sweden later in summer. DH will go regardless, I am a maybe. 

That’s all we have scheduled.

Did you guys decide to move there?

[SKL]

19 hours ago, Frances said:

I’m curious as to why you spend so little time in places that take a significant amount of time to get to, such as your winter break and spring break trips (not talking about the cruise)? It sounds completely exhausting to me and difficult to really get any sense of the place except for a few highlights. Is it because you all enjoy the traveling more than the destination? My son was a bit like that when he lived in Europe. He couldn’t get enough of taking the trains to different places every weekend.

As for spring break, the trip to Guatemala isn't a super difficult trip.  And the timing is very important.  We are going during Holy Week to see a unique festival they have there (alfombras de aserrin).  I've been wanting to do this forever, but this is the first time my kids' school break coincided with Holy Week.

We'd go longer if it weren't for their school band trip.  That is out of my control.  At least it isn't in the opposite direction.  The kids will enjoy the bus ride and being in Orlando with their school friends for 4 days, and then we'll be together in Guatemala for 4 days, not counting travel.  4 days is actually pretty leisurely for our standards.  😛  We've been to Guatemala for a longer trip when the kids were 6; that time we went to Tikal, but this time we can't do that.

[Spryte]

1 minute ago, mommyoffive said:

Did you guys decide to move there?

It’s still on the table. We’re in negotiations.  Wouldn’t be till summer ‘24. It’s the reason we are squeezing in a SW trip — I need a desert fix!

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, Spryte said:

It’s still on the table. We’re in negotiations.  Wouldn’t be till summer ‘24. It’s the reason we are squeezing in a SW trip — I need a desert fix!

How exciting!!  I hope it works out the way you want it to.

[dirty ethel rackham]

14 hours ago, Ottakee said:

And now we are getting a thunderstorm🤪.  Yesterday I honestly had rain falling from the west on my deck and snow falling from the East.  Wish I could have captured that on video.

The weather can't make up its mind here in Chicagoland either.  On Saturday, when I looked outside a window, it looked like a whiteout blizzard until I looked down and saw that the snow wasn't sticking.  Yesterday, we had sun, then pouring rain/thunderstorm, then sun out the front window but hail out the back window.  My dog was so confused.  

[Pam in CT]

re Andalusia

On 11/18/2022 at 3:44 PM, whitestavern said:

We are heading to the Andalusia area of Spain in April. We had airline credits that needed to be used by the 25th, and I wanted warm, so that won. Now that I’ve done some more research, I’m really excited for the trip!...

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhndalusia.  My husband and I celebrated our 30th anniversary with a 14 day slow crawl through the highlight sights and the white villages and ahhhhhhhhhh. Best trip we've taken alone since our honeymoon, which was an extended crawl through somewhat-similar little villages in Portugal.  You will LOVE it.

 

 

re I just wanna lie around and NOT THINK without paying for "all inclusive"

On 11/19/2022 at 10:46 AM, Carrie12345 said:

I’m not really into traveling, but I’ve recently found myself craving sun, water, food made for me, and drinks magically refilled.  
But we’re not keen on cruise life, and most all inclusives seem kind of pricey for people who don’t want to do all the special things that are included.   
I literally just want to sleep, eat, drink, and admire the horizon.

You might take a look at Guancaste province in Costa Rica. There are a lot of gorgeous beaches with this small-condo-inn model, where they give you (delish) breakfast as part of the room rate; and your room has a kitchen which you can stock with wine & beer & cheese & crackers so you can economize on happy hour. And when you walk out of the room and step onto the beach there are loads of beach bars that will cheerfully magically refill whatever you want refilled.  I went in January when the weather is perfect; allegedly it's quite (too) hot in June and July.  Costa Rica is easy logistically (for Guancaste it's more efficient to fly into the Liberia airport rather than San Juan) and easy (but not necessary) to rent a car. 

[whitestavern]

1 hour ago, Pam in CT said:

re Andalusia

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhndalusia.  My husband and I celebrated our 30th anniversary with a 14 day slow crawl through the highlight sights and the white villages and ahhhhhhhhhh. Best trip we've taken alone since our honeymoon, which was an extended crawl through somewhat-similar little villages in Portugal.  You will LOVE it

Just to update… two weeks ago I cancelled my entire Andalucia trip and changed it to Portugal! I just wasn’t feeling great about the Spain trip. I was wondering if everywhere would feel too similar. I’m really excited for Portugal and would love if you have any info to share. We are starting in Lisbon, driving to Evora and around Alentejo, then moseying up to Douro Valley, Peneda-Geres NP and ending in Porto. I’m hoping you liked Portugal as much as Spain! 

[Miss Tick]

10 minutes ago, whitestavern said:

Just to update… two weeks ago I cancelled my entire Andalucia trip and changed it to Portugal! I just wasn’t feeling great about the Spain trip. I was wondering if everywhere would feel too similar. I’m really excited for Portugal and would love if you have any info to share. We are starting in Lisbon, driving to Evora and around Alentejo, then moseying up to Douro Valley, Peneda-Geres NP and ending in Porto. I’m hoping you liked Portugal as much as Spain! 

I'm too uptight to ever sound that casual about driving in another country - where I have to decode the traffic signs, watch other drivers, and simultaneously take in Google driving directions. Have any tips to make the thought of driving less stressful?

[Pam in CT]

re Pooohhhhhhhhhrtgual

36 minutes ago, whitestavern said:

Just to update… two weeks ago I cancelled my entire Andalucia trip and changed it to Portugal! I just wasn’t feeling great about the Spain trip. I was wondering if everywhere would feel too similar. I’m really excited for Portugal and would love if you have any info to share. We are starting in Lisbon, driving to Evora and around Alentejo, then moseying up to Douro Valley, Peneda-Geres NP and ending in Porto. I’m hoping you liked Portugal as much as Spain! 

Well, our honeymoon in Portugal was 33+ years ago, so while it was very very nice, thank you for asking  I dunno how useful our experience would be today!

We started in Lisbon, drove to Evora and then... drove around with a map, GPS hadn't been invented yet... with a half-plan mostly routed around the historic pousadas, which are old historically relevant buildings (then, mostly monasteries and abbeys, mostly in rather out-of-the-way ruralish locations) that have been converted to small inns.  The basic model (then, at least, see: 33+ years ago) is that the pousadas lean in to very good local food (lots of them had Michelin stars) and lovely gardens.  I LOVED THEM WITH A HOT FIERY PASSION. They tended (then: see 33+ years ago) not to be on the otherwise beaten path, so if you want to see The Sights the pousadas aren't necessarily close to them; and while they are very elegant, if you passionately care about specific amenities they may not have them (this was before the interweb was invented, but I could easily imagine that wifi could well be slow, forex; or there might not be an in-room hair dryer or coffeemaker or etc).  We went to a lot of fado music -- itty bitty restaurants and bars, not the big shows -- and ate a lot of seafood and olives and cheese and bread and local wine, and, I dunno, it was our honeymoon.  Of course I loved it.

We did not book everything in advance, had a baseline with some bits planned but other nights where we winged it (October, wouldn't do this in August) and that worked fine for the off-the-beaten-path path.

 

[as an aside Ahhhhhhhhndalusia did NOT feel "too similar" but now that you're headed to Portugal you'll love it!]

[JustEm]

7 hours ago, wintermom said:

I didn't post before this trip, but dh and I, along with another couple, went to Costa Rica in Feb to visit friends who had moved there. I fell in love with the beach and scenery! I've been annoyed with the snow and colourless life back in Canada ever since coming back home. I'm already planning returning to CR next winter. 😉  

I'd totally recommend this destination to others! 

Costa Rica is a place I've been wanting to go to ever since I didn't make the cut for a study abroad for it in college and my best friend did.  We were hoping it would be a trip we did together as one of our last college experiences but I got put on the wait list because I had just done Ecuador and they had to give priority to seniors who hadn't done a study abroad yet.  Dh and I were actually planning a trip for the whole family  right before the pandemic but of course that didn't happen.  We'll probably have to wait a few more years for that destination

[whitestavern]

4 hours ago, Miss Tick said:

I'm too uptight to ever sound that casual about driving in another country - where I have to decode the traffic signs, watch other drivers, and simultaneously take in Google driving directions. Have any tips to make the thought of driving less stressful?

DH does it 😂 Last year we drove all over France. He was a bit stressed because they’re very strict but he did fine. 

[theelfqueen]

7 hours ago, Miss Tick said:

I'm too uptight to ever sound that casual about driving in another country - where I have to decode the traffic signs, watch other drivers, and simultaneously take in Google driving directions. Have any tips to make the thought of driving less stressful?

I always say rental car companies should include a drivers manual in the glovebox that explains the signs and things (What does three pentagons mean? What are the red wavy lines?)

[Miss Tick]

9 hours ago, theelfqueen said:

I always say rental car companies should include a drivers manual in the glovebox that explains the signs and things (What does three pentagons mean? What are the red wavy lines?)

Right? I saw this traffic sign in another country recently, yikes!

 

[dirty ethel rackham]

11 hours ago, theelfqueen said:

I always say rental car companies should include a drivers manual in the glovebox that explains the signs and things (What does three pentagons mean? What are the red wavy lines?)

Something to add to our travel list ... research the signage and rules of the road when we go to NZ.