Back after a year and half absence!

Congratulations, Christi! This will be your triumphant tour.

Be sure to have insurance and medical contacts - staying in cities for the most part is probably a good idea.

Welcome back.

It's good to see you again.

Congratulations. It makes my wife's illness seem so minor.

Europe will be ready and waiting for you both!!!

Driving the Romantic Road

Just a note: the Romantic Toad is not romantic or picturesque. It's just a regular road that connects several towns that can be considered romantic. But they aren't that special, they are just on the more or less direct route from the biggest airport to the (former) touristic heart of Western Germany. You don't have to create detours and/or rent a car just because of the RR. You can find better drives and similar towns all over Germany. If you want to drive and spend a week in one place the Harz mountains are a better idea, simply because the towns are closer together and the countryside is more picturesque.

Thanks Martin. I will look into other routes. Any suggestions, anyone?

Barcelona is a great city and well worth a 5-7 day stay. We spent 5 days there in 2014 and still didn't cover everything we wanted to see. Start with Rick's Barcelona book and your schedule will unfold over the next 17 months. If Marta is still doing her paella cooking class, we highly recommend it. It was one of our highlights along with a Barça soccer match, tapas tour, Sagrada Familia, Palace of Catalan Music-(don't miss the most beautiful Modernista interior anywhere), Park Güell & all of Gaudi's other contributions to the city, Picasso Museum, etc. On our tapas tour one evening we came across a large group sardana in the square in front of the city hall or government building. Barcelona is a good walking city. We stayed in the area two blocks off of Plaça de Catalunya which was centrally located for walking.

Welcome back and happy (and healthy) travels!

Congratulations! So happy to hear your good news! It has been such a difficult time for you both. My husband had major health issues and I can relate to you. It was 7 years ago and since then we have been to Europe 3 times and we are leaving for France in May. It has been such a wonderful surprise how traveling heals our hearts. I love your plan to spend a week at each location. Most of the places on your list we haven't visited yet, but we did spend 5 nights on the Amalfi Coast. We could have easily spent a week there. It ended up being "our vacation from our vacation". So my vote is for the Amalfi Coast! Since you plan on a week in each location I would rent apartments in each location. Many of our apartments had washer and dryers! I also absolutely love the planning. My bookshelf is now full of travel books! Enjoy your planning!

Congratulations to you and your husband on his recovery. What an ordeal you must both have been through. And what a fun victory lap you're planning through Europe.

With an itinerary covering so much of Europe, and the sensible decision to focus on major cities, you'll probably want to take budget flights. I'd suggest starting in St. Petersburg because it's farthest north and you'll want to be north in August. Then Berlin, the Romantic Road (or wherever else in Germany you plan), Vienna, Naples/Amalfi, and Barcelona. The suggestion of renting apartments, at least in some of those cities, is a good one if you don't need a front desk, daily housekeeping, or other hotel conveniences. What you'll get with apartments is more space, laundry facilities (usually), the ability to have some meals "in," and the sense of being in a neighborhood with regular people.

The cruise home will be great. We did that a few years ago, from Dover to NYC via Iceland, a great experience. If your plans aren't already set, you might consider a cruise that starts in Barcelona, as many of the repositioning cruises do. That would save you a trip to England to get on the ship.

Welcome back to the forum. You know the drill -- post specific questions to get specific answers (and lots of chatter, often entertaining and/or informative). ;-)

Wow!! You never know how strong you are until you have to be, right?? Congratulations to both of you...
What a great way to celebrate! Just get out of town and have fun.
ENJOY!!!...and welcome back.

Christi, great news that you both will get to travel again next year. Cancer free is great news. Sounds like you have a wonderful trip planned for next fall.
I posted a topic late last year, "Travel While You Can". Got a lot of response from many posters about their health issues and family and friends that never did get to travel.

I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis in May of 2015 which stopped all my travel for last year. At my worst, I had as many as 18 different symptoms going on at the same time. Not being able to open either eye was bad, but not even the worst of the affects. Just now really able to start planning a trip again. My dates will probably be Sept/Oct of 2017, so I know how excited you must be to be in the planning stages again. The cruise home will be wonderful as well. Years ago, I was able to take an ocean liner from NY to Germany and another from Seattle to Japan. Really a nice way to completely relax and just enjoy the time.
I also stayed away from this site for about 6 months. Really just have started looking and posting again , so I know what you have gone thru.

Good to see you back, enjoy the planning for your trip, and prayers to your husband.
Tony

Welcome back, Christi and what wonderful, wonderful news! I think you have amazing trip destinations planned and your decision to spend a week in each place is a good one. That will allow you to get to know a place a little more in depth while exploring at your leisure. You will be visiting some of my favorite places and what a great idea to take a cruise home. I know you will have a truly fantastic time and I look forward to your postings as you continue to plan for this trip.

So good to have you back, and with a healthy husband as well! I think we're all looking forward to following your planning for the upcoming trip.

Thank you for sharing the details. It really helped me to hear what he had been through and the successful outcome. I'm currently on the periphery of something similar and it's good to hear that as bad as it can get, there is still a chance for recovery.

Thank you all. We are both over the moon about this trip! Some of our destinations are repeats for us Vienna, Berlin, Barcelona but they are places we fell in love with on our first, shorter stays. One son gifted my husband for his 75th birthday a candlelight dinner in one of the gondolas on the Wiener Riesenrad - so that is definitely on the list.

The cruise home is already booked! The minute I saw the itinerary I knew it was the one. Six days crossing, a day in Boston, overnight in NYC, overnight in Bermuda, Nassau (won't even get off the ship) ending in Miami.

Some of our logistical decisions will be governed by the fact we will be traveling with a seizure alert cat. Please don't freak out - I have researched extensively and none of the countries we plan to visit quarantine anymore. We will land in the first country with all required documents and visit a vet there to be issued an EU pet passport. She has traveled considerably already (plains, trains, ships, subway) and does so very well but a long travel day from San Antonio to St. Petersburg or even Paris is too hard for her. She has done 12 hrs before but that is too long.

We will leave San Antonio and fly to NYC and spend a couple nights (any excuse for NYC) then on to Amsterdam or Paris. From there trains except for St. Petersburg where we will fly in & out and Barcelona to the UK. I am thinking Amsterdam as it is faster from the airport to be in the city and at a hotel. So many little details to iron out and logistics to set up as I will have to ship things before we leave to our various hotels along the way so I do not have to haul 10 weeks of supplies around! All part of the process and all the more reason to plan early plan often!

I know I will need to rely on the exceptional knowledge base of you all here to help.

A seizure alert cat! What a wonderful and fabulous companion is that? I bet she (he?) will enjoy the cruise home :) Gosh, a gondola candlelit dinner...that sounds fabulous. What a special gift. Please publish reports as you can and your final itinerary plans come together; I would love to follow along. It's going to truly be a great trip and I think you and your husband must be truly amazing people.

Welcome back, Christi! I am so happy for you! Sound like a challenging trip to plan so it's a good thing you have over a year to do it. I'm sure it will be a labor of love. Sorry I can't offer any help; I haven't been to any of those places.

Christi - So happy for your good news after a very tough stretch of life. Welcome back.

Thank you Kim. We will be spending a week in Paris as well! I have the Paris rule - when in Europe you must visit Paris! WE love just chillin' there. No frantic sight-seeing there anymore - just enjoying the city.

Hi,

Glad you're back and glad the horrific experience with the ER, etc is behind you. I'll be focusing travel wise on the summer of 2017 too.

Thanks Fred! We can compare notes! I don't know about you but I have almost as much fun planning as I do when I get there!

Congratulations to your husband and you. I have nothing to really offer except for best of wishes and enjoy your trip. All the best to the both of you.

Paul

@ Christi....yes, by all means. I intend my 2017 summer to be 5-6 weeks, may be even seven. As with everything else, it just depends. Anyway, that's the general idea.