Good News - Two More Weeks; Bad News - What's Next?

Trip to Rome, Sicily and Paris in December and January is mostly planned. Just need to obtain tickets not available for purchase, yet. Checking occasionally for cheaper flights/fewer FF miles from the ones we already have. Husband will be scheduling a fly-fishing trip to West Yellowstone in September. We are retired and travel whenever we want. Younger adult son has time off in December/January which means Christmas somewhere other than home. I don't pay attention to those clickbait articles although I genuinely feel sorry for people living in over-touristed locations--like the Jersey shore--yes, even in the US, things can get crazy.

Tom, What a refreshing post to find among the many redundant postings on this site. I've always thought the planning was almost as much fun a the trip itself. And of course the excitement of seeing the planning work itself out, Sometimes flawlessly & sometimes with last minute adjustments. But hey it's all in the joy of being able to travel.

Leaving next week for a month in Austria & Slovenia. This is our 16th trip across the pond. We are blessed to be able to travel. Often wonder when the realization my come that perhaps this is our last trip to Europe. But what great memories my wife & I share that can never be taken away.

Thanks for adding some humor to my day.

Not that I'm counting...but 7 days to retirement and then my new full time job will be travel planning. Working on the finer details from my river cruise next spring and trying to decide what to do in Fall of 2025.

As far as missing the overtourism and such stories. I love the philosophical topics on the Forum. To me it beats the humdrum daily questions such as "I have 10 days in France, what should I do?".

I stopped traveling to Europe in peak summer 15 years ago, too crowded and hot, and it has only gotten more crowded and hotter in the interim.

Next trip for us is our "Tale of Two Cities" trip to London and Paris in October. We are pondering the next trip, maybe in the winter, maybe in spring. We are also expanding our scope to include SE Asia / Australia / NZ in coming trips. We love Europe, but we have ignored the other side of the world for way too long.

In addition, Australia and NZ, at the bottom of the world, make ideal destinations during our winters, their summers (and spring and fall "shoulder seasons, too, just reversed from ours)...we have always enjoyed December trips to Europe, but days are terribly short, it can be uncomfortably cold, and even pre Covid it was a good opportunity to catch a virus / flu bug...and we both did catch such bugs in the past...so at our age now, we are less likely to visit Europe during cold and flu season again...

I am keeping my traveling shoes dusted off.

I will continue to travel as physical ability, time and money allow.
I will adjust my destinations based on conditions. For example, I hope to return to Tokyo one day, but I don't need to visit Shibuya again (due to the crowds) . I won't likely go back to Venice, but I feel a return to Rome getting closer. I definitely won't go back to Cinque Terre.
I also have empathy for Nick and others that live in the "beautiful places" and have their hometown invaded. However, it is up to those locations' citizens to come up with solutions. The city of Seville still seems to be encouraging visitors according the Welcome to Seville website.
As far as the articles, I scan the first few that come out and then start to ignore them. I will check my Paris hotel room for bedbugs upon arrival, and I am prepared for big sites to be crowded.

Enjoy your trip planning Tom R, I do some sort of trip planning almost every day.

"Hanging up up your traveling shoes" Simple answer: not possible, what for?

The trip of at least 10 weeks earmarked for next summer , (I only travel in the summer) if not 85 days, all in Schengen, is being planned bit by bit, based on the reality gained from this summer's trip and that of last summer.

..."love Paris any time"....how true. The plan now is to be back there in June or July. May and June this time in Paris had too many cold and rainy days.

Tourists love going to Paris as do I. It's inundated with them, French tourists, international tourists, etc. I'm just one of them. To be sure I've met French tourists in Paris from other parts of France....interesting and revealing.

@Allan, congratulations on your pending retirement!! My husband retires on October 31, though he's already unofficially semi-retired. He left early this morning on an impromptu guys' trip to NYC for the weekend, work be damned.

As far as travel drama in the news, I don't read many article about travel anymore. They're either clickbait as described above or they're just recycled content, or some display of the worst of humanity, like people behaving badly on airplanes. I don't have the mental energy to spare for that kind of news anymore.

I'm going on my first cruise ever in less than two weeks, a Viking cruise, with some other family members. (Not my husband.) In early September, I don't really anticipate fewer crowds. I haven't traveled to Europe in the summer since before the pandemic, so I don't have a feel for peak crowds anymore, and how early September will differ in that respect, if at all.

I'm taking a short solo trip to Dresden in December and will start doing some planning for that when I return from my river cruise.

When my husband retires, we'll be a one-income family for about a year. We're tentatively planning one trip for early next spring (Dublin) and I'm watching airfares. And we have lots of other trips on our list!
But we need some time to see what our finances look like before we do any serious travel planning. We've got kids with situations in flux as well, and they may need some temporary helping out. Our 'travel' next year may be only relocating somewhere cooler within driving distance for a few weeks next summer, where I can work remotely and my husband can hike with the dog.

My traveling shoes may be in the closet for most of next year, but they're definitely not going to be hung up.

I'm starting to get into planning for this year! I didn't get a vacation this summer, so finally put in today for two weeks in October. Now to see if my husband and i can agree on a destination (doubtful).

We are presently in Croatia, doing some local travel. Then it is off to Bologna and Florence the end of this month. Mid September is it a partial walk on the Camino then to Portugal for 2 weeks.

We retired in 2020 just at the end of Covid and haven’t stopped traveling since the world opened up again. Next year it is Japan, Croatia with my daughter and her family, and Southern Italy with my Italian cousin-in-laws.

But, we have family visiting us in NY from Croatia. A cousin, husband and daughter early January for 18 days and another cousin and his wife end of May for 3 weeks. Both also want to visit family in Ft. Lauderdale so off we will go, twice.

It’s going to be a very busy 2025 and we love it! What better way to spend our retirement then traveling and visiting with family.

My travel style has changed a lot since my move, but I stil try and travel several times a year as I have for over 30 years. They just tend to be shorter trips and focused or related to my enjoyment for fishing.

So, in the past 12 months, Bucharest and Brasov, Malta, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Bratislava (not counting a few small Hungarian towns). Up coming Hallstatt and Salzburg the second week of September. Yup, Hallstatt. Someone has to keep the tourist pressure up. Late October a week in Montenegro; mostly fishing but I have time for one day of play. Still working on that. Then in the winter I have four current ideas and it will depend on the date I can get away. Before "our" Christmas I have two choices and after "our" Christmas two other choices. Maybe I do two of the four, but doubt it. About a week to 10 days for the winter trip. All my choices are going to be cold, but its winter and Christmas and it should be cold.

Spring, up in the air. Maybe Slovakia or Poland on the Slovak border for 3 days of fishing and 3 days of sightseeing. Maye a fishing spot in the Carpathians I have been wanting to go to for years. But I need a travel buddy for that. Maybe one of my Christmas destinations if I dont make it for Christmas.

Summer. Well I love summer travel. "Its too hot and too crowded in Europe in the summer" doesnt apply to where I live in Europe or to the places I like to go in Europe. Its a big continent.

I like beaches, and beaches in weather that is too cool to enjoy the water and the sleep on the beach ... well that just makes no sense to me. Maybe back to Montenegro, half at the coast where it hits 85F at the start of July and half in the mountains where it will hit a high of 70F. Or maybe I can find a nice mix in N. Macedonia between fishing Lake Ohrid and something at a higher altitude. Same sort of temps as Montenegro. None of those places are crowded any time of the year.

All discount airlines to reach a point. Then since there are few trains where I go and I dont exactly love busses, I move on to private transfers. The places I go are so cheap, that even with a few private transfers it costs less than going to Western Europe and riding busses and trains.

Allan, congrats on your retirement, you've earned this next chapter. Safe travels!

Have a trip planned to Krakau in Oct. for a week, where I have the luck of meeting up with the lovely Andrea and her husband. Wasn't planned, it just happened.
May try and get to Vienna for their Christmas market this year and some other smaller markets on my list that I haven't made it to, Speyer, Worms, Miltonberg, Bacharach.

My knee is causing me a lot of problems with a new one planned sometime in the future, plus some breathing problems so walking future Caminos is sort of off the plans for the moment. What is possible is being a volunteer at one of the albergues on the Camino for a couple of weeks, so looking forward to that. Up my Spanish skills too.

Tom R, I'm looking forward at finally not having to travel during peak travel season, beginning next month with Poland. Yay for me lol!!

Yes, we like to pepper the year with short getaways to keep life from becoming the same old, same old as we say in West Virginia. For example, seeing Bruce Springsteen and ELO in concert, attending WVU football games, and that sort of thing so we always have something to look forward to. We try to get away even for just an overnight or two every month.

I'm not a big fan of travel during the winter. Why? During my Air Force days it seemed I often got sick traveling at that time of year, which is easy to do amongst the crowds. A bad cold, or worse, sure takes a lot away from the travel experience.

BTW, good thread my man.

Jimmy B, yes, the planning is big part of the enjoyment of travel, including books and watching Youtube videos. I get a kick out of Wolter's World.

Allan, all the best to you and yours with your retirement.

After a fairly stressful year for us, which has caused me to cancel the first 4+ weeks of my 11 week trip, I am looking forward to leaving for Europe in a few weeks. I am still figuring some things out, but we have our lodging reservations and some train tickets. When I was chatting with Ms. Jo a couple of months ago we realized we were going to be in Krakow the exact same days, so we are looking forward to hanging out with her there. Our wedding anniversary just so happens to be on the opening day of Oktoberfest. We will be in Salzburg so we will go check it out. We went in 2010, but didn’t take full advantage of it. I’m not a beer drinker, so maybe this time I’ll find some wine. I know it will be fun to meet up with friends in Paris and we have family time planned in Germany with my cousins and aunt. Life is good.

Next year I’m going to Australia in March & April with a friend, and my hubby and I will have an epic 40th anniversary trip in the Fall. How many trips can someone plan at the same time?

Hip deep in planning, Tom R. April ‘25 in Italy is coming up, trying to get exact dates nailed down this weekend so I can switch my brain back to leaving for France Oct 3rd. ‘Miles to go before I sleep……..’