New Year, New Travels - where to?

Currently enjoying the beaches of Fernando de Noronha in Brazil. This year will be exotic, off the beaten path travel - Malawi, Comoros, Madagscar, Reunion island, Mauritius and Rodriguez islands, Seychelles, and India during summer. Still to plan next Christmas vacation

I'm planning my third solo trip to Europe and first trip to Amsterdam/Netherlands and Belgium this fall. You will love Scotland, hope you get there this year! Be sure to get to the Highlands, so gorgeous.

I can only wish for travel in 2020; the house requires all our money—new paint, new a/c. But I’m already planning for London & Loire Valley in 2021.

Fun thread! We are taking the kids to London, Berlin, and Iceland this July. Can’t wait!

To Poland in March for a little exploring, then volunteering in an English immersion program. Afterwards I’ll be in Germany, exploring Görlitz, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin. Fall will find me in Italy for a month, improving my Italian language skills in Verona, Ortisei, Ferrara, Torino and Milano.

Hmmm ... a lot depends on where the airfare sales are.

Considering a longer home base in one small- to mid-sized city (at our age we want good public transit and medical facilities) with short trips to other areas. But Paris calls (once the trains run again) as does Vienna, Florence, London ... and New York, Alaska, Hawaii ... so many possibilities!!

We visited Scotland for the first time this past October. It was a wonderful time and I definitely recommend it!

We are off to Mallorca and Barcelona this spring, and the Dordogne area of France in the fall. Incredibly excited for both trips - we’ve been to both countries before but these places will be brand new to us.

2020 is shaping up to be a great year!

Great ideas - we are going to London and Dublin in April/May for 3 weeks. Luckily we have a wedding to attend in Dublin. We just booked a yacht cruise through Katarina line up the coast of Croatia for one week for mid September. Since we will be retired come July 1, can’t believe we are old enough, we will be in Croatia for a month or two. Trying to figure out if RS tour to Turkey is feasible or to tack on another stop before heading home. Portugal is calling to me, but so is Paris. Decisions, decisions.

Switzerland in mid April basing in Luzern for 6 days.

Palm Springs & Indian Wells in March.

We are spending five weeks in England. Starting in London for a few days then picking up car and moving every 5-7 days. We are looking forward to staying in small villages and day tripping to sightsee in each area.

If we don’t do Scotland this year, it’ll def be next year. Tentative is fly into London then train to maybe York for a few nights. Spending a few nights in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Looking at doing a Rabbies Tour - either a 4 night or a 6-7 night. Hubs won’t drive a car there. I know we’d love to see castles and the highlands, but no interest in whisky or golf. Their tours seem to hit different areas of the highlands. Or do we want to go to the Isle of Skye?! So many options. If it is Scotland then I’ll watch my RS videos and crack open some guides. Then we’d train back to London and stop somewhere else along the way for a couple nights. Then a few nights in London.

If we end up on amalfi coast, I’m thinking about 9 nights...Salerno for a few nights (training there after flying into either Rome or Naples from London, after picking mom up in Portsmouth), then somewhere along the way for 4-5 nights (last time was Atrani) and I’m toying with visiting Ischia and/or Procida for a couple nights but not sure the logistics. Then maybe Florence for a few nights. (We visited Rome and Venice last time with mom). Or spend a week on the AC then head for Como for 4-5 nights. I think about 12 nights is all I can do with my mom...lol.

Work is done for the season on Saturday, so I can get into full on planning mode.

New Year=new countries for us. We’re leaving in three weeks for New Zealand and Australia for a month. I was surprise at how out of my element I felt when we first started the nuts and bolts planning for this non European trip. I think I’m feeling much more ready, things are getting checked off of my to do list at a good clip now. Having 2020 looming was a big target date for getting things wrapped up.

Trying to decide about a European trip somewhere between May-September for a few weeks. Almost bought tickets yesterday but not quite ready.

I love to talk travel also and most people tire of it after a few sentences...
In April we will be going to England for three weeks with a week in London, a week in Cornwall and a week in the area of Bath/Cottswold. After a quick trip to the Indianapolis 500 (husband's bucket list) we will be returning to Spain in September to finish the first part of the Camino (we did the section Leon-Santiago in October 2019 and loved it). We are fortunate to travel with work (husband retired and I'm nearing it) and thanks to advice on this forum we have always managed to stretch our dollars and still travel the way we chose "low to the ground". Happy New Year

Maui in March for 35th anniversary. Haven’t been to Hawaii in 19 years. A change from rain 🌧 will be nice at that time of year.

Two-month trip in the fall, flying into Frankfurt non-stop from PDX then on to the Val Gardena, Torino, Lauterbrunnen Valley, Kandersteg, Paris, Whitby Yorkshire, and fly out of London.

Hopefully a wine tasting tour in southern Oregon this summer although I hate to leave the coast when it is hot in the valleys!

Great thread Nicole! Whatever you choose sounds wonderful.

Looking forward to our annual trip to Maui the end of March.

Hoping to meet up with East Coast cousins in Vancouver Canada this summer before their cruise.

All set to revisit Sicily in the fall. We will be discovering new areas missed on our first trip. We are excited to follow Zoe's itinerary in her memory. (Thanks to Priscilla and jmauldinuu who have inspired us to keep the memory alive!)

Happy travels to all!

Happy New Year, Nicole!

I will be seeing the Amalfi Coast for the first time and returning to some favorites. I’m taking our oldest daughter (40) for her first trip to Europe, so this will be a special trip. We will be on the Amalfi Coast late September, so hopefully not too hot! ; )

Lovely topic, Nicole P!

In 2012, I bought little hand-decorated "souvenirs" of St Petersburg that I just loved, from an antique store in Denver. I promised I'd go there one day, to make good on those souvenirs. I'm finally going in 2020, on the RS Best of St Petersburg, Tallinn and Helsinki tour.

We'll spend 2 weeks cruising the Caribbean in late Feb. I'm SO looking forward to sun and warm temps.

In Sept (dates still TBD) we will spend about 3 weeks exploring northern England and Scotland. Usually I do all the itinerary planning, but this trip is up to DH, so we'll see what he comes up with. Pretty sure it will be a combo of trains, self drive (he actually enjoys driving in the UK) and perhaps a few days on a Rabbies tour.

Aaaand DH has proclaimed a Nile River cruise to be our next big bucket list trip after that. I have a few reservations, but we'll see how the research goes.

We are headed to Israel in April, a definite bucket list trip. I am just starting to think about a trip to Prague and Budapest in November. It’s not quite bucket list, but by then it will have been 2 1/2 years since our last trip to Europe, so it feels just as exciting!

A two-week trip in late Spring, with a week in the Dordogne area of France and a week in Switzerland (Murren and Luzern) is booked. Trying to decide about spring break: considering Costa Rica, southern Spain if I could find a good airfare, or a more local trip to Big Sur and Carmel.

Ah...the ultimate bucket list trip. I had thought in 2020 we’d do Australia as hubs will be 55 and I think he might be going to fully retire. (He’s semi retired now). But I want to go for 4-6 weeks and we just got a new pup 11 mos ago and the thought of leaving him that long doesn’t sit well with me...so let’s see what happen in 5 more years.

Boston in January. Not sure if I’m getting an international trip in this year, lost my job back in September and need to focus on finding a new one. If I do, will probably be the North of England, there’s plenty of places I haven’t seen and definitely need a Liverpool fix.

Hopefully Greece, Malta, Spain (new countries) and Italy, Ireland and England (old favorites). Would love to also get in Belgium, Germany and Amsterdam!

Have the flights and campervan booked for June in Iceland.

We're moving to Italy in May the s-l-o-w way. Our French bulldog can’t fly, so we're driving from Calgary to Brooklyn, visiting friends on the way. 4000+ kilometres. Then taking the Queen Mary 2 across the pond, and a pet transport van across the channel. Then driving from Calais on down to Abruzzo, another 2000 km. The trick will be to avoid pedal-to-the-metal syndrome and actually stop and look around en route. I expect it will take slightly over a month all in.

Then in September, a train trip with my 88-y-o aunt and her family from Pescara to Copenhagen. Other family will also be arriving to check out our new home, so I expect we'll see a fair bit of central Italy this year.

Many new adventures to come, but all with a European focus for a while.

@Mona - I'm doing the same thing as you! I just wrapped up my New Zealand part of my trip (loved it) and now I'm hanging out in Tasmania for a few days until I figure out how to proceed with the Australian part. Tragically most of the places in the south-east on my itinerary are being threatened by the horrible bush fires, so I'm trying to figure out alternatives... having been evacuated myself due to the wild fires in California, I can empathize with what they're going through :(

@Carlos. I think about what you’re experiencing as we are trying to figure out what to do if things don’t improve by the second half of our trip when we get to AU. We lived in Santa Barbara for 34 years and have seen many brush fires burn down into our city :-(. Hoping for some relief soon for all involved. Let us know on the forum what you decide to do please.

It's Ireland for me in May.

In November I committed to the RS Best of Ireland in 14 Days tour with some extra time in Dublin before it starts and in Belfast after it ends. Even though I'd been to Dublin and Holywood, NI before, it was a bucket list trip to finish the last country from which Ancestry said I had DNA. At 6%, Ireland was the smallest percentage.

Then I did the free Ancestry upgrade and learned that I have about 3 times the Irish heritage that I thought I had.

So now I'm looking forward to the trip and to getting out in the countryside even more than I was before.

Would it be okay to say, "Tá mé ar bís agus áthas orm" ? Or would "delira and excira" be better?

The only firm plans we have are two weeks im Mallorca in August. My dog should be qualified to accompany me in an aircraft cabin by Easter but I'm a bit wary of taking her on too long a flight. We currently have a week to use in any Marriott Vacation Club resort in the US and Caribbean plus a number of points to extend the stay or use for any hotel in the Bonvoy group. We also have two British Airways companion vouchers to use so the kids will be flying for free, it just comes down to where and when! The kids fancy Newport Coast, CA over Easter whereas I'm leaning more towards Palm Desert.

In March we are doing 4 nights in Iceland and then Sacramento for 10 days. Traveling with my adult daughter. Looking forward to riding the Icelandic horse, hopefully seeing the Northern Lights and perhaps go whale watching. In California, hope to visit the redwood forests as my daughter has never seen them.

Autumn plans include a Camino but not decided yet which one. Either 500km from Burgos, or 260km from Porto walking the central route. Can't wait to get back walking the Camino. It is so addictive.

Oooh, fun thread! I can’t wait for June - hubby, 3 kids, and I are headed to Europe for about 32 days!
Great Britain for 2 weeks: Stratford upon Avon/Cotswolds, Edinburgh, York
Paris for 5 nights
Germany/Austria for 2 weeks: Boppard/Rhine area, Rothenburg on de Tauber, Fussen/Alps, Salzburg, Munich

I love reading all these plans!

For me, it is starting with a 10 day “work” trip with a group of choral singers - starting in London and ending in Edinburgh. From there, I leave them and spend 5 more weeks solo: Mull, Skye, and Harris & Lewis in Scotland; then to York for 5 days (with a couple of stops along the way); and across to begin 10 days driving north to south in Wales; followed by about a week in London. I officially retire at the end of May, so this is a great finish.

In November, a fast trip to Paris & Prague with a group of friends. I am excited about 2020!

2 weeks Mayan Riviera scuba diving in February to escape the Canadian winter. Then a new friend who has only done group travel asked me to introduce her to independent travel, so we are headed to France and Italy for 3 weeks in September/October. I’m always happiest when there is a trip or 2 to look forward to!

@Mona - Unfortunately at this time, I've decided to forgo the rest of my Australia itenerary as it was mainly focused on NSW and the Sapphire Coast, which are now engulfed by Bush Fires. Instead I will go directly from Tasmania to Sydney for a few days before flying back to Los Angeles.

It's just too unpredictable and the tourism infrastructure in that corner of the country has basically collapsed. The area burned is roughly the size of the Netherlands and Belgium. My private guide to the Sapphire Coast has had to evacuate himself. That's probably the last place I wanted to go to! You could even see the smoke from Auckland in New Zealand.

Most of my travel plans were mainly focused on New Zealand and Tasmania, where I had a fantastic time. I'll just have to return to Australia when I can commit more time and things have settled down. Wishing them well in thier fight against these tragic Bush Fires.

Edit to add: Just saw there is an evacuation order for most of the New South Wales costal area, for both tourists and locals alike.

Well, my mom was over for New Year's Day supper aaaaand - it looks like we will be going to Scotland! We will plan on Italy next year, assuming everyone is still in good health. So, now I have to come up with a tentative plan and get going, since I want to do this in May!!!

No new countries in 2020 but new places within France and Italy. In May we will also revisiting Provence taking my sister who deserves a celebration in 2020 after her miserable 2019 but staying in a new place for us - St Remy. After dropping her off at the airport in Marseille ... we will be meeting my nephew @ the Villefranche-sur-Mer cruise port for his stop there for the day and although we have been to the Cote d Azure we will stay a few nights in Eze which will be new for us. Then just hubs and I will be heading to Conegliano to hunt down some great Prosecco after that heading to either Lake Garda to up to the Dolomites for some biking and hiking. I REALLY want to return to Bellagio but after a few trips there hubs said no :( .

@Nelly, I would love to converse about your move the S-L-O-W way as we have two Bernese Mtn Dogs that we are trying to figure out how to move to Europe

Fun topic.
Planning travel is so exciting and fulfilling. It's nice to have a travel goal every year if at all possible.

I am going to Turkey and Hungary in April and can't wait. This is my third trip to Istanbul but Budapest is new.
I am really excited about these two destinations. Already got my tickets for my visit to the Parliament.
Next year I think will be Chamonix and Annecy.

Happy New Year everyone!

Exactly 4 months from today I get on the plane for Cluj-Napoca, Romania--11 days total, linked by train or bus to Sibiu, Brasov, Sighisoara and finally Bucharest before taking a short flight and ending my trip in my beloved Budapest for 4 days (6th trip there in as many years). I'm hoping to add a trip to London again for a few days after summer, but it's too soon to even think about that right now.

I know it sounds really crazy... we just got back from a 1 day (YES, I said one day) trip to Windsor. That and the two flying days were all we could be away. But we survived, and it felt soooo good to be back in Europe after more than 12 years way. So...… hubby decided that for his 65th birthday, July 15, 2020, we are going to Edinburgh- for 1 day. He's already booked flights and the hotel. I've started trying to increase my walking so I can tackle the hill (almost mountain) that is the Royal Mile (hubby's currently averaging 6 or 7 miles a day as part of his post prostate cancer survival plan). I have to work slowly due to severe cough asthma. Fingers crossed that we both stay healthy enough.

Great Idea Nicole! I just read everyone's travel plans and each one is unique and exciting! Beginning of April, my hubby and I will fly to Santiago, Chile. Spend a few days there and leave on a 12 day Hurtigruten Cruise stopping along the way and ending in Ecuador. This will be our first time to So. America! From Ecuador, we will fly to the Galapagos and self-guide for 4 nights! Then home. In Oct., we fly to Rome, (have been there before, but always more to see and love it!). Will spend a few days in Rome, then cruise to Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Haifa, (visit sites in Israel) and back to Rome. From Rome, train to Croatia OR?? My motto is, we're already in Europe, better make good use of our time! Happy 2020 to all of you travelers out there! Enjoy!!

The New Year is starting off good as I am traveling! We are in the central CA coast in San Simeon visiting Hearst Castle and the Elephant Seals. Love this area of California and happy to be away from the darkness and cold in Alaska! In April, we are taking our second RS tour Paris ( wahoo, six nights there) & The Heart Of France. Visiting friends in Oregon over Thanksgiving and hoping to get a long weekend trip to Pt. Lobos with some bay area friends for some diving. I was spoiled this past year with 4 trips.

Candyce not sure you can train from Rome to Croatia but can take a ferry from Venice and I think Bari

We are going to Tokyo-Kyoto then fly for just one day to Bangkok in order to go to my REALLY BIG BUCKET LIST OF ALL TIMES Ankor Wat with a big finish to Viet Nam. We used lots of frequent flyer miles to and from and some in the middle and will be traveling business class. That is not our usual style but hubby has been saving the miles for years for this trip. Still in the planning stages and have been spending many happy hours looking over guide books and videos. Nervous but very excited about doing this trip independently. See some guided day trips in my future.

Everyone seems to be planning for a great 2020. We are very lucky people!!!!

then fly for just one day to Bangkok in order to go to my REALLY BIG BUCKET LIST OF ALL TIMES Ankor Wat

But Angkor Wat is in Cambodia. Why not fly to Siam Reap from Osaka? I'd rather that than an 8 hour train/bus from Bangkok.

A wonderful thread Nicole! I love reading everybody’s plans.

@CwSocial - love that you will get to fulfill your dream of going to St Petersburg. I am sure that is a wonderful tour.

@Dale — sorry for your job situation. Hope something will turn up soon.

My sister-in-law just wrote me last night that they will be in Iceland in July — but that destination is way too expensive for me at this point in our lives so I will not get to go see them.

Finances are going to be tight this year as my husband has just resigned from his job in Paris and will be starting a new job in Lille. So we will be paying for two apartments while he works his trial period and sees what he thinks about the place, the job, and the city. And I guess our other money will go towards train tickets for me to go up there and see him on the weekends. It’s not ideal but we are grateful that he has this opportunity.

I had hoped to do a week in Scotland with friends for my 50th birthday; that has definitely fallen off the radar. My birthday is in 2 days so heck with the strikes I probably can’t even make it to my favorite pizza place for dinner !!! 🤬🤬

A couple of US friends have said they are coming 1) to Amsterdam for a long weekend in March and 2) to Lisbon for work in June so I do hope to be able to join up for those. We shall see.

Thanks for a great topic, Nicole!
I’m planning a trip to Venice and Florence in late April. We’ve paid our airfare and reserved our accommodations. Now for the fun part - what to do.

In late May, I’m going to NYC for a weekend of theatre and NY things with a friend who loves to “do” NY.

I’m booked on the RS St. Petersburg Tallinn Helsinki tour 9/07-9/15. Originally, I was booked for the Best of Germany tour but my traveling companion needed to defer our trip. So, about 5 minutes after she told me, I called the RS office to make the change. I’m really psyched, too!

Went to Barnes & Noble and bought a few guidebooks to curl up with to decide what I want to do and how many days pre- and post-tour I can afford in terms of vacation time. This will be fun!

JC- We are flying fro Bangkok to Ankor Wat. Nope don't think I will be that bus trip.

Having fun reading everyone's plans and wish I could do them all! No Europe for me in 2020 but I am doing a bucket list trip to Africa for a month in June. We will be in Tanzania, Rwanda, Botswana, Victoria Falls and finish up with 4 days in Cape Town. 2021, back to Europe for sure.

Lisa - I have an African Safari on my 'ultimate bucket list' trip list - it's right underneath Australia and New Zealand.

Hope everyone has a blast!

@Kim-I hope you get to join your friends, but if not, I can’t feel too sorry for you as well, you get to LIVE in Paris!
Is anyone else wondering which RS tour Pam is doing?