Spent half a day working on one night's hotel- and I'm thrilled!!!

I am doing the same thing today Pat! My nephew's twice rescheduled high school graduation trip looks very possible this year... at least this time nearly everything is refundable/changeable (unlike two years ago). Today I discovered a Eurostar train was canceled (with no notice to me) but I was able to reschedule on same day. I didn't realize how much I missed having something to look forward to (and what a great privilege, too). Happy planning.

Very exciting Pat!!!! 😊 I’m having a hard time concentrating at work as all I can think about is my upcoming trips. Is it June yet? My sister just got bit by the travel bug. She told me today that if she gets a good raise at work, she wants to come on one of the trips I have planned this year. Just when I was starting to get comfortable with the idea of traveling solo!!

Carrie, on another post you said you were 48 years old and just starting to find Europe, and looking forward to a long-away retirement. Well, I retired after 34 years in education, and had NEVER been to Europe. But I made up for lost time in a hurry, visiting 7 countries in the first six years of retirement. [Oh, should I count Scotland as a separate country? :) ]
You are way ahead of me!
Keep planning, girl!

Well, let's prove that the travel bug is stronger than the coronavirus bug!

Remember? Gosh even last year when we went through all that pain and finally made it. Pat remember the BA hassles? You braved it out but after 5 changes we gave up on the way over and just bought one way Swiss tickets. The good thing is I got all that mileage back and was able to use it this year so free tickets this time.

I’ve got a few things left to do (packing!!!) but I leave in two weeks! Looking forward to all the trip reports this year, we all became such pals through our travails. So glad everyone is back hitting the road this year!

cchapin, thx for remembering.
When our BA flight was canceled in Chicago, [7th change] and we spent 24 hrs in that fair city, we were actually put on a direct Swiss Air flight into Zurich - AND- we received a comp upgrade to First Class for the return flight home!

Keep us posted on YOUR travels, and hopefully we also are across the pond this spring. Safe travels!

Pat, that’s a great feeling, and I hope all of your planning goes well!

I had early hotel reservations for my June & September trips, but I tweaked a few locations two weeks ago. Completed the final hotel planning and onto defining extra activities last week. This week has been printing city tourist maps and marking them up. It feels SO good….and a little rusty! Soon it will be loading details in TripIt and serious language study.

Have a great time!

Pat…Totally “get it;” so time consuming deciding location and then individual hotels. Emailing, then waiting for a response. It took me weeks to finalize everything. Still have one more hotel to book.
Carrie: I know there are a lot of happy, contented solo travelers, but I’m of the opinion that “Experiences are best shared with a buddy.” And if you travel with your sister, I’m sure she would let you do the planning. I hope she goes whether she gets a raise or not; she could budget less for other things…and lodging would be shared.
CC: you leave in 2 weeks!!! How exciting. Seems like you just returned from your last trip. I know you are going to Jersey; not Guernsey, but did you read the book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society? I did the audio version when I used to go to the Y, pre-COVID.
Remember to eat your “mashed peas.”

Its the 2 year anniversary of NZ cancelling a large public remembrance event for a terrorist killing the previous year. A week later we were in complete lock down - not allowed to leave home for anything but essential work or to go to the supermarket. We didn't have to fill the car for about 6 weeks.

I am really starting to believe our 4 months of travel will happen this year - I have a plan for 6 weeks in Europe - though we won't book hotels until much closer the time if at all. I have 2 x cruises booked and we've booked a week on a small boat in Croatia.

Its starting to get exciting - I've been taking advantage of world events to buy EUR and GBP at good rates

Oh yes, things are looking up for travel this year. The need for PLF’s are being cancelled left and right. We are going to Sicily late April, all planned. Have to update my TripIt and TripWallet apps. Thanks for the reminder. Have to plan Northern Croatia and Slovenia for end of July and some place for late September. Praying the situation in Ukraine is over soon for so many reasons. Will hold off on September till then. Happy planning.

Planning trips is half the fun. But if it's a long trip--like 4 weeks long--we really prefer to just wing it. With a notebook or laptop (or phone), you can most often book accommodations as you go along. You never know when you'll find one of those special places you want to spend another day or two in. If rooms are locked in to a fixed schedule, it screws up the entire trip.

2022 is not going to be a normal travel year. We were wanting to travel to the east, but the countries on that side of Europe have all they can handle with a few million refugees. There's always other places to go--even to the west (like Portugal.)

We've got a Plan B where we can improvise for about a week.

I know what you mean! I have booked my hotel for Florence in September and my flight from Pisa to Gdańsk for the RS Poland tour. It’s a thrill to be making concrete travel plans! I need to post a question- whether to take the train from Florence the day before my flight to Gdańsk. I would spend the night in Pisa even though my flight time is 1:40 pm. Train strikes happen frequently in Italy and being a cautious sort, I want to ensure I don’t miss my flight.

Judy B: or if you haven’t been to Lucca, you could spend the night pre-flight in Lucca, and then take the bus to the Pisa airport. The bus stop is located within the walls of Lucca.
That’s what we did in 2017. Flight home originated in Pisa.

It’s exciting to be planning again! Congratulations on your well deserved retirement and filling it with travels. I’m still a ways off, though I joke that the last two years in education has felt like ten.

Carol,
I will look into Lucca.

Thanks!