Thank you...

I couldn’t agree more!!

Yes, thanks to all who contribute to this forum--both those who ask questions and those who take the time to reply. I've learned early on that the guidebooks only get you so far. The info. gained on this forum from everyone's personal experience is priceless!!! And greatly appreciated!!! 😊

I am very thankful that I have met many savvy travelers on this forum who have made me become a smarter traveler and informed me about off the grid towns in Europe that you don't find in guidebooks. Thanks to all as we are anxiously waiting to start 2021 with a renewed mind to travel.

Yes, thank you everyone for your forum friendship. Looking forward to taking some Rick Steve tours in the future and meeting you. Happy Thanksgiving!

Edited to add: I am also thankful for all the virtual meet-ups. It is so nice meeting such wonderful people.

I was about to say it’s a bit early for the Christmas turkey, then it twigged! Happy Thanksgiving. I think lockdown is getting to me.

Darn, you beat me to it!

I am so thankful for all the folks I've met on the Forum, and for all the advice, laughs, and tears we've shared. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Agreed! And looking at silver linings, with quarantine has come virtual travel meetings and being able to put faces and voices with the camaraderie! This forum and the sharing of all of you have been so good for me! Thank you!

Thank you horsewoofie! So grateful to all my forum friends for all your contributions. You are all appreciated. May Thanksgiving bring good health, memories, happiness & future travels!

Or... as we say in Spain - Feliz día de Acción de Gracias, though admittedly it does not have the same "ring" as Thanksgiving lol!

Yes, thank you all for your insight, experiences, knowledge! It's because of this forum that I planned our first self guided tour in 2017 (had a German company help with car rental and accommodations to southern Germany in 2014, so at least self-drive). I continue to research and read many posts here to continue learning about where we are interested in visiting!

Travelmom, I agree so much with your silver linings view that the quarantine has brought us together as virtual travelers in a way that we might not ever have thought to do! I'm grateful to have met online so many fellow travelers and hope to continue the "virtual face to face meetings" into the future to share our passion!

I am grateful for all of your help, as I get new ideas from everyone on how to live my best travel dreams!

Thank you housewoofie! Looking forward to your next trip report!

Adding my thanks to everyone here. For all of us, but especially for those in places that don't celebrate the USA kind of Thanksgiving, I'm providing a link to lots of information about our holiday from History.com. Within the articles are many links to more detail.

For example, I was surprised to learn that only 4 of the 20 married women who arrived on the Mayflower were still alive at the 1621 harvest feast the following fall that was the basis for our Thanksgiving. And that it wasn't until 1841 that anyone claimed that the Pilgrims had the first Thanksgiving.

Here's the link: Thanksgiving History Facts and Trivia.

Adding my thanks for everyone who participates in the travel forum - this has always been of practical value but with the current limitations it's been doing extra duty as emotional and social support as well :-)

For more on the back-story of Thanksgiving, check out The American Experience episode on the Pilgrims (also available through Amazon Prime):
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/pilgrims/

Adding my thanks to those who have helped me plan trips and to our East Bay Travel Group and organizer, plus those who have joined us via Zoom since the pandemic.

I’m also sending my greetings to everyone and hoping you’re having a wonderful Thanksgiving for our US participants and a big thank you to everyone.

The virtual Travel Group meetings have been wonderful! I’ve gone from staying off the forum for awhile during this year and now back on - thought of travel looking possible, even if maybe not 2021. In the meantime, it’s wonderful to share our travel experiences and helpful ideas....and a few humorous posts!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all enjoy the day. It’s very different this year, just me and my hubby, rather than the 20+ people I’m used to. I have everything to be thankful for and can’t complain.

I’m also thankful for the connections I’ve made through this forum and now have friends both virtual and in real life that I’ve met through here. Thank goodness for technology. I enjoy the Zoom travel meetings immensely.

I’m hopeful that by the later part of 2021 it will be safe to travel again. 🤞🏼

To keep the thread connected to European travel, I will mention that it was a thanksgiving celebration in Leiden in 1617 that influenced the early Pilgrims, both as an example of how to observe Days of Thanksgiving as contrasts/replacements to official Catholic Church holidays and as more motivation to skedaddle from the Continent and settle in another part of the planet.

From wikipedia:
"Several days of Thanksgiving were held in early New England history that have been identified as the "First Thanksgiving", including Pilgrim holidays in Plymouth in 1621 and 1623, and a Puritan holiday in Boston in 1631. According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden. Now called Oktober Feest, Leiden's autumn thanksgiving celebration in 1617 was the occasion for sectarian disturbance that appears to have accelerated the pilgrims' plans to emigrate to America."

Happy Thanksgiving to American Forum friends, and yes, a thank you to ALL who make the Forum so interesting and fun!

Thanks so much for this thread.

This year, even more than most, I have so much to be thankful for.

Thanks all for making a special place to go to help get through the tough days...

I will add my thanks to the forum. I ran across it in in 2014 when I was googling the best company with which to do a tour in Italy. I read about independent travel and decided, "Hey, I can do this on my own." I found solid advice for my first trip and continue to find great advice here -- most recently for a 25-day trip to Slovenia in the fall of 2019. Thanks, everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! So grateful for friends “in person” and “virtual”. I wish you all peace, health and happy (safe) travels!

Many thanks to all you Travel Forum members who entertain me with wonderful stories of your travels, give great insights and tips and just seem to be all round good people. You ARE appreciated!

For the laughter of the children,
for my own life breath,
for the abundance of food on this table,
for the ones who prepared this sumptuous feast,
for the roof over our heads,
the clothes on our backs,
for our health,
and our wealth of blessings,
for this opportunity to celebrate with family and friends,
for the freedom to pray these words without fear,
in any language,
in any faith,
in this great country,
whose landscape is as vast and beautiful as her inhabitants.
thank you, God,
for giving us all these.

Amen.

— Rabbi Naomi Levy

Thank you for this wonderful thread! Thank you also to everyone for your many contributions to the forum over the years.

Even during a pandemic, most of us have much to be thankful for. I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving, and many happy travels.

James E, that is beautiful. Thank you.

I discovered this forum a couple of years ago and am also thankful for all of you for the information and just plain fun I get from it.

Yes and more yes. Thanks, horsewoofie, for articulating, & everybody for this community. May you have terrific Thanksgiving/
any kind of! leftovers in your fridges.

Thanks for this thread, horsewoofie, and thanks to all for the entertainment and enlightenment this forum brings to me every day. The next best thing to travel itself!

jThanks horsewoofie, and a special thanks to Nigel for "Traveling Through the Alphabet"!

Greetings,
I am grateful for everyone here. This is a valuable resource because of you and I appreciate that you take the time to share. Thank you! elisa

Horsewoofie!
In the spirit of Thanksgiving - thank you for reminding us all that when life gets crazy, it's good to stop and look around and be grateful for all the goodness we have in our lives, in whatever form - big and little things.

I was relieved to learn that the RS forum was still operating. When the RS gang changed the computer website to show "Monday Night Travel" instead of the forum link - I was bummed. I realized how much I enjoy posting with all of you and how much it lifts my spirits during this crazy year.
Best to All!

So thankful for this forum. I have made some great friends as well as many acquaintances. Whether we have met each other here in Frankfurt or in the US, we would have never met at all, without this forum.
Having friends spread out around the globe is fun as well as interesting. Hearing the local news from them is a plus. Now, with Zoom meetings, folks I would normally only get to see once a year or every other year, or only one time, now we get to see each other rather frequently.

Hats off to Nigel for thinking of the perfect forum post.

I’m thankful for this forum - particularly during this pandemic year with no travel (for me at least as I’m at higher risk). I’m also thankful to the organizers of those travel group meetings which have gone virtual and opened up their virtual meetings to those from other states and countries. Much appreciated because there isn’t an RS travel group in my area. It’s been fascinating to hear about both the travels and the current life experiences of all - and in particular the ex-US participants.