Weekend trips across the pond

uhhhhh........well........I went to Incirlik once, had supper with my kid and turned around. Total time out of planes/airport: two hours Total time out of Florida: less than forty Oh, the Europe question......add another hour out of airports since I dashed out to the souk in Istanbul and bought my wife a trinket to keep my butt out of hot water.

I have made two long weekend trips to Paris. Both times were wonderful.

Iceland. Easy trip from NY. Less time than getting to California I think. And it was in January. The winter scenes were amazing, and the hot springs were fantastic.

I did a long weekend in the Dublin area once. On arrival day, I went to Newgrange and Monasterboice. Day two was Glendalough, Avoca, Arklow. Day three was back to Dublin - Kilmainham Gaol, Temple Bar. Day four was Trinity College, Grafton St, and the flight home.

I wish I could but I haven't been able to and I go to London..no question. I love London.

Back in May I arrived in Frankfurt on a Friday afternoon and left on Monday morning. This left me two full days in which I went to Cologne breezed into Heidelberg and a couple other nearby spots. It was intense. I was glad I did it but not sure if I would undertake such a quick trip again.

Our shortest trip was five days (including travel) to London for a birthday party -- what a party.

If I had the time and the money, I'd love to do what the Brits call "short breaks"! And I go to London! I love that city. Iceland also sound interesting, though. I'd consider Scotland, but I jsut don't think I could leave it that quickly.

Hi Michael, This wasn't a short weekend, but it "maximized" the little time off I had left last year... I had 4 days left and since our place is closed Thanksgiving and the Friday after, I used them to take the 3 days (Mon., Tue, Wed.), plus the Monday afterwards and we spent 4 nights in Konigssee and 4 nights Hall in Triol and visited so many Christmas markets among other things. Flew into/out of Munich. Never traveled this time of year but the festivities and markets (Salzburg, St. Gilgen, Innsbruck, Hall, Rattenberg, etc.) were not to be missed. Would love to do it again. Paul

I went to Madrid once to submit immigration paperwork for my future wife; arrived on Friday morning, came home on Sunday. That will really mess up your body clock!

I've traveled to Paris for a long week-end. If it's an option between not going or going for a short time - go!

Two years ago, US Air had a great sale for the summer and I was able to get tickets from SEA to AMS for under $500. I called my son and said "let's go". Left Seattle in the morning and we were in Amsterdam the next morning. We only had four days there but it was one of the best times we've spent together. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

So Leslie you're saying you bought the tickets on a Thursday, and left the next day to Amsterdam? If so, that's wild! Totally Jealous! The closest I came to a last minute trip like that is for the 2006 World Cup In Germany. Purchased tickets, booked airfare, reserved hotels, made train reservations, just one week before the tournament started.

No Michael, not quite that fast a turnaround. But being a teacher, I do have summers off so I watch airfares a lot and would go that quickly if I could. Shortest time between buying tickets and traveling was two weeks. Didn't get to start going to Europe until a few years ago so I am making up for lost time.

I've done short trips of just under a week for family events and my husband has done them for business meetings in Paris. We both really don't like them as it's quite rough to handle the 8 hour time difference on such short trips. How does that work for those folks who only have 6 hours to deal with?

Yes. A few times. Pick places with easy access from airport. Amsterdam, Lisbon, Belgium were all easy and fun long weekends. I find it so much nicer to do a long weekend to Europe than to travel west as you go overnight over and the flight back is easy because time change is in your favor.

This is one of those times I envy East Coast people. From the West Coast it takes at least 10 hours of flight and some serious jetlag. I recently spent a 6-days weekend in the Midwest from CA, and that was a reasonable length of time for a decent vacation. Flight time about 5 hours each way and a little jetlag. If I had a week, I would consider a 7-day trip to Ireland or England/Scotland. Even with jetlag it would be fun to visit a few places. I would probably fly to London, spend a couple of days there, then visit Salisbury and Bath before heading back to Heathrow and home.