...you start the spreadsheet for the next trip.
...your spreadsheet includes train schedules between cities.
...you check potential hotels in cities you haven't visited before.
...you browse the skylinewebcams.com site on your lunch hour.
(sigh) I've been back for a little over two weeks now, have done all of the above.
I DO browse the skyline webcams every morning as I sit at my computer with my first cup of coffee...
We have a great plan - as we fly home from any trip, we list our next travel locations ! It makes me smile even as we are returning home....
...you don't have one in the planning stage!
You search international airfares 330 days out.
I was in Paris last May/June & in the Bavaria region & Prague last Aug/Sep. I just started planing my Paris/Luxembourg/Bruges trip for Sep/Oct next year. Museums, transportation & others sites internet links copied & saved. Excel spreadsheet out to add up the costs. Selection process for a 1-Bedroom or Studio apartment in Paris has begun. Airline ticket for about $635, SFO - CDG, planned for Dec/Jan purchase & deposit on Apartment/Studio. My friends have RVs, Boats & Motorcycles. They don't understand my need/want/desire to visit Europe at least every other year.
For me, once Labor Day passes, it's time to return to Europe. And that's what I'll be doing in 4 1/2 weeks (not that I'm counting the days)! I am enjoying your thread topics today -- never stop traveling, never stop travel PLANNING. :-)
You know it's time to return to Europe when...
...you count your Euros, British Pounds, and Swiss Francs to see what seed money you have left
...you start to forget your (in my case) Italian
.......it's either October or April.
Why? Because that is when we leave for Europe every year.
You visit the Wow airlines site just for fun and to see the latest deals from San Francisco to Europe.
When you start to crave a particular type of food.
..when you look up, read the menu, and chose your meal in places you hope to visit.
when . . . . I wake up every morning.
I'm hoping to do 2 big trips next year, Southeast Asia this winter and the US next summer, so it may be only a little trip in the fall - if at all in 2018. Greece and Portugal are at the top of my list.
In the meantime, I'm headed to Poland and Hungary next week for 24 days.
When is it not?
...when you return from a "Great American Road Trip" that you have just taken to see a bunch of major historical and scenic highlights of the USA because you have seen and been to many scenic and historical sights of Europe and other countries of the world and have traveled to all 7 continents ....and you feel guilty about that fact.
Now I can talk with friends about what I just saw in the USA (the guilt is now gone) and plan, think and talk about my next foreign travel.
And I can tell my friends that this road trip completed my check off list of the 50 United States. I have been to all of the states so it is okay to travel abroad as I have been everywhere here at home. (My guilt is gone from my own mind.)
It's always time to return to Europe! My life has become quite predictable--I have a job that is beyond crazy from June-September, and once October hits I start planning in earnest for next spring, booking in November to travel in May. In between I research various cities and itineraries to see what's do-able and that keeps me happily occupied and learning about places until I can go. I've pretty much settled on Berlin and, of course, Budapest again. My trips now consist of one or two new places and end in Budapest.
