International Travel Group Meeting - Sunday, September 1 @ 9:30am Pacific Time - RESCHEDULED

It was fun last time. Let's do it again. Thanks for the time

Andrea, me me me me, please add me. I so love these calls AND Paris.

I would like to be included in this one. You should have my email.

bostonphil.

EDIT. I fell in love with Paris during the Olympics and am thinking of spending a week in Paris.

Please add me. Thanks

Oh, Paris! Count me in, please! And I second the request for Japan.

Please include me.

Love Paris! Yes, always a good idea!

Please include me.

Please add me. Thank you.

Count me in too! Heading to Paris Nov 1-3 so timely topic. I've only joined once before so if you need my email address again, please let me know. Thanks!

Who doesn’t love Paris! We will actually be in Florence on Sunday but with the time change I should be back to our hotel by 6:30 pm. It’s our last night and I usually have to pack up so no late night.

Please include me. Paris & Japan are on my list for next year!

Please add me. I need to get back to Paris.

I would like to join, please. I am thinking of visiting Paris in January, and like everyone, I am growing older!

I would like to join too please. Count me in the I love Paris team. It wasn’t planned (thanks covid), but got to spend 16 days in Paris in 2022.
And, Japan is on the books for next fall!

Please add me to meeting on September 1st. Thank you. We are leaving for France in September Thank you

Please add me. Thanks.

Please add me too, Andrea.
Another Paris-lover here.
I think you have my two addresses from a few months ago.
If not, let me know.
Either one is fine.
Thanks!

I'd like to be added, too...but it is the Schooner Festival here that weekend. I need to determine if grandchild/parents will be visiting from out of town first as it is 12:30 here when you zoom... I guess I'll be last minute. I'm joining an RS tour next April in Paris, and as I've been there quite a bit, I need to consider different places; ie, haven't hit the Delecroix Museum yet, etc. Would be nice to know what other people have found, although Paris for me is all about walking.

Please include me if there's still room.

Please add me. I love Paris too!

Wow, we are off to a good start with people wanting to attend. Just a reminder for people who have never participated before, you MUST provide me with your email address in a private message or I will not have a way to send the zoom link.

Andrea, looks like a great group! Can you put me on standby? I don’t want to take up a spot that someone wants - because I might have to be late. But if I am able, I’d like to attend.

I'd like to attend and bring my husband, too. I need everyone's help in convincing him to go to Paris in April. And please put us down for getting your readout on Paris in November too!

Hey! Is there still room? I'd like to come as well.

And Wanderlust, if he's not interested in Paris would you consider going on your own? If that is intimidating, consider the RS Best of Paris. I'd been to Paris in the 1970's and didn't enjoy it. I was doing the RS 21 day Best of Europe which ends in Paris and decided to add on the Best of Paris because I was clearly missing something since everyone loves it. Then I met up with a friend and stayed another week, lol! Wow...the only downside is that now I can't keep away.

There will be no need for standby or a waiting list. Obviously we are a week away and there have already been a lot of responses. So many people love Paris as much as I do. I can’t wait to be there in a couple of months!

Hi, Andrea, It sounds like there is still room. If so, please add me. Thanks.

Hi Andrea.
Please add me if still room. Thanks.

Hi everyone, I just got home from a trip to LA and it’s amazing how quickly people have responded to this meeting. Don’t tell me you all love Paris as much as I do! ;-)

I would like to take a poll about two subjects and I don’t think there will be time on Sunday because I expect it to be a busy meeting with the topics we already have.

• Japan - would you be interested in discussing Japan as a country topic? I know there is some interest, but we would have to have participants that actually already know about Japan that can provide information. Without that people could just buy a guidebook.

• Cruising as a topic. If there is enough interest we can discuss the pros and cons, etc. of cruises.

Please let me know your feelings regarding these topics either on this thread or with a PM if you prefer.

I have often thought of travel to Japan as we had a foreign exchange student live with us my junior year high school. My Dad loved it there, but I have never been so wouldn't be of much use in the discussion.
I have taken 2 cruises and that only to Alaska & Mexico. I would be interested in hearing about experiences in small boat/ship cruises in the Mediterranean. I took a river cruise with Viking almost 15 years ago and enjoyed it, but not the cruise line. It was from Amsterdam to Budapest. I can talk about that one.

Interested in hearing about Japan from recent experiences (especially since COVID). I will be there in April, 2025. I haven’t visited since 2009 but lived there for 8 years a million years ago (not military). But I know nothing about how to be a tourist.

I have nothing against a cruise meeting but it’s not a topic I am particularly interested in (and my only experience is a Hurtigruten trip up the coast of Norway earlier this year).

Please include me! As there is no standby or wait list, I will make it work. I will be due an hour away from family by Sunday. I am so excited about returning to Paris again!
Survey: 1. Not interested in Japan, but don’t plan around me. 2. I don’t think I am interested in cruising, but never say never so I might change my mind except that H…. Ship in Norway.

The problem with cruising is that there are so many styles of cruising. TTM has mentioned Hurtigruten ( I did Hurtigruten when it was way more basic than it is now), but European style cruise lines are very different from the US style cruise lines. And small ship (by which I mean 500 to 1,500 pax) so very different to the megaships- indeed get down to 500 or so and that is very different from 1,500. That is my style of cruising- European 500 to 1,500.

Each style has their pros and cons. Then you have the little gulet style boats (of which I know nothing) in the Eastern med etc, and the gorgeous little luxury ships (a few dozen passengers) which do Scottish west coast cruising.

Then finally there is a style which was killed off for ever by the Pandemic- cruising on 12 pax freight ships- banana boats, container ships and the like. Now that is or was something very special. Sadly one I missed in that genre was the break bulkers from Amsterdam to the Great Lakes.

So it is an immensely complicated subject, not really one IMO for a coda to another meeting.

Japan - would you be interested in discussing Japan as a country topic? I know there is some interest, but we would have to have participants that actually already know about Japan that can provide information. Without that people could just buy a guidebook.

Yes, definitely. The issue might be getting some of those people to the Zoom meeting.

Cruising as a topic. If there is enough interest we can discuss the pros and cons, etc. of cruises.

I would be especially interested in the Transatlantic aka Repositioning Cruises.

Thanks to all who replied to my questions about Japan and cruising. After reading the responses, both on this thread and via PMs, and giving it a lot of thought I’ve come to a decision.

This is a European travel group. If we open it to Japan, then where next? I think that if people want to discuss places outside of Europe someone else can start a group for that. I can just see there being a country people want to hear about, but with no one able to provide answers. Or maybe only a couple of people are interested in the country. We already have a lot of European countries and cities that people are interested in.

Cruises…as the responses have shown there are many ways to do this. Too many ways. The person who asked me about the topic wants to hear about cruising in Japan. I think this is too specialized and takes the focus off of traveling in and around Europe. I’m pretty sure there are plenty of cruise forums that people can turn to for that.

I appreciate people’s input but I think it’s opening up a can of worms that won’t necessarily appeal to most of the group, and it may turn some people away.

Andrea, you are the host so you get to decide. However, even Rick Steves has a show on cruising in Europe, so if you want to keep the focus on Europe, cruising is also part of one way to experience Europe.

It would be a delight to be included in the group again! I forgot to thank you for including me into the group last month. Apologies for my tardiness. Looking forward to Sunday!

@thenosbigs, no apology is necessary. I look forward to seeing you again.

@virginiastone and @maureencrickowen, I sent you private messages regarding your need to provide your email addresses and I have not received a response from either of you. If you don’t know how to check your PMs let me know here and I will explain how to do it.

Tammy, I’m not opposed to talking about cruising in Europe. We actually had cruising as a topic in July 2023. I will put it on my list to consider it again for a future meeting.

I've done 2 northern European ocean cruises. I have mixed opinions on the benefit of them. They worked for me because I was with a group of about 30 friends that I rarely see. Friends of mine take them with the whole 3-generation family. Neither reason was very good for sightseeing, certainly not for "experiencing" Europe. The ratio of sightseeing time to shipboard time is the issue.

I've never taken a river cruise, but I'd consider it. They sound much more like something worth doing . . . and discussing.

My $.02

I'd really enjoy a cruising topic

FWIW, I head to Norway in a month for a coastal 'cruise' through Havila Voyages...Hurtigruten'S new competitor. Back mid October.
There will be new emissions rules for ships entering fjords from 2026 which may affect more traditional cruiseline itineraries.
I can mention it at a later meeting or just toss something on the Norway forum.

Andrea, that makes perfect sense about Japan. And really, there is plenty of information out there about it. Mary has started the Japan thread where people pop in to leave and get information, and that works out well. Really, there are so many places in Europe that could be covered, it would be somewhat counterproductive to start focusing on Asia. Thank you for considering it, though!

I’d like to attend if there’s room.
Thank you!

Hello Andrea

As you probably realize, I edited my original post on this page and sent you. a P M instead about Japan and cruising.

Since you began a poll, I will ad my two cents to the poll.

I would love to have.a meeting about Japan assuming it includes persons who have been. And I assume it would. Since a post by Mary about Japan appeared on this forum, I can not stop thinking Japan.

And I would love a separate meeting about cruises and cruising. On that topic, I feel that I could contribute as I am getting ready to take my 9th.

Bostonphil, as I mentioned on my post on 8/27 @ 3:23, after thinking about it and considering what people who weighed in on this thread and with PM’s had to say, my decision is that the International Travel Group meetings will remain focused on Europe. If someone else would like to tackle a global travel group they can do that. As for cruises, we may discuss European cruises again in the future. We had cruises as a topic in July 2023 so it hasn’t been that long, considering this group has been in existence since July 2020.

Andrea - WOW! If there is still room, I would like to join the Zoom

I would.love to participate in the Sept 1 talk. I have previously sent my email to you in a pm. Looking forward to this.

We are doing a Rhine river cruise this December for the Christmas Markets. I am interested in that topic too. This will be our first River cruise!

I would like to be attend. We are leaving Sept 3 for England.
Robin

This is going to be a big group! So far two new people have not provided their email addresses and one person had to cancel. I appreciate people informing ahead of time if something comes up and you aren’t going to be able to make it.

As for the cruise topic, it will not be this month. I have a list of topics that have been requested that we have not discussed in the past. I understand that there are newer people to the group who haven’t been involved in the topics we have talked about in the past and others who don’t attend regularly, but we talked about cruising just 14 months ago. Maybe we can revisit it in the new year.

FYI I have the email address for everyone who has asked to join, with the exception of the two that I requested above.