Please join our East Bay (San Francisco area) Travel Group meetings!
We welcome newcomers and travelers from around the globe to our online and in-person meetings.
WHERE: online
WHEN: Jan 13, 2024 @ 11am PT - 1pm PT
Please RSVP on this thread if you'd like to join us. I will send the meeting link via private forum message a few days prior to the meeting.
PREVIEWS
Online meetings: 2nd Saturdays, except as noted
February 10, 2024, 11am PT - 1pm PT
March 9, 2024, 11am PT - 1pm PT
April 13, 2024, 11am PT - 1pm PT
In-person meetings:
Wed, January 31, 2024, Click Here for Details
Thu, March 28, 2024, location TBD
TOPICS: Trips taken and Travels being planned
2023 Trips that people have taken, including Sarajevo photos from TexasTravelmom
- see comments below for lots of trips that we'll be hearing about in the meeting, and more from everyone who has traveled!
2024 Travels that people are planning (we'll talk 'til we run out of our 2 hour timeslot)
- we'll go in semi-chronological order; if we don't hear about your trip this month, there will still be time next month.
- have you booked your flights? Hotels? How have prices been?
I want to give everyone time to tell us about their 2023 travels. Then we'll take 2024 travels in chronological order. If we don't hear about everyone's 2024 plans in this meeting, we'll continue in February. Otherwise, if we try to "squeeze" everyone in, I think we'd each get about 5 minutes to share, and that's just not enough time and I'd like to hear the details!!
For those who'd like to talk more and are in the neighborhood, please join us in person:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/san-francisco-east-bay-travel-group-meeting-jan-31-2024-in-person-everyone-welcome
I would like to join please. 2024 is all planned and all flights purchased. I’m working on an itinerary for an extended trip to Europe in 2026! 2025 is all planned 😆
2025 is all planned?!? And you're working on 2026???
This I look forward to hearing about .... for motivation!!!
I’d like to join the online meeting for the East Bay Travel Group on Jan 13th.
Happy New Year!
Please send me the link, hoping I can make it. Completed my RS Best of Sicily in November and have now booked RS Loire to South of France for May and Best of Adriatic in August!
Roll on 2024!
Me, me, me! 🤣
Let me know if you want some Bosnia or Montenegro pics. Or December in London.
Count us in! I think I already shared our plans for next, oops, this year.
Please include me! I want to know how your Christmas Market excursion was. I’m currently working on our 11 week trip this year, spanning mid-August to early November. So far I’ve made a few reservations.
Me please. Ta and cheers...
Please send us a link we’d love to join!
Happy New Year! Please count me in!
I want to know how your Christmas Market excursion was.
Andrea, sigh ..... I can tell you about Denver, but not Mountain View ....I wasn't able to go. But we'd love to hear about your Christmas Market "excursion!"
Let me know if you want some Bosnia or Montenegro pics.
TexasTravelmom, yes please, one of those. If anyone would like to weigh in with a choice, please do and otherwise we'll let you pick. I wouldn't know how to choose!
lynn3374, we'd love to hear about your Sicily tour!
Tammy, will you be back from Mexico, or will that be an update for February?
Christine, oh good, we'd love to hear about your trip!
elizabethbanks1, welcome! I will send you a private message on this forum to get you set up prior to the meeting.
Nigel, you can come, as long as you learn the words to at least 3 Taylor Swift songs between now and then ;-)
Carol, suddenly the pressure seems higher for trips "this year!"
Mona, glad you'll join us!
As always, I'll send the meeting link via PMs a few days before the meeting date.
I would like to join. Thanks!
Please add me too, thanks.
Nigel, you can come, as long as you learn the words to at least 3 Taylor Swift songs between now and then ;-)
Don't know them. No knowledge whatsoever. I'm sorry I haven't done my homework, Miss. The dog ate it. Would Bob Wills do?
No knowledge whatsoever
I suppose since you're not a 13-33 year old girl, we can give you a pass. But she's coming to stadiums out your way (including Wembley) in 2024, so I should think you'll be hearing about her soon enough.
only by a factor of 2.5 to 5!!
Thank you for accepting the dog and homework...
I’m looking forward to the meeting!
I can't make it to this one as I'll be traveling (domestically) but will miss you all! And Nigel, see if you can watch Taylor's Eras Tour (the movie), as it transforms many men into Swifties.
Cynthia
Diane and Barbara N, so glad you'll be with us!
ponygirl813, sorry that we will miss you, but travel is such a great reason! I hope we can hear about your trip when next we see you. I watched the Eras Tour on Netflix. I wouldn't diminish what it means to be a Swiftie by saying that I'm anything close to a fan, but that girl can command a stadium!
Cheryl and elizabethbanks1, I have sent each of you a private message on this RS forum with some pre-meeting setup instructions. If you'll please confirm you've received those, then nearer the meeting date, I will send the link - again via a private message on this forum - to join the meeting.
I’d like to join also, thank you!
CW, we don’t leave for Mexico till the 17th, so if anyone wants to hear about it, will have to wait till February.
Please include me, hoping to join if life permits. Thanks!
Glad to have you both, mln and CL (if you can make it)
Tammy, I know I'll want to hear it. You take such interesting trips!
Please add me for 1/13/24 session.
Thanks!
Hi. Please include me. I have a possible schedule conflict but I hope that I will actually be able to attend. Will keep you posted. Thanks.
I hope that there is still enough room for me!
And thanks Catherine!
Valerie, sounds good. I'll send you the link in case your schedule works.
SharYn, there is plenty of room, glad you'll be joining!
flola94903, glad you'll be joining us to share your 2024 travels!
I'll send you a message on this forum with a few setup details specific to our meeting. The link will follow a few days before the meeting date.
I pick Montenegro, then, if no one cares. Although I may slip in some pics of Sarajevo also….
Tammy, I will be wanting to hear about Cuba.
Edit: I think it’s going to be a really great busy meeting, so I changed my mind and will do Sarajevo. Montenegro would take quite a bit longer.
TTM, Cuba is not till end of April, but it should be interesting if anyone wants to hear about it upon my return.
Hi CW,
If you still have room, I would like to attend the online meeting on the 13th.
Thanks either way.
Mark
Sorry for bragging but I did get to the Mountain View market and can report extensively on the food/drink/tchochkes.
Mark, plenty of room!
TexasTravelmom, can we do a full episode on Sarajevo at another meeting? I want to hear about it - because I might want to go there - but I don't want to steal the time from hearing everyone's news.
avirosemail, you definitely get bragging rights and I want to hear all about it!!
Is there any room, even though this is right on the borderline of my bedtime? (yeah, just getting old)
I can talk about the Xmas markets that I went to and my plans for my Portuguese Camino in April, starting in Porto.
Taylor is coming to Germany too, in July, in 3 locations, so this will fill up hotel rooms.
Oh yes, there is still room, Ms. Jo. We may not get to future trips before your bedtime, but hopefully you can stay awake to tell us about the Christmas Markets!
Hi! If there’s still room, I would love to join you! We’re expecting a lot of snow this week, so some great conversation on-line with travelers sounds wonderful.
2024 Trips I’m planning:
- Southern Spain. My husband & my first off-season international trip. Our last time in Spain was 2017.
- A solo trip returning to Italy. This one will be 30+ days beginning in three regions that are new to me (Puglia, Abruzzo & Sicily) and returning to two familar ones (Lazio & Umbria). Two festivals during the trip - the Bari San Nicola festival & the Spello Infiorata event.
Have you booked your flights? Hotels? How have prices been? All flights & lodging are booked. Lodging is mostly on Booking. My Italy flight is using miles. Not a noticeable price difference from previous years, but I stay in smaller cities. Some cooking classes have jumped in price.
Jean - plenty of room and we'd love to have you spend your snow day with us! We've been getting rain it seems about every 3 days, and Saturday will be a rain day.
Your trips sound fabulous. Spain and Italy are both on my "need to get back there" list.
I'll follow your most excellent lead and say:
2024 Trips I’m planning:
England (London and Chichester): another "need to get back" destination, with timing specifically to catch a ballet.
Gdansk, Stockholm & Istanbul - if those seem like an odd grouping, it would have been Gdansk and Stockholm plus Helsinki and Tallinn, until a family wedding took priority. What's a girl to do when she's invited to a wedding in Istanbul? You change your flight and rebook your hotels and you go, of course!
Have you booked your flights? Hotels? How have prices been?
Flights and hotels are booked. Hotel prices have been eye-popping, since my recent trips have been to far cheaper capitols - Warsaw, Sofia, Budapest, Lisbon, and the Baltics. I did manage to use hotel points for some of the nights in Stockholm.
Thank you, CWsocial!
I didn’t include my 2023 trips because I’m looking forward to hearing about others’ trips you have in the queue. Most questions people would ask could just be answered by my two trip reports, anyway:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/june-2023-england-wales-trip-report
I only took the Christmas Market trip last year, but this year I’m in the midst of planning an 11 week trip with a few moving parts involving various people. It’s a bit daunting.
Hi ! I would like to join the online meet up on 1/13. Thank you!
I have sent a private message with the link for Saturday to everyone who has expressed interest, above. If I inadvertently missed you, please reply here or send me a private message and I will get it to you.
Cheryl and elizabethbanks1, I have sent each of you a private message on this RS forum with important pre-meeting setup instructions. If you will please reply to confirm that you have received those messages, then I will send you a follow-up with the meeting link.
There is plenty of room for anyone who would still like to join. Please RSVP on this thread!
Hi Catherine, I'd like to join in! And would love to share my plans for our spring trip.
Hi Catherine,
Thanks! Looking forward to it.
2023 - I had a great trip to DE, AT, and FR in December with my travel buddy. Got impacted by the 17 inches of snow in Munich! We lost RSE tour members. It was quite a trip!
2024 - doing the RSE Heart of Belgium & Holland in April, which means Keukenhof! Also, visiting London (and Chichester!) and spending a week in Paris. All flights and hotels are booked. Most trains are booked except a few local ones. My travel buddy and I are doing extra day trips to Utrecht, Oudenaarde, and Brussels on this trip. Should be fun!
Looking forward to hearing everyone's travel stories!
MC
Andrea, I've just sent you a pm with the meeting link for tomorrow. Glad you can make it to tell us about the trips you've got planned!
ReedManTX - sounds like you have some great stories from your snowy December trip! Looking forward to hearing about that and 2024 plans, including swapping stories about our trips to London (and Chichester!)
We will "talk travel 'til we drop: on Saturday. Or until our 2 hour meeting window runs out :-)
For those who can't get enough, we'll talk more in person on January 31. If you're in the neighborhood, please join us.
I've just posted a separate meeting invite:
Wed, January 31, 2024 Click Here for Details
I want to give everyone time to tell us about their 2023 travels. Then we'll take 2024 travels in chronological order. If we don't hear about everyone's 2024 plans in this meeting, we'll continue in February. Otherwise, if we try to "squeeze" everyone in, I think we'd each get about 5 minutes to share, and that's just not enough time!
Hi Catherine,
Please add me to the group. I'll be home due to snow and cold weather.
Thank you,
Lynn
Lynn, glad you can join us from inside your (hopefully) warm house!
Hello travelers, we've got a full and fun house today!
We will start on time, in just over 2 hours. For those who may need to test your setup, I will log in to start the meeting about 15 minutes early. For new-ish visitors, please remember to follow the setup instructions prior to joining the meeting.
If you haven't received the meeting link, and you've RSVP'd on this thread, please check your private messages. If I've missed anyone, please comment on this thread or in a private message.
See you all in a couple of hours!
I can get on!!!
Note: Zoom had updates for me this morning. Everyone may wish to log in to your account a few minutes early to let it do its thing before the meeting time.
Never fear, Diane, we start in just under an hour!
Reminder to everyone that the security on our meetings requires an additional step, prior to clicking on the meeting link. If you don't remember what that is, send me a private message. (I prefer not to post it here.)
You can test the meeting link now, ahead of time. Since the meeting hasn't started yet, you won't get in to the meeting. You'll probably get a message like "Meeting host is still having morning coffee. When she gets back, she'll start the meeting and you can join."
I'll start the meeting session about 15 minutes ahead of the start time.
Please start your Zoom session early to allow time for the system updates!
Here is the link to the Road Scholar trip to Central Mexico that we are taking. All new places in Mexico to us.
Thanks everyone for another great meeting. I really look forward to them, and see some of you tomorrow!
Tammy, your Road Scholar trip to Central Mexico looks incredible! Looking forward to hearing about it for further inspiration! As if I needed that after today's meeting. I agree, this meeting fuels my travel habit....in a good way!
Thank you, Avi for hosting today's call. And for your encylopedia of facts on nearly every location!
CWsocial, thanks for the fun meeting today!
As requested, here is a little information about my Christmas market trip last month. We spent 4 nights in Strasbourg and one day did a day trip to Colmar and Eguisheim. Another day we did a day trip to Baden-Baden and Gengenbach… I had been to Colmar and Eguisheim in 2022 (based in Colmar for 4 nights) and saw some of the other wine villages at that time since we had a car. No car this trip and the only village that had the shuttle from Colmar weekdays during the Christmas market season was Eguisheim. The shuttles go to other towns on the weekend, so if that’s important to you plan your trip around being there from Friday-Sunday. Baden-Baden was nice, but I really enjoyed Gengenbach. My overall impression of my two week trip is that Bruges and Ghent are worth seeing for what they are, but if you are concentrating on the “best” Christmas markets ( I wasn’t) they aren’t as good as the markets I saw in Cologne, Frankfurt, Mainz, Bad Homburg, Baden-Baden, Gengenbach and Ravenna Gorge in Germany and Strasbourg and Colmar in France. Ravenna Gorge was really special and I highly recommend it. Tickets are required for that market and they sell out early. My thanks to Ms. Jo for arranging that.
What a great meeting today! Thanks, CW & avi!
As promised, here’s my. Bosnia Trip Report link
There was a so much good information - I am waiting on the rest of it to show up here. 😊 And to hearing about all the upcoming January and February travel, while I wait for March!
Thanks to Catherine, Avi, and all the contributors today! Such interesting presentations and discussions! It's so interesting to hear others talk about places we have been and hard to hear about places we have not been because then I want to go there. The cafe in Vienna sounds great and we'll be there in September. We have been to Bosnia but not to Sarajevo. Some of the towns in Mexico Tammy will visit have been on my radar but it seemed difficult to get there so I'm eager to hear her report. I had thought about New Zealand for a while but now it's just too long of a journey for us to consider. Hopefully we'll go vicariously when Melanie gets back. For our next trip we may follow Christine and Sharyn's method and enjoy being there and not worry about seeing too many sights. It's really great to 'visit' with people as interested in travel and experiences. I think we all learn so much!
Thanks, Andrea, I would like to get to Ravenna Gorge at Christmas.
TexasTravelmom, I've bookmarked your trip report and started a OneNote section on Sarajevo.
Carol, I agree, today sparked my interest in so many places - some I've been to and some new. I liked seeing how I might connect some of those places into interesting trips that I wouldn't have thought of.
And to think, we only made it through January and barely into February....
Thank you so much, Catherine for hosting this meeting! And I enjoyed putting more faces to familiar names on the forum. : )
I posted my two trip reports for 2023 in my reply further up this post.
2024
Spain - 20 days: Malaga, Estepona, Cadiz (a week of their huge Carnival), Sevilla & Madrid
Italy - 32 days: Rome, Caserta, Polignano a Mare, Bari, Alberobello, Locorotondo, Martina Franca, Lecce, Palermo, Rome, Sulmona, Tivoli, Spoleto, Assisi & Spello. Two festivals.
Catherine- Help!! 😁
I can’t believe I missed this invitation. Darn. I hope you host another one in the coming months. I will have to be more vigilant in searching various topics.
Drat, Barbara! The upcoming meeting dates are always in the "Previews" section, above, so you can put them in your calendar and a reminder to check for the invitation.
Hope to see you next time!
Hah, Carol, I can hardly help anyone. After hearing today about all the wonderful places, I've mapped out my next Europe trip.
I figure I'll fly in to Sarajevo and out of Madrid.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Here’s the Luxembourg museums I mentioned earlier. This is a copy/paste of my post on another thread, so if it looks familiar, that’d be why :)
• National Museum of Military History in Diekirch
While not necessarily small, perhaps lessor known and so well curated. It’s on 5 floors and has many dioramas with figures in uniform, as well as many vehicles. So much stuff was left behind from the war and was collected and now presented in this museum. Wikipedia has a good description here. This landed on my itinerary earlier this year thanks to being mentioned here on the forum in another post.
• Family of Man Exhibit at Clervaux Castle
• Musée Dräi Eechelen - a small interesting museum within Fort Thüngen.
• European Museum in Schengen - tiny and out of the way, but informative for those who may be interested in the Schengen agreement (as I was).
And the helpful NZ fb group TTM referenced is called New Zealand Travel Tips (NZTT).
I like the routing of your next trip CWsocial! 👍 it’s doable, might take awhile though 😆
Thanks, mln, for those links. I'll need them since Luxembourg is on my route - which I'm calling my "Best of All Over Europe in 89 Days" tour 🤣🤣🤣
such a great meeting. Thanks to all. Sorry I was late. The dog ate my homework! Actually had a microwave breakdown complete with clouds of smoke but with a little work got it back - but ;ost about 3 hours out of the day.
I missed so much of the knowledge but gained so much with what I was able to catch...
We go through Luxembourg almost every year and I only know of one (the first - it is a doozie) of the museums on Mellani's list!
This was a great meeting. So interesting. Thanks to Catherine, Avi and all who contributed. Looking forward to the next meeting.
I’m so sorry I missed the meeting. Something came up that I had to take care of. See you all next time.
Wow CWsocial, that’s quite the map! How long will your trip be? I’m still planning our trip for later this year, which will be 11 weeks for me. Since the later portion towards the end is up in the air depending on the dates and location my cousins choose it’s difficult to plan entirely, and I do feel better with a plan. I’ll be going to England and Ireland with my daughter, then I will meet Jim in Switzerland. After that southern Germany (Bodensee), Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, Krakow, Wroclaw, Warsaw, Poznan, ?, Paris. My cousin mentioned a place to meet not too far from Cologne, but also mentioned the Black Forest. Who knows.
Haha, Andrea, that's an imaginary trip of all the places I want to go from our discussion today! I'm fond of my 3.5 weeks trips - as is my Mom, who likes taking my dog for a while, but not too long a while. I wouldn't like to see her reaction if I actually suggested an 89 day trip :-)
Catherine - I think you should add Cadiz and if I look closely I might have more for you to add. Luckily for you, you have lots of time to plan your shorter trips. Of course, what will happen is that someplace else will come to your attention and you'll end up going there before some of the places on your wish list. But dreaming, making those dreams a reality, and sharing them is what our meetings are all about!
Hi Catherine,
I tried posting my two suggestions from yesterday's meeting on your board, but somehow it ended up on Andrea's meeting thread. The website won't let me post it here. So, it's on the meeting board thread for Andreas. My bad. Sorry!
Thanks for a great meeting yesterday! I really enjoyed it.
MC
Carol, Cadiz is on MY next time list whether or, to it makes it on to CW’s!
ReedManTX - I saw your post over there, thank you! And I'm linking that here, so that I don't "lose" it.
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/international-group-travel-meeting-sunday-january-14-9-30-a-m-pacific-time
More importantly (for me) I've added it to my OneNote section for my future return to Paris, whenever I can align the stars to see a ballet.
Carol, I've added Cadiz to my next visit page for Spain. You see, this is why I knew it couldn't just be a mini-trip in the fall, because there are too many places I'd like to go or go back to.
Please keep gathering your ideas for our meeting when we focus on Spain. And with luck, we'll get to see Christine's photo album at one of our in-person meetings!
CESocial and TTM: I am at the point where I may have to stop listening to reports at our meetings but then there would be nothing left😩😩
Thanks CWsocial and everyone else for such a fun meeting. I loved sharing about my recent trip to Spain!
As far as my photo album goes... Andalucía is so photogenic that I really went overboard taking pictures and have not yet tackled the task of organizing all of them in an album! lol! Hopefully soon!
Please see the meeting thread for updates regarding the in-person meeting on January 31 at The Veranda:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/travel-meetings/san-francisco-east-bay-travel-group-meeting-jan-31-2024-in-person-everyone-welcome
Hello...Please add me for the 2/10 meeting. I leave the end of this month for Scotland, a few days in London, followed by independent time in IST before joining the RS Best of Turkey tour to wrap it up. Looking forward to hearing about everyone else's adventures! Thanks, Laurie
