Summer travel

Not exactly "travel", but some outdoor music events are on tap for us - our main vacation this year will be Italy in the fall. The city I live in has an outdoor music venue on a river. There is a blues festival this weekend that we are going to on Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to seeing Samantha Fish on Friday and both Sonny Landreth and Aaron Neville Saturday. 

I've never done a cruise and my wife isn't that fond of them, but an Alaskan version is something we'll very likely do at some point. 

Nice threat idea TT - it will be fun to see what forumites have in the works.

We leave next week for 2 weeks in Paris, then TGV to Basel where we board a river cruise ship for 2 weeks on the Moselle and Rhine, ending in Amsterdam.  My daughter will be in London at that time, so she and a friend are coming over to meet up with us and show us around Amsterdam, a city where she's been many times though this will be the first for me. (She says she is going to open my eyes, though I'd like to believe that's more a veiled threat than a serious statement of intent.)

Also hoping to fit in a couple of road trips after we return, Willamette Valley for one, and possibly a bit further down the Left Coast as well. If we don't drive down to California, we'll fly down in the fall to visit our niece at UCSD again.

T-Tom: you won't be disappointed by Alaska. Remarkable scenery, friendly people, enjoyable cities and towns. We went exactly a year ago, and my wife says she's ready to go again without hesitation. Enjoy!

A river cruise is on our bucket list, I think it would be a blast.

BillHike, we will let all know our thoughts on the Alaska trip.

Not much. June through August are the busiest months at work so we tend not to plan any major trips. 

This summer we’ll spend a few 4 day weekends at my sister’s cottage and do a 4 day interior canoe camping trip to Algonquin Park.

seaquam posted:

Basel where we board a river cruise ship for 2 weeks on the Moselle and Rhine, ending in Amsterdam. 

We are doing the reverse of your cruise - leaving from Amsterdam and ending in Basel.  We're going with a group of 40 couples from our country club, so it should be a blast.  From there, my wife and I are taking a train to the Champagne region for 2 days and then to Paris for 3 days.  Really looking forward to this as I have never been to Europe. 

If we don't spend all of our money in Champagne, we get back for our daughter's wedding on October. 

Summer is slow - trips to DC to see my mother and we are doing a joint NYC/DC trip in August.  Next big trip is transatlantic in October from Malaga

Multiple trips to Cashiers, NC this summer to our house.

Camping in Rhode Island for a week in July with Scouts.

Love summer, hate planning.  We are the worst at planning.  We've got trips to Chicago/Quad Cities, Tucson, Napa, and maybe Hawaii all planned before Labor Day, but no hotels or plane tickets yet. 

3 trips to the Finger Lakes and one to Winnipeg this summer and maybe Spain in the fall, but don't want to go during harvest time. 

thelostverse posted:

seaquam posted:

Basel where we board a river cruise ship for 2 weeks on the Moselle and Rhine, ending in Amsterdam. 

We are doing the reverse of your cruise - leaving from Amsterdam and ending in Basel.  We're going with a group of 40 couples from our country club, so it should be a blast.  From there, my wife and I are taking a train to the Champagne region for 2 days and then to Paris for 3 days.  Really looking forward to this as I have never been to Europe. 

It really surprises me that you haven’t been to Europe.

NYC with my kids the week of July 4th. Hard to believe they've never been yet. Lots of things to cross of bucket lists there 

thelostverse posted:

seaquam posted:

Basel where we board a river cruise ship for 2 weeks on the Moselle and Rhine, ending in Amsterdam. 

We are doing the reverse of your cruise - leaving from Amsterdam and ending in Basel.  We're going with a group of 40 couples from our country club, so it should be a blast.  From there, my wife and I are taking a train to the Champagne region for 2 days and then to Paris for 3 days.  Really looking forward to this as I have never been to Europe.  

We were originally booked mid-September to mid-October, but changed our plans to accommodate a couple of friends who wanted us to join them on a Montreal - New York cruise at that time (to see the changing of the leaves). What cruise line are you on?  We're taking Scenic.

It would have been a pretty cool coincidence had we met up then. I'm sure you and Mrs. TLV would have had your hands full protecting us from your country club hooligans. 

Champagne's very beautiful, with lots to see and do. And Paris is... well, Paris. I'm sure you will have a fantastic trip!

For pleasure, NYC next week, Germany in July and Spain and Portugal in September and October. 

wineart 2 posted:

For pleasure, NYC next week, Germany in July and Spain and Portugal in September and October. 

Hope you will be in Germany when they win the World Cup.  Would be a lot of fun to be in a German beer hall when that happens.

Sent you an email W+A.

As for me, no big plans this summer - the usual gathering with some of the forumites in August in Taho-ma.  

seaquam posted:

thelostverse posted:

seaquam posted:

Basel where we board a river cruise ship for 2 weeks on the Moselle and Rhine, ending in Amsterdam. 

We are doing the reverse of your cruise - leaving from Amsterdam and ending in Basel.  We're going with a group of 40 couples from our country club, so it should be a blast.  From there, my wife and I are taking a train to the Champagne region for 2 days and then to Paris for 3 days.  Really looking forward to this as I have never been to Europe.  

What cruise line are you on?  We're taking Scenic.

Champagne's very beautiful, with lots to see and do. And Paris is... well, Paris. I'm sure you will have a fantastic trip!

We are on AMA Waterways.  Really looking forward to it.

A week in Ireland, then a two week cruise to Copenhagen, followed by a week in Denmark.

We did Uniworld on the Danube in May - wonderful time.  I am sure you will both enjoy AMA and Scenic - FKG says Scenic is probably the best

I'm sure, this summer differs from the previous ones for many people because of the quarantine and lockdown. I wonder how many people here are still going on vacation this season? I personally cancelled my trip to Oman in late July. Fortunately, I didn't apply for evisa as it is valid only for one month, otherwise I'd lose 69 Euro (I was lucky to find a good source https://evisa.express/en/oman that provided me with all necessary information). But I think, it is important to stay positive and hope for the best. So, I'm looking forward to a possibility to travel safely again. 

Staycation!!

@Francis123 posted:

I'm sure, this summer differs from the previous ones for many people because of the quarantine and lockdown. I wonder how many people here are still going on vacation this season? I personally cancelled my trip to Oman in late July. Fortunately, I didn't apply for evisa as it is valid only for one month, otherwise I'd lose 69. But I think, it is important to stay positive and hope for the best. So, I'm looking forward to a possibility to travel safely again. 

Should have already visited London and Ireland, and now BOD meeting in Switzerland a no go as the EU has no interest in allowing our out of control COVID infected people in. 

The three most populated states in the U.S. setting records currently and our orange Humpty Dumpty decides to take his ‘ spread the virus’ roadshow back out again. I so wish Putin would instruct him to stop traveling. 

France and Peru cancelled

@jcocktosten posted:

France and Peru cancelled

Dreadful. Were you all heading to Machu Picchu? 

Yup.  Now 2021 hopefully

Tahiti and Easter Island cancelled

Wife was supposed to be in Bosnia in May, cancelled.

Supposed to visit friends in Spain with a swing through Portugal next month on a fact-finding mission for a soon to be retirement destination, cancelled.

Several other long-weekend style trips, all cancelled.

That said, we're both healthy (knock on wood) so first world problems.

My wife and I were supposed to go to Italy for a month in May to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary.  You know the rest.

I expect to see a great deal of my house and backyard deck this summer.

We are supposed to go to Sante Fe, somewhere in Colorado  and  Park City around Labor Day but I highly doubt that is happening either

@Francis123 posted:I personally cancelled my trip to Oman in late July.

Good heavens, why go to Oman?  In July?  Must have been for business, no?

@jabe11 posted:

Good heavens, why go to Oman?  In July?  Must have been for business, no?

It's a dry heat.

We have plans for Egypt in December.......looking unlikely.

@irwin posted:

We have plans for Egypt in December.......looking unlikely.

I have an office in Cairo and was planning on a visit in December. I too am thinking unlikely currently. 

I have to swing down to dallas, looks like i might need to get one of em clean suits

I always visit my parents in Oregon in the summer. They're both in their 80's and although they're doing fine right now, neither is in perfect health. COVID is really making it an impossible choice this year.

we are grounded.  Will not travel more than 15 miles [that is to office]

I have had two day trips in the past four months, both no more than 2 hours each way. I am not going anywhere until I am certain that hotels are safe. A day trip to a golf course within an hour to hour/half of my home is on the table.

My routine is office three to four days a week, and golf once or twice a week. That's it.

@scbeerman posted:

 

My routine is office three to four days a week, and golf once or twice a week. That's it.

So, pretty much like every other year!🙃

Egypt, Oman, and the Maldives seem to be re-opening, at least for scuba diving.  I  would not hesitate to visit those places or any place in the world this year.  I have booked trips to Antarctica and Argentina this November and December.  (Total solar eclipse on December 14.)  Antarctica is looking very doubtful; cautiously optimistic about Argentina.

Forgot who asked, however it is now Official.  The US, Mex. and BRA  F1 races are canceled due to virus.  Will add three more races in Europe to compensate.  Also the possibility to reschedule CDN is off the table,

@flwino posted:

Forgot who asked, however it is now Official.  The US, Mex. and BRA  F1 races are canceled due to virus.  Will add three more races in Europe to compensate.  Also the possibility to reschedule CDN is off the table,

Thanks flwino. It was me. 

@javachip posted:

Egypt, Oman, and the Maldives seem to be re-opening, at least for scuba diving.  I  would not hesitate to visit those places or any place in the world this year.  I have booked trips to Antarctica and Argentina this November and December.  (Total solar eclipse on December 14.)  Antarctica is looking very doubtful; cautiously optimistic about Argentina.

Umm, one of my main offices is in Cairo which I should have visited last month. They are having one hell of a time with COVID. I shut the office down temporarily. No way I would suggest a good time to visit or fly through. 

Hey there. I am planning a long road trip this summer (VA to Colorado and back), and having read iexit review, iexit app appears to be close to what I want, but I am wondering if anyone else has used it? This app seems to approach that need - it looks 100 exits ahead on the route and shows the services on each exit. Looking for any experiences, or other alternatives to this app.

100 exits?   That is about as many from here to Washington DC,  a two day trip!     Maybe 100 miles     A waste of time.  Most exits have a sign that says services - don't need a f$%^ing phone

I went on a plane for the first time in a year and a half to go up to North Carolina last weekend.  The experience was fine; everyone in the airport and on the plane wore their masks.  I really had no concerns since I was fully vaccinated.

I have trips planned this summer to Rhode Island, Washington DC, and several more to North Carolina.

Already planning for a fall trip to Europe perhaps, and a winter ski vacation.

I'm ready to resume normal travel.

Not exactly Summer, but a friend and I will be returning to Louisville, KY in September to try and hit some of the bourbon distilleries that we missed last time. That will include a trip to Sparta and the Neeley Family distillery.

Through emails with the owner/operators, it appears we are distant cousins, with my side landing here from Ireland in 1733, and his in 1740. Taking those dates into account, a wild guess might be that the two brothers on my side may have gone the "7-year indentured servitude" route, and paid for the other to come over when they were done.

Not summer, but booked a 3 week trip to southern Spain in October that includes a 7 day bike ride. Also booked a ski vacation in Austria for January.

France is opening in June and our Bordeaux trip is still on for mid July. The wineries we have reservations with all say they plan on being open. Taking the train up to Epernay and visiting Champagne before everything shuts down again around 8/1 for holidays.

Currently booked in November on a20 day  Istanbul to Dubai cruise spending two days in Israel.

Booked trip to see in-laws for Thanksgiving in November. Hope we’re allowed to go sans quarantine.

PURPLE won't get on a 8-12 hour flight (aka over water) with a mask on so we'll be taking 2 hour flights to various places until the mask mandate is lifted while flying.

I am finally traveling to the summer soon. Waiting for my evisa to Qatar from here https://evisa.express/en/qatar and hopefully this Christmas i will be celebrating in my shorts. Curious if someone traveled there recently and might have some tips for me?

I was a bit slow to realise the consequencs when covid first hit, and I think I repeated that towards the end of 2020. I was quite optimistic then about international travel then but since that point things have become worse and worse.

It now seems to me that 2021 may well be a total write off as well for going anywhere outside the UK, and so I think the best we can all hope for is the chance to explore our own countries. There are still places we haven't visited here in the UK, and with the US being the size it is, I'm sure there is plenty left for Eugene to discover there, too.

io games

What are your plans for the upcoming holidays? Any interesting destinations? We are planning to visit few different places inside the country only. Curious what was your experience with the spirit airlines? Do you still need to wear a mask during the whole flight? This spirit airlines phone number was busy couple of times so not sure where else to call.

Doing 5 days in Paris in mid June with my wife for her birthday and then 10 days in August taking the whole family on a roadtrip from London to the Scottish highlands (flying back out of Edinburgh).

@robsutherland posted:

Doing 5 days in Paris in mid June with my wife for her birthday

😎 Very envious!  We’re thinking of doing the same in Sept.

Hope you have a great trip. Please post from there with your impressions of the city as it is these days.

Just back from Atlanta.

Tomorrow Springfield, MO

The week after Madison, WI

After that Napa, CA.

September is two weeks in Germany with my half German, half Japanese buddy for a guys only beer drinking and schnitzel eating trip.

Pandemic?  What pandemic?

Finally got a plan to hit up Hawaii in June... then it's back in NY for July!

@seaquam posted:

😎 Very envious!  We’re thinking of doing the same in Sept.

Hope you have a great trip. Please post from there with your impressions of the city as it is these days.

We're staying at this apartment on St. Honoré. I"m excited

https://www.traveljadore.com/paris-house-on-the-roof

Très cool, Rob! And in the 1st Arr. too.  You guys will have a great time.

Finished our 5 day 50th birthday trip for my wife with some great culinary moments.
In chronological order:
Huitrerie Régis - Wonderful little place with fantastic oysters and an small but okay wine list. Lovely quality, saline and almost excessively crunchy. Even the medium oysters were almost too big and we struggled to finish two dozen between the two of us whereas we are usually good for 18-24 each as a meal. Still seeing as it was lunch and where we were going for dinner that was fine. A 2016 Arnaud Lambert Clos David Brézé was a great match and the best glass was the last.

Dinner at Arpège - This had the highest highs but also the lowest low of the whole trip. The egg was the egg. stunning in its simplicity and taste. Courgette slices salted and compressed as sushi over phenomenal sushi rice was otherworldly. The star of the night though was roasted root vegetables from last season in a roasted grape sauce. I was told that they had to work for weeks to create the sauce as it kept splitting until they used clarified butter. It was top three plates of food I've had in my life.

Now the lows. Lemon Verbena is for soap, not for consumption. It was apparently very good that day because it was laced through everything. In some cases it was a discordant note in an otherwise great dish but in one case, a cucumber and lemon verbena gazpacho with mustard ice cream it was nearly inedible. I could understand intellectually what they were trying to do but it was atrocious. We had a bottle of the 2018 rendition of Guillaume Selosse's 'Au Dessus de Gros Mont'. It was the equal of any champagne I've ever had and I'll speak of it in the same breath as an 1985 Charlie, Jacques Selosse's Substance or Lieux-dits, and easily surpasses any regular vintage Krug or DP I"ve ever had.

Friday lunch at David Toutain - Lower highs but higher lows and much more inventive than Arpège. We did the 10 course lunch. A raw cauliflower with creamy sheep's cheese, coconut and white chocolate amuse was revelatory. Everything was discordant but the whole was perfectly in tune. White asparagus in a blackcurrant velouté with a salty and not sweet peanut ice cream was also fantastic. The Eel and back sesame is apparently a well known dish and for good reason (though I am partial to grilled eel). We paired the lunch with a 2014 Cedric Bouchard Borelee which was lovely but dimmed against the memory of the Selosse the night before.

Dinner at Parcelles - I had the sweetbreads as I'm always a sucker for them and they were lovely, but as a fall dish while it was nearly 100f outside that day. Wrong choice because of the weather though very good. My wife had a panfried gnocchi with fresh cheese, spring peas, courgette and basil oil. It was lovely. Paired with a 2014 Leflaive Meursault Sous le Dos d'Ane which was lovely but almost still closed and despite being decanted, the last glass an hour and a bit in was significantly better than the first.

Saturday and Sunday lunch was had on our rooftop deck after a trip to the food halls in Gallerie Lafeyette. Iberico ham, fresh baguette, Bordier butter and some fresh wild strawberries.

Sunday dinner was at le Coq & fils - Had a full roast Bresse chicken, some frites and a bottle of 2015 Clos Rougeard which for the price I couldn't turn away from. It was surprisingly open and you could crawl into the glass for the nose. Heavenly, very fruit forward and not a whiff of any barnyard or brett. The chicken was very nice but not mind altering (which I was hoping for having never had Bresse chicken) but it was still a lovely night.

We go to Croatia with my family. It's our favorite place.

Just booked Galapagos  for our 25th anniversary (couple days after the actual anniversary but . . .)

@jcocktosten posted:

Just booked Galapagos  for our 25th anniversary (couple days after the actual anniversary but . . .)

An awesome place.  We just did it last year on Silversea.  Are you going to do a cruise or a land trip?

Also, by the way, when are you going?  I understand that Ecuador is having some political turbulence at the current time.

Early September.  Celebrity Flora

NYC in 2 weeks, hopefully covid free

Galapagos is a great place to visit.  The animals are remarkable.

We're spending some time at our condo at Deep Creek Lake in Western Maryland to get out of the Baltimore region's heat and humidity.

Canandaigua, NY as many times as possible.

@csm posted:

Canandaigua, NY as many times as possible.

My old Homestead in early years

Just returning from a 5 day stay in Grindelwald and Lucerne. Followed by a Basel to Amsterdam ( including up the Mosel to Trier) river cruise . A couple days added on for Amsterdam.

OMG, I'm so happy it's summer already! I've already passed all exams, and my final writing assignment. Thankfully, I got the https://letsgradeit.com/review/assignmentexpert/ support. So they helped me to feel the holidays even sooner. I waited for a full vacation more than two years! I'm going to Croatia in two weeks. So excited!

@KateMidd posted:

OMG, I'm so happy it's summer already! I waited for a full vacation more then two years! I' going to Croatia in two weeks. So excited.

Kind of a random destination.  There are some cool areas tho.  If you are going to beaches, bring water shoes....as mostly there is no sand.   Enjoy!

@flwino posted:

My old Homestead in early years

Nice part of the world.  In-laws have a lake house there and have missed the last 2 summers because of the 'Rona.

@jabe11 posted:

Kind of a random destination.  There are some cool areas tho.  If you are going to beaches, bring water shoes....as mostly there is no sand.   Enjoy!

Thanks a lot! I even haven't thought about it