A European Sojourn
Overview For years we heard a lot of good things about taking a river cruise in Europe. After sampling the river cruise experience for a few days in Egypt on the Nile in 2023, we decided to take the plunge and go all in with Viking's 23-day Cross Europe cruise called European Sojourn (their longest river cruise). Go big or go home as the saying goes! So, we even front-ended and back-ended this cruise starting with a 4-day road trip up to Transylvania before the cruise and ending our travels with an 8-day road trip in Belgium and the Netherlands after the cruise. The Viking "European Sojourn" cruise is really a combination of two cruises they regularly do. The Bucharest to Budapest cruise is combined with the Budapest to Amsterdam cruise. This post provides a summary of the trip and at the end of the post are links to more detailed posts of each of the countries visited. In all, this trip spanned 35 days. What this trip covered 9 countries: Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium A number of road trips into the countryside including: Transylvania and Brașov Romania Belogradchik Rocks and Fortress Bulgaria Veliko Tarnovo [...]
The Ancient Civilizations Road Trip Part 3 – Greece
Overview In 2016, we visited the Island of Crete in Greece for several weeks and had a blast, however, we've never been to mainland Greece. High on our bucket list was the Acropolis in Athens as well as a number of other famous archeological sites such as Olympia, Delphi and Mycenae. We started planning for this trip by reaching out to Insight Guides, a company that connects travelers with hand-picked local travel experts. On their website, we filled out a short form identifying where we wanted to go and described the type of experience we were looking for. They then connected us with a Greek Tour Company named Somewhere We Know and from that point on, all communication was through the Insight Guide secure message system. We spent 1-2 months figuring out all the places we wanted to explore and how to weave them together for an experience that matched our preferred travel style. There were numerous iterations and Eirini from our tour company was just fabulous. She offered suggestions, found guides and identified amazing lodging. Once finalized, our entire itinerary was available through a mobile app that included local maps of the towns where we were staying, restaurant suggestions and even [...]
The Ancient Civilizations Road Trip Part 2 – Egypt
Overview After a lifetime of thinking about it, we finally pulled the trigger on going to Egypt and visiting this part of the ancient world - and our son Carl was able to join us. We planned the trip 5 months in advance and 2 weeks before our departure, the "war" between Hamas and Israel erupted at the Gaza Strip, just 6 hours from Cairo. We did some research (including talking with someone whose husband is with the US State Department in Cairo), and briefly thought about cancelling, but in the end, we're so glad we didn't. We always felt safe. We started the planning process by reaching out to Insight Guides, a company that connects travelers with hand-picked local travel experts. On their website, we filled out a short form identifying where we wanted to go and described the type of experience we were looking for. They connected us with a Your Egypt Tours and all communication was through the Insight Guide secure message system. Over the course of 5 months, we to put together a trip that accomplished a full set of sites and objectives we had given them and some they suggested. This itinerary changed many times, from the [...]
The Ancient Civilizations Road Trip Part 1 – Italy
Overview For us, there is nothing like a road trip and we kicked off our fall 2023 travel with an Italy road trip that focused on picking up several places we didn't get to see the last time we were here in 2016. Our friend Carole retired to Italy about 9 years ago and she's helped with a lot of the travel planning. It really beneficial when traveling to have a "local" who knows some hidden gems AND also speaks Italian. Nancy and I both have a huge interest in history and a large focus of this trip was exploring the ancient world of the Etruscans, Romans and Greeks civilizations in Italy. Our rental car was an Opal Corsa 5-speed stick shift and although I grew up driving stick shifts, I hadn't done it much in many years. It was like riding a bike - 5 minutes and I was back in the saddle. We covered almost 1,700 miles up and down the western coast of Italy hitting a ton of cities and sites including: Tuscany, Pisa, Elba Island, Florence, Rome, Naples, Paestum, Anzio and Orbetello. This was in addition to numerous small towns and villages. We got to knock off number [...]
A Slow Meandering Trip to South Florida
Overview It's early spring in Virginia in March and Nancy and I have gotten cabin fever after being home for 3+ months from our 6 1/2-month cross country road trip to Alaska and we ready to hit the road once again. This short 1-month trip down through the south enabled us to experience spring through summer and then back to spring again while we travelled down to south Florida and back to our home in Virginia. Along the way we stopped to sample some of the best areas the south has to offer along with a little bit of spring baseball. This included stopovers and visits to in the following areas: Lynchburg, Virginia Milledgeville, Georgia Clermont, Florida Hollywood Beach, Florida Fort Myers, Florida Savannah, Georgia Wilmington, North Carolina Wytheville, Virginia We have made this journey many times in our lives and really like the slow meandering pace we can do now that we have more time. Now that we're retired, we take more time with stops paced about every 5 to 6 hours that allows us time to explore the areas as we pass through. The map below shows a high-level view of the roads travelled. Lynchburg, Virginia After leaving our home [...]
Shenandoah Valley Getaways – A Local’s Guide
Overview We live a few miles outside of Round Hill Virginia up on the Blue Ridge and this is within easy striking distance of a great deal of the Shenandoah Valley area of Virginia. I grew up in this area of the country but have travelled widely across North America, and I still believe that the Shenandoah Valley is still one of the most beautiful areas. The last few years we have been road tripping a lot and have written a great deal about our travels outside of this area but hadn't focused on what what's right in our own back yard. Nancy and I recently took a wonderful weekend trip that included an overnight stay at the historic Mimslyn Hotel in Luray Virginia. I thought I would use this as excuse to start to write more about what I know about this area. This leisurely getaway included stops at the numerous antique shops and stores that are in all of the small towns along this route and walking at some of our favorite places. Although we didn't do it on this trip you can also easily visit places like Luray Caverns and Shenandoah Caverns along this route as well as [...]
Our 6 Month Key West to Deadhorse Alaska Road Trip Part 2
In our part one post we covered the first leg of our Key West to Deadhorse Adventure which took us from our home in Virginia down to Key West and Back. The second leg of this adventure covered in this post takes us from Virginia out to Bellingham Washington where we will catch the Alaska Ferry up to Alaska. Normally, we don't travel cross country at this pace, but the wedding described in first post on this adventure cut this time down and only allowed for a few multiday stops as we had to be in Bellingham to catch the ferry north on June 4th. As always though we found things to do every day along the way. Day 1 - Englewood, Ohio (day 15 of the overall journey) On the road to Englewood There are only a few fast routes from Virginia westward and we take one we know rather well. Our main goal today is to get 7-8 hours down the road and into Englewood, Ohio is as good a stop as anywhere. National Air Force Museum We've made good time today and Nancy remembers the National Air Force Museum in Dayton - and she hasn't been there [...]
A Whirlwind 18 Day Wisconsin Road Trip
Overview Prep work and planning for our upcoming Alaska Adventure is finally done and we now have time to start blogging again on some of our past adventures. This Wisconsin trip we did a few years ago is one of our all-time favorites. We did such a variety of activities and we came away feeling we only touched the surface and will need to go back and fill in some of the gaps in the future. This trip is a great sampler of what the state has to offer. Wisconsin is known for its cheese, but did you know it was home to the Ringling Brothers Circus (and 60+ other circuses) and many fantastic recreational areas? Day 1: A Day of Driving Life has a way of throwing interesting experiences and challenges at you - and the morning of our departure was one of those times. As we were pulling out of the driveway, we found a dead deer ripped apart in our yard. Coyotes! Our neighbor, John, was kind enough to drag it into the woods while we were gone. Day 1 is about pressing it and getting as far as we can without getting too tired. The route is a [...]
Our Upcoming 6 Month Key West to Alaska Road Trip GalleryOur Upcoming 6 Month Key West to Alaska Road Trip
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Our Upcoming 6 Month Key West to Alaska Road Trip
Background We have always dreamed of an Alaska road trip but given its distance from our home and the geographic size of this destination, we intentionally left this off the plate until we had time to do it right. So now that we're both retired and have more flexibility, it was time and as a result, we have put a travel framework in place where we will leave in the spring and return home just before the holiday season. This has been by far the longest and most complex trip that Nancy and I have ever put together with the initial planning starting back in 2018. We had read and researched this off and on over the last couple years but in June of last year we finally we set a target date and started to plan in detail. The plan has evolved quite a bit since we started, and we have had to deal with number of challenges but finally, we feel we are about as locked and loaded for trip as we can possibly be. How We Will Travel on this Trip We constantly get asked "do you have a RV"? The answer is: "Not anymore, we travel in the [...]
A Whirlwind 2 week Oregon Road Trip Adventure Part 2
Overview of the Oregon Road Trip Part Two This is part two of our 3,248-mile 13-day road trip we did in Oregon in 2013 that covers a great deal of the state and really gave us a flavor for its diversity of geography and culture the state has to offer. This post picks up in Burns Oregon and continues all the back to Portland. Part one can be found here. Oregon Road Trip Overview Overnight Stopping Points A Whirlwind 2 Week Oregon Road Trip Adventure Part 1 post covered the first 5 stops of the trip. B -Astoria C -Florence D- Diamond Lake E- Bend F - Burns These stops are covered here in this post F - Burns I - Ontario K -Joesph L -Baker City M -Service Creek N -Portland Day 7 Overview We started from our anchor point in Burns and embarked on a really full agenda with a large area to cover. We spent time at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, visited Diamond Craters, saw the Peter French round barn, climbed to the top of Steens Mountain and soaked in the Alford Desert Hot Springs. Day 7 Adventuring Malheur National Wildlife Refuge The Malheur National [...]
A Whirlwind 2 Week Oregon Road Trip Adventure Part 1
Overview of the Oregon Road Trip Part One. There have been times when we only had 2-3 weeks to travel. My Wife Nancy and I like to pick a state / area of North America and do what we jokingly call a "reconnaissance" trip where we spend our time moving rapidly from area to area. This gives us a good feel for what we might want to do when we come back and revisit an area at a slower pace someday. This was our 3,248-mile 13-day road trip we did in Oregon in 2013 that covers a great deal of the state and really gave us a flavor for its diversity of geography and culture the state has to offer. This is part 1 of a 2 part post. Click here to go to A Whirlwind 2 Week Oregon Road Trip Adventure Part 2 Oregon Road Trip Overview Overnight Stopping Points These stops are covered here in this post: "A Whirlwind 2 Week Oregon Road Trip Adventure Part 1". B -Astoria C -Florence D- Diamond Lake E- Bend F - Burns These stops are covered A Whirlwind 2 week Oregon Road Trip Adventure Part 2 F - Burns I - [...]
An Epic 10 Week Southern and Southwest Road Trip
We originally planned to fly into Rome and road trip over a few weeks up to Venice where we were going to catch an 8 country Mediterranean cruise. We waited until the first week of August before bailing out of this trip (too many Covid restrictions in place). This left us trying to figure out what travel we wanted to do this fall. On Monday, we cancelled out of our European vacation and started the process of putting a backup plan into motion. Hard to believe, but we had this trip planned and booked before the end of the weekend. Since we are retired now, we have a lot of flexibility when it comes to travel planning - but there are still time considerations. We decided to close our pool early this year (right after Labor Day) and we wanted to return home in time to celebrate Thanksgiving with our children and grandkids. That established the time frame of about 10 weeks maximum. Next we identified 2 major initial objectives: Big Bend National Park (West Texas) Flaming Gorge National Recreational Area (Northern Utah) Next we had to identify how to get to Big Bend, from Big Bend to Flaming Gorge and from [...]