Sunshine

I've spent 7 weeks in Europe on vacation and it has only rained about 5 days, but those 5 days ruined the day! Am I a major wimp? Of course 4 of those days were in Provence, France and I don't remember there being any indoor things to do there. It only rained 1 day for 2 weeks in England! How much does weather affect your happiness on vacation?

s.fowler

Well it makes for a different experience -- but you just have to "go with the flow" so to speak [<I>sorry</I>] <BR> <BR>If I KNOW it is going to rain, then I plan to do as many indoor things as possible. If it rains enroute -- well if I'm not prepapred I get wet! <BR> <BR>Actually I came close to drowning in Vienna last summer. I was just so wet that there was no point in even caring So I slogged from the Kunsthistoriches Museum back to the hotel and took a hot shower before I continued my day

Ann

Rainy days can be fun on a vacation. Just take a candle, some bubble bath and find some soft music on the radio. Am I romancing about Venice again???

John

Last November we were on a tour by motor coach on the way up to Arthurs Pass in New Zealand. It was raining. Within two miles of the summit, the bus quit. The passengerload was too much for the incline. We were asked to get out and walk up to the summit in the rain. We were handed umbrellas and started on our way. Two miles later we met the bus at the summit and continued our tour. I've traveled worldwide and forgotten a lot of travel-related things, but I'll never forget that trip. <BR>

holly

Sunshine - <BR> <BR>It doesn't. Other than heavy rain making camping more difficult, I can't remember it ever coming close to ruining a trip? What about the rain ruins the trip for you?

JOdy

Not one little bit! If it's coming down in buckets head for an indoor activity, if you are in the countryside , have tea or a leisurely lunch, if you are stuck in the hotel, relax, grab a book, catch up with your journal or your love life! One of my most memorable nights in paris we were cought ina torrential unexpected downpour after leaving the restaurant late at night to walk back to our hotel. Standing forever in a doorway was not an option. Running for it was senseless as we were already as wet as we could get, so did the Gene kelley thing, sans umbrella, all the way back, had a wondereful evening and everything dried out by morning

Diane

We have some gorgeous pictures of Venice from our first RAINY morning there. The hotel provided giant umbrellas (boy, were they nice!) and we had no problems at all. Of course it cleared by lunch time, but we were lucky, I guess. Didn't mind the rain that morning, but days on end can be depressing (used to happen when we took our kids to visit Grannie & Pops in Florida every Christmas:"Oh, you should have been here LAST week") Ann, you really must have been fantisizing about soft music on Italian radio -- had to have been a CD! I always check out local radio wherever we travel, and it was pretty dreadful in Italy. At least music-wise...it was OK if you like to try to improve your language skills by listening and trying to translate yourself...On the other hand, Italian TV is a blast!

Holly

Coming from a very arid part of the USA where five months can pass without a drop of rain, I EMBRACE a rainy day when I'm traveling! Go out there, walk around, get wet, wear a waterproof outer layer, but no umbrella for me! I'll take a rainy day over a hot and muggy day any day. And it can make for some interesting photo ops. Especially after the rain stops and it starts to clear up. Usually fewer crowds outside to deal with, as well. Just look at the bright side of a rainy day and certainly don't let it ruin your day.

Linda

Rain never really bothers me. Well, maybe that's not really never. I recall one 6-day vacation in Belgium when it did not stop raining for the entire six days. We found things to do, but the rain sure did curtail our activities, and by the end of the vacation I was getting a bit depressed.

Bev

When I went to Italy in May it rained 6 of the 12 days we were gone. We did not see the famous "Tuscan sun" at all. However, I felt better about it after I talked to my husband and it was 107 that day in Phoenix. Today, the high is predicted to be 110; 112 tomorrow. We're lucky if we get 7 inches of rain a year. Right now, I'd love to be back in rainy Tuscany!

Danna

We arrived, by bus, in a little town, with a closed B&B in a fierce storm on the east coast of Ireland. Luckily the folks at the nearby elementary school drove us to the next town. After we were dry, warm and had 2 day reservations we saw on the news we were in a gale. Had never been in a gale before. It was fun looking at from inside our B&B. Felt bad for the fisherman out in his boat that frequently disappeared in the waves.

kal

Aloha, <BR> <BR>One goal I had on my first trip to Europe last year, Mrs Kal had been over before, was to get rained on in London and Paris. <BR> <BR>It was absolutely gorgeous! In London we walked all around the Buckingham Palace/Green and St James Parks...Almost had the whole place to ourselves. <BR> <BR>On our last night in Paris, we walked back from the Eiffel Tower to our hotel near the Arc when a light rain started falling. We took the long way back to our hotel... <BR> <BR>Something about a place during and right after a rain. The sights and smells will stay with me forever. <BR> <BR>We WISH it would have rained in <BR>Rome! Bad air days! <BR> <BR>While not a Europe story, one of our best travel/rain stories happened in New Orleans when we got caught in a massive rain storm while we were in Cafe Du Monde! <BR>Darn...what a place to have to sit and drink Cafe Au Lait and eat a few beignets and watch golf ball sized rain drops fall for an hour! <BR> <BR>Thank goodness it wasn't a place like Pat O'Brien's! <BR>Kal

don'tcrysomuch

sunshine - <BR> <BR>Sounds like you have an answer to your question about being a wimp.

Gayle

For starters you have to understand that I'm a person who normally HATEs rain -- makes your hair frizzy, etc. So I was very disappointed 5/00 with a sudden thundershower and heavy downpour just has we were about to enter Sissinghurst Garden in England. HOWEVER, it was short-lived, and when we walked through the garden the rain had brought out the most incredible fragrances from all the flowers and foliage! Plus, I'm sure the crowds were smaller because of it. Turned out to be my favorite experience of the whole trip.

Phyllis

The last time I was in Paris it rained buckets. We stood in a shop doorway until the owner very rudely ran us off. She said in English: If you are not going to buy anything, get out of my doorway. However, she was the only rude person we met; se la vie.

Rex

Not criticizing you for this error (&lt;&lt;se la vie&gt;&gt, just correcting for others who will think "I know that's not right, but what IS right?" <BR> <BR>It's c'est la vie <BR> <BR>a contraction of ça (that) and est (is). <BR> <BR>Best wishes, <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

Lauren

On any vacation, one cannot expect perfect weather every day. <BR> <BR>Rainy days are perfect for museums. Sunny days send me outside. <BR> <BR>I do remember one day in Scarborough, England, during a home exchange a few years ago where I simply caved in and stayed home all day and read a book. Of course, on a 4 week trip it is possible to do that without feeling guilty. <BR> <BR>The trick is to always have an alternative rainy day schedule. If I were in Provence and it were rainy, I would use it as an excuse for long leisurely lunches. I would also grind my teeth in disappointment, but such is life.

Carla

I'm from the Pacific Northwest, where rain is pretty much par for the course most of the year...and I LOVE it when it rains on vacation in Europe. I wear rain boots and carry an umbrella, and go everywhere I'd go anyway. <BR> <BR>I wouldn't like it in say, the Carribean, if I were going for the sun, but in European cities it just adds to the romance. Think of old movies, and enjoy!

sandi

My son and I take walks in the rain when we're home and vacations are no different.

StCirq

Rainy days just require a different approach to a vacation. The year before last, it rained nearly three weeks out of our four in France. The first few days we sat around and read, did errands, cleaned house, and generally kvetched about the weather. For the next two and a half weeks, we did whatever we would have done had it been sunny - we canoed in the rain, we hiked in the rain, we went horseback riding in the rain, and we swam in the rain. We also pulled a lot of weeds out of the garden, which is a lot easier in the rain! And we went touring to some places we might not otherwise have visited. Yes, if you've planned a long time for a trip abroad and spent a lot of money and invested a lot of time in research, it can be a disapointment not to have good weather, but heck, weather is just weather - it shouldn't keep you from having a good vacation. Anyone who spent 7 weeks in Europe and had only 5 days of rain was pretty darn lucky, IMO.