Robespierre

Well, if you're going to leave Thursday night, you might as well fly straight to London and get there a day earlier.

bob_brown

How about Montreal? It is French enough to be foreign to a non French speaker even if it is just a few miles from the US border.

As for the closest, Shannon is about 3065 miles from New York's airports; Lisbon is 3371. Those are great circle distances.

wasleys

The Azores are closer to DC than Reykjavik. Come to think of it Greenland is even closer, and that's still Danish, unlike Iceland. (Are we being trolled?)

Michael

Heimdall

No, but you're being a bit pedantic.

miz

Dates: Dec 29-Jan 2
Some answers: I have to work until Midnight Thurs so leaving Thurs night won't work.

Montreal: (birthplace)I have family there so I am there all the time so was looking for something different.

Newfoundland in winter : I am Canadian you are right I would not go there in winter

London, Paris: I have already been to both places.

Iceland & Dublin: - not appealing to me

One of my friends has just told me to stop trying to tour the world in a couple of days and just go south to Florida. Hmmm....

Musicteacher

If you work until midnight Thursday, then the next available flight to Europe would be Friday morning on United from Dulles to London. This would arrive late Friday night, so you couldn't do anything until Saturday morning.

You could get an overnight flight Friday night to many destinations in Europe arriving early Saturday morning. (If the flight is non-stop, then there would be only a couple of hours difference between various destinations, so choose where you want to go.) This would give you Saturday, Sunday. and Monday in Europe. Tuesday would be devoted to your return flight.

Whether you want to go to Europe for three days is up to you.

jgarvey

A couple suggested Montreal. But even in winter I would love to be in Quebec. Very very French, beautiful, picturesque, charming and much to see. Take a look on line and think about it.

miz

jgarvey...I posted this earlier about Montreal:

Montreal: (birthplace)I have family there so I am there all the time so was looking for something different.

Montreal is home for me. I now live in USA.

jgarvey

Yes, I see that now. I think our messages crossed. Sorry. What about New Orleans, San Antonio, Charlston or Savannah, Santa Fe? What about the Caribbean?? I can certainly understand that you don't want to spend 2 days of your short break in a plane. Hope you get the help you need. You are in a great place here to get advice and suggesions.

cmt

one of the cities in the Azores, maybe

Cimbrone

Try the colonial cities of mexico or (although I haven't been) the islands of guadaloupe or martinique for some europe in our own backyard!

Heimdall

Miz, Florida may not be a bad idea, but for something a little more exotic, what about the Caribbean? Martinique, for example, if I remember correctly, is even considered a departement of France. A little bit of Europe with warm winter sunshine - what could be better?

ira

Hi M,

San Martin, Martinique, Aruba....

A 3-day cruise to nowhere out of Lauderdale or Miami.

Heimdall

I'd probably jump ship after the first day.

miz

UPDATE - OK everyone I took the suggestion posted by "ira"
***************************************
Author: ira
Date: 12/24/2006, 06:34 am
Hi M,

"San Martin, Martinique, Aruba....

A 3-day cruise to nowhere out of Lauderdale or Miami."
**********************************

I decided it was best to try and "Max Out" my time (only 5 days & 4 nights) and not spend the majority of it just getting to & from my destination & not having enough time for whereever I went.

As "jgarvey" said in a posting:
**********************************
Author: jgarvey
Date: 12/23/2006, 10:19 pm
"I can certainly understand that you don't want to spend 2 days of your short break in a plane."
*********************************

So I am taking a 3 day cruise from Miami (2 hr direct flight) I am flying into Ft Lauderdale...cheaper/better schedule).

The cruise is going to Nassau and has a special New Year's Eve celebration.

It leaves Miami Fri Dec 29, we spend Sat/Sat night (Dec 30)in Nassau,
Sun (New Years Eve) at sea with New Year's Eve festivities & Mon (Jan 1)we head back to Miami Jan 1 & arrive in the morning.

I plan to book into a hotel and spend Mon and part of Tues enjoying Miami
and then fly back home Tues evening, once again a 2 hr direct flight.

I am a first-time crusier, so looking forward to a fun time for New Years Eve, meeting some new people and the short cruise experience.

Thanks to all your suggestions. I will
be doing Italy for 11 days in March and will be posting lots of questions on this forum to help me enjoy that trip from all advise I get from the experts here.

PalenqueBob

Just booked round trip mid-west into Amsterdam and out of London for Jan-Feb and paid $513 all taxes included - can't get much lower than that.

janisj

&quot;<i>can't get much lower than that.</i>&quot;

How about $411 inc taxes from the west coast into London and out of Frankfurt??

jgarvey

Dear Miz, congratulations on making a wonderful decision. Don't you feel just great now that you have it all worked out? And a 2-hour direct flight?-Super deal. You probably can't even drive from one side of D.C. to the other in just two hours! Isn't ira great? Many on this site profit from his valuable travel advice on a daily basis. I know that I have. And he has even contributed some more advice to my son's trip to Italy in a couple of days--even what sort of camera to buy! Do have a wonderful trip with all of this extra time you have created for yourself by your wise choice. Please let us know all about it when you return.

P.S. I am going to spend a month in and around Rome between Feb. and March. I will be happy to assist you with any experience that I can gather on this trip--as will many others on this forum who have a wealth of experience to share about travel to Italy. Good luck and bon voyage!

P.S. Make sure you drink a few Mohitos (sp?) and eat some great Cuban food when you are in Miami.

miz

I have returned from the cruise and what a great time I had. It was so much fun and I made friends that I know I will have for a long time. I am so happy I made this decision. It was my first time cruising and I have no regrets at all. I spent an extra day at the end just hanging out in Miami and Ft Lauderdale. ira thanks for the suggestion. New Year's Eve was at sea and was great. the whole trip the weather was fantastic and the sailing was smooth. Thanks to all who offered suggested for my trip.