mikewalsh

Hi,

My wife and I are in our upper 40s, from Boston, travel each summer, enjoy exploring big cities and small towns with interesting culture, great sights, good food, history, architecture, etc. Our past trips have focused on Europe:

1998 Venice, Florence, Tuscany
2000 Paris, Provence and the Cotes d'Azur
2001 Rome and the Amalfi Coast
2002 Milan and the Lakes
2003 Athens, and the Cyclades
2004 Barcelona and the Costa Brava
2005 Nice and the Ligurian Coast
2006 Sicily

I'd love to read any suggestions you may have for next year based on where we've been! Thanks,

Mike

steviegene

when will you be going?

ma23peas

I would vote for South America...Brazil or Argentina...

Or if you want to stay near the Mediterranean...Morocco/Egypt

Will love to hear other's responses...

Tara

Sher

bookmarking

mikewalsh

Because we have 3 kids (who stay with their cousins), we typically travel early to mid-July each year.

Budman

Have you thought of the Benelux areas or even Munich/Bavaria/Austria. Switzerland is also nice, and expensive.

Travelbug13

Croatia!
Supposed to be the place to be this year, and better get there fast before everyone else finds out about this little gem!

Anywhere in Eastern Europe. Poland is also a hot spot these days.

Jed

Do you want to stay in the European area, or would consider other continents?

GeorgeW

Antarctica.

mikewalsh

We haven't considered anything new at this point, and I don't think we'd rule any places out (except bona fide 'dangerous' areas). We travel two weeks, which includes one day for getting there and getting back.

I'm starting the exploratory phase a bit earlier this year (as airfare 'opens' 330 days prior to travel dates, which is in a couple weeks).

taitai

I would do something totally different. See another part of the world. It will be winter in South America so Argentina wouldn't be as much fun as in Dec/Jan but still a good choice. What about Peru and hiking the Inca Trail. South Africa...good time for a safari although the beaches will be cold.

Asia...Japan? China? Thailand and its beautiful islands?

Or, if you must go to Europe, what about Iceland? Eastern Europe? Russia?

Have fun planning.

mr_go

Hi Mike. You sound a lot like us. We were kicking around the idea of Norway in summer '07...but now our thinking has shifted to Australia. Talk about apples and oranges!

Anyway, I noticed no Switzerland on your list. The Berner Oberland is flat-out gorgeous, and Zurich & Lucerne are interesting cities to explore. That's my 2 cents.

firmgirl

India.

Great country with so much to do - good food too.

And, it is very different from the places you have traveled before, which will be a nice change.

carylspall

Go Croatia and Slovenia in one trip before it changes any more!

mikewalsh

Thanks for the great ideas!

We love the warmth (heat?) of the summer (less to pack!) but might consider a colder destination.

No mention of these yet, which I've read about here: Prague and Vienna, Umbria and Assissi; Istanbul; Burgubdy; Normany; Portugal; Madrid.

Croatia sounds intriguing, I think I read about their 'riviera'.

I guess no matter what destinations we choose next, and after that, it will be difficult to match the feeling of seeing the amazing things for the first time from our earlier trips.

Travelbug13

Another great destination, that is outside of Europe is Costa Rica. I went this past spring and it was amazing. So much to do. And it is a great family destination.

Surfing lessons, zip-linning, white-water rafting, laying on the beach, hiking in the rainforest and so much more.

Just a thought if you want to explore somewhere besides Europe.

pittpurple

All my friends who have been to Prague still haven't stopped talking about it. My husband and I are going in a few weeks (hurray!) so I'll report back on it also. If you want to go, you should consider going now before they start using the Euro... just a thought.

Otherwise, I've always wanted to go to Australia... and that would be totally different.

Lexma90

It sounds like you're not necessarily the outdoors types, but how about:

- Austria, including the mountains in the west, Salzburg, and Vienna
- Switzerland (already mentioned), including the mountainous areas, which I much prefer to the Swiss cities
- Umbria, which is wonderful, but you would be including a visit here with places you've visited before (Venice and/or Rome)
- Scandanavia, generally (having not been to any of these countries myself, I can't provide anything more specific)
- Normandy and Brittany (and Paris)

Jan57

I agree with a previous posting--Go to Croatia and Slovenia! We went there summer of 2005 with our two teen boys and loved it. Started in Dubrovnik, Croatia, which is very beautiful. From there on to Split and Plitvice National Park north of Split. We then headed to Ljubljana, Slovenia, and then to Lake Bled. These are beautiful countries to visit, and we found the people very welcoming. In Slovenia they speak excellent English and communicating was never a problem in either country.

We flew into Dubrovnik and took the bus from there to Split. We picked up our rental car when we left Split. Worked out perfectly.

The drive from Lake Bled to Venice is very easy so we spent our last 4 nights in Venice, which we visited in 2002 but were able to visit Murano and Burano this time. (It is harder to take a rental car from Italy into Slovenia and Croatia so that is why we started in Dubrovnik and worked our way to Venice.)

Other destinations you mentioned in a later posting--Prague and Vienna we visited in 2004 and enjoyed very much. We also went to the small village south of Prague, Cesky Krumluv, which is very cute. On this trip we started near Frankfurt, Germany, onto Austria and the Czech. R. and ended in Berlin, which we enjoyed more than we thought we would. The Checkpoint Charley Museum is fascinating.


We recently returned from a 3 week trip to France and Italy. One week we spent in an agriturismo in southern Tuscany (very close to the Umbria border) and did day trips around the area. We visited Assisi one day and really enjoyed it. Umbria is very beautiful with lots of nice hill towns such as Orvito and Civita.

As far as Normandy, we visited there in 2003 on a France-only trip and thoroughly enjoyed it. Our boys found the World War II history fascinating. Not far from Normandy is the spectacular Mont St. Michel--a must see!

What month do you plan to travel? We always travel in June and July as our kids are out of school--more crowded but good weather. Good luck with your decision!

tower

Mike...taking some suggestions from a Quincy boy?!? (Californian for the past 49 years! Emerson College, B.U.)

Best Kept Secret in Southern Hemisphere:
C-H-I-L-E....(it could be quite cool, especially in the Andean Lake District..since July is mid-winter down thar!)What a wonderful hidden resource!! Very reasonable, fairly strong dollar anyway..I can give you some recommendations on lodgings and restaurants and sites to visit. It can be nicely coupled with Argentina, the biggest travel bargain of them all, right now.

But for Europe: The best time to explore Norway, Sweden and Denmark is summertime. We loved all three. More expensive than most parts of the continent.

Stu T. (Go Sox!)