Awhile back I posted regarding a special trip for my 50th birthday, musing about going somewhere new or to a favorite. Well I'm doing both. Going to Prague Nov 1 (someplace new) and to London over Thanksgiving (a favorite city - this is my 5th time there). I will be alone - any ideas how to make both trips extra special?

Hi, Vicky. I just saw your post about a 50th birthday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! It struck a chord with me because I'm one of those people whose birthdays fall on Tuesday or Wednesday, but my 50th was on a Friday and so I had a whole day at a spa, massages and manicures, lunch, etc., then out to dinner with a long-time gentleman friend who didn't know what birthday it was. My birthday this year (tomorrow) is amazingly also on a Friday and I too will be alone, but unfortunately, not in London or Prague. Since I travel alone alot, I always set up something really special for one day on each trip. One example: For years I'd wanted to see Mousetrap - and did that finally on a London trip - dressed up for a nice dinner and fun show (later, by the way, I saw on public tv a show about the queen's 50th anniversary where she went to the same theater to see Mousetrap which opened the year she was crowned. I sat there hollering at the screen "I was there - I was there&quot. There are a lot of excellent shows in London right now. Or I've considered a trip to a village in the countryside and dinner by the fire in an old inn - maybe one of those old pirate haunts. Prague seems (from pictures) to be incredibly romantic; a bridges tour, maybe? Ask someone to take your picture - it fixes the moment in time. I live in a dream world, populated by history and literature, so I find inspiration there. And that's one of the reasons I can travel alone so well; I have a lot of imaginary company. If I were going to Prague, I'd read some fiction set in Prague, or written by a Czech writer, to spark my imagination. (Hmmm. . . as I re-read this, it sounds as if I may have been recently discharged from the looney bin - I assure you that is not the case!!) Have a good trip and let us know what you plan to make it special.

Shanna, how can your b-day always be on the same day(s) of the week? It changes every year, skipping a day for each Leap Year.

Bonjour granmere, I didn't mean to say that it falls on only Tues or Wedns, but rather that it seldom falls on weekends - it took 11 years (1986 to 1997) for it to fall on a Friday again and there was no Saturday during that time! I was born on a Wednesday - (Wednesday's child is full of woe) - and had only one birthday party in my childhood thanks to it falling on a weekday (that was the woe part). So Vicky's 50th, her being alone, my 50th, being alone this year, etc., struck the double chord - ah, well, as I said, recently discharged.

Hi Shanna. I live in a dream world too but mine is made up of theatre and writing and art. I am going to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in London on Sat night and have a 'birthday gown' of royal blue organdy to wear with silver beaded evening sandals. Am also planning to hit V and A museum, British Museum, the art show on Bayswater, and a day trip to Bath. Re Prague - like the idea of the picture - when I go alone I dont' often have pictures of me there which is something I miss.