Take a Vacation

[Pelado]

So we've plotted out our itinerary. It's much more moving around than what we'd like, primarily because of trying to work our way across Normandy to Mont Saint Michel. We're trying to get a taste of both urban and rural in each of the three countries we'll be visiting.

4 nights in London
2 nights in Benson UK (with day trip to the Cotswolds, maybe more)
Chunnel train from London to Paris
2 nights in Rouen
1 night in Bayeux
1 night in Mont Saint Michel
3 nights in Paris
Fly to Florence
3 nights in Florence
3 nights near San Gimignano, Italy (with day trips to Siena, Volterra, maybe more)
Fly back home with an overnight in Zurich

[PaloAltoCougar]

So we've plotted out our itinerary. It's much more moving around than what we'd like, primarily because of trying to work our way across Normandy to Mont Saint Michel. We're trying to get a taste of both urban and rural in each of the three countries we'll be visiting.

4 nights in London
2 nights in Benson UK (with day trip to the Cotswolds, maybe more)
Chunnel train from London to Paris
2 nights in Rouen
1 night in Bayeux
1 night in Mont Saint Michel
3 nights in Paris
Fly to Florence
3 nights in Florence
3 nights near San Gimignano, Italy (with day trips to Siena, Volterra, maybe more)
Fly back home with an overnight in Zurich

That'll be a fun trip. This is coming a little late, but I'd recommend instead of nights in Rouen, Bayeux, and Mont Saint Michel, find a great B&B in Normandy (perhaps somewhere in the vicinity of St. Lo), and stay there four nights, using that as a base for visiting Bayeux, the Normandy Beaches, St. Mere Eglise, and Mont St. Michel. You can stop at Rouen on your way to/from Paris (including a quick stop at Giverny if you're a Monet fan). You'll be driving an hour or so each way from your base to the other sites, but it's beautiful scenery and you'll save a lot of time and aggravation packing/unpacking. We've done it that way twice and loved it.

Rouen's nice, but I think you can hit the highlights in three hours.

The place we stayed at, La Ducrie, was superb but it changed ownership recently and won't re-open until later this year.

[Bo Diddley]

That'll be a fun trip. This is coming a little late, but I'd recommend instead of nights in Rouen, Bayeux, and Mont Saint Michel, find a great B&B in Normandy (perhaps somewhere in the vicinity of St. Lo), and stay there four nights, using that as a base for visiting Bayeux, the Normandy Beaches, St. Mere Eglise, and Mont St. Michel. You can stop at Rouen on your way to/from Paris (including a quick stop at Giverny if you're a Monet fan). You'll be driving an hour or so each way from your base to the other sites, but it's beautiful scenery and you'll save a lot of time and aggravation packing/unpacking. We've done it that way twice and loved it.

Rouen's nice, but I think you can hit the highlights in three hours.

The place we stayed at, La Ducrie, was superb but it changed ownership recently and won't re-open until later this year.

I'm tucking this away for later.

[Pelado]

That'll be a fun trip. This is coming a little late, but I'd recommend instead of nights in Rouen, Bayeux, and Mont Saint Michel, find a great B&B in Normandy (perhaps somewhere in the vicinity of St. Lo), and stay there four nights, using that as a base for visiting Bayeux, the Normandy Beaches, St. Mere Eglise, and Mont St. Michel. You can stop at Rouen on your way to/from Paris (including a quick stop at Giverny if you're a Monet fan). You'll be driving an hour or so each way from your base to the other sites, but it's beautiful scenery and you'll save a lot of time and aggravation packing/unpacking. We've done it that way twice and loved it.

Rouen's nice, but I think you can hit the highlights in three hours.

The place we stayed at, La Ducrie, was superb but it changed ownership recently and won't re-open until later this year.

Thanks. We're still open to changes - all of the places we've booked have free cancellation for at least into April or May.

The draw to Rouen is at least three-fold:

1) the Chunnel train doesn't drop us off until around 5 pm or so, and I don't really want to be driving in the dark on my first night in a foreign country and Rouen is relatively close to Paris
2) my wife liked the shops that she saw there on Rick Steves' episode about Normandy - and the whole Joan of Arc connection
3) it gets us closer to Omaha beach and Mont Saint Michel

The idea behind staying the night at Mont Saint Michel is that we could get there later in the day and experience it with very few other people around. Is staying the night at Mont Saint Michel worth it?

If we aren't going to stay the night there, part of me is thinking to just ditch Mont Saint Michel entirely. My wife isn't excited about vertical climbs or being around huge crowds. If we just make it a day trip from a B&B home base, as you suggest, is there any way to avoid being there with huge throngs of other people? If not, I don't think she'd really appreciate it that much. Then again, I'm not sure how much she'll appreciate it with our staying the night there, either.

She also has no interest in WWII sites. I talked about us doing the half-day guided tour with Overlord Tours (suggested by Moliere), but she had no interest in spending 3-4 hours doing that. I heard about a free English-language tour that they do each afternoon at the American cemetery. I might be able to get her to do that plus some self-guided site-seeing at Pointe du Hoc, etc.

So I'm considering ditching Normandy altogether and opting instead for something in the Loire Valley. We could do something similar to what you're suggesting - get a B&B in a central location (Tours?) and do some day trips from there to the various palaces and such.

[BigFatMeanie]

Australia/New Zealand coming up soon. Here is our itinerary:

SFO to Sydney - 18 hours non stop!
4 nights in Sydney. Wife wants to see Taronga Zoo because of some stupid animal show she watches on TV Have tickets for La Boheme at the Sydney Opera House. Probably take the ferry to Manly and walk the beaches, Australian Museum, Royal Botanic Garden, art galleries, restaurants, historic walks (The Rocks), etc. - all the typical Sydney stuff.
3 nights in Cairns. Fly in Saturday night, go to church on Sunday morning and do laundry at the AirBnB, Great Barrier Reef tour on Monday.
Fly to Auckland via Sydney.
2 nights in Auckland. Auckland Museum, art gallery, harbor sail - typical Auckland stuff
Rent a car in Auckland on the 3rd day and drive up to the far north part of the North Island. It's far from the hurricane/flood-torn area so hopefully we don't have road closures and hurricane damage and stuff like that to deal with.
3 nights in a bed and breakfast in a small farm town way up north. Coastal hiking, sea kayaking, Waitangi treaty grounds
Church on Sunday in the small town (there are LDS churches seemingly everywhere in New Zealand) then drive to Auckland and fly to Wellington.
2 nights in Wellington - Te Papa museum, other Wellington stuff.
Fly back to Sydney stay at a hotel near airport.
Sydney to SFO the next morning.

[Pelado]

Australia/New Zealand coming up soon. Here is our itinerary:

SFO to Sydney - 18 hours non stop!
4 nights in Sydney. Wife wants to see Taronga Zoo because of some stupid animal show she watches on TV Have tickets for La Boheme at the Sydney Opera House. Probably take the ferry to Manly and walk the beaches, Australian Museum, Royal Botanic Garden, art galleries, restaurants, historic walks (The Rocks), etc. - all the typical Sydney stuff.
3 nights in Cairns. Fly in Saturday night, go to church on Sunday morning and do laundry at the AirBnB, Great Barrier Reef tour on Monday.
Fly to Auckland via Sydney.
2 nights in Auckland. Auckland Museum, art gallery, harbor sail - typical Auckland stuff
Rent a car in Auckland on the 3rd day and drive up to the far north part of the North Island. It's far from the hurricane/flood-torn area so hopefully we don't have road closures and hurricane damage and stuff like that to deal with.
3 nights in a bed and breakfast in a small farm town way up north. Coastal hiking, sea kayaking, Waitangi treaty grounds
Church on Sunday in the small town (there are LDS churches seemingly everywhere in New Zealand) then drive to Auckland and fly to Wellington.
2 nights in Wellington - Te Papa museum, other Wellington stuff.
Fly back to Sydney stay at a hotel near airport.
Sydney to SFO the next morning.

How are you getting to Cairns from Sydney?

[BigFatMeanie]

How are you getting to Cairns from Sydney?

JetStar flight JQ952. It's a 3-hour flight with an hour time-zone change.

[Northwestcoug]

So we've plotted out our itinerary. It's much more moving around than what we'd like, primarily because of trying to work our way across Normandy to Mont Saint Michel. We're trying to get a taste of both urban and rural in each of the three countries we'll be visiting.

4 nights in London
2 nights in Benson UK (with day trip to the Cotswolds, maybe more)
Chunnel train from London to Paris
2 nights in Rouen
1 night in Bayeux
1 night in Mont Saint Michel
3 nights in Paris
Fly to Florence
3 nights in Florence
3 nights near San Gimignano, Italy (with day trips to Siena, Volterra, maybe more)
Fly back home with an overnight in Zurich

I like it. Solid 'don't want to hassle with Rome' travel snob chops!

Just remember, Lucca.

[Northwestcoug]

Australia/New Zealand coming up soon. Here is our itinerary:

SFO to Sydney - 18 hours non stop!
4 nights in Sydney. Wife wants to see Taronga Zoo because of some stupid animal show she watches on TV Have tickets for La Boheme at the Sydney Opera House. Probably take the ferry to Manly and walk the beaches, Australian Museum, Royal Botanic Garden, art galleries, restaurants, historic walks (The Rocks), etc. - all the typical Sydney stuff.
3 nights in Cairns. Fly in Saturday night, go to church on Sunday morning and do laundry at the AirBnB, Great Barrier Reef tour on Monday.
Fly to Auckland via Sydney.
2 nights in Auckland. Auckland Museum, art gallery, harbor sail - typical Auckland stuff
Rent a car in Auckland on the 3rd day and drive up to the far north part of the North Island. It's far from the hurricane/flood-torn area so hopefully we don't have road closures and hurricane damage and stuff like that to deal with.
3 nights in a bed and breakfast in a small farm town way up north. Coastal hiking, sea kayaking, Waitangi treaty grounds
Church on Sunday in the small town (there are LDS churches seemingly everywhere in New Zealand) then drive to Auckland and fly to Wellington.
2 nights in Wellington - Te Papa museum, other Wellington stuff.
Fly back to Sydney stay at a hotel near airport.
Sydney to SFO the next morning.

We have 3 weeks booked for New Zealand next February. I'll be expecting your report.

[Pelado]

I like it. Solid 'don't want to hassle with Rome' travel snob chops!

Just remember, Lucca.

Our current itinerary calls for us to fly out of Rome, but I'm hoping to change that to fly out of Florence. Remind me the significance of Lucca? We're currently planning a day trip to Pisa on one of our Florence days taking the train there and back. Lucca could be part of that.

[Northwestcoug]

Our current itinerary calls for us to fly out of Rome, but I'm hoping to change that to fly out of Florence. Remind me the significance of Lucca? We're currently planning a day trip to Pisa on one of our Florence days taking the train there and back. Lucca could be part of that.

You can fit Lucca and Pisa both into a day trip. Lucca would be the first site from Florence. it's a very picturesque town that still has Renaissance-era surrounding walls. You can rent bikes and ride the circumference of the town in an hour or so; great way to see the town. And then just meander through some of the streets. One of my favorite places in Tuscany. You will like it better than Pisa.

I'm not sure about the train aspect of it though. We rented a car to do the Lucca-Pisa trip from Florence area both times.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Thanks. We're still open to changes - all of the places we've booked have free cancellation for at least into April or May.

The draw to Rouen is at least three-fold:

1) the Chunnel train doesn't drop us off until around 5 pm or so, and I don't really want to be driving in the dark on my first night in a foreign country and Rouen is relatively close to Paris
2) my wife liked the shops that she saw there on Rick Steves' episode about Normandy - and the whole Joan of Arc connection
3) it gets us closer to Omaha beach and Mont Saint Michel

The idea behind staying the night at Mont Saint Michel is that we could get there later in the day and experience it with very few other people around. Is staying the night at Mont Saint Michel worth it?

If we aren't going to stay the night there, part of me is thinking to just ditch Mont Saint Michel entirely. My wife isn't excited about vertical climbs or being around huge crowds. If we just make it a day trip from a B&B home base, as you suggest, is there any way to avoid being there with huge throngs of other people? If not, I don't think she'd really appreciate it that much. Then again, I'm not sure how much she'll appreciate it with our staying the night there, either.

She also has no interest in WWII sites. I talked about us doing the half-day guided tour with Overlord Tours (suggested by Moliere), but she had no interest in spending 3-4 hours doing that. I heard about a free English-language tour that they do each afternoon at the American cemetery. I might be able to get her to do that plus some self-guided site-seeing at Pointe du Hoc, etc.

So I'm considering ditching Normandy altogether and opting instead for something in the Loire Valley. We could do something similar to what you're suggesting - get a B&B in a central location (Tours?) and do some day trips from there to the various palaces and such.

When does you trip begin? Bummer your wife isn't more into the D-Day thing. We've gone twice, spending pretty much all day both times, The first time I prepared my own tour using Stephen Ambrose's books (D-Day, Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldiers) as a guide; the wife and the three kids we took enjoyed it. Sadly, I can't find a copy of my masterwork... The other was the one mentioned in the Normandy thread.

Our first tour also included a visit to Pegasus Bridge (now torn down and moved to a nearby museum, I believe) and the Bayeux Tapestry which even the kids enjoyed, due in part to their being amused by a busload of very flatulent Romanian tourists.

That said, given your wife's preferences, perhaps it'd be better to opt for the Loire. There are a lot of cool chateaux (Chenonceau, Chambord and Amboise are great). On the way from Rouen you could visit Giverny (if your wife is a Monet fan) and Chartres Cathedral. Skipping Mont Saint Michel wouldn't be tragic. Although the crowds are gone, there's nothing to do there after hours.

The happier your wife is, the better the trip will be for both of you. Sorry I'm muddying the waters.

[Pelado]

When does you trip begin? Bummer your wife isn't more into the D-Day thing. We've gone twice, spending pretty much all day both times, The first time I prepared my own tour using Stephen Ambrose's books (D-Day, Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldiers) as a guide; the wife and the three kids we took enjoyed it. Sadly, I can't find a copy of my masterwork... The other was the one mentioned in the Normandy thread.

Our first tour also included a visit to Pegasus Bridge (now torn down and moved to a nearby museum, I believe) and the Bayeux Tapestry which even the kids enjoyed, due in part to their being amused by a busload of very flatulent Romanian tourists.

That said, given your wife's preferences, perhaps it'd be better to opt for the Loire. There are a lot of cool chateaux (Chenonceau, Chambord and Amboise are great). On the way from Rouen you could visit Giverny (if your wife is a Monet fan) and Chartres Cathedral. Skipping Mont Saint Michel wouldn't be tragic. Although the crowds are gone, there's nothing to do there after hours.

The happier your wife is, the better the trip will be for both of you. Sorry I'm muddying the waters.

No need to apologize. I appreciate the insight. And she's not a fan of Monet. She does like Van Gogh's "Irises" painting (her favorite flower). Other than that, she doesn't seem to care much about art and doesn't want to go to a bunch of art museums/exhibits.

What she is interested in, is pretty much anything to do with Princess Diana or the wives of Henry VIII. So much of our time in the UK will be occupied by Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle, Hampton Court, and some castle near the border with Wales that was occupied by Catherine Parr. She claims she's related to Catherine.

[BigPiney]

I just booked a trip for me and 2 kids to Geneva in June on British Airways. Round trip in the poor section is low 800s for June and July out of Las Vegas. That is a great price for summer.

We are going spend half the time in Switzerland and the other part in Paris, maybe a day trip up to Belgium for some waffles. My dad, who is not doing well, loves France and one of his last wishes is to take the grandkids to Paris. I just hope he makes it.

[Jeff Lebowski]

No Rome? Naples? Pompei?