"Holiday Road" - The Official Vacation Thread

[mitlen]

Spent 10 days  in Italy a few years ago, it was a tour that took us to Rome, Florence, Venice, Pisa, and several smaller towns that were SO gorgeous and I absolutely adored.  The tour was a really good way to see everything I wanted to see but it was pretty regimented as far as schedules so some people didn't care for not being able to spend as much time in one place as they wanted but it was Italy itself was magnifico!! The history, the scenery, the food, I adored every second of every part of Italy so I would highly recommend it as an awesome vacation destination  

"On the bus off the bus" tours don't work for me.    I don't have the attention span for them.   

...  NAS Sigonella?

[varoadking]

The river cruises sound pretty cool.  Best time of year...spring...summer...fall?

[skippy1999]

"On the bus off the bus" tours don't work for me.    I don't have the attention span for them.   

...  NAS Sigonella?

haha and I don't have the patience for trying to figure out where to go and how to get there
sadly we never were stationed overseas, I wish I could have taken that trip on the government's dime

[mitlen]

The river cruises sound pretty cool.  Best time of year...spring...summer...fall?

My buddy does May and September.

[varoadking]

My buddy does May and September.

Good to know...thanks...

[mitlen]

Good to know...thanks...

He says in the summer there's too many Americans.       

[blue911]

My buddy and his wife do the Viking cruises regularly and speak highly of them as well.

Ain't nothing wrong with raping the English coast.

[mitlen]

Ain't nothing wrong with raping the English coast.

Not those Viking cruises blue.   

[blue911]

Not those Viking cruises blue.   

Give me a break I'm old

[mitlen]

Give me a break I'm old

I was there for the druid thing.    We didn't like the Vikings.

[houston-nat]

If you want to go somewhere where everyone speaks perfect English, you could fly into Frankfurt, do a Rhine cruise, and also see places like Amsterdam, Antwerp, Cologne, and Heidelberg. Some really good wine country if you're into rieslings and other white wines. And of course, outstanding beers.

I agree with the May and September advice. Everyone in Europe goes on vacation in August, so all the tourist areas are swamped, especially with loud obnoxious English drunks and fat German men in tiny underpants. I've also heard that Florence and the rest of Tuscany are really lovely around Christmas time. I visited Barcelona in early January once and had a great time.

[varoadking]

Eastern Europe, Krakow budapest and Prague are all great and (at least the last time I was there),  the people actually liked Americans. I'd also reccomednd viking river cruises, I have family that swears by them

If you want to go somewhere where everyone speaks perfect English, you could fly into Frankfurt, do a Rhine cruise, and also see places like Amsterdam, Antwerp, Cologne, and Heidelberg. Some really good wine country if you're into rieslings and other white wines. And of course, outstanding beers.

I agree with the May and September advice. Everyone in Europe goes on vacation in August, so all the tourist areas are swamped, especially with loud obnoxious English drunks and fat German men in tiny underpants. I've also heard that Florence and the rest of Tuscany are really lovely around Christmas time. I visited Barcelona in early January once and had a great time.

Great suggestions...especially the time of year.

For rookies, this Viking Cruise idea was great...no muss, no fuss...getting pretty pumped about this...

[skippy1999]

Great suggestions...especially the time of year.

For rookies, this Viking Cruise idea was great...no muss, no fuss...getting pretty pumped about this...

You're making us all jealous of your retirement

[varoadking]

You're making us all jealous of your retirement

I still have a job...figuring out how to pay for everything... 

[HalfSmokes]

figuring out how to pay for everything... 

That's crushed most of my dreams of a European vacation now that I'm too old for a backpack and a rail pass to be enough of a plan

[varoadking]

That's crushed most of my dreams of a European vacation now that I'm too old for a backpack and a rail pass to be enough of a plan

Gotta find a way...you only live once...

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I'm not much of a cruise guy myself, but my aunt & uncle did the Danube river cruise from Budapest to Vienna last November and love love loved it. 

We were coincidentally in Budapest like a week or two after their boat sailed, and I really liked that town.  Might be the only major city in continental Europe where absolutely no one faults you for not speaking the language (Hungarian might as well be from another planet).  We just rented an AirBnB apartment and walked around for a few days. 

[varoadking]

I'm not much of a cruise guy myself, but my aunt & uncle did the Danube river cruise from Budapest to Vienna last November and love love loved it. 

Those are the 2 cities I most want to visit... 

[mitlen]

That's crushed most of my dreams of a European vacation now that I'm too old for a backpack and a rail pass to be enough of a plan

You're never too old.

[houston-nat]

Might be the only major city in continental Europe where absolutely no one faults you for not speaking the language

The Dutch speak English better than most Americans. One of the guys in our group tried speaking in Dutch and the waitress said "Aw, you really don't have to."

You're never too old.

Yup, I can't count the number of times I've seen someone pushing/passing 50 in a hostel and realized, oh wait, these aren't youth hostels.

[varoadking]

Very strange...

I requested a Viking River Cruises brochure online last night while this thread was going on about my post. 

There was a brochure in my mailbox before noon today...complete with my name and customer number...    

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

Now that's a USPS record.

I guess one can follow the Danube all the way upstream into Germany (or go the other way to the Black Sea).  The cruise ships docked in Budapest looked pretty nice...I guess central Europe was not much of a tourist destination before ~20 years ago. 

[HalfSmokes]

I was there around 2001 in Prague for study abroad, and there were still relatively few western europeans or americans either there or anywhere else we went (Budapest, Krakow, constanta, the black sea coast), but between the intact historical city cores and the cheap prices, you could see it coming. Everywhere was somewhere I'd want to return to except Romania which was, largely, an utter crap hole.  Direct budget flights from London apparently has since changed that.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I was in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1995 and it was still pretty damned Soviet.  Private restaurants were still few in number, but plenty of people were happy to cook for you for a couple of dollars.  It was the cheapest flight from Johannesburg to New York, so a good excuse for a layover

I think the farther south and east one goes, the more rustic things are. 

[varoadking]

Now that's a USPS record.

I guess one can follow the Danube all the way upstream into Germany (or go the other way to the Black Sea).  The cruise ships docked in Budapest looked pretty nice...I guess central Europe was not much of a tourist destination before ~20 years ago.

I think it is likely a very freak coincidence of a mass mailing, as it asks the USPS to deliver between 6/2 and 6/7... 

I'll know if I get another brochure in a few days...

I'm really focused on the Danube River tour.  My wife, while born in Frankfurt, spent 3 years living in Nuremburg...the last city on the route...