My Dream Trip to Europe part 5

From France I believe my next stop will be to go northeast into Luxembourg. Depending on how you want to handle things and on pricing it might be best at this point to get a Euro Rail pass of some kind so you can more easily make reservations and travel without having to worry about a car through all of Europe. If needed you can always rent one for a day wherever you are.

We go to the city of Luxembourg (yes the same name as the country). There are a number of absolutely fascinating things about this country and city. There are parts of the city where you can see 1000 years of history and architecture in a 2 hour walk.

 

In Luxembourg you can also do a fair amount of wine tasting in the Moselle Valley. There are a number of wine and grape festivals that run in various cities throughout the fall.

One more thing near and dear to my heart is the food. According to VisitLuxembourg.com there are more Michelin Star restaurants per capita than any other country in the world. While I am all about tasting and enjoying the local food that normal people eat I have no problem with the occasional really nice meal. This is a dream trip after all.

Technorati Tags: Vacation,Wine,Luxembourg,Travel,Europe

There's nothing like a funny dog costume

Guest post written by Drew Morton

One of the things that I love so much about having a dog is how cheerful he is all the time. No matter what my day's been like, he's always so happy when he sees me as I walk in the door home for the night. It's a special relationship, a man and his dog. I take him to all kinds of places when I'm out and about, so I knew that buying him a Halloween costume would only be appropriate.

When I was online a few weeks ago ordering him a dog costume, I ran across some clear internet reviews and after I read through them a little bit, I decided to change over my home's internet to one of those packages.

I picked out a funny dog costume where it looks like a little knight is riding him like he's his horse. I thought that it was by far the funniest costume I had seen and once I put it on him, I knew that I had made the right decision in buying it. Anyone at my neighbor's Halloween party would agree too.

My Dream Trip to Europe part 4

 

Since we are in France, we certainly would want to take advantage of a country that produces some of the very best wines in the world. I believe that part of this would of course be nice well apportioned hotels but I am thinking that camping in a few places would be very cool.

Think about it. You spend the day touring some wine makers and tasting some of the best wine around. You buy a few bottles and head back to the camp ground. You have dinner and then you sit in front of a lovely fire under the stars with a nice bottle of your favorite. How wonderful and romantic would it be under those circumstances stargazing with your significant other with a warm fire in the background and a bottle of Pinot Noir to share.

This is something that you would want to allow some time for. There are many wine producing areas of France although the 3 that are probably the most well known are Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne. I know that I have already used up several weeks with this plan but this is my dream vacation so I can spend as much time as I want.

Please also make use of the wonderful cuisine of  the areas since I am certain that there are places that will do some wonderful food and wine pairings for you so if you you are going to go to this extent for a vacation, Make the most of it that you can.

 

Technorati Tags: European Vacation,Bordeaux,Burgundy,Champagne,France,Wine,Camping

Be Sure of your Vision on Vacation

 

Nothing would be worse that to spend the time and money on a dream vacation only to get there and not be able to properly see the sites while you are there. Make sure that you have a spare set of glasses when on vacation.

We all know that glasses are expensive. More so when you are getting an extra pair not covered by insurance. If you do some research you can find discount prescription glasses. My personal favorite is WarbyParker.

When it comes to discount prescription glasses they are the best in my opinion. Their selections are great and not at all expensive and on top of that, WarbyParker cares.

Try them out. Great prices, free shipping and free home trial. Who can beat that? Get your discount prescription glasses from WarbyParker.

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My Dream Trip to Europe part 3

 

Now we are in France. Paris to be specific and we need to really take some time and see the city. There are of course all the famous landmarks but getting deeper and seeing the lesser known areas can be more rewarding. While we will certainly want to visit the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame and all of the famous landmarks, don’t forget that any city is comprised of far more than just the famous bits.

Walk down a side street and try a restaurant that the locals are eating at. Do some shopping at small local stores. Look for things that appear to not be focused at tourists to get a better idea of what life is actually like if you were to live there.

After a few days in Paris we will head off to the next part of the trip. This is something that you will want to take tours for unless you have been here many times and know your way around.

One thing that France has be renowned for world-wide is wine. Take tours of the wine making regions. See Bordeaux and Burgundy and have some tastings. A tour guide or a group tour would be best for this to make sure you do not miss anything.

With my next post we will visit the wine regions of France.

Technorati Tags: Vacation,France,Paris,Europe

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Camping Gear Outlet

So as part of my dream trip to Europe I was thinking that it would be a lot of fun to make part of it a camping trip. There are any number of wonderful campgrounds on the East Coast of the United States. For this trip since it is my dream vacation I would want to be well equipped for the camping part of it.

The first thing to look at is camping tents. A tent is certainly a necessity since of course you can’t control the weather and the Camping Gear Outlet has an awesome variety of camping tents.

Then of course you would want other camping gear beyond just the camping tents. Camping Gear Outlet can provide you with an incredible selection of camping gear from the basic to the more specialized.

Last but not least you would need to select from a variety of camping stoves because part of the fun of camping is cooking and eating in the outdoors. Camping Gear Outlet has a large selection of camping stoves to choose from and is your best bet for quality purchases.

Technorati Tags: camping,camping gear,camping tents,camping stoves

My Dream Trip to Europe part 2

 

As you will see from these posts my dream trip will require quite a lot of time although I would be tickled to be able to go to any one or two of these locations. Unlikely to happen unless things change dramatically but I will continue to dream on. Never, ever give up on your dreams!

While driving from Shannon to Dublin there are a few things that should be seen. According to comments on Fodor’s good places to see are Cahir Castle, Swiss Cottage and Rock of Cashel. Obviously a good map and GPS will be needed for the entirety this trip so make sure you come prepared.

From Dublin we would take the Ferry to Holyhead in wales and continue on from there. The price as of the date of this writing is 190 Euros and the trip is approximately 3 1/2 hours hours. That price is based on 2 passengers and a Hyundai Santa-Fe.

Driving from Holyhead to London is 289 miles and since we are still in the UK and will be driving on the opposite side of the road I would personally plan to take 2 days to get there rather than the 5 hours that some sites claim it takes. Two days gives time to be comfortable on the road and also allows time to see whatever local sites you come across as well as having time to get a great feel for truly local food.

Once in London a I plan to take 3-4 days to see the sites and experience what I can. Real Fish & Chips, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, The British Museum and whatever else you can think of that might strike your fancy.

When done in London the next thing would be to return the rental car and take the Eurostar train from London to Paris via the tunnel and get another car in Paris.

We will pick up in Paris with my next posting.

 

LiveJournal Tags: Vacation,London,Paris,Eurostar

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My dream trip to Europe part 1

 

I have posted about a few trips I have taken and about a few trips I would like to take. Now I will post the trip to Europe that I would love to be able to take. I will probably never make this trip since I have lost my middle class status and and am approaching abject poverty but such is life and I can always dream. If you lose your dreams then in my opinion you have lost everything.

My trip would start with a relaxing drive up the east coast of the United States to Boston while enjoying local foods along the way. I would start from Baltimore where they have such wonderful crabs. A nice bowl of crab soup and a nice soft-shell crab sandwich would be a wonderful lunch as we take in the Inner Harbor and surrounding sites. A stay at a reasonably priced hotel and the next stop would be Philadelphia for lunch. Who can go to Philly and not stop at Pat’s, Geno’s or Tony Luke’s for the sandwich that makes everyone around the world think of Philadelphia. The cheesesteak!

From Philadelphia we continue north on I-95 to New York City. For dinner I would think perhaps Katz’s Deli for the behemoth pastrami sandwich or maybe Grimaldi’s for a pizza from that incredibly hot brick fired oven. I would not stay in the city itself for cost reasons but the next day we would be on our way up I-95 to Boston stopping wherever we see something interesting. Once in Boston of course we would have to eat massive amounts of seafood and chowder.

From here we would start the main part of this vacation. You can get nonstop flights from Boston to Shannon in Ireland so there is where we start.

Flight landing compliments of Galwayfilmuser on YouTube

  After arriving in Shannon and a day to acclimate to the 5 hour time difference I would get a car and we would drive across Ireland to Dublin and take the ferry to Holyhead in Wales and continue on to London.

I will leave off there and continue on in my next post.

Technorati Tags: Dream Vacation,Vacation,Europe

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Vacationing in a Recession

I have been seeing many articles about how the recession has been over for several years now and that air travel is up. What I have to say to that is it must be nice to be one who can afford air fare and vacations.

Since I am not currently one of the “anointed ones” whose income allows such privileges I will continue to research and plan a wish list of vacations that I hope to be able to take at some point in my lifetime.

My next post will feature somewhere in Europe although I have not yet decided exactly where.

Stay tuned. I know I have not always posted as often as I should but I am vowing to correct that.

 

Technorati Tags: vacation,travel,recession

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Finland

 

Finland is a country in Europe that is between Sweden and Russia in Northern Europe. It is not one that seems to be heavily trafficked by tourists from the United States.

The research I have done shows me that Finland is a place that I certainly want to visit. It has some fascinating things that I would love to see and I , given the finances and opportunity, would go there in a heartbeat.

One thing I found is something called the Hiekkalinna which is essentially a giant sandcastle. But what a sandcastle. This structure is built in the summer by sand artists from all over the country and uses approximately 3 million kilograms of sand to create. That is absolutely worth seeing in my book.

My research also shows that the food would be wonderful although some may not appreciate the amount of wild game that is eaten. The winter is fairly long so there is a lot of reliance on tubers such as potatoes for part of the diet along with things like moose and reindeer meat. Cheese and fish are also popular. As I was looking up some of the items it seems that historically Finnish food tended to be very bland but there has been a great influx of cooking methods and styles from other cultures that has brought Finnish food to point where it is not boring at all. It works for me!

Going to Finland will most likely involve a flight into Helsinki such as this one.

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Back to posting

 

I am back to posting and hope to be posting regularly again. My next country for travel posts will be Finland. I will say again for those that have not been here before. I am researching and writing blogs as though I have been there. In some cases that is true but in most it is not. I am basically researching for trips I hope to be able to make in the future and those reading are welcome to make use of the research I I am doing.

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Traveling in a world without Osama Bin Laden!

 

Apparently in the last week there has been an enormous uptick in the number of people requesting refunds for their flights. It is not unreasonable to assume that his followers may try to attack again as retaliation for his death. What I do see as unreasonable is all the cancellations.

Trying to retaliate does not automatically mean succeeding in that retaliation. We do ourselves a lot of damage both economically and emotionally by assuming that any retaliation attempts will automatically succeed.

We now have very sophisticated screening equipment and policies in place to prevent the takeover or bombing of planes despite the cries of the privacy groups who would apparently rather be killed than go through a full body scanner. I will agree that the TSA and some airports have allowed the employment of a number of Neanderthals whose joy in life is to torment people over whom they have authority but those incidents are fairly rare and the people involved in them are chastised and/or terminated from that job.

Stop requesting refunds for your tickets. Take your vacation. Go on that business trip. If you do not, than the terrorists are winning without having to do a thing. 

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Travelling today is a bit challenging

Today we have some fairly large challenges in front of us should we want to travel. Those of us that are fortunate enough to be employed are probably living on a wage that keeps us alive but allows no extras of any kind such as travel.

Most will not want to take a chance because an awful lot of companies are actually setting you up for failure in some cases because as they back fill, they can hire at lower wages.

For instance, a friend of mine at another company was given a black mark on his record for clocking in (get this) 5 SECONDS late. He had never ever been late before. That is the kind of mindset that scare employees making it likely that only those that have retired on nice pensions or those that had the opportunity to invest at the correct times in the market will be traveling.

That being said, those of you that can travel should remember that when you are away you are NOT in your house. I saw some terrible things in the Philippines that happened because of an arrogant wealthy American that believed the world owed him everything because he had money.

Please do not make it harder for us to regain our credibility in the world. We have enough trouble and truly do not need anymore.