Travels for Christmas

 

This is my thoughts on the best place to go just before Christmas. This of course will only apply to those that celebrate Christmas and we can certainly look traveling for holidays for those that practice other religions at a later date. This is not intended to offend anyone that does not celebrate Christmas.

I believe that the best place to go just before Christmas is Vienna. I have not yet been there and hopefully someday I will be able to afford it.

The Christmas Market there first opened 715 years ago. I would say they have had quite a bit of time to get if perfected and I and probably many of you, have seen it on some of the travel shows.

Scheduling it last minute like this is a bit pricy. The best I have been able to find as around 1500 dollars a person round trip just for the airfare.

As I always do I found a video of the approach and landing of a passenger aircraft at the local airport. In this case Vienna International. The video was shot and posted to YouTube by trainler.

 

After you arrive of course then comes the fun part. You will of course have already set up accommodations to suit what you may require. Once you have gone to your hotel or B&B or whatever and dropped your bags it is time to get started.

There is an official website with tons of information. You can find it here.

This of course is something I truly hope to be able to experience and if I do get the opportunity there will certainly be another blog post (possibly several) about how things went.

Enjoy and and Merry Christmas to all.

Happy Holidays to those who do not celebrate Christmas.

Technorati Tags: Christmas Market,Vienna,Austria,Europe,Old World Christmas,Holiday Travel

New Vacations

 

I am going to change the format a bit. Instead of huge dream vacations I will be focusing more on individual cities since in this economy very few people can afford the money or have the time to take long drawn out vacations.I will still do the occasional dream vacation but for the most part just individual locations.

We will start this new format out with a trip to Florence, Italy.

My trips all start from South Central Pennsylvania and there are a number of airports relatively close that I would use. Whichever one gives me the best price for travel is the one I would use. I am not locked into just one.

When checking airline flights always check more than one departure airport is there is more then one reasonably close. I have Harrisburg, Baltimore and Washington DC airports fairly close to me so I have several options when it comes to checking prices.

I am pricing this trip based on leaving the 1st Sunday in March and coming back that Saturday.

Flying out of Harrisburg the best price I found currently is $1055 per person round trip with several stops along the way.

Flying out of Dulles in Washington DC you can get the same trip, with just 1 stop on the way for a current price of $734 per person round trip so checking multiple departure points can save a bunch of money.

Since the Cheapest flight I found was Turkish Airlines I found a short video clip of a Turkish Airlines plane landing in Bologna which is where all trips to Florence seem to go from the searching I did.

One thing that I love to do when I get into a new city is to look around and get a feel for the people and culture and the best way to do that is to find some areas where the locals live and eat and try out those restaurants and shops and then hit the touristy spots to compare the 2 and see if there is a big difference or if tourists are actually treated like friends rather just visitors that are hogging up the shops and causing traffic jams and such.

Some of this is research you will need to do once you get in country unless you have some friends or relatives that are local to the area. Never be afraid to approach someone and ask questions. The best way to make people be willing to help you is to at least make an attempt to speak at least some of the language of the country you are in. If the locals see you making an effort but having problems they will be more likely to help you out by speaking English. Not everyone is a great English speaker but English is pretty well known in most countries around the world so if you have some Italian in this case and they have some English you should be able to have at least a reasonably informative conversation.

Never having been to Florence my research shows that as much of Italy there are quite a number of Museums and of course some wonderful churches. See what you can see. Go to a Mass and watch the service. And of course make sure you eat hearty. You are not going to get Italian food any more authentic then when you are in Italy.

Just be cautious and pay attention to what is going on around you. Any big city anywhere in the world will have their share of less than desirable people but if you just pay attention you should have no trouble at all and speak to and treat people the way you want to be treated. They are not your servants you are not at home so behave and you will have an awesome trip.

Technorati Tags: Vacation,Florence Italy,Europe

My Dream Trip to Romania

 

Eastern Europe is an area of the world I have always been fascinated with. I have never had the time nor the money to make a trip there but I have hopes. As always I have searched for and found a video of an Airline landing in the area I am writing about and in this case it landing in Bucharest which is where my trip will start.

Lufthansa Flight landing in Bucharest.

Once in country my trip would start with things that are nearby such as the

Snagov Monastery which is supposedly the place where Vlad Tepes is buried. For those of you not familiar with the history, Vlad Tepes (also known as Vlad the Impaler), was one of the people whose information was use by Bram Stoker in creating Dracula. Coincidentally enough Dracula was actually the family name of Vlad. His father was known as Vlad Dracul. Dracul meaning Dragon. Dracula means Son of the Dragon.

I will certainly also visit Sighisoara where Vlad was born and Poenari Fortress which is supposed to be the authentic Dracula's Castle.

There are also of course tons of things to see in Bucharest itself.

From there I will branch out to the rest of the country. Prior to my leaving I will be contacting a number of my friends from over the years to see if they have any thoughts on where to go. Tourist attractions are nice but I would like to see how the locals actually live along with seeing the shops, markets and restaurants that they eat at.

So there you have my Dream trip to Romania.

Technorati Tags: Romania,vacation,Eastern Europe,Bucharest. travel

Our Anniversary Trip to New Orleans

If any of you have not been to New Orleans then you really need to visit. There are still some areas that are no fully recovered from Hurricane Katrina but the people of New Orleans are a tough group and have been able to cope.

It is very hot and humid in the summer but I had such a wonderful time and the people are so incredibly kind that if I had the money to retire I would probably not have come home.

We stayed at a home not far from the French Quarter that is similar to a B&B except the they just supply the room and bed. Breakfast is something you find on your own.

That being said, the food in New Orleans if incredible. You can find restaurants all over that claim Cajun and creole food but while the ones near where I live have good food it is not even close to what you get down there.

The way to start your day is to go to the French Quarter and stop at Cafe du Monde. They have been in the same location for 151 years and they serve Beignets and coffee. The standard is an order of Cafe au lait  and Beignets. The Cafe au lait there is half very strong coffee with chicory and half hot milk. They are open 24/7/365 and that is all they serve. 151 years of practice makes it the most extraordinary meal you will have. Very simple but worth quality awards from around the world. They do a pretty good business. I spoke to the current owner at one point while I was ordering and he told me that they have 18 gallons of milk heated and ready at all times for the Cafe au lait orders. That is one hell of a lot of coffee being made and served.

The food in New Orleans is extremely good pretty much wherever you go. We got into town right around lunch time on our first day and our drive to our room took us within a few blocks of Willie Mae’s Scotch House. We have seen it on so many food shows that we had to try it. The chicken is very tasty and they make the best deep fried okra I have ever had. That being said there is far better chicken to be had. In the French Quarter at 630 Bourbon St. is a little hole in the wall place called Willie’s Chicken Shack. I have had fried chicken all over this country as well as the Bahamas, Canada, Japan and the Philippines and I can tell you that this chicken is the best ever. If this recipe is given out and they ever decide to branch out into other locations I can tell you that KFC and Popeye’s are doomed. That is how good it is.

For those that drink New Orleans is heaven. I have not researched the laws but according to a few of the tour guides we say the bars are required to close only 1 hour a year. Something like between 1 and 2 AM Ash Wednesday. I suspect to perhaps give the bar owners a chance to catch their breath after Mardi Gras.

The architecture and history in this town is amazing. When you go by all means take as many tours as you can. I did notice an interesting thing outside the city. We took a plantation tour north of the city along the Mississippi in the bayous. There are probably very few places where you drive along and come across road kill that turns out to be a 6 or 7 foot alligator. Possibly near the everglades but there are many, many roads that run through the bayous so lots of chances to come across something unexpected while driving.

In conclusion, make the trip to New Orleans. A wonderful friendly place that is unmatched by all but a very few places I have been.

Technorati Tags: Food,Cajun,Creole,vacation

Anniversary Trip to New Orleans

 

At the end of June my wife and I will be headed to New Orleans for a week to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary. I have been to numerous locations around the country as has she but neither one of us has been to New Orleans. We have a few plans but will be winging it for the most part. If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to email or message me.

Our plans are as follows. We will be getting into New Orleans around 10:30 AM or so on a Monday.

The following video is from YouTube by user PilotUTA. Very nice video of the approach and landing.

We plan on going to Willie Mae’s Scotch House for chicken for lunch. According to the map it is more or less on the way from the airport to the B & B we are staying at and since it opens at 11 I have hopes that we will not end up waiting for a long time for the food as is mentioned in many reviews. Most say the food is awesome but you can sometimes wait for a long, long time.

We are also planning to go to Casamento’s which is supposed to be one of the best seafood restaurants in the world let alone New Orleans.

The rest of our trip will involve seeing the historic sites and enjoying the music and the food for a week.

 

Technorati Tags: anniversary trip,vacation,New Orleans,food