The rhythm of our family traveling is different now. We're no longer constrained by just a few weeks of vacation a year... now we have the flexibility of potentially more time, but we have to watch the travel budget much more closely! We hope to be able to visit Europe as a family twice a year, but then we struggle with the decision of where to go and how to stretch our travel.

But I am still thinking out to the future and new European adventures. My struggle is this. We love Provence so much, and it is like another home to us. There are other places we love too-- the Cotswolds, the Salzkammergut, Bavaria-- that visited several times and want to go to again. There are the cities that seem to continue to call us: London, Paris, Rome. Places we touched that we didn't get to experience enough: Yorkshire, Cornwall, Normandy, Burgundy, Umbria, the Swiss Alps, Lake Como, Ireland. And THEN there are the places we haven't yet been: Piedmonte, the Netherlands, other parts of Germany, more of Italy, most of Spain, Eastern Europe, Greece.

How do the rest of you resolve this problem? Do you find that you have one place that keeps calling you back? What about the places yet to discover? How do you balance these two different kinds of travel? And what do you do if you're like me and you love it ALL?!!!

Oh, and then there's always AMERICA that we want to see more of! And Australia, and...

Kathy

Kathy, you have expressed the very dilemma that STeve and I are faced with again and again: To return to what you know you love, or to reach out and explore something new? Steve is more inclined towards the former, and me towards the latter. We solve the problem by alternating. Or we follow a plan like we did this year - Spend most of the time in a familiar place, but tack on a place you've never been before, or a place you haven't been in many years.
On my new places to explore list, I have several place which keep jockeying for position #1:
Croatia
New Zealand
Greece
Spain
More Caribbean
More California
More Hawaii
Comfy familiar places are central Italy and most of France.
Right now, I'm in the mood for something new.
Like you, we are limited by budget. We plan to take one good lengthy trip a year, probably to Europe, and one or maybe two little ones closer to home. We have a house that needs some attention. I see it all as travel dollars. Unfortunately for our house, the travel plans usually win! I figure "Do it now" before you get too old. I can remodel later. I can take cruises when I'm infirm.
Linda

Well, right now the girls are dictating our travel plans directly and indirectly. Since we offered them parties or trips for their Bat Mitzvah's they both chose trips and they get to choose destinations. So it's Israel (we leave in 3 weeks) for Becky, and then in Spring 2009, Paris for Sammi.

Now, next summer, both of them are going to sleep-away camp for one week. We want to go away on our own, but we don't want to go so far that we can't be within a single easy day's drive of them. So we drew a circle, and settled on hiking and biking in Vermont. Other than visiting the 'rents in Florida, that takes care of 2007 (we'll need to recover from the expenses of this year). Currently 2008 is wide open. Our long range forecast is to return to Sicily (we've only been there for 3 days), with the girls to try to find Chris's second and third cousins - the desire to do this before Chris's aunt can no longer travel with us, is making us choose that destination then.

Oh and b/c 2009 is our 20th wedding anniversary, a non-girl dictated trip, we want to return to Italy (since we'll finally get to choose). We're just not sure if we're going to spend some time in Piedmont, some time in Piedmont followed by some time in Venice or take advantage of that new service from JFK into Pisa, and spend some time in Siena followed by a week in Montalcino.

2010 - no plans yet - perhaps I'll finally get Chris to England, maybe we'll go searching for Chris's Dad's family in Germany, who knows - maybe we'll draw something out of a hat .

That brings us to 2011 and the girls dictate again. Becky graduates high school and we're debating whether or not to take a trip to celebrate. If we do, she's already selected Greece as a destination, though I'll probably change that to Greece and Turkey.

That's as far as we've gotten with our dreams.

As far as the US, our long range dream, once we retire, is to drive around the country and see a baseball game in every major leage (and maybe some minor league) park there is. .

I'm always thinking of new places but also get itchy for the old. It seems easiest to do a little of both on the same trip if at all possible - on my last trip to Spain I really wanted to go back to Madrid, but traded it for a week at Clive and Sue's, which was oh-so-worth-it because there were so many places they took us to that I never in a million years would have sought out on my own, not to mention I made two new friends. That was fate intervening. Never underestimate fate.

Next year I am going to Ireland and England for the first time, but now have a bee in my bonnet to go back to Amsterdam for my birthday, and then to Berlin if my brother moves there to be with his new girlfriend.

The only place I don't really care about going back to at the moment is Italy! Well, except for Naples, Le Marche, Piedmont, and Puglia (dang, here we go again.)

I do find that I am more stimulated when I go to new places - I like the newness and the adventure. Going back to the same places, I am even more lazy than normal, which is pretty danged lazy. Having said that, there are so many cities I want to go back to and BE lazy. (Paris for my birthday in 2009, for instance, Kim. ) Sometimes I wish I had never traveled to Europe at all, then maybe I wouldn't be thinking about it all the time.

This is a discussion that goes on in our house all the time. I love new places, but I'm always drawn back to France, especially Provence. I keep telling Frank that just one more trip should be enough to get it out of my system. Of course, I've been telling him that for years, so he just rolls his eyes.

Next spring we're going back to favorite places in the Loire Valley and Provence, but we're also adding a week in the Dordogne, which is new to us. A year from now we're thinking of Spain, which is all new.

We're trying to get into the routine of a spring trip and fall trip every year, each one about three weeks. I would never give up returning to my favorites, but that should allow us at least one new destination every year.

quote:

(Paris for my birthday in 2009, for instance, Kim. )

We should talk .

Like Chris, ideally I'd love to be able to do two major trips a year, one to our old favorite and one somewhere new but at this point in our lives it's not feasible for so many reasons.

I feel like if I continue to stick to my comfort zone, I won't grow. So I go to different places as well as return to the familiar every so often. I just did Paris and Loire Valley--my first trip to France. I loved every minute of it, but it wasn't the same feeling I get in Italy. The unfamiliar ones are adventures, the familiar a change in routine. I love both. It has been about 13 months since I've been to Italy. Unfortunately I might be back for a funeral in the next few months. I am hoping my next adventure place is either Spain or Ireland/Scotland (strong family ties in Ireland). These are fun choices to make.

When I can travel without my kids, my god, it seems that would be all that much easier. I can't even begin to fathom that. My daughter's chosen trip is South Africa (she has loved zebras all her life) and my son hasn't expressed an interest. So here is our travel list (as of now and in no order):

of course we will always visit Italy!

South Africa
Vancouver
Spain
Ireland
Scotland
Portugal
Greece
Southern France
India
Sicily
Morocco
Amsterdam
Prague
Sardinia
Yosemite Park


I just can't figure out if I am addicted to traveling or addicted to leaving! So much to see, so little time. (uh, and money)

Kathy - such a familiar topic for me - I'm always tossing and turning things over about this.

We usually take one big trip a year, due to financial and time constraints; but that should all change after college tuition payments for my son finish at the end of the school year this spring

Then the real problems begin! As we plan to funnel alot of that new-found $$ into travel, where to go?

A lot (not all) of our travel involves family. This winter, we are visiting Israel, where Stu's sister lives, and we will be traveling there for 10 days. We have been to North Carolina many times to see Stu's brother. In June, we will celebrate multiple family graduations in California. In a year and a half, we will have a family reunion somewhere in Europe with Stu's brother and sister. For this, I am definitely leaning towards the "familiar" - namely, Provence, where we just were this past spring. I think familiar lends itself very nicely with a group - we somewhat know the lay of the land, and some favorite spots both visited before and yet to be discovered.

But as for future travels, not family-oriented, just the two of us, I would very much like to explore. It's a big world, and who knows when we will pass through it again? I have always wanted to see it all, and all of you on both the Board and on the SlowTrav site have definitely whet my appetite for more places than I can keep track of!

The nicest thing for me is having choices. Somewhere new, or somewhere familiar - it's all good. I love daydreaming about it, and the planning, too.

Kim, I definitely like your idea of the baseball park theme - what fun!

What do you all think about the language barrier? I speak a little French and Italian, and want to improve my fluency in both. But I just don’t have the bandwidth to take on another language. Since France and Italy both have so many places we love, and many more intriguing places we haven’t yet explored, we tend to plan our trips around them. Of course there’s always the UK, but it doesn’t call to us the way France and Italy do. And Australia / New Zealand are just too far away (can’t stomach that marathon plane ride).

I feel that understanding the language of the culture I am visiting, at least to some extent, makes travel more rewarding, even though I know that English has become the world’s second language.


- Roz

So far our trips were constructed very much like a mall: an anchor, which would be a bigger and already familiar city, to which we add new, smaller destinations which make sense in the context of the anchor. Thus Florence and Northern Tuscany, Milan and Lake Como region, Venice and a cruise on the Po, Paris and Provence, (San Francisco and Sonoma Valley, (Lincoln Centre and New York!!!), etc.

However, we see a (near) future where we would spend most or all the time in the big cities of our choice. They offer what interests us most: museums, rich programmes of concerts and operas, a better option for staying in apartments, no driving, no jumping between airports and trains and trains and rental car locations, no connections to catch or miss, etc., etc. Spending more or all the time in that big anchor city would still leave room for day trips and other local options.

For 2007 we still look at a hybrid between the two systems: Lincoln Center/Carnegie Hall in April or May and Rome and South Tuscany in September. Beyond that, too early to tell. In fact, even 2007 is too early to tell but pleasant to think about.

I'm a bit like Shannon in wanting to explore new places but keep getting drawn back to familiar places. But then there's always something more to explore in places you have already been too also.

For those that find Australia and New Zealand too far to go....that's your loss. We travel great distances and don't think too much about the long haul (only while we are doing it.) Once you get to your destination, you are switched to that time zone and the same applies when you get back home.

Elly

Right now school and the seasons dictate our travel choices. This winter we'll be exploring our own backyard to the south of us: Texas, which we normally overlook except for visiting our oldest in Dallas. This year, we'll spend a little time in San Antonio, as I'd love to see the Christmas lights on the Riverwalk. Also, we look forward to Gulf fishing for redfish and camping on the beach.

When we finish with school here in Kansas, we'll be back on the road, hopefully all over North America, and also have plans to visit friends in England and introduce my husband to France, for starters abroad.

Of course, we have favorite destinations from past years, including Louisiana. As much as we are homesick for the wonderful food and culture, we can wait awhile on that one.

Kathy,I know you specifically said Europe but.......... I keep encouraging people (in fact try to coerce them) into going in safari as it will be trip and experience you will never, ever forget and unlike anything else you do. Ken did not want to go but for my retirement, I said we're going. Now he will tell you it was quite wonderful. Check out this part of my site for some motivation. Tanzania

It will only be two weeks or so so won't take too much time away from other travels.

it is so true; once hook on an area its difficult to try new ones; i have gone throught the same ordeals.
However, in my case, done a lot of business travel to places never thought of going as a vacation and then it hook me and did came back to some as family vacations later on.
right now living in France for the last 3 yrs i am hook on Europe surrounding countries which will keep me busy for quite a while as you may know.

We have travelled all over Europe and seen some of the US. Next year our plans were dictated by a wedding in Mexico which as it means all the family will be travelling with us will cost a great deal and will therefore impact on the rest of the years travel plans. So we have decided to go to Ireland which is so close to us and yet we have visited only fleetingly over the years.

Friends own properties in Spain and that would be a cheap way to visit there, but despite this somehow I am not drawn there again.

On the wish list would be Croatia (somehow we never end up there no matter how we try!) Australia, and the southern US states, oh and Greece. Even as I type this though part of me wants to return to Italy!!and we have a quick trip to Venice pencilled in for early next year, but family committments mean that would be the first casualty if the bathroom refit runs over budget(which is highly likely) so it is not set in stone!

I find that whenever I return from a trip I begin to plan a new one.....slowtravel feeds the addiction.

The interesections of longing, opportunity, and finances are particularly tricky for us this year and next. We really wanted to do a big family trip, but finding the right time and place, complicated by it being another Bar Mitzvah year, made decision-making difficult. We settled on Paris as a place the boys really wanted to see, and Larry and I love to return to. New for them, familiar for us. The April school break works well for a week visit. Found a reasonably priced apartment and grabbed flights that weren't too painful.

Now we find that both boys will again be away for a month during the summer. Larry and I have the opportunity to travel solo, but the frequent flyer coffer looks pretty dry. We've also been putting more money into the college fund, which we'll need to tap in *gulp* three years. I'd love to take one of RyanAir's new flights from London to Croatia and explore on the cheap. Ah well. I could use a month to catch up on the filing...

quote:

Originally posted by Elly:
For those that find Australia and New Zealand too far to go....that's your loss. We travel great distances and don't think too much about the long haul (only while we are doing it.) Once you get to your destination, you are switched to that time zone and the same applies when you get back home.Elly

Elly, don't you all get more vacation time though? When you travel long haul, are you going for more than 10 - 14 days?

We'd love to visit Australia (and New Zealand) but with Chris unable to take off more than two consecutive weeks at one time (and that's pushing it), I think it's another trip that will have to wait until retirement.

You guys are all expressing my conflicted feelings in one way or the other.

I've been dividing travel into Italy and 'everything else'. The everything else tends to be the adventure and nature travel like Costa Rica, Belize, and the US National Parks.
The REAL trip every year has always been Italy, and specifically Umbria at the core. That leaves dozens of wish-list destinations out in the cold when we begin planning.

Last year I broke my nine year Umbrian addiction by actually going to Italy and NOT stepping foot in my favorite region. Instead we spent our time in Puglia. And fell in LOVE, LOVE with Puglia. This gives me hope that every new place I'm going to visit I will fall in love again. I hope so.

We've always had a very, very long list of someday destinations. Dan is the type to want to visit many places once rather than one place many times.

Because of the Puglia trip, I decided it was time to branch out. I'm still drawn primarily to Europe, however.

We've been talking about how to visit all of these places, yet not loose touch with Italy.

With Dan's retirement and the ability to stretch a trip out to a full month, we think we've hit on a good solution.

Pick a new European country as a destination every year, focus on it and then take a 4-5 day vacation from our vacation to hop over to Italy.

We just figured this out a couple of days ago, so now we are re-thinking our plan for Spain and Portugal in June 2007. Instead of four weeks in four different parts of these two countries, we are now thinking three weeks in three different parts, and a week in Umbria.

Hi Kaydee:

As much as I love going to my favorite destinations, I also feel an equal need to try new and unfamiliar places. This year I’m off to Prague, CK, Salzburg and Munich, which with the exception of Salzburg is brand new to me. Next year, I have several possibilities that include both familiar (Italy) and new (Peru) destinations. The year after that who knows!

Italy will always draw me back. Its fun, comfortable and I have yet to see everything. Going to somewhere new is adventurous and exciting and that also calls out to me.

I like active and adventurous trips but also enjoy relaxing ones. I think the more variety the better. Sometimes my interests and hobbies will influence my picks. For example, photography and ST reports like yours greatly influenced by decision for this year’s trip. Next year,a trek to Machu Picchu could be in the works. I’m with you in that I also love it all! And I have so many interests that it does get overwhelming to have to pick and choose.

So how do I decide? In the end, given my budget and time constraints, I tend to prioritize my trips based upon what calls out to me the most. This year it was Prague.

Kathy

As others have expressed, this sounds very familiar! I want to see new places but then there are some that I just can't stop going back to... For me, the "must go" is Nicaragua (my goddaughter lives there and I am very attached to her) so I try to go once or twice a year. This year it will be twice, I spent a week there in March and I am going back in November for another week.

In a way, Nicaragua and Italy bring out similar feelings in me; I feel very much at home when I get there, and bubbling with excitement. But I think Nicaragua gives me that feeling even more - I often can't sleep the night before going, and when we land I am just crazy with emotion! The two hour drive to "my" town feels more like 10... And when I am there I just feel so good... OK, that was kind of long but at least it explains why I keep going back!

To solve this dilemma, one solution is traveling partners with wishes that are different that mine. For Christmas, I am going with my mom and sister to Mexico for a total beach vacation in Playa del Carmen. I probably wouldn't have chosen that, or I would have gone to Nicaragua instead, but now that I am going, I am excited. As others have expressed, I think the key, if it is financially feasible, is to do both something familiar and something new.

Another solution for me has been weekend trips or long weekends. This past year I have visited many new places in the US and it has been really great - I haven't had to take vacation days, but I have had some great trips. (It really, really helps that I get every other Friday off...) Within the past year I have been to Charlottesville, Southern Virginia, West Virgina, Boston, New York City, San Luis Obispo, Atlanta, Miami - all on weekends or long weekends. Then again, a weekend trip to, say, Buenos Aires, is not a real option, so it only "takes care" of destinations closer to home.

I have also been very conscious of the fact that I don't know how long I will be living in DC/in the US, so it has made sense to go to Central America (short flight, easy connection through Miami) or to places within the US. When/if I am back in Europe it will be more natural to start exploring Europe again. This explains why I haven't been to Italy since September 2004.

Sorry about the loooong post!!

I think about this topic a lot, especially when friends exclaim, "You're going to Italy again?!" I have been on an Italy jag since 2000 (traveling once or twice a year there) and don't think I'll be over it until I see many more parts of the country. I too like to combine returning to a familiar, much loved place with experiencing a new place that makes geographic sense for a particular trip.

I am fortunate that I have been able to travel to many European destinations because of relatives in London, Paris and Scotland and a 6 week honeymoon that gave me a taste of several countries. I have enjoyed all my travel experiences but no country calls me back the way Italy does. This year I will return to Southern Tuscany for a more leisurely stay in an area that I love. It will feel strange to be so close to Florence and not visit there but I really want to just focus on 1 area this trip. Next year I am planning a trip to Piemonte, Liguria and perhaps Lake Orta. I still want to visit Puglia, le Marche, the Dolomites and that region combined with a return trip to Venice. I also want to return to see parts of Umbria I didn't get to last time and I never tire of Rome and Florence. So that's probably 5 more years of trips to Italy!

We did travel to many National Parks when my kids were younger and there a few I would still like to visit. And then's there's the Northwest coast and British Columbia, Alaska and Hawaii. So much I'd like to see-so little vacation time! A safari in Tanzania has always been on my wish list but my husband isn't too enthused about that yet. So I think I'll settle (happily) for the excitement of traveling to new places in Italy for the next few years and just smile when friends don't get it.

For some of us an added element of the 'old versus new' conflict is security!

If our vacation time and/or budget is limited it takes some courage to 'risk' it all on a new area which we may not enjoy as much.

Like so many of you I feel we have not finished with Italy yet.

There are other places on the list, Terry wants to go to South America so I see that as a pretty high priority.

Many parts of North America call, but perhaps these are best saved for when we no longer feel able to go to Europe.

A dear friend of our family moved to Australia a few years ago, and constantly asks us to visit. I have dismissed the thought because of the long flight - but the more I hear about the area (he lives in the area Marta is visiting) the more I am thinking well... maybe....

Going back to Kathy's original question, perhaps we need a thread on inovative ideas for maximizing our vacation budgets. Kathy obviously made a good start this year between house-sitting and leading tours.

It seems we all struggle with these common themes: torn between another place called home or unchartered terriority; time or the lack thereof; and the foreboding budget issues.

From a monetary perspective, Allen and I have found renting homes or apartments and having a homebase has been a great way to save money and to immerse ourselves with the local color. I love to cook and enjoy going to local markets, shopping for food and preparing a meal in our "home" kitchen. Additionally, we are able to take day trips to surrounding areas giving us a good feel for the region we are visiting.

With regard to time, my schedule is a lot more flexible than his. I am self-employed and Allen is employed by corporate America. Given that, I have had (most of the time ;-) the pleasure of traveling with my mother or a close friend. I have an incurable case of wanderlust and when I'm not traveling, I'm planning future trips...a nice way to fill time at home.

But, the most challenging dilema of all...to go back to a place we absolutely loved and couldn't get enough of, or try something new? I think we've managed to stike a fairly good balance between our passion for Western Europe (so far, I haven't come across any ST member that doesn't adore Western Europe) and some more active, adventurous locations. The past number of years have been:

France (Paris)
Italy (Tuscany and Venice)
Costa Rica
France (Southwestern region)
Italy (Tuscany again because we loved it)
Hawaii

Next on the list is a Caribbean cruise (see my thoughts on cruising below) and an 8 month sorjourn next year in Provence. We are planning on short trips to Spain, Italy (big surprise), Switzerland and thanks to Ryan Air, Fez!

In future years we also dream of New Zealand, South America and Asia

A quick note on cruising. Years ago when I was in my late 20's I designed a number of cruise brochures. One client in particular was Crystal Cruises. I traveled vicariously through the world when pouring over all of the stock travel photography and I anguished over the set in stone itineraries with "days at sea." BUT, one day the VP of Marketing at Crystal Cruises ordered me onto a 10-day Trans-Canal cruise. We left from Puerto Rico and went from a few of the British Virgin Islands down to Curacao through the Panama Canal and up the Pacific Coast ending up in Acapulco. It was DIVINE. Days at sea were surprisingly relaxing and being treated like a princess on my own private yacht was something I'll never recover from. So, for those of you who are saving cruising for your "golden years," don't do it. It's one heck of a good time...if you choose the right company (Holland America is a great product too and they have great deals). In fact, we are leaving in 4 weeks for a 9-night cruise in the Caribbean!

Thanks for reading.

Lisa

Yes Kim, you are absolutely right and I quite often forget that we are more priveleged here with our vacation time. We can get extended holiday time or 'save up' for future years without the fear of losing our jobs. And then of course there is 'long service leave' which can occur every 10 or 15 years depending on the employer. We get an extra 13 weeks leave at this time. All of this is paid leave too!

So I apologise for bagging anyone about distances of travel, I just forgot we can get more time.

Elly

quote:

So I apologise for bagging anyone about distances of travel, I just forgot we can get more time.

Don't sweat it, only another reason to move to Australia .

All of you have captured my quandry related to future travel plans...

We love Provence so much-- it's like home. (I actually prefer it to where I really live, but that's another story...) We're definitely not tourists there anymore. We have good friends and favorite places, and we just enjoy being there. Charley and I now have the opportunity to be there a couple times a year, but it isn't quite the same as having our "own" time, and of course the Luberon Experience trips don't include Kelly. So now we're heading back for a family trip (2 weeks) over spring break... and we may have a chance to housesit again this summer. (We hope, we hope!!) That's another thing that's happened... now that we know people, we can stay in Provence inexpensively-- or even free. That helps make more travel possible.

During our month in Provence this past summer, we did try to spread our wings a bit more. We made day trips to several areas that were new to us, and that's another way to experience the "new" while based in the "familiar."

My thought is somewhat like others have expressed. If we can housesit in Provence this summer or some future summer, we can always combine that with a week or two in a new place... or another familiar place. This past summer we walked in Ireland, spent a week in Normandy, and visited a new part of France.

I have also started poking around on the internet for other opportunities as caretakers or housesitters. If our friends in Provence don't go away this summer, maybe we could housesit somewhere else. We could be very desirable, especially with Charley's home renovation skills.

We have done a long-distance walk the last five summers, so that's something else for us. Charley talks about doing the Coast-to-Coast walk again, but I think it's too soon. (Though I would like to do it again!) The one week walk in Ireland wasn't enough for us, so we are thinking about possibilities for a two-week walk somewhere new. We have also started to research the Santiago de Compostella, which could be a 4-5 week walk! But that wouldn't be this year... maybe 2008. Kelly would love to see more of Spain. (She is a "country collector.")

And I am dreaming of a Christmas trip too... maybe New York City. We haven't been there since before 9/11.

I used to have more money, but not much time. Now I have more time, but not near as much money. And like others here, I'm seriously addicted to travel!

Kathy

quote:

Originally posted by kaydee:
And I am dreaming of a Christmas trip too... maybe New York City. We haven't been there since before 9/11.

OMG, Kathy. I don't know if you're thinking about this coming Christmas, but if you are, please check out this thread! We would love to see you!

My daughter wants to go to the places she really loved before - particularly Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam. And who can blame her?

I was born under a wandering star. By the time I was 16 my family had moved 35 times (welcome to life with a father who was a civilian contractor to the US Military). I have been in every state in the US except for Florida and lived in most of them. So I definitely hear the sweet siren song of new places. New Zealand, Australia, etc.etc..

BUT, and it is a huge BUT, there's this little problem called a wheelchair. So now I look at travel to unknown locations with a bit more trepidation. Most of the US is wheelchair accessible but the public transit is awful. Most of Europe the public transit is wonderful but wheelchair access is awful. I love Rome because I know Rome. I know which streets I can travel down and not have to face stairs, curbs, etc.. I know how to get to the Vatican, the Pantheon, and the Colliseum. Rome for all its problems and age is a surprisingly accessible city.

For now the future trips (in the next 6 months) are all to familiar places. Mexico and the beach for Thanksgiving and Santa Fe (for Christmas). Longer term it is Rome next September to apartment hunt. We are working on getting together the financing and have decided that an apartment in Rome would be a good retirement investment combined with the condo here in AZ. We will probably end up living in both locations at the worst times of the year (Phx in the summer and Rome in the winter) but the hope is that both will pay themselves off and provide an additional income.

I do have good scouts that I have managed to recruit in terms of accessability. In 2004 Nathalie and Charlie stayed with me for 2 weeks in Rome while I waited for my niece to get leave from Iraq. I couldn't have stayed alone and they stayed with me and helped with the wheelchair. Now where ever they travel (and it is a lot) they know what to look for in terms of accessability. They hit Edinburgh last year and told me it was great for accessability.

In terms of traveling to visit family that's one of the benefits of living in a vacation destination. Family comes to visit you!! We see more of my brothers than we did when we lived 40 miles away. Then it was Christmas, Thanksgiving and maybe a day or two at the lake. Now they fly down and we spend a week together enjoying each other and AZ's winter weather.


I try to not plan too far in advance for trips.

I stand in awe of people who know where they are going for the next 5 years.

Like most everyone, we like a comfortable balance of familiar places and new ones. One thing that works for us is to survey a new place as a day trip or brief stay before deciding if we want to add it to our list of bases.

Recently we have added Palermo, Normandy, and Lyon as places we want to stay longer.

But we keep returning to Venice!

What has helped me to become a slower traveler is the gradual and somewhat painful realization that no matter how hard I try (and I used to try pretty hard ), I will never see everything or go everywhere. I had a job for a while that took me to over 40 countries in 5 years, some nice and some not so nice. We've also lived in Europe for almost 10 years altogether (Germany, UK, and now Italy) which has done a lot to prejudice us in favor of travel over here.

The result has been a strong inclination to stick with the familiar. I think I could happily spend the rest of my traveling life between Italy, France, the UK, and Ireland - certainly getting into some new areas, but largely just returning to familiar ones. Come to that, I could easily spend it just exploring central Italy. Yes, there are a lot of other interesting places that I haven't been (Greece especially) or that I could easily return to (Germany, Spain, the Middle East if it ever calms down again), but I don't feel the pressing need to explore new places that I once did.

We've seen far more of the rest of the world than I have of the U.S. but have always assumed we'd make up for that after we retire. Now we're thinking that we'll probably retire over here, or at least split our time between Europe and the U.S., so I don't know whether this will work out or not.

Difficult choices indeed. Too many places and too little time!

In Australia, we are very 'disabled conscious' having gone through a period where we had good lobby groups pushing for laws to be changed to make all public buildings and public transport wheelchair accessible.

So much in fact, that even older buildings were altered for accessibility.

So no problems if you come 'down under.' You will receive an 'Acrod' sticker for parking etc. plus van type taxis at your disposal, lifts, ramps etc. just to name a few things. I never had any problems when my wheelchair bound mother was still alive.

So maybe you will want to explore further afield one day than beautiful Rome.

Elly

For the last 8+ years, I have only gone on one vacation each year. That being to spend a month in Hawaii. I feel so at home there, I know a part of my heart and soul are there. This year, I stepped out of my comfort zone, and with my sister, took a trip, that had only lived in my dreams. We took our very first trip to Italy. Sept 6th to Oct 3rd. I fell in love !!!! What can I say! I am already trying to figure out how soon, my budget will allow me to take another trip to Italy. Even though we spent 2 weeks in Tuscany, a week on the Amalfi coast, the rest between Rome and Venice. I have to pinch my self in the morning to reassure myself, that I did not dream it all. Sometimes, my memory is a blur, and then other times, so many vivid memories flood my mind. I took a lot of pictures,and they bring it all back in living color. Now, I want to plan another trip, maybe just pick one area, like so many on here have done, and just melt into the life of the Italians for a while. As I am writing this, the smiles of the wonderful little ladies, the hands flying in conversation of a group of men, the laughter of the children, the smells of the food, all beckon me back. Oh please, let there be another Italy trip in my future!

Welcome to the Italy addiction Sandra! You will definitely return if you feel that strongly about it because you simply have no choice!

I feel very fortunate to have a husband, Paul who pretty much shrugs his shoulders at where to go next - leaving it up to me and the friends we're traveling with. In this respect he allows me to be the control freak I am.

I too, like the balance of old and new and since Paul has only been to Italy and Scotland, we have a lot more European ground to cover. It will be exciting to add Paris, which I have been to, to the Provence trip neither of us have seen yet.

On the other hand, he has expressed a serious interest in South America which this control freak will have to give in to - which is all fine.

For me, some places are on the list of "must return to" and others are places we can cross off the list. They might have been prefectly fine when we were there - but not a priority to ever return to.

Janel

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I think about this topic a lot, especially when friends exclaim, "You're going to Italy again?!"

Colleen, that's what I hear, too. I think it's mainly from people who haven't been to Italy!

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Originally posted by Deborah:
Pick a new European country as a destination every year, focus on it and then take a 4-5 day vacation from our vacation to hop over to Italy.

So, I really like this idea of Deborah's. I can't say that we are in a position to do a month long European vacation every year - but we have been managing to do one every other year. It's not only the cost of the vacation, but it's hard to save up a month's worth of vacation time and it's hard to find a housesitter who can take care of the house for a month.

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I have also started poking around on the internet for other opportunities as caretakers or housesitters. If our friends in Provence don't go away this summer, maybe we could housesit somewhere else. We could be very desirable, especially with Charley's home renovation skills.

Well, Kathy, maybe I can talk you into putting Santa Barbara on your vacation list! How perfect would that be?

-Krista

Maybe those slowtravel members who live in Europe could agree to housesit in the US whilst you travel...we are planning a trip to CA!!