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Category: Countries

Maritime Provinces: Nova Scotia

Maritime Provinces: Nova Scotia

I’ve been wanting to visit the Maritimes for a while. I had a 5-6 week camping trip planned the summer of 2020, then, of course, COVID. Borders were closed. I was in New York when initially planning this trip to Canada. I was going to start with Montreal and head east, through the Atlantic Provinces, and take the ferry back to Maine. However, the Bar Harbor-Yarmouth ferry service ends October 10th so I decided to start here and end in…

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Monaco

Monaco

We arrived in Nice on Monday afternoon and spent Monday and Tuesday in the city before taking a train to Monaco for the day on Wednesday morning. A number of sites recommend taking the #82 bus for the beautiful views but the train only takes 20 minutes and the Nice train station was close and convenient. We caught the 0821 train and were in Monaco before 0900. Leaving the train station, it took us a few minutes to get oriented. I had printed some…

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Nice, France

Nice, France

I’ve visited Paris twice, once when I was living in West Germany in the 80s and my daughter and I visited London and Paris for about two weeks in 2001. We flew into London and took the Eurostar to Paris. We visited Versailles for a day, but I’ve not been to any other part of France until this trip. After deciding to visit Cinque Terre, Kelly and I discussed “where else?” There was talk of some time in Tuscany or other…

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Cinque Terre, Italy

Cinque Terre, Italy

I’ve been to Italy several times. My daughter and I spent a week in Florence and Venice in the late 90s. We returned in 2001 for a week in Rome. Rome needs more time, there is so much to see in this amazing, ancient city. I definitely hope to visit again. I did returned to Venice a few years ago with my friend, Kelly. We visited at the end of a trip to Croatia and Slovenia in 2014. We stayed in Venice for 3 nights before flying home…

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Scotland

Scotland

Now that my daughter is married, it’s harder to drag her away for a trip. My friend Kelly can only plan one trip a year with me as she goes to lots of horse clinics (she’s quite the equestrian) plus feels like she has to save SOME vacation time for her husband. So, I travel solo sometimes. I’ve been to Canada on my own, visiting Montana and North Dakota on the way home from Banff and Jasper. And I’ve been…

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Morocco

Morocco

Morocco has been on my must-see list for ages. Kelly and I planned this for a few weeks after my daughter’s wedding, September of 2017. It took us a while to finalize our plans. There is so much to see in this gorgeous country. And all the travel sites and blogs I read about Morocco and lists of “top things to see and do” made it difficult as I wanted to see it all. We both earn a decent amount…

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Myanmar

Myanmar

“I’m in Burma.” “Burma?” “You most likely know it as Myanmar, but it will always be Burma to me.” – Seinfeld, Mr. Peterman to Elaine Burma. The Golden Land. Kelly and I went to Myanmar in late February 2017 for fifteen days. We planned our trip using trip.me, a travel consolidator that works with local travel companies in dozens of countries. As we usually do when planning a trip, Kelly and I did plenty of research on our own, determining…

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Wild About Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe

Wild About Africa: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe

An African “Safari”! One of many items on my travel wish list. My friend, Kelly, her husband, Manny, my daughter, Alex, her boyfriend, now husband, Mike, and my friend Leslie all went to Africa in October 2015. Kelly, Leslie, and I all worked together and did our research and planning over lunches in the breakroom. After comparing many companies, reading reviews, and comparing routes, we decided to use Wild About Africa. The specific itinerary we booked is no longer available, but…

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Banff, Yoho, and Jasper National Parks

Banff, Yoho, and Jasper National Parks

Mike, my daughter’s boyfriend, now her husband, was talking about racing in the Tour Divide when they visited, Christmas 2014. This is a self-supporting bike race from Banff, Alberta, Canada along the Rockies to Antelope Wells, New Mexico, 2745 miles. He was talking about flying up and wondering how to pack his bike and his supplies. I, mostly joking at that point, said, I’ve never been to Banff so if you need someone to drive you there, I will. He…

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Switzerland

Switzerland

I invited Alex on a short holiday trip with me, over Thanksgiving week. She was able to get a few days off work. I booked a 3-city Switzerland tour with Go-Today. We left Saturday, November 22, from Peoria, via Chicago to Zurich.     Zurich We arrived about 1100 on Sunday. After getting through customs we took the train to town and walked to our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Arlette Beim, a nice old-fashioned place very close to…

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