Alex was attending a college that was on trimesters so had a very long winter break. I booked a 22 day trip to Australia and New Zealand using Friendly Planet her freshman year over her holiday. Sydney Day 1 – December 5th – We had a flight to Sydney, via Tahiti. We only had about 70 people on the plane, so after takeoff and dinner, I went to the back, got four seats and stretched out. We arrived in Sydney around…
I attended Oktoberfest in 1989 when I was living in West Germany. I mentioned it at work once, talking about the big tents, the music, the crowds, and how much fun it was. My friend and colleague, Kelly, said she’d love to go sometime and would I want to go back? I said, well, when my daughter goes off to college I could go. I’d rather leave an 8-year-old home alone than an 18-year-old. I wouldn’t, of course, but my 8-year-old…
Alex and I booked a week in Lisbon, Portugal in November, 2004, over Thanksgiving break of her senior year in high school. We used Go-Today like we have many times, for their flights and hotels. Thinking about this trip throughout the years, I remember the beautiful Peña Palace and moorish ruins in Sintra, the tile museum, and Christmas decorations. Then I pulled up my scrapbook journaling to write this post and I am quite disappointed both by the amount of…
We visited New York City July 18th through the 23rd. I wanted to visit since I was just 3 the last time I was here and Alex had never been here. However, the main “reason” was so we could do a college visit to NYU campus where Alex wanted to attend college. We did that and so much more. We saw all the main tourist sites and did the typical tourist activities. But you definitely need more than a week…
Alex and I spent a week in Toronto, we drove up from Illinois. We visited the Fort York Historical Site. We had a tour, there were plenty of soldiers dressed in period uniforms, also, to answer questions about the history and use of the fort. Americans attacked this fort during the War of 1812. The British occupied Washington, DC and set fire to the President’s House, Canadian legend says the Americans covered up the blackened soot covered walls with white…
Alex and I booked an Athens and Greek island cruise for the summer, right after school ended. I can’t remember the company name, though. We added a 3-night extension to Istanbul. We traveled with a good friend of hers, Shane, and his mom, Dee. We had an early flight from Chicago to New York so spent the night of June 4th close to O’Hare. We left June 5th at 0900 for New York. Our flights were odd, I don’t think…
We used Go-Today to book a week in London over Christmas week. We left Sunday evening, December 22nd, from O’Hare. We arrived Monday, December 23, around 0800 and caught the airport shuttle to our hotel, the lovely Kensington Close off High Street. I left Alex dozing on the bed while I went out to get 7-day travel cards for the Underground and change money. I visited London in 1989 when we were living in West Germany. We drove to Belgium then took…
Rome! The eternal city. We booked a 6-night package, from November 20 to the 27th, through Go-Today. We booked September 11th, 2001 around 0800 CST. We didn’t know it, of course, but the first plane hit the tower just minutes earlier. We kept our trip plans but when we flew to Rome on November 20th, the plane only had about a dozen people on it. We traveled with Alex’s friend, Shane, and his mom, Dee. We picked them up and drove…
Once again, we used Go-Today to book our hotels and flights for a week in London and Paris. They are convenient and offer great prices as a consolidator. Originally, their package was 3 nights in each but I added a 4th night in both cities. The trip also included the Eurostar through the Chunnel. London We left Thursday, and arrived London around 0600 Friday. We checked into the Jarvis International Kensington on Queen’s Gate. We walked down the street to…
Alex and I made our first visit to Africa, visiting Egypt, in 2000. I didn’t feel as comfortable traveling alone then, or even with a 13-year-old, so we booked a package tour with Trafalgar. Wednesday, March 21. we left from Chicago around 2040 for Paris. We arrived midday and after a two hour layover flew to Cairo. We were picked up at the airport. The company offered different levels of hotel on this trip; I paid for the middle level….