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Blog Under Construction: Are You in Need of Ideas for an Upcoming Trip?
Stacy
Trip Date 04/15/2018
Posted On 05/02/2018 18:05:18
In the nearly twenty years that Scott and I have known each other, we've been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to travel together to five continents and more countries than we can count. (I still want to get to those last two
continents as soon as we can!) We've walked, we've ridden, we've driven and we've flown to both domestic and international destinations. We sometimes travel with friends or family, and sometimes it's just the two of us ... plus those we meet
along the way.
Geiranger, Norway
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Cruises and Land Vacations
Having several cruises each under our belts before meeting, we knew that we both enjoyed cruising so many of our trips together in the early years were aboard cruise ships. Those were also the years when we stuck to the
(overpriced) shore
excursions offered by the cruise lines. While traveling in the Mediterranean aboard the Celebrity Millennium in August/September of 2001, we ventured off on our own during our port day in Athens, Greece and
we've never
looked back. Since that memorable day in Athens, we have almost exclusively walked off on our own on port days. In some ports we plan (or join) organized private tours, and in others we spend the day completely on our own.
When
possible we try to add a land trip either before or after a cruise (or sometimes both), and we've always planned those trips on our own as well.
Camping Vacations
We had also done some camping in the past (both together and before we met), but I was pretty much done with tents. On three long weekends over the past several years we rented trailers to confirm that we would enjoy traveling
in an RV to
see the United States at our own pace. We are now the proud owners of "RV There Yet?", a 2018 Highland Ridge Open Range 2910RL travel trailer.
"RV There Yet?"
Vacation Planning
While I can't really say that we are budget travelers, I believe that our style of travel is best described as bargain based (or discount) travel. We try to travel on the cheap (sometimes just taking short day trips to sights near our Austin, Texas home), however there are places that we want to see where cheap is just not possible. In those instances, we look for bargains and for ways to make the total cost of our trip as economical as possible. Sometimes that means traveling during either low or shoulder season, sometimes it means fewer days, sometimes it means budget accommodations - we've found that there are many different options to reduce our cost yet still have a great vacation. Although it is very time consuming, requires a lot of work and often tests our patience, we plan the details of nearly all of our trips on our own. Sometimes we are able to find hints online from others with the same goals, and sometimes it is more difficult.
From Journaling to Blogging
Shortly after we both had the opportunity to retire just over two years ago at the young age of 52, and at the urging of friends and family, we started journaling about our travels - both day trips from our Austin, Texas area home and our longer
journeys that take us far from home. After so many "you should be a tour guide" or "we're calling you before we plan our next trip" comments from others, we decided to turn what started as a journal to share only with those we knew to an
information source for anyone who has an interest in the destinations to which we have been able to travel ... including some of the details like what we did, where we stayed, how much we spent, and when possible, the links that we found
helpful during our planning.
Since we are just starting on this online adventure, we'd love to hear from you on the destinations that you are most interested in. I have a couple hundred stories that I will eventually post (and we still travel as much as we have time ... and
can afford ... so more will be added to the collection), but I can start anywhere.
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RV There Yet?
(This is where we'll post anything RV related - trips, menus, customizations, etc.)
November 2016: McCown Valley Park in Whitney, Texas (4 nights)
July 2017: Wolf Creek Park in Coldspring, Texas (4 nights)
July - August 2017: Traveling through Oklahoma for family visit in Kansas City, Missouri (12 nights)
September 2017: Big Bend National Park (12 nights)
March 2018: San Antonio, Texas and Lake Corpus Christi State Park in Mathis, Texas (7 nights)
March - April 2018: Traveling through the south central United States with stops in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Oklahoma (5 weeks)
Roberts Point Park, Corpus Christi, TX
Are We THERE Yet?
(Here's where we will be posting information from all of our other methods of travel)
CRUISES:
May 2016: Norwegian Star traveling to Norwegian Fjords and Baltic Capitals (back to back)
August 2016: Caribbean Princess circling the British Isles
January 2017: Key West & Nassau cruise aboard Royal Caribbean Empress of the Seas
March - April 2017: South Pacific & Fiji cruise on Royal Caribbean Voyager of the Seas followed by back to back cruises aboard Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas traveling around New Zealand and
Queensland
October 2017: Western Caribbean cruise aboard Norwegian Escape
November 2017: Transatlantic sailing on Norwegian Star
December 2017: Western Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas
January - February 2018: South America from Santiago on Norwegian Sun followed by South America & Carnival aboard Celebrity Infinity
Rio Carnival 2018
COUNTRIES:
April 2016: Copenhagen, Denmark
August 2016: London, England
March - April 2017: Sydney, Australia
October - November 2017: Florence, Italy and Pisa, Italy
January 2018: Peru's Sacred Valley
February 2018: Buenos Aires & Iguassu Falls, Argentina and Iguassu Falls, Brazil
Iguassu Falls
UNITED STATES:
February 2016: Portland, Oregon
February 2016: Hallandale, Florida
March 2016: Galveston, Texas
June 2016: Hot Springs, Arkansas
September 2016: San Francisco, California
December 2016: San Juan, Puerto Rico
May 2017: Fort Walton Beach, Florida
June 2017: Spokane, Washington followed by 5 National Parks - Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Bryce Canyon and Zion
August 2017: Maui & Kauai, Hawaii and San Francisco, California
Old Lahaina Luau, Maui, HI
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Are We There YET?
Be sure to also check out the most up to date program that, along with our financial advisor, helped us prepare to retire so that we could spend more time traveling. We still use this program today to ensure that we are still on track.
What is the Destination of your Next Vacation?
If you are planning a trip and are looking for some initial ideas for any of the above destinations, let us know and I'll get our blog posts loaded as soon as I can. We are looking forward to beginning this new online adventure, and can't wait to hear from you!
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Location: Austin, TX, United States