I started planning for this year, last year. I have spoken to people and I’ve sent out texts with thoughts. Everyone has responded positively and I even had a few people throw in some ideas. This year I would like to plan and travel more thoughtfully. Last year, I traveled about once a month and it was too much. I’d like to go for longer periods and less often. I’m also interested in seeing places that I’ve never seen before.
Having said that here are some of the plans:
- A trip with both my children. My sweetheart, Alex, just finished his degree at Temple University and I cannot be more proud. It was a bit of a struggle due to the pandemic and he did it with a 3.9 in his final semester! I think this deserves a trip. Amanda and I discussed a few ideas.
- Hawaii
- Machu Pichu
- Canada
- Seattle
- Vietnam
- Some of my other travel partners are my daughter, Manda, and our friends from West Virginia, Brenda and Cindi. Brenda and Amanda have been best friends since second grade. We started traveling together in 2016 to celebrate our daughter’s 21st birthday. We went to Atlantic City and while sitting on the beach I’ll look to my left and I look to my right and I asked why aren’t we doing this every year? The answer came back as a resounding yes. After that, we went to Disney World to celebrate Amanda’s graduation from college and then we went to Virginia Beach the next year to see Def Leppard in concert. We were unable to get anything together in 2019 because Brenda began a new job and then the pandemic derailed us. This year we are heading out west!
- My dear friend, Susan, has suggested a girls getaway to Hershey, Pennsylvania. Do you know anything about her Hershey they have a world-class bar and that’s where we’ll be heading.
- Allen has been watching Tom Greene’s van life on YouTube. The first one that he saw was Tom Greene’s trip to Chaco in the Southwest. We started discussing UNESCO sites and he is fascinated by it. I’m more than likely going to be able to talk him into a road trip out west. I really want to see the Grand Canyon and few other sites in that area. I have included a map below.
- Allen and I have a trip planned for Europe at the end of April. We set sail from NYC and will head to Portugal, Spain, France, and Italy. We’ll spend a week in Rome and from there we’ll figure it out.
- I would also like to plan a solo trip somewhere. I am not sure where I would like to go, yet.
- Camille and I would like to plan another trip together and maybe one with the kids. We talked about Maine and Switzerland.
There is so much to do as far as planning and I am down with knee surgery starting this week. Looking on the bright side, this will give me the opportunity to plan some of these trips. I’m not sure if I will make all these trips given time and money, but I will narrow down based on priority.
It’s going to be an interesting year with travel, since I am not sure what the restrictions are going to be and what mandates will be on place. The end of December was fraught with cruise line covid outbreaks and airline cancellations. Fortunately, I am flexible an if I am forced to stay in Europe a little while longer, I will take one for the team. Seriously, though, flexibility will be the name of the game.
Here’s to looking forward to 2022!
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