After disembarking our Oceania Cruise in Panama City, we spent a week in South America before flying to Paris on a red-eye. It was February and a bit cold, but I prefer fewer crowds, and there is plenty to do in Paris indoors. I secured reservations for guided tours of the Louvre Museum and Sainte-Chapelle, and Tom and I lunched at Madame Brasserie in the Eiffel Tower. All flights and bookings had been confirmed before heading into Paris, ensuring smooth transitions between destinations.
We traveled to Croatia after our time in Paris. We ran in the Split half-marathon, although I switched to the 10K after coming down with bronchitis on our cruise. Instead of taking the bus or train, we decided to rent a car and drove through the Balkans into Kotor, Montenegro, for a week, then to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Tom wanted to visit Montenegro because, as a young sailor, his ship almost pulled into port there. Driving was a good choice since it was fairly easy and gave us the chance to drive through Bosnia and Herzegovina. After our stay in Slovenia, we hopped on a FlixBus to Vienna, Austria, for eight days, where we visited an old friend.
Instead of continuing our travels through Eastern Europe, we shifted and flew to Madrid to visit Tom’s brother and his wife. This allowed us to see Spain again in better weather (we had visited before in late July 2023) and spend some much-needed family time together. Afterward, following a trip that included a bad Costa cruise (a story all on its own), we headed to Hungary for a 15-day stay—one of my bucket-list destinations and which has not disappointed. We will be here another week before taking the train to Prague.
For the final part of our Eastern Europe trip, we will spend 10 days exploring the beautiful city of Prague in the spring before catching a flight to Japan, my favorite country and our second home away from home. We will be in Japan for May, just in time for Golden Week, but after all the crowds for Sakura season have left. After finishing this trip, Tom pointed out that we had circumnavigated the globe, which I confirmed by plotting our route on Google Maps.
Once our time in Japan concludes, we will return to the U.S., then go back to Pennsylvania for 6 to 8 weeks before heading to San Diego and Sonora to kick off our big fall trip to Southeast Asia, which includes stops in China, Taiwan, and Indonesia, before joining an Oceana cruise from Bali to Hong Kong.
Over the past three years, I have honed my skills in logistics and travel budgeting, starting with mapping destinations on Google Maps and planning transportation, often using travel credit points or repositioning cruises, supported by various helpful tools to increase efficiency. Though still trepidatious and somewhat insecure about regularly blogging, I have made a commitment to myself to do a better job of documenting all the wonderful places we visit, something that became very apparent when I tried to recall a particular site we visited while talking to my sister-in-law, Jackie. Some of the struggle comes from learning how to use all the tools and applications for blogging! So bear with me as I limp along.
After all the logistical planning for our trips, I start the crucial yet challenging task of finding accommodations, which is often the most time-consuming because I am quite particular about where we stay. It starts with searching for hotels, aparthotels, B&Bs, and Airbnbs across all available platforms. I always begin my research with Booking.com, then contact the accommodations directly to see if cheaper options are available, ensuring I get the best value. The next important step is arranging smaller logistics and transportation between countries. Researching each destination is essential, as one mode of transportation might be more efficient than another. For example, trains work great in Europe and Asia but are less common in South America. I always weigh the best ways to travel—like deciding if Tom and I want to spend 12 hours on a train or fly in just an hour with a regional airline. Rome2Rio is a helpful tool for figuring out the best transportation options. While I also use ChatGPT for planning, I’ve learned the hard way not to rely on it completely, which helps me feel more prepared and thorough. I look forward to seeing how all these details come together and sharing the journey with you.
Once all the initial planning is finished and organized in my project management tool, Monday.com, the fun starts: planning activities, sightseeing, hiking, running, trying different food options, and learning about each country and culture.
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