45 years ago, we took a train trip from Amsterdam to Heidelberg, West Germany. Then onward to Paris and back to Amsterdam via Belgium. Then, back to our home in Saudi Arabia.

The Rhine was experiencing a 500 year flood event and at one point near Dusseldorf, the water was almost up to the train tracks.

I remember stopping at the German / French border and the border guards checking passports, etc.

Of course we had to deal with exchanging currencies between Dutch Guilders, Deutsche Marks and French Francs.

Got to eat at the McDonalds on the Champs Elysees and much to our surprise, saw Saudi Arabian King - King Khalid's motorcade near the Arc de Triomphe. We had no idea he was in town.

We went to the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, rode the Metro, etc.
Stayed in a hotel with the bathroom down the hall.

In West Germany, we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and stayed in a hotel that was like 900 years old. It was an amazing trip.

Got back to Saudi in time to watch the live broadcast of Argentina beating Holland in the 1978 World Cup final.

Ryan the Temp said:

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murphyag said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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7-day tour of D-Day sites in Normandy. We went to Caen, Bayeaux, Ouistreham, Pointe du Hoc, Omaha Beach, Longue sur-Mer, Saint Marie du Mont and others. It was absolutely incredible.

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Wanting to do this with my sons this summer. Did you go through a tour company? If yes, would you recommend and do you remember the name of the tour company?

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Norwich University set up a tour opportunity for alumni that was led by the National WWII Museum. The WWII Museum offers these tour packages regularly, but they are now VERY expensive because everything about them is high-end.

Our guide was Corinne Joimel. She was fantastic. You can contact her and she'll put together an incredible itinerary for you. It would be 100% worth every penny to have her be with you for the week.
https://normandyguides.com/guide/corinne-joimel/

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Thank you so much for the information. Really appreciate it.

New Zealand - 3 weeks, both islands.

Ireland

Nova Scotia Cabot Trail by bike.

Also RAGBRAI was pretty awesome, but that one is a week long 450 mile bike ride through Iowa.

Before kids, two weeks in Kauai. Hit a new beach every day. Stayed on the South side a week and the North side a week. Very relaxing, great food, and plenty to do for two weeks.

New Zealand people, what time of year did you visit?

Counterpoint said:

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New Zealand people, what time of year did you visit?

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Christmas

Christmas also

Counterpoint said:

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New Zealand people, what time of year did you visit?

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Auckland - July, September.
Wellington - August

Each of those were cold.

Thanks to all!

End of August,, was cold but never too cold, had some luck and never had to drive on ice, nor did our trip get interrupted by landslides taking out a road

I've heard flies can be a problem in warmer months

So far it's been my Alakan cruise tour. Flew into Fairbanks, spent a night there and got a glimpse of the Northern Lights, 2 nights at Denali National Park including being able to see the mountain and a domed train ride to the coast to catch the ship. Stops in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway and a day spent cruising Glacier Bay National Park. Debarking in Vancouver and spending the night there before flying home.

We'll see if the Hawaii to Vancouver trip in 2024 measures up.

Pre-family: Alaska with my dad. Lot's of salmon fishing. Only trip the 2 of us have taken.
Same summer, 9 days in Costa Rica w/ my buddy's family. Exploring, beaches, volcanoes, river rafting.

With family: 2 weeks in Telluride, CO over Christmas and New Year's.

I might as well chime in on my own thread I started and talk about the wife and I's best trip to date.

It would probably be Banff in the summer although she might say Charleston. She loved the architecture and food in Charleston. She is a Southern Living magazine type of girl so everything was right up her alley in terms of shops, food, style, etc.

Banff, however, was pretty damn great. Super relaxing and the scenery was unreal. Going in early/mid June kept the crowds down for the most part and we did some amazing hikes that we will never forget. Also the golf at Fairmont Banff Springs was beyond beautiful. We didn't stay at the nicest hotels, or eat at the best restaurants, but all in all the scenery and experiences we had on that trip were great.


We also did Boston a couple years ago for a long weekend with some friends and I dont know if it was just because the world was slowly coming out of the pandamic or what but I really enjoyed that town. Hardly any crowds, and I loved strolling the North End and all the bars/shops in the downtown area. Fenway Park was a surreal experience for me being a baseball guy.

Travel is great and it is hard to pick a "best".

But two spots I would recommend doing sooner more than later (before they get too crowded) are Ireland (focus on small towns) and Glacier National Park.

Our honeymoon is hard to beat:
Spent time in Moorea and had an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora. Just incredible.

We've had some excellent adventures, but I will say any overseas travel has beaten just all domestic travel I can think of. America has some cool places and things to see, but treat yourself to a flight over an ocean.

Greece last May. I don't think it's recency bias or built up wanderlust due to covid cancellations. The stars aligned for us on that trip. Every experience exceeded our expectations.

Vikings Resort - Dominican Republic

AustinCountyAg said:

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... although she might say Charleston. She loved the architecture and food in Charleston. She is a Southern Living magazine type of girl so everything was right up her alley in terms of shops, food, style, etc.

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I'm not a world traveler so I don't have a lot of exotic vacations to recall. But our trip to Charleston was fantastic. Weather was cold but that kept the crowds down somewhat and our big group was able to see and do everything we wanted.

- rode a bike west-to-east across Rwanda, from Dem Rep Congo border to Tanzania border.
- white-water rafting upper Talkeetna River Alaska, multi-day trip including through highly treacherous rapids
- hiking, penguin watching in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
- rented a 15 passenger van went with wife/two small kids plus another family drove well into Mexico, arriving at the most magical town of Real de Catorce.
- drove all over Ecuador including down/up and over the Andes
- drove Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland; stopover in Iceland on way home
- rented a sight-seeing plane to fly over Angel Falls in Venezuela
- numerous trips to historical parts of Mexico; Taxco is my favorite

I'm jealous of Aggie00's bike trip. I've heard about this trip and sounds awesome.

AustinCountyAg said:

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FancyKetchup14 said:

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What kind of trips are y'all into?

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-Charleston, Boston- ate/drank our way around town as we walked the cities


Our worst trip to date has been NYC...getting on the flight going home their sure wasn't any feelings of wanting to stay any longer.

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This just goes to show that there's no "One Size Fits All" answer.

Boston is probably my favorite city in the US to visit, so we've got that. BUT...

I found Charleston supremely underwhelming and was ready to leave after a long weekend.

I think NYC is awesome. I could probably stay for a month and have a good time.

I'm a history buff and love going to Europe. It's hard to pick one, but, of those trips, probably my favorite was June of 2007 to the UK. Started a week in London on a Friday renting an apartment just behind the Wellington Barracks, which was convenient for attending a dress rehearsal of Trooping the Colour on Saturday morning (they do the whole ceremony the same as on the actual day, just without the royals). We did so much while there, including the Tower (made 2 trips, one for Ceremony of the Keys, the other for the full tour), the Globe, the British Library, the National Portrait Gallery, the Cabinet War Rooms, the London Eye, attending a debate in the House of Commons, and probably some other things I am forgetting. Also made a daytrip to Blenheim Palace and Oxford. Then, we took the train to Edinburgh, picked up a rental car, and drove the Highlands, first going west to Inveraray, then through Fort Williams to Mallaig, where we took the ferry to Skye. After a couple of days seeing Skye (we actually stayed just off the island at Plockton), it was on to Inverness, where we saw the Culloden battlefield, Corgarff Castle, Balmoral, Glamis, and back to Edinburgh where we spent several days before flight home.

Diving the great Barrier Reef with Minke whales and snow skiing in New Zealand (The Remarkables) all within the span of 2 weeks. All done in July.