A Glimpse Towards Europe

As we sit here in Southeast Asia, sweating with every motion made, we have been dreaming of cooler weather and quaint village settings.

We love small towns and both grew up with our summers and winters revolving around a lake.  Skating and ice fishing in the winter, swimming, boating, and water skiing in the summer.

As our European leg of our trip will begin in just a few months we are already starting to map out some of the spots we want to be sure and see and many of them include mountains, lakes, or both!  Cooler weather is on the horizon!

Here are just some of the areas we're investigating for our European adventure:

Swiss Alps

Wiki image
When I went to Switzerland and skied the alps back in 1998, I knew that this was a place I wanted to bring my family one day.  Beauty beyond comprehension, sparkling lakes, and crisp mountain air so fresh you would think you were on a different planet.  My boys are going to love it!   Not sure about visiting in the height of ski season, as snow and cold are really not my thing after 30 years in New England, but you never know.

One challenge can be finding just the right spot to settle down for an extended vacation.  After spending some time scouring the web I found a great spot to search for mountain holidays is with Inghams.  The problem is, we're finding too many beautiful places to make decisions.

Eastern and South Eastern Europe

Plitvice lakes, Croatia (wiki image)
Croatia has long been on our must see list, but recently we have discovered that each and every country in this region has numerous incredible features that has earned it a spot on our list as well.  Incredible natural beauty, as well as an interesting city life in Turkey, mountains of Bulgaria, and amazing history of Greece all make the tops of our European travel plans.  The real question is how to see it all; car, train, or bus!  Decisions, decisions.....

Italy

Lake Como, Italy (wiki image)
I spent a good amount of time in Italy and know that my guys are going to love it.  I am really looking forward to returning with a fresh and more worldly perspective.  Aside from Rome, Pisa, Florence, and Venice we are hoping to see a lot of Italy that is not on the 1-week Italy tour.

Some spots that I never did get to while I was in Italy are Lake Como (where I am guaranteed to be wined and dined by George Clooney himself, right?), volcanic ruins in Pompeii, Genoa, Trieste, and the food! Oh, the list just goes on and on.   Might just need a whole 3 months to explore Italy!

Western Europe

Tower Bridge, London (wiki image)
Of course when visiting Europe the traditional tourist trail will need to be explored.  Notre Dame, the Louvre, and Eiffel tower of Paris, natural beauty of Spain and Portugal, and all the history of nobility in London.

We're actually planning to park anchor in Spain for a few months.  There's so much to explore and we speak the language which helps make us mas comodo (more comfortable). First, we want to stay in a hotel with views of the Guggenheim to soak up some culture before venturing out to the countryside and the Mediterranean coast.

These areas will have their challenges as the cost of travel there is quite a bit higher than we are used to in Asia.  As long as we aren't trying to find affordable London hotels during the Olympics we should be fine, actually after the Olympics there should be a real shortage of visitors and so everything should be more affordable. You can book with an independent hotel booking site like IBCHotels.com since they offer low rates and they have a free night promo for every after 10 bookings. That will help save a bit mre. Now, to figure out those darn Shengen visas...

Of course there are many places we plan to visit while in Europe, these are just a few that we are really looking forward to.  Any tips on some off the beaten path spots that are must see's on your list??  Let us know in the comments below!

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5 comments:

  1. Definitely visit London! Hyde Park is terrific, but please arrive with lots of nuts :) And every creature is going to eat them from your hands, nor only squirrels! :)

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  2. You are right, hotel rates were so high during the Olympic and nowadays we can get for affordable prices but I hope it will again increase due to the Christmas period. By the way, European adventure places which were mentioned above are perfect.

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  3. I enjoy reading your posts – clear and well written. Thanks for posting this informative article. I will come across this website so often

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  4. Nice post!! i am always looking for these type of post which help me to increase my knowledge about different travel destinations of the world. I find very some useful pics here which i wish to share with my wife also so that she plan for next holiday trip by choosing one of them.

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