It hits us just as it always does... the travel itch.
We can't help it; the itch starts and we start planning our next adventure!
To start with, when we begin to plan a trip we search for travel deals. Think of it as shopping for that special item you want to take home and treasure, but this is even better since you can keep your memories from this deal forever. This time in particular, we knew we wanted to go to France during a specific time period (maximizing holiday time, minimizing vacation days, and for other plans we have already
committed to) and no crazy good deals were available, so we decided to book with our airline points.
One good thing about
Continental now is you can book separate legs of a trip going to a particular destination, and along the way have a "layover" in a city for a few days to see the sights all for the price of a one way trip. For example, we decided to go to
Frankfurt, get on a bus (covered also by continental) to
Strasbourg, tour the
Alsace region, go back to Frankfurt and continue on to
Marseilles, our final destination for the first portion of the trip all for 30,000 miles.
Lufthansa, a star alliance member, has a great
interactive destination plot to help get you started.
My husband is the the detailed
thorough deal and option finder. He scoped every way to get to Europe with saver points in the time we wanted with the least amount of stops (excluding the "layovers" we wanted). Sometimes getting to Europe is good enough, as you can book
EZ jet cheap. In short, there are LOTS of options, but sometimes with limitations, you have to pick the route which has the least
nuances.
Meanwhile, while he was routing
every way you can imagine, I heard that Borders was going out of business. I was
ecstatic and sad at the same time. You see, my main role in trip planning is activity
coordinator. Our favorite travel book is
DK Eyewitness traveler. We like the layout, pictures and the detailed information that is high-grated by region. They also serve as great collectors items and
mementos from your trips. However, they come expensive, so I rushed out to try to get some on sale. I was in luck and
proudly brought home the
DK France book and
Rick Steves' pocket book Paris. The man with two first names is known for his
knowledge of Paris, and I have learned from other trips that you want to use a small but very informative book to keep on you when you are moving from sight seeing place to place in a city.
I got home to find that my
hubbie found the best route for us. We would end in Paris and have one layover home on the day we wanted. Perfect! I quickly skimmed over the various regions in the book and we consulted with some French
friends of ours to sketch out our rough draft travel plan. My husband went to book the trip, and an error sign appeared. NOT GOOD. Now what, after all that searching and a HICCUP? Ring, ring....the continental travel helpline was well the least bit helpful.. just said that the seats were booked
even though they showed open online . It all depends on who you get to help you on the other line. We got frustrated and my husband tried again...
MIRACULOUSLY it worked!
So as of now, we are booked to go to
Frankfurt with one stop, catch a bus to Alsace region to start. Then our rough draft is to catch a train to
Marseilles, tour
Provence, then by car tour the
Pyrenees up to Bordeaux. Then go to Loire valley, St.
Malo, Normandy and end with a few days in Paris. This way we can get a strong taste of the different
Provences of France. All this is a little over 2 weeks. Phew! Most of our friends say we are crazy! But that is the way we like it - crazy! Stick with us and you will see how we make it work, and have a blast!
I am going to try to post once a week, so if you like this let me know and until then ...
Avior!