Vacations - Vacation Planning - Discussion

Oh wow everyone, sounds fabulous!

@albean99 I'm not seeing your picture.

We are talking about Cuba in November but no definite plans yet.

I cannot wait to get to the beach!

Gosh, it's SO very nice to hear about everyone's plans to travel again. For myself and my husband it has been freeing to know that we are vaccinated and we feel safer even while wearing masks, distancing and washing hands.

Stay safe everyone and have a great time.

I just got my first shot yesterday. My husband got his a few weeks ago.

He gets his final shot in July and I get mine in June.

Bahamas just opened up to vaccinated travellers effective May. So this is is perfect.

I am praying nothing changes from now until then. I haven’t seem my sisters for so long. But July all of us are finally getting together. We will all be vaccinated. (I have 5). I cant wait to see them. (almost more than my trip)

I can see the photo so not sure why you can't, @GuardianAngel

Here's a direct link to it so hope that works: Disney pic

We're spending our anniversary in Napa in June. Kind of a trip down memory lane for us.

A couple of years back my darling husband arranged for us to take the train from Niagara Falls, Canada to New York City. We loved that 9-hour trip and wanted to take a longer ride!

So...just this past Christmas, he gifted me (us!) with a trip on Amtrak's Coast Starlight. We waited until we were both fully vaccinated and left last week to fly to Los Angeles to begin our trip on board Train 14 at Union Station. The station is Mission Revival gorgeous with a spectacular ceiling and even more impressive attendants. We spoke with the first attendant we saw and informed her that we were new at this and weren't sure what to do next. She immediately took us under her wing, took us up to the Metropolitan Lounge and turned us over to another attendant. This second person, lovely lady with an incongruous Southern accent, loaded us onto a golf cart and had us driven to the exact spot where our particular car would stop.

We were met by our Car Attendant, Chris, who picked up our luggage and took us up to our bedroom. Our trip from Los Angeles to Seattle took just over 33 hours so we had the luxury of beds overnight and a room with an ensuite, albeit VERY small.

I can't tell you how much we enjoyed the 2 days and overnight on the Coast Starlight. Service was excellent! Scenery was gorgeous with the Pacific Ocean, otters and jumping fish in Elkhorn Slough, Mt. Shasta, Oregon's forests and Washington's Puget Sound. I can't recommend this particular route enough and it was a glorious trip.

My apologies for not including any photos but it was too difficult (at least for me) to snap anything good with the train moving.

Now researching another trip and we're both liking the Southwest Chief...

@Doats omg that sounds fantastic!

If you get to Niagara Falls Canada again, I'm 15 minutes away!

I'm glad you were able to take a vacation after not being able to travel for so long.

I took a train twice to go from St Catharines, Ontario to Montreal. Once for the Quebec Winter Carnival, which was a blast and another for a hockey game. Trains are awesome!

Your train sounds like pure luxury!

@Doats that sounds wonderful! I've never been on an overnight train. I may have to add that to my wish list.

@albean99 The overnight was the best. Some people on youtube complained about track noise and train whistles but both were just part of the charm for us. I think you would like the whole experience.

@GuardianAngel The whole trip was sheer extravagance but I'm retired and my husband has cut way back on his work hours so we had the time. We've put our kids through college and grad school. And we made a conscious decision that future gifts would be trips--we don't need or want more stuff.

We just got back from a Viking river cruise on the Danube that started near Munich and ended in Budapest. Stunning scenery and wonderful people every step of the way. Had Covid tests before we left, every day on the ship and a final PCR test before getting on the plane to return to the US.

When the kids were young, we drove to the beach or the mountains but they didn't have a lot of interest in history or Europe. Now that they're grown and out of the house we plan to go to Europe every year for a couple of weeks.

Can't wait to go back to Budapest where we found an Italian restaurant and had the best, the very best, pizza we have ever had anywhere!

@Doats sounds like heaven!! That is a beautiful cruise, my friends went on one that sounds similar.

I've been to Italy several times and absolutely love everything about it. I hope I can get back there.

Missed our Cuba vacation last year, we hope to get there later this year.

@GuardianAngel I've never been to Cuba so I hope you post to share your experiences there.