Europe Itineraries Part 2

We promised we would post our other Europe itineraries. How might looking at our itinerary help you? Sometimes seeing what other travellers have done is a great jumping off point for planning your own trip. When we are debating how many days to spend and where, we often browse the internet; most often TripAdvisor forums, travel magazine articles, and blogs just like this one. Let other traveller’s trials and errors and tips guide you in planning your own unique vacation.

Well needless to say, we fell in love with Europe. It was very difficult to choose 2012’s itinerary. When we reflect back, we realize we saw A LOT this round.

Here was our itinerary for our 2012 trip to Europe:                          

Destination	Length of stay
Rome, Italy	2 days (return later in trip)
Florence, Italy   (by train from Rome)	3 days
Venice, Italy	3 days
Amalfi coast: Sorrento & Capri	3 days & 2 days
Rome, Italy	3 days
Mykonos, Greece	4 days
Split, Croatia	3 days
Dubrovnik, Croatia	3 days
Hvar, Croatia	2 days

What worked and what didn't:

-We loved Croatia! It had a great mix of natural beauty, culture, and affordability

-Mykonos stole our heart. The scenery is breathtaking and the night-life exciting! We want to return….but it would break our rule of trying to only see new things

-We enjoyed the Amalfi coast and beach towns of Italy…the pizza is as amazing as everybody says. Strangely it was the all cheese pizza we enjoyed most

-Venice. A city on water! It is so unique. 3 days was enough, there was limited activities to do in the evening

-We were not crazy about Rome. We saw the major tourist attractions ( Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piaza Navona, Spanish Steps, and the Vatican) and all were cool, but we felt like we were in a crowd of people constantly who were simply trying to check items off their to do lists. 

Sorrento (Amalfi Coast) Italy

Photo: @conciergecouple

Would You Rather Wednesdays!

Would you rather travel with a backpack or a suitcase through Europe/Asia?

Trust me, I see you out there. You backpackers have all of your items packed tightly and neatly into one bag…your backpack. When you get to the airport some of you don’t even check your backpack, you take it on as a carry on. Which saves you time on arrival. On arrival, you can walk from the subway, bus, or taxi stop with ease to your hotel without having to worry about the implications of a cobblestone road (Europe) on your suitcase wheels.

However, if you are someone who just knows you need more than a backpack can hold, then a suitcase may be necessary. Maybe you have crazy frizzy hair like me and you just cannot imagine travelling for almost a month without your blow dryer or straightener? Maybe you like to bring multiple shoes, outfits, and electronics?

Our choice: Richard and I haul our suitcases as well as two fully packed carry-ons wherever we travel. Yes, it can be a pain carrying them into knee deep water as you board a water taxi in Venice or Phi Phi Island, but we wouldn't have it any other way. We bring workout clothes and shoes, daytime wear, clubbing clothes, and we enjoy getting dressed up for dinners. We have so many fun and memorable pictures of us all fancy for dinner. Let’s face it: how often do you really get dressed up during your usual day to day life? So embrace it and enjoy every moment of those long and leisurely dinners. 

Venice, Italy
Photo: @conciergecouple

Choosing where to travel in Europe Part 1

Deciding which country to visit in Europe is like choosing which cocktail to have next at an all-inclusive; they are all great and available. When Richard and I decided to make our first summer trip to Europe, we had so many countries to research and ponder. Since we tend to decide on travel destinations by following our heart; we decided to make the decision easy on ourselves and just choose based on our “bucket lists”. I had my top choices: Spain, France, & Greece. Richards top choices were: Spain, Netherlands, Germany, & Greece. We narrowed them down to France and Spain. Our next step was deciding which cities we wanted to explore. We went for the obvious ones, but even added a few unique stops to the trip.

Here was our itinerary for our 2011 trip to Europe:   

                       

Destination	Length of stay
Paris, France	3 days (4 would have been better)
Mallorca, Spain	3 days
Ibiza, Spain	3 days
Madrid, Spain	4 days
Marrakech, Morocco	2 days
Barcelona, Spain	4 days
Lisbon, Portugal	3 days
Algarve, Portugal	2 days

Total vacation time: 24 days

So how did we select which cities to visit? We simply had heard some places were beautiful, we had something we were interested in exploring there, or we wanted to be a little adventurous. Location also came into play. We were only going to visit Lisbon but once we found out we could rent a car and see a great coastal town in only a few hours, we added the Algarve to our trip. We found a crazy deal on a flight to Marrakesh from Madrid, so we jumped on it, leaving our Madrid hotel (yes we were paying for it and not staying there) and most of our luggage behind for two days. The Algarve turned out to be incredible. So much so, that we've been discussing buying rental property in the region. However, then you feel obligated to vacation there more often, but that’s an entirely different debate and blog post.
* Our two other Europe itineraries will be available soon, in an upcoming post.

To make things simple, select a couple "must see" cities and then build from there. Look for deals and unique extra destinations that will give your itinerary it's own personal feel. You'll be surprised how many times it's the cities, towns, or villages that you just added on that create so many incredible memories.

What cities are your "MUSTS" when in Europe?

Algarve, Portugal
Photo: @conciergecouple

Travel Season

“Well what about rain season?”

“I can only travel during high season…but it is too expensive”

             Being teachers is a blessing in many ways, but a curse for those with the travel bug sometimes. Yes, we do have much time off together, which allows us not only to travel reasonably often for professionals, but also for long periods of time. However, the time we have off is often when most destinations raise their prices and/or it is rain season. So what do we do to balance this positive and negative? Stay longer to get our money’s worth and do not be deterred by “rain season”.

 The past two summers we have travelled to Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and China). It was their rain season and in total over the two trips we only had 4 rain days total. We maintain the attitude that we need to “seize the summer/winter” time that we have off. We have no regrets and I tell you, our eyes have been opened to new countries and experiences that we may not have had if we had just stuck to those destinations that are comfortable or safe.

            As it goes for costly destinations like Europe, we just opt to stay longer (often 3-4 weeks). This way our expensive flight over (Toronto-Paris), is not such a hard pill to swallow when we know we are getting plenty of time to enjoy our destination. We do a great job hopping around various parts of Europe by train or budget airlines and split our time between hotels and apartment rentals. Another bonus of extra time is….you get just enough time to sink into the lifestyle and forget all about your responsibilities at home. 

Photo: @conciergecouple