We’ve started working on our every state and every continent plan. In pretty good shape on states (39 so far) but woefully behind on continents – the northern ones are done but none of the southern yet. With semi-retirement we’ll hit at least one new continent a year with Antartica probably the last. Should be able to hit the rest of the states within 3-4 trips too. In-between we always prioritize visiting relatives and friends and finding a true relaxation/nice weather trip.
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We have the best neighbor cat sitters. Sometimes I think the cat likes them better than he likes us! As they have graduated from high school, we sort of worried…but a new family with two potential younger cat sitters have moved in! I think we are set for a while!
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We had house/pet sitters when we had dogs. After the passing of our last 2, we decided to enjoy the granddog and forego getting another. D & SIL give us multiple “opportunities” to dog sit when they go away.
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That’s where we are now. I miss having a dog, but D and SIL live close by and not only do we dog sit for theirs, I frequently go to their house and pick up the grand dog and take him on long walks. Everybody wins.
I do plan to adopt a senior dog when we are no long interested in/able to travel.
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We have traveled a lot in life both for my work and for pleasure. We now live in a beautiful house on the bank of a river that is basically in a nature preserve, so we are less interested in traveling. Somehow, I think we are going to still end up traveling a lot.
First, my version of retirement is to shift more of my work to pro bono activities. Although at this point, my pro bono work will involve a fair bit of work in Africa. (The organization I’m helping wants me to go to 15 African countries in two years, which is more than I’m willing to do, but three or four a year probably will work).
And, we have a lot of travel built in. As long as we are physically able, we will go every year to hike in Lake O’Hara. This is one of my spiritual spots. We have a second house on a lake in Quebec and probably will continue to go for part of the summer.
We are planning a bike trip in Europe for our anniversary and another trip with our kids for my birthday. I was thinking Baja California Sud for the latter trip, but have recently been thinking Japan. We had a magnificent two-week family trip to Japan when ShawD was in 2nd grade and ShawSon was in 5th grade. At the time, everything was so expensive, but 2 decades of deflation apparently make Japan an inexpensive place to visit.
Plus, we seem to be having a rash of family weddings. We’ve got to go to Maryland for one and NY/NJ for another this summer. And ShawWife will continue to have shows that we will travel to. She’s now talking to someone about a show in Switzerland.
So, our desire to stay home more will probably be defeated by the world.
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Well…our retirement travel might include a wedding in Tuscany at the end of April 2025. If we do this wedding, it will include maybe a 10 day trip overall. The wedding events are two days. TBD. This is a relative, and it’s going to be a very pricey wedding to attend. Stay tuned!
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For that kind of trip, you kindof have to look at it as a splurge travel … with the bonus of attending the wedding.
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Frankly, we would love to go to Italy…without a wedding. I think we will go to the wedding first…then take time for a vacation.
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Love Italy. Have now been there 4 times. Didn’t plan it that way but our S23 did two tours performing at music festivals in Italy (and the French Riviera) so we tagged along, on top of the earlier planned family vacations. Glad that happened since we stuck to the obvious stuff with the first trips – Rome, Florence, Venice, Pompeii, etc. but got to see so many more interesting little towns and villages with the tours. Italy is like a time capsule with different regions preserving different periods of history.
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I have no idea how many times I’ve been to Italy. We lived in Germany for five years and whenever we felt like we needed a break we’d hop on the night train and go for a long weekend. I also went on a tour with my Columbia architecture class thanks to a grant that paid for the trip by some alum and I went a couple of times with my parents. There are still lots of things I haven’t seen including Naples and anything south and the Amalfi coast.
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It can be hit or miss - some are great (those that use the icons) and some less so. My tree-nut allergy D is studying abroad and has been to 12 different countries. She and I were together for 12 days in Prague, Rome & Barcelona. Prague is her home base and she’s been able to find quite a few restaurants that use the icons, where she feels safe eating. None of the restaurants we went to in Rome used the icons. When we asked about nut allergies, most of them said they could not guarantee cross contamination because their kitchens are small and busy, and one suggested she even refrain from eating the pasta! Many times when she asks, she just gets a shrug and no real answer. We also didn’t see any icons at the restaurants we ate at in Barcelona. She has not eaten any pastries or bakes goods in any country, just to be safe and pretty much sticks to eating meats.
During our 12 days together, I really got a sense of her struggle to find nut-free options in Europe. As far as nut-free food choices are concerned, I know she’ll be relieved to back in the U.S. in a couple of weeks, where there is less of a worry for her.
I wouldn’t say don’t go to Europe if you have food allergies, but just know it will take extra efforts depending on the type of allergy and what cities you visit and whether people speak English (or you speak their language).
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We travel a lot and typically go to Italy every other year. We have found they ask about allergies and are very sensitive to celiac/gluten-sensitivity. ShawWife is allergic to peanuts – though interestingly the severity of the allergy has declined over the last 20 years from immediate anaphylactic shock to difficulty breathing. We still obviously avoid.
One thing we found in Italy was that the concept of vegetarian is somewhat different. We were traveling with a guy who is both vegetarian and kosher. We had an outstanding soup that was listed as vegetarian at a very nice restaurant in Valdobiadene. We asked the chef for the recipe (one in our group has native fluency in Italian) and the chef listed all the ingredients and at the very end said, “and a little bit of beef broth, for taste.” Our friends reacted in a bit of shock and said that the menu marked the dish as vegetarian. The chef replied, " it is only for taste." So, vegetarians and folks who keep kosher need to probe what is in the vegetarian dishes.
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We just got back from an amazing trip to Italy. Early on we had to ask what the footnotes after each item meant. (My mind went to wine pairings. 
)
Yep, ingredients that may be an issue to diners. Luckily, I was able to work my way through wine pairings.
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All I could think of after reading your post was the scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when Andrea Martin’s character is asking Ian about food. He replies “I’m vegetarian”. She smiles, pats his shoulder (I think) and says “That’s OK–I’ll make lamb!”
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Wouldn’t those keeping kosher have additional criteria for restaurants, in terms of what food may have come into contact with the cooking and serving utensils and dishes used for the food being ordered?
@ucbalumnus, there are different ways that people keep kosher. Some have different sets of dishes, utensils and cooking equipment at home and require the same thing when they are outside the house. Others follow the same routine at home but will eat will eat fish and vegetables but not or shellfish meat at restaurants. The meat or shellfish would not be kosher but I think they figure that the high heat of dishwashers washes off any particles of non-kosher meat or shellfish and thus they can use the plates without fear of contamination.
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I have not used them, but withlocals was recommended by a fellow traveler, and I see from their website that they have a lot of different kinds of folks in lots of places, including some less traveled spots. You can find people who have a particular interest/expertise. I plan to give them a try. We travel a lot are do most of it on our own unless it’s a particularly difficult itinerary to plan. But I really like to visit historic and cultural sites with someone knowledgeable, and finding that can be hard.
DH hates being part of a group of any sort, so this may be the sweet spot.
A family member used them in NYC. Always good.
Can’t say enough good things about the Rick Steves tours. We have been able to do twice as much with the tour as we would have using their guidebooks. Plus, they take care of those difficult to get entry tickets.
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I’ve done tours and I hear what you’re saying – know the benefit of having it all taken care of, especially the hard to get tix!
It’s my traveling companion…