I just made the mistake of flipping through the Smithsonian Journeys 2027 Travel Catalog and am now torn between some trips that are really only in my dreams. Technically I can afford them; husband likely would not be interested in spending the money after our big trip this year. But just in case…
This would be pure indulgence; I’ve wanted to go snorkeling again for quite some time.
The Waterways of France is on an Amawaterways river cruise ship. It may be the combination of 2 of their itineraries. If you’re serious you might want to check out their website to see if it’s any cheaper through them.
I have a question for people who have traveled to Europe lately. ( due to life events I haven’t gone since October 2024).
Have you felt any negativity toward Americans when you have traveled lately?
I ask because I know a few people ( including a family member I would like to travel with) who won’t travel because “ they are embarrassed to be an American “. I think that this is exaggerated.
I traveled to Europe last year in May and September, and Peru in Feb of this year. No negativity at all. People were so nice. I think they realize that if you’re out there traveling, you’re friendly and don’t have antagonism towards them, so they don’t hold it towards you. I felt like they either didn’t notice we were Americans (though it became quite obvious once we opened our mouths), or they felt sorry for us and were sympathetic.
We were careful to not wear clothing that had English writing on it, however, didn’t want to stick out.
Not at all. We were in Europe in April and although some people we interacted with would say negative comments about our government I never felt we were treated negatively.
We were in Scotland and Paris last summer and felt no animosity from anyone that we are Americans. We also had a great trip to Austria and Germany last December. We travel a lot and wherever we go we try hard not to be obnoxious tourists and complain about things being different than they are at home. No one we talked to in the countries we visited had anything negative to say.
We were in London in Sept of 2024 and October 2025. Both times I was pleased that Americans seemed to be treated well. The 2025 trip had a day when the family (and tens of thousands of fellow Broncos fans) were dressed in orange, even more obviously tourists than usual. I did opt to turn my navy Broncos hoodie inside out on subsequent days.
When we were in Scandinavia and Tokyo, we never experienced any negativity toward us. Everyone was very kind and friendly. I think they assume the world knows we have a crazy admin.
H had us go the ER two days before we flew to SF and the ER in NYC the day before we flew to Scandinavia. He’s having sone constipation issues and wanted the med team to tell him whether or not to travel. They all unanimously wished him well and said he’d be fine.
I appreciate the responses to my question and I’m not surprised by the answers. I think that this particular family member is being extremely pessimistic.
I’m 69 years old and generally healthy. I am planning to travel now when I can ( have a river cruise in Europe booked for November). You never know.
I was just in Italy in April and going to Portugal soon. Some people thought our leadership was crazy, but they were very nice to us. After all we were spending money there.
Though that does seem a little much, I know how concerning constipation issues can be. My parents have suffered quite a bit from that, particularly my dad. He had a huge issue, and the doctor kept recommending Miralax, water, etc, which didn’t work. He ended up hospitalized with a colon all twisted up, for a week. He never walked again after that, was catheterized, over medicated and had to stay in a memory care facility, and then died, having never gotten out of the bed.
I think if the doctor, ER, or anyone would have told him just to drink a bottle of magnesium citrate, he would have been cleaned out and it could have saved his life. What we now know. Something to consider, this really, really works (though drink plenty of water).
Yes, water, miralax and Linzess. He does it all faithfully but aging is challenging. He will be 84 later this month. Magnesium citrate isn’t magic for him. IVs of saline isn’t magic either, though it helped in one ER visit.
That’s too bad it doesn’t work for him. It would be a bummer if a bottle or two had no impact. I would only recommend magnesium citrate when someone has a serious backup to get rid of, not as a daily plan, as it’s tough on your system. Nobody wants to get too dehydrated and pass out.
October 2025 we visited Amsterdam, Germany, Austria, Hungary, New Czech Republic and found everyone friendly and all respectful of Americans, but of course, we are tourists and bring them money. Only 1 person brought up politics - a far right TukTuk driver in Budapest who we quickly explained we did not agree with his statements. He seemed surprised and little flabbergasted. He didn’t know how to talk after that and only pointed to things and said what they were.
Today is the 27th anniversary of the adoption of my daughter. We were in China just weeks after we accidentally bombed the Chinese embassy. We were clearly westerners, either Americans, Canadians or Europeans as we were a group of white people with 10 Chinese children often traveling in a bus. We were told not to wear US flag clothing, but otherwise could do anything we wanted to. Everyone was nice.
The hotel we stayed in in Guangzho had expats living in a separate area (I think the husbands were engineers working at Chinese businesses) but they used the hotel pool. I asked one of the women pool how it had been. She said they stayed inside for a few days but never had any trouble.
Now being met at the airport by army guys toting AK-47s was a harsh welcome. When we traveled back about 8 years later, I don’t remember that kind of army presence.