<p>Coralbrook, we do have an empty nest but are not retired and I am a teacher. The down side of teaching is that we can either travel in the summer (which is the height of the tourist season in most places) or during school vacation weeks. If we go during a vacation week I am limited to seven days and that would include travel days. No possibility of getting time off on any other week or of taking personal days before or after a vacation week to extend it. That’s a no/no in my school system. Also, if we go during a school vacation week we will pay through the nose for air and lodging.</p>
<p>One advantage of the Alaska cruise idea is that it really accommodates radically different exercise preferences. We went years ago with my parents, and it was at exactly the time that Parkinson’s put my mother in a wheelchair. (We essentially learned that she was wheelchair-bound when she was incapable of navigating the hotel in Vancouver where we stayed before getting on the cruise ship.) So while some of us went off to hike on a glacier, kayak, or ride horses into the Yukon, others took exciting but comfortable and passive boat tours to look at wildlife. We were on a relatively small, relatively high-end ship run by Seven Seas, and it completely surpassed my expectations, both for how much I enjoyed it and for how well it worked for a group of people who would otherwise have had a lot of trouble coordinating how to spend their time.</p>
<p>That said, Barcelona is wonderful. My wife wants to live there, not just visit. Madrid is great, too, but really hot in the summer.</p>
<p>The trips we are really hankering to take are Turkey (my wife has fallen in love with the border between the Islamic world and Europe in general, and Turkish ceramics and fabric in particular), Berlin (seems like the world’s hippest city at the moment), and India.</p>
<p>OK, now I understand why you have to go in summer. I would throw out the suggestion of an Alaska Cruise with the group. As JHS says, it would allow everyone to do their own thing. I suggest one of the smaller intimate boats that can really get into the glacier areas, like the Seven Seas.</p>
<p>How much do you want to spend? Look at the Paul Gaugin cruises in the South Pacific isles. Small boats…but pricey. How about Bali? Gorgeous any time of the year.</p>
<p>I would take a culinary tour like this one.<a href=“http://www.carsandtraveltoo.com/linked/provence_-_paris_itinerary_highlights_final.pdf”>Carsandtraveltoo.com;
<p>I was in Provence a few years ago and would love to go back.</p>
<p>What about a barge trip in France. I know of one couple that along with three other couples went on a barge trip where they were the only guests. The barge included a cook.
Safari in Kenya. </p>
<p>I’ve always dreamed of getting one of those chartered sailboats in the Virgin Islands or the British Virgins. They come with a captain and a cook and you plan the itinerary of where you want to go, stopping in small coves for swimming or snorkeling. I haven’t done it but it seems really nice. </p>
<p>A walking tour of Provence, staying mostly in small towns and villages. The kind where they transport your luggage for you. There are some companies that specialize in putting them together for you. You could visit Paris on either end of the trip.</p>
<p><a href=“Walking holidays Provence | Walking in Provence | Inntravel”>http://www.inntravel.co.uk/holidays/walking-holidays/france/provence</a></p>
<p>All of these suggestions sound so inviting, but there is nothing like an African sunset! If you have the means to do it, go to South Africa! It is truly unique and beyond amazing! Surprisingly, it’s not prohibitively expensive. Spend some time in the Cape, the wine country and go to the northern part of the country (Transvaal) to see the game. A private game reserve is terrific but Kruger Park, the largest game park on the African continent, is also breathtaking. You can go luxurious and spend a ton of money but you don’t have to do that to have a memorable experience.</p>
<p>Well, thank you for the suggestions! As tempting as they are, some are out of our price range. The South Africa/Safari and the Alaska Cruise are probably off the table until we pay back some of the tuition loans.<br>
So the budget would probably be around 3,000-4,000 per person plus air faire and spending.</p>
<p>I’ve been checking out some of the other ideas and am intrigued by the Barcelona (and other Spain locations) as well as the Paris/Loire ideas. Not sure whether to consider a guided tour or to try to do it on our own. What have your experiences been like? Driving might be stressful. Train, maybe? Or is the tour guide thing fun?</p>
<p>If anyone speaks French, a trip to France can involve both decadence and high energy if you take trains. In the Loire, some can bike the chauteau, some can tour by car and you can travel from Paris by train. Cars can be rented in smaller towns and many rail stations. However, France can be very busy in summer. With my French speaking D, I have driven various parts of rural France, and lived to tell about it. There are absolutely beautiful places to stay and eat, and the countryside is gorgeous. </p>
<p>Barges can also be hired in Britain, as well as France. No experience required, from what I hear. </p>
<p>Don’t do a guided tour. You will have so much more fun on your own, and less cost. </p>
<p>Regarding sailing the Virgin Islands. I have sailed the Virgin Islands for over 30 years, but we are sailors and go on our own. There is no vacation like it in the world… the ability to just go into any cove you want at any time, jump overboard and snorkel right from your sailboat, etc. Evenings in the cockpit under the stars, warm water, warm breezes. With a captain and cook it is sheer luxury. </p>
<p>Look at ‘chartered sailboats’ in the British Virgin Islands. Also, it is somewhat low season there in the summer and you can find good deals on the chartered sailboats. If you want suggestions of specific boats I know some of the captains.</p>
<p>Major tourist cities in Europe can be uncomfortably hot and crowded with very long lines during the summer months. Copenhagen is one of our favorite travel locations. Modern, yet old world, amazing dining, delightful people, safe, easy to rent cars and drive around the country. (same can be said for Stockholm) A cruise up the Norwegian coastline to view the fjords is beautiful. </p>
<p>^^We’re doing a mileage run to Stockholm this summer for 4 days. My husband has been there and has said it is amazing, beautiful, unique, water everywhere. The hotels don’t even look that expensive during peak season in the summer.</p>
<p>Scandinavia is a great place to visit in the summer! busdriver, you will love it! If you want to sample Swedish food, this is a great little place:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189852-d697820-Reviews-KB-Stockholm.html”>http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189852-d697820-Reviews-KB-Stockholm.html</a></p>
<p>The Vasa Museum is amazing. I’m not that much into weaponry, but even I found this place fascinating: <a href=“Swedish Army Museum - Wikipedia”>http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Army_Museum</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the info, Bunsen1 Will definitely look into the restaurant. My husband says the Vasa is an absolute must, so we will spend a day there for sure, especially with your recommendation.</p>
<p>Travel in a summer is extrememly physically challenging. We did thid mistake once, but we were young in our mid. 40s We never did it again. It is not a vacation, it is a torture. Bu people have different heat indurance levels. Make sure to have water with you at all times, unless you are going to Alaska or Siberia.</p>
<p>Everyone has a different idea of what makes a good vacation. Even though I would not want a guided tour, others do. One advantage of a guided tour would be avoiding disagreements among the group, if that might be a problem. The schedule would be the schedule, and no one could blame it on another member of the party. </p>
<p>Does your group like a vacation jam-packed with events and moving around, or a more leisurely kind of trip? Mr. Fang and I prefer leisurely. We like to go to a place and stay there for a while, poking around, finding things to do, hanging out. We stayed in Barcelona for a week a couple of years ago. We didn’t have a tour guide or anything like that: we just wandered around the city. We visited the Gaudi-designed Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell and Casa Batllo, all of which are fantastic and not to be missed. We ate tapas and other delicious food. The magnificent Quimet y Quimet, a hole-in-the-wall tapas place, remains green in memory; I feel it’s a great tragedy that I’m six thousand miles away from there right now.</p>
<p>I rented a bike one day and rode around. We took the train to Montserrat, where we hiked some amazing mountain trails. Another day, Mr. Fang found some castellars, crazy groups who compete making human pyramids, having a competition at a festival at some random town outside Barcelona, so we took the train there and wondered around watching them and looking around the festival.</p>
<p>Barcelona would be hot in the summer, but you could do as the locals do and rest during the afternoon, staying out late at night. The dinner hour is around 10 pm in Spain.</p>
<p>It depends on what the group wants to do - touring, relaxing, warm beaches, sight seeing, etc. I go to the VI and BVI’s as my go to vacation spot. Just got back from St John. While the chartered boat is a fun idea, that’s awfully tight for 6 and after awhile it can be a bit dizzying. How about you pick a resort either on the BVI’s or VI and take day trips and explore the beaches of the island where you stay. St John has tons of villas for rent with fabulous views and your own pool to relax. Virgin Gorda is my next favorite island. We took a day trip from St John to see the baths at Virgin Gorda, lunch at Cooper Island and snorkeling at Norman Caves. Not to mention a trip to Jost Von Dyke and some painkillers at Soggy Dollar Bar, lunch at the boat restaurant Willy T’s. Great restaurants around too. </p>
<p>“Everyone has a different idea of what makes a good vacation. Even though I would not want a guided tour, others do. One advantage of a guided tour would be avoiding disagreements among the group, if that might be a problem. The schedule would be the schedule, and no one could blame it on another member of the party.”</p>
<p>That is a definite positive. It can get kind of messy when you are coordinating everything. Who is responsible, whose fault is it when things go wrong? It’s different when it’s just your family annoyed at you. If someone doesn’t want to do the massive legwork as an organizer and researcher, a guided tour can be perfect. What if everyone doesn’t want to go to the same place, what if you end up in massive lines standing in the sun, what if the museum guide sucks, what if you have to buy tickets ahead of time, negotiating transportation, crowds, language issues. Who does all the work?</p>
<p>I have not been a big fan of group tours, but I LOVE the Rick Steves tours. It is a totally different experience with a small group of adventurous and friendly people, a great mix of guided tours with the most awesome local guides, and free time with plenty of recommendations on where to go. I researched NOTHING before I went on the trip, and trusted that they would babysit us through everything, giving us the ultimate experience in a very short time. We made dear friends on the trip, who visited us last summer. There are a number of people on this forum who have been on Rick Steves trips, and some who have not gone on his trips but bought his book on a specific area and done the same things on his tour, on their own. He has the best travel books with such practical information. This is the next tour I think I want to do, short, pretty cheap, and looks enticing: <a href=“http://www.ricksteves.com/tours/spain-portugal/basque”>http://www.ricksteves.com/tours/spain-portugal/basque</a></p>