Travel Plans

As the world rights itself and borders, venues and people are adapting after the year-long pandemic, we find ourselves thinking and planning for future travel itinieraries once again. Our plan for now is to stay stateside. Our next international trip is on the books for April 2023 at this time.

Karen’s hotel is offering the employee rates and experiences so we plan to take as much advantage of that as we can.

First stop – West Palm Beach

It’s time to meet up with more friends in one the many places Karen has worked and we have lived. We plan to drive down and stay 2 nights at the newly refurbished Four Seasons hotel. I’ve already invited a friend to join us for lunch and the afternoon so we can catch up. It’s been about a year since we’ve seen each other. It will be a treat for her – and us as well to enjoy this great hotel! This hotel loved my baked goods offerings so I plan to make a batch of cookies to take for them to enjoy and as a surprise.

Next idea – Laurel, Mississippi/Alabama Road Trip

We watch HGTV’s Home Town show and have decided that we would love to see this quaint beautiful town. There is a fabulous B&B that we plan to stay at for a couple of days while we check it all out. Ben and Erin, Hometown hosts, have also worked revitalizing another small town in Wetumpka, Alabama that we may check out while ‘in the neighborhood’. We plan to fly into Alabama then rent a car. Karen’s best friend from Las Vegas days lives there and we will visit her and family for a couple of days before starting the rest of the road trip.

High School 50th Reunion

That brings us into October, I believe. So next up is my 50th high school reunion. This will be a blast from the past as I haven’t seen many of my former classmates since school days or the couple of early reunions that I attended while still living in Rochester. Make no mistake, going home for a reunion is a costly weekend. There’s flights, airport parking, car rental, hotel, food and assorted reunion costs such as clothing and ticket. Due to COVID, this reunion had to be rescheduled. Our gala night will be Friday, Thursday is a casual get-together at a local country bar and Saturday we revisit the halls of the ‘new’ high school where we were the first class to complete our senior education, 10-12 grades. This wil be a quick and busy weekend where we will also try to visit Ed’s sisters and their families while there.

Next up – our Christmas trip

Every year we plan to do something special for Christmas. This year we plan to head to Georgia for a wonderful olde world type Christkindlmarkt in Helen, a town reminiscent of Bavaria. It is said to be one of the best for miles around. We plan to fly to Atlanta, stay a night or two at the Four Seasons there, then drive to Helen and stay within walking distance of the venue for a couple more nights before driving back to fly home from Atlanta. We plan to go with friends from Karen’s work here in Orlando. It shouldn’t be as cold as a market in Europe – fingers crossed at least!

That takes us to the end of 2021. More road trips will be planned for 2022. We haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on the list!

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance.