Fall 2024 European Adventure

We leave in two days for a two-month adventure! This, trip has been almost a year in the planning stages and has many different facets. To begin with some background, we took a guided tour of the highlights of Italy last year. Saw many major tourist locations but it was very fast paced – no rest time nor much on our own time. We wanted to get back and explore in much deeper detail. So here is the plan:

Goal

A relaxed month in Italy to absorb the culture and food. Mostly focused on Florence. Then off to Barcelona, Spain for a week. Then we board a transcontinental cruise ship that makes a week of stops around Spain, before it takes to the Atlantic for another week on the high seas. The ship arrives in Florida in December where we stay for a couple of days before flying back home to Virginia.

Plan

1 Flight over – It is never easy to get somewhere from Roanoke VA. The total travel time including layovers is just over 17 hours. We fly from Roanoke to DC, change planes, then fly to Frankfort Germany, change planes, then fly to Florence Italy. Phew! The jet lag will be fierce, but we plan to stay up all that arriving day to try to get acclimated.

2 Florence, Italy – We stay at a 2BR and 1 bath apartment for 32 days. The apartment has two terraces and will be our home base in this very walkable renaissance city. We will do some exploring by using the very efficient rail system to other cities, but mostly we will just explore Florence. We hope to walk every inch of the place and find the best non-touristy restaurants, cafes, coffee shops, and wineries.

3 Barcelona Spain – Fly from Florence to Barcelona into our rented airbnb and stay for a week. We are taking several walking tours around the city, but I honesty have not done much research, so we will be making plans on the spot.

4 Transcontinental Cruise – We have a Royal Caribbean 13 night cruise from Barcelona that makes several one night stops as it goes around Spain, passes Gibraltar, makes a couple more stops, then makes the Atlantic crossing in 7 days. Pat and I both love cruises on the large ships so we are looking forward to the experience. First though on an Atlantic crossing, but at least no jet lag that way.

5 Cocoa Beach – Upon arriving in Florida, we have a beach house rented for a couple of nights. The plan is to visit some people, places, and see mom’s cemetery plot since it was not complete when we were there for the funeral.

6 Flight back to VA!

Wrap Up

I did get my international driver’s license, but probably will not drive, but either walk or take the high-speed trains. With all that pasta, we will have to do much walking! On that note, we may also join a fitness center to continue with our workouts. I really don’t expect to gain much weight on the Italy Mediterranean diet. From what I remember last year, the meals mostly all had some pasta, but servings were smaller than the typical US size. I really enjoyed the meals on that trip, and many were not even the best menu items as it was a group paid tour, and they simply brought out the dishes without much choice.

As we have talked about this adventure, people often comment about having a month long stay in one place. Why would we do that instead of staying a week in four different destinations? It is pretty simple answer as we hope to get a better, deeper understanding of life in Florence. Their culture, customs, and everything that makes this ancient city unique. After all, it had beginnings in 59BC founded by the Roman Empire and it was politically, economically, and culturally one of the most important cities in Europe and the world from the 14th to 16th centuries.

Heck, we may get bored just sitting on the balcony terrace having our morning coffee or finding the best place for an afternoon aperitivo. We will see…

Take care and God Bless.