Friday Five - We Bought The Business Class Seats!
Now that my sister-in-law is fully settled and comfortable with her new lifestyle and routine in my mom's 55+ community, I returned to travel planning with a vengeance the past week. So much got accomplished!
1. I crossed all the 't's and dotted all the 'i's for our upcoming trip to Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, which we are visiting before heading to see our daughter and her family in Tennessee. I booked all of our organized excursions, plotted out our timelines and walking routes, and made all our restaurant reservations. It does take hours to do all this, however, the benefit is that once we take off we can simply enjoy and follow the travel plan, no additional planning or thinking required.
I've done this often enough over the years that I have a very good sense of our interests and available energy. And I do build in downtime each day to simply sit and enjoy some liquid refreshments in between our activities. Which is also when some of our most pleasant and spontaneous conversations with locals occur.
2. I added on a week in Philadelphia as a start to our fall tour of the UK in order avoid having to book connecting flights. There are no direct flights from LAX to Edinburgh, Scotland, where our tour begins. In researching direct flights in and out of Edinburgh on the terrific and informative website, Flights From, I noted that Philadelphia was one of the airports listed. In that we've never been there, we decided to fly there first before flying onward to Edinburgh. So, we'll fly direct to Philadelphia, spend a week visiting, then fly direct from there to Edinburgh. So much less stress this way!
3. I booked a gorgeous boutique hotel in Philadelphia, because location and luxury are increasingly priorities in our lives. In the grand scheme of things, it's a small upgrade that really enhances our city touring experience. As I've mentioned previously, while I don't necessarily want to travel more than we already do, I'm now at an age where I do want to travel nicer.
4. I booked Business Class seats for our long haul direct flight home from Dublin. I gulped, I admit, before hitting the BUY button, but only because it's a bigger number than I'm used to, not because we can't afford it. I don't expect to book Business Class for every flight going forward, but if the experience turns out to be as pleasant as I think it's going to be, I do see us selectively flying Business Class as we continue to age.
5. I started working on booking excursions for the Greenland leg of our Summer 2027 cruise, because people on the cruise forum I'm on said they were already starting to fill up. I want to learn about the area, and to walk and sight-see as much as possible while there, but I also want some unique experiences. So on one of our stops we'll be combining a town walking tour with some unique (and tiny!) samplings of the local proteins. As in reindeer, caribou, seal and whale. Click here for more Greenland traditional cuisine information.
The Philadelphia area is my adopted home (my true hometown is my NYC birthplace-once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker). Talula’s Garden and Her Place Supper Club are terrific restaurants and should be booked the minute reservations open up, I highly recommend booking a Mural Arts walking tour-Philadelphia has lots of cool murals. The historic area also has tours which are fun. The Barnes Foundation and the Philadelphia Art Museum are also great. If you happen to be staying at the Kimpton Monaco and you have IHG status, see if you can get an upgrade to one of the suites overlooking the grassy area between Independence Hall and the Constitution Center..
ReplyDeleteHello there, and thank you for the great recommendations! (I"m guessing this is East Coast Maura?) The attractions you listed were already on my radar, but in that I've done zero restaurants research at this point, I jumped on both websites, and they look fabulous and exactly what we would look for. Question - would you yourself feel comfortable walking back to the Independence Hall area after an early dinner, while it's still light out? I know we could Uber back to our hotel after dinner, but on foot is always our first choice when possible.
DeleteAt this point I am planning on three full days in Philadelphia, and two days day-tripping to Valley Forge and the Amish countrysid
Not Maura-this is BethC. I think your 3/2 days split sounds perfect! Yes, you would be safe walking around the Independence Mall when it is sill light out. .
DeleteIll vacation vicariously through you while planning my own. Someday I'd like to travel in first or business class, but in the immediate future that would prevent funds for another vacation.
ReplyDeleteSam, you are exactly where we were at our first 15 years of retirement - I far preferred spending less on transportation and hotels in order to use that money on additional travel.
DeleteBut two things changed - one, we spent so many years withdrawing at just a modest 2% rate that our portfolio continued to grow nicely, and two, we're traveling less on the same budget amount, so there is now adequate funding to spend more per trip, vs doing more trips.
Keep on doing things your way, because at this point in your retirement you appear to be exactly where you should be - in the Go, Go, Go phase!
All your travel plans sound amazing! We are going to staycation this summer although I need to go to New England to see my brother, SIL and cousins. However my brother & SIL are moving into a continuing care community in August so are stretched thin as they have to massively downsize and sell their house. Perhaps in the Spring of next year I'll go - no winter in New England for me.
ReplyDeleteSpring in New England, post your brother and SIL's move, seems like would be a lovely time to visit! And so very nice that you are in an area with multiple airports to allow you, hopefully, to fly direct!
DeleteI can report that traveling business (which I now get to do for work, but used to have to travel economy for all of those 10+ hour legs) is an entirely different experience. DH & I have roughly agreed that on flights of 8+ hours and/or flights that only take place on a red eye, we are willing to pay for business. For New Zealand, we paid cash for one ticket, and miles for another, which dropped the cost, but it was still outrageous, of course. We are looking at Iceland, but the flights are shorter, they don't offer lie flat business, and they take place during the day. So, we might save our money for that and invest it in nicer hotels, which are also a priority for us. Sounds like we are similar travelers. There is a time & a place for saving, which we also really enjoy & I do inexpensive trips often, but for more splurge trips, we want them to be fantastic & check the right boxes. - Hawaii Planner
ReplyDeleteHP, so appreciate hearing from one who has indeed already flown Business Class! With regard to New Zealand, where also are traveling in early 2027, my daughter has raved about the Air New Zealand Economy Sky Couch, which will allow for two to sleep, though perhaps a bit snuggly. So, that is an option we are investigating as an alternative to Business Class.
DeleteI could write a book on all the ways we stretched out Travel budget our first ten years of retirement, including hundreds and hundreds of low cost days adventuring in the RV we owned up until a couple of years ago, and I actually take a lot of pride in how many trips we were able to do each year by being creative, and by willing to experience just a little discomfort (connecting flights, hotels on the outer edges of cities, shoulder travel where the weather could be 'iffy').
This is a new phase of life, and traveling in greater comfort is perhaps the offset needed to keep our aging selves traveling for many years to come.
Yay on the business class seats!! Also, I do zero connecting flights anymore anywhere , so the Philadelphia add on sounds fantastic!!! Cindy in the South
ReplyDeleteI've decided to take the position that somewhere far flung requiring connections will simply become an additional place to stop and explore enroute. Since we are retired and can afford that time. And the other piece to this is to travel with only carry on going forward.
DeleteTamara - yay for the business class tickets!! Haven't done that yet, can't wrap my head around the cost. I am impressed with your travel plans and I am referring specifically to all of the detail.... Other than booking flights and hotels, we are kind of "let's see what we feel like doing" travelers. Probably miss a lot of cool stuff by not planning ahead. As others have said, I refuse to do connecting flights unless time allows for exploring a new area. I hope you have time to enjoy Dublin! Have been to Ireland many times and it never gets old!!!
ReplyDeleteMaura
Maura, I have been know to do spreadsheets for our trips, due to so many planning details. 😄
DeleteBut your way sounds lovely to, I’m just not much of a ‘go with the flow’ kind of person. I’m more of a ‘let’s get to it’ gal. Thankfully, my spouse is more like you, and is thus happy to do pretty much whatever I’ve planned for us.
Dublin is a repeat city for us, so two days total there this time around before flying home should be ample. You know listening to music in Temple Bar will be happening though!
We did not visit the Guiness factory on our prior visit to Dublin, so I've made a note to do so this visit - thank you so much for the recommendation!
ReplyDeleteWe head north from Edinburgh, visiting lots of spots on our tour, then cross over to Belfast by ferry from Glasgow. We'll have very little free time as we are on a very busy tour. We'll get most of our on-our-own time while in Edinburgh.