Plan Ahead

Travel plans for 2017 are shaping up nicely.

Both Helen and I like setting these things up well in advance. That way we can think about them for months and months before they actually occur. Anyhow, all the big trips for that year are on the calendar. We will be sticking to our usual pattern of two big vacations, plus a cruise-with-friends to Alaska.

The Alaska trip is always the easiest to figure out. Bernie and I pour through the offerings of our favourite Cruise lines, looking for interesting itineraries and price points. Our acceptable lines are Princess, Holland America, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. This year, it looks like a lean towards Holland America, as everybody's trips are pretty much the same, and they are coming in as the low bidder.

The first of the big trips on the docket involves a couple of weeks in California, and a month in Arizona. It will be our third such expedition down to retirement-community land, and might just be our last. We have enjoyed them greatly, but Helen is ready to move on to something else. She might change her mind once we're there. I am good either way.

The last of our major trips involves a lot more planning. We are heading off to a few days in Paris, followed by a few weeks in Britain, and topped off with a couple of weeks on a cruise ship out of England that pops down to the Mediterranean and back. The cruise was the first part that we committed to.

I've been watching flights, and they are just starting to fill up, so it's time to book the air travel. My rules for such a trip are to go non-stop if humanly possible, and with an airline that I trust to not make it more of an ordeal than absolutely necessary. I will run the flights past Helen, and give her a last chance to think about adding a couple more days to the trip, and then to book the flights.

The last step will be to nail down the hotel rooms. I've already decided on our London hotel. It's funny; people say that it's an expensive city, but the room rates seem just fine. Maybe that's because I am looking at small places recommended by travel writer Rick Steves. I read his descriptions, and then go online to get information about nearest underground station, precise prices, and to see hotel photos. It's a good system. I even look around the neighbourhood using Google Street-View.

Anyhow, that's the big travel stuff for 2017. We're already dreaming about going to Singapore the following year. Nothing in stone yet about that one; just wistful thinking.