February, 2025
From November 2024 through January 2025, my husband and I were on a pan-European adventure, a trip you’ve heard me refer to as our 65-30-65 project
For most of the places we went, this is considered low season. Here one thing I can tell you for sure – I don’t think I’ll ever travel in the high season again.
Summer travel often is what you can do if you are in school, or the kids are in school, but sometimes it just becomes the default when it doesn’t need to be anymore.
Everything you have read about high season travel in Europe is true – crowds beyond imagination, hot weather, higher prices.
Low season has a lot to recommend it, but everything you had heard about it may or may not be true.
Here’s a few things that are true –
- The weather won’t be perfect, but it’s not perfect in Paris or Florence in the middle of summer either, and Ireland in November still beats Chicago weather. In fact, we decided that 50-65 degrees is just about right for really enjoying most activities
- The crowds will be smaller, but they won’t be small everywhere. The Louvre on a Monday morning in January still feels like the busiest train station you’ve ever seen, and that’s after you stand outside for about 20-30 minutes waiting to get in with your timed ticket.
- Prices will be lower, except for the two weeks around Christmas, and especially for vacation rentals outside hotels
- VRBO and AirBnB hosts don’t always update their rates for the low season, so send an inquiry before you book or decide someplace is too expensive
- Holiday season concerts, shows, parades, and light displays are everywhere. They are magical, and often free.
By the way, the photo is from the Powerscourt Gardens in County Wicklow, Ireland in November.
June, 2024
Planning continues for our three month year end adventure. For years I’ve collected hotel reward points from business travels, and we pretty much run our life on American Express, so our plan to avoid sticker shock is to put them to good use. Like anything that saves you money, there is often a trade-off that involves more time, and I accept that. I also accept that I have a tendency to be an over-researcher and would often do well to stop thinking and pull the trigger.
Just when I’m building momentum, though, I have an experience that rewards my paranoia. The latest example involved booking a flight from Madrid, Spain to Nice, France (for sure a first world problem, but stick with me, because the same thing could happen in less exotic places).
First, those rock bottom airfares you hear about are largely an illusion if you want to carry more than a toothbrush and have the option to cancel.
Option One was to book the flight on the American Express travel web site and pay with points, possible because Iberia airlines is a partner. That would take about 37,000 points for a refundable fare. Don’t ask me why, but I felt compelled to check directly with Iberia, and guess what – Option Two, same flight, same everything, 18,000 points! Yes, it involved joining another loyalty program, another password, and a couple of phone calls because it seemed too good to be true.
Seriously, do you have any idea what I can do with an extra 18,000 points?
August, 2023
As attached as I might be to my little nest at home, one of the great things about having a regular meditation practice is that you can take it with you anywhere. Having travelled quite a lot in my life, it’s nice to have a practice that really doesn’t need any special surroundings or any special equipment.
I’ve meditated on airplanes, often during the time between takeoff and when they make that “10,000 feet clear” announcement. Clearly these days, there is plenty of reason to seek some internal peace if you find yourself in travel chaos. I’ve meditated in more hotel rooms than I can count. In fact, I’ve just finished a nice little sit in a hotel in Lexington, Kentucky.
Wherever I am, there I am.
August, 2022
The series continues. This “window” collage is from the Montreal Botanical Gardens, a really magical place, and is my interpretation of a view from inside a little pagoda-type structure in the Japanese Garden, I think. I highly recommend spending a half-day or more here – it’s vista after vista of differently themed gardens, and our visit in early July was particularly well timed this year – beautiful weather and beautiful blooms.
