Welcome to Part Two from our newest Guest Adventurer! Debbee is a lifestyle blogger and Etsy shop owner who uses themes when decorating, entertaining and crafting. During the past year Debbee and her husband traveled throughout Spain, spent a magical holiday season in Quebec City, went on a 10-day adventure around Iceland, and just returned from two weeks sailing and touring Greece.
Please Welcome our newest Guest Adventurer! Debbee is a lifestyle blogger and Etsy shop owner who uses themes when decorating, entertaining and crafting. She typically posts twice a week; focusing on holidays, tablescapes, parties, DIY projects and travel. During the past year Debbee and her husband traveled throughout Spain, spent a magical holiday season in Quebec City, went on a 10-day adventure around Iceland, and just returned from two weeks sailing and touring Greece.
I’m really excited to share our recent family vacation — an incredible 10-day adventure to the land of the midnight sun.
Earlier this year, both my husband and I celebrated big-0 birthdays. Later this fall, we will also mark a big-5 wedding anniversary.
To honor these milestones, our sons arranged a 10-day family vacation. They presented the surprise Iceland trip, transportation details, travel route and accommodations to us in the late spring. That allowed plenty of time to plan and eagerly anticipate the July journey. And believe you me, traveling over 900 miles around the entire country of Iceland takes lots of pre-planning.
Someone recently asked me why I thought that multigenerational travel works for some, but not for others. After giving this some thought, I think the magic is in what you do. Is this an activity that is embraced by everyone? Or is this one person’s idea of a good time and everyone else has to go along with it?
The key to successful group travel, especially those with different age groups lies in the willingness of the group to communicate. To ensure that everyone is well represented and that members of the group are not railroaded into doing something that isn’t of interest to them.
There is never enough space in each post to share every favorite moment and travel photo. I try not to bombard you with too much copy or too many photos, therefore lots of photos are left behind! I wish I could include a photo album every time I publish! However the next best thing is to just tell a story with my never been published photos from my recent BIG summer family trip to Italy.
On social media I have actually noticed several bloggers and non-bloggers have taken extensive trips this past summer. When you travel to Europe, so very far away, it is nice to try to squeeze in as much as you can while you are there. Although the argument can be made that you move pretty quickly and don’t get to dive too deep into each city you visit.
We actually did a little bit of both. We stayed in one villa for a week in Italy in order to enjoy the countryside, slow down, relax and spend quality time with the family and then we usually spent several nights in each city after that. Craig and I left Italy and flew to Mallorca and then I flew to Berlin to take a Viking River Cruise from Berlin to Prague and lastly I stayed in Budapest, Hungary for four more nights. A BIG beautiful summer of travel. For today I am just sharing a little more of Italy.
Please welcome back Angela Light, my longtime friend and traveler who spent a great deal of time and energy to write this fantastic post for all of us! Her over-the-top amazing vacation in the Portuguese countryside absolutely captivated me. The dreamy descriptions and elegant accommodations coupled with world class cuisine is my kind of vacation. Take a minute to enjoy this post, it is incredible & I just loved her adventure!
So you are going to Europe and contemplating a stop in Budapest? Do not even hesitate, we found it to be elegant and intriguing, filled with magnificent architecture and plenty to do. I wish we had spent even more time there! We honestly did not get to see everything we wanted to or even experience the famous baths.
Although we were not able to see absolutely everything, we really did accomplish quite a bit of the itinerary. Our stay at The Ritz Carlton Hotel on Elizabeth Square was a fantastic luxury experience in the perfect central location. This convenient home base made it super easy to see the sights efficiently.
Ah, life in a luxury hotel! You can’t beat it. Do we always stay in places like this? Not always, but we certainly try!
After our final stop in Prague on our Viking River Cruise, my travel writer friend Tam of Travels with Tam and I determined that we could not be so close to Hungary and not make a stop in this extraordinary country! We have both always wanted to visit, but Hungary is not around the corner, but on this trip we were right next door!
When it was time to plan, I reached out to several luxury hotels and immediately received a welcoming and delightful email from Barbara Bagi, Marketing & Communicaitons Manager from The Ritz Carlton Budapest. How lovely! She and I exchanged several informative emails and we were offered a very reasonable rate even during the busiest season of the year. We were all set!
Since neither Tam nor I had been to Budapest, everything was new and exciting and we could not wait to arrive!
Who knew that a tour food in Berlin would be part of my Viking River Cruise? Bonus! In my opinion, food touring is the perfect companion to every city tour. What better way to understand the city culture than to taste the food that locals love to eat!
Like me, haven’t you always wondered what it was really like to take a Viking River Cruise? I have always been curious and actually never been on any kind of cruise. You may find that surprising, but it has never really been at the top of our travel adventure list. But that list has been re-written!
Recently, I was presented with the opportunity to travel with Viking River Cruises on the Elegant Elbe River Cruise that begins in Berlin, Germany and ends in Prague, Czech Republic. My friend and fellow travel writer Tam Minton of Travels with Tam, took this first (for both of us) river cruise with me as well.
Side note: On the first evening of the cruise, the Cruise Director, the fantastic Benne Bennison, asked for a show of hands who had been on a Viking Cruise before. Every single hand went up except Tam’s and mine. How is that for validation! They keep on coming back for more!
How many of you have dreamed of taking an Italian cooking class that is actually in Italy? Yes, me too! Last summer I enjoyed my time with Tuscan Women Cook so much, but I was traveling alone. I had a total blast, but often I was thinking how much fun it would be if my family was there with me too!