PJ_Travels

I live near San Francisco and it is my dream to one day sail in and/or out of there. September and October are (by FAR in a way!) the best months in San Francisco, but I don't know about the Alaska part of it.

I don't think this site will let you post actual links. The name of my blog is "Create Bloom Grow". I think if you Google that, you should be able to see the pictures. Again, I am not a fancy blogger, but I took a billion photos and shared some that I thought would be of interest.

I don't think that any of the excursions were specific to the Christmas Markets. That is just generally how we spent our free time. Excursions covered a major attraction in that town or was a general walk around town.

We did the Viking Rhine (Basel to Amsterdam) Christmas Market cruise last November/December. I spent a lot of time researching and was so appreciative of all the photos people had posted which gave me an idea of what to see and what not to miss.

I have put a bunch of my photos up on my blog (wwwcreatebloomgrowcom). I am not a fancy blogger, but they are sorted by city and hopefully give you an idea of what to expect.

My biggest recommendation for the trip is HAND WARMERS. We bought a big box at Costco and always had spares with us. Made it easier to warm up a bit when it was really cold.

I would also be prepared with more bubble wrap that I had brought. I ended up buying a lot of glass bottles and coupled with my mugs from each city, had quite a lot to protect on the way home. The front desk has a very limited supply or you can ask for the packaging from the ornaments we decorated the tree with after the Christmas caroling party. Everything made it home safely :-)

Really just depends on your personality and what you are looking for. You might be on the young side, but if you are open to meeting new people and enjoy talking to a variety of people, you will have a blast.

We just took our kids 13 and 15 on a river cruise this past Christmas market season. They were the only ones under 20, but had a fantastic time and are anxious to go again on another river cruise. We had people come up to us and ask why our kids were not rolling their eyes. LOL They had left their kids the same age at home.

In my 20s, I chose to do a bus tour of Italy. I specifically did not choose the 18-35 year old provider because I am not a night person and would have been miserable if everyone wanted to stay up all night and was too hung over the next day to see anything. I lucked out. There were 2 families traveling with their 20-something children on my journey which made the trip really amazing. I could have been by myself too and know I would have still loved the trip.

We visited DLP as part of our honeymoon in France. We too are big Disney fans. I worked at Disneyland during several summers in college and my husband worked at the stores.

I think that each Disney park is unique, but I think what struck me about this one is how very detailed and beautiful it is. It is what Disney can do when they have the time to plan things out.

We plan to bring our kids back in a few years for my husband's 50th, our 20th anniversary and my daughter's graduation from high school.

Just got back and absolutely adored Strasbourg! Enjoy and just always be aware.

As for not riding the subway...you are just as likely to be hit in any gathering spot. Think Macy's on Black Friday. Or Times Square on any day of the week. MOMA, Metropolitan or Guggenheim. How 'bout the Staten Island Ferry? Or even just onboard the LIRR.

This is the same reaction to people being scared of flying after a plane goes down. EVERY single time you get into a car, you have a better chance of not making it to your destination.

If you've got a local product you're proud of, that travels well and you want to share it, by all means that would be an appropriate gift.

Agreed! We visited Norway last year and some gentlemen were kind enough to open the Scout Museum (Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts are combined into one there) for us on a day they were not open to the public. We are from the San Francisco area and brought them Ghiradelli chocolate.

With the very recent multpile attacks in several tourist locations, wondering if Paris will be on the no travel list. We cancelled our river cruise to Normandy this past May transferring to Portugal April 2016. We had hoped to rebook our Paris trip but with the organized military type attack, I don't think we will.

How sad for all the innocent victims......this is total madness.

I thought that Rick Steve's words on his Facebook page the night of the attack were fantastic. Here is an excerpt:

About safety, I believe this is an isolated incident. Tomorrow Paris will be no more dangerous than it was the day before that terrible Friday the 13th. I also believe that security in Paris and throughout Europe will be heightened in response to this attack. Remember: There's an important difference between fear and risk.

...

I'm sure that many Americans will cancel their trips to Paris (a city of 2 million people) or the rest of Europe (a continent of 500 million people), because of an event that killed about 150. As a result, ironically, they’ll be staying home in a country of 320 million people that loses over 30,000 people a year (close to 100 people a day) to gun violence.

We will be doing a Viking Christmas Markets cruise with our kids next year. They will be 12 and 14 at the time. We will probably stick out like a sore thumb, but I am not worried about them being bored. They are great travelers who have been warped by parents that love history/travel. We will wear them out during the day with sightseeing and hit the beds early to be ready for the 8am sightseeing departure the next day. We've found that the daily promise of ice cream goes a long way :-)