How long do you extend your river cruise vacation?

[Buddysmom10]

We're taking a week river cruise but since it's pretty expensive to fly to Europe, we keep adding more places to our vacation. We are now up to 22 days!

 

Do you find that you just keep adding days/cities since it's so easy/cheap to get around Europe once you are there?

[Hoyaheel]

Sadly we can't be gone from work that long, so we're flying in a day early and will leave the day after we disembark (mainly due to flight availability, not because we want to hang out in Basel:D)

[Familygoboston]

We plan to add a week, 3 days in Budapest and 4 in Istanbul, for two weeks total. We'd love to spend more time, but don't have it to spend. But we've also never let that stop us from traveling. We once spent 10 days in Australia from the east coast of the US. Really a week, once you fly for a day and half each way, but it was an opportunity, and we weren't about to sit back and say "nah, we will wait till we are 70 and have 6 or 8 weeks" Plenty of places we'd like to go back to when we retire, but for now, we go for as long as we can, and make the most of it!:D

[Shmoo here]

We're taking a week river cruise but since it's pretty expensive to fly to Europe, we keep adding more places to our vacation. We are now up to 22 days!

 

Do you find that you just keep adding days/cities since it's so easy/cheap to get around Europe once you are there?

 

Well, our river cruise is already 26 days long (just the cruise itself). We've added an pre-cruise extension of 4 days, but that's all we can afford (cost and time-wise).

[Crochet Queen]

We are recently retired & travelling from Australia, so will be spending a total of 9 weeks in Europe commencing May 2014. Because of the long flight times we prefer to do as much as possible whilst there.

 

Our pre River Cruise Extension will be a Mediterranean ocean cruise from Venice. Then we start our APT (AMA) 37 Night Grand European Explorer (3 river cruises total) with 3 night pre cruise in Monte Carlo. We finish with 3 nights post cruise in Prague following our Amsterdam to Budapest cruise.

 

Possibly our last trip to Europe so crossing off as many of our "wish list" items as possible.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[tassietravellers]

In 2012 our 15 day cruise ended up as 9 weeks in Europe, we just kept building on it....this year at the end of June we have 16 day booked Avalon Grand France cruise and we have added pre and post days in Nice, Menton, Paris and London, so we will be away from home for 5 weeks this time.

Generally Australians take longer holidays to Europe as it takes so long to get there, from when we leave home to landing in Europe is 26 hours..hopefully no delays!

 

:)

[Stratheden]

We will be almost 10 weeks in Europe in Aug, Sept, Oct and Nov. We are doing 3 River cruises. It is costing so much and so long to get there we are going to make it worthwhile.

We are fortunate to be retired and can spend the time.

[Hoyaheel]

Plenty of places we'd like to go back to when we retire, but for now, we go for as long as we can, and make the most of it!:D

 

That's pretty much what we do:p I have a certain internal algorithm about travel length and length of time I have to stay once I arrive to make it worth the travel time, but a long weekend (4-5 nights) in western Europe makes the cut. Must be longer than 3 nights to the western US (I'm in the southeastern US) If we don't have that much time, we stay local and explore things around here (like a repeat Beer City USA - Asheville NC - only a 4 hr drive away:D)

 

My preferred travel is really staying in one place, renting an apartment and exploring that area, not trying to see as many things as possible. I enjoy cruises in general as a way of introduction to an area I've not traveled before - to see where we want to go back and spend more time. Which is the main reason we don't cruise a ton...

[caviargal]

Next month, we are in Europe just for the cruise. Normally, we spend 3-4 days before and after, since it is along and expensive trip. In November, we have an apartment for 4 nights in Paris pre-cruise. It is not one of our favorite cities in Europe, but it is convenient for our itinerary.

[jojocmcla]

We're cruising Prague to Budapest this spring. We're doing the 3 day pre-cruise with AMA; then, 3 days post cruise in Budapest on our own. So, we'll be gone 2 weeks.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Try to find a Ocean cruise to make it longer ..

[Tinky2]

We are also from Australia and have made our May trip worthwhile by extending. We are having post Avalon cruise 4 days in Paris, 5 days in London then doing a 14 day bus tour of England, Scotland, Ireland and wales and back to London.

:D

[Hydrokitty]

We are also from Australia and have made our May trip worthwhile by extending. We are having post Avalon cruise 4 days in Paris, 5 days in London then doing a 14 day bus tour of England, Scotland, Ireland and wales and back to London.

:D

 

 

We've met many Australians on our European and American trips and I would say everyone of them has spent at least a month away from home for the same reasons you and other Aussie poster said: It's so far away and costs so much to get there! I don't think I would plan on spending less than a month if I were visiting Australia and New Zealand either! (And I certainly hope to be visiting both places but I have a DH who looks at the length of the flight from NY and turns green)

[pbnjrockette]

We've met many Australians on our European and American trips and I would say everyone of them has spent at least a month away from home for the same reasons you and other Aussie poster said: It's so far away and costs so much to get there! I don't think I would plan on spending less than a month if I were visiting Australia and New Zealand either! (And I certainly hope to be visiting both places but I have a DH who looks at the length of the flight from NY and turns green)

 

Perhaps you could convince him to fly to the west coast and stay a day or two then the flight wouldn't be as bad. We flew from Philly to LA...stayed 2 nights, then flew to Melbourne...not half as bad as when we flew the other direction to South Africa!!

[kydems]

We are combining our 24 day APT(AMA) Switzerland - Rhine and Moselle river cruise with a 12 day Princess Mediterranean cruise. Added in 4 days in Barcelona at the start and 3 days in London to see DD at the end and a stopover in Singapore to bring the total to 6 weeks away. We were lucky to book early enough with APT (AMA) to get $1500 air credit per person so the cost wasn't the main issue in extending the holiday but flight time was. I don't love flying but I really love holidays, so what can you do

[ewizabeff]

I can't wait until I'm in a position to take that much time away! My husband and I each get just over 3 weeks of leave per year (which includes any sick days), so we're extending our 10-day Uniworld cruise by 4 days in Prague, but then we need to head back.

[Host Jazzbeau]

We've met many Australians on our European and American trips and I would say everyone of them has spent at least a month away from home for the same reasons you and other Aussie poster said: It's so far away and costs so much to get there! I don't think I would plan on spending less than a month if I were visiting Australia and New Zealand either! (And I certainly hope to be visiting both places but I have a DH who looks at the length of the flight from NY and turns green)

 

I'm in the same boat [figuratively] with DW. You could fly to LA, then to Hawaii, [then to Fiji,] then to Australia. Take a cruise from Sydney to Tasmania to New Zealand, then fly back similar route.

[Ozjohnno]

Like all the Australians who have posted above we too try to spend as much time as we can, finances permitting, in Europe. From where we live it will take us over 30 hours of flying Plus around 7-8 hours of layovers just to get to our first destination. On our 40th Anniversary holiday that starts in Early August this year we used all our savings to have just over 5 weeks away. If we win Lotto we may never come home ...:).

 

I have to admit that I truly smile when I read that our Nth American posters find the trip to Australia to be too long but then I'm very envious of those who post that going to Europe is just a "short hop over the pond".

[Sylve1]

Like all the Australians who have posted above we too try to spend as much time as we can, finances permitting, in Europe. From where we live it will take us over 30 hours of flying Plus around 7-8 hours of layovers just to get to our first destination. On our 40th Anniversary holiday that starts in Early August this year we used all our savings to have just over 5 weeks away. If we win Lotto we may never come home ...:).

 

I have to admit that I truly smile when I read that our Nth American posters find the trip to Australia to be too long but then I'm very envious of those who post that going to Europe is just a "short hop over the pond".

 

Yes me too! It is quite a trip from Australia ! For some reason 5-6 weeks seems to be enough for us at the moment although if we find somewhere we would really like to spend more time say in Italy or France when we visit in September we would like to return for an extended stay in a vrbo or airbnb accomodation.

We are a bit precious and split our trip to Europe with a 2-3 night stopover in Hong Kong or Singapore etc depending on which airline we are travelling on.

We find this far less tiring and we get to visit somewhere else as well. :) of course time and budget are always a big consideration.

[Tinky2]

We've met many Australians on our European and American trips and I would say everyone of them has spent at least a month away from home for the same reasons you and other Aussie poster said: It's so far away and costs so much to get there! I don't think I would plan on spending less than a month if I were visiting Australia and New Zealand either! (And I certainly hope to be visiting both places but I have a DH who looks at the length of the flight from NY and turns green)

 

Hydrokitty, I can appreciate what you are saying, my DH is terrible to fly with he is not impressed at all with the time it will take us to reach Amsterdam, whereas I don't mind long flights at all. Thinking about asking the Doctor for a sleeping tablet for him for the flight. :rolleyes:

 

Ellen

[Host Jazzbeau]

Hydrokitty, I can appreciate what you are saying, my DH is terrible to fly with he is not impressed at all with the time it will take us to reach Amsterdam, whereas I don't mind long flights at all. Thinking about asking the Doctor for a sleeping tablet for him for the flight. :rolleyes:

 

Ellen

 

We met someone on a cruise once who had tried this. Gave her DH an Ambien as soon as they got on the plane. Then the pilot found mechanical trouble and cancelled the flight -- what a job getting the groggy man off the plane! ;)

[Hoyaheel]

My husband took half an ambien on his last flight to Europe (JFK-CDG) and at the end of the flight, neither of us knew how he ended up with stickers on his forehead. but we suspect the small girl seated next to him:p I'm lucky - I never have a hard time falling asleep on a plane.

 

(note - ALWAYS test new prescriptions AT HOME before taking them during travel. Esp Ambien as lots of people have "interesting" responses to it. But I would never want to discover I had a sensitivity to a drug away from home....)

[Tinky2]

We met someone on a cruise once who had tried this. Gave her DH an Ambien as soon as they got on the plane. Then the pilot found mechanical trouble and cancelled the flight -- what a job getting the groggy man off the plane! ;)

 

LOL ok I had better rethink this plan then :D

[Tinky2]

My husband took half an ambien on his last flight to Europe (JFK-CDG) and at the end of the flight, neither of us knew how he ended up with stickers on his forehead. but we suspect the small girl seated next to him:p I'm lucky - I never have a hard time falling asleep on a plane.

 

OMG That is so funny!!!! (sorry) lol :D:D:D

[peterdkiwi]

We have travel from New Zealand to Europe or America 9 times always on Air NZ in the last 17 yrs, we started in our late 40's now in the 60's. Due to work commitments we can only be away up to 28 days. We plan very carefully, look at flight times, try to leave at night, last 3 trips to Europe have stopped for overnight sleep, ie arrive at LA or HK early afternoon, then fly next leg following afternoon. This allows us to reach Europe ready to go. (we also use No Jet Lag pills- they make a huge difference) We fly economy as this gives us more to spend on nice hotels. We will not take long haul morning flights as it wastes a day.

After 27 day trip to do Avalon Bazel to Amsterdam last yr we almost missed the cruise as our flight from London to Zurich 36hrs prior to the cruise check in was cancelled by BA due to problems at Heathrow, booked on another flight after many problems only to be then held up with Heathrow problems for another 6 hrs. This year doing Prague to Budapest and we will be in Prague 4 nights before the boat leaves port (not going to be caught out again)