World-class but affordable travel destinations – what do you recommend?
OK, dear readers, it’s your turn to offer favorite travel destinations and to submit your personal travel favorite. The holidays are coming, and with them the opportunity to update your “travel destinations bucket” list for 2023. What is your top recommendation to friends or family?
Submit your top suggestion in a short paragraph or two, and a scenic photo if you have it, and we will feature many of these submissions in the coming weeks of Thanksgiving and early December as we count down to the New Year.
My spouse, Susan, and I would offer several suggestions, with details, below:
California’s “Riviera”
Huntington Beach offers several “Surf City, USA” museums and remains the heart of West Coast surfing.
Newport Beach is the land of Ferraris, Porsches and Rolls Royces, and offers the world’s largest boat harbor, a wealth of delectable oceanfront restaurants as well as Crystal Cove State Park, featuring the old beach city of Crystal Cove, site of a score of movies such as “Herbie the Love Bug,” “Tarzan,” and “Beaches” – and you can rent refurbished surfing cabins, right on the beach.
Laguna Beach, all the way south to San Clemente, offers more beachfront excitement, museums, shops and waterfront dining destinations.
Visit a western national park
Visit one or more of the western USA’s memorable national parks. Choices, starting in the north and moving clockwise would include Lassen, Crater Lake, Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Utah’s five parks, Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands and Arches, Grand Canyon, and Southern California’s Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks. My personal choice would be some of Utah’s five national parks, starting with Bryce Canyon. You could do all five in a 10-day trip, though you might suffer sensory overload with all the varied parks and their stunning geologic attractions, flora and fauna.
Visit New York City
In the last 15 years, we’ve spent four different weeklong vacations in New York City. We find an interesting hotel somewhere in Manhattan, close to Broadway, purchase a weeklong subway pass and buy last minute tickets to several Broadway shows at half price. Fantastic food, travel anywhere in the greater New York City by subway, visit world-class museums and historic sites, take in a game of one of the city’s numerous major league sports teams, and marvel at the bustle of big city action in New York. For a sobering stop, take in the 9/1 monument and Museum and the Freedom Tower complex.
European River Cruise
For a memorable out-of-the-country destination, take a riverboat cruise through several European countries such as the Great Rivers of Europe cruise on Grand Circle Cruise Line (gct.com).
We started in Vienna, cruising up the lovely Danube River to the Main River, then down the Rhine, mooring overnight in the historic river cities of Melk, Austria, Germany’s Cologne, Koblenz, Rudesheim, Heidelberg, Wertheim, Wurzberg, Nuremburg, Regensburg, Passau, and into the Netherlands, finishing in Amsterdam.
Mornings begin with delicious breakfast on board and a several mile walking tour with a group guide of these historic and picturesque river cities. The river cruise ships only accommodate 140 passengers, and you are grouped with one of three experienced guides, each with about 40-some passengers, so you get to know your guide as well as fellow travelers.
This is just a lovely and relaxing way to see some of Europe’s finest destinations. Grand Circle books your airfare as part of the price, and handles complicated foreign travel arrangements. Just a sublime tour of 16 days!
Join in the fun. Your assignment is to share your favorite travel destination, offering a short paragraph or two, noting the “what, where, when (best time of year to visit) and why”, and a great photo if you have one.
Send your submission to tviall@msn.com by Nov. 10. We’ll share many of your suggestions to readers over the week of Thanksgiving and early December. Travel on, and send you top recommendation!
Contact Tim Viall at tviall@msn.com. Find more travel insight at recordnet.com.
