European Vacation (Brootal on Tour)

[Brootal]

My lovely wife and I were planning on going to Europe last year, but instead our little bundle of joy arrived. So, we're not going to wait until we can actually afford to go, so we decided we would head to Europe this year.

Here's a rough itinerary.

Fly into London on May 30. Spend a few nights there and catch up with a couple of friends.

My wife's grandfather was from Aberdeen, so we'll head up to Scotland, stopping in Newcastle on the way. We'll spend another 3-4 days hanging around Scotland, doing the Whisky Drive and checking out the countryside.

Then we'll fly to Paris (June 10) and pick up a short-term lease hire car. Spend some time in Paris (2-3 nights) and then head down to Lyon and on to Nice/Monte Carlo. Check out the French Riviera and then head North through Switzerland, maybe taking in Milan on the way.

My plan is to get to Stuttgart before June 22nd to watch Australia play Croatia in the World Cup. I don't have a ticket, so if anyone has a spare, let me know.

From there we'll head to Prague, Vienna and then to Salzburg by June 30 to see my wife's Aunt sing in a choir as part of Mozart's 250th Birthday celebration (or maybe he died 250 years ago??)

We'll then head down to Croatia and get to my Dad's birthplace on the Dalmatian Coast around July 5. We'll hang around for a week getting our breath back and then head across to Italy to check out the tourist sites.

Unfortunately we won't have enough time to see Scandinavia or Holland, which is a shame, but we need to leave something for the next trip.

As it's not much more expensive to go around the world, we thought we'd come home via the US. So, we'll fly out of Rome July 20, head to NYC for a few days and then fly to San Fran around July 27 and hang around for a couple of days (not long enough...  )

We'll then fly out on July 29, stop in Melbourne, Australia to catch up with some friends and then home on July 31.

After that, I'll need a holiday!!!

[moparrodder]

WOW!!  What a vacation, sounds like a busy one and some great sites to take in for sure!!  Hope you have a grand time and when you fly over Iowa on the way to San Fran I'll wave to ya, lol  Anyway have a good time and when ya get back post a few pics so we can be green with envy, lol!!!  

         Bill

[Crosley.In.AZ]

have fun....... don't drink the water

[40]

"Fly out May 30th" ....."Home on July 31st"   WOW !.....I haven't had that many days off in the last 30 years  Good luck,be safe and you and your family have a Great Vacation!!

[Brootal]

"Fly out May 30th" ....."Home on July 31st"   WOW !.....I haven't had that many days off in the last 30 years  Good luck,be safe and you and your family have a Great Vacation!!

The trick is not to have a 'real' job.

A good wife that is way smarter than you also helps!

When we went on our honeymoon to the US for three months, we were both prepared to chuck our jobs in, if we had to. Fortunately, they loved us so much we got our jobs back.

[GPster]

That Australian money goes so much further any place else, plus you can save money if you drive a Rambler. Back in the '80s I had a chance to meet some Aussies at the Texas A&M Fire Training School that also worked for Shell. It was amazing how they had planned their itinerary on Shell's travel money. They were going from Texas to Portland to Disney Land to Hawaii and traveling for 2 weeks. On top of that they only worked 32 hours a week. On top of that at our Shell location certain jobs had the qualification of Fire Team member tacked on to it's qualification but in Australia if you were a Fire Fighter that was your job. Not part of production and fire fighter if there happened to be one. GPster

[GPster]

That Australian money goes so much further any place else,  GPster

I went to church to study the differance between right and wrong and I realized this was wrong. Quite a financial undertaking. Have a good time. GPster

[bucketmouth]

Crikey Brootal is that supposed to be a secret or not. I promise not to tell anyone tomorrow
When are you ever gonna build that 30 on 32 rails?
After my first dose of overseas travel last year I envy ya.
Come August and it's gonna be 12 mths since I've been to Bonneville :cry:
But on the bright side I am building a 30 on 32 rails and with the US dollars I had left over from my trip I bought the Q.C. as well

[Bib_Overalls]

Skip France, or at least Paris and spend the extra time in Stuttgart touring the Porsche and Mercedes plants.  Bosch and Male pistons are also located there.  Stuttgarter Brau is also pretty good as I recall.

[Brootal]

BM - Nah, no secret, just kind of decided to go the other week, although we had been thinking about it for a while.

Paris? I'm sure there's plenty of good and bad (it's a big city), but I'm pretty sure we'll enjoy it. Will probably spend 2-3 nights there and then head to the South of France. Always wanted to see Monte Carlo and I met a guy from Nice a few years ago who said... "If you're ever in the area..."

[_Drewfus_]

Surely you can stretch it out for another 2 weeks and somehow get to Wendover.........

Have fun,

Cheers,

Drewfus

[Gilles]

Then we'll fly to Paris (June 10) and pick up a short-term lease hire car.

Avoid the pain to drive and park a car in Paris and use the underground, it's a lot more practical.

and then head down to Lyon and on to Nice/Monte Carlo.

I you choose the beautiful "route Napoléon" you will have to pass by Grenoble, my town, 100km (60 miles) south of Lyon.  Have a stop at my home, I would be happy to meet you, and maybe have a cruise with you in my 32 roadster. If you are interested contact me by pm.

Gilles

[Brootal]

Thank you very much for the offer Gilles. PM is on the way.

I've heard of Grenoble before. It must be a nice place.

[Crafty]

If you can fit it in our NSRA Supernationals is July 28-30th at a place called Biggleswade in Bedfordshire. Its held at the same place as the shuttleworth collection, more info here http://www.nsra.org.uk/old_warden.htm

The shuttleworth collection is a aircraft collection, 2 years ago they had a hurricaine up over the weekend. Theres also a few old brit bikes stuffed in a corner somewhere.

oh and bring a coat, it might be our summer and your winter but you'll still be cold! especially in Scotland !

[Brootal]

Thanks Crafty. We'll be home by then so won't be able to make it.

I checked out the NSRA UK website and the Billing Fun Run is on around the time we are there. I will probably try and get to that and also the Ace Cafe one evening.