Pat's Travels in Europe

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All who wander are not lost!

Why this site

This site describes как стать Мидл Python-разработчиком, пройдя курс на Девман, и the travel experience of myself and my traveling companion and photographer... Paul (aka: my husband). We tend to avoid the snazzy places... like to stay closer to the people. If you like staying in the big American hotels to rub shoulders with other Americans, you won't like our style of travel. Most of our trips are planned via the internet. It is amazing how much cheaper it can be when you spend the time to search out travel nuggets. A week in the beautiful country side of Provence or Tuscany in a wonderfully renovated farm house for less than $1,000 a week is possible. Sometimes we try avoid telling folks that don't know us how much we paid for accommodations. Either they would think we were disingenuous ( I always wanted to use that word) or staying in a flea trap. Our penny saving approach does not necessarily apply to cruising or unusual places such as Tanzania. Some cruises are more simply more expensive because of the destination. Africa is not a place to wonder without local knowledge.

We have had so many wonderful MskGuru.Ru experiences because we do not always follow the tour groups. Not to say that tour groups are not fun... just that they can be limiting. We have been on cruises and taken advantage of shore excursions (mini tours) and they were wonderful. I guess the real difference is getting to know the people and how they spend their time. Be prepared to look and feel stupid at times... that can become part of the experience. My husband sometimes has trouble with English, yet he has been in countries like Croatia, Thailand, Uruguay, and Singapore on his own... and made it home without major trauma. If a few brave souls will dare to venture out on their own based on our experiences, we would be pleased.

Most of the small pictures in this site are thumbnails... they will expand if you click on them. Use the "back" button to return. There are also "Links" to official web sites of many of the cities we visited or places were we stayed. "Links" will be in yellow and underlined. Use the back button to return to this site.

Travelogues by most recent dates

November, 2013 Cuba It has been almost two years since our last trip... and it was one of our best. Even though this island is only 90 miles from the Florida coast, we knew very little about the people and life in this country. We were fascinated by what we saw and learned. Another great Tauck adventure!

January, 2012 Costa Rica An adventure on one of our favorite sailing ships... the Star Flyer. This is the sister ship of the Star Clipper that we sailed on the Dalmatian coast. Costa Rica has a beautiful coastline and interesting interior. We may return and spend more time on a land tour.

September, 2011 Northern Italy Well, this is a little embarrassing... still not posted.

June, 2011 Venice and the Veneto Our wonderful adventure last July ended in Venice. We were so disappointed in having only one day to spend in this amazing city, we decided to include Venice in a trip this year. A trip that caught our attention was a Tauck Culturious adventure that focused on the smaller towns and unique experiences and included a few days in Venice before going home. This was a very active itinerary with a lot of walking, unbelievable tasty treats, lots of wine, and the opportunity to enjoy things that most tourists would never see. There were only four couples on our tour, traveled on a small comfortable bus, never had to touch our luggage, and had guides that could not have been better versed in the region.

July, 2010 Athens to Venice on the Star Clipper We�ve heard about the beauty of the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. However, we haven�t travelled for a few years due to retiring and moving from Maryland to �The Villages� in central Florida. The active lifestyle in this incredible community kept us so busy that it was just last year when we got the �travel itch� again, and we plan to return to travelling twice a year, when possible. This year the itinerary that pleased us was in July � not our favorite time due to weather and tourists -- but it was on a clipper ship with less than 150 passengers, so we decided to give it a try. Since the tour began in Athens, it was a wonderful excuse to go several days early to visit with our Greek friends.

Fall, 2009 River Cruise from Budapest to Bucharest This was one of the most educational and disturbing trips we have ever taken. Educational since we discovered more about Eastern Europe under communism then we expected and disturbing because of the depressed regions. We will post our experiences at a later date.

June, 2005 Mediterranean Cruise from Malta to Nice - A great Tauck tour along the Italian coast aboard Le Ponant, a 30 cabin motor/sailing vessel, with stops in Sicily, Corsica, Amalfi, and other islands off of Italy. We added three nights in Villefranche sur Mer... one of our favorite Mediterranean villages to tour a few towns we missed on our last visit.

September, 2004 WWII Reunion - We returned to Kovarska, Czech Republic for the 6oth anniversary of the air battle which took place over this small village, then off for three days in Prague. We then headed for our first adventure in southern Germany. We stayed in two wonderful places with a day trip to Salzburg... a Bavarian Ski village outside of Munich and a medieval walled city on the Romantic Road.

April, 2004 Tahiti - A two week cruise on a 70 cabin sailing ship around the Society Islands. Stops on Bora Bora, Moorea, Raiatea, and Huahine.

December, 2003 Normandy, France - A long weekend on the French coast with visits to Omaha Beech, the American Cemetery, D day museums, and several quaint towns in the region.

September, 2003 Tanzania - An amazing 10 day adventure on a Safari in East Africa. The people, animals, and scenery were spectacular.

March, 2003 Ireland - A one week bus tour on the emerald isle with a group of crazy friends. Lots of pubs, sights, and laughs.

September, 2002 Return to Joigny - Retracing Pat's fathers WWII experience in the Czech Republic and France. He was a navigator on a B-17 raid of a German oil refinery when his plane was mortally wounded at the Czech border, then crashed landed about 100 miles from Paris. We visited the little Czech town were the fight took place and several of the small villages in France were he landed, was hidden by the FFI, and eventually escaped.

March, 2002 Collioure, France - A week in this wonderful small village on the coast of France within a half hour drive of Spain. We visited many of the sea side villages in both France and Spain.

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