Category: Travel

Glacier National Park – Day 1

It was our wedding anniversary when we arrived in Glacier National Park. One thing that everyone needs to know about Glacier National Park is the cell service. It is somewhere between non-existent and abysmal. For most of the park, expect to see No Service on your mobile device. As far as WiFi goes, forget about it as well. No place has WiFi (or WeeFee as one local pronounced it). After two days in Grand Teton National Park with no cell and marginal WiFi, we were prepared for several more days cut off from technology.

Breakfast
On our first morning, I arose early and headed out in search of coffee and breakfast. The line for coffee was incredibly long at one spot- only one spot. No place had breakfast. I gave Julie the news and we headed out. In West Glacier, just outside the park, we grabbed a couple of breakfast burritos that were amazing. Potatoes, green peppers and onions, cheese… and of course scrambled eggs. Great coffee to boot!

Munching on the breakfast burritos, we drove back into the park and onto Going-to-the-Sun Road. The weather was overcast and about 50 as we started. We made a few stops along the lake as we headed north. Every time we got out of the car we were greeted with the fresh smell of pine.

Lake McDonald

Initially, our intent was to reach the continental divide at Logan Pass – 32 miles at an elevation of 6646′. Going-to-the-Sun Road starts at the south end of Lake McDonald, slowly gaining elevation along the east side of Lake McDonald.

Along the lake
McDonald Falls on Avalanche Creek was a nice first stop for us. Quiet and scenic, we relaxed and shot a couple of photos. From that point, the road pretty much follows McDonald Creek, getting steeper after the Avalanche Creek picnic area.

Julie at McDonald Falls

After we passed over Avalanche. Creek, we started to get some rain, and wisps of clouds started drifting lower. This was not great for sightseeing, but we were in explorer mode. Before approaching Logan Pass, we had to navigate ‘the loop,’ a hairpin switch-back with a perilously sharp drop to the left as you approach.

Weather closing in
By this time, we couldn’t see the tops of the mountains as they were shrouded in a heavy layer of clouds. Below that, the winds and rain had picked up and those wisps of cloud were now denser, and rapid-moving clouds as they pushed up the west side of the peaks.

From ‘the loop’, and until we passed the ‘weeping wall’, Julie often chose to ignore the view because of the steep drop outside her window, down to the valley floor far below. I stopped several times and tried to capture the clouds and the terrain, but this wasn’t great photography weather.

Dark clouds blowing past

After the clouds closed in, the temperature dropped, and the rain really picked up. Suddenly we found ourselves at Logan Pass. The temperature was near 40, and the wind was driving a steady rain. Because of COVID, the indoor section of the visitor center at Logan Pass was closed. Also, because of the weather, no one was hanging around outside to ask any questions. 90% of the ‘visitors’ were simply making a mad dash to the restrooms and then back to their vehicles.

Heading East
Surprisingly, as we headed further east from Logan Pass, the clouds and rain diminished. It was still sprinkling, and cloudy when we reached the Jackson Glacier Overlook. The receded Jackson and Blackfoot glaciers, visible from that point, were a disappointment. (Global warming is causing glaciers to retreat)

Our next stop was at Sun Point Nature Trail. After a short walk down towards Saint Mary Lake, we came out on a promontory with an incredible view south, across the lake. We could clearly see a large hanging valley across from us and peaks to the east and west. It was beautiful. (It was also cold with a cutting wind)

Saint Mary Lake

We continued east on the highway, the views were magnificent. We exited the park at the Saint Mary Visitor Center, an considerably less busy location compared to West Glacier. The Saint Mary entrance is located roughly halfway between the southeast corner of the park and the northeast corner at the Canadian border. The 29 miles between the Saint Mary entrance, and East Glacier Park, at the southeast corner of the park, was an interesting drive.

Outside the Park
Warnings to ‘consider alternative routes’ and ‘intermittent pavement’ are appropriate. The 8′ reflector-tipped markers off the sides of the road are stark reminders that this area gets a healthy allocation of snow in the winter. (Really? Do you need markers 8′ off the ground?!?) I should also mention that for 86 miles between Saint Mary and West Glacier we saw only a single gas station in East Glacier Park.

All in all, this trip took us five hours, less one 30 minute nap somewhere in the Flathead National Forest where we pulled off Hwy 2. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to be better, except for the snow. Hopefully, we can provide a better narrative of Glacier National Park.

Welcome to northern Montana in August.

Bike Trip in Steamboat Springs

Steamboat Springs, Colorado

This morning found us renting e-Bikes for a back-country road trip. At home, Julie rides her bike every day. Me, I get saddle sores just thinking about riding a bike. Regardless (or irregardless for some of my friends), we rented a pair of e-Bikes and headed out, map in hand.

These bikes we very nice, Trek Rail-5 e-Bikes. They handle paved roads and paths fine and are very stable on ‘gravel‘ roads. That was good, because our route was 28 miles across paved and gravel roads. However, I was more interested in the power assist from the bikes because we were climbing over a series of ridges with elevation changes of over 2300’.

The bike has four power-assist settings. ECO, Tour, EMTB, and Turbo. ECO gives a little boost, but Tour is the setting for flat to moderate hills. EMTB stands for (a guess) E-Mountain Bike. Those pesky little hills won’t stand a chance at this setting! Then there is Turbo. The guy at the bike rental shop told us, “You won’t need Turbo mode, but you can try it out if you like.”

Heading Out

The Trek is a big heavy bike compared to what we’ve ridden in the past. We walked the bikes across the street and then started off riding the bike. Within a ¼ mile we were both comfortable on the bikes and turned onto Twentymile Rd. There were some inclines, but the bike handled them with no issue. Until mile 6.

The road slowly became steeper, and then precipitous. We switched from Tour to EMTB and benefitted from the power assist. Even with the bike helping us, it was a long three-mile climb. This is about the point where I started asking Julie, “Tell me again, why did you want to do this?” Well, we took a well-deserved rest at the top of this hill after climbing ~600ft.

The First Real Hill

Leaving our first rest stop, we began a fantastic 1-mile descent. Whoa! We were flying down the slope at over 35 mph. On a bike, that’s a rush! But then it was back to climbing another hill. This next climb was four miles long. Argh! It was here that we discovered the power of TURBO!

By now we were on a dirt road; the map claimed it was a ‘gravel road’. Between the road surface and the grade becoming pretty sharp, Julie and I were both struggling. Even with the power assist set at EMTB, it was rough going. With my longer legs, I was able to make pretty good progress, but Julie started falling back. “You go on ahead”, Julie breathlessly told me with just a little self-pity in her voice. So I knuckled down and pushed ahead.

The climb continued to torture me. I looked back several times and Julie was still there, but falling further behind. I focused and pushed on. Unexpectedly, I heard bike tires behind me. Suddenly, Julie was beside me…, passing me! (What the heck?!?) With a big smile on her face, she yelled ‘Turbooooo‘ as she passed, and continued streaking up the hill. She had discovered the power of TURBO.

From that point on, whenever we hit a hill of any measure, we selected TURBO and attacked the hill. When we passed riders on ‘regular’ bikes struggling up the hill; we just apologized and kept going. After the last hill, we’d passed above 7200ft and it was mostly downhill from there.

We had multiple rest stops, we drank a lot of water. There were also a few map stops to make sure we were on the right route. Our time for the 28-mile trek was somewhere around 2½ hours. We really enjoyed the trip and enjoyed the eBikes even more. We’d never had made it without them.

Time to hit the hot springs.

On our way

This morning we woke up in Colby, KS, about 1600 miles into our summer swing across the western United States. With Colorado being our first ‘real destination’, we’ve just been pounding out the miles so far.

Ledgeview Elementary

From the highway, we only get a glimpse of the country we pass through, but I find it curious that a great deal I remember about the states came from 5th grade. Back in the day, we had to learn the names of the states and their capital cities. We also learned the various states’ history, economics, and development. Absent what I learned in Ledgeview Elementary School, these are a few of the interesting observations from the front seat of our SUV.

Georgia

Forsyth, Georgia. We spent our first night in this small town just north of Macon, Georgia. Forsyth has our vote for Smalltown, USA. The center of the town is what you’d expect with shops and cafes. Outside of Main Street, the roads are lined with beautiful trees. They claim the oldest Magnolia tree in the state of Georgia.

South of Atlanta, we passed a very large solar farm that looked to be nearing construction completion. It ran along I-75 for close to a mile and stretched east into the hills. We never thought of Georgia as a location for solar energy, but it IS just north of Florida, the Sunshine State. We’re happy to see solar expanding.

It was late in the afternoon, and we were getting tired as we left western Tennessee and entered the tip of Kentucky. Here we passed through Paducah, Kentucky – a place I know of, but likely only from 5th grade. Pasucah is a city I’ve never really thought of traveling past. Sitting at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, I can see that Paducah would have been an important city in the 1800s. And suddenly it was in our rearview mirror.

Here Comes the Rain

Just east of St Louis, Missouri the skies darkened, the temperature dropped and we were entertained by distant, long strokes of lightning from high clouds. The strobe lightning led the front of a rainstorm as we headed west along I-64. Then, suddenly the rains came. Heavy, dense, dark, pounding rain. We slowed to 40 MPH with flashers on, our wipers could barely keep up.

After about 15 minutes of white knuckle driving, we finally drove out of the rain. It was gone nearly as fast as it had initially attacked us. From well outside St Louis, we caught a distant view of the 630 ft St Louis arch. If it hadn’t been raining so hard, we might have detoured to get closer. After all, it is “Missouri’s tallest accessible building, the world’s tallest arch and the tallest manmade monument in the Western Hemisphere“, at least that’s according to Wikipedia.

Kansas

Yesterday we experienced what I call the two faces of Kansas. Eastern Kansas has rolling hills and trees. It isn’t lush, but it’s not dry either. Then, about halfway across the state, most of the trees are gone and the hills are not as high. Heat, corn, wheat, and wind – that’s what we saw and felt. Fields that seem to stretch for miles were waiting to be harvested.


Thank goodness for air conditioning! The outside temperature was over 100 for most of the way across western Kansas on I-70. In addition to corn and wheat, we passed vast farms of wind turbines generating sustainable electricity from the ever-present wind. Sitting here at a desk in our motel I’m looking at a picture of an old prairie windmill. The link to the modern behemoths stretching across the windswept prairie is not lost on me.

Well, it’s time to hit the road again. Next stop, Colorado,

Travel Planning

Looking Ahead
Well, it’s mid-July and right now we’re working on travel planning for 2022 and 2023. As I’ve mentioned before, the COVID Pandemic has put a crimp on our travel plans.

When we retired we’d envisioned 4-6 years of traveling ¾ of the year. The remainder of the time we’d planned to spend in Florida or with family. Grandma-Grandpa Camp with the grandkids was an absolute requirement every July as well.

covidCOVID-19 Impact
Well, COVID forced us into changing our plans. In early 2020 we were in Florida when it became apparent that COVID-19 was going to have a significant impact. That year should have began with a trans-Atlantic cruise followed by a couple of months in Europe. Well, that didn’t happen.

The fall of 2020 called for a trans-Pacific cruise to Japan, China, and South Korea. Then we were spending 3 weeks exploring Japan and then lounging in Hawaii on our way back to the US. Again, that didn’t happen. Instead, we spend 2020 huddling in a rented house in Bonita Springs, Florida. But, hey, 2021 was going to be the year to look forward to…, right?

Both Julie and I got our vaccines in March; Florida has done a great job distributing the vaccines. Unfortunately, a great deal of the rest of the world has lagged. Most of the planet lacked the technology and funding to undertake an Operation Warp Speed type effort to develop and distribute vaccines.

Today we relax in the early part of 2021’s second half. The outlook is good for large parts of the US, and we’ve got a trip scheduled for August-September across the Western US. We’re hitting many of our favorite national parks, and some new ones that we’ve not experienced before. We’re also starting the 2022-2023 planning process.

Planing Ahead
When we retired, we quickly realized that the planning horizon for travel should be at least 12 months out. You could work with a shorter planning horizon, but rental and hotel selections were more limited and often the preferred tours were also booked up. So now is the time to start planning for the summer of 2022 and beyond.

patagoniaEarly 2022 looks questionable for international travel, but we’re booked to trek across Argentina and Chile in Feb-Mar 2022. We’re giving the plan a 60% chance of happening. After that, Iceland, Portugal, Italy, and Greece are top prospects as we plan the next 24 months. You can read about our planing at our website.

The travel plans are in a constant state of flux right now as we’re still gathering information. If you have travel experiences or ideas, send me information. The more information we have, the better our adventures will be.

Falling Behind

It was a tough day at the beach, but I had no idea what sort of illuminating discovery was awaiting me…

This evening we went to the beach to watch the sunset. We went during off peak hours because no one wears a mask on this beach and we want to avoid the daytime crowds. There were not many people and everyone was respectful of social distancing. The grandkids were digging and playing in the sand while the adults relaxed. All was right with the world… and then it happened.

Innocently enough, our seven-year-old granddaughter asked, ‘Grandpa, do you want to see me to a cartwheel?’ ‘Sure,’ I said. And the events were set in motion.

Her sequence of standard cartwheels was followed by a few one-handed cartwheel attempts, some successful. Then my four-year grand-son asked: ‘Grandpa, can you do cartwheels?’

Cartwheels? Heck, yeah! I can do cartwheels, head-stands, hand-stands, you name it! ‘Here, let me show you.’

As I hefted my incredible girth out of the beach chair, I heard Julie and our daughter chorusing…’don’t hurt yourself’ and ‘be careful, you’re not 60 anymore!’

What the heck! I spent 20 years in the Army carrying a rifle and a rucksack. I’ve done cartwheels, wrestled with our kids, performed handstands on demand and even handsprings for crying out loud! Then I thought to myself: when was my last cartwheel?

“Watch this,” I told the kids. Then on three successive stumbling and tumbling attempts, I collapsed into the sand. After the last attempt, our four-year-old grandson coached me. ‘Look, grandpa, stand like this. Put your hands like this and just cartwheel… like this.’

Oh, if it were just so simple. Embarrassed, sweating, and caked with sand, I lay on the beach wondering when I had lost my edge. When had I devolved into an awkward and clumsy grandparent? Heck, I used to be a respectable grandparent. What happened?

As my grandkids performed gymnastics over and around my sprawled, sweating carcass, and our daughter demonstrated handstands and a back-bridge on the beach, I lay there thinking…

My thoughts wandered back to when our kids, Shawn and Monica were 13 and 11, respectively. We were playing soccer in the yard and I clearly remember the moment.  For the first time, I had to tell the kids that we needed to take a break because Dad was tired and needed a rest!!!

I was 35 or 36 at the time, and the moment struck me–this was a milestone in my life. Heck, I was still in good shape, running five miles a day wasn’t an issue for me at that point. Yet, here were these two little kids running me into the ground!

That was 30 years ago. Today, I got ambushed by a pair who are just four and seven years old! As I lay there, sweating, caked with sand and feeling like a beached whale… I smiled.

This is life. This is life that’s worth living. These kids, the grandkids–I love them. They’re what keeps me young. Sure, I wish I could still do my perfect cartwheel, but lying in the sand with the grandkids piling on and laughing with me… that’s what makes this tough day at the beach worth it.

COVID-19

Life in the COVID-Kingdom of America is much different than what we were used to back before Covid-19.  Up until February 2020 we were living the post-retirement life of travel and adventure.  Summers in upstate New York, late summer and fall traveling in the USA.  Winters in Florida followed by spring traveling to Central America or Europe.  In our third year of retirement, we were enjoying live and the opportunity to travel.  Then came COVID….

Quarantine – New York

We stopped in New York with the intent of simply getting our taxes done before heading back out on another trip.  Oh, were we wrong.  We spent April and May in the New York Finger Lakes, watching the snow far more than we expected.  At the end of May, we headed back to Florida where we’ll spend at least the next year waiting for a manageable solution to COVID-19.

Quarantine – Florida

Initially, Florida was great.  We spent the first few weeks in ‘self-quarantine’ since we’d come from New York, where the virus had a stranglehold.  After that, life settled into a repeating pattern of… something just ahead of boredom.  As time has passed, the laissez-faire approach of Floridians ushered in an upsurge of Corona Virus, just as New York finally got a handle on their troubles.  So we never had a chance to develop any kind of mainstream routine.

Today we order our groceries online from Walmart.  Picking up those groceries represents our primary excursion outside of the community where we live. We live with a lingering sense of concern about contracting the virus is we venture out any more.  After all, we’re part of that “at-risk” demographic… older Americans.  Huh, when did that happen?

The Book

Over the past two months Julie and I have taken up activities and hobbies from days gone by. The first “great idea” was writing a book for our grand-kids… Well, it was actually Julie’s ‘great idea’. She ended up writing the book and we collaborated on the illustrations.

When finished, we had 16 pages with two illustrations per page. It seemed to take somewhere between 6-8 months, but I suppose it was actually only a few weeks.

In the end, we had everything from school buses and taxis to owls and komodo dragons. For the most part, we had a good time… and only a few creative disagreements along the way. Both of us were blown away with the end product. And more important, it was the catalyst for other creative endeavors since then.

I call this art…

After I suffered through painting a rhinoceros (based on an image I found on the Internet), I settled on drawings and paintings of my family’s home in Clarence Center. The first rhino was done with brushes and came out looking more like an elephant (or so Julie says…). In any event, it came out so bad, I decided to try my hand at palette knives for the second attempt! Hmmm, our grand-kids liked it, but maybe I’ll go back to brushes.

My brother and I call the Clarence Center house the ‘pink house’ while my sisters tell us it was ‘salmon’… whatever. The latest attempt was a pen and ink drawing I did of of the old house this morning. I then went to Photoshop with a scan of the drawing and added some color.

Moving Forward

That is now part of my signature in email! What I find funny is that the smaller I make the image, the better it looks!! I’m planning to try more and working harder to improve my skill with acrylics in the coming weeks so I don’t have to miniaturize everything. I’ll let you know.

Other than painting and drawing, Julie has become a dedicated pickle-ball player. Maybe I’ll write about that next… pickle-ball… huh….

Isolation Cooking

It was a Friday night and we usually have seafood or takeout. But I was looking for something different that I could make at home. Isolation cooking means you might not have everything you need on hand, so it was time to improvise!

PizzaComfort Food Our son’s girlfriend made a skillet baked tortellini for us a few weeks ago and it was great! There isn’t an iron skillet where we are in lockdown, so we transferred everything to a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish prior to the baking step. I didn’t have all of the required ingredients, so I adapted.

Instead of 28oz of crushed tomatoes I used two 14.5 oz cans of chopped tomatoes (one was regular petite cut, the other was fire roasted) and added the full can of tomato paste. I didn’t have fresh basil or black olives, so I used dried basil, left out olives. I also omitted the mushrooms since I didn’t have any. As it was cooking my thought was, hmmmm, this is just like making lasagna sauce.

Both Tim and I had seconds… and we have leftovers! Surprisingly easy and very delicious! Enjoy!

The complete recipe is here: Baked Pizza Tortellini

Corona Virus – Day 33

Today brought a wee bit of excitement into our seclusion. You see, yesterday I’d finished the last of our current jar of peanut butter. So this morning I got to open, and stir a new jar! Normally a nuisance, or at best a mundane and uninteresting task, it was something different that we could celebrate.

Crunchy, all natural peanut butter is the accepted convention in the Porter household, and we see Smucker’s as the gold standard for such comestibles. After purchase, this jar endured a 72 hour quarantine in our son’s garage, so we think it’s safe. As I broke the seal and opened the lid for the first time, the intoxicating aroma of peanuts wafted about me and gently awakened my senses.

As I stirred the culinary masterpiece, I gazed slovenly… er, lovingly at the peanut chunks and their intricate dance around the knife as it gently agitated the elixir and brought it to life. The spiritual aroma of peanut butter saturated the air, like incense… a rich bouquet of of the elixir’s earthy past. I shuddered….

In any event, I eventually got the stuff smeared on a piece of toasted English muffin, whereupon I added blueberries and wolfed it down with my coffee. Change is good. Tomorrow Julie gets to open a new container of steel cut oatmeal!

Riding out the storm

Last night Julie and I headed down to the dock on Canandaigua Lake to watch the moon rise across the water. It was beautiful. The sky was absolutely clear and there was almost no wind. For those that know us, you might normally wonder what the heck we’re doing in New York at this time of the year.

If you take a look back on our blog for the last few years, you’d see that we retired at the beginning of 2018 and hit the road. Before we headed out, we rented out our home after putting our stuff into storage. That left us “homeless” and “jobless”. Of course it also allowed us to get out and travel, which was the plan.

For two years we’ve spent time living in other countries or just traveling. We also discovered cruising and caught the bug… the cruising bug. Unfortunately, the corona-virus has brought our travels to a crashing halt.

Detour

Just like everyone, our life and our plans took a detour this year. Julie and I feel fortunate that we have family to lean on, and that’s what brought us to the New York Finger Lakes. Julie’s brother and sister-in-law (Scott and Joanne) have a house on the lake. Spending a lot of time watching their grandkids in Western NY doesn’t leave them time to enjoy the lake as much as they’d like right now. That provided an opportunity for us to safely isolate ourselves.

Absent the pandemic, our next three months would have seen us in Tampa, then on a trans-Atlantic cruise. A month in Italy would have been sandwiched between Spain, Greece and Germany. Today, if someone suggested such itinerary to me I’d be wondering if they had a death-wish for me! Over two weeks on a cruise ship?! Probably not.

Finger Lakes

The Finger Lakes are one of the awesome natural region of Upstate New York. We’ve had “Grandma/Grandpa Camp” here with our grandkids for several summers. Swimming, boating, hiking in the many local and state parks… the kids enjoy it as much as we do. Our son and his girlfriend live in a suburb of Rochester and the grandkids love spending time with “Uncle Shawn” and Suzy as well.

Well, the summer Canandaigua and early-April are two different dogs. Last night’s awesome display put on by the pink moon rising over the lake contrasted sharply with today’s overcast, gray skies and a late morning snow flurry. Julie and I have gotten soft spending our winters in warmer climes. A week after returning from Cape Coral, I thought our son’s thermometer was broken one morning when it read 28 rather than 82.

This lock-down can’t end too soon for us. Between the cabin fever and the cold, gray skies, we’re already set to head south.

European Vacations

Planning a European Vacation

Most people will tell you that the first thing you need to do is set your budget. I disagree. The first thing is to figure out how much time you have and the second is to figure out what you ‘hope to see’. THEN you set a budget.

It’s All About Time

For those making their first trip to Europe, time is usually the most constrained commodity. When my wife and I were working, vacation planning was all about optimizing weekends and holidays to make the most of our limited time. We deferred the longer vacations to when we were retired and had more time.

Let’s say that you have two weeks. That’s from when you get off work on Friday (Day 0), then that first week (Day 1-7), the next week (Day 8-14) and the following weekend (Day 15-16). Then you get to go back to work on Day 17 to recover from your vacation. At least that was how we used to do it. Of those 16 days, at least two are travel days getting to and from the old world. That brings us to the topic of transportation.

Flight Decisions

Our recommendation is travel to Europe on an overnight flight and return on a daytime flight. The last time we flew to Europe we left JFK Airport on a 10 PM flight, arriving in Paris around noon. We were relaxed and got into our hotel with ease mid-afternoon. After unpacking, we went to a local restaurant. Later, after a relaxed evening, we went to sleep early and hit the ground running the following morning.

On the other hand when I was still working, I once had a 9 AM flight out of Newark to London that had me arriving at my hotel that evening. It was close to 11 PM when I finally got to my hotel. I had a room service dinner and then hit the sack with a full stomach. For me, that wasn’t the best option, but it was what I had.

Comparing the two options, I felt more refreshed after the overnight flight. On the other hand, I know that some people want to maximize time. To them, that half day gained using the morning flight might be worth more than the discomfort that first day brings. Obviously, that’s something you need to decide for yourself.

Vacation Modes

Over the years we’ve done various different kinds of vacations in Europe. On one end of the spectrum, we planned and executed everything on our own, focused on keeping costs low. At the other end of the spectrum we were part of a 12 day planned tour where everything was laid out and organized for us. There is a mix of costs and benefits to each, and a variety of points in between.

Doing it yourself

– This is tough. You’ve got to figure out which countries and cities to visit, and what to see and do while you’re there. The Internet definitely has plenty of resources to help. These resources include travel sites (Travelocity, Expedia, etc.), blogs, airline sites and more. Next come decisions around where to stay. Trip Advisor is a great site for looking at reviews and getting an idea around cost.

Budget planning – Good hotels run $130-$200 per night, and you get what you pay for. Nicer accommodations obviously cost more. Rental car including insurance from a mainstream vendor should run you about $250/wk (compact with manual transmission) and gas about $350/wk. That puts a base weekly cost around $1650 for one week in Greece or Spain. More in mainstream Europe (England, Germany, France, Netherlands, etc.) where car rentals can be significantly more expensive.
Note – Unlike in the US, your personal car insurance generally does NOT cover your rental car. So you’ll need to opt for personal injury and damage coverage.

A few other points. There are things that you’ll want to do that involve local tours in English. Assuming you spend an average of $75 a day (per person) on these tours, that pushes a one week cost to about $2700. Obviously you have food and other costs, but this is a good number for comparison with an organized tour. The last consideration is language. We did quite well in Spain with our very poor Spanish. Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovenia were beyond anything we could master. In our travels, The Netherlands, Spain and Germany seem to have the most English speakers. Eastern Europe is friendly, but has fewer English speakers.

✔Pros – You can control costs and management of your schedule is completely in your hands.
✔Cons – First, you can spend a great deal of time planning. You may also limited by your knowledge of the areas you’re planning on visiting. Booking hotels and transportation may be challenging. You can get tripped up on travel and transfers if you’re a less experienced traveler. Language barriers.

Organized Tour

This can be easy. You look at one or more tour company, review their tours and pick one. You can work with the tour company directly, or work through a travel agent. We’ve used Liberty Travel for years and like that we can get catalogs from multiple tour operators to browse through. Our travel adviser, Susan, can normally answer our questions or she reaches out to the tour operator and quickly gets the answers for us. She is absolutely amazing.

The tours we’ve taken generally (but not always) have the same starting and ending location, making flight decisions easier. Regardless, your travel adviser can help with flight recommendations. You can often get discounted flights through the tour operator as well. Globus is by far our preferred tour operator. They’re not the cheapest, nor are the the most expensive, and they’ve never disappointed us.

What we like

What we like about this option is that there is a predetermined plan, hotels and transportation coordinated, and professional guides provide insight and color during the trip. Most tours also have free time and optional excursions built in, increasing flexibility. Globus picks nice hotels and we’ve found that the guides will provide great recommendations on what to see and do during your free time. They can also help with dinner recommendations, which is great as you get to experience a new location with confidence.

Costs

Costs advantages are a bit difficult to calculate. Using the $2700 weekly cost for Greece or Spain, going it on your own looks very attractive compared to an eight day group tour in Greece that will run about $3800 for a couple. However, the comparison is like comparing apples to oranges. Unless you’ve visited a country before, and are comfortable with where to go and what to see, we strongly believe that an organized tour is the best option. That experience is very much akin to visiting a city and first taking the hop-on/hop-off bus. After a day on the bus, you know what you really want to see. An overview tour of Spain really prepares you for revisiting… or not. (In Coming to America I write about similar value in taking local excursions off a cruise ship)

Benefits

Organized tours generally provide most breakfast and some other meals, which is great. The real value comes from the organization and local knowledge you get from the tour director and guides. You’re visiting the most relevant sites with someone that knows what to see and when to visit. You get to enjoy the experience without getting stressed over hotels, meals, transportation and translations. You can focus, and enjoy the experience.
✔Pros – Most efficient use of your time both in planning and on the trip. Removes the burden of coordinating a myriad of travel options including the hotels and transportation. Most breakfast and some other meals are normally included in an organized tour. Low stress.

✔Cons – More costly. Your ability to deviate outside the planned itinerary is somewhat limited.

Hybrid Plan

This is our favorite option. You could spend 4-6 days in one area (Barcelona or Madrid for example) at the start of your trip while relaxing and getting acclimated to the time change. Take the Hop-on Hop-off bus to get an overview of the city. Then spend your time exploring whatever you found interesting from the bus tour and from the front desk at the hotel. Staying in a larger city allows you to leverage public transportation like the Metro or local buses. That can be a huge plus – fewer complications and costs from rental cars!

Tour Vendors

We found Julia Travel to be a very reliable provider of excellent half and full day excursions across Spain. There are similar vendors across Europe. Tourist Information centers in the train stations are also a great resource for information on what to see and do locally. We always found English speaking staff available in these centers.

After a few days on your own, you’ll be rested and adjusted to the time change. That’s a great time to join your scheduled organized tour in a different city. Best of all, you get the best of both worlds as the tour gives a great experience, but the personal accomplishment of exploring on your own has its own satisfaction.

Here are some other points to consider when traveling to Europe.

  1. Spain, and to a lesser extent, France, have later dinner hours. We spent six weeks in Spain in 2018 and found that most restaurants opened beginning after 6 PM and many opened at 8 PM.
  2. Spending a bit more for a hotel in Europe often means you get a continental breakfast included. That can be both a great convenience and time saver.
  3. ATM access is not that much of a big deal any longer. You can look at the back of you bank ATM card for the networks supported or just use a major bank ATM. In Spain we used both Caxia and Santander without issues. In Germany (Munich) we used a bank ATM across from the main train station.
  4. Organized tours like those provided by Globus, AAA, Kensington, and Tauck generally have agreements so that they can skip to the head of the line when they arrive. That means less time waiting in line and more time soaking up the culture.
Do It Yourself Resources:

Use Viator to preview what local tours are available
Use local Tourist Information Offices- (excellent resource and typically have English language speakers)
Identify quality local travel experts (e.g. Julià Travel in Spain)
Travelocity and Trip Advisor are good Internet based resources

Hop-on Hop-off bus tours are excellent ways to get to know a new city!

Two great examples of local Tourist Information offices are Valencia and Xativa in Spain. Excellent service, English spoken and plenty to do. You can find more offices like this all over Europe!

Organized Tour Resources:

Liberty Travel – Our preferred travel agency
AAA Travel – Surprising quality
Globus Journeys – Best Mix of quality and affordability

Example Tours:
Globus – Classic Greece
Globus – Eastern Europe