Plans

If you didn’t already read about how I went about planning for my trip to Rome, go ahead. I’ll wait.

Now, just over a week before I leave, I think I’ve got all the planning settled. I’ve identified a lot of churches, museums, and other sights I hope to see. I’ve pre-booked tour for certain things, and this creates some structure, so I won’t have to completely improvise each day. I’ll plan to see things based on where I’ll be before and after each pre-booked activity.

Here is my day-by-day itinerary. Open times are for seeing those churches and museums, eating (meals plus gelato), wandering aimlessly, doing laundry, shopping, and resting.

My next OAT tour is called “Ancient Lands of Alexander the Great.” It includes Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia, all countries I have not yet visited.

I already wrote about my plans for Rome at the beginning of October. These are actually all the same trip. From Rome I will go to Athens to begin my OAT tour.

Here’s the itinerary for these ancient lands.

I may be overdoing it.

I think in the year ahead I will be away more than I am home. I’m excited about all the trips I have planned between now and the end of 2025, but also worried that I’m going to wear myself out.

Here’s what I’ve got scheduled. Tell me if you think I’m nuts.

Believe it or not, I’ve never been to Rome. I’ve made two trips to Italy, but not to Rome.

I’m making up for it by spending ten full days in Rome at the beginning of October. But planning for my Rome visit has been more challenging than any other trip I’ve ever taken.

This is the longest I’ve ever stayed in one place in all my travels. And I also have a very long list of things to see and do. How to organize them efficiently without wearing myself out is a monumental task.

I wasn’t sure “Down Under” was the right umbrella term for my next trip. I was thinking “Down Under” might refer specifically to Australia. But according to Wikipedia,

The term Down Under is a colloquialism differently construed to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or the Pacific island countries collectively. The term originally referred solely to Australia and gradually expanded in scope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_Under

In two weeks I’m departing on a month-long trip to Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand. There’s no question that these are all Pacific Island countries. So I’m going to call this trip “Down Under 2024.”

I’m getting ready to go to Oaxaca for two weeks. My main objective is a Spanish immersion program. My other objective is good food.

Here’s my plan.

I’m getting ready for another Mexican road trip. You may recall my last road trip, to see the Pueblos Mágicos in Zacatecas and Aguascalientes. This time I’ll be hitting the states of Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, and Guanajuato, and there are twenty Pueblos Mágicos on the itinerary. And Luis and Taco will both be along for the ride.

I’m sharing our itinerary here, but mostly I’m using this post to do the research so we know what to look for in each town and along the route.

Since we’ll have Taco with us, we’ll concentrate on outdoor sights, but there are a few museums that I hope we’ll be able to poke into.

I leave in about three weeks for my next big adventure: six weeks in Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. I’ve received my final documents from Overseas Adventure Travel, so I can now share all the details of my trip.

I’m taking two back-to-back OAT tours. The first is Egypt and the Eternal Nile; the second is Israel: The Holy Land and Timeless Cultures. This tour includes an optional pre-trip extension to Jordan and a post-trip extension to Palestine.

I like to say that if I’m not currently traveling, I’m busy planning my next trip(s).

In this case, I have three upcoming trips in the next thirteen months, and possibly will squeeze in one or two more.

Here’s a preview.

My next trip is a five-week adventure in Scotland. I’ll be traveling independently, mostly by train, and looking forward to enjoying great scenery, hiking, and relaxation.

My trip is scheduled for late April and all of May. This is the hottest time in my corner of Mexico, so I was eager to find somewhere cooler to get away. I think Scotland will offer cool temperatures. It will probably rain; I hope not too much.