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I always enjoy looking at the numbers. Thank you for sharing your observations. In 2022, we rode seven weeks starting from home on my birthday ride. In 2023, we rode 29 days (gone five weeks total) in Spain/Portugal. Lodging/food was cheaper in 2023, but when we added in airfare, the two trips were very close in cost. It definitely lowers the average cost of transportation if you are able to stay in Europe for more time!
We had initially planned on Europe for 2024. Airfares were dismal. Then Jacinto decided he would have surgery on his other shoulder. Forward a little, he changed his mind on the surgery. He also decided to push Europe back for his 60th birthday trip in 2025. Which leaves us with a domestic trip for 2024 - starting in Twin Falls, Idaho, and heading up into Canada, then back down. I'm about halfway through reserving lodging. In the good old days, I used to think $100. was an expensive room. Now that is a suspicious price. I would say $175-200. is going to be average cost for this trip. We aren't talking extravagant rooms! Like you, camping is off the table, we are captive customers!
Thanks for sharing your adventure. Always entertaining.
10 months agoWe couldn’t get over the rise in prices in Europe last year. We hadn’t been since 2019. I didn’t even like to work out how much we spent. Plane fares from here had gone into orbit they have come back a bit as flights are now almost back to normal
Really looking forward to hearing what your route will be in Spain. We fly to Alicante on the 6th May. Our daughter and her husband have just moved to Murcia ( which is close by) where their son plays football and will be there for a year. We are staying about 3 weeks and if we find suitable easy rides will hire bikes and have a bit of a poke round. From there to Porto for a cruise on the Duro River. Then will pick up our bikes from Louise and ride for six weeks or so around the Burgandy area. We are confined to really easy routes not because of the cycling but because my walking is so terrible and now can’t really walk along pushing a bike for any distance at all
You're so right. They're my favorite bird, but one that I shake my fist at for wasting so much seed! I continue to feed those adorable little buggers, nonetheless.
10 months agoWe are already dreaming, planning, and actively preparing to head to sunny Spain in 3 weeks. Thank goodness for being retired.
10 months agoI'm back home in Colorado and have shoveled snow three times in less than 24 hours. Today in Tucson it was 76 degrees. I'm feeling a little sad - as I sit here with a blanket over my legs, in front of the fire!
10 months agoYup. And why we head to Mexico, or Spain, or anywhere warmer at every opportunity.
10 months agoYikes!!! That's why we moved to AZ to spend the winters in a snow-less climate.
10 months agoA funny coincidence: I just saw my first spotted towhee of the year today too.
10 months agoI think their math and exchange rates are ok. How about the prices?: 360g of Toblerone on Amazon.ca costs $Can 9, or $2.49/100g. Reasonable quality Belgian chocolate at Walmart is $1.50 per 100g. The special offer shown here gets you 720g for $24.50 US, which is $33 Can, and that is $Can 4.58 per 100g. So the Mexicans here, with their bargain deal, are only ripping off the tourists with approximately double prices ($Can 4.58 vs 2.49). Makes sense? Dodie says what doesn't make sense is selling Swiss chocolate in Mexico. Little does she know that Mondelez moved Toblerone production to Bratislava, Slovakia!
10 months agoThis makes no sense
10 months agoHoping you get here before the big snow they are predicting!!! 😳
10 months agoI feel your pain about heading to the frozen north. The forecast for the rest of the week in Tucson is the mid 70's. Me? I'm headed back to Colorado, where they have been in a deep freeze (although not as bad as Canada!). I'm feeling a little sorry about my timing. Thanks for taking us along with you!
10 months agoI don’t think I know this story/history - we’re talking about Hilda’s father yes?
10 months ago
I suspect Canada will be more costly for accommodation that the US portion of your trip. I don't know why, but it just seemed like that to us in the past. Another big item is food. If you go to restaurants 3x per day, it will use up tons of time and money, and if you go for fast food or to a gas station, it will make you sick. That's a thing we like about Europe - the possibility of a quality breakfast buffet, and especially in France and Germany, bakeries with quality sandwiches.
10 months ago