I can’t recommend a wine-oriented trip to the Mosel more highly. It is 1.5-2 hour drive from the Frankfurt airport. You can do a lot in 3-4 days. If anyone needs suggestions on itineraries just let me know.
Everything is so inexpensive relative to other areas.
I have two family trips booked to Hawaii with my wife and young kids. Maui for one and Kauai for the other. I will likely get a work trip to Germany in Q1 this year and try to sneak in at least 1 full day of tasting.
I am going to try and book a Japan trip. Maybe I can get my dad to go with me.
Edit: First international trip is to the Dominican Republic.
I’ll be doing a big 45th bday thing. I’m hitting up Paris before heading to Piedmont and then walking the Via Francigena from Pavia to Rome
Europe in May.
Niagara-on-the-Lake in late June
Maybe Caribbean (St Lu?) in fall
And on our back and forth drives from SC to FL we’re trying to add stopovers (a night in Orlando and a few days at Kennedy Space Center in Feb for example).
Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam confirmed for late January/early February with my wife and newborn.
These are all new countries for me and I’ll be at 13 countries visited with 4 more on the horizon. So about to be all the way up to 17 by late February.
First time my wife will be out of the Philippines and she’s starting to get excited!
What time of the year are you thinking of?
A lot of exciting recommendations here already.
Regardless of time of the year - I’d second Japan. Always on my top list if/when it works out practically!
For Europe, suggestions might depend more on time of the year but if you don’t mind another Italy trip then Friuli sounds like something you might be in to. Beautify country side, abundance of cities and places to visit with 2 hours drive (in Italy, Slovenia and perhaps even Croatia). Extremely high density of great wineries, terrific food and a different Italy.
If something you’d go for then I can make tons of suggestions consider!
Seconding Friuli and Slovenia!
This is going to be a big travel year for us now that the CFO has officially retired.
We’re doing a week in Hawaii on the big Island with our son, D-I-L and grandson. First time to the Island for us.
Another first for us is a river cruise, actually two river cruises. First one is a week in late March travelling up the Rhine on Viking, Basel to Amsterdam. Then in late April, early May we’re doing two weeks in Bordeaux. The first week is the river cruise on Uniworld which is being hosted by the winemakers from Joseph Swan and Moshin (two of our favorite Russian River wineries). The second week we’re on our own, renting a place downtown and taking day trips. I’ve already booked Henri Challeau for a full day tour (tx to WB’ers for this advice). Would love any advice for restaurants, places to see, things to do.
Hilton Head in late May for a family reunion.
July will be a 10 day guys golf trip trip to Ireland playing mainly in the Southwest part of the country with a day on either end in Dublin.
Late September/early October will be my normal trip to CA to help with harvest and crush.
Then we do our big trip to celebrate our 40th. We leave in mid-October for a 38 day tour of Tasmania, Australia and New Zealand. We’ve booked this thru one of my favorite tour companies - Overseas Adventure Travel. I’ve done several trips with OAT and loved every minute.
I’m getting tired just thinking about all of this.
Ok Lori, ball back in your court.
We’ve done the Rhine a number of times - need to go to the Mosel. It’s been on the list for awhile.
Lapland in March
Puglia in September
2024 had a little less travel than normal for us but already set for 2025 (with more to come):
New Zealand and Australia for all of February
Loire and Paris in May
Canada and Arizona in October
2024 was a massive year of flights, largely due to work.
I was hoping to scale it back this year, but it’s quickly getting filled with travel blocks:
Some of my favorite trips - Champagne, Crete, Oaxaca. My work travel used to keep me in the road - mainly international - but thankfully slowed down.
My wife and I have carved out a week in Europe for each of the last 5 years, 7 days being all that we can swing given grandparents taking care of our kids, PTO and finances. Direct flights from Dulles a requirement.
We’ve done:
Paris>Jura/Savoie/Beaujolais
Frankfurt>Pfalz/Alsace/Mosel
Madrid>Rioja/zaragoza/penedes
Lisbon>Porto/Covilha/Evora
Geneva>Aosta/Nizza/La Morra/Savoie
All were fabulous in their own way and would repeat any and all of them. Trying to get to Vienna for an Austrian loop this year.
Let me know if you make it down to Jeju!
We might go to South Korea again in October after our Vietnam trip. If so, we’re adding Jeju to the list. I’ve been over spring and summer, but haven’t experienced autumn there.
Brunei, Indonesia, and Japan (10th visit) confirmed for late February and early March.
Kids are tired of Europe and culture after the last few years of travel (ha!).
So, South Carolina, Caribbean cruise, and Aruba with them.
Of course will squeeze in a trip to south of france while they are at camp!
Still working on it -
March - Aruba confirmed
April - looking at family beach trip somewhere on NC coast or default to Kiawah (SIL choice)
May - Europe somewhere
July - Eastern Townships in Canada
Sept - annual trip to Sea Island confirmed
Fall - thinking city trip to Istanbul or Palermo
Feb 2026 - Milano/Cortina for the Olympics