October 25, 2015 - Tanya's Trip to Mendocino - Day 4 AND Elisa's Updated Travel Plans for 2017 & Beyond

​Elisa's Daily Scoop
​NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: NOT SURE YET
​

A Glimpse at Israel Trip

GOOD DAY!!

This week is moving right along and here we are at Travelin' Tuesday.

I have to tell you, the weather this week is GORGEOUS!! It is, however, getting a bit chilly and I'm lovin' it.

The kids fared well back to school yesterday but were so hyped up at some excitement that happened there.

Apparently , Gianna's homeroom teacher, got in an accident last week and as a result, she is going to be out for  a while.

In her absence, there is a substitute standing in, which my daughter was not to fond of and the  principal even stood in yesterday as well.  

Gianna told me it was pretty much a nightmare. She loves her  regular homeroom teacher, "Mrs. I" and she seems to be the only one capable of fully taking control of Gianna's class of rowdy boys.

Our best wishes for a speedy recovery go out to Mrs. I.

Back in late September - the 27th to be exact - I told you about how I've begun to work my travel calendar for the next few years.  

At that time, it looked like this:

Spring, 2017: (Easter Break):
London/Paris

June, 2017: (Week after School ends): Cousins Road Trip to Chicago

Summer, 2018: (Late June/July):
Sicily, Italy

Spring, 2019: (Easter Break):
Israel

Summer, 2019:
Croatia

​
Well, within the last month (almost to the day!), my schedule has changed ever so slightly and this is the new plan...

Spring, 2017: (Easter Break):
London/Paris
"Gianna's 13 Birthday Trip to London with the Cousins"

June, 2017: (Week after School ends): 
New York to Chicago Road Trip
"Cousins Road Trip to Chicago"

Spring, 2018: (Easter Break):
Israel
"Elisa's Easter in the Holy Land"
​
Summer, 2018: (Late June/July):
Croatia
"Elisa & Tanya's Croatian Road Trip"
​
Summer, 2019: (Late June/July):
Sicily, Italy
"Cousins Sicilian Homeland Trip"

Fall, 2019: (October)
Disney Cruise (Destination TBD)
"Kelsey's 13th Birthday Disney Cruise"

Why the changes?  Well, Tanya and I have been talking about going to Sicily (the homeland of my paternal grandparents/Tanya's maternal great-grandparents) for a number of years now.

It is something that we wanted to share together, with all the kids.

Unfortunately, the Summer of 2018 was not going to work for Tanya because of trips that were already on her travel calendar, and so I enthusiastically moved Sicily to Summer, 2019.

As a result, I pushed up Israel to Easter, 2018, which will be, at this point, just me and the girls; and then slugged in, later that year, during the early Summer (2018), Croatia, which will be strictly a "Elisa & Tanya" trip.

Honestly, I'm thrilled with the modifications and I'm hopeful that there will be a few other smaller trips in an around these major ones.

​Now, as you may have noticed, I ADDED another trip onto my itinerary - "Kelsey's 13th Birthday Disney Cruise."  

Since I promised each of my girls a destination of their choice for their 13th birthdays, Kelsey has already stated, quite emphatically, that she wants to do a Disney Cruise.  

We are not as yet sure where - I'd love to experience the "Panama Canal" Cruise, but since it's Kelsey's choice, I'll have to see which cruise strikes her fancy and will keep you posted!!

Today, I am excited to give you a little sneak peak at my Israel Trip!

As I mentioned in my blog this past Sunday, I always knew that someday I'd visit the Holy Land, but what really inspired me to get it on my travel schedule was a travel video featuring Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.  

I'm still futzing with my itinerary, but, I know for sure we will be visiting at minimum, the following cities:

Jerusalem
Tel Aviv
Masada 
Eilat

Going at Easter time, as a Christian, there are just so many experiences I want to have in Jerusalem during Holy Week. 

At the same time, being in Israel, I also want to see a plethora of places and sights outside of Jerusalem as well.  What I do NOT want to do, is to overwhelm the kids with a jam-packed schedule - particularly at ages 13 and 11.

So, this trip is going to require a great deal of finessing and tweaking to be sure there is a good mix of history and kid-friendly fun.

For example I found a few experiences  geared to kids through my research with one tour company, in particular, includes the opportunity to:

Camel riding in Israel's Negev Desert (deepdesertisrael.com)

- Visit an ‘ancient village’ where kids can make bread, olive oil and wine exactly how the ancients did using traditional methods. 

- Interact with new cultures such as Bedoin and Druze through home hospitality experiences where kids can ride a camel with the Bedoin!

- Smearing mud over their entire bodies and floating on the Dead Sea.

- Swimming with dolphins and snorkelling in Eilat.


I will keep you posted on my planning success, along with a rough outline of my itinerary next Tuesday.  For now, I'm doing as much research as I can on scheduled trip tours, day tours and overall knowledge of Israel!

Lastly, regarding travel, these past two weeks have been rather nutty with school tests and projects and riding events.  As a result, I have NOT as yet locked in when to reschedule our cancelled Disney trip (remember, our flight and trip was cancelled due to Hurricane Matthew back on October 7th).

Last night, I told the girls, that we need to figure out when to reschedule - otherwise, if we can't figure out a convenient time, we may have to forego Disney World for 2016.


The rest of my day is sporadically busy.  
I have to run a few errands after dropping the kiddies off, which will include my li'l Punkin.

Then after school, we'll be heading to get a few necessities the kids need for dressing up their horses for Halloween and the annual barn show this weekend.

I'm outa here peeps!

Make it a great one!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: MENDOCINO, CA

Finding the Pearls

Well hello hello!

It's another Travelin' Tuesday and I'm wrapping up yet another trip. 

So today I'll give you the lowdown SCOOP on yesterday and then just like Elisa has done, I will give you a GLIMPSE of what's to come in 2017!

The order I placed for rain had been delivered and it was just wonderful. For me nothing quite compares to watching and listening to the rain. And then top that off with being in a place like Mendocino and it was just dreamy.

At the Stanford Inn (c)travelincousins.com

We had started off the day with having a lovely breakfast at the Ravens Restaurant, then after enjoying the rain from the inside, it was time to step out and take a nice little stroll around the property which would include a visit to see some of the animals.

Gonna dig into some Cinnamon Swirl French Toast (c)travelincousins.com

Going to see the animals (c)travelincousins.com

I found the Llamas! (c)travelincousins.com

Strollin' (c)travelincousins.com

Once we left the property, we headed into town and in and out of some of the stores, battling the wind and rain while doing so.

Mendocino (c)travelincousins.com

Fighting the wind (c)travelincousins.com

After my hair lost to the battle, we decided to instead drive over to the headlands and watch the waves come crashing against the rocks with fury.

Eventually it was time for our picnic in the car lunch with a view and we drove to Van Damme State Park to again peer out into the ocean and to observe the many birds that appeared to be waiting out the storm.

And then to back track through the Redwood forest and numerous wine vineyards, until hitting the hustle and bustle of city life as we approached the cities that surround San Francisco and Oakland.

Redwoods (c)travelicousins.com

We checked into a new hotel, returned our rental and finally checked out the new location of the Millennium for dinner.

Dinnertime (c)travelincousins.com

Today we'll be heading back to SoCal and have a short week ahead of us... 

​And now a GLIMPSE at what's to come:

For starters our NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 10 DAYS 
This one will be to Big Sur and Monterey, CA 

After that and possible our last trip to 2016 will be to Sedona & Scottsdale, Arizona

2017 has things in store like:

• Skiing in Lake Tahoe, Park City and across Europe
• Going to the FIS World Alpine Competition in St Moritz
• Having a Ball in Venice during the famed Carnival
• Taking the kids on their first visit to London 
• Volcanic travels to Hawaii
• Mountain Biking in Moab

And this only bring us to May 2017, I don't have to tell you that there is much much more!

I just keep building the trips, and while they do take a ton of prep, know that I love every second of it and wouldn't have it any other way. 

Not sure what I'll plan today...

See ya back here on Wednesday.

Tootles,
-T