I'm writing this in the heat of an August day in 2024 and I'm thinking about our possible travels during 2025.
I told you I was a planner!
I think the budget can stretch to three decent breaks in 2025, although there is a bit of a fly in the ointment that isn't related to money.
I read an article in The Guardian about Le Cote Bleue to the west of Marseille in France and was smitten. So that's one destination. I'm not a great fan of Paris - it's busy, expensive and far too touristy (sadly), so I'm thinking seriously about the ferry options one way - possibly St Malo - and returning via Lille on Eurostar. So far the rough plans are looking promising.
We enjoyed our last train and bus trip along the English south coast - so I thought it might be worth looking to extend westwards from Brighton, where our last trip ended. When I was looking at the map it became apparent that The Isle of Wight was possible. I'm thinking of getting the hovercraft (while it still runs) one way and the ferry back to Lymington the other, with a stay somewhere on the coast in between. It seems that the island has a good public transport network.
Finally, I'd like to finish of the remains of our aborted 6 week trip that's mentioned in the blog introduction. This was to include Bratislava, Dresden & Leipzig as an Interrail trip. Getting this done in a reasonable time frame was looking doubtful without a flight one way (as we did when we started a trip in Budapest). I hate airports, but needs must - and British Airways were stellar with their Passenger Assistance service. Again poring over the map showed that a side-trip to Slovakia was easy - and there are direct trains to Kosice from Budapest. Mentioning this to Sacha brought up her wish to revisit a thermal bath in Budapest - so that's another overnight slotted in! At the moment I'm thinking of a flight to Budapest, a visit to Slovakia, then into Germany, and back via our favourite ferry from Hoek - taking just over three weeks.
The fly in the ointment? Well, Sacha is due to have some more cardiac investigations as she's getting very breathless. I don't anticipate these stopping us going on these trips, but we may have to consider a more leisurely pace with less walking and more assistance. We'll know more in September I think.