Josiah and Lauren Part 10: First Look at the Wedding

[Nomorethanfour]

We lived about 3.5 hours from Paris (in Germany)6 years and never went. No regrets for us. There was just always someplace else we would rather visit. My favorite places were Budapest, Florence, Prague,  Amsterdam. My husband is retiring in a few years and we want to live in Germany for good. I consider it home!

[SeekingAdventure]

@TatiFish9 I suppose the tour is going by bus then, because Rothenburg is basically between Frankfurt and Munich, and it wouldn't make sense otherwise. I don't know how long your tour is, but maybe you have a night stop in Frankfurt and then go to Rothenburg and also see Munich during the day, at least for a little bit. 

I think that would be quite possible, because the Busses between Germany and Austria either go via Garmisch or via Kufstein, and either way you'd pass Munich, and I think you'd probably stop a bit either way. I don't think they would go via Kempten, because I'm quite sure those roads are not exactly bus/truck friendly, even if it would provide with great scenery. If you have a smaller bus it might be possible.

I'm curious to hear more

 

I love the travel discussion. I've travelled in South America for a year, almost 9 weeks in Chile, and whilst I feel I have a little insight on what the country is all about, I could never say I've travelled the whole country. I've seen more of most south american countries than most natives (thats what some of them said at least) and I still have sooo many more things on my list.

This summer I had planned to explore some more of the States, but then my company decided that they needed me in Munich instead of Frankfurt, so no flights to the US. Hopefully, I can squeeze in Portland in October still, and I got Anchorage in September. I've been to Seattle, Las Vegas and Baltimore (and DC) too, this year, and I am just so fortunate that it is my job to fly to those places, and that I can explore some of them, but I really missed out on those two summer months, because we have so many more really nice places that we fly to, and I didn't get to see that many. New Orleans is HIGH on my list now for next year.

On a TOTAL unrelated note, 2,5 weeks in september/October (1,5 at end of Sept, 1 in early october), what's the best area in the US to explore at that time?  Starting from the 21st or 22nd probably, because I only get back from Alaska on the 19th?

[emscm]

@SeekingAdventure The weather and scenery in the Northeast is beautiful that time of year.

[SapphireSlytherin]

2 hours ago, SeekingAdventure said:

2,5 weeks in september/October (1,5 at end of Sept, 1 in early october)

I'm gonna vote for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan... It's one of the prettiest places. Truly. 

Or the Appalachians - maybe around Asheville, NC. 

 

[SeekingAdventure]

@emscm do you have some suggestions where to go? I'd be travelling by myself, and I might rent a car. I can pretty much fly in and out at most major airports, with Boston presumably being either the start or ending point (or both, but I can fly very cheap)

[WiseGirl]

@SeekingAdventure any place in the Northeast is beautiful during the fall. They will have "leaf peeping" forecasts on the local news as to when the trees leaves will be at peak color. 

You can drive up the coast toward Portland, Maine then cut into New Hampshire for the mountains. Any resort/ski area will be beautiful.  There will be plenty of tourists or "leaf peepers." Last year I drove up to Burlington, Vermont and just took back roads. Okay, I admit it, I had to stop and Ben and Jerry's and Woodchuck Hard Cider.  

Before the Wi-Fi at this place cuts out again, I'm thinking the creation of a travel thread may be in order, because I don't want to dig through Duggar threads for all the great advice everyone is giving!

*please post before cutting out Wi-Fi!

[emscm]

@SeekingAdventure and @WiseGirl I agree.  If you are into VERY small towns (rural) and hiking/outdoor activities the Adirondacks are also beautiful.

[ElephantPatronus]

I’m getting so many travel ideas from this thread-thanks! It’s always fascinating to me how different people like to spend their vacations,  but some can be very judgmental about it. For example-BF and I went to Topsail Island, NC last month for a big anniversary celebration of our close college friend’s parents. Neither of us enjoy baking in the sun all day on the beach, so we explored and did our own thing during the day while most of the rest of the group sat and drank on the beach. We’d meet up with everyone in the evenings for dinner (cookouts) and drinking that lasted late into every night. Some kept asking why we didn’t join them on the beach all day and acted as if we were being antisocial (even though we were socializing with them for hours every night!) The last night of the trip, we found a great oceanfront restaurant just a few miles from our hotel and had an amazing dinner with a gorgeous view. When we met up with the group, many were surprised that we went out for dinner (“but we ordered pizza!”) In a conversation with the anniversary couple, we found out that in the 3 years they’ve owned their vacation home on the beach, they’ve only ever been to one restaurant there (that you can almost see from their house) and ordered pizza for delivery. They were there alone for another week after the celebrations were over and ended up taking our recommendation of the oceanfront dinner spot-and they loved it. We also gave them a few other ideas for restaurants and spots to explore and they appreciated the info, but it’s just funny to me that we found more on the island in 5 days than they have in 3 years. Everyone is different-I prefer to do things I can’t do at home while on vacation. Ordering pizza and sitting around drinking is something I can do anytime.

[HereticHick]

One of my colleagues just told me she's headed to Austria tomorrow for a family wedding.  I immediately thought of Josiah and Lauren. 

Further proof I need a FJ break! : )

[SeekingAdventure]

Well, I was on a unplanned 'sick-leave' from my job the last 2,5 weeks, and yesterday I found a new thing to do, so I strongly agree with the need for a travel thread, because sorry guys, Duggars aren't that interesting.

I got many ideas out of the threads already, it was one of my reasons to travel to Scotland this spring, so there's that.

 

Since it seems you guys are somewhat experienced in that area, I'm gonna tell you what I came up with, and you can tell me wheter I am being over ambitious.

@emscm & @WiseGirl

Basically, it will more or less be a circle, which way i start or end does not really matter.

Starting point in Boston, going North via Cambridge & Salem towards Portsmouth, NH, then into Portland, Maine. Do a whalewatch tour probably and take a ferry from Portland to one of the islands, etc.. see the Light house (I am a sucker for lighthouses) and then I thought about heading up to Acadia NP. It is out of the way, but it looks quite pretty, maybe someone local or someone who has been there can tell me if it is worth it?

Go into Vermont towards the White Mountains and Lincoln, head by Stowe, Ben and Jerrys (for sure!) and then head down south through the Green Mountains. 

I was thinking about going by Connecticut as well, maybe Mystic or New Haven, but that's not a top priority, but I'd like to see Rhode Island as well, Providence, and the surroundings. Then heading back up towards Boston via Plymouth, and time depending via Cape Cod. 

 

I have about 2,5 weeks. I looked at so many roadtrips yesterday, and many said you can do something similar in 5-7 days. I feel that wouldn't be enough. But then some also suggest Boston to Miami in 3 days, and that is just nuts to me.

I'm quite spontanious though, so if I like it somewhere, I'll just stay there longer and cut out other parts, the most important thing really would be to get the car back to the rental place, presumably in Boston.

 

 

my current project btw is to make a list of 10-12 things I want to see in every state in the US. so if that travel thread comes to life, I'm excited

[freethemall]

Well as much as the Austria and Europe talk is fun, I feel kind of bad for Lauren since in the most recent episode she said if she could go anywhere it'd be Israel. Josiah had to remind her of Austria as though he was already thinking of it as a honeymoon destination, she wasn't hugely enthusiastic about it. It'd be sad if the producers said "nope, already did an Israel trip, can't go there".

[AprilQuilt]

46 minutes ago, SeekingAdventure said:

then I thought about heading up to Acadia NP. It is out of the way, but it looks quite pretty, maybe someone local or someone who has been there can tell me if it is worth it?

I went to Acadia NP as part of a 7-week road trip about a year ago and it was wonderful. We did a couple of great hikes including an Iron Rung one which was terrifying but incredible. Bring some talc for your sweaty palms. We stayed in Bar Harbor and the best meal we had probably in the whole trip was at Rose Eden lobster shack. Maine lobster would be my death row meal.

We took I would say a week heading from Boston up through Maine to the Canadian border, camping and staying in motels. On a previous road trip I spent about two weeks exploring New Hampshire, a bit of Connecticut, Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard and absolutely loved them - I think the 2.5 weeks you've given yourself is about right if you like exploring and having the flexibility to stay an extra night in the places you really like, or if not moving on faster to check out something you didn't initially plan. I doubt you'll get so close to the Canadian border, but if you do, Cobscook Bay state park was the most blissful place I ever camped. 

[SeekingAdventure]

9 minutes ago, AprilQuilt said:

I went to Acadia NP as part of a 7-week road trip about a year ago and it was wonderful. We did a couple of great hikes including an Iron Rung one which was terrifying but incredible. Bring some talc for your sweaty palms. We stayed in Bar Harbor and the best meal we had probably in the whole trip was at Rose Eden lobster shack. Maine lobster would be my death row meal.

We took I would say a week heading from Boston up through Maine to the Canadian border, camping and staying in motels. On a previous road trip I spent about two weeks exploring New Hampshire, a bit of Connecticut, Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard and absolutely loved them - I think the 2.5 weeks you've given yourself is about right if you like exploring and having the flexibility to stay an extra night in the places you really like, or if not moving on faster to check out something you didn't initially plan. I doubt you'll get so close to the Canadian border, but if you do, Cobscook Bay state park was the most blissful place I ever camped. 

Well, let's hope it never comes to that 

I'm looking forward to that then  Maybe, if you have time and feel like it, any suggestions where to stop on the way up or general in the area? I appreciate any input. I actually haven't done a road trip just driving by myself, so that slightly scares me, but I feel like this would a good area to start. (I travel by myself all the time, but most times I take busses, trains, fly etc..)

And yeah, I most likely wouldn't get up that far. I do love Canada though, and I have been thinking about going to the North East for several years actually, ever since I did a west to east in Canada in 2011, but now I can fly very cheap, have a 10 year visa to privately enter the states whenever I want, and I actually have holidays at a suitable time, so it seems like a good place to start exploring the US a bit more :))

@freethemall I actually think you are spot on here. I suppose TLC couldn't film in Israel, because they didn't film JAustin there either, which was either because they wanted it to be more private or because of film rights. And seeing as they consider the show their ministry, handing out pamplets would be something that they would want to show, right?

 

I thought it was funny too, because it was said to be her idea, but she didn't seem that interested. I think they might have enjoyed it nevertheless, even though it was super hot here lately, and we too are worldly heathens, who don't usually dress in traditional clothes but tanks and shorts, especially in this weather. So it might have been a lot of nike for Josiah, especially in Vienna.

I'm going to be surprised which 'atrocious absolutely local' food they tried out or tried to cook. 

[scoutsadie]

Upcoming scuba trip to the western Caribbean is one of the things keeping me going right now, in a year when I've lost my mom, my dad is declining and my job has turned into a shitshow. (Have been enjoying this travel drift in particular, and FJ has provided great distraction in general - thanks, pals!)

[fluffernutter]

My very favorite place to go is Skyline Drive, in Virginia. 

[Audrey2]

My favorite place is Mt. Rainier. I first visited there when I was 19, taking the train with my Great Aunt who turned 93 on the trip. I'd love to spend a week camping/hiking some of its many trails, as both of my trips there have been day trips. My second favorite was the Beartooth Pass, from Montana into Wyoming, which is a gorgeous drive. My third favorite was the Mackenzie River in Oregon. We camped nearby and did two hikes along that gorgeous river.

My sister is my opposite. Her definition of vacation is a resort in the Caribbean.

[Melissa1977]

Dear FJingers. Hundreds of posts about travels and anybody has named my city, Barcelona. Of course, everybody has its own taste and not everybody is attracted to Barcelona. But we cannot literally walk in this city, because the million tourists. So I found it amusing that such a touristic place is not being visited by FJingers.

[Gobbles]

1 hour ago, Melissa1977 said:

Dear FJingers. Hundreds of posts about travels and anybody has named my city, Barcelona. Of course, everybody has its own taste and not everybody is attracted to Barcelona. But we cannot literally walk in this city, because the million tourists. So I found it amusing that such a touristic place is not being visited by FJingers.

Barcelona is on my list! I somehow plan to integrate it when I'm on Mallorca, at the beginning or the end, so fly back from there and with the ferry from Mallorca* to Barcelona or the other way around. Judging by the tourists we are more a destination for people from Asia and Switzerland, but still Stuttgart wasn't mentioned so far as well. Much better than Berlin or Frankfurt. (Of course!!!111!!!)  

Actually I liked Frankfurt. Only way to experience real skyscrapers and a huge airport in Germany. And the mix between the historic buildings and the modern ones is something I really like. But a day trip is more than enough, I agree with that. 

I'm a big fan of Passau or Regensburg. Not huge cities, but also no small villages.

[SeekingAdventure]

@Melissa1977 i've been to Barcelona in 2012 and loved it there. to this day on my top ten list of favourite cities. would go back if it happens to happen, too and almost did last fall but with all the protests in Catalonia i decided not to and went to cape Town instead. it is such a great place though. sorry for not mentioning it 

@Gobbles I'm still waiting that i have to go to stuttgart for work so i haven't been there yet, but i heard many good things. 

Frankfurt airport for me is not very well organized and therefor i honestly hate it. I'm staff but they don't let us enter at staff entries because we're not Lufthansa and we might not be on duty. but Lufthansa employees can walk through in private clothes because they are 'obviously' going to work. riiight. I'm obviously only wearing my uniform because i ran out of clean clothes and i felt like hsnging out at the airport..

security at the checkpoints isn't very good (as seen last weekend, or in Munich 2 weeks ago). they are overwhelmed with the crowds and yet only open limited checkpoints with 4-5 people at each and still make mistakes like letting a complete family pass with a positive bomb test?

and then frankfurt does not make sense. you have to run through tunnels to get from one area (A to when it is literally next to each other. it is ridiculous. there are glass walls, you can see it, they could make sliding doirs or whatever because you don't have to pass controls but no, let's send them to the other side three floors down through a tunnel thtee floors up and back. but hey there's decorations down there.

and then there is the (rarely working) cleaning, catering and de-icing. who would think that in mid February there should be someone on standby for deicing? they ended up getting one person per terminal because it was unexpectedly snowing (unless you listen to the weather report or look out side the window ever) and everything was delayed. and then the crew gets blamed and people ask for money back for delays.

i seriously don't like fraport. sounds about logical that i'm working for frankfurt departures again next month, doesn't it? 

*rant over*

[Mar]

I love this thread drift! I’m German and I’ve been to the US several times, sometimes just for 3 weeks, other times for much longer. In my experience it’s nice to travel around as a tourist, visit the big cities, see all the famous sights and so on. It’s so much nicer though if you have friends or family in the countries you’re visiting and can stay with them because that way you’ll be able to experience the culture and get a much more accurate impression of everyday life. I very much enjoyed the trips where I was staying with a local family and just doing things like talking with them, running errands, meeting their friends etc. even if they didn’t exactly live in the most exciting place. Obviously everyone does not always know people in the country they want to visit so I know I’m lucky to have had these opportunities. 

On 8/6/2018 at 10:09 PM, SeekingAdventure said:

I agree, Munich is WAY more 'german' than Frankfurt is.

@SeekingAdventure, it sounds like you have a really cool job, that allows you to travel so much! I have to ask about this quote though. Why do you think that Munich is more German than Frankfurt? 

[Mar]

I just had another thought. I’m also one of the people that are not crazy about Paris. I’ve only been there once and that was a few years ago in my early twenties. I think my problem was that my expectations were too high. Everyone always talks about how beautiful, romantic, interesting (and so on) Paris is that I couldn’t help but have high expectations. When I finally got there it was nice but also a little underwhelming. I think sometimes it’s better not to expect too much and let yourself be surprised. When I took a trip around the US west coast I was really excited about seeing San Francisco because I had heard from several people that it was their favorite city and they just loved it. I liked it too but I ended up being way more excited about Sacramento which I hardly knew anything about and which I visited without expecting anything.

[Rachel333]

I really liked Paris, but then I'd also been told by a lot of people how terrible Paris is and how rude all the people there are. People like to complain about Paris! I enjoyed my time there, though, and didn't notice anyone being particularly rude. I thought French people in general were pretty nice.

[SeekingAdventure]

@Mar I think Munich gives a better insight in the culture. I don't realy know how to describe it because it's a bit stereotypical i guess, but if you think of Germany most people think of the Oktoberfest beer etc. thats quintessential munich. but also there is so much to do in munich besides the Oktoberfest (which i've never been to because i'm not a fan) going in either direction you'll find a lot of things to do as well as in the city 

i've been a flight attendant for 1.5 years now, based in Frankfurt for 6 months and munich the rest. when i was in Munich i also went to fly out from hamburg Düsseldorf or Leipzig and what stuck out for me was the people flying with us.

besides the people from each city, and those who have it as a closest airport (like munich for many austrians, hamburg for danish people etc). if you see tourists on the planes and you ask them where they are going, in Munich they are staying directly there or the surroundings, whereas in Frankfurt they all have connections to anywhere between helsinki and tel aviv. i found that generally about 75% of our passengers when flying to frankfurt don't stay there, whereas in Munich it's about 10 or 15.. of course frankfurt has better connections, but not in that extent. munich is quite well connected too...

[WiseGirl]

@SeekingAdventure I forget who said to go to Bar Harbor, Maine, do it. Still one of my favorite vacations from childhood. See Freeport, Maine if you have the time. Blow through Kittery, outlet shopping, it's a nightmare. In Connecticut skip New Haven, go to Mystic instead. If you have time to go to Newport, Rhode Island, go. The cliff walk is amazing.

[IntrinsicallyDisordered]

On 8/7/2018 at 3:19 PM, seashell1025 said:

I would Love to go to Rome and other places in italy, it has always been a place with so much history and beautiful pictures and scenery, that I hope I can visit there some day.  I also would love to go to Greece (those dang Duggars and their honeymoons.. LOL, so not fair!) 

Currently however, I am sitting in an airport waiting to fly to San Francisco-- Mini vacation visiting my BFF in the Bay area of California.  I worked out there the past two summers, so it will be fun to visit not only her, but also my past co-workers.  

I wanted to go to Rome desperately for about 15 years before I actually got to go.  I was worried it wouldn't live up to my expectations but it surpassed them.  I sat in the forum and cried once, I was so overwhelmed and happy.  I went twice more (9 days each time, we were able to see the big touristy things and explore) and would like to go back again in the next few years.  

I live in Antwerp and recommend it over Brussels if visiting Belgium but I am biased.  Brugge/Bruges is exceedingly touristy but worth visiting.  Utterly charming.