Planning

Some background information.  This trip will most likely be our last long one for my husband and I.  He will be 83 and I will be 80 at the time of this trip.  With age comes a lot of mobility issues.  Stairs are not our friend.  We can't walk miles each day like we used to do years ago.  Slow travel suits us at this stage of our lives.

Back in 2015 we were supposed to do a trip to Europe-first time trip to Paris, first time trip to Italy, and a return trip to London/England. However I was having some back issues and my doctor did not recommend a trip of 9 weeks.  Everything was put on pause with us going to Alaska instead.

Forward to 2023.  We decided to experience Italy.  Just Italy.  Original plan of 2015 was 5 weeks in Italy but I cut it down to 4 weeks.  We had a great time but ended up taking a lot of taxis in Florence and in Rome.  It was hot, crowded and our legs were screaming at us.  

For some reason that I can't recall we didn't do a trip in 2024.  Maybe there was too much going on so didn't have time to plan a trip.  OK.  I just remembered.  I wanted to be able to visit Notre Dame in Paris and it wasn't scheduled to be open to visitors until the end of 2024.  But here we are planning this trip for 2025.  

Our travel dates are depart home on 8/20/2025.  Return home on 9/28/2025.  A big headache was deciding the order of the places we'd visit.  Should we start with London?  Spain?  We finally decided to do Spain-Toledo and Madrid first.  Then France-Bayeux and Paris.  Last stop-Dover, Canterbury, and London.

A revisit to Spain.  We had done a long-4 weeks-trip back in 2018.  It was to have been longer but my husband came down with a severe case of food poisoning and the doctor at the hospital in Toledo advised that we cut our trip short and return home ASAP.  In hindsight my husband did not want to return home as suggested by the doctor.  He wanted to continue and finish our Spain trip.  But I was too worried about how sick he was and if the medicine we got would work fast enough so he could enjoy himself.  Plus a doctor telling you that you might be having a problem with your kidneys was not something I wanted to take a chance on.  Long story short-upon returning home, talking to his doctor, and getting blood work redone we found out that my husband's kidneys were just fine!  But it did take him several days at home before he was back to feeling like his old self.  So our 7 nights in Spain will include a revisit to Toledo for 2 nights (had 2 nights there in 2018 but my husband was just too sick to sightsee/enjoy) and 5 nights in Madrid. 

First time trip to Paris.  Originally I was going to only do 14 nights in Paris but then I read about Bayeux/Normandy and decided to do 3 nights there.  Very interested in WWII so will definitely do a tour of the D Day beaches as well as visit the famous tapestry and cathedral in Bayeux.  Our original 14 nights in Paris was changed to 13 nights. 

We plan to revisit London (last time there was 2008) and also include Canterbury-for me-and Dover-for my husband.  Originally we were to do 10 nights in London, 2 nights in Canterbury, and 2 nights in Dover.   For our return to London I wanted to do things I didn't get a chance to do back in 2008 when we only had 4 nights.  So my itinerary will reflect that.  With cutting 1 night from Paris we added that to London so 10 nights London became 11 nights London.  I still have my little research books for our past trips to Spain and London and the one I did for Paris for the intended 2015 trip.  I only would have to update my information regarding costs of attractions, open/close hours, etc. 

With long visits to Paris-13 nights-and London-11 nights I decided an apartment would be more comfortable than a hotel room.  So many choices-especially for Paris.  Which arrondissement to stay?  Is there a metro, bus stop close by?   I booked an apartment in the Marais area which is well located for our sightseeing.  London was easier.  We had stayed in South Kensington before with a very short walk to Gloucester Tube station so we are familiar with this area of London.  I booked an apartment for us in the Earl's Court area which is well located for our sightseeing.

Airfare.  I dreaded this as we had paid so much -I thought-for our trip to Italy in 2023.  Pleasant surprise.  Able to book tickets American Airlines with only 1 stop each way.  Good flight times and connection waits.  We will depart Buffalo on 8/20/2025 connecting through Philly and arriving in Madrid on 8/21/2025 early morning.  Coming home we depart London LHR on 9/28/2025 connecting through Philly and arriving home/Buffalo in the evening of 9/28/2025.  Cost for us both is $1678.78.  That even includes selecting duo/twin seats!  Does not include the 1 checked bag we will each have.  But my happiness over cost of airfare was short lived.  Departing London we do not fly on American but codeshare partner British Airways.  I have a different flight confirmation code so when I go to manage my booking to make our seat selection I see that the prices for the seats are very expensive.  But if you wait until 24 hours before your flight departure time your seats would be free.  The seats I wanted were twin or duo seats.  Just the 2 of us in a row that normally would have 3 seats so more space/more comfortable.  But the cost 87£ each!  So I bite the bullet and get those seats as the 2 seats I got are the only duo/twin seats on the entire plane.  I will also have to pay for my checked bags-2-each way.  Airlines are determined to make money no matter what.  Gone are the days of many decades ago when everything was included in the price of your ticket.  

We have gotten trip insurance for many years now for our trips.  We never had to use it except for our 2018 trip to Spain when my husband was so sick.  Trip insurance saved us $$$ as we had to book last minute flights home and the insurance covered that expense.  So we will get trip insurance for this trip also as you never know what might happen.  We got a policy with great coverage-same company that we had for our 2018 Spain trip.  Allianz Global $308.00.

Airfare.  This is for us to get from Madrid to Paris.  Per information from Trip Advisor travel forum I was told we need to arrive Paris/Orly in order to better continue our journey to Bayeux.  So I checked sky scanner, kayak, several European airlines like Easy Jet before ending up with Iberia.  I booked 2 one way tickets departing Madrid arriving Paris/Orly for date of 8/28/2025.  Trying to be budget and time conscious I got a departure time of 9:55 am arriving at 11:55 am.  Cost with bags included as well as seats selected (I paid just a little bit extra per husband's request even though short flight) is 233.60€.  We will take a taxi from the airport to the train station Saint Lazare to continue on to Bayeux but it's too early to book our round trip train tickets yet.

Parking our car.  My husband does not like to impose on family or friends so original idea was to drive to  the airport and park our car in an airport parking lot for the duration of our trip.  We used WAY park and fly for our trip to Italy in 2023.  We would park our car in a secure lot and then take the free shuttle over to the airport.  Imagine my surprise when I found that daily prices had hit the roof (over $400) and even more so that there weren't many options open for our dates!  And this was me looking 6 months before our trip!  Plan B was to ask a family member.  Our times were pretty good so we wouldn't be doing super early or late at night times.  Our niece Cathy said she would be able to help us.  I will keep looking at the park & fly lots just in case something pops up.  Cathy will take us to the airport on 8/20/2025 but she is not able to pick us up on 9/28/2025.  We found out we could schedule an UBER for pick up from the airport on 9/28/2025.  This is going to work out great for us.

Accommodations.  I prefer to use booking.com for the cancel free option even though it costs a little more.  We will do hotels for Toledo, Madrid, Bayeux, Dover, and Canterbury.  A nice touch was finding places with a pool for my husband for our stays in Toledo, Madrid, and Bayeux.  For our longer stays in Paris and London I have decided to book an apartment.  Requirements for finding a place to stay is quite simple.  Location, good reviews, amenities like an elevator/lift, and reasonable price.  Reasonable price did not work for Paris and London!  

Itinerary.  I pretty much did this on my own with advice from Trip Advisor travel forums.  With the research I had already done I knew what was most important for me and my husband to see and do.  I broke down the sightseeing into what I believe is a doable pace for us.  Of course nothing is set in stone and adjustments can be made if necessary.  I printed out blank calendar pages for August and September.  This is me-the retired teacher/social worker who also has a bit of OCD.  I do best with planning but I can also go with the flow.  So my planning is now mostly done.