9 minute read
Dream Vacation
Planning A Dream European Vacation
They say that three is a sacred number. Pythagoras, the famous Greek mathematician, deemed it the perfect number: strong, harmonious, wise. Throughout history, most good things — all memorable ones — come in threes.
Whether or not the two female travelers featured below consciously postulated on the meaning behind three, or whether good luck just graced them with a holy trinity, each planned and executed a dream European vacation around three diverse cities in one beautiful country. By dividing up their trip into three legs, each was able to see the scope of what the land had to offer. The history of a city, the splendor of a beach, the stillness of a pastoral countryside — three slices of one culture creating the perfect juicy experience.
Amy Higgs and her tour group hiking the Samaria Gorge, which cuts through the rugged White Mountains of Crete.
THREE CITIES IN GREECE
As 50 loomed on the horizon, Amy Higgs decided it was time to expand hers. Throughout her 30s and 40s, vacations consisted of taking her son to Disney and other kitschy locales. But 50 signaled something epic and independent, so a journey abroad seemed fitting to celebrate a half-century of breathing.
Amy had always been fascinated by Greek mythology and Mediterranean food, so Greece was where her wanderlust pinned itself — and in order to celebrate a monumental birthday right, you have to invite your girlfriends. “I had only traveled abroad once before. Just before the pandemic in 2019, I took my 27-year-old son to Ireland, but there had never been time for solo international travel before that. I decided I was going to do it whether or not my friends could come with me. I knew it might not be realistic to ask them to join me on such a big trip, but I just put it out there,” Amy said. But they came, of course.
Since Greece is around the size of Florida and consists of an incredibly diverse landscape, Amy enlisted My World Travel, a Louisville-based, female-owned travel consultant company to plan her trip. “They were an absolute godsend! They handled the flight, hotels, restaurant reservations, tours, and gave me excellent recommendations,” Amy says. Unlike travel agents who are typically free of charge but receive compensation by booking through specific hotels and tour companies, travel consultants are paid a flat-rate by the consumer and plan your trip without any corporate kickbacks.
Taking in the breathtaking views on the hike from Fira to Oia, Santorini. L-R: Whitney Morris, Amy Higgs, Holly Prather, Amy McClain.
Amy’s consultants recommended that she divide the two-week trip into three legs: three days in Athens for antiquity, Santorini for four days of upscale, five-star Grecian Isle luxury, and four days in Crete to feast on their breathtaking beaches. This itinerary allowed her friends to join her at various parts of the trip without having to commit to the time and cost of 12 days in Greece for a birthday party.
“Each place was so different; I was able to experience the full scope of what the country has to offer. Athens has rich history and the most beautiful orange and olive trees. Crete had the most beautiful beaches — I’d love to go back and explore more there. My favorite, though, was Santorini. I wasn’t sure which of the 38 Greek islands I wanted to see, but Santorini was the picture that I had in my head, with the white architecture and blue domed roofs. I knew if I didn’t see it, I would regret it,” Amy explains. And it did not disappoint: luxurious fivestar dinners that included complimentary desserts of baklava, chocolate mousse, or gelato. All four of Amy’s crew were able to commit to this leg of the trip where they felt like Kardashians reveling in the surprisingly affordable luxury there. They hiked six miles from Fira to Oia, getting to truly see the villages and cliffs of that picturesque setting, all together for four days of festivities.
The ladies enjoying lunch on Perissa Beach in Santorini.
“It was stunningly beautiful — 75 degrees and sunny the whole time,” Amy says. “Everything was much better in Greece. The chicken gyros are crispy on the edges and moist in the middle, the Greek yogurt is sweeter, and instead of chips at the corner convenience store, they have racks of vacuumpacked olives!”
Amy’s 50th birthday voyage has motivated her to see the world. “Next, I want to go to Japan. My son loves Japanese culture and now that I’ve done this and found these amazing travel consultants, why not!”
THREE CITIES IN ITALY
In order to sustain Shannon Jenkin’s mental health amidst her high-profile career in finance, she relies on travel. “I work a lot of hours, so planning a big family trip with my kids helps me have balance — it keeps me motivated. You will never catch me without my Google Sheets, planning my next trip!” Shannon says.
Every other year, Shannon has planned an adventure with her husband and three grown children. While her trips began small and stateside, Shannon’s most recent excursion took her brood abroad on a two-week tour of Italy via planes, trains, automobiles, a chartered yacht, and e-bikes.
Manarola, Cinque Terre
When travel reopened post-pandemic, Shannon discovered that she could fly her family to Europe for about the same cost as a beach vacation. An additional catalyst for the trip was the news that her oldest daughter was expecting, so Shannon wanted to do something grand. “I knew it might be the last big trip we took for a while. We had never been to Europe before; it was a blank slate. But, as I started researching, I discovered it wasn’t as expensive or as big of a deal to plan as I once thought,” Shannon says. Around Christmas, the family got together and voted from their short list of destinations: Greece, Spain, France, and Italy. As soon as Italy was deemed the winner, Shannon got to work with her planning sheets.
“We like variety — my daughters love cities, my husband likes history, my son loves adventure and the outdoors and despises the city — so we needed to blend the vacation. It’s either a blessing or a curse with our diverse tastes, but we all enjoy having unique experiences — we’re not the tourist-attraction type of family. Plus, two weeks in one location can get redundant really quick, so I decided to pepper in different landscapes.”
The Duomo of Florence, in the heart of Florence, Italy.
Shannon divided the trip into three separate legs that propelled the adventurous trip: Florence for traditional Italian cuisine, Renaissance architecture, and cultural immersion; the pristine mountain terrain and Germanic influence of the Dolomites (The Italian Alps) in the north; and the ancient history of Rome, one of the world’s most iconic and ancient cityscapes. In between these three-to-four night jaunts, the family squeezed in day trips to Venice, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre — as well as dipped into Austria and cruised Capri on a chartered yacht.
Shannon opted to conduct most of the family’s ground travel via train in order to avoid the stress of schlepping so many bodies and bags across the country. Train rides were a great way to take in the scenery and bond — no one had to navigate or drive, and tickets were easy to acquire day-of.
Another bit of advice she swears by is the magic of an e-bike tour. Upon arrival at each destination, her family took a guided e-bike tour to become acclimated with the city at ground-level. Being on bike allowed everyone to glean the cities’ layouts, attractions, and local foodie areas. In Rome, the family took a sunrise e-bike tour of the city’s famous sights called “Wake Up Rome” and avoided the droves of people that line up outside by 9am each day, saving them time and money in expensive admittance fees. “My whole family was grumpy and not even speaking to each other because we were all so exhausted that morning. But once we were done and had seen the Vatican, the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, you name it — all before 9, before the city even started waking up — we were all so glad we made that choice. We were in a cafe having breakfast and coffee when wall-to-wall people started lining up at the same places we were at hours ago by ourselves.”
Shannon Jenkins (center) and daughters Sydney and Maddison exploring Manarola, Cinque Terre, the eastern end of the Italian Riviera.
The e-bike tour of the Dolomites took the family on a 40-mile, river-lined trek through the Alps and into Austria. “We would have never seen that on our own — it was incredible. There were bike-path-side restaurants along the way to the train station. We took a train back to our Airbnb, and it was everything I thought riding a train through the Alps would be. A 10/10 experience!”
Despite the months of planning, Shannon knows the gift of balance between tight and loose when it comes to travel. One day the family skipped the second tour of Cinque Terre that Shannon had planned, instead opting to lounge on the beach, eating and drinking — it ended up being one of everyone’s favorite experiences.
The Dolomites also stole the family’s hearts. The change in landscape brought on by the mountains, where the architecture morphs from Italian to Germanic, the air thins and cools, and everything begins to look like the setting of The Sound of Music. There, they rented an Airbnb on a working farm and were greeted with fresh baked bread, fruit, eggs, and milk from the farm each morning — just outside their door. The relaxing and simple way of life in the mountains was how the family wanted to end the trip — not with the bustle of Rome — so on the last day, they changed course and chartered a yacht in the Amalfi Coast. There, they enjoyed lunch in Capri before the trip’s end and return to life in the busy city. Now that is a winning family vacation — a trifecta of culture and memories for a lifetime!
By Megan M. Seckman | Photos submitted
Fall 2022 / TodaysTransitions.com
