I've got about 80% of the itinerary figured out, but I've always found it was a wise idea to post these plans on FT as it helps fill out the last 20%. I'll try to make this as brief as possible and will highlight areas of concern
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The main idea: friend getting married in Loire Valley in late May, so I built a Euro vacation around it.
Will be traveling with a garment bag for the suit and other clothes just layered around it and a backpack for gadgets/laptop - still need to figure out if everything will fit or if I should also grab a carry-on roller.
May 22: Fly into CDG in the morning non-stop from DTW. Hotwire has stuck me with a much worse hotel than I thought I'd get (Atel Corail). Ah well, at least it's close to Gare de Lyon. Main plan is just to walk around Paris all day until I collapse. I've been to Paris before, so this time around I am going to skip the touristy stuff and just hang out in places like Marais and just wander around.
May 23: Afternoon/evening train to Nice. Staying in Antares Hostel right across from the train station.
May 24: Formula 1 Grand Prix in Monaco.
I assume I'll be able to leave my bags in the hostel (or at the train station if worse comes to worst). Come back, pick up a rental car from the railway station (Europcar,
Alfa Giulietta GPS or similar - wonder what it actually will be) and head to Brescia (4-5 hour drive).
May 25: Stelvio Pass. Been wanting to do that drive for a long time. Finishing the day in Davos, staying at Hotel Grischa (free, courtesy of IHG because they canceled my original reservation at Intercontinental Davos).
May 26: Drive to Colmar ("German" France, came highly recommended in every travel blog/Huffpost article I've read on the subject) via Liechtenstein (just because I haven't been there). Staying at Comfort Hotel Colmar.
May 27: Drive to Paris, drop off the car. Staying (until the 29th) at Intercontinental Avenue Marceau
(discussion on picking that hotel or the Radisson Blu here). This is going to be the touristy part - playing tour guide for the groom's family.
May 29: Pick up another car, drive (along with two of the bride's friends) to Blois. Wedding and all that fun stuff until Sunday morning (the 31st). Staying at Blois B&B.
May 31: Drop off the car (likely in Paris, although Blois is also a possibility), take train to Cologne. This part is still TBD, so is the entire trip to Cologne, so I'll need a contingency plan in the event I don't end up going there, which will, most likely, just be the next step, but a day earlier).
June 1: Hang out with Ford colleagues. Take evening train to Amsterdam.
June 1-7: Hang out in Amsterdam. Trying to book reward nights (2nd one free) at Radisson Blu Amsterdam, but need to figure out the situation with my Club Carlson visa (the second free night not showing up right now). Been to Amsterdam before as well, so I am going to dig deeper for things to do, like in Paris. The prostitution museum opened up, I hear
. Also, now that my trip has extended by three days, I might go to Brussels and check out the Europa Park.
June 7: Fly home to DTW (afternoon direct flight).
Things I'm interested in (to inform activities): cars/racing (I know there's a museum in Mulhouse which I'm going to try to hit on the way to Paris from Colmar), zoos (Paris and Amsterdam planned), cats (cat cafe in Marais), soccer (sadly no way to go to both PSG's last match and Monaco in the same weekend unless I fly and I already bought train tickets), planes (going to spend a good chunk of time plane spotting around Schiphol).
That's the trip in a nutshell. Any and all advice is welcome, as always
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