What are your 2012 travel plans?

[Jenne]

Our big trip is (hopefully) England/ Ireland/ Wales in May. Then Anaheim for a conference in June. Possibly India in September, depending on finances. And my son and I hope to drive to Utah to look for rocks with my parents.

I love travel, so it is a priority in my budget!

[Badger]

@badger, I kinda like winter, but as I get older, that's changing. Can't say I've had the opportunity to *enjoy* an Iowa winter ��

I got to "enjoy" Wisconsin winters for like 10 years, and Iowa's nothing by comparison. It's just been very blah here for a few days. Everything looks all washed out.

[Archangelo]

The Mrs and I are attending a conference in St. Louis (I've insisted that we drive past America's Largest Catsup Bottle so I can get a FOT pic)...

Somehow, I thought it would be closer to Pittsburgh.

[Archangelo]

I am hoping for another family Christmas in NorCal/ Oregon. Then, I can actually buy one of these awesome bags instead of just look at them longingly on my computer screen.

[Badger]

Somehow, I thought it would be closer to Pittsburgh.

Nope. Behold, in all its Midwestern glory, the Largest Catsup Bottle in America:



See how patriotic it is?

Here's a closer-up picture that attests to its Catsup-ness, rather than its Ketchup-ness:


I took these pics last Christmas, pre-FOT. This year I'll go back and do it right.

[jeffmac]

I have a crazy first half of the year travel wise:

Indiana next week, San Francisco and Tampa the week after (horrible planning on my part)

Germany and Italy in March

Vegas in April and again in June.

Only Italy is for fun...my Tristar is going to get a workout!

[Badger]

I have a crazy first half of the year travel wise:

Indiana next week, San Francisco and Tampa the week after (horrible planning on my part)

Germany and Italy in March

Vegas in April and again in June.

Only Italy is for fun...my Tristar is going to get a workout!

I dunno--can a person even think of Indiana without also thinking "fun"?

Are you going to Indianapolis? If so, it's worth the drive to Carmel to have this great ice cream pie at Mitchell's Fish Market. That pie is SO BIG. Almost as big as the Catsup Bottle.

[jaon]

So far this year I've already been to Ontario once. And I'll be heading back in July for sure.

[JLE]

Just to provide a little Southern Hemisphere flavour, here are my plans. Spent half of January in Portsea, Victoria (sort of Melbourne's equivalent of the Hamptons). Going to the Freycinet Peninsula in Tasmania in April and to Fiji in July. No doubt there will be a few girls' weekends in Sydney, including one in August to compete in the Sydney City to Surf "fun" run, and I am hoping to get up to Hong Kong to visit friends later in the year (OK, that's not southern hemisphere...)

[flitcraft]

My first trip is to Spring Training in a couple of weeks in Phoenix, then to San Diego, to Hangzhou China, to Honolulu, to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, to Sao Paolo Brazil, to Nanjing China, and to Berlin for other conferences during the summer and early fall, and then to Pennsylvania and North Carolina for conferences in the later fall, and lastly to Australia in December for the last conference of the year. Tough work, but somebody has to do it, and I'm on sabbatical this year. (Since my university insists that we fly coach, it really will be a trial for some of these trips!) My Tristar and Western Flyer will see a lot of places again this year, and I don't expect to check a bag for any of them.

[blackfungi]

we will be going to china this june. where? enping city, guang dong, china. we may check out taiwan as well. photos shall be forthcoming.

[notmensa]

I'm on a spur-of-the-moment trip at present, three night trip to Brisbane (from Sydney) to visit my parents. It's one of the first times I've travelled with just the Western Flyer and my Eagle Creek small cross body bag (soon to be replaced by a SCB. Or MCB. Or maybe the Ristretto!). The Western Flyer slides smoothly under the seat in Virgin Australia's 737-800 jets.

Next trip is to Ireland and New Zealand, leaving Oz on March 9.

[Lani]

Main trip this year will be 10 days in Japan in late May. My mother will be playing tour guide to me and my husband, and we will be visiting Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara.

[Badger]

Main trip this year will be 10 days in Japan in late May. My mother will be playing tour guide to me and my husband, and we will be visiting Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara.

So, so jealous. We've been planning a trip to the Mother Country for a long while, but then we always seem to go to Mrs B's mother country instead of mine.

Are you going to go to Junk Garage? Are you planning a trip to the Studio Ghibli museum? If I gave you money, would you buy me a Zone 1 DVD of Tonari no Totoro in Japanese? Actually, would you just take me with you?

[JLE]

Main trip this year will be 10 days in Japan in late May. My mother will be playing tour guide to me and my husband, and we will be visiting Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara.

I took my TriStar on a trip to Japan late last year (Kansai; stayed in Kobe with a friend). The customs people assumed I had strolled past the baggage carousel by mistake! I had to assure them that yes, the TriStar was my only piece of luggage....