As I said in an earlier post, I am looking a some ambitious travel adventures for 2020. I am still formulating and coming up with ideas and trying to process all of the information that some of my friends and subscribers to my YouTube channel have sent in.
Last Year when I was locked out of this blog for several months, it seemed that I lost most of my readers. For several months I was unable to do anything here and during that time most of my readers and subscribers have moved on. Hopefully, my reader count will increase when I hit the road again in March.
I haven't finalized my March adventure yet and I am still trying to decide of where I am going and my route of travel. What I am looking at doing this year is hitting the road for some kind of adventure about every 6-week. As usual my first big adventure will be centered about the NCAA Basketball Tournament in March. This year I am really staying close to home and attending the tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Greensboro Coliseum is one of my all time favorite venues. First it is close to home and there are enough hotels in the area that the rates remain reasonable. Hotels immediately around Greensboro do jack up their special event rate for the Tournament. And since this year the ACC Tournament has returned to the Coliseum rates for both tournaments are significantly higher than usual. However, by staying just a few mile out of Greensboro the rates decrease to less than $100 per night.
I ordered my NCAA Tournament Tickets back in October. I received my e-mail from the NCAA with an early buy code that I could use before tickets went on sale to the general public. While this do NOT provide any discount in price it does give me to the opportunity to purchase tickets in the lower bowl. I have found that if I wait until the tickets go on sale to the general public I can't get lower level tickets. So the early by option is good for me and I have been able to use it for several years.
I am also looking at attending some of the games of the ACC Tournament especially some of the early round games. Tickets to the ACC Tournament in Greensboro don't usually go on sale to the general public and the only way to get them is by being a booster at one of the Participating Schools. So if I do attend, I will most likely get my tickets through StubHub.
So people say I should just buy them on the outside from scalpers or other people selling tickets. While that used to be and may still be a viable option it is also a good way to get scammed. In recent years less than honest people have bought one ticket off of ticket exchange sites like StubHub or Seat Geek. They then print off several copied of that one ticket and sell it several times. Once the first person scans the ticket the bar code is no longer good and anyone else who bough one of the ticker are out of luck. So I buy directly from StubHub because they are guaranteed to be legit tickets.
So for two weeks in March my play is to hang around Greensboro and attend the Basketball games. After the Tournaments I plan on heading back home for a few day to regroup and repack before heading out on my first adventure of 2020 around the first of April. As I said earlier I haven't decided where I going yet, but I do have a couple of ideas.
I plan to stay close to home in May and June and then embarking on my first confirmed adventure of 2020. Last year I took a 7-day bus trip through Boston and New England with Sunshine Tours and had such a great time that I have decided to do an even longer tour with them this year.
In early July I will be embarking on the Sunshine Tour 15-day Canyonland Tour. In this tour we get to spend time in Santa Fe, New Mexico before heading up into Colorado then back down to the Four Corners area. The we travel through Monument Valley which I toured during my Arizona Adventure in 2018. Then we get to visit the North Rim of the Grand Canyon which I have never done. After leaving the Grand Canyon we will be off to the four National Parks of Utah; Arches, Bryce Canyon, Zion and Canyonlands.
I had considered driving out to this area during the summer but some of the Utah National Park are limiting vehicle traffic into the parks during the summer. Once a limited number of cars are admitted visitors will have to park at designated area and board a shuttle that will ferry you into various locations in the park.
A couple of subscribers to my YouTube Channel did the shuttle thing really didn't like it. They said the lines to board the shuttles could be quite long both in the parking area and at the designated locations inside of the park.
So, I decided to take the Sunshine Bus Tour, hoping that I will get to see the high points of the Parks. I know some of the best views and locations in the park you will need to hike too and I may consider driving back out during the so called off season when the shuttles are discontinued and visitors can drive into the park.
I have started paying on my Canyonlands Bus Tour so that is the first confirmed adventure that I have on the agenda for 2020. I really want to take another long distance Amtrak trip. In 2018 I travels from Roanoke to Phoenix Arizona on Amtrak's Capitol Limited, Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited. I absolutely love it and really want to do another one. I am seriously looking at taking the Southwest Chief all the way to Los Angeles and renting a car to tour Southern California. The taking the Coast Starlite up to the Bay Area where I can either continue on to Seattle and take the Empire Builder back to Chicago or take the California Zephyr back through the Rockies to Chicago. Anyway it is an Idea that I am considering.
If I don't embark on my Amtrak Adventure, The I want to use the summer to travel back to the New England and spend a couple of weeks exploring the Presidential Sites and History of the area. I also want to explore the Ohio Presidential Sites and travel up through Michigan and the Upper Peninsula before heading back down through Wisconsin.
With the exception of my Canyonlands Bus Tour, everything is still in the early planning stage. The next thing that I will work toward finalizing is what I will be Doing after the Basketball Tournaments. I want to start getting those plans finalized and in the books. When I do, I will update this blog, so stay turned.
No comments:
Post a Comment