Aragu's VirtualTourist Home Page

I've technically been travelling since I was 6 weeks old. My parents took me on a camping trip to Yelllowstone National Park when I was just a baby. After that we camped all over the US, Canada and Mexico every summer until I was 16 and "had had enough!" I took a break from vacations with my parents until 2000 when my husband and I went to Austria and Germany with them for 2 weeks. That trip got me hooked on travel in Europe. Since then we have been back 3 more times to Italy , France, Ireland and England. I am currently planning a trip for March-April for myself, my husband, our new baby, my father in law, my brother in law and his wife, and my niece. We are going to Paris, Venice, Florence and Rome. We can't wait!

I personally LOVE to plan trips. I swear I should be a travel agent. My friends call me the "travel guru" because I find the greatest deals on the best places. But I don't believe in staying in ritzy places with all of the luxuries. OK, maybe I would if I could afford it! But really, we've stayed at all kinds of places, from 7x10ft hotel rooms to a luxurious castle. I enjoy places that have some charm, but not too much. I've learned that any European hotel that describes itself as "charming" has creeky floors, no heat, and rock-hard mattresses! So a little charm is good, but too much is NOT a good thing. That said, I love to travel to out of the way places, even within big cities. I live in a big city, but my heart yearns for small towns. I love to explore the little side streets and eat in restaurants where you have to guess at what the menu means. Each trip I swear that we will avoid McDonald's, but somehow we always end up there. Usually it's at the end of the trip when we are tired and just want something "familiar."