It’s hard to believe that January is nearly over. Since we like to travel during September and October, it’s time to start making plans for this year’s travels. We gave the wheel a spin and by a hair, France won the contest. Italy is claiming that we used the same officials that the NFL used, however the France light was lit.

So yes, we will be returning to France in 2025. More specifically, we’ll be returning to the north of Burgundy. Even more specifically, we will be returning to the town of Chablis.

Why return? When we last visited, we only stayed for 3 nights and we ran into some rain, so we didn’t get to visit the surrounding area like we originally planned. We both love the wines of Chablis, so that would be another reason to return. And “because we want to” is the best reason.

The Yonne region, where Chablis is located, is home to a variety of interesting places. There are numerous medieval towns and castles, Cistercian Abbeys, quiet little rural towns, vineyards and -of course -wine. The best part is that from Chablis, they are within an hour’s drive. In fact, many are within 20 minutes.

To really experience the area, we will be staying for a month and we will be renting a house in the center of the town of Chablis. We were pretty excited to stumble upon it and it looks perfect for us. It is ideally located for us to walk everywhere around town.

It also happens to be just around the corner from our favorite winery’s tasting room. Coincidence? I think not!

With a solid home base, we’ll be able to wander around the area at our own pace. We will also be renting a car to visit some of the nearby towns.

Chablis is not a hot tourist location, but rather a quiet little town that is nestled in between the vineyards. There are no amusement parks or water slides, just nature and history. It will be harvest time, so there might be a little more activity around town, but just enough to enjoy instead of being overwhelming.

There are several nice wineries in town within walking distance of the house and, for our excursions, I’ll be the designated driver and we’ll be sure to buy a bottle or two of wine so I get to taste them back at ‘la maison’ afterwards.

I need to confirm a myriad of things, but we’re looking forward to visiting the weekly markets, doing some shopping at the local butcher and walking over to the patisserie for fresh bread and pastries in the mornings.

After some tense negotiations, we’ll also have friends that will be staying with us for part of the time. How cool is that? Sightseeing and drinking buddies, won’t that be fab!

On the way home, we will be stopping in Paris for a few days. We’re hoping to enjoy a concert or an art exhibition and take in a dinner or two. I can’t imagine not being able to find interesting things to see and do in Paris, so that will be a great way to ease back into city life after staying in Chablis.

I’ll have more details as they come along, plus some thoughts on additional travel plans for the year ahead.

As always, be well, and I hope you’re also making travel plans.