Upcoming Campaigns: Trips I’m Researching Now
There are too many places to visit and stories to tell; I guess that is why I do what I do. I’m always thinking of trips that I think folks would enjoy. Below are some of the adventures that have moved beyond the “that would be nice” phase and into the hope to do it someday stage. My plans to roll out some of these trips have taken a bit of a blow following the COVID-19 crisis, but I very much hope that they will become a reality over the next few years. As alway, I’d love to hear about History Hikes you’d like to take.
Vietnam: America’s Longest War
Everyone I have spoken to about travel to Vietnam say it is someplace, “you must go.” I know there are a number of trips that go to Vietnam, but what I’d like to do is a trip that follows the course of the war for people with an interest in the war. I guess the way I’m thinking about it is sort of a “D-Day to the Rhine,” sort of trip that would give participants a chance to see some of the war’s major battle and historical sites as well as some of the out of the way places that I love to discover and share.
The Other D-Day: Operation Dragoon and the Invasion of Southern France
Often overlooked, the Allied invasion of southern France in August 1944 was another critical nail in the coffin of Nazi Germany. I’m planning a trip that will begin with the landings of 150,000 Allied troops on the Cote d’Azur and follow them as they advance up the Rhone Valley to Dijon and into the Vosges mountains.
The Sun Never Sets: the Zulu & Boer Wars in South Africa
It has to be a result of watching movies like Zulu, Ghunga Din and Breaker Morant too many times growing up, but I have always been fascinated by Queen Victoria’s wars of Empire. While I don’t have time to visit all of Britain’s colonial battlefields, a trip to South Africa will take in a few of the biggies. Hoping to visit as many of the most important Zulu and Boer war battlefields that I can in two weeks.