The 2023 Barge Tour was planned by Warren Johnson beginning and ending for a couple of days each direction in Geneva Switzerland. It includes five days exploring in Dijon France and six days on the Magnolia barge on Canal de Bourgogne in Southern Burgundy.
We initially explored a barge trip in 2021, but it got canceled due in part to COVID and also due to expense. At that time, we were looking for a deluxe luxury barge for eight passengers but could not find another two couples to join.
However, a barge trip was on Warren's "bucket list." When friends mentioned the fantastic time they had on the Savoir Vivre in the burgundy region of France, his appetite was rekindled. He decided to duplicate his friends' experience. The Barge Ladies (with whom we had been communicating) recommended the Magnolia instead of the Savoir Vivre. The Magnolia held only six passengers and Warren knew the people who would join him and Margot.
Originally, the travel was included air flights to Paris, a bus trip between Charles de Gaulle and Orly, and then a train trip to Dijon. Warren's TA Cynthia Pappas found a better plan -- fly to Geneva instead of Paris. Warren then found and easy way between Geneva and Dijon -- hire a van. This revised travel plan solved all of my reluctance. The Paris plan was a no-go for me. I could fly direct to Heathrow (which I recently managed) and then to Geneva which is a smaller airport than Paris.
