I have a feeling that if you’re flexible, there are going to be plenty of deals in the next few years as people hang on to their pocketbooks.
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You are right. Although we are trying to go to Asia in June and the airfares are pretty high.
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Well worth booking refundable tickets and continuing to check for when the prices drop.
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Good idea.
I have several million BA, Amex, Jet Blue and Chase points etc. When prices are high, I try to use the points but that is proving hard also.
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I have little patience for folks who cancel last minute with me as well. I will give them a pass once or twice for a good excuse, thereafter will not make much effort to try to get together. It’s just too tough and my life is busy enough.
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We are cruising to Alaska via Vancouver, BC, and touring the maritime provinces. Didn’t plan it this way, but happy to spend vacation dollars in our northern neighbor.
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We are going on a BIG trip next January…we go to New Zealand and then Australia. We have relatives in Sydney so will spend 10-14 days with them. They made a good point when we spoke with them…we are traveling half way around the world and likely won’t be going back. They want us to see Australia and not just downtown Sydney (which we are going to do too). We will probably be gone just over five weeks, which is a little longer than my comfort zone for being away from home. But I’m very excited about this trip!
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Last year we spent 4 weeks in just NZ. We debated going to Australia for a couple days, but decided against it (it’s a several hour flight between the two, and I only wanted to go to Australia for a couple of days, so not really worth it).
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I would love to spend some time in NZ. Fortunately, it’s not THAT far from HI. I’m not sure when we will go but I know that I’d really like to see it. It looks very lush and rustic.
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I convinced a client in Australia to pay for business class airfares for my family to Australia. My whole family came down on one trip and then my son joined me for another. We had a great time. It is huge like the US. We snorkeled and went diving in the Great Barrier Reef. I can’t remember what island we stayed on. We spent time in Cairns and the Daintree tropical rainforest. My son and I went to Ayer’s Rock Resort and climbed Uluru (I don’t think you can do that anymore) and hired a guide to go camping in King’s Canyon National Park (I think), which had vegetation so primordial it felt like a dinosaur would turn up. We spent time in Sydney (and Bondi beach) and Melbourne. Lots of good things to do – and outstanding coffee. Went to Adelaide (I don’t recall that as being so interesting). My colleague went to Darwin, which is very jungle-like (I think). We took a jeep with a driver to a park with waterfalls that was an important aboriginal area, I think, and got a guided tour from an aboriginal tour guide – an the car had to ford a river on the way back. It was very interesting. These were great trips. Much to see and do. There was a hilarious book by Bill Bryson called, In a Sunburned Country that was actually quite informative.
We did not go to NZ, but have often thought about going.
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Everyone is going to NZ and Australia! We have the 15 day Globus tour next February, starting in Auckland and ending in Queenstown. Then we’re taking ourselves to Sydney for a few days before flying home. First time in that part of the world. Mainly we want to see awesome natural beauty.
https://www.globusjourneys.com/tour/best-of-new-zealand/pn/?season=2025
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Australia and New Zealand was a top priority for my next big trip until…DD2 and SIL got assigned to Japan for 2 years! Now the big trip is OAT Japan tour in September for 18 days then 2 weeks with family (including the new grandson). There are worse things to disrupt travel plans!
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We loved New Zealand. I’d like to explore more of Australia. We were there 30 years ago mainly in the Queensland area.
Our Sicily and Puglia trip is in about a month. I’m feeling overwhelmed as while I have lodging and some tours booked I really have no plan. We have multiple nights in several locations but haven’t had time or energy to research what I want to see. I’m going with the likely just wing it plan.
I’ve been sick it’s seems since Christmas including pneumonia and it’s still zapping my energy. Adding to the equation I’ve been back working almost full time the last three months. I’m usually a pretty detailed planner. I’m going with the flow of it’s going to be good to get away and whatever we do and see will be good.
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I’d love to go to New Zealand and Australia. I’d also like to go to South America. I’ve been watching a lot of videos this week about the different regions of Argentina and even though it’s not full of ruins it’s so beautiful. I’d also love to go to Colombia and Mexico, though worry about safety. Not interested in beaches.
Currently though since our son is stationed in England we are concentrating on that and Europe. Next trip is hiking in the Lake District followed by Manchester, York, Durham and maybe Yorkshire moors. It looks like we’ll spend a long weekend with him and his wife in York. I feel guilty about not going to Liverpool, but I have a limited interest in the Beatles.
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I’ve lived in the states for 35 years but I’m originally from Durham. The Cathedral is lovely.
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Liverpool is more than The Beatles. The Walker Art Gallery, Tate Liverpool, the Maritime Museum with excellent exhibits on the Titanic & the Lusitania, the Slavery Museum, the Museum of Liverpool, the Williamson Tunnel, Sefton Park…
I have family there, so I’m a bit biased, but it’s a wonderful city.
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Oh I know it is. It’s just hard to fit everything in. It’s less than an hour from Manchester so we might do it as a day trip. My son was a huge fan of everything Titanic when he was five.
I talked a little about this in another retirement post 
I wonder how others feel and how others deal with this.
It’s not a predicament but I would say that my husband is a reluctant traveler. He does it and is not adverse but he’s pretty satisfied with one big trip a year and maybe driving once a year to see our children and granddaughter. I also have my mom who’s 400 miles away so she needs to be in the travel rotation.
I’m ok with one big trip a year although I could be talked into another trip. But I want to see the kids more often.
This year, I tried to get him to come on a trip to see the kids. I even tried to entice him with a golf trip. He wasn’t interested.
So I’m flying to see one kid. The other couldn’t do it that weekend so I guess I will go to them another time if we can figure it out.
As I said on the other post, I feel very guilty doing this. My parents and my in laws did all the “visiting” together. Although honestly, the majority of the visits were us driving to them. Once my parents moved 400 miles away, they came for big events, graduation ceremonies and Christmas but mostly thrived in their retirement community, travel themselves and with friends. My mil came once by herself because my cousin was getting married, the kids weren’t invited and they had school and activities. Even then, even though it was a 2.5 hour drive, she didn’t drive herself. We drove halfway to pick her up and my fil drove to get her after the wedding.
I want to travel! I want to see my children and grandchildren! I don’t want to wait on the husband to want to go! Almost all of my local friends do not travel anywhere without their husbands. Even though the husbands do not want to travel.
Anyone have a similar situation? Do you feel guilty? lol
I also think it is different than if I was within comfortable driving distance. If it was easy to get to the kids, I am positive I would make the trip more. This is a flight that is not available nonstop. When my mom lived an hour away, she came all the time. It was when they moved 8 hours driving away that she never came without my dad.
Please don’t feel guilty.
There were times I visited our son without DH.
And I go visit my family without him at least twice a year usually for about a week.
Sometimes my husband comes to visit my family, especially when we drive. If I go alone, I fly.
Enjoy your trip! One less person to be involved in decision making while you are there. Positive spin!
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@deb922 - at the moment I am very lucky that both my kids live in the same city as us. This will not be the case next year when D1 and her H move to the east coast . I am extremely lucky that my H still likes to travel even though he has traveled for years with work. If he suddenly decided he was not traveling I would go by myself. There is no way I am going to stay home because he doesn’t want to travel. I need to see my kids and hopefully future grandchildren.
I know that everyone is different, but you really want to travel to see family so you should travel and not feel guilty because your H doesn’t want to. Maybe if you do more trips and he sees how much fun you are all having without him he will decide to come along. Even if he never decides to come along you need to do what makes you happy!
My mom moved from PA to Southern California in 1963 and all of her family remained on the east coast. No one ever came to visit us in CA except for my Grandmother. My mom has spent 50 plus years traveling to see her family at least once a year. She leaves tomorrow for a week to see her only surviving brother and sister as neither of them can travel. My mom missed out on travel with Covid and over the past couple of years as my dad was so sick before passing last December. My parents traveled for many years before and during retirement.
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