Since I’m bored and trying to survive this polar vortex I’m thinking about planning a vacation.
How do you decide where to go and how to plan your vacations? There are just so many options!
In the past, I guess we’ve decided to go places based on different things
go to a family members vacation home or attend a family reunion, easy, the place is picked out for you. You just figure out what to do once you are there.
business travel, again the place has been picked out and you figure out what to do
a place you’ve always wanted to go to.
???
I’m trying to figure out 4. I thought I wanted to go to Disney World, the planning is easy. I can call a travel agent or there are literally tons of websites to help you figure it out. I like a plan. But maybe I don’t want to go to WDW, my husband isn’t thrilled but would go, we haven’t been for 20 years.
H does not want to go on a cruise. He is not a sit around at a beach person at all. My sil suggested we go on a bike trip through France with them, but H had neck fusion surgery so road biking is out. My H is not a good traveler, I’ll admit that.
I think maybe a trip to Germany might be nice but so much planning. Lol!
Now I know why people tell me that they would like to travel but they hate planning, so they don’t go.
What about a Rick Steve’s Germany tour? My Friend went on one in Italy and really liked it. Let them plan, and just go have fun! I’ve heard the River Cruises are extremely nice.
I like to travel but H does not. I have lots of places to visit on my bucket list, but (obviously) H has no such bucket list. He’s willing to go with me on these trips, and to his credit, he usually enjoys himself once he’s there…but all the planning, research, and agonizing is left up to me, and as I’ve aged I seem to like the planning part less and less.
Since I’ve lost my trip-planning-mojo, we haven’t been on a real vacation in 3 years. (Did I mention that my H is not a big traveler?) Yesterday, though, I booked a cruise of the Baltics because it’s on my travel-bucket-list and because I’m not getting any younger. We’re not really cruise people, but the ports of call for this cruise look great.
Good luck deb922. And I second the idea about Rick Steves’ tours. We did one to Italy and one to the Czech Republic, and we both really enjoyed them (even my husband liked it!) The guides are fabulous and I found the fellow travelers to be fun people. Rick Steves has a “no grumps” policy for his tours!
I love to plan road trips for my family - DH and 3 kids now teens/young adults. Traditionally we’ve done 2 - 3 road trips per year visiting cities, theme parks, national parks, etc. But, I know what my family likes. I do all the planning, give them an itinerary before we leave. And, particularly when the kids were younger, when we pull into the driveway at the end of the trip, my DH leads them in applause for me planning the trip. I also planned a road trip to Florida for just DH and I last year. Anything that involves airlines, rental car, etc. though I don’t like so the furthest we’ve ventured is 2500 miles from home.
When we get super tired, I begin to nag Mr. that he (we) needs a break. I then look for cheapest flights to HI about 3-4 weeks out and then ask if he has any important meetings on those dates. If none, I then book the flights and then begin looking for hotel options and ground transportation. That’s how we plan it, lol.
Since we have a lake cottage that we use April/May through October or so that is our main “vacation”.
When I/we have planned other vacations I do drive myself a little crazy though because I get so stuck on wanting to explore ALL options to get the BEST deal at the RIGHT location - and you get the picture, I end up getting nowhere because it’s overwhelming!
A fair bit of our traveling has also revolved around visiting family in fun places - South of France, California, Oregon,etc.
We try to go to places we’ve never been before or places we haven’t been for ages. Due to H’s work we mostly do 4 day long weekends in major cities or extend for several days on either side of a family occasion. For instance, we had a wedding in the Finger Lakes in September, do did a trip to Niagara-on-the Lake and Toronto after. When we had a bar mitsvah in Austin, we did a side trip to San Antonio.
Our next real vacation is Iceland at the end of May. We are meeting friends there who left today for a year around the world (talk about planning and my gf did everything and her H zippo.)
We did everything online from booking an Airbnb (trying to keep costs down for our friends and I am paying 100% for the apartment) and booking all our excursions. It was fun deciding together which ones to go one.
H has about 1 1/2 years before retiring and to celebrate I’m thinking a river cruise through France.
H and I did a cross country road trip last summer. Zero planning. No reservations. Worked out great. We did whatever we felt like. I had some places in mind before we left but other than that, no planning.
I had a vacation in Italy with G Adventures and loved it. Small groups, mostly middle-aged people (but they have tour for younger age groups too), great guide, all the planning is done for you, and very reasonably priced.
I love to plan trips, every aspect of it. We try not to travel from Memorial Day to Labor Day because that’s lake season. We still pay a mortgage and those payments are teeth gritting through the winter, so we really want to take advantage of the whole summer.
If it’s a family trip I want to take, we look at early May when school lets out. Then I try to think of places where there is lots to do, as opposed to beach vacations, We all used to love those and have done tons, but kids are past that now. Oh sure, it’s nice to go out at the end of a busy day, but that’s about it for them.
What I’m finding annoying right now is DH just wants to go places where he can surf and I want to explore different places. Thankfully, we can usually agree, but I’m getting a little frustrated.
Get out of town trip–pick somewhere that is low key city but with stuff to do (Ashville, Nashville, Austin as examples). Look for super cheap flight, head to booking.com/airbnb for rooms and autoslash.com for rental car. Pack super light and take everything with a grain of salt and sense of humor.
Out of country–takes a lot of planning. I’m not thrilled with tours but have enjoyed the few we’ve been on. Made many friends that I wouldn’t have otherwise.
My best European trip was meeting son in Brussels after his study abroad–he had it all mapped out and ready to go–instant tour guide. The other trips (up to three weeks) took a ton of planning but were great fun.
The planning really does need to be done prior leaving home if you have a list of museums, sites, etc. that you don’t want to miss. The hours, ticketing and transportation are worth looking into before leaving the states.
Road trip–pick a fun destination and don’t worry about the details in between. I like to have reservations at final destination but everything in between is up for grabs. Hotels Tonight hasn’t failed us yet for cheap stays. I drive and H spends some time on phone looking for spots. We also have picked up those magazines with ads at rest stops and gotten some super deals.
Cruise–I don’t like them personally. And H not a big fan either. But they are very easy.
I DID love the Alaskan cruise we went on. That was fabulous.
I’m usually the detail planner but don’t fret. After the flights are set, I book a convenient hotel, not too $$$. Depending on where, I either look for a few key “to do” things (that museum or whatever,) or a day tour. The end. The rest fills itself in.) But I like to just fit in, feel the local vibe, do as natives do.
In contrast, a friend spends months planning, down to which exploration which days and where to have lunch and dinner. Too much.
I like to think we’ll be back, don’t need to see everything some tour package plans. It works for us. The friend I went to NCa with is the same (though she also does tours.) We each had a few musts and the rest was the delight of unplanned finds. We’ll go to southern Germany next year and it’ll be just as fun.
Maybe I do want to go to WDW. I looked at the Rick Steves tours, they are pretty pricey and I can do WDW for half of that cost.
I’d love to do a Baltic cruise but H does not want to take that much time off and I think that would be a $10,000 vacation. I have to put a new roof on this spring so an expensive vacation is not in the cards. Honestly may never be, as I said, my husband is a very reluctant traveler.
We won’t vacation in the summer either. No lake cottage but live in a vacation area where we want to be in our corner of the world from June to September.
@deb22 - that cruise does eat up a lot of vacation days! But it may be cheaper than you think (I just got a great deal, airfare and cruise for about half of that price.) Granted, everything was heavily discounted…
I do know what you mean about the reluctant traveler, though. I’m married to one, too.
We usually make budget the #4. This year we are going to Quebec City and Montreal because we are able to get very cheap flights and use points. We generally have a long list of places we want to see (at all times ; ).
I haven’t read through the responses but have you thought about doing a river cruise in Europe? You can see so much and not have to worry about packing/repacking. There are all kinds of lengths as well.
So many great places to see in this country too. Our most pleasant surprise lately was a B&B trip through Virginia wine country. The wine was surprisingly fantastic, scenery lovely, and the inns quaint. Great couples trip.
I have found tripadvisor to be really helpful when I plan major trips. People post their entire itineraries for a given location, along with what they liked and didn’t like. Also, area experts will help you determine if your plans make sense logistically. For the last couple of trips I planned, I also used visit a city. com to help with logistics. I am an in-between planner. Like to have my places to stay set, and will book entry into a couple of places (shows, museums with long lines, and maybe a meal or 2) and try to leave some other time up in the air. If you are torn on the WDW thing - what about somewhere else in Florida? I’ve just booked my first trip to Key West and am very excited.
In my family, I am known as “The Cruise Director” and not just because I’ve planned the five cruises we’ve been on so far, with #6 coming in June 2020. I am a major planner. This past summer, we did a road trip from central Texas to Colorado. I had all the hotels reserved except for the last night on the way home (because we weren’t sure how far we would get). On a whim, as I was pulling out of the garage, I said “Let’s see how many miles we go” so I checked the odometer and made a note. When we pulled into the garage 12 days later, we had driven 2,700.4 miles! I guess the .4 was because I missed a turn and had to go around the block in Glenwood Springs.
@deb922 lots of cruises don’t involve laying around all day on the beach. Alaska is a prime example. It is so wonderful to unpack one time and have all your meals taken care of. We did a Baltic cruise in June 2016, 7-day round trip from Copenhagen. It was about $10K but that was for four people and the airfare was 2/3 of that cost. But worth it, for sure.
We did WDW in June 2007. I’ve thought about going back between then and now but it has gotten outrageously expensive and complicated with the WOW bands and all that mess. Guess at this point, I’ll go back some day with the as-yet-not-in-existence grandchildren.
If you do WDW call the hotels directly for pricing–not everything is on-line. And make a list of every possible discount that you can think of–they can’t always offer the discount unless you ask for it. AAA, veteran’s, whatever you can think of. It sounds stupid but just go down the list when you call.
We did this at Universal a few years back and did really well. Cheaper in the park hotel and with all the perks like early admission and fast passes and discount meals also.
I’m thinking about planning a vacation.
I am a major planner. This past summer, we did a road trip from central Texas to Colorado. I had all the hotels reserved except for the last night on the way home (because we weren’t sure how far we would get). On a whim, as I was pulling out of the garage, I said “Let’s see how many miles we go” so I checked the odometer and made a note. When we pulled into the garage 12 days later, we had driven 2,700.4 miles! I guess the .4 was because I missed a turn and had to go around the block in Glenwood Springs.