Beach- I am not one for lying in the sun, but I love walking/running on the beach early AM or evening. I can stay out during the day if I am in the shade (rent a cabana at Outer Banks).
Cities - I love them! I want to see all of the sights. Love museums and historical sights. I also like to try different places to eat. One of my favorite things to do in a city is a food tour.
More rural, scenic destinations - I enjoy as long as the accommodations are not too rustic. Nothing needs to be fancy but no camping, I need real bathrooms and air conditioning. I enjoy walking/hiking, kayaking and boating.
One thing I do not enjoy on vacation is shopping. Especially “souvenir” shops.
Well Guam and Saipan sound better than Afghanistan! But wow, not close to anything. Our kid is in Japan. We’re hoping the South China Sea area stays peaceful. I’d really, really like to go back to Japan. I lived there three years as a kid and visited again for two weeks about twenty years ago now. Here’s hoping foreign travel will be doable before he leaves!
I don’t like sitting inside a resort/hotel property all week and not seeing anything. We are typically out of our rooms by 9-10am and not back until dinner or later.
Breakfast and/or dinner in our condo/villa is actually quite common as a fun family activity, when I can find a property that offers it. Shopping in a foreign country can be fun and a great way to escape the normal tourist areas. I’ve found locals very appreciative of outsiders visiting their local business and quite willing to help.
Doing something outside is always a must. We do hit many of the big tourist locations, but hiking, kayaking, zip lining, etc. has to be part of it. Rappelling down waterfalls in Costa Rica and getting stranded while ocean kayaking in Alaska is much more memorable than anything else we did in those locations.
When I travel I try not to think it is the last time I will be there. I like to do few things a day, but not to have my whole day packed. Having nice meals and drinks at a cafe/hotel are enjoyable to me. Instead of going to museums I prefer to sit at a cafe to watch people going about their everyday lives.
If I am playing a tourist I would like to be out about 10 (do some sight seeing), have lunch, go back to the hotel for a nap, go out around 3 for another activity, have drinks, a nice dinner and in bed by 11.
When my kids started to travel on their own and their friends wanted to be on the go from 9am-late in the night, they said, “no, that’s too much.”
Before the pandemic, we used to do a do-nothing beach vacation and a sightseeing vacation. We didn’t do much of domestic traveling, which I kind of we wish we did more of. My kids have never been to the the Grand Canyon, Yellow Stone or any of US major sights, but they have been to many of international cities.
Wow, some of you have been to some really amazing places! We tend to vacation more local and we like a mix of do and not-do. We tend to stay at quiet, relaxing places where we can cook for ourselves or go out to eat. We usually do a few touristy things, but spend most of our time just enjoying time together. This summer we got an oceanfront house on OBX. There’s a deck bar and a hot tub, so I’m sure we’ll spend alot of time there and the beach. But our 13 yr old also wants to see the wild horses.
When the boys were small we did a couple Disney Cruises. Those were alot of fun!! A little too much “go” for me now though.
We do some local excursions as well. We are quite lucky to have the Blue Ridge Parkway in our state so we go and rent a cabin up in Asheville and spend a weekend. We also went to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge with another family…it was wretched. The family hates hiking and wanted to stay in the cabin the entire trip. When we finally got them onto a trail, the child says "I want to go to 3 Jimmy’s (this restaurant) and zoop, 2 HOUR drive later, we are at 3 Jimmy’s. 🤦
We prefer a condo or rental house to a hotel. We don’t like to have to go out to eat for every meal and my husband likes to cook. We like to be active (walk/hike/tennis/ski/golf/snorkel etc…).
Most group guided tours (traveling tours vs tours with a knowledgeable guide at X - we like the latter)
ATV tours
Nightlife, unless the nightlife is star or bat watching
Things we enjoy:
Traveling with the kids, both when they were young and now that they are adults - mine grew up with traveling as the norm, so wouldn’t fit any stereotype of bad traveler
Wandering/exploring pretty much anywhere in the world
Great scenery whether that’s oceans, mountains, prairies or anything in between - our planet is gorgeous
Nature (flora and fauna, in the wild or in museums/gardens)
Scuba or snorkeling
Hiking or beach walking
Canoeing/kayaking/ziplines
Horseback/camel riding
Historical places all over, museums, cities (like Petra), geological “stuff”
Personal guided tours
Scenic drives
Eating at places we can’t eat at when home (any level of food, street food included)
Camping, motels, AirBnB - it depends upon the area
Meeting and really talking with local people
I’m sure I missed some things on both lists. We could happily live on the road meandering 24/7. So many places to see, so little time.
I need to get to Asheville, definitely!! We stayed near Boone last summer; so pretty and exactly what we needed as far as being able to stay away from people. LOL
But I feel like Asheville has more to see/do now that we’re all vaccinated.
Definitely! The Biltmore Estate is rather touristy although I would recommend if you have never been. Normally, when we go, we stick closer to the activities around the French Broad (kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding). When I was little we used to also go to this panning place where you could pan for gems… I have actually never been to the town of Asheville as we tend to stick to the mountains and the river.
H grew up at Biltmore. OK, not literally. But his grandfather was in a nursing home there and as a kid he hated to visit. His parents would just drop him off at Biltmore for the day. It was much less touristy then. He said it was often just him and the security guards and he’d just wander around all day. (Can you imagine doing that now?!) He wants to work there as a guide after we retire, though a nighttime security guard would be his dream job. We also got engaged there and have been so often that I get annoyed by all of the tourists in “our house.” For H’s 50th I got us a private tour which was fun. I got to stand up on the roof balconies and wave to all the tourists like I was the queen. LOL
Yeah our family goes so often as well. I still can not comprehend how wealthy this family was. Of course, he owned most of the railroads but…gosh.
I actually really enjoy the Biltmore village. My dad is a pretty big fan of Biltmore wine so off we go to the wine tasting where I sit at the table drinking sparkling grape juice pretending im a big boy
I’ll second Creekland’s list of things I don’t like to do on vacation, with the exception of wine or bourbon tasting, which is fun. Once or twice per trip. I like to mix up my vacation sightseeing. A constant diet of cathedrals in Europe or art museums gets boring.
I’ve done so many different types of trips, I really can’t say which is my favorite. I’ve gone backpacking in the Sierra, walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain, drove through England and Scotland, taken sailing trips in the Caribbean, spent a week at a dude ranch in Colorado, you name it.
I’ve been to 47 of the 63 National Parks. I’ve been to all 50 states, many times. I’ve seen most of Europe and the Caribbean. Mexico, Canada. I’ve never been to Asia, the Middle East, Africa or Australia and the South Pacific. So there’s a lot left on my bucket list.
Wow! Impressive. You are so lucky to have travelled so much. I have seen a bit of Asia, most of the US, a bit of Canada (Banff and Jasper was amazing), Caribbean but nowhere in Europe, ME, Africa, Australia.
In fact, as my college going away party, I am hoping to possibly get a European River cruise in with my family and some friends. We got some Viking brochures and I have been drooling over the pictures.
Yeah… and I do really hope that no one has a problem with me hanging out in the Parents section. Student Lounge is just so dry in terms of conversation. Everybody is like “HELP ME CHOOSE MY COLLEGE” or “Chance an anxious Junior at his dream schools”.
Nobody ever talks about anything other than SAT, ACT, AP, and College App’s
Interesting question–I never really thought about it before. We have a vacation home on an island and we’re about a quarter mile from the beach, so we don’t do beach vacations. My H loves to fish and has a fishing boat at our vacation place. I often go with him. I never went fishing as a kid, but over the years I’ve grown to enjoy it. Plus, I like eating the fish we catch.
Generally, I prefer active vacations. I’ve hiked the Camino in Spain and part of the G2 in Europe and have done lots of hiking in the US. My H isn’t that interested in hiking but I can usually count on my daughters or two friends to keep me company. When I travel with H, we like to visit botanic gardens and art museums and walk around cities. He’s a foodie and always has a list of restaurants he wants to visit.
I visited Croatia last year with my cousin and we went to see where our mothers/grandmother were born and met cousins we’ve never met. We also added a heritage tour (visited archives to do genealogical research) and a short cruise (small ship) along the Dalmatian coast. I semi-enjoyed the cruise–the scenery was great and the food was good, but I preferred sightseeing in the towns where the boat docked overnight. I realized cruising wasn’t for me. The water was rough one night and I was down for the count. Luckily, that only happened once.
🤦
