Vacation to me is doing things differently than regular life. When I worked I sat a lot in my indoor job. Now I’m retired and in and around my house a lot. I’ve always prepared food and eaten at home most of the time. So I like vacations to be active and outdoors when the weather cooperates. Parks, theme parks (when vacationed with kids), historic sites, exploring cities. I eat at restaurants. I go to coffee shops and bakeries and ice cream shops.
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I can’t handle more than couple of days on the beach or any nature type that involves tents or woods. My favorite vacation is somewhere where it’s not hot and humid. We have done lake vacation with kids when they were little. Now when we can travel outside school schedule we like autumn time travel. We prefer walkable cities or those with good public transportation. We like basic but newer hotels in safe areas. We try to add local cultural attractions to our itinerary and always visit museum or two as well as performing art events. Good food and a lot of walking admiring beautiful architecture is the best part of our trip. We don’t cook on vacation and might have one or two drinks per week.
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We like to bike, hike, play golf, sightsee. We take different types of vacations. Some are just the two of us, abroad. We stay in hotels, eat out and have things planned ahead of time like a museum visit, boat tour, etc.
if we’re in the US we do the activities listed above, book a condo or house if family is joining in and with a group we will cook some meals, eat out a little.
Each day though there is some downtime built in- reading, happy hour, etc.
My H has been to 49 states, we’ve been doing more abroad trips the last few years. Goal is to buy a vacation home once we don’t want to travel as much- somewhere the family can be together, enjoy the outdoors, beac/golf etc.
I like fun, jam-packed vacations. For non-beach vacations, I like to do city tours, hikes, kayak, bike tours, food/wine tours, cooking classes, sightsee, other outdoor activities, and anything else fun that’s available. For beach vacations, I like snorkeling, diving, other water sports/activities, etc. I like adventure activities year round. I’m not into shopping and not much into museums. I generally eat all meals out.
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Thanks for all the great responses. It’s been fun to read.
I think our biggest issue is that we love where we live and there is so much to do. That vacation sometimes is compared to what we do at home when sleeping in our own bed.
I have a relative who is always looking for something new. I think we are happy with the same.
I do want to leave my house occasionally, I’m not interested in a second home. But how to spend that time, I think I struggle with that.
Because home is amazing.
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Same here. There’s no place like home…
We are literally all of the above. If it’s a big/longer trip like Europe, we mix up busy days of museums and attractions with days of hiking/nature activities. Or just relaxing. We usually do a beach trip in the summer, which is 100% beach and outdoor activities like swimming, kayaking, SUPing. We are not hotel/resort people. Prefer airbnbs or inns if it’s just dh and I. We are big foodies but love to cook so it’s a mix when we travel. Honestly we all love traveling because there are so many different things to do (even nothing) We like it all.
Rather than go on traditional vacations, I primarily go on hiking trips with my dog. The length and details of these trips varies depending on where we are going. For example, we went on a road trip to the Grand Canyon stopping along the way at Salton Sea, renting a boat at Lake Havasu, going on the drive through safari at Bearizona, etc. At the canyon itself, we hiked across the rim and stopped at various interesting points along the way. We did some tracking in the forest, including coming across a herd of ~50 elk. I hiked to a variety of points within the canyon as well.
When the weather cools down, our next longer trip will be to the John Muir Wilderness / Inyo National Forest area of the Sierras.
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I’m prepping for a family vacation next week. We have an AIRBNB and because we all like to cook (and eat - we will eat out a couple times) it is a HAUL to bring so much food. The area is a little remote so while there are grocery stores/roadside markets there is no Whole Foods any where close! But the cooking/dining together part is truly a highlight of the trip. We take turns cooking (each couple/family), we play music, it’s great chatter time.
But I was thinking of this thread last night and the scenario where my H WAS interested in going on a trip just he and I (he is not a traveler - he agrees to this one family trip annually and that is it!). What would we do?
Seek and visit antique stores.
Take a drive and explore/walk a new small town.
Visit local parks/short hikes.
Have our own time - we are totally ok with each going our own way at home or for side trips.
H is not a big city person so I don’t think “sightseeing” in the traditional since would come into play!
But have to say, @deb922 , coveting your home is not something a lot of people feel. Loving your own personal space and time, your town and area…that is something you get a lot more days of the year than vacation - and to love it is special!
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I like almost any kind of vacation. We tend to do a little bit of everything on ours - explore a new area, visit historical or cultural sites, eat out, have some sort of physical activity/adventure, and a bit of downtime on a beach or by a pool.
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Eat out and sample new foods. Hike.
Internationally:
Find a new picture to frame. (Our home is eclectic.)
Try to learn some of the language before travel.
Spend a couple of days in each town to explore.
Try small towns.
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Kudos to you for attempting to learn a new language! My brain is just like “don’t you dare”.
Skiing….
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When we went to Finland (small towns) in March a while ago - a few words helped to be friendly.
It’s a great idea, I’m just so terrible with it.
Even just hello, thank you, goodbye and where is the restroom? I put about 20 words on a small piece of paper and carried it around with me.
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Easier to say what I am not a fan of: more than a few days on a beach, downhill skiing, amusement parks.
When the kids were young both my parents and in-laws were big fans of family beach vacations - with my in-laws I usually decamped and did watercolors for major portions of the day. With my parents luckily there was snorkeling available. I had a run-in with melanoma 20 years ago so I avoid spending too much time in the sun.
We have two shared family cabins one on Cape Cod and one in Vermont. Sadly my husband gets seasick so we never got into sailing, but we do mess around in kayaks, but mostly have gone hiking and too art galleries. In Vermont we hike every day it isn’t raining.
I love travel and we have been prioritizing that as much as possible. We usually do a combination of hiking and traditional site seeing. As an architect and artist and avid gardener there is always a lot to check out!
We do as little cooking as possible on vacation - I am interested in eating local specialties from street food to fancy meals. I’ve also booked cooking classes several times and have always enjoyed them very much. They are usually done with small groups so you can talk to other people when just the two of you starts feeling claustrophobic. Not a fan of big bus tours we did a couple in Spain for the convenience of the transportation - a small tour of 8 to the Dali museum was fabulous. A larger tour to Avila and Segovia was okay, one to Toledo was pretty bad and we ended up ditching it and just arranging to meet them back at the bus.
On our last two overseas trips we have booked hiking holidays where you hike from place to place while the company arranges for your luggaged to be ferried to the next B and B or hotel. I am a big fan and will do these as long as my legs hold out.
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Adding in, as reminded above, if there is a nearby botanical gardens we are sure to go.
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Generally if it’s a beach vacation, I look for the best snorkeling spots. If it’s a city vacation, I look for the museums/historical stuff.
In both cases, I also spend a lot of time planning the meals. I typically plan some pretty full days.
But that’s easy to do when you’re on your couch in your 70-degree living room. It’s a lot harder to execute the plan fully when you’re having a hard time finding a beach because the “maps” app sucks, or the three-block walk through 90-degree humid heat saps half your energy, or the planned hour-long swim is cut short because you’re exhausted and/or scared a bit (out too far and thinking of sharks…). Or because you’re a little hung over, so you sleep till noon.
As a result, we end up doing, oh, half to two-thirds of the planned activities.
We do not ever, however, miss a planned meal at a meticulously researched restaurant. hehe
I think you were on my last trip!
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