What do you like to do on vacation?

When kids were home the vacation formula was simple: Winter was skiing, Summer was scuba diving. We did build-in lots of activities within those formulas. Winter: ski, dog sled, ice climbing, snow machine. Summer: scuba dive, snorkel, deep sea and reef fishing, sailing, explore ruins, zip lining. Now that kids are (mostly) on their own the formula has shifted a little, but not much.

Our only hard-no is cruise ships. Some people love them, others absolutely hate the idea. We’re in the latter camp.

Regardless of what we do there are certain must haves:

  1. Beach. Love beach front rentals with private beach access (getting harder to find but still doable). Will not sit on a crowded beach - period. Private beach access - all the way.
  2. Tours. Don’t take group tours. Especially when we travel as a family, private charters are easier and amazingly cost effective. We once chartered a boat (36’) to snorkel with whale sharks. The cost of the charter was about $300 more than joining a large group tour of about 30 people, and we controlled the agenda.
  3. Hotels. Lets just say I’m very picky.
  4. Airline. Let’s just say we haven’t traveled coach in many years.
  5. Food. Two tier approach. For breakfast/lunch/brunch we eat as “local” as possible. Trying anything and everything our location offers- street food? Yes please. For dinners - prefer fine dining in whatever cuisine our location offers.
  6. Cocktails. Love to hit great cocktail bars to close out the night.
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We did St. Maarten/Martin this year. Were you there in mid-May? hehe

It was hot and the beaches were, more or less, comparable to most other places we’ve been in the Caribbean. Sketchy driving as usual. But boy, does that place have incredible food. Locals call it the Friendly Island; I call it the Food Island.

We’ve been there a few times and the food is great. We have one place that we always hit called The l’Escargot is in Philipsburg. Kind of gitchy but a nice stop.

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Close Virgin Gorda. Other than the food, very similar experience.

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We’ll hit that place next time. For French we did Bistronome SXM in Grand Case. We tried a mix of things, mostly on the west side of the island (Roma, Little Jerusalem, Spices of India…). But also a little Creole place on the east side of the French half called Chez Yvette.

I really want to see VG sometime, especially for the baths.

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Regarding cooking on vacation, we don’t do much, unless it’s a big family reunion kind of thing (big meaning 4 sibs and some of their kids/significant others).
We usually eat out once a day (lunch or dinner) and make do the rest of the day. We are happy with cereal/bars, cheese and crackers with fruits/veggies - we don’t have to do fancy meals all the time.
We would take a hike before we’d do something cultural, but sometimes we do both.
When we go to the beach we want to be on the beach, ocean front/ocean view, especially if we are flying a long way to get there.

We do many different types of vacations. We have one coming up with our kids that will mean cooking most meals. Later this year we are going sailing and will likely hit Virgin Gorda on that trip. We also have several camping trips in our trailer planned.
We just went to Europe and explored mainly small towns, I love walking and exploring the streets and architecture. I love gardens so will always visit any gardens we are in the vicinity of.
What I don’t enjoy is kayaking, fishing, hunting and any strenuous hiking. I also wouldn’t enjoy a biking holiday.

The thing I like about a vacation is getting away from home and all those little tasks like cleaning the toilet and emptying the cat litter and other daily stresses. When I’m not at our house I am on vacation from that kind of drudgery.

I love a beach vacation but rarely sit on the beach for very long any more. Love long walks on the beach, especially in the evening. We have gone kayaking a couple of times too. I grew up with annual beach vacations here in NC where we have amazing beaches. It is family and friends time.

Also love the mountains. MIL has a mountain vacation cabin and while it’s fun and free to go there and we do love it we are always thinking about the upkeep of the home while we’re there — is it time to get a new roof, does that tree need to come down, etc.

When we go to a different location I use the restaurant menu concept for planning. I’ve done this since the kids were little. I do the research on things that seem appealing to everyone and let people know and then we pick and choose from the menu knowing that we can’t do it all anymore than you can eat all the dishes on a restaurant menu. We do split up some if it’s the whole family. If it’s just DH and me we tend to stick together more and might just walk around the city and see what we see. I like museums but they are not a must. DH loves to hike and walk so we try to work in some natural beauty sights and hikes.

No cruises, no big organized tours. We will do a tour with a guide at a castle for example but nothing that involves getting in a tour bus unless it can’t be done another way.

My current vacation planning is looking at direct flights from nearby airport for cheap to see where they go and why I might want to explore. Very successful tactic for last few trips.

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@gouf78 - a friend of ours plans his vacations by looking for cheap flights in places he has not been that look interesting to him. He is single and his kids are grown. He went to Cuba, Malta and Israel this way.

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just returned from two nights at a friend’s beach house. It was lovely to spend an afternoon and full day on the beach, but confirmed for me that sitting on the beach for a week is not how I like to vacation. I love the beach, but prefer active vacations. I love a vacation that includes some beach time, but also biking, hiking, some cute stores, and some art in museums or galleries. I can no longer walk for miles on the actual beach because it bothers my back after a while. A boardwalk along the ocean is my happy place for a walk.

I also love exploring cities, walking everywhere. Museums, music, art etc.

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I feel like there is impression that a “beach vacation” means sitting on the beach on a lounge chair, with a sun hat, bathing suit and book for hours upon hours a day. I mean it could be, but I think for many that is not the case at all.

Walk the beach first thing in the morning.
Go to the beach to view the sunrise or sunset.
Take the dog for a walk on the beach.
Go swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, tubing, waterskiing, etc.
Collect beach treasures (shells, sea glass, rocks)
Bring a picnic down to the beach.
Run on the beach.
Play an active game like hit a volleyball, play badminton.
Talk, read, do a crossword puzzle. Listen to a podcast. Paint a watercolor of the sunset (we have done this!)

I mean, so many options! Bring the sunscreen for all of them! And also a beach vacation means getting away from the beach for a break or a forced break due to weather. I suppose if you’re at a resort you many be more limited to places to go but your average midwest lake or east coast beach vacation allows for other things to do too!

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We did many beach vacations when my DD was growing up because that’s all she was interested in. Now we like to combine something else with beach or city only. Last year we did 10 days in the Maldives, which is a purely beach vacation. It was fun, and we did every water activity under the sun, but that’s about my limit for a while. I like beach vacations only when I really need to catch up on sleep.

Not arguing with what you are saying.

We’ve done lots of lake vacations that are as you described. With family.

What @prezbucky described was what we experienced with a beach vacation. Have to fly, hot as hades which made any hiking miserable. The beach was very eroded and so walking it was hard. Could snorkel and that was fun. Driving was crazy.

A very different experience imo than the lake vacation in the upper Midwest.

Like I said above, this has been very helpful for me. I think I am very very lucky to be able to do many of things people do on vacation outside my front door or within a half hour. I need to figure out what makes us happy when we do go someplace different.

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During our work years, we only considered the few vacations we took as a way to do absolutely nothing and catch up on sleep – but in luxury, not at home. We vacated in five-star hotels, ate at fabulous restaurants, and enjoyed cocktails with spectacular views. The idea of cooking or preparing meals on vacation would never occur to us. Eventually, our home beat out any hotel so paying for time away didn’t make sense. Retirement for us is one long vacation. Like @deb922, anything we’d want to do is either in our backyard or a simple day outing. What we enjoy is hosting friends and family in our homes which THEY consider vacations.

We typically go to the local grocer for lunch stuff – bread, meat, cheese, mayo, chips, etc. – and make our own lunches. But we always go out for dinner.

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grocery stores abroad are a real adventure

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My H and D love to wander grocery stores when on vacation.

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