Vacation?

[DCJenn]

OK-

This may also be a part of the "Dream" posts, but I remember Kelly saying that somehow managing to find the $ and the time to take a two person vacation to reconnect with her spouse was a priority.

Last night we were discussing the fact that all of our vacations have had an element of duty to them, including the 2003 trip to Florence- we had to get my friend married off, the 2001 trip to Ireland- I did the marathon, the 2004 and 2005 trips to Russia- Nikolai. We want to go somewhere where we don't have to do a flippin' thing. and my kid, while I would move mountains for him, is NOT COMING. (ahh, the joys of the DINK lifestyle, now I have to actually budget)

I'm thinking seriously of the Dalmation Coast of Croatia. Man, I have been web-traveling there nearly every day. I'm seriously ready to charge the tickets and be damned.

So, all, where are you going and with whom. (even if you aren't going to get there for a few more years)

Back when we had no kids and were both working we took a 2 week trip to Paris and Leysin, Switzerland. That was one of three no obligations vacations wer have ever taken. The other two was a trip to the Northern Neck in VA and our honeymoon at the Outer Banks of NC. All others have been trips back here to visit the family. Aside from a couple movies each trip, it was all dutiful.

I would love to go to Costa Rica. A) its warm 2) there are Orchid tours--take you through the rainforest too, well, look at orchids c) Its warm.


MIL and I joke about taking a trip to the lands...England, Ireland, Scotland, the Netherlands, Lapland.

[migirl]

Wow, I could make quite a list of places I'd love to go, but if I have to choose ... probably Africa. We'd go on safari, see Egypt, Morocco, the Ivory Coast... Plus it would bring me one step closer to my lifelong goal of visiting every continent (I just have Africa and Antarctica to go!). One of DH's co-residents is going on safari in Kenya next month and I'm absolutely green with envy. ~sigh~

[spotty_dog]

I would love to go to Costa Rica. A) its warm 2) there are Orchid tours--take you through the rainforest too, well, look at orchids c) Its warm.

My MIL is a huge orchid person. Their most recent vacation was an orchid-grower-hopping trip through South America: they went all over Brazil and Paraguay and perhaps another country...

[Tenacious_D]

Well, we are actually getting to go on a pretty lengthy (10 day) trip to JAPAN!!! But we are going with my hubby's mom, dad, sister, brother and sister-in-law. Long story short....Brother in law married to a Japanese woman and they are having their third and final ceremony in Japan. So our potential dreamy romatic trip turned into a family vacation We were lucky enough to get our own hotel room but I don't know if we will get very much alone time . His mom and sister are very needy and I don't see them letting us have any alone time. Oh well.

Japan would be the dream vacation if we didn't have the entourage.

[mommax3]

I have always been fascinated with the Panama Canal and want to visit there.....maybe cruise through? We went to Mexico for our 10th anniversary (Isla Mujeres, off of Cancun) and we both want to visit the Pacific coast of Mexico someday. I have wanted to visit Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia ever since I read Anne of Green Gables. In college, I went to England/Scotland with my choir and have always wanted to go back and visit the same places at a more leisurely pace, and visit Ireland as well. Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, France and Germany are also dream destinations. Another dream is to visit all of the Hawaiian islands. Australia and New Zealand, definitely. AND, last but not least, I saw a thing about Croatia/the Dalmatian Coast last week on the Today Show ("Where in the world is Matt Lauer?") and was very intrigued! I may have to do some web /surfing, myself, Jenn....got any good links? All of those trips would be ones taken with DH only! There are many, many other places in the U.S. that I would love to go.....really, I would like to be able to say that I have visited every state, (I'm not even halfway there!) and I don't mean that I just want to have driven through a state, either.....I really want to see something significant in each one in order to remember them.

With the kids, I would like to take some kind of relaxing beach vacation....the last time we were even AT a beach was when I was six months pregnant with my youngest, who is now four! I would like to do the Disney World thing sometime fairly soon, before Luke is too old for the "magic". I want to take a family vacation to Michigan, to the same area we went this past summer for our 15th anniversary (Leelanau Peninsula/Traverse City). I want to take them to NYC while my sis still lives there, and I want to take them to Washington D.C. and to Jamestown VA. We went to Philly and took a sidetrip to Amish country when I just had two kids (DH was taking some kind of course) who were four and one at the time. I would love to go back to that area some summer now that they are older and go to the Hershey theme park that is around there, too. San Diego has Legoland as well as the zoo and the ocean....and it is a popular site for medical meetings, too, so it is definitely on my list!

It freaks me out when I think about the places I would like to take my kids and compare that with how many more summers my oldest will be at home. I think DH and I will have plenty of time to travel once the kids are gone, but the years available for family trips are disappearing way too quickly!

Sally

[PrincessFiona]

We're not actually going anywhere right now....but...my dream vacation right now would be....any hotel with a big, beautiful, soft bed and a pay-per-view movie channel....All I want to do is sleep and watch movies and have room service....that's IT. I want a good 10 hours of sleep a night...to lay around in my jammies all day long and to order in for food...and..have someone else clean up after me.

That just goes to show you what 11 1/2 years of marriage and 4 kids will do to ya

[Cumberland]

For a few years, my parents have rented a house somewhere fun and told us there is room if we can get there. Two summers ago we rented a villa in Cinque Terra, Italy. Usually the cost of the house is similar to getting a beach house for a week in the US, it is just the airfare that is the kicker. Once we are there they watch DD 99% of the time and encourage us to go off alone some.

For Christmas we rented a house in Eleuthera in the outer islands of the Bahamas. One of my sisters and her husband are coming as well. DH has ten days off and I cant wait!

[Vishenka69]

The beauty of not having kids is that we get to travel pretty often. We tried going with friends but realized that we prefer to travel together.

Although the spreadsheet geek that I am, I research and budget everything down to the taxi tip. We came back from Costa Rica about a month ago and while gorgeous, it wasn't very warm or sunny. Then again we decided to go during rainy season to beat the crowds and peak-season prices. Let's just say that we brought back two pairs of heavy-duty rubber boots as souvenirs.

For those living vicariously through us, we're heading to Puerto Vallarta for New Year and talking/thinking about Argentina in April. After a few years of going to Europe, we got a bit tired of museums and cathedrals that started to blend in together and decided to explore new continents. For now it's Central and South America.

[Auspicious]

Someday I hope we have enough vacation time per year that we can take at least one vacation to the same place every year and one vacation to a new place every year.

The same place every year would be to New Hampshire over Columbus Day. My husband grew up doing this with his siblings, mom, cousin, and gram, and it seems to be the one thing from their childhood they all speak glowingly of. We would like to reinstate this tradition and do it like suwanee's parents--"Hey we rented a place, if you guys can make it, come on over." Plus we'd like our kids to feel connected to New England but aren't planning to actually live there, so "regular vacation spot" might be a good role for it to play in their lives.

For the new-places vacations we want to go to various places in the US while we're traveling with kids. Especially out west, where we have traveled far too little. National parks, etc. Later, when we've ditched the kids , we hope to do more traveling abroad.

Hmmm.....I would love to go to Italy again with DH. We went a few months before he started med school and it was wonderful. I still think of it quite often. I would also like to spend more time in Thailand and have time to visit the surrounding countries. And go to Nepal again, this time with DH and possibly with kids when they are older -- perhaps part tour/trek and part service.

I love Puerto Vallarta. It has much more of an old Mexico feel than Cancun/Cozumel or Cabo San Lucas and that is what I love most about it.

And then there are all the places that I haven't been....the list is long. I want to go everywhere.

[spotty_dog]

I miss South America so much. Hopefully Colombia cleans up its act soon, as I would LOVE to visit old haunts and share them with DH. It's such a widely varied country, from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast and from the tropics to the Andes. I never did get to see the Amazon basin either. :|

We'll do a big ol' Europe and Asia trip some day. I think DH would like to take his kids "around the world" as his parents did with him at age 11. (I've hardly been out of the country except for my years in Colombia.) We'd like to see the Tour de France in person, maybe ride part of the route.

We also plan to see the Floriade in Holland one of these years. It happens only once every ten years, and his parents have been to the last two. Maybe we'll get our chance in 2012.

If we can't live in Australasia (preferably NZ) it'd be swell to visit there, too.

[Cumberland]

Hey Nellie,
DH and I backpacked through Thailand and Nepal for 3 months when we were in college. It was so awesome. My sister was in the Peace Corps in Nepal at the time so we had her for a guide. I have since been back to Thailand twice. I swear I would move there in a heartbeat.

Oh, I'm jealous. I was there for only three weeks (mostly Nepal, a few days in Bangkok and northern Thailand). That is a trip I still think about all the time. Being on the east coast, I see airfare sales for Bangkok quite a bit and it is soooooo tempting to run off and go.

Where in Nepal did you travel? I was in Kathmandu for around five days and trekked in the Everest region -- flew into Lukla and went as far as Dingboche, slept there for a night and went about 1,000 feet higher and then back. I just realized that it was about 7 years ago that I was there -- I left the day after Thanksgiving. On the way back, I did most of my Christmas shopping in Bangkok. I'd love to do that again this year!

Your avatar is perfect!

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to go on a Mediterranian cruise. Would also love to go to Ireland, and England. And one day I'm sure we'll go to India - dh was born there. He's been back twice, but now says he has no desire to go back until he can go w/money.

I would love to go anywhere. I've only been to Mexico once - and Niagra Falls -- that's the extent of my international travel.