If you could take a vacation anywhere...

redwoodoriginal

Where would you go?

I have about a week (9 days total) of approved vacation from work the third week in May and DH & I are thinking of doing a BIG trip somewhere. 

Only thing is, we keep throwing out ideas and jumping from area to area of the world and can't decide. We've ruled out Mexico/Caribbean/South America/Canda/Continental US/France/England/Ireland, but that's about as much as we've decided. We want to see & DO stuff, we don't want to sit on a beach type of vacation.

Any suggestions?? Thanks ladies!

WinstonsGirl

We loved our last 2 big trips - Iceland/the Baltics/Russia and an Eastern Med cruise - Italy/Croatia/Greece/Israel/Egypt/Turkey, though I might not suggest that area at the moment.  

High on our list are Africa/Kilimanjaro, Peru (Inca Trail), Spain/Portugal/Morocco, SE Asia (Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam and Germany too actually. 

I've done China and love Beijing.  However, 9 days is a little short I think for lots of these places.  I've heard great things about Belize and Nicaragua lately, and being closer, you should get more out of your time.  

Personally, I don't want to go somewhere overseas for only 9 days.  By the time you fly and get over jet lag, you're almost coming home.  Though, my China trip was 9 days (it was with students).  We did Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai.  You could do a great circle trip of Iceland in that time though.  What is your budget looking like??

themuffinman16

I went to Italy for my HM and loved it. I would definitely go back. Other places I would love to visit are New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Thailand

jenna8984

I agree with @winstonsgirl that I think 9 days in Asia or Australia would be too short given the long flights. My own personal rule is that I need to stay as many days as hours it took to get there. So a 3 hour flight to Florida, I would do a trip no shorter than 3 days. A 14 hour flight to China, I would do no shorter than 14 days. But that's just my thing. 

Where are you located and do you have a budget? Also as WG said- Iceland! I got back from there less than a week ago and it was absolutely amazing. I've been to 28 countries and I think it might be my new favorite. My other favorites have been Greece and Japan. 

If I could chose anywhere right now, it would be Australia. I have a few friends there right now posting pics online and the beaches just look so insanely gorgeous. And it's not just sitting on beaches, most of them are backpacking, hiking, cliff jumping. 

flyingfoxes

My coworker just got back from a rental house in Roatan, and it looked amazing.  The flight from TX was only around 3 hours I believe?

artbyallie

We went to Puerto Rico for 6 days last year and could easily have found more stuff to do for 3 more. I know you're against the Caribbean, but PR is so much more than laying on the beach. There's a ton of history, a rain forest, not one but TWO bioluminescent bays, rum (so much rum; we went to the Bacardi factory but there's also the DonQ one in the south), caves, the radar telescope that we were sad to have to skip (it's in Goldeneye, H's favorite Bond film), and omg the food is amazing.

Our dream trip is Ireland/Scotland, but we would also like to do Barcelona, New Zealand, or Australia. I'd like to go to Bali. H also wants to go to Istanbul, but the political climate there now is not good.

flutteringinfl

FI are planning Australia/New Zealand for our honeymoon, because we've never been to that part of the world and have always wanted to go. I'd also really love to go to the Arctic, maybe even up to Barrow. Somewhere really unique and gorgeous.

larrygaga

Space. A tour around the world with a stop on the moon.

arrippa

If money was no object, then I am dying to go to the Maldives <---clicky for resort.

If money was slightly no object then Jade Mountain in St Lucia.

Since money is an big object, we have been thinking about going to Rivera Maya or San Diego for a quick trip.

chibiyui

Main places I want to go to. Italy, Germany and Japan.

thisismynickname2

I just want to go to the other side of the world! I've only ever been around North America and Europe. But I'm with Jenna with the formula of hours traveled = days spent. 

Right now, I'd go to Chile and check out their wine country. 

southernbelle0915

If you live on the West coast, I think you have time to do a New Zealand, Australia, or South Pacific trip. I wouldn't try to do more than one location though. 

South America would be solid. I've been to Ecuador twice and loved it both times. Peru, Chile, Argentina or Brazil would also be cool. 

You have time Eastern Europe - I wouldn't try to do more than 3 cities, but it'd be doable. You could do 3 days in Barcelona and 5 in Italy. Or you could do Greece and Croatia. 

Let us know what you decide! I love hearing about others' travel plans/adventures.

amelisha

arrippa said:

If money was no object, then I am dying to go to the Maldives <---clicky for resort.

If money was slightly no object then Jade Mountain in St Lucia.

Since money is an big object, we have been thinking about going to Rivera Maya or San Diego for a quick trip.

When I was a travel agent (and single), I told everyone that I planned to take my honeymoon at Jade Mountain, with or without my husband. I've always wanted to stay there too but have never managed it. Too many other places all the time.

9 days isn't quite enough for southern Africa, but I'd love to go back. I want to take one of those multi-day horseback tours in the national parks. Horseback safari sounds AMAZING. I almost did it the last time I was there but the dates didn't line up. And now I don't know if I'll get the chance because FI's never been on a horse and you need to be at least a confident novice to intermediate rider. Sigh.

I've been dying to take FI to my old stomping grounds in Spain too.

peachy13

FI and me are not beach people. I love being on the beach for like, a day. For like 4 hours. When I have beers and sandwiches in the cooler.

For our honeymoon we are touring the Alps. I haven't figured out all the nitty gritty details but we are going to fly to Italy and take a train to Tirano. Tirano is a gorgeous little town at the base of the Alps and there is a train station there called the Bernina Express that has panoramic views of the Alps (and they feed you and give you wine). We'll leave from Italy and head to Switzerland, and stop along the way for overnights but my main goal is seeing the Matterhorn. Then we'll fly out of Zurich, probably.

And my later in life dream vacation is a luxury cruise around the arctic circles. Going to see some walruses and narwhals and stuff.

[Deleted User]

theartistformerlyknownas

We loved Spain! We lounged on the beach for one day in Barcelona and then did the historical/touristy things. And it's super easy/cheap to get around via train.

NowIamMrsKlein

FI and I are not beach people either, I'm a full blown ginger and he is what I affectionately refer to as a Ginga Ninja. (Has brown hair, but an epically orange beard and the skin and freckles of a redhead)

We used our tax refund to book our HM to France, via Iceland. We're staying in Paris, but are going to do trips to Normandy and other cool historical spots. 

Its definitely high up there on our list of places to see so we are both super excited espeically since it was looking like we were going to have to cancel all togther.

We'd also like to go to Greece, Ireland, New Zealand (flithy Hobbitsis) Spain etc

jenna8984

SoontobeMrsKlein said:

FI and I are not beach people either, I'm a full blown ginger and he is what I affectionately refer to as a Ginga Ninja. (Has brown hair, but an epically orange beard and the skin and freckles of a redhead)

 

LOVE THIS.

buttercup1958

I'm going to New Zealand one day. I already have my trip planned out. New Zealand has everything I want to try, amazing hiking, geology, cities, ect. My trip says two weeks but it may take longer than that to do everything. I'm very happy that V wants to go too. If you want to see what I picked out to do, I can give the link!

FiancB

Oh gosh I can't pick one place.  Australia/NZ is definitely up there.  I also think Dubai would be really cool.  Recently decided I really want to go to Africa- I have a classmate from Cameron and hearing him talk about it makes me really want to go. 

I know you said no South America, but Belize sounds really awesome. There's resorts where you lay on the beach but there's also lots of ruins to see and wildlife and stuff like that. 

But I basically want to go everywhere so there's that. 

alpacalunch

Anywhere? I'd head to Asia, and spend weeks travelling around. Tokyo? Please! Busan? Don't mind if I do!

But flying just to Hong Kong, from where I am, is usually at least 15h. 

If you only have 9 days, maybe stick with a shorter flight so you can actually enjoy your time there, and not lose 25% of it to airtime.

Bubblegum5586

jenna8984 said:

I agree with @winstonsgirl that I think 9 days in Asia or Australia would be too short given the long flights. My own personal rule is that I need to stay as many days as hours it took to get there. So a 3 hour flight to Florida, I would do a trip no shorter than 3 days. A 14 hour flight to China, I would do no shorter than 14 days. But that's just my thing. 

Where are you located and do you have a budget? Also as WG said- Iceland! I got back from there less than a week ago and it was absolutely amazing. I've been to 28 countries and I think it might be my new favorite. My other favorites have been Greece and Japan. 

If I could chose anywhere right now, it would be Australia. I have a few friends there right now posting pics online and the beaches just look so insanely gorgeous. And it's not just sitting on beaches, most of them are backpacking, hiking, cliff jumping. 

Great advice! Although I already broke that with my Cali trip... 6 hour flight and only 4 days there....

katiekessler123

My husband and I actually each made a list of five places we want to travel, and hopefully we can tick those places off one by one.  One of the places on that list is Turks and Caicos, and we are going this summer for two weeks!  I almost can't believe my luck. Next summer we're planning on going to Prague, and that's another place on our list.

Jells2dot0

We married in Australia and was there for 2.5 weeks and never even touched the surface of the Great Barrier Reef area. However, it's definitely worth doing!!! I would not combine it with New Zealand with only 9 nights, though. I'd do one or the other.

 I personally have wanted to go to the Maldives for some time. We're planning on going there and back to the Seychelles for our 5th anniversary. It's my dream trip, but not for someone who wants things to do.

We started putting together ideas for next year. We typically take 2 big trips a year- one to Europe and one to the South Pacific. For the South Pacific part, we're thinking of trying something different and doing a cruise up to the Marquesas in Tahiti, either on the Paul Gauguin or the Aranui. We'll probably also tack nights on at The Brando, but that would be a snooze fest for people who want activity. The Aranui would be interesting- it's a freighter ship, so it's functional and educational. Believe it or not the South Pacific is a great destination for light adventure. The flight to Tahiti is 8 hours from LAX; Fiji is 10. I don't recommend the Cooks, as they are small and mostly about relaxing. We went there for 5 nights and saw almost everything in 2 days. I've been to Fiji once and didn't even scratch the surface and I've been to Tahiti 6 times and I still see something new every time I go!

We're going to the Cancun area in May of this year and while you can find very high end resorts, it's probably not what you're looking for.

 

ETF- formatting

Casadena

If I could go anywhere I would love to do like a month long tour of Africa or the middle East (so much cool, cool history) but those are not super practical at the moment.  

My sis lives in eastern Europe so this summer H and I are going to do a couple weeks there visiting Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany.  SO EXCITED.  

In 9 days, I think you could definitely hit a couple different locations in the following countries and have an awesome time: Spain, Germany, or a combo of CZ/Austria/Hungary.  There are some awesome inclusive vacations that I've researched (Travelzoo is awesome for things like this) that include a few days each in Prague, Vienna, and Budapest.  I'd recommend checking vacation packages like that, especially if you know you want a touristy vs. "relaxing on a beach" vacation but don't have a specific place in mind that you want to go!

Good luck!

thisismynickname2

peachy13 said:

For our honeymoon we are touring the Alps. I haven't figured out all the nitty gritty details but we are going to fly to Italy and take a train to Tirano. Tirano is a gorgeous little town at the base of the Alps and there is a train station there called the Bernina Express that has panoramic views of the Alps (and they feed you and give you wine). We'll leave from Italy and head to Switzerland, and stop along the way for overnights but my main goal is seeing the Matterhorn. Then we'll fly out of Zurich, probably.

@peachy13 we did this on our honeymoon! It was pretty incredible. And honestly, I think I got altitude sickness. We stayed in Lake Como and this bit was a day trip, and I guess between the long coach ride before the train and the rapid ascension, I just didn't handle it well. We continued on to St. Mortiz and had a really expensive lunch, hah. But man, it was awesome. The tour guide said we were insanely lucky to have such a clear day. Apparently the level of clarity we had is not normal. There's a few lakes far up there, and the glaciers ("glah-see-ers") and waterfalls are beautiful. ENJOY!

teddygirl9

Tahiti & Bora bora, hands down.

lovegood90

For our next "big trip" we're thinking either South America (probably Argentina/Chile) or Europe-Croatia, Budapest and Vienna, maybe try to squeeze in Germany. But we would have around 2.5 weeks so we don't want to be in transit the whole time!

hellosweetie1015

Long: FI and I would take a year and just explore. Hit every continent we could, spend a week in a place, and then move on to the next place. 

Medium: Month long trip to the UK and Ireland. Spend 5 or 6 days in each country, exploring everything we could cram in.

Short: take an unplanned road trip. Throw enough clothes in a suitcase for a week or so, go through WalMart to grab a map and stock up your cooler, and pick a spot on the map to drive to just to see what's there.

Scottie17

Fly into Florence, Italy, then do a coastline trip. Livorno, Genoa, Monaco, Cannes, Marseilles and you could even head to Barcelona. Great trip, drive along the Mediterranean coast, spectacular!

This is Genoa.

arrippa

lovegood90 said:

For our next "big trip" we're thinking either South America (probably Argentina/Chile) or Europe-Croatia, Budapest and Vienna, maybe try to squeeze in Germany. But we would have around 2.5 weeks so we don't want to be in transit the whole time!

I loved both of those places. I spent a week in Vienna and only four days in Budapest. That's not nearly enough time. One place I wished I visited in Austria is Salzburg. I love The Sound of Music and would have loved to visited the area.