Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

New Year's Trip Suggestions Please!

Dee*Jay

Dee*Jay

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Mar 26, 2006
Messages
15,469
My best traveling girlfriend and I are stumped for a good new year's trip this time around. We've done beaches (BVI, Turks and Caicos, etc.) and ski towns (Aspen, etc.), but we're thinking something a little more interesting. The challenge is we only have five days (Fri 12/28 to Tue 1/2) and we will be coming from the US. Thoughts on Amsterdam, Istanbul, Athens, Buenos Aires, ????? We're game for anything interesting!
 
Much of Turkey is going to be cold, cold, cold and wet.

Have you thought of visiting Cyprus?
 
Cold, cold, cold and wet... um... no, no, no and no. (Thanks--I didn't know that!)

I will suggest Cyprus to my friend!
 
have you done Macchu Picchu? I hope to someday visit Peru!

why Cyprus? I don't know much about it, so I was was curious.
 
Skippy, I did Machu Piccu a couple of years ago. It was a good hike, but SPF 1,000,000 and I still came off that mountain looking like a lobster!
 
Now I know who to come to for travel advice as it sounds like you've been just about everywhere! Where in the US are you located and how much time are you willing to devote to the actual traveling?
 
minousbijoux, I've been to a lot of places, but there are still SO many more out there I want to see! I would rather not fly more than 8 hours if possible, especially since I have to leave on a Friday and come back on a Wednesday.
 
I don't know if the flying time if your thing. But I adore Australia and it is SUMMER there in December/January.

I would go there if you haven't been before. I love Australia. Many fond memories and would love to go back.

As for Cyprus... DeeJay mentioned Turkey and Greece and well... my mind went there, not for any particular reason. Then I looked it up for weather at that time and it was okay-- cool but not cold and wet. So I thought... better than wet and cold elsewhere.

Personally I don't believe in giving tourism dollars to anywhere that doesn't have human rights/womens right I support so *I* wouldn't go there, but I do know that many people find Dubai to be quite nice as far as vacation spots go. Not my cup of tea, but it's not my trip either!
 
Dee*Jay|1351267658|3292895 said:
My best traveling girlfriend and I are stumped for a good new year's trip this time around. We've done beaches (BVI, Turks and Caicos, etc.) and ski towns (Aspen, etc.), but we're thinking something a little more interesting. The challenge is we only have five days (Fri 12/28 to Tue 1/2) and we will be coming from the US. Thoughts on Amsterdam, Istanbul, Athens, Buenos Aires, ????? We're game for anything interesting!
Click to expand...

Hey, many of those were on my short list when I was trying to plan an impromptu birthday getaway in January!

Alas:
--Amsterdam: cold and damp. Plan for rain and 34-37 degrees each day, but the type of damp cold that permeates all types of clothes.
--Istanbul: Gypsy discussed.
--Athens: didn't look into.
--Buenos Aires: the highs in January last year were between 98F and 102F each day

January can be really rough. Really, really rough for international travel. (Heck, we looked near-equatorial places; even Macchu Picchu has its rainy season then, which washed out the train line and stranded several hundred people there a couple of years back!)

With only 5 days, Costa Rica/Central America might be a good match: many direct flights, good resorts, good adventure, different ecosystems, easy time zone shift. Another idea is to fully embrace the cold thing, and go to Alaska; not only is there great skiing and many new experiences to try out, but for a couple of single women the man/woman ratio might be something you find... delicious.
 
HI:

Those places you mentioned would take you 5 days in travel time!!!

cheers--Sharon
 
Yellowstone. Snow sled in... stay at the Old Faithful lodge... daytime excursions on snow shoe or cross-country skis (and I imagine some of the area immediately around the lodge is shoveled); evenings by the fireplace. Bring a good book or two and a great camera!

Iceland, Finland, Norway... you'd have to invest in a good parka and great boots, but you should be able to get great deals on everything else! :wink2:
 
Well damn... it's looking like a beach vacation then! We usually have more time (our last jaunt we spent three weeks in Singapore and Bali) but we both in a crunch over new years.

Costa Rica is one we both threw out there, but we're not opposed to Mexico or the Caribbean (preferably not the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Bahamas, or Turks and Caicos if possible).

I forgot to say, I'll be heading out from Kansas City, so I'm sure I'll have to hub through some more major airport.
 
How do you feel about doing something other than just visiting a location? I'm thinking of the various retreats that are out there--you could do a spa retreat, or an artists' retreat, or some new type of skill that you've always wanted to try. My mom wants to go to a place that specialized in fiber arts, you make your own yarn and create things with it.

Last year my best friend and I went to a girls' weekend organized by an Amish community, and we had a BLAST! We were the youngest women there by far, but it was a ton of fun. Big, home-cooked meals, days spent in the community, nights doing things like playing BINGO and eating milk and cookies, or roasting marshmallows around the campfire. It's totally not the kind of thing we'd usually do, and we loved it. (ETA: They had awesome wine tastings every night, too. Mmmm.)

I'm only thinking of this because five days is such a short amount of time, maybe it would be better spent going somewhere in the states and having a different kind of experience.
 
Doesn't Montreal have a fabulous ice festival at that time, or is it later in the year?
 
I'm currently looking into a quick 4-day jaunt down to Cabo San Lucas...
 
Hawaii?
 
DJ - come back, don't leave us hanging! Where did you decide to go so we can live vicariously? :cheeky: :cheeky:
 
minousbijoux|1351360958|3293599 said:
DJ - come back, don't leave us hanging! Where did you decide to go so we can live vicariously? :cheeky: :cheeky:
Click to expand...

I *think* it will be either Costa Rica or Mexico, but I put the decision completely in my friend's hands. Unfortunately she's a little tied up right now, as she lives in NYC and is battening down the hatches for Sandy...
 
D*J, we had a fabulous time in Belize on our honeymoon (in July) and it would be awesome for a girl's trip as well. I am not sure what the weather is like in January, but check out Chaa Creek Resort in the Belizian jungle. It's only a 3 hour flight from Dallas, Houston, or Miami (depending on your airline), they speak English, and it's just such a cool experience to be in the jungle! They have awesome excursions to Mayan archeological sites (we did Caracol in Belize, but you can also head to Tikal in Guatemala or some smaller sites closer to the resort) plus you can go tubing through caves, ziplining, horseback riding at the resort, canoeing on the river...plus they have an amazing spa and the food is FABULOUS. That way you get your warm, without having *another* beach vacay. If you want the beach, check out resorts on Ambergris Caye. The snorkeling out there is PHENOMINAL.
 
Have you checked out Roatan? It's a great little island off the coast of Honduras.
 
Belize is a good idea! I'll send that to her too. And I've never even heard of Roatan until now. WOW--it looks gorgeous! Not sure how easy it would be to get to, but I'm including that on the list.

My poor friend is in NY, so it might be a little while before she has our plans solidified...
 
Dee*Jay|1351524489|3294846 said:
And I've never even heard of Roatan until now. WOW--it looks gorgeous! Not sure how easy it would be to get to, but I'm including that on the list.
Click to expand...

There are direct flights from several US cities :)
 
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top