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Where are you going on Vacation this year?

zoebartlett

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
12,461
Haven|1337576441|3200077 said:
Zoe--It really is scary how similar we are! I collect pottery, DH and I only exchange gifts when we find something very special (which has been rare!) and of course, we're both reading specialists.
Doppelgangers without the sinister implications???? :cheeky:

I know, it's it?!

Hahaha, doppelgangers... :cheeky: Love that word, but yes, without the sinister implications!
 

zoebartlett

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
12,461
My husband and I went to Ireland a number of years ago for a friend's wedding. The wedding was near Dublin. We spent 12 days away and minus 2 travel days getting there and back, we drove from the east (Dublin and Wicklow areas) to the west (Galway and Shannon areas). I'm a planner by nature, and I like having a destination in mind and a plan in place. We didn't plan everything to a T but we did book stays in B&Bs and a hotel before we left the US. We had a list of things we really wanted to see, so we planned accordingly. As long as I knew where I was sleeping each night and got to check off a few things on my "must see/do" list, I was happy. So I guess I'm fine with spontaneity as long as I have a heads up. :cheeky:
 

zoebartlett

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
12,461
The only time I was on an arranged tour was when I went to Russia in high school on a school trip. We had a tour guide who followed us from Moscow to St. Petersburg and stayed with us the majority of our trip. Other than that though, I haven't gone on arranged tours. My husband and I like to go at our own pace and explore things we want, not follow a list on a tour guide's itinerary.

We plan everything ourselves. We get recommendations where/when we can, but we don't work with travel agents. I'm the researcher in our little family, so I figure most things out and then run them by my husband. He usually agrees with the plan.

My favorite things about traveling are the food and learning about the culture of any place I go. I love visiting with the locals, and that's why I love Ireland so much. I think I learn more about a place when I get the chance to sit down and chat with someone rather than walk around a cold, sterile museum. Museums can be fun to check out but it's not as personal.
 

onedrop

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Aug 24, 2006
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2,216
We're not doing anything exotic for summer vacation this year. We have a couple of family reunions that we will be attending, and I hope we can squeeze in a trip or two to the beach and Vegas if we're lucky before the summer is out. So, I will be living vicariously through the rest of you all going to the exotic places!!

As far as travelling style, I really like to take looonnggg exploring trips where I can get to know the people and places that I am visiting intimately. I have taken a couple of tour-type vacations and I really enjoyed them. However, my preference is travelling without the formal tour. Something memorable seems to happen on the non-guided tour trips that I have taken, and I am a bit of an off the beaten path type of person, so I like to be free to do my own thing.
 

Lotus99

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jan 25, 2012
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390
I've done all kinds of styles of travel, from package vacations to a cruise to independent travel on a bus that barely makes it (or simply doesn't) and is filled with chickens and goats.

I find the older I get, the more I crave the creature comforts of safe modes of travel and a clean, nice place to sleep for the night.

My parents never had a car, so I grew up using public transport all over Europe. It doesn't bother me. I actually find roadtrips almost strange. My husband loves driving, and will drive nonstop for hours. He doesn't like flying commercial, though. So, we take car trips more often because I can't bear his nervousness on a plane.
 

Blackpaw

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
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i :love: travelling, its my most favourite thing to do, and literally my SO and i have spent a good few house deposits on it! that horrifies a lot of people i know, especially our friends with mortgages. But we're happy being irresponsible for awhile longer...

we did a big stint of travel in 2008, 11 months of backpacking. We spent 6 months in Africa, 3 months in the middle east then the remainder in a couple of spots in Europe (we havent seen much of Europe though) and north america. We finished up in Canada where we've lived since (we're from Australia). Before that we'd both done travel independently, my SO had worked a ski season in the US, id spent a summer in Italy etc...

Its been awhile now since we properly backpacked, we've done trips here and there (back to Ireland again to see fam, the caribbean and of course lots of spots in Canada/the US), but central america in july will be the first time in awhile we've done it. And as our time is a little more constrained than id like there (6 weeks) im afraid we'll have to skip things, we have a tendency to get stuck in the one place because we like it! which is ok when you have months and months of course...still we figure as we're flying out of mexico if we have to we'll skip seeing it, it will be cheap to go back to whereas costa rica etc are not so cheap. Hopefully we'll at least see the yucatan peninsula, id rather not be going back soon as we're hoping to get to see the polar bears in Churchill in November (which costs a bucket unfortunately, no matter how we do it :(sad )

As for travelling style, i can see this in a couple of ways. We've never done tours and they're certainly never going to be our thing (when i think of some of the tour groups we met in Africa i could shudder!), but i can appreciate that the tourist trail has its benefits, as does having a bit more cash to splash on accommodation and (particularly!) transportation! Because when you've spent 6 months backpacking africa, having amazing experiences and yet also constantly dealing with awful s*#@, you begin to realise that there are reasons people visit certain spots and only those spots, and also reasons why they might not bother to interact with locals very much :bigsmile:

Haven, i didnt know you were expecting! congrats, im really happy for you =)
 
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