Let's talk vacations

My plans are a 'working vacation' whenever that happens. All I need is some quality rolls of film and SLR, my DSLR, and a destination that offers ideal subjects.
my last vacation was 5 years? back and it might be some time before I take anything resembling one again.
Concerning time of year - I want to take some winter/snow type of pictures so that would be my choice for the possibly mythical next one. Somewhere with covered bridges would be good.

for a much warmer trip, I would love to spend a week or so in St. Maarten. I have been there twice but never as a civilian.

 

We are in the "raising young kids" phase of life right now.
We went over 5 years without a vacation while having babies; that was way too long.
Now we are getting good at traveling together as a family. We go to NYC for at least a 3 or 4 day trip every fall. Last winter we went to Disney World. It was our kids first time on a plane. It all went really well so we are feeling encouraged about doing more now.
We like to bring a grandma/grandpa or two, because they love the experience with the grandkids and it's always good to have an extra set of arms around.
We are fantasizing about a winter Scandinavian/Russian trip. I envision back country skiing in Sweden or Norway and then heading to St. Petersburg. So far its strictly in the realm of fantasy.

 

While I am a fan of hitting cottage country in Ontario, I'd have to say that my current favourite vacation space is remote tropical beaches. I have a place that is not much more than a backpacker's place with rustic huts on a beach. It's about two hours from my front door. I need to go here more often.

 

Personally, I like cities best. Sometimes we'll will road trip to small towns, but that's mostly because we can't afford to go on bigger trips elsewhere. Oh, and my major exception to the cities rule is Kauai. Mrs. Levite and I both love Kauai: we've been there three or four times now, and would go back in a heartbeat. But for the most part, the places I almost always want to go are cities.

Well, cities don't really lend themselves to resorts. But we like to go in style, at least as much as we can afford to do so-- one reason we vacation very seldom these days: not enough money. Mrs. Levite likes to say that my idea of roughing it is when the hotel is only three stars.

I actually have gone camping and enjoyed it, but it would definitely not be my first choice. I am not a nature boy. I would rather go to a city and see a famous garden or park than actually get out and rough it in the country somewhere. I am a total pussy when it comes to disliking insects and preferring indoor plumbing, hot showers, and so forth.

Mrs. Levite's parents own a time share, which they can trade for days at other participating time shares, including hotels and resorts. When we go to Kauai, we stay at the five-star Marriott in Lihue for next to nothing because we borrow their time share for the week. It makes going both affordable and an amazing indulgence. The pool at that resort is my happy place. But we've also used this little gift to stay in London and a couple of other places.

Twice in my life already I have taken the Queen Mary 2 on the trans-Atlantic crossing (once from New York to Southampton, once the other direction), spending time in London attached to the trip, both times.

I don't care for the usual Carribbean cruise where you stop every day at different ports. But I love the transatlantic voyage, and Cunard ships are far and away the closest thing one can get to what it must have been like to travel first class in the heyday of the great steamship lines. I love the exquisite facilities, the four-star food and excellent wines, the superb entertainments, and the general classiness and pleasant decorum of the experience. And I love the experience of sea travel: the cool air, the rushing of the water, the slow transition from place to place. It's less jarring than air travel, and infinitely more comfortable.

This is my dream vacation, and I would love to do it again, but this time expand it, to be able to spend a little longer in London, then take the train to Paris and spend a little time there, and do some shorter trips around Europe by rail, end up back in England, and take the QM2 back to New York. While in the great cities of Europe, we would go to museums and gardens and tour famous sites, go to bookshops and famous libraries, go to the theater, and do a lot of going to restaurants, drinking wine, and sampling local culture.

So far we haven't had a child-free vacation since becoming parents. My guess is that we probably won't have one for at least five or six more years-- maybe longer.

But I cordially loathe most "family-friendly destinations." Most resorts specifically aimed at kids and "family fun" I find abrasive and intrusive. I have a very limited tolerance for the Mouse, and most other theme parks do little for me.

What I am looking forward to when Little Levite and soon-to-be-Other Little Levite get old enough for them is road trips to monuments and museums. I am a big believer in taking kids on vacations where they learn new things while they have fun.

And when the kids are old enough, I am very much looking forward to the occasional kid-free vacation with just Mrs. Levite and me. I love travelling, but I hate travelling with small children. It's a ginormous pain in the ass. When they get older, I know it will get better, but even so, and as much as I love my son, it'd be nice to have a getaway.

Late spring/early summer, for the most part. But I like going places during Winter Break also.

I like a small vacation. Just me and my wife and kid(s). We do sometimes take little road trips with my mom, and they aren't bad, but they're not my preference. And once a year or every other year, we get roped into a vacation with Mrs. Levite's family, which I hate. My in-laws are not my favorite people, though I know many people's in-laws are much worse. But still not the folks I'd choose to vacation with. I've sometimes thought it would be nice to vacation with another couple with kids from amongst our friends, but that's never worked out....

 

Part of me wants to take an ocean trip as a passenger, but I would rather be playing with the boilers and engineering equipment if I went on one of those. Thought about applying for that type of job 14ish years ago but decided not to.
I have crossed the Atlantic numerous times , but this idea of "comfortable cabin to yourself" and "fun in the sun the whole time" sounds foreign to my mind. More like work 8 or 12 hour shifts, or the always fun "24 and carry on" when we had an UNREP and sleep was scarce at best if it happened on your off hours.

 

Yeah, this would be different.

 

My dream vacations are a mixture of roughing it (a few days of backpacking, camping, etc.) and fancy-pants urban vacations with nice food and museums and the like. I really like having a couple nights in a row of cheaper accommodation (hostels, for example) and long days of exploring (required to be able to sleep in said cheaper accommodation), and then a night or two in a plush, fancy hotel with cultural sites within a short distance to have a couple lazier days in a row. That's how I did my trip to the UK last year, and it was fantastic.

Re: destination: I never liked beaches before I went to Sydney, so I would be inclined to visit some more Pacific beaches if I get the chance. I also miss the smell of eucalyptus while hiking. Even though I enjoyed Sydney's beaches, Caribbean vacations aren't the most appealing for me. I love London even with all its dismal weather, because the culture is thick and the food adventures are endless. I mountains and forests and road trips.

I'm hoping to get to New Zealand within the next two years, since it seems to have a bit of everything in a pretty compact package.

 

I liked Sydney and the Australian coast more than New Zealand. I had a good time hiking in the Blue Mountains and camping there. Eucalyptus trees are my favorite. Not that New Zealand was bad. And I didn't have time to go to the South Island. I would still want to go back again, but I would need to not be on a short schedule. I would also want to take the train I think to make it down to the South Island...

I am still trying to figure out how long a vacation should be. Two weeks is not enough time. Two months sounds closer to the right amount. I just spent a little over two weeks riding a bike down the Pacific Coast (Seattle to SF), but it should have been 4 weeks. If I went back to Europe, I would like to stay at more hostels and relax more. I went with other people last time and stayed at hotels. Not that it was bad, but traveling by yourself is different. There was also a tight schedule that had to be followed. I have never been to the Caribbean, but I would want to go in a sailboat and hang out there from New Years Day to March. I'm not a big fan of the US workaholic's idea of a 'vacation' to an all-inclusive resort. Sure it is nice, but you are working 48 weeks a year to pay for those 2 weeks. I don't want to have to worry about my bank account on vacation.

My next vacation will be two weeks over Christmas/New Years doing nothing. Well, working on little stuff around the house. And I can't wait.

 

My wife, my daughter and my mom are leaving on tuesday to go to Myrtle beach SC for 5 days and i get to stay home and work and pay for it. Kinda my choice though. im not much of a beach person

 

Where are your favorite places to go on vacation?
I like to involve sporting events on my vacation. Where are the Reds or Bengals playing on their away schedule? What is the big away game for the Redhawks this year? It's fun to be a team groupie and check out the place their visiting as well. I also enjoyed traveling for rugby tournaments, but that doesn't happen much these days.

This year the Bengals play the 49ers in San Francisco. I am 85% sure we're going. We went to San Fran last summer to see the Reds play the Giants. It was fun to be able to visit with some friends I have down there. I always try to incorporate some sort of visit in these trips if I happen to know someone in that neck of the woods.

Do you like resorts or roughing it?
Somewhere in between..... I don't like the idea of resorts and hate sleeping on the ground. Friend/family guest room/couch is usually my preference. Cheap and get to spend as muchtime with my peeps as possible.

What is your dream vacation?
I'd still like to make it to France one of these days. BabyDaddy wants to go too to experience the Tour de France. Some day it will happen

Do you like family-friendly places or child-free vacations?
We have a little one, so family-friendly is a must since I don't like being away from her just yet.

What time of the year do you prefer to get away?
Summer is usually crowded with other travellers. I'm an off season type of gal.

Do you take friends or extended family along, or do you keep it to yourself or your immediate family?
Since moving away, most of my vacations have been about visiting family. My only plane rides in the past 5 years have either been to Ohio or Japan.