sueg
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,482
Location: Munich
Apr 12, 2016 12:51:01 GMT
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Post by sueg on Mar 27, 2017 9:34:26 GMT
We like to mix up our vacations. Once a year, we have a 'beach week' - fly to Greece, book into resort, lie by pool or beach, read. Maybe one day we travel into the main town on the island, or to one of the archaeological sites, but that week is for rest and relaxation. Other times, we travel for sightseeing and wandering - the week before Easter we are road-tripping to eastern Germany - Leipzig and Dresden. That will be a 'historical significance' week.
It's just the two of us though, kids are grown and don't travel with us much. When they do, it is all about the historical stuff and sights.
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Mar 27, 2017 10:54:53 GMT
Sounds like your Mother won't be able to keep up on a Family trip. Sometimes that happens as the older generation ages. The Family has no desire to go to the places your Mother likes. Perhaps you could do a family of four (hubby and kids)vacation, wherever the four of you(hubby and kids) want to go. Then you and your Mom do a separate Mother-Daughter long weekend (or week) to a couple mountain places, wherein you can cater to your Moms slower paced needs. This is essentially what we do with my 91-year-old mom now. We handle it three ways: 1 - There are some trips planned expressly with her in mind. I took her and her two BFFs on a cruise. We did tour-type excursions rather than active things. And we played a lot of bridge and dominoes on the ship because that's their "thing." 2 - Some trips we take her, but she can't do it all. She stayed with us at the beach house in Florida last summer, but she entertained herself when we went biking, shopping, and some other stuff. 3 - And sometimes, she's not included because the trip itinerary would just be too much for her. |
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Post by papercrafteradvocate on Mar 27, 2017 11:35:51 GMT
1. More than a week
2. Definitely relaxing
3. NO STRESS
4. Enjoyable for everyone
5. My extended family gets no say in where we (immediate family) goes!
7. We don't do vacations where everything is planed to the minute
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Oct 31, 2024 23:00:11 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2017 12:59:00 GMT
I've been pondering this as I've been pushing DH that we're going to take a big (for us) trip in 2018. We have some expenses that will be paid off as we move through this year, and I'm already earmarking that money to take a trip as a family. My dream has always been Disney, but we're a beach family over the mountains. I also asked everyone what they wanted to do, which resulted in my son saying the Bahamas. As I was relaying this to my mom she basically made the comment that DD (12 at the time of the trip) would be old enough to remember the trip. Therefore we needed to something beyond "riding the teacups". (I took this to mean something with historical significance, or a major city like Chicago.) I feel like it's vacation. The first one we have ever taken just the 4 of us. If we want to go ride the teacups then that's what we're going to do. The point, to me, is to try and do something we all want to do, or try and pull together pieces of that in the trip. How do you vacation? Major city? Historical site? or ride the teacups.  We do some trips with extended family. But I do not consider them vacations! |
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christinec68
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,403 
Location: New York, NY
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Post by christinec68 on Mar 27, 2017 13:05:09 GMT
Right now, I just want vacations to be easy and completely relaxing. We both have hectic schedules that oppose each other a little so I look forward to spending time together and in no particular order...sitting by the pool, eating drinking & sleeping. Five days/four nights is perfect. We may do a little local exploring but on our own, not a tour or anything.
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Post by heckofagal on Mar 27, 2017 14:48:01 GMT
Our family of 4 has not gone on many week long big vacations, mostly just staycations or road trips to the lake. In the past we've done Disney twice, Seaworld & Discovery Cove (swimming with dolphins), Clearwater Beach and this year in June we are going to Fort Walton Beach area. And I am so excited! My DDs are going to be 18 and 21 very soon and if you ask them where they want to go on vacation they still will always say DISNEY. And I loved our Disney trips too..but that is 7 days of walking way more miles than my fat ole body can handle. When we are at Disney I cannot pace myself. Wake up early, hit as much as you can, stay up late. Exhausting. I'm looking forward to having some relaxation time at the beach. And there will be plenty of activities to keep my kids entertained too.
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Post by jenjie on Mar 27, 2017 15:02:55 GMT
Bethany102399... Sounds like your Mother won't be able to keep up on a Family trip. Sometimes that happens as the older generation ages. The Family has no desire to go to the places your Mother likes. Perhaps you could do a family of four (hubby and kids)vacation, wherever the four of you(hubby and kids) want to go. Then you and your Mom do a separate Mother-Daughter long weekend (or week) to a couple mountain places, wherein you can cater to your Moms slower paced needs. Sometimes in life, you can't please someone and/or everyone. Especially, trying to please everyone at the same time. Sometimes, it's best to please them separately. In the end, everyone ends up happy. This is a good point. IL's wanted to go on a big family vacation together. Nobody wanted to do what they want to do and they don't want to do what everyone else wants to do. They don't want to be forced into anything yet didn't realize they would be forcing people if they got their way. We reached a compromise of a week of day trips. When we made that suggestion, the relief was palpable. The big thing was helping them understand that we wanted to spend time with them but nobody would be happy on a big family trip. But hey we want to spend time with you and let's make that work for everybody! We are still in planning stages but we hope to have it varied enough that everyone will enjoy something they like to do. And you can do pretty much anything for one day. It's different than doing the same thing you don't want to do for a whole week. |
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Post by tallgirl on Mar 27, 2017 15:03:33 GMT
We are the kind of people who are more scheduled on our vacations than we are during our day to day life. For me a vacation is not successful unless I come home utterly exhausted.  We all want to take advantage of being someplace fun and pack as much into that limited time as we can. We generally like to travel to someplace new that we haven't seen before, but every few years we seem to get lured back to Disney, too. For March Break we typically take a one-week trip or for summer vacation it's 2 weeks. We do try to plan a day or two of sleeping in or general downtime during a longer trip. This summer we are going to London, Paris and Reykjavik for a total of two weeks, including the kids. Part of the reason we are going to London is for Wimbledon. We didn't get tickets in the lottery, so we are going to queue up for grounds passes starting at 6 a.m. and hope to get in when the gates open at 11. DD at least will not be thrilled about spending the day like that. The tradeoff is that if she cooperates at Wimbledon, we'll spend a day at Disneyland Paris in return. Our whole family likes to travel and explore new places, but certain days our itinerary might be geared more toward one family member's interests than another. That's OK as long as they balance over the course of the trip. Generally speaking, we all prefer being outdoors and being active. This trip will be a change of pace for us as it is city-based. My all time favourite trip was when we went to Costa Rica. We did all kinds of adventurous stuff - zip lining, surf lessons, rafting - but within the context of complete cultural immersion, too. |
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bethany102399
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,640
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Post by bethany102399 on Mar 27, 2017 15:04:57 GMT
That sucks. Really and truly. We've travelled with my parents and my sister an family. My mom, sister and I get along so well and sync well on holidays. The 10 of us just went away together this winter for 9 days. Thank goodness my inlaws don't travel. I get along with them at home but traveling with them would not be fun. You're right it does suck. She remembers traveling to meet family as a kid and that's what she wants for me and my kids. Sadly my Uncles and cousins have their own lives and have no interest in connecting with us. The one time I tried to get everyone interested in a group cruise I was ignored. When mom brought it up my uncle basically said we're going to Colorado and you're welcome to join. When it didn't work out for us to go, mom got really angry at me. She went anyways (with my urging) and the trip ended up being a disaster for her. She came home very upset that the dream of a big extended family trip would remain a dream. I suspect what will happen is when we're ready I'll find out when my uncle and his family are headed to Colorado, and make arrangements to join them but in our own space. Is it my first choice? no, but at that point we will have gone on our immediate family true vacation, and sometimes you have to compromise. |
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bethany102399
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,640
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Post by bethany102399 on Mar 27, 2017 15:08:07 GMT
tallgirl, can I come too? I promise not to whine too much outside of Wimbledon. Your plans sound AMAZING!
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Post by originalvanillabean on Mar 27, 2017 15:12:10 GMT
I like mountains, DH likes beach so we try to do both, but beach usually wins.
We like to plan one thing a day. Everything else is just whatever hits us in the moment.
We always get a car so we can cruise around and discover places.
For meals, trip advisor is my go to resource.
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Post by disneypal on Mar 27, 2017 15:16:45 GMT
How do you vacation? Major city? Historical site? or ride the teacups. All of the above...it just depends. I guess in your case, I would talk to the kids and ask them if they want a Disney trip and if so, then I would take a Disney trip. It is a big trip and not something you can do often. Perhaps since you are beach people, spend the weekend at the beach (45 min away) and the weekdays at the parks. That way you get a little bit of both. I love Disney and would go every year if I could but I also love visiting historic and landmark kind of places. |
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likescarrots
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,879
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Post by likescarrots on Mar 27, 2017 17:22:14 GMT
All different things. We love hawaii, but we just traveled to london for spring break. I like Disney too, my dad loves Disney world so we went there when i was a kid, and have very fond memories of time with my family. I think you should do what you want and don't let people who aren't going on vacation with you decide.
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Dalai Mama
Drama Llama
La Pea Boheme
Posts: 6,985
Jun 26, 2014 0:31:31 GMT
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Post by Dalai Mama on Mar 27, 2017 17:27:56 GMT
It matters that I'm going somewhere/experiencing something new. It also matters to me that that experience is not 'canned' or packaged for tourist consumption. Other than that, I'm pretty much open to anything.
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Post by SallyPA on Mar 27, 2017 17:51:47 GMT
I also like a vacation with a mix of activity and R&R. In late May, we are doing Southern California again. We have 4 Disney/Universal days that will up at the crack of dawn, bed at midnight, go go go days. We have a few shopping, Hollywood, the Grove type days which will be busy but nothing like Disney days. Then we are going down to San Diego where I will plant myself on a beach with a cold beverage and lots of sunscreen for 4 days of reading and playing with my kids in the water, very slow and relaxing days. To me, that's is perfection.
Our other favorite vacation, which we've done the last 10 years is Coeur d'alene, ID. It is the most beautiful, warm, clean lake. We boat and play in the water (it is a huge lake and the traffic is spread out, so it feels safe always). We explore the different parts of the lake and the various beaches. We boat into restaurants and resorts. Take naps every day lol. Lots of cornhole, frisbee, and biking. And thrown in a few days in Spokane shopping and eating and doing the downtown. Do an amusement park (silverwood). It is the perfect blend of summer fun and R and R if you like the water.
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Post by kernriver on Mar 27, 2017 17:56:18 GMT
If you want to do Disney, then nothing else is going to be good enough. Do Disney. Go to the Hall of Presidents and tell your mother it was the educational/historical portion of the trip.
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Post by ilovesmores on Mar 27, 2017 18:06:25 GMT
This huge Disney fan says "riding the tea cups is always the right answer!!"  |
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georgiapea
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,846
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Post by georgiapea on Mar 27, 2017 19:09:32 GMT
Ride the teacups! Around and around, as many times as you want! A vacation is supposedto be about having fun. Now I've heard of people visiting every lighthouse in the US, and that goel does sound enjpyable. As long as it's fun for your family go for it. But as for turning it into a 'learning experience' - only if everyone wants to do that.
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Nanner
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,987
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Post by Nanner on Mar 27, 2017 20:02:07 GMT
Our favourite vacation place is Maui. Mornings are spent on the beach. I just lie there and commune with the ocean, while DH SUPs. Afternoons, we are out doing/seeing things.
But we also love the teacups. DH and I go to Disneyland and love it. It's just the 2 of us - we are in the 50s, and we have a blast.
And then again, we love to roadtrip.
So really, it's what we feel like in any given year.
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The Great Carpezio
Pearl Clutcher
Something profound goes here.
Posts: 2,998
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Post by The Great Carpezio on Mar 27, 2017 21:21:44 GMT
How do you vacation? Major city? Historical site? or ride the teacups.
We do all of those things.---and a lot of nature stuff. We usually do a one week to ten day trip a year, and then we do some RVing camping trips 2-4 days usually, and sometimes other little trips to "do" things.
Although we travel every year, this thread just made me realize that DH and I have never been on a week long (or more) trip with just the kids and us. Before kids we travelled by ourselves a few times, but since kids, the longest without extended family was to the Wisconsin Dells for five days, Lake Superior for four and a couple fall camping (RV) trips that were Wed through Sun. All of our bigger and flying trips have been with my parents, brother/niece/SIL.
It might be time for us to save for a trip without grandparents along. (we actually have done "nicer" trips ----a Northern remote island resort, Maui and upcoming this summer, a Caribbean cruise) since my dad has a terminal disease....figure we will have time enough to go on our own later.
Overall, before and post kids, we have always gone on trips or trip/vacations. I think there is a difference between a trip (where you are busy "doing") and a vacation (where you are mostly relaxing). Someone mentioned 40/60, and I think that fits the majority of our experiences in the last dozen years (sometimes it is 40% relaxation and sometimes it is 60% relaxation, but is usually combo). When I was younger, we were mostly doing trips....very little relaxation and wanting to do and see as much as possible. I have learned by traveling with others and with children, that relaxation is needed for some and isn't a "waste" of time---what I used to think.
In Maui we spent time at the pools, on the beach, sitting on the lanai. We ate some great food. We shopped a little. We also drove the Road to Hana and up Haleakala and hiked and saw nature. We also went to a botanical garden and a historical luau and took a bus trip around Lanai. We also took a catamaran and went snorkeling. See, a bit of everything. Two years ago we went to a very different kind of island. We stayed at a resort in a remote island cabin in Northern MN. We sat on the beach and watched the kids play, I baked myself a tart for my birthday, we watched movies and played games, we kayaked around the island--and paddle boarded...we rented a pontoon and fished, the kids participated in the kids program, we went off island and went to Tower/Sudan underground mines and toured the history of the area, we went to Ely and shopped and to the Wolf Center and Bear Center for more educational experiences. We also went out for a gigantic pizza one night and watched the 4th of July fireworks from the dock of the resort. This is what works for us, a wide variety of experiences.
That said, I have never been on just a relaxation vacation. I am not sure if I could. I do think I would enjoy it, but I feel like I don't have the disposable income to "just" go somewhere warm on a beach to drink, read and go to the spa. I am sure it would be enjoyable though.
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We do some trips with extended family. But I do not consider them vacations! 
We all want to take advantage of being someplace fun and pack as much into that limited time as we can.
