Vacation seems to mean different things to different people.
Some say if they have to cook it’s not a vacation.
Some say it’s all about relaxation, and some say it’s all about fitting as many activities as you can - you can relax at home.
Taking the kids is a highlight for many, but others say it’s not a vacation if the kids are with you.
Are high end flights and hotels important, or scenery, museums, shopping, beach, mountains…
Since we’re still not out traveling as much as we’d like, we can at least talk about what we like and don’t like.
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at one point vacations was doing all of the activities we could but at this point, it is just about getting out of the house and escaping reality 
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I definitely don’t want to cook and clean on vacation Staying in a nice hotel or b&b is important to me. We tend to choose active vacations. One of our best vacations was to Iceland where we could hike and explore, snorkel, climb volcanos, white water raft and horseback ride. We had a similar vacation planned in northern Scotland that was cancelled due to pandemic. We never do beach vacations. I have trouble sitting around. Love experiencing different cultures and seeing historical sites too.
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We don’t do traditional vacations, but for me a vacation would mean not being on anyone else’s schedule for awhile. Just the freedom to do or not do whatever I want, on my own time. It could be at home even. I’m easy like that. Ha.
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For my family, a vacation is staying in a place where we don’t have to cook or clean (so no camping or any kind of roughing it). On vacation we like to eat in nice restaurants (but casual ones). My family enjoys historic sites and museums. Throw in a nice garden or seaside as a bonus. Maybe a theater performance . A winner is visiting a wonderful library. We like to walk (can do hours a day) but not hike or ski or anything else physically taxing. We generally prefer cities and like to have busy days (although not completely scheduled).
We like to mix it up. Some vacations are to cities with being on the go and others involve a beach with activities thrown in- hiking, golfing,rafting, etc. I love to vacation with our kids and other families, too. But I also enjoy just getting away with my husband. Just being away and having fun- nothing needs to be fancy but I do love to rent a nice house so we have room to hang out. Cooking a bit is fine mixed in with enjoying local restaurants.
One where my husband isn’t working on it! As I said when we were at my mom’s house, it shouldn’t be this hard to get 3 days off. Looking forward to retirement.
I would say that we like more active vacations. It seems like it’s been so long since we’ve had a proper vacation though (see the working on one, so recently we have just not gone).
I don’t mind cooking, but would rather get a break from our routine.
We live in a resort area, so being home during the summer is like vacation every weekend.
Not a camper, too much work. I think that getting ready for and cleaning up after vacation is a no go for me.
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No cooking
Fun restaurants, cool bars
No exercising, except walking and touring.
Nice hotel, boutique even better but not necessary. (Just us 2)
Sightseeing
Having a beach is the best in the afternoon between sightseeing and happy hour. Can do without it, but I love it.
We are going to Charleston tomorrow and doing all that, except laying on a beach, but we will take a harbor tour.
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I think I could copy/past @momofboiler1 's post. That is exactly me. When the kids were little and $$$ was tight, we did the yearly Myrtle Beach vacation along with everyone in town. But even then, 4 hours sitting/playing on a beach is enough for me. Then, we need to get out and do things. Now, I like to see new places, explore what’s around, see how other people live, see the sights, do new activities, learn, etc. I definitely do NOT want to cook! But we typically eat breakfast at our hotel/condo/etc. Sometimes for lunch we will have frozen pizza/deli sandwiches or a cheaper meal out. Dinners are always out. No way am I making a dinner on vacation. I also don’t worry about exercise. I bring running stuff with me and often I do run. I am so used to getting up before 4am, I often find myself awake hours before everyone else. But if I don’t get out there and run, no biggie either. Vacation is family time for me.
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For me, vacations are about doing and discovering. A lazy week on a beach, while a dream for some, is the ultimate boredom for me. It is fair to say that my family doesn’t know how to have a relaxing holiday.
As we are dreaming about vacations, I’ll relive my dream vacation, which was to China back in 2012, when my kids were 13 and 11. We were there for sixteen days. I will attempt to recreate our fantastic vacation for you.
We flew to Hong Kong, slept for a few hours, did all the sights, were lucky enough to see dragon boat racers practicing, https://theculturetrip.com/asia/china/hong-kong/articles/a-brief-history-of-dragon-boat-racing/ met old friends for dinner then saw fireworks in the harbor. The next day we flew to Guilin, rode bikes, hiked karst mountains, Landscape of Guilin, Li River and Karst mountains, Yangshuo, Guangxi, China | Windows 10 Spotlight Images visited rice terrace villages, saw a dance performance by the long haired ladies, Red Yao Hill Tribe Long Hair Performance at Lonji Longsheng Rice Terrace in Guilin, China (瑤族 - 瑶族) - YouTube
rafted on the river, watched the cormorant fishermen, and watched an amazing river performance. https://www.yangshuo-insider.com/liu-san-jie-light-show-in-yangshuo/
Then we flew to Xian, rode bikes on the city walls, visited the Terracotta soldiers, walked the city, visited a great museum, https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/hanyang.htm and ate a dumpling feast. Next we took a train to Luoyang and visited the Longmen Grottoes Longmen Grottoes, China | Amusing Planet and the Shaolin Monastery where we saw hundreds of inductees practicing Kung fu drills. https://shaolintemple.com/
That night we took an overnight sleeper train to Beijing, arrived, and got in a taxi straight to the Great Wall. We went back to Beijing and had an amazing four days seeing the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, Summer Palace Beijing (Yiheyuan): Facts, Attractions, History the night market, an acrobatics show, Chinese acrobatics show in Beijing - YouTube visiting temples, and eating and shopping. We did manage an afternoon swim one day. It was the best trip ever.
I hope you need a vacation after reading about my vacation! 
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I think so many of us did beach vacations on spring breaks with our kids that we are a little burned out on just sitting at the beach all day.
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Just a note that I like being alone with H and doing family vacations with our D equally. When D was younger, we always tried to do one small “marriage recharge” vacation with H and I alone, but then always another with her.
Now that D is mostly an adult (nearly 21), we seem to be mostly traveling without her because of her time constraints and commitments. She is also starting to travel with friends. So far D’s been to Costa Rica, Italy, and back packing on the App. Trail without us. Her next trip with friends is to Alaska.
Our last family vacation was when she graduated high school. Hopefully we will get to do another family trip when she graduates from college (the plan is for New Zealand).
I will say the one benefit of traveling alone with H, aside from the cost savings, is that it’s easier to stay in B&Bs again.
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Definitely like pubs and microbrew joints. Generally make breakfast and sometimes dinner. Like the whole big family meal, grill, etc. We stopped going to hotels a long time ago and rent homes on lakes, mountains, beach, etc. Sometimes with other families (my favorite) and others just us. Actually do like making big meals, grilling steaks, boiling lobsters.
Rafting, hiking (lots of hiking), zipline, golf (wife and daughter take a down day and just read books as they don’t play or want to learn), firepit, etc. We love Maine. Also love going to the national parks out west. Like Glacier the best!
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Actually - not quite true…we did do a domestic winter trip to snow shoe and cross country ski with her freshman year spring break! Usually though we are traveling during her breaks to see family.
I get all the vacations in the family - the ones with just my husband and I, the ones with the three of us, and the ones with just my daughter and me! I am pretty lucky that way!
My daughter still loves to travel with us (either the three or the two of us). Her friends don’t do much travelling so she doesn’t have as much opportunity with them. But when they do she doesn’t miss the chance.
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Our favorites are either nature focused trips (animals/safari or hiking/biking /snorkeling sorts of activities) or big city trips (historic sites, museums, restaurants, shows). We need to be on the go.
With a family of 5 we have always had to get two hotel rooms or an Airbnb. I’ve gotten to the point where I really hate the Airbnb option bc it means I end up planning for and cooking meals. Does not feel like vacation for me then and creates stress.
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We’ll do this often on vacation. We will eat lunch out and prepare breakfast and dinner. We usually attempt to find a local restaurant and lunch time menus are usually less pricy.
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Like:
Beach vacation - this does not mean just sitting on the beach! I do enjoy a magazine or book on the beach but mix it up with MANY beach walks, swimming, kayaking, beach glass looking, gathering wood for a fire, etc. Beach does not = sedentary!!
Active - hiking, swimming, walking towns, running in a new spot.
Food - I don’t mind to still prepare or have food for some meals at home base. Also enjoy casual meals out. Fancy is not my thing. Visiting bakeries IS my thing. 
Big cities - fine for a day or two. But my best vacation is packing shorts and a bathing suit and money for ice cream.
Local/cultural food is a big part of a vacation for me.
Don’t Like To Do:
Historical stuff - blah, not me.
Museums - one is fine, a vacation full or hours at one, no.
I like to SEE landmarks but don’t want to spend a lot of time at one (see museums above)
Winter trips - unless it’s to someplace warm or a short visit to a city I’d rather have spring/summer/fall trips.
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I really really hope you were able to visit Shanghai. Judging by your itinerary, it seems like you and your family did not get to visit the city. I would highly recommend that if you ever do get another chance to fly into China, go to Shanghai. We visit every so often (almost yearly) as the city is just so beautiful. IMHO (and I may be biased as my mom is Shanghainese) the subways are absolutely immaculate and are so much cleaner than the subways in NYC.
It is truly a city that never goes to sleep! I do not know if you like big cities with lots of lights (as your vacation seemed to concentrate heavily in the more rural parts of China) but I would highly recommend it!
And if you like history, the city has a lot of unique cultural-historical aspects. After the Opium Wars, Shanghai was opened to the British Empire as a port. This led to Shanghai becoming a more modern city compared with some more secluded areas like Chengdu and Chongqing. Additionally, during the Second Sino-Japanese war, the Battle of Shanghai was a major event. In the picture below (Nanjing Road), two Japanese bombs fell killing over 2,000 civilians…
. The city has changed much during that time.
As for places to visit, definitely the Bund. In the first picture, you see the modern side and in the second picture (across the river), we see the original French and English hotels built in the late 1800s. Also, Cheng Huang Miao is a must-see for its shops and restaurants (Bill Clinton went to a restaurant there when he was president.) :
I would recommend some other places as well but I do not want to bore you. Sorry for making such a long post. I can go on and on and on about the city for hours.
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@abasket , we would not be good travel buddies! LOL!
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