What do you like to do/not do on vacation?

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
21

Our family is slightly unorthodox when it comes to vacationing (or maybe not).

My mom absolutely hates vacations where we do nothing. We all love to hike (we hiked the most strenuous trail up Mt Mitchell in 2015). We also go to some pretty exotic places. In fact, I have never been to Europe but I have been all over Alaska, British Columbia, Thailand and some other places.

As for my dream vacation, back in 2017, we went to Thailand. We went to Krabbi and of course the capital, Bangkok but the highlight was Phi Phi Island (pronounced Pee Pee Island, yes). As for the main event, we went snorkeling. My mom wanted to get a scuba diving license but I was like no thank you. Anyways, we leave the bungalow and just start flying across open ocean in this boat that looks like it is about to break, something like this, at like 60 mph:

image
image1008×567 124 KB

When we get to the spot, the driver tells us to jump off the boat and first thing I feel is a bunch of sharp pricks. Turns out, I jumped into a school of fish and their fins hurt…bad. But the vacation was nice (the food was not but I mean it is a remote island in the middle of nowhere).

Here are some pictures in case you want to maybe someday go:

image
image1180×664 302 KB

image
image1150×526 323 KB
image
image1920×1078 677 KB

3 Likes
22

Lol! Here is just the opposite. When traveling with our kids, it was all about activities! Now I just want to have some “me” time. So sitting on the beach is a must for me. :slight_smile:

23

I don’t…
…sleep in (that’s for weekends at home)
…hang out by a pool/the beach
…watch tv
…go to “name brand” restaurants
…go to those touristy “cultural” spots like hotel luaus

I do…
…stay up late and am out and about all day
… if it’s a city, I’m in it, if it’s a beach, I’m in the water snorkeling or walking the shoreline
…hike or walk a city from tip to toe
…use public transportation
…enjoy chatting with locals for “off the radar” stuff to see/do
…enjoy museums and cultural events
…enjoy mom & pop cafes - better still, I like to hit up a local grocery and cook local seafood and fresh produce on a bbq
…tend to take a lot of photos!

Guaranteed I’ll think of more as soon as I post, but these are givens for me.

3 Likes
24

Our vacations are best described as busy. The hotels are good with excellent reviews but not high end. We just don’t spend enough time in the hotel to justify paying a lot. We love exploring so are usually out from morning to night. We do it all depending on vacation spot - outdoor activities, museums, tours, etc. We cook some when we go to Hawaii, which is the only place I rent a condo instead of staying at a hotel. Otherwise we never cook on vacation but we aren’t eating at high end places every day either.

25

@AllGoodNamesRGone - that looks amazing! The Thai islands are on my bucket list - I went to Bangkok as a teenager, but the islands speak my personal language!

1 Like
26

I will add - if at all possible AIRBNB’s for me and avoid hotels. Hotels are for work conferences when I’m alone! :slight_smile:

27

I live at the beach so when we “vacation” the focus is traveling and discovering. We love visiting cities exploring the local culture, dining scene…just walking around and taking it all in. We are big foodies, so we probably spend the most time researching places to eat in advance of these trips.

The few times we have taken beach vacations, they were very active (lots of water sport excursions). Just doesn’t seem to make sense for us to spend money to fly somewhere to plant our butts in a beach chair for a week when we can do that for close to six months out of the year here.

As far as cooking, we usually stay at a vrbo rental and do a mix of eating in and eating out.

28

It was absolutely beautiful. The boats are a bit scary as they bump around a lot on the high seas but it is absolutely worth it when you get to see monkeys and pristine beaches. In fact, there is this one beach called monkey beach as monkeys live on the beach. You can go all the way up to them and take pictures.

While I was there, I was lucky to see a monkey actually go to a woman’s purse, look through it, take a can of Sprite, run away, pop the tab like its no big deal and just start chugging it. We actually got a picture of it :joy:

As for lodging, try Paradise Pearl Bungalow (but stay away from the chicken sausages :joy:):

image
image800×375 135 KB

image

The resort is pretty much like several small cabins. The nicest ones are up at the front where you have a view of the ocean.

2 Likes
29

I’ve done a version of the Hong Kong/Mainland China vacation when dh took a 2 month sabbatical there in 2018. We did go to Shanghai, and yes it is amazing especially at night. Huang Shan and Guilin were highlights. Another highlight was an art museum in Beijing with contemporary art after we bailed on the “Not so Great Wall”. (It was totally fogged in.)

No one has mentioned one of our favorite vacation which is to pick somewhere in wine country (whiskey country works too). Go hiking in the morning. Go wine tasting in the afternoon. Have a good dinner. Rinse and repeat.

We have two cabins - one on Cape Cod and one in Vermont that we share with a lot of cousins. Those vacations tend to be centered around outdoor activities. I do some cooking, dh does some grilling but we also eat out a lot. I remember the first Vermont vacation we did without kids, I told my husband I wanted to eat dinner out every night and we did.

As an artist/architect I’m generally interested in museums, but I do get museum feet, unlike when you are hiking. I also really like to just sit somewhere pretty and get out the watercolors for some plein-air painting. I think sitting on a beach is pretty boring, so I generally abandoned the kids to their Dad and went off to paint.

30

Because DH and I traveled so much during our early career years, and then he took a job with 100% travel for 17 years just after our son was born, “vacation” meant staying home, so we’ve feathered our various nests to BE our destination. We moved from MA to AZ when kiddo was two, buying a home in a tourist destination and tricking it out as a personal resort. There was never any reason to leave. Aside from taking our son to Disneyland once when popping over to LA to visit the in-laws and spending several summer weeks with my mom in Michigan during my five stay-at-home years with a toddler, we’ve never vacationed. Perhaps the Army will make up for our son’s lack of travel. He’s going to Guam and Saipan in July (instead of Afghanistan as he was slated to do months ago when I posted on the “Say it here” thread), first time out of the country.

As for us, I’ve posted that we’ve recently purchased a summer place in Maine which will be our vacation property from June through early November each year. We plan to spend oodles of time on the wide porch sipping cocktails and drinking in the pine-scented air while we scan through the trees for wildlife. We will day-trip all over New England, visit with old friends (and family in Bangor), go antiquing again, and enjoy discovering all the charming shops, Maine-made businesses, and small-town cafes. There will be plenty of lobster. DH will put on his waders and fly fish for landlocked salmon and trout in the river that edges the back of our property, and we’ll enjoy grilled fresh catch for dinner. Then, we’ll fall asleep with the windows wide open dropping off to the soughing of the wind through the pines or the patter of rain on the roof. There will be plenty of rain.

Pinch me. :blush:

ETA: We’re retired, so I guess we’re always on vacation. Our primary home in AZ is in a non-age-restricted Club Med-like golf resort, so we’ll just be shifting from one vacation life to another as the seasons change.

9 Likes
31

Pre-you know what, we used to take 2 vacations a year. One was a “non-thinking vacation” to the same beach/hotel/restaurants I used to visit with my parents when I was a kid. There is no thought involved as the routine, sites, meals, and drives are always the same so it is pure relaxation. The other was a “thinking vacation” somewhere else - a new place where we could experience and learn new things. 2020 was a complete bust but we will be at our non-thinking spot this summer. I am waiting for open borders and a bit more confidence in travel before my next thinking vacation but fingers crossed for 2022!

3 Likes
32

OMG. Hugs to you and all military parents.

8 Likes
33

We had a great trip to Thailand a couple of years ago and went to Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya and Koh Samui. If you go to Koh Samui you can visit the spectacular Ang Thong Marine Park. It really does look like this:

image
image1997×1357 729 KB

Thailand is fantastic because it’s super interesting, a huge variety of stuff to see and do, and of course, great food! And it’s inexpensive.

@AllGoodNamesRGone , nope, didn’t see Shanghai. Next time.:blush:

5 Likes
34

I could have “just” copied @JustaMom 's post!

We like to mix cities with scenery. Lots of walking & exploring of both.

I far prefer to find local pubs and inns for meals.

Many major EU cities had local volunteers who will meet you for a walking tour. These are great.

Stumbling upon local festivals is a joy.

I don’t like spending money on accommodations. As long as clean, safe, convenient, and comfortable, I’m just there to sleep. AirBnB works well if adult children accompany, but we usually choose hotels because we rarely stay in one place longer than 2 nights, and hotels are typically more cost-effective for shorter stays. Since we often arrive late to our rooms, it is also less appealing to share accommodations.

That said, one of our favorite trips included sharing homes (via AirBnB) in France. At the time, authorities were more strict about home rentals as a business, so we purposefully chose locations where owners were present. Each one was special. I know very little French, and one host knew very little English, and we still shared a wonderful meal together.

I used to take far too many photos trying to capture our time, but not nearly as many now. I’ve put them in scapbooks, hard-bound books, but we rarely look at them afterward, except for the few we framed. You can find anything you want on the internet.

Love traveling with adult children. Sharing memories makes travel extra special.

We tend to do a lot of research in advance. Time= money, and we have more time now. However, my ideal vacation would be if someone else in our family plans the trip, or we at least divide the research. We have not yet found a tour agency to meet our goals. They are typically too crowded, or too inflexible. If customized, or small, they tend to be too expensive.

1 Like
35

Glad you will get to enjoy Maine!

1 Like
36

Now that other people have responded I have a better idea of what we like to do and not do.

My husband does not drink alcohol, he’s not against it, just doesn’t do it. So any vacation that has drinking involved is not going to work for us. So no wine country tours, no hanging out having a drink, those don’t work.

He also doesn’t like fancy restaurants, so no gourmet tours either.

We do like to hike. We like museums, I love a great art museum. He loves zoos. We like to walk around and soak up a city.

I think that vacations are about what you and the person you go with are compatible doing. And being flexible. Vacation isn’t about what one person wants. Although my husband had a work event in New Orleans a couple of years ago and I had the best time exploring the city, doing what I wanted and eating where I wanted. It was great!

We like the beach, but give us an active beach vacation. Snorkeling and exploring, diving for the husband. Good food for me. The Cayman Islands were glorious for us.

1 Like
37

I’m thinking we are an eclectic mix, but happier when we can be active.

When on a nice beach vacation, I like to be able to walk and see the ocean. Kayaking, swimming (pool, or beach when water is very clear), kayaking, snorkeling, riding bikes if possible.
We’ve been on a couple of organized biking vacations (through tour groups). We’ve done 3 so far and have another planned. They’ve all been great so far.
Some of our favorite trips have been to National Parks, with lots of hiking. But we don’t need “the best” accommodations for these trips. Location is key though. We felt like we wasted money staying in the Old Faithful Lodge. It was really expensive and we would have been happy with a walk around it one day. We would not pay something like $750 a night to stay at the Jenny Lake Lodge (or something close to that).

A city with both the beach and lots of activities, like San Diego, is great for us. When we went the place we stayed was mediocre at best, but we got a great deal and decided to go for it kind of last minute. It was 1 BR with a kitchen, and we didn’t even need to rent a car. We rode bikes a couple of days - up to 30ish miles, went to the zoo, Balboa Park, botanical gardens, rose gardens. Bike rides were around to Coronado and back one day and to Cabrillo National Monument another. I think we did a museum or two there also, but just for a couple of hours. If we go back, we will likely rent a car for at least a day or two and visit more beaches and go on some hikes in the surrounding hills.
When we go to Hawaii we like to stay ocean front, especially during whale season. We walk the beaches a lot, and like to hike other places and do water excursions. We did not like Honolulu - shopping on vacation isn’t important to us.
We do like excellent food and drink to be pretty readily available to us, but we don’t need a “night life.” We tend to get tired and go to bed early.

Grand Cayman is kind of our “happy place” and one of the only places I can think of where I truly just hang out and relax, except for walking a couple miles each day) for the entire week. (Lots of good food and drinks there).
We like to be active. I’d say we like a little “culture” and/or museums, but activities that involve exercise are probably more our thing.
I don’t mind traveling with others, but my husband prefers to go by ourselves.
We like to “work hard” during the day and get lots of exercise, but want a nice bed and a decent place to sleep. We are usually probably middle of the road when it comes to accommodations.

1 Like
38

If I could go on a safari every year, I would. Otherwise, we like exploring new places. Snorkeling and diving are good. I also like history. Our canceled 2020 European vacation included a full two-day tour of the Normandy Beaches and surrounding area.

We do like cruises, to our surprise. There’s so much to do onboard that we’re never bored, and we’ve been to wonderful places, like Costa Rica and the Panama Canal. We enjoy the activities - ziplining, jet skiing, ATV riding, etc. I should add we go on special charters with a big group, and no kids are allowed, so I can go down the waterslide as many times as I want. :slight_smile:

2 Likes
39

I am like @deb922 's H. But my H doesn’t enjoy wine tours or fancy restaurants either.

I (or my mom for the European trips she’s taken us on) spend a LOT of time planning out our trips. I look everywhere and include all kinds of activities so that everyone has something to look forward to. I also encourage them to hunt and provide input, but it usually defaults to me. We all may not like the same things, but we will participate without complaint if it is an interest to another family member.

One of my favorite trips was to Denver/Colorado. We hiked/climbed mountains in several places(me/older S), went whitewater rafting (all of us), did an underground tour (H), took a behind the scenes tour of the Broncos stadium (younger S), toured the Stanley hotel (H), indoor skydived (the kids and me), and had to hit a comic shop or two for H and regular mall shopping for older S. I was sad that younger S didn’t want to do the zoo! That used to be priority #1 for him. But oh well. We just had a lot of varied fun on that trip and everything went well.

40

Our ideal vacation involves plenty of opportunities for everyone to do their own thing. We don’t all need to be together all the time. We love a beach vacation and will be going to our favorite a little bit hard to get to island in late June. We are sharing a house with friends and I’m sure the kids will get bikes and ride around the village and wander in shops. My husband and my friend’s husband will go for walks, sometimes together, sometimes separately. My friend and I will wander around the village on our bikes. We will all get together and go to beach at some point and take walks on the beach, go swimming, might rent a kayak this year to explore the sound (never have done that before). We will do a mix of eating out/take out and cooking in. It is so nice and relaxing. Such a special place.

That said, I have been known to pack a road trip itinerary a little too full for my kids. They do not like to be go go go all the time and need a lot of downtime. Our last big road trip to California a couple of years ago was a bit of a bust due to that and the wild fires.

I like some cities (London is my fave), but I prefer funky small towns with nearby nature to explore.

We love the mountains, too. Have a family mountain house, but that is less relaxing in some ways than renting a place because there’s always something that needs fixing or cleaning up or otherwise tending to.