Where should I go for Vacation?
 

Lemme have some suggestions. Someplace fairly easy to get to. Safe, tourist/American friendly, not super expensive. Can be in the US or abroad, we are planning to go sometime in Feb so we have time to get passports if we need to. No Vegas though, we go there once a year for business lol. Probably looking at a one week thing. I really wanna cruise but I'm afraid bf won't like the "trapped" feeling, or he'll hate the other passengers. He really wants to go to Asia, but I think as a "first timer" it would be a bit much for him. Where are your fave places to get away?

We're looking for a more relaxing type of thing. Not exactly like all beach and spa days, but just not like a ski trip. I thought about going to Park City or Mammoth, but we'd come back home even more tired than when we left.

The trapped and people thing worried me with Ryan too but since it was my besties honeymoon cruise and half the bridal party tagged along we went. All my group of friends are the work your rear off to make money, but play harder when you do take a break so yes we drink during play lol well as luck would have it Ryan ended in ICU Oct before the cruise was told he was Type 1 diabetic and could never drink again which meant stuck on a floating bar for 8 days with 8 drunks!! I could not do that to him so me and him hung by ourselves a lot and I can say he had a blast and loved it so much we have already gone on another cruise and have one coming up AND now that the Dr's have found out he had an infection that made his pancreas stop working for a couple weeks and he back to normal and cleared to drink the group is planning a makeup cruise after dealing with us 8 drunks for a week :p

Cruises have other bads about them... Such as you are dropped off in a tourist trap and unless you rent a car or purchase one of the ship excursions that cost a buttload and you are limited time about seeing stuff.

I go to the Bahamas a couple times a year and can tell you food and drinks are expensive, but it is beautiful. Grand Cayman is another expensive it beautiful area. Roatan is not bad money wise. I myself want to make it to Scotland and Ireland but that is just me :p
In the states hmm well that depends on what you are into... Do you like museums, civil war history, zoo's, drinking, roller coasters hmm food nuts, wine people... You get the idea lol but depending on those there are lots of places.

I would love to go back to the Caymans. I want bf to see the stingrays. But he says why do I want to do something I already did? But I really liked it there, yes it was pricey but it was ok bc we were just there for the day. Going to the UK is out of the question for that time of year, just way too cold for us. We were thinking even NY was gonna be too cold. But we love to eat, drink and I like history. so that's pretty much everywhere. LOL

Washington DC is good.. It can be romantic and fun... Love the museums and REALLY love the National Zoo... In Feb they have the Chinese New Year celebration, sadly the Cherry Blossoms do not bloom till March... Hmm and you would be an hour drive from a Six Flags OOOHH and an hour away from Baltimore's Inner Harbor... Love the National Aquarium there too. Inner Harbor :: Baltimore.org

Better weather hmm Austin, Tx oooor San Antonio, Tx the riverfront area is nice.
The Official Website of The San Antonio River Walk

Geez, I suck. I live near DC and never do any of those things! hahaha. I really need to take advantage of where I live.

Um, I have no ideas really. I did a cruise once. I did honestly have a lot of fun, but have no real desire to do one again. I had a lot more fun on the boat than getting off. One time we did not even get off at a stop, just stayed on the boat... What I loved the most was just that I had no track of time. I would be out until like 4am and then call room service and be pigging out at 5am, not even realizing that's what time it was! hahah. It was awesome. I was also only 17 and nobody cared that I was in the casinos or the clubs. We met some very nice people and then ended up having our little clique, and always meeting up with them. It was definitely a cool vibe, and something I'd recommend. But I admit, when I would stand on our little porch and see nothing but water... it freaked me out a bit!

I am right there with you Brit! I do love DC just don't get there enough! I need to start:)

Umm yea then whoever is close enough to DC needs to free up a couch for me, Guinness and Stella in either March or April so I can finally make it to see the Cherry Blossoms Bloom haha don't worry we are all potty trained... Well wait just me and Guinness are haha

Well so far I am leaning towards Costa Rica. Rainforests, volcanoes, and critters.
I love cruises, but for the food and the ports, not really for meeting people. I"m actually not that social in real life, neither is bf. But I like cruises for tippy toeing into new countries, and if I like it, then coming back for a full on vacay later. But seeing as how the only cruises that go thru CR are 14-16 days....

Hmm that does sound like a fun place to go, can't say that I have been.
And I agree about cruises, I have bad social anxiety so I just clam up around new people in person BUT I love screaming along to songs in the piano bar haha

What about Hawaii? We went in August and had a brilliant time, people are so friendly and lots of different things to do.

Bali!!!

I've never been but want to so bad.

An Australian friend totally rained on my parade and said it's dangerous lately, and outside of the touristy spots abd ex-pat occupied areas it's all slums...so I took it as cautionary, but to be fair while probably a lot of truth she doesn't consider anything outside of elitists resorts her parents fund as worth going to...wow I sound mean, but it's true.

LOL we have a guest room for you! We live 15 minutes from the DC:)

I have no idea why I want to go so bad to see them in Washington but yet I also want to go to Japan REALLY REALLY bad but only to finish my tattoo hmm think I might be a tad confused lol

My sister went to Aruba and she loved it so much she is going again.

How about London? I love it there.

:D Hee hee! So do I!!! :D

Trouble is, the UK in February is usually very cold - often snowy and icy. March it starts warming up - by Easter it's t-shirt weather (well, it is for me, but then I'm in the middle of my menopause.....:eek: :D) Sally x

Woohoo, Yorkie party! LOL. We really should do another area meet up again. We did one once before in Annapolis.

(sorry totally just crashed this thread).

I would love to go to London!

How about Turks n Cacos (sp) I went there once, and I loved it. You can snorkel just off your beach. And of course there is scuba diving. You can train for that in the States and then when you get to Turks off you go.

This was years ago, so I will say the Emerald Hotel where I stayed didn't have great food; but I understand that has changed now.

How about New York City??? It will be a winter wonderland.... but you could go to the Westminster dog show while your there!

I worked on cruise ships for 3 years! If it's the "trapped" feeling, try the Allure or Oasis of the Seas with Royal Caribbean. Allure of the Seas | Oasis Of The Seas It's a beast! You will NOT feel trapped on this monster.

What about Boston? Chad and I had our first date there, lol. We want to go back. :) Savannah, GA is beautiful.

If we had a week off and didn't have to visit family in KY, we'd get in the car and drive the west coast. I like Portland and Seattle and haven't been in years.

I loved Ireland...been there in march..aphrodite and i go in feb to Germany....hope to go to Ireland for a week as well... Have to find out what I need for papers so Aphrodite can go as well .... From Germany to Ireland... Know what I need from the us-Germany.

BF vetoed HI. He thinks it's borning, but he's never been.:rolleyes: I've been 3x when I was a child, so I want to go somewhere I've never been either.

That's gonna be too far of an airplane ride for bf. The farthest he's gone is FL and he was climbing the walls.

Too cold!!! I went in April 2000 and I wore two coats with two sweaters underneath!

I am thinking about that too. I want to do Southern Caribbean.

I was also thinking about this, but it's gonna be cold too! I'm gonna talk to my friend I see tomorrow night. She lives in NY now and I'll ask her if she thinks I can handle it. LOL

I really want to go on those ships! I can't imagine how huge they are!

My friend went there before, I will ask her what she thought. She went right after the Natalie Holloway tragedy, so that was kinda scary.

Oh BTW, I've always thought working on a cruise ship would be so cool. What was your position there and how did you like it? I always see most people that work on cruise ships are not American. I've only seen one that was and she was a dance instructor. I always wondered why there weren't many Americans doing that job. Seems great to me, room and board free and working for tips, never having to see "trouble" guests for very long and probably never again LOL. I know the living quarters aren't all that, but even for the passengers it cabins aren't very big.

There's always Mexico!

A cruise there is nice and the ships depart from SF Bay.

Yucatan is a possibility!

Oh ETA. I will never do a Pacific side of Mexico cruise again. Waters are way too choppy!

Oh good to know Derik wants us to do the Disney cruise along that route...not my fav idea.

I don't remember if it was going down to Mexico or on the way back up, but I got really sea sick bc of the strong choppy waters. Bc there isn't any land from the west side, the waves are strong. In the Caribbean, there is a lot of land around those waters and lots of corals too so less choppy waters.

About 10 years ago I went on a West. Carib cruise. It was one week after a hurricane, and everyone kept apologizing for the choppy waters (like it was their fault or something) but it wasn't even bad! I could only tell was when we were snorkeling, the water wasn't as clear as normal and it was harder to swim back to the boat with the current pushing me.

Americans don't work on ships because the pay is crap. Of course it depends on each company but not by much. I.E., ship stewards (room cleaners) and waiters, bartenders, etc make $50 a month. A. Month. They are guaranteed $1000 in tips so if they don't get tipped, the cruise line will compensate them for it. That's why tipping is so important.

For the first 2 years I worked in the kids club area, ages 3-17. My favorite age groups were the 9-11 YOs and the 15-17 YOs. :)

Then for the last year I hooked up with Chad and we were the Port and Shopping Guides. Basically, we told people where to shop, what to buy and what tours to take... lol. In the Caribbean, it was jewelry. In Europe it was souvenirs. :D