What Is An Extended Vacation Like?

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by iloveyoga Many times on vacation we do the same things we do at home....drink coffee, lay around, swim, plan where or what to eat, eat. Shop. We will do some sightseeing, but we do relax a lot. The exception is when we go with the grandkids, then it is non-stop action.

At least until now, I’d feel guilty about paying for travel & accommodations to “do the same things we do at home....drink coffee, lay around, swim, plan where or what to eat, eat. Shop. We will do some sightseeing, but we do relax a lot.” I’ll have to wrap my head around this concept.

[JT90505]

We've done a bunch of trips in the 3-4 week range, longest 6 weeks. Mostly road trips, although in Europe/UK trains.

What has worked for us:
We know our options before we go. Doesn't matter if we actually use any of the options, but we don't spend travel time trying to figure things out.

Minimum 2-3 nights anywhere. There are exceptions but packing/driving/unpacking gets old real quick, not to mention eats up a lot of time.

Accommodations with kitchens are good.

The unexpected encounters are what make travel special.

Things will go wrong. Some of our memorable positive experiences happened only because of mistakes/problems.

We like a mix, cities, towns, countryside. We like walking, so much of the time in cities is spent wandering (and if you can pick a theme, aka our pastry wander in Vienna, all the better).

We always plan on dayhikes, never been anywhere where there they don't exist. Including NYC, hopefully the image is displayed!
(well, its not displayed from the public album I created. no idea why not. regrets)



Find out what works for you, and have fun!

[skyking1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack At least until now, I’d feel guilty about paying for travel & accommodations to “do the same things we do at home....drink coffee, lay around, swim, plan where or what to eat, eat. Shop. We will do some sightseeing, but we do relax a lot.” I’ll have to wrap my head around this concept.

That was how the Kona mornings always started with aunt and uncle. We did exploring and traditional vacation-y stuff in the afternoons, but mornings were mostly breakfast and coffee and read the paper and relax. We only hit the ground running on mornings with a specific purpose and probably less than 50% of the time.
Looking back on it, that was valuable winding down time from the work life.

[MC Rider]

I don't think I've ever taken a vacation more than 2 weeks long.
Mostly a week or less. Usually it's go go go.
Although sometimes go means go sit and watch the surf roll in. Mesmerizing.


Forget extended. I'm thinking to go on permanent vacation would be good.

[levindb]

Once you retire, you actually get 52 weeks of vacation each year, but remember:

1. If you don't use it, you lose it

2. Every January 1, you get another 52 weeks vacation

[MC Rider]

3. This offer is good for a limited time.

[Starsky]

DW and I spent 30 days relaxing in our favorite place in the world - on a very remote world heritage island near Australia - and by the fourth week, the locals were getting curious about us ('you're still here') and we got approached with invitations to hang with them and socialize. It was awesome and completely changed the rest of our visit and visits to come. It was our 6th trip there - we love the place - but the first for such an extended time, thanks to ER. Now, the locals invite us on their tour boats to ride along for free and hang out, and we keep in touch with our lovely new friends in-between trips. I wish we could go back, but they're quarantined for the time being.

Lord Howe Island: https://youtu.be/N_GdRzTmqcw

[Surewhitey]

We decided in 07 to take a "vaca" in SoCal by moving there and being paid to do it. Ended up being there 4 years getting into the double comma club. It was so easy to explore, slowly many parts of the state.

2011, we moved to Playa del Carmen for 8 months (testing the waters) and we enjoyed it, slowly, and traveled much of the Yucatan in the process.

Returned to LA in 2012 & realized that we weren't done with Playa and, a year later, returned there for 2 more years.

Our idea of slow-travel includes moving to a new place sometimes. Road trips are another way to slow down. Enjoy the rides.

[target2019]

In 1999 we travelled throughout Europe for 20 days or so. There was a loose plan, and we managed to hit up Frankfurt, Paris, Lyon, Ghent, and Basel. Lots of fun spent with families we knew in each location.

In 2014 we traveled and camped in Australia and New Zealand. Our oldest booked everything and we had extreme fun driving and flying many miles over 20 days. Three adults sleeping in small vans, that was an experience!

One more extended trip to go, to Germany in a week or so. It looks like 6-8 cities/locations in 20 days. Because of the global situation we'll just be travelling by rented auto and trains (no camping). Again, all booked and orchestrated by the oldest.

Extended can be difficult for many reasons. You could hit bad weather anywhere, for example. But if you have flexibilty (not on a tour, e.g.) then you can adjust. Being friendly with local families is a real boost.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack At least until now, I’d feel guilty about paying for travel & accommodations to “do the same things we do at home....drink coffee, lay around, swim, plan where or what to eat, eat. Shop. We will do some sightseeing, but we do relax a lot.” I’ll have to wrap my head around this concept.

If you don’t spend it, someone else will.

Even seemingly basic things like planning what to eat and eating are usually a completely different experience in a foreign country. For us just walking around exploring is a great deal of fun, lots of serendipitous experiences. Totally new environment to relax, people watch, etc.

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Helen We've been dogless for six years until a month ago. We couldn't take it any longer and covid was a factor. We've been fostering a Maltese that was rescued from a hoarder situation with the intent to adopt her. She is eight years old and weighs 7 - 8 pounds. She is a love. She goes in for surgery this morning, she has to have all her teeth extracted and a mast cell tumor removed from her hind leg. The rescue agencies is paying for most of this, once it is done they will let us adopt. We checked with the condo owners in Palm Springs to make sure they will let us rent from them with the dog. We also have two cats so we have to hire a pet sitter anyways. Once we can again travel overseas we will leave her at home with the pet sitter and it shouldn't cost any more money than we typically pay.

She sounds like a sweetie! I live in Palm Springs and it’s very dog-friendly.

[athena53]

I'd say 3 weeks is my limit. I've gone that long on a group tour to India and Nepal- may as well stay awhile since it's a long trip and it takes awhile to get over the jet lag. My trip to E. Europe a year from now will also be about that length. After awhile on the India trip I started counting the days till I got home. I loved the trip, loved everything we did, but really like my nice, boring routines at home and my beautiful house.

OTOH, I do take a lot of short trips, mostly to visit family. I've taken 17 trips in the last 12 months and the longest, my Alaskan cruise, was 10 days.

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 If you don’t spend it, someone else will. Even seemingly basic things like planning what to eat and eating are usually a completely different experience in a foreign country. For us just walking around exploring is a great deal of fun, lots of serendipitous experiences. Totally new environment to relax, people watch, etc.

Unfortunately we can't know that for another 20-30 years, as often debated here...

[newchapter]

I agree... 3 weeks and you are ready for your own bed.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack Unfortunately we can't know that for another 20-30 years, as often debated here...

Will travel expenses now while you can truly make that much of a difference in the long run?

[newchapter]

If you like the outdoors, hiking, fishing, rafting, tubing, sandy beaches on a lake, I have a secret town in Georgia you would love... It is Suches, GA. Most of the town is US National Forest and the unofficial beginning of the Appalachian trail. I was there last week for 7 days and was not ready to leave. In fact I ended up buying almost 6 acres of land next to the cabin I was staying in... Not too much property for sale there, but I went for it. There are also cabins in Vogel State Park you can rent that are on a lake, streams, or creeks and hiking trails through the national forest. I live in Georgia and never knew of this park until now that has existed since 1931. It's amazing and a must see if you love the outdoors. Suches is known as the valley above the clouds. It is almost 10 degrees cooler than Atlanta. Check it out next time you are in North Georgia.

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midpack At least until now, I’d feel guilty about paying for travel & accommodations to “do the same things we do at home... I’ll have to wrap my head around this concept.

I wonder if you might be more focused on the cost than the context of the experience.

My oft-mentioned grandad used to say "why spend money to go to Paris when there's a nice French restaurant here in town?". Not the same gramps, but thanks for leaving us a bundle so we could buy a condo there.

What is an extended vacation like? A few years ago I posted the following on this forum:

...Oh, I can think of ways to fight off the ennui:
Find a nice beach town in Italy. Sleep till 10. Quiet breakfast and cappuccino in town. Beach until 3. A nap. A cool shower. Meet some new-found friends around 9-10PM for drinks and dinner al-fresco. Bed by 2AM every night.
Maybe work a few hours a week in a small art gallery in Nice; meet some interesting people; maybe find a nice girl who's last name starts with "de" or "von" who's similarly inclined. (Make sure she's telling the truth when she says she's not married)
One should aim to outgrow being bored AND young once one stops being a teenager...

Actually an extended vacation is not a vacation...it's just 'the way you live'. "Vacation" just tends to imply a w*rk context, doesn't it?

[kcowan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett When going to Europe we never fly in and home from the same city.

Same here. London. Amsterdam. Paris. Frankfurt. Malaga, Milan, Rome, Zurich. Next year it might be Budapest and Madrid.

Once we get to the continent, it is really easy to get around.

[Koolau]

Our last vacation while still w*rking was for 5 weeks in one hotel. That was our final "run through" to see if we wanted to move there. We did our best to live as if it was our home. We cooked meals, visited areas we'd never seen before, found most of the resale shops, found which stores had the best prices, etc. etc.

Since we moved there, we now take our yearly vacation back to the old homestead. We stay 2 to 4 months in the summer. From there, we can travel by car most places of interest (short vacations within the main vacation.) It's nice to have a place that's our home-away-from-home. We have a car, house, "stuff", friends, favorite activities (local celebrations, festivals, etc.) So, now most of our vacations are "extended." We usually get to see all the kids, most old friends, etc. Our situation may be a bit unique in that we can take an extended vacation for cost of air fair plus less than the cost of a family stay at Disney for a week and yet stay as long as we like. YMMV

[brett]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcowan Same here. London. Amsterdam. Paris. Frankfurt. Malaga, Milan, Rome, Zurich. Next year it might be Budapest and Madrid. Once we get to the continent, it is really easy to get around.

We typically only get one way car rentals in Europe. Especially in Italy and Turkey. About the only exception is when we happen to be on the Greek Islands. Even then, last time we rented in Kefelonia we did a one way rental from city and a ferry port drop off.

When we were in Spain we were unable to pick up a car in Toledo and drop it off in Lisbon. We had to drop it off in Seville. Then take a bus just across the Portugal border to Faro, pick up another car, and eventually drop it in Lisbon.