How Do You Decide Where To Vacation

[Tigger&Belle]

Maybe that would be a good location for your next vacation.!

Denae

Maybe my DH could go to Mars and I could bring the kids back to Orlando....

 

[Disney-Kim]

We own DVC, so Disney is pretty much a given. but...we also take a 2nd trip a year.
this trip is harder to plan. We have gone to Hawaii 5 times. ok enough.

now we are trying to pick somewhere new that we think we would like.
its really hard. and...our budget is not unlimited. When we think of where we would really really like to go...its a short list.

 

[goodeats]

We have our list of places we want to go. On the 'before kids' list is - Ireland/Scotland, Alaskan Cruise, and WDW (with Hubby for first time!). Sometimes we travel to visit family or friends. For instance we're going to Colorado for a cousin's wedding in Sep. Not really a vacation to me, but fun never the less. My friend is getting married in Maui in June, so we're making a vacation out of it.

I'm definitely more of the planner than DH. He finds my itineraries for Disney ridiculous! I wonder how that trip together will go. He might just throw it away! I'm sure we'll have fun anyway.

 

[tarheelmjfan]

I was raised in a family that always took vacations. DH was not.

This is exactly the same for DH & I. We're both from NC. When we met, he was 27 & had been to SC, GA (driving through on his way to FL), to WDW once, & to visit his Grandmother in FL a couple times. That's it!!! My parents had a travelling bug (as do I ), & we took 3 or 4 vacations a year. My dad did all the planning, & had a rule that we would take at least one educational trip, & one fun trip a year. The others could be either. DH & I had a hard time agreeing on this at first. I was used to travelling, & thought that was what you were supposed to do. IMO, vacations create priceless family memories. He thought they were a waste of money. I too planned short trips, then started extending them. We're now up to 2+ weeks at a time, & he doesn't think that's long enough. I've trained him well. My inlaws still think it's a waste.

Back to the OP's question.... I do all the planning. I wouldn't want to go on a vacation DH or anyone else I know planned. I come up with some ideas, then ask DH & DS for input. They usually give me very little feedback, but will let me know if they really don't like an idea. I do wish they would show a little more interest. DH & I have started taking 1 trip a year by ourselves. We didn't go anywhere w/o our DS until last year. He was 13 at the time. Oddly enough, DH shows much more enthusiasm in planning these trips.

 

[Tink&SquirtsMom]

For our big trip we have a list of places we want to see. From there we just have to match up how much time we have, finances and the kids ages to the destination. Like in June we had 5 days, kids are 3 and 5 and we had very little money to spend... perfect for a quick trip to Oahu (been before so we don't need a long trip, had frequent flier miles to cover the major expenses, and easy trip for small kids). Our December cruise we booked because again it was the best fit for time, kids ages, and cost but mainly because dh and I LOVE having the kids club at our disposal (do all the family activities we want then off to a massage and adult time... perfect!!). We are always adding to the list, so we won't run out of ideas on there anytime soon, and we are trying not to do any repeats on the big trips (except when we've been but kids haven't, like Oahu). We do repeat annual weekend trips every year (snow, Disneyland, San Francisco, date weekends). The hardest part for big trips is matching where we want to go with our kids ages and finding activites appropriate for them. Seems like right now we are kinda resticted to certain types of vacations (Disney and Beach work best). But in a few years we have so many that we will suddenly be able to do with them, it will be hard to choose (waiting to do NY until we don't need carseats, want to visit relatives in Italy and Greece, want to visit DC when they are learning about US history, Costa Rica when they are old enough for zip line, etc, etc). I do all the travel planning for the family. I really enjoy it alot, except there is some pressure there trying to insure that you are planning things everyone will enjoy and a schedule that will work for everyone (we don't do itineraries, except for things that require advance booking). I involve the kids and dh as much as possible on things like accomodations, activities, etc. Dh almost never has input till we arrive then he has all sorts of ideas but I've learned what he likes, and hes learned to speak up if he really has his heart set on something and not just assume I'll know that and plan it... so it took a few years to get there but it works out well now. My dd loves to help. As the kids get older we plan on letting them play a big part in the decision making on where we go. And have already started that to a smaller extent with our weekend trips.

 

[suzannen]

I am forever reading and clipping travel magazine articles as well as talking to folks about their latest trips. I keep little files of places that interested me and then when we're ready to plan a vacation, I start pulling out the files. DH and I narrow down the choices to 3 or 4 places and then we start checking out details like weather, hotel and airplane fares for those locations at that time of year. We then check out the destination or hotel websites plus ones like Tripadvisor.com for user reviews. We've never been disappointed yet. Our next one will be to the One & Only Ocean Club in the Bahamas the day DD gets out of school the first week of June - I can't wait!
Here's their website for any others that might be interested http://www.oneandonlyresorts.com/oao/oceanclub/MainFrameset.aspx?lang=0&sct=home

Can you tell I LOVE to plan vacations?

 

[mrsstats]

My brother has timeshare that he trades. He says I am going to so & so, do you want to join us. 99% of the time we go where he says. We have gone some places that I would not have thought of and enjoyed it.