slo’s TUESDAY 7/5 poll - Summer Vacation

[tvguy]

Prior to the pandemic our game plan for retirement was to lay low financially until we started drawing our full Social Security benefit at age 66 1/2. We retired a year ago. So it will be 2024 before we both are on Social Security. So from that perspective, we really didn't plan on any vacations (like cruises or foreign trips) until 2024.
Then the pandemic hit. That really hasn't changed our vacation plans for the above reason, but re-enforces them, nothing likely until 2024.
And now, air travel is a mess, and the so called travel experts are predicting it will be 2024 before they get things straightened out. Although some say it maybe longer than that to get the pilot shortage straightened out. Apparently most commercial airline pilots are retired military pilots and there are fewer military pilots because the U.S. has had so many years of "peace" so there will be fewer military pilots retiring after their 20 years service and moving to flying commercial planes. Who knew?

 

[HeatherC]

We love vacations! We were in Florida in February, Hilton Head in May, and will be in Maine for 10 days in August and then back to Hilton Head for Xmas. We are also planning a New Hampshire weekend for Columbus Day.

We tend to do relatively cheap vacations. For instance, Maine we are camping at a place I grew up camping at. Florida we do every February and drive. I also book hotels a year in advance or as soon as the booking window opens. Hilton Head we always rent a villa and cook a lot of our meals. We tend to hang out at the beach, do a lot of biking and browsing the shops. All these trips combined do not even come close to what we would pay for a Disney vacation and since our kids are grown we no longer feel the need to do the parks. We also really don’t pay for a lot of activities…we prefer hiking, biking, kayaking, etc..

 

[AndreaDM]

Prior to the pandemic our game plan for retirement was to lay low financially until we started drawing our full Social Security benefit at age 66 1/2. We retired a year ago. So it will be 2024 before we both are on Social Security. So from that perspective, we really didn't plan on any vacations (like cruises or foreign trips) until 2024.
Then the pandemic hit. That really hasn't changed our vacation plans for the above reason, but re-enforces them, nothing likely until 2024.
And now, air travel is a mess, and the so called travel experts are predicting it will be 2024 before they get things straightened out. Although some say it maybe longer than that to get the pilot shortage straightened out. Apparently most commercial airline pilots are retired military pilots and there are fewer military pilots because the U.S. has had so many years of "peace" so there will be fewer military pilots retiring after their 20 years service and moving to flying commercial planes. Who knew?

I know one retired military pilot and one about to retire, they both are or will be working for carriers like FedEx or UPS. With all the stuff going on these days and how people in general are behaving, they both said they'd much rather fly boxes than fly people.

 

[Tattylou]

Choose other.
August we have a trip to Cooperstown for my 12 year old’s little league tournament at Dreams park - this is a huge deal to the kids on the team and supposedly really fun according to people who went other years. However, would I rather be on a different kind of vacation for the money this costs - yes.
We also had a tournament in Maine last weekend for my older son’s baseball team.
So basically our trips are baseball team related this summer.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

We went to the Outer Banks, NC for a week long beach vacation in June using a timeshare trade. Then in August we are going to San Diego for a week to visit my family. While we are there, we’ll spend 4 nights with my parents in an oceanfront timeshare in Oceanside, so I’ll get some more beach time in.

I’m a teacher, so we vacation a lot in the summer time and over the Christmas and Easter school breaks. This past school year we spent a week in New Orleans/French Quarter over Christmas, celebrated our anniversary (delayed a year due to covid) on a 5 day trip to Panama City Beach, Fl, and spent 4 days in Virginia Beach over Easter Break. We used timeshare trades for all the trips in this post except for Va Beach. It makes vacationing affordable for us.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We are retired. We are on vacation now and will be finished by July 21.

We also will be away a week in August.

After that DH gets a knee replaced. Ouch!

 

[tvguy]

I know one retired military pilot and one about to retire, they both are or will be working for carriers like FedEx or UPS. With all the stuff going on these days and how people in general are behaving, they both said they'd much rather fly boxes than fly people.

A fraternity brother of mine is a retired FBI pilot. He got back to flying for a small commuter airline for a few months before the pandemic, then got laid off. Now he is flying corporate charter jets. He says ferrying around rich people is the best. And he has gotten used to their dogs flying along and sleeping between him and his co-pilot during the flight.

 

[CynBeth]

We spent a week in Atlanta last month.

 

[luv2cheer92]

I go on a bunch of vacations every year. Did a week in WDW in Jan, then a few days in April.
Did the beach for a long weekend.
A week in Texas.
In two weeks I'll be spending a week in ME/VT/NH/NY.
Then another week to Europe in September.
Then of course lots of weekend trips, summer and not summer.
I have a 3 day weekend in August, trying to figure out somewhere to go there then, too.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Had to cancel our annual July multi-family vacation. For probably 40 years now, we have gotten together with an other large extended family, who are like family to us and likewise, we are to them About 40-45 of us now. We always get together at the same Wisconsin resort for about a week.

This year however, with me having recent afib heart issues along with a recent 10 day hospital stay, Marie and I felt is best to stay close to home. My 2 'kids', Vince and Natalie, along with our 5 grandkids, will represent us well, a great tradition.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

No Summer vacation for me this year-it's a Disney year. My trip is September 9th and I'm too broke from paying for it to go anywhere. I don't mind. Much.

 

[Immadismom]

No vacation for us this year. We closed on our new house In May, moved in June. We also have kiddo #3 heading to college in the fall. So, we’re broke! I don’t mind too much, because we love our house and can get back to life as usual in 2023.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

We are going later this month!

 

[tvguy]

I go on a bunch of vacations every year. Did a week in WDW in Jan, then a few days in April.
Did the beach for a long weekend.
A week in Texas.
In two weeks I'll be spending a week in ME/VT/NH/NY.
Then another week to Europe in September.
Then of course lots of weekend trips, summer and not summer.
I have a 3 day weekend in August, trying to figure out somewhere to go there then, too.

Never had enough vacation time from work to go on that many vacations. Sounds great.

 

[JenBush]

I started a new job in late spring so I don’t have enough PTO for a summer vacation this year. I’m hoping to get away for a long weekend in the fall