What are your rules on Travel?

[Robbie Cottam]

Vacation rules
no discount anything, airlines, ground transportation, food.

Rope drop is a thing stupid people do
Getting up earlier on vacation than I do to go to work is not vacation

eating crap that I wouldn’t eat at home is not vacation

vacation is expensive because it is worth it, just embrace it

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

No checked bags - Too high of a risk of lost luggage and it wastes time at the baggage carousel
Layovers have to be $25 per hour cheaper to be justified
Try to travel on points when possible
No chain restaurants
Fly a major airline unless the discount ones are significantly cheaper. Spirit's customer service is worse than Comcast and it's not worth the risk for a few bucks.

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

Rope drop is a thing stupid people do

Please keep this opinion. I like my park empty at rope drop.

 

[nycdisneygal]

Now apart from fast food joints, have you all ever eaten at a restaurant of a completely different culture than the place you were visiting? Say, a sushi place in Mexico, or eaten Chinese in Italy?

We have had great Chinese in France and Great Indian food in Czech Republic.

 

[Robbie Cottam]

Please keep this opinion. I like my park empty at rope drop.

That’s my rule

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I fly, my wife and kids never have but that changes this weekend when we fly out of ATL to MCO which took a lot of convincing (my wife) not the kids, they are overly excited for their first flight lol. Having said that, My rules on travel are:
1. Drive no more than 8 hours. (Legoland is the furthest we will drive)
2. I only fly 1st class and only on Delta.
3. Always have a few sit down meals in a nice restaurant.
4. I always pay for my trip in full before the trip.
5. Relax and take time enjoying the vacation.
6. Last but not least, when we drive to Orlando, we have to stop at Buc-ees both ways.

 

[leebee]

I don't consider these "rules" but I've learned a few things over the years. Although we have a small airport 15minutes from home, prices from there are pretty prohibitive, so we usually drive the 2+ hours down to Portland, ME and fly from there- and nobody flies "direct" from Portland unless you are going to a hub city (Baltimore, for example), so flight times are not usually very convenient. Price was always the guiding factor, but not so much these days, now that I am old. Here's what I keep in mind:
>6am flights means being at the airport at 4am. Even if we stay at the airport the night before, I'm still not gonna have a great day. I'm still willing to consider 8am flights, but just barely.
>On arrival... if the hotel is within an hour's drive of the airport, fine, but the flight has to land by 9:30. That makes it 10:30 when we get out of the airport (yes we check bags) and 11:30 or later when we get to a hotel.
>If our flight home gets in later than 9pm, we stay near the airport. An hour to get out of the airport and then 2+ hours to drive home doesn't happen for this girl anymore, especially as I take motion sickness pills to fly, and it's a long, dark drive north through Maine.
>Don't book the last flight of the day (or a flight that connects to the last flight). If you are delayed, well... hotel room, no other flights out that night, etc. Just a headache

 

[unrequited23]

Now apart from fast food joints, have you all ever eaten at a restaurant of a completely different culture than the place you were visiting? Say, a sushi place in Mexico, or eaten Chinese in Italy?

An Italian place in Mexico. Romeo y Julietta in Cabo San Lucas was so delicious we went twice on our honeymoon.

 

[Colleen27]

I agree. I mean some places are the same regardless of where you go (Subway and Burger King for example) but Mcdonalds has different items depending on where you are and quality varies quite a bit. Mcdonalds in Japan for example is WAY better than in the US and in Germany you can get Doner kebabs and paprika fries.

That's one place where I will very reluctantly make an exception if the situation calls for it. On our summer trip to Scotland, the ferry we were supposed to take to Skye was cancelled so we ended up driving up and around to get to the bridge, and we wanted a very quick bite on the road since the whole mess and some construction around Loch Lomond set us behind my intended schedule. We were immensely surprised at how good the McDs in Fort William was. It was almost like real food - much closer to Wendys here than to McDs, with proper veggies on the sandwiches and options like a pesto-asiago chicken sandwich.

Now apart from fast food joints, have you all ever eaten at a restaurant of a completely different culture than the place you were visiting? Say, a sushi place in Mexico, or eaten Chinese in Italy?

We had a pretty good Japanese meal on Skye on a Monday afternoon, when most of the restaurants on the island were closed. And we had amazing Indian food in London, but the legacy of the colonial ties between the two cultures makes that unsurprising. But I agree with what others have said about Mexican food in Europe; we tried a Tex-Mex place in Stirling on the recommendation of a couple of locals we'd gotten to talking with, and it was just terrible. The seasoning was all wrong for Mexican. The margaritas were pretty good, though.

Reminds me of this place;

Anyone care to guess where I found this?

Alaska. Somewhere in the panhandle. A friend of mine who was working as a travel nurse in Ketchikan mentioned it when I was planning our trip up there but we didn't get to try it because we were driving and didn't have time to make it to the towns that are only accessible by boat/plane.

A lot of things about Paris were different than I expected. It's a beautiful city with really nice people.

Same. The smoking was somewhat noticeable but not at all what I expected - I don't think it is allowed indoors anywhere any more, though with the open fronts of the cafes it does carry inside at times, and I hardly noticed anyone smoking at DLP after reading SO. MANY. bad reviews complaining about people smoking in line and even on rides. And the people were much friendlier than their reputation suggests.

 

[Lumpy1106]

That's one place where I will very reluctantly make an exception if the situation calls for it. On our summer trip to Scotland, the ferry we were supposed to take to Skye was cancelled so we ended up driving up and around to get to the bridge, and we wanted a very quick bite on the road since the whole mess and some construction around Loch Lomond set us behind my intended schedule. We were immensely surprised at how good the McDs in Fort William was. It was almost like real food - much closer to Wendys here than to McDs, with proper veggies on the sandwiches and options like a pesto-asiago chicken sandwich.



We had a pretty good Japanese meal on Skye on a Monday afternoon, when most of the restaurants on the island were closed. And we had amazing Indian food in London, but the legacy of the colonial ties between the two cultures makes that unsurprising. But I agree with what others have said about Mexican food in Europe; we tried a Tex-Mex place in Stirling on the recommendation of a couple of locals we'd gotten to talking with, and it was just terrible. The seasoning was all wrong for Mexican. The margaritas were pretty good, though.



Alaska. Somewhere in the panhandle. A friend of mine who was working as a travel nurse in Ketchikan mentioned it when I was planning our trip up there but we didn't get to try it because we were driving and didn't have time to make it to the towns that are only accessible by boat/plane.



Same. The smoking was somewhat noticeable but not at all what I expected - I don't think it is allowed indoors anywhere any more, though with the open fronts of the cafes it does carry inside at times, and I hardly noticed anyone smoking at DLP after reading SO. MANY. bad reviews complaining about people smoking in line and even on rides. And the people were much friendlier than their reputation suggests.

Yep - Ketchikan it is! This caught our eye on a DCL stop. We loved just being there - it's more than the usual cruise ship port-of-call. Bonus; you can get Mexican food and apparently the best pizza in town in the same meal. Not something I have ever been looking for but good to know (?).

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

Idk, I'm not big on "rules" because under the right circumstances I could be open to throwing any of them out the window. In general, though:

-Accommodations need to be at least as nice, if not nicer, than my home. I dislike bare bones hotels and when I'm on vacation, I see my room/resort as an essential part of the experience. I want it to feel special and I don't agree with "a hotel is just a place to sleep."

-Length of stay needs to be commensurate with the cost and amount of travel time. I don't do an 8 hour flight for a 4 night stay, but two nights is fine if I can drive in a few hours.

-In terms of dining, try something new, even (and especially) in repeat destinations. Try something specific to the location/culture I'm in.

-But a Christmas ornament it's just a tradition my husband and I started when we started dating, and I always make it a point to keep it going.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Main ones: Spring for comfort on flights, avoid Mexico City Airport at all costs along with Newark.
Upgrade resorts as much as possible, comfort is key on vacation and it will eliminate stress in the long run.
Plan far enough in advance to get deals and be able to take longer trips because short trips when taking expensive flights to places like Europe, Asia or Australia are not worth it when you don't stay long enough.

Smaller ones like: ALWAYS book your next cruise while onboard, so you can save money in the end!

Don't pack food or drinks on roadtrips, the bags and or cooler are a pain and half the fun is getting snacks at the gas station or Starbucks while on the road!

As a family of 5 with 3 teens and being a super planner, my rule for myself is to allow each person in the family to plan their ideal trip day and even if it's just a lazy breakfast and lounging by the pool all day followed by some shopping and a dive for dinner and then resort room movie....everyone has a voice in our vacations.

 

[Colleen27]

Yep - Ketchikan it is! This caught our eye on a DCL stop. We loved just being there - it's more than the usual cruise ship port-of-call. Bonus; you can get Mexican food and apparently the best pizza in town in the same meal. Not something I have ever been looking for but good to know (?).

I think you'd find that to be the case in a lot of smaller towns. The best pizza in my rural Michigan community also comes from the best (only) Mexican restaurant in town The woman who opened the restaurant back in the 60s was a Mexican-American woman, and the menu is a rather interesting mix of her own home cooking and generic American bar food, including top-notch pizza. Her grandson sold the place a while back but the new owners stuck to the original recipes. So we have the best pizza in town at the local Mexican grill.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Now apart from fast food joints, have you all ever eaten at a restaurant of a completely different culture than the place you were visiting? Say, a sushi place in Mexico, or eaten Chinese in Italy?

I always stay away from Sushi in Mexico now and that is speaking for cheap joints and expensive restaurants. I just don't like that flavors and that is trying it all over, not just in one place. We have been to around 65% of the states in Mexico.
We have had really good Chinese food in Paris of all places and excellent Mexican food in Germany. We also enjoyed Indian food all over the UK and Italy was so hard for us to turn away from Italian food and try new things but we encountered a delicious Polish place there. Mexico did surprise us with some excellent Crepes in Central Mexico and Chocolate Croissants that were a direct competition for anything we have eaten in France!

We try not to do too much food planning in advance and love to see what's around when we suddenly find we are famished and that's pretty much how we come across some interesting places in our travels!

 

[mrodgers]

This forum is beginning to remind me of my mother. She has so many rules of life to live by, hard set rules too, that I think she has a giant hardback book she had printed for her rule reference.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I only fly with carryon no checked bags. Just did two weeks in Hawaii with only carryon luggage and with 9 flights between getting there and island hopping it was so easy to just walk off the plane and ready to get the rental car.

We do carry on when it's shorter trips but long trips we often do carry on and a shared checked luggage. We try to avoid checked luggage when we realistically can but we wouldn't do a 2 week Hawaii trip on just carry on and personal item I commend you for doing so it just wouldn't be enjoyable for us.

We'll be going on a cruise next July flying AirFrance there and British Airways back. Both have roughly the same carry on and personal items dimensions with AirFrance just under 22 X just under 14 X just under 10 and British Airways is 22 X 18 X 10. These are both however smaller than we're used to.

But the biggest kicker is AirFrance has a restriction that your personal item and carry on cannot weigh more than just over what is the equivalent of 26 lbs that includes the contents within your carry on and personal item as well as the empty weight. So unfortunately not going to be able to get a 7 day cruise plus additional days in the front and back. I think my husband's shoes would be all we could pack at size 13 lol. Although there is a free laundry room on the ship I still couldn't do it with the size and weight.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Our rules are often not hard and fast, they end up being situational.

The chain restaurant thing I think would most apply to domestic travel, international chain places are often composed to at least some local cuisine or local attention so why not try it if you feel like it, but I'm not going to go to a few states away and choose to eat at a place when I can get it at home.

If we're going on a beach vacation the access to the beach and the view become very important and a balcony/patio needed but in many other destinations we go to the view while nice isn't as important, for example while in Vegas a Strip view is nice but not imperative and in many other locations the view is not even a consideration whatsoever.

We like to do things while on vacation and also build in relaxation time. Our beach vacations are never boring although some have been better than others. We don't just sit on the beach all the time. The exception to the relaxation though is often our Disney/Universal trips, those are often go go go with only spots of taking a breather here and there. Although in truth our Universal portion of our trip back in May was very relaxing despite still doing so much, that was the ambiance and ease of park touring and hotel access/location that helped there.

We often enjoy history things so sometimes there's just trips for history and those are often go go go.

It's not unusual for us to seek out a distillery or brewery tour where we're at and we think that's a fun thing to do in different places. One of the ones I actually liked the most was the Appleton Rum Estate in Jamaica despite us not really enjoying Jamaica as much as we hoped we would.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

What are your rules on Travel?​

When returning from RV trip, never drive on Sunday.
Pull-through sites in campgrounds.
Minimum stay in campground - 2 nights.

Cruises must be at least 7 nights long.

Don't plan to do something every minute.

Cross pack suitcases. (Half of my clothes/stuff & half of hubby's clothes/stuff in each suitcase).

 

[dvcgirl67]

I only fly with carryon no checked bags. Just did two weeks in Hawaii with only carryon luggage and with 9 flights between getting there and island hopping it was so easy to just walk off the plane and ready to get the rental car.

Same! We started doing this over a decade ago, and it really takes so much stress away from travel when you know your luggage is always with you . We've gotten to be expert packers over the years.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

-But a Christmas ornament it's just a tradition my husband and I started when we started dating, and I always make it a point to keep it going.

We've been doing that too although we started late. I label the ornament with the month and year for memories sake. We haven't done it for every single place but many of them we have since we started the tradition.

It also used to be a tradition of sorts after a time for my husband to get You Are Here mugs from Starbucks when he went on work trips. That spilled over to vacation and now we have a lot of those. We don't do them for every trip anymore partly because they aren't always available and they have mostly switched to Been There series which I like less. Our Jamaica one though is it's own design except it is more plain than I'd like. I'm glad I got the Disney Parks collection (I have a 4 WDW and DL and DCA) before they switched the design.