Ideal Vacation Spots
- Thread starter Dead2009
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My wife and I had our honeymoon in Costa Rica. It was amazing
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When we plan our trip to Costa Rica, I'm gonna have to get your suggestions! That was on our honeymoon short list too
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Bed. I could spend a week just relaxing in bed
Protip -- Arizona in July. Thank me later
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Ah, you came during our rain day, eh? That's a tough one!
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I was there for 4 days and it rained for 3 of them.
I then went to Vegas, LA and San Francisco in the same holiday and it didn't rain once.
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Well if you bring rain, then please come back!
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Umm, what? I really need more info here.
I gotchu. I'm currently in Arizona, and it's supposed to rain for the next two days. It happens every time I come here, no matter the time of year. I'm not going to come in July though, sorry!
Best part: it's going to be sunny and nearly ten degrees warmer in Oregon. So much for escaping the cold rain!
Costa Rica is at the top of my list at the moment. I was in the process of booking a trip to there when my water heater died and cost me nearly ten grand.
Now two people I mentioned it to are going there this year (separately) and I'm so maaad.
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why would you suggest that? Do you want people to suffer with you?Protip -- Arizona in July. Thank me later
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Yay, thanks, Kat! We need the rain-bringers here
lol, typical!
Suggest what? Coming to Arizona at the absolute BEST time of year?
Dead2009
Horror Movie Guru
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Umm, what? I really need more info here.
I gotchu. I'm currently in Arizona, and it's supposed to rain for the next two days. It happens every time I come here, no matter the time of year. I'm not going to come in July though, sorry!
Best part: it's going to be sunny and nearly ten degrees warmer in Oregon. So much for escaping the cold rain!
Costa Rica is at the top of my list at the moment. I was in the process of booking a trip to there when my water heater died and cost me nearly ten grand.
Australia apparently has a lot of dangerous animals that could take out a human, either by venom or attacking them in general. I like a challenge.
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Note to self: don't go vacationing with this dude. And yes, I'm assuming you're a dude based solely on that craziness.
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This, a week kicking back in bed is ideal enough for me.
Howsabout you come up here to Canada? I'd be more than happy to take you out to a hockey game.Protip -- Arizona in July. Thank me later
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Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. It's sort of close to me but the island is only accessible by ferry. There's no big businesses there, from restaurants to stores it's all mom n pops. It's nice to get away and just kind of unwind from the pace of life on the mainland. The beaches are unspoiled and gorgeous. No hotels or condos right on the beach. It's just you, the ocean, the sand, and the dunes behind you.
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Japan is the only place I've been that I routine miss being, so I guess that would be my ideal vacation spot. Nagasaki was like a 2nd home, so I guess perhaps I'd start there. I have had some great vacations in Mexico too, but always with people who spoke Spanish and were adventurous and had been there a bunch already so knew the best things to do, so that'd probably be a requirement of Mexico as my ideal vacation spot.
Edit: also I forgot -- cruise ships. Specifically the ones that are big enough that it's like being on a floating city. So great.
Edit: also I forgot -- cruise ships. Specifically the ones that are big enough that it's like being on a floating city. So great.
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I'm really curious to try a cruise, but I'm worried I'll immediately hate it and be stuck there. What do you like about them?
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Ok I know you didn't ask me but I looooveee cruises
During my undergrad, there was a classmate who went on a cruise and I swear for the next 2-3 years before our graduation, she kept going on about going on her next cruise. I was sooooo sick of her talking about it. It was like her whole personality--I was annoyed!
Weelll... Then I went on a cruise and... I get the hype lol I've been on 3 now. I honestly feel like it's the easiest way to travel and there's so many advantages to cruises.
- Most cruise lines offer the same basic stuff in the one price:
- room/housekeeping/gym
- meals - for dinner, they give you a menu and you can order EVERYTHING if you wanted to
- entertainment (like comedy shows, magic shows, etc), movies at the pool, dancing, piano bar
- all the above in itself is a crazy good value. Of course, you can add additional savings by splitting rooms, traveling off-peak or if you book with a travel agent, they can break it up into payments for you. It's just a very budget friendly way to travel.
- It's low-maintenance
- You hop on board
- You figure out what to do at what destinations are on your itinerary
- You hop off on those days and do those things then hop back on
- The rest of the time is up to you! There's always something to do and if you don't want to do anything, you can do that too. I bring a couple of books for days when I just wanna lounge around by the pool.
- Recommendations: different lines and different ships offer different amenities. Some are more geared towards adults vs children vs foodies, etc. This is where you want to do some research.
- You can hit multiple destinations (depending on the cruise you book)
- This is for those travelers who want lots of stamps in their passports but also don't want to commit to all the research and time they have to spend to travel/stay at 1 destination for a longer period of time. I've zip lined in Roatan, tubed through caves in Belize, and then got white girl wasted on a Mexican beach all in one trip.
- This can be a downside because if you're like "I wanna do ALL THE THINGS at one destination, well, you can't (unless you're willing to fly back on your own)
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Wow, thanks! That's a lot of good info. I do like having lots of options and doing something different every day and not having to spend much effort planning.
My concern is mostly about crowds and noise. Constantly being subjected to that gets to me really quick. How is it in that regard? Are the rooms generally quiet?
My concern is mostly about crowds and noise. Constantly being subjected to that gets to me really quick. How is it in that regard? Are the rooms generally quiet?
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As far as crowds go, I would say it depends. If you're going to participate in the main ship activities (like the "welcome luau"), you should definitely expect a crowd. It's also crowded at peak meal times but if you're willing to eat a little earlier or wait a little later, you'll be fine. The best pool time is during the meals because everyone is eating! Personally I haven't been anywhere on a ship that was uncomfortably crowded. I always manage to find little pockets of seclusion when I go exploring.
I've only ever stayed in the most basic cruise room below deck so I can't speak for all room types and you think the walls would be fairly thin but I haven't ever heard my neighbors unless they specifically were right outside my door knocking. I will say that I think the rooms below deck have an audible engine hum (that might dampen other noise) but that doesn't bother me either. The basic rooms are tiny though so just be mindful of who you pick to room with. I've had friends who roomed 4 to a room and it was fine and I had others who just shared a room with one other person and they were not friends after the cruise lol
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Pretty much everything Gloom said.
I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, thinking cruises were for old people or something and you would be trapped there with them or whatever. If you like to do a lot of different stuff, just makes sure you get on a big enough boat, or you can go with some kind of group. I went on a Steampunk cruise, which was really just a small group of maybe 100 people at the most (out of a ship that had around 4000, it was Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas I think) that had planned a ton Steampunk themed activities. I'm still friends on Facebook with a number of the people who went, so they were fun. You could go to the activities or not, but it guaranteed at least knowing you'd have some people with common interests and activities there. Totally not necessary though. The Explorer was had more enough things to do like rock climbing, an entire ice skating rink, a dance club, broadway show, a huge workout room, among many other venues, and generally great people watching and ocean watching. The excursions were fun enough but I could have easily just stayed on the boat the entire time because it was an entire little city in there. Generally, I wasn't bothered at all by the kids, and I'm not a kid person and will never have kids. But if you're worried about it, my friend recently went on a Virgin cruise which is adults only and she loved it.
Probably my favorite thing (besides just enjoying being on boats in general) is how easy they make everything for you. Pretty much everything Gloom already said. You pay for a package, get a special card that's accepted everywhere on the ship (on Royal Caribbean anyway), and everything goes onto that and you don't have to think about pretty much anything besides whatever you feel like in the moment. You can review the card transactions on screen in your room if you want. Otherwise, they've pretty much thought of everything you might need or want, so you're free to make decisions in the moment. I'm a planner by trade, so not having to plan for basically anything is amazingly refreshing. Also the internet is slow and expensive (although I'm sure it's much better these days with satellite internet) which honestly was great for me. I just didn't bother and was much happier not worry about what's happening on the internet and no people who can contact me, and not having constant temptations to use the internet. Amazing.
Edit: also I'm very sensitive to noise and I don't remember hearing neighbor tenants whatsoever, just a bit of the engine humming.
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My friend told me the cruises to Alaska are pretty much for old people
I guess I'm old because that's probably going to be the next cruise I take (2026).I've had a handful of friends take Virgin and they exclusively cruise with that line because they enjoy it so much. They're on my short list for a trans-atlantic but I'll definitely need to get a remote job or save up PTO for it.
Carnival also does this. Carnival is more of a budget/family friendly cruise-line.
same! I pretty much planned our entire itinerary for the Belize trip we did back in January. It can be a lot of work.
I low-key enjoy being disconnected during my trips. On cruises, we typically communicated via walkie talkies which was fun
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I had a really fun time in the Mayan Riviera last year. Granted it was our belated honeymoon and we spent way too much on it...but yeah it was great. All inclusive resort with way too many good food options and access to a bunch of different parks that allowed you to enjoy the nature of everything...plus the ruins!
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I’ve only done one cruise and it was an Alaskan cruise. My wife and I loved it. That being said, we were some of the youngest people there because we went around Labor Day, end of the season, because it was cheaper. Most people with school-aged children would not be on the trip because schools would have startedMy friend told me the cruises to Alaska are pretty much for old people
We chose Princess Cruise lines because they had smaller ships. We didn’t want to be on one of the massive cruise lines.
If I were to cruise again, I’d pick a room in the middle of the ship. We didn’t select our room because by not selecting, we had the potential to be upgraded. We weren’t. We were at the front of the ship and could feel it bouncing consistently. We only went to our room to sleep, so it wasn’t the worst
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I'm not that far off from an old person. My mom has always wanted to go on a cruise to Alaska, I hope I can afford to take her one day!My friend told me the cruises to Alaska are pretty much for old people
The planning overload is real. I used to want to plan all my vacations too, but once I went on that cruise I was like, damn, who knew not thinking could be so great lol
At last, I know a use for the walkie talkie feature on my Apple Watch! In other news, my twin brothers have recently become obsessed with seeing how far they can make their ham radios go.I low-key enjoy being disconnected during my trips. On cruises, we typically communicated via walkie talkies which was fun