How do you timeshare?

[GrayFal Silver Contributor and supermoderator Find all posts View Profile Close GrayFal]

Our style is very boring to many of you but not to us. We try to return every year to the three locations where we own a timeshare because they are on the beach in Maui, Mexico and Laguna Beach in CA. If only we had bought a house on the beach, we didn't need to do all this flying today but as long as we can we'll keep continue doing it. Since we occupy the same unit too, it feels like it is our home away from home because everything is so familiar but still, it is a vacation and a change.

There is NOTHING wrong with returning to a beloved place every year - I feel about Aruba and STT the same as u do about your month in Hawaii - Heaven on EARTH!

[hliw Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close hliw]

Same here! DH is much more of a homebody than I and he rarely hears interesting vacation details from friends. So when asked, "Where would you like to go?", he pretty much just shrugs and asks the question back to me. In over 21 years of marriage, he has arranged for exactly one getaway weekend for the two of us ...and it was to a place we'd been before. Let's just say that he has many, many charming and valued qualities but vacation planning is not one of them.

OTOH, he's usually up for an adventure. As long as I can work the vacation budget within our family budget, he's been willing to go wherever I'd like and pretty much whenever I'd like. He seems to enjoy our trips when we get there too. So I have fun looking at the Sightings and dreaming a bit.

My husband is much like Lisa's...I say "where would you like to go next year?" - He says..."I don't know." Then I look online, search the map for a geographical preference, usually put in for the exchange and then ask "How does__________ sound?" - He usually says "sounds good," and off we go.

I plan most of our vacations 1 to 2 years out, and it usually starts with the map. USUALLY we spend one week in Myrtle Beach at the Marriott where we own, we then use an AC and our second week to go somewhere over T-day week or Christmas...occasionally we use one for Spring Break (next year is DISNEY! with some friends thanks to someone I met through this forum).

Next year we are going to Massanutten with my sister, Disney with friends and are planning on going to MB as a family. It's about time to start planning for 2010!!

Cheers!

[basham Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close basham]

Interesting topic.

Always try for a beach summer vacation. Usually on the Cape but have been to NC as a driving range example. Also willing to fly, train, hire car there, whatever.

Pre Spring in MA comes April Vacation, so we go away, usually to Newport to enjoy the pre spring weather, have been to Williamsburg during this timeframe, looked at New Orleans for next year.

Fall - the past few years I've enjoyed a late September week and a late October week in Newport. Stay 4 days of those available. Enjoy these the most.

Also try to fit in a long weekend here or there, target Memorial day and 4th of July, sometimes lucky, sometimes not.

So far we are stay close to destinations people.

[pcgirl54 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close pcgirl54]

For the last 8 yrs we vacation in Hilton Head in May or October and then a second week someplace like Outer Banks or Florida Gulf.

I have kept a places I want to go list and pretty much at this point have been to many on the list. Westin Maui,Harborside Atlantis, Manhattan Club. Arroyo Roble Sedona, Royal Mayan in Cancun,South Seas Plantation Captiva Island Fl.

I do so love like many of you the hunt. I do plan 8-12 months out. DH does go along with what I find and listens to why it's a good idea then says do it. Maui was the only one he asked for in 12 years.Furthest out was Captiva Island 18 months out and that was due to a post I read on a BBS. So I too I have gone to places because of other BBS posts. Places I never would have known about.

We love coastal beaches the most and that is where we vacation. We fell in love with Hilton Head Island and plan to move there within a couple of years.

We have been on 3 cruises that were planned through a travel agent. Would love to do Panama Canal and a summer Alaskan cruise. I have not been to Europe that is on the list but down the road. I would want an escorted something or 12 day cruise for the first time as it would be too nervewracking otherwise.

I do not know where we are headed next year. That's very unusual. Thinking seriously about Yosemite and seeing the National Parks maybe as an EOY thing. Lake Tahoe,Napa, Montery are other areas I want to see on that Yosemite trip.

St James Club Antigua interests me and I know DH would love a Tradewinds Cruise trip.


For next year besides a week in HH...
Thinking about Bermuda . Have not been since college and think DH would like it. Only 2 hours away from Boston. Not sure about St George Club or a book a cruise where everything is included and leaves from Boston so no air fare.

I love planning and knowing that there is someplace wonderful to visit. It keeps me sane when I am stuck in commuter traffic.

[x3skier Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close x3skier]

We used to look and see what is available to trade, put in a hold, see if we could get FF Award tickets and if yes, book it and go.

After about 5 years of this, we now own a Club Regina and Allen House both bought on resales which we use every year while still maintaining a trading week (or more) in RCI for other spots that might be interesting. Usually, however, we just check Travel Zoo and other sites for any good deals for a short break, not to mention our Condo in Charleston SC for trips other than the Club and Allen House.

Cheers

[Dori Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dori]

We reserve February for our annual trip to Florida, but we are amenable to many locations in that state, so we do get some nice trades. For our fall and spring trips, we browse until we see something nice. We have done Las Vegas ( a number of times!), California (Escondido and Palm Springs areas), Texas, Arizona, Branson, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Myrtle Beach, Georgia and Virginia.

A few times we have used Extra Vacations, and twice we took advantage of the now-defunct, it seems, One-Plus-Ones.

Right now I'm lurking for something last minute that might tempt us.

Dori

[cmb Member Find all posts View Profile Close cmb]

I wish...

I wish we could just go where/when I see availability but until we are retired we are pretty much set with our annual trips to the coast in Feb, Maui for two weeks in April, SoCal in June, and we alternate between Florida and California for Christmas for 10 days where we usually book timeshares if available. The rest of the time we use our WM credits for short (2 day) getaways during the year. Since we can only get 5-6 weeks vacation time a year this pretty much takes up all of our time and we have more ts weeks than we can use. - Hoping to retire in the next couple of years and be free to go wherever and whenever, but until then we have to put in our requests and cross our fingers...