Where do you keep going back to year after year?

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

And then I keep returning to Aruba. Originally stayed at the Marriott's where I own but now prefer the laid back vibe of La Cabana/Bluegreen Resort.

That's how we feel about Aruba. Our first time was La Cabana, then second we stayed in the high rise area thinking the convenience of being within walking distance to all the restaurants would be great. But next time we will be back at La Cabana because that unobstructed, panoramic ocean view is so amazing, and the beach was so low key and relaxed. Can't wait for another trip!

[vintner Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close vintner]

Wine is a wonderful reason to go anywhere.
Have you done any of the other Wine regions?
There is a vineyard trail in Pennsylvania. Lots of cute vineyards.

We are doing an exchange through Bluegreen/Select Connections to Whispering Woods at Mount Hood in Oregon. July will be a Pinot Noir trip for us, and seeing new areas. We try to taste local wines everywhere we go, but can and will never do muscadin again. That is not wine.

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

Are Dave and Meme still running Morritts ? Last time we were there we were drinking with Dave and I thought his wife was drinking with her boyfriend.

[chriskre Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close chriskre]

Chris,

You could fly to Grand Cayman for about $90!

Anyone living in Miami should have a big stash of British Airways Avios! Avios' award chart is distance based, so from MIA to many lovely places such as Aruba and Grand Cayman, you're on the lower tiers of their award chart. You'd fly on American metal, but you'd book with Avios, so the relevant award chart is the Avios one, not AA.com. (AA would charge you 35,000 miles for the same flight.)

MIA-GCM is just 4500 Avios each way or 9000 RT, which is about $90 worth of points.
MIA-AUA is just 7500 Avios each way or 15000 RT

Avios is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards (and Starwood Preferred Guest, but those points are harder to earn).

You can earn 9000 Avios easily either through regular spend on a credit card, sign up bonus, or shopping online through a portal.

If you have your own business, there is currently a Chase Ink offer that gets you 60,000 Chase UR after hitting the minimum spend. That's worth $600 if you take it as cash, or you could use it to get 6 RT tickets to Grand Cayman

A quick check at aa.com shows wide availability for MIA-GCM.

Anita

Wow! Great info. Will definitely have to check it out.
And I do have my own business which I use the AA cc for and although I amass a lot of miles it also takes a lot of miles for a redemption.
This year they sent me a $100 certificate off a ticket and two Admirals club tickets to use.
I've never gotten those before. I think their figures are wrong on my spend but I'm not arguing. :big grin:

I spend 35K AA miles a few years ago because of the ridiculous $600 price tag for spring break weeks.
I'm sure if I went in the summer it would be cheaper but my friends who went with me are snowbirds so they always want to go peak season.

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

Wow! Great info. Will definitely have to check it out.
And I do have my own business which I use the AA cc for and although I amass a lot of miles it also takes a lot of miles for a redemption.
This year they sent me a $100 certificate off a ticket and two Admirals club tickets to use.
I've never gotten those before. I think their figures are wrong on my spend but I'm not arguing. :big grin:

I spend 35K AA miles a few years ago because of the ridiculous $600 price tag for spring break weeks.
I'm sure if I went in the summer it would be cheaper but my friends who went with me are snowbirds so they always want to go peak season.

Sorry to be off topic, but the AA card is almost certainly not your best bet for your business expenses.

PM me if you want to discuss further

Anita

[rapmarks Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close rapmarks]

Wow. Lots of great places to add to the bucket list.
Thanks everyone for sharing.

I sometimes wish I didn't live so far from the rest of the country.
Takes me 6 hours just to get out of Florida so road trips are always hard to start from here in Miami.
I usually end up flying and renting a car to do any road trip and skipping the 6 hours to get out of FL.
I want to try the Auto train and see if I can add other areas to my repertoire of favorite drive to vacation spots.
Anybody try the Auto train?

lots of friends do the auto train who leave in the Eastern states. The further ahead you book, the lower the cost.

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

Wow, Anita. Thank you very much for the info about BA Avios. I will take a look.

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

Las Vegas calls our name year after year. We love The Grandview and try to get there once a year.

At one time, we were TSing in Florida for 5-6 weeks during the winter. About 5 years ago, we were visiting friends in a 55-plus mobile home park in Sebring and fell in love with it. We bought a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom unit and love the social and golf aspects. We have made so many new friends and we often visit with many of them when we are back in Canada.

Dori

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

Palm Springs, Ca.....my condo in Stuart, Fl..Aruba. Trying Morritts Grand Cayman this month..Pat is a bad influence on me!!!!

Susan

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

There are only a couple of places that we like to go back to. One is New York City and the other is Waikiki Hawaii. We used to go to Mexico all the time but stopped going a few years ago. We never get tired of visiting New York. We may get tired of visiting Waikiki but not yet.

With air travel being such a hassle, we may just start limiting our travels to places we can drive to.

[JWC Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close JWC]

Southern California. Dear Old Dad has been there for 20 years come next month. I'm generally on the left coast at least once a year. Favorite is staying in Laguna Beach. If I can't get one there DelMar, Carlsbad, Oceanside are all high on my list.

I never, ever tire of the location. Plenty of stuff to do or not do as the case may be. I spent a lot of time in San Diego last summer and I could live there. I think about that in February in New York...

I also go to the caribbean once a year. Morritts Grand Cayman is a favorite but I've been to a few different islands as well. I'll drop everything for a St John opportunity ( my first love, I went every year for a long long time). Now that I have my scuba license I push for twice a year. Very zen. Hawaii can get substituted for a caribbean trip but the 10 hour flight turns that vacation into a 2 week or longer scenario.

That is why we retired in the Temecula Valley 13 years ago. We lived in San Diego for 20+ years and now live just an hour from downtown San Diego. We also lived in the San Francisco Bay area for several years.

Needless to say we just love it here. Beautiful climate and so many things to do and see. We don't feel any need to go elsewhere but we do love our annual summer visits to NYC.

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

That's how we feel about Aruba. Our first time was La Cabana, then second we stayed in the high rise area thinking the convenience of being within walking distance to all the restaurants would be great. But next time we will be back at La Cabana because that unobstructed, panoramic ocean view is so amazing, and the beach was so low key and relaxed. Can't wait for another trip!

What fixed week did you end up with?
Thru Bluegreen Points, I have deeded weeks 1,2,3 1BR Thursday checkin. Works out great.

[JuneB Member Find all posts View Profile Close JuneB]

We've got a few places we like to go each year. Our favorite is Sanibel/Captiva. We have going for 40 years. Started going before they had TS, but now we own at Hurricane House and PBC at South Seas.

Second is probably Estes Park, Co. We exchange into it, preferably Rams Horn or Crags Lodge.

We also love Charleston, SC. We have stayed at Lodge Alley Inn a few times, renting from a Bluegreen owner on these boards. She is very pleasant and easy to rent from. Other times we stay with our grandchildren who are students at College of Charleston.

We go to Gatlinburg about every other year. Own a TS there but don't use it.

Until last year we went to Disney a few times a year. Loved it and owned DVC (Boardwalk Inn and Beach Club)but getting too old for all the walking so we sold them both. Would still like to go occasionally.

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

We spend most of the year on the road, so we go to many places, mostly out of the USA. BUT every summer my MUST for at least 1 to 2 months is Bavaria Germany, and Austria. The rest of the year we can turn up just about anywhere.

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

Lake Tahoe & Sedona is where we go the most. We also like Gatlinburg and Branson.