What's your vacation style?

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

Each of us has a special "style" when we go on vacation...what's yours?

When you vacation, do you look forward to sleeping late? getting up early and racing off to explore? Staying close to the bar and pool? Doing something daring or never done by you before? Seeking out familiar haunts?

[barndweller Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close barndweller]

First, let me say how glad I am that you are back from vacation and posting these fun questions! I missed you.

What we do on vacation depends on where we are. At favorite resorts we return to often, all we do is hang out and relax by the pool or on the patio. We are early risers so like to watch the sunrise while having our morning brew. We may do a little sight-seeing to favorite spots or not depending on the weather.

A new destination means we spend most of the day exploring, starting early and getting back in time for a dinner grilled on the barbeque. We don't eat out often but usually plan one or two nice dinners out during the week. We don't cram too much into each day but try to do some sight-seeing each day. Thrill stuff such as Zip lines and ATV rides aren't our cup of tea but a nice van or jeep tour is something we would choose. Since we prefer a leisurely pace,we lean toward doing things on our own most of the time. Since we rarely travel with children, we like our vacations to be unstructured, allowing for more spur of the moment decisions.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

We travel a lot, so we treat our timeshare like our second home.

The first thing I do is set up my office in the living area. We put the stuff in the refrigerator and the bedrooms.

We always bring the same stuff. My own coffee, mug, equal, filters. Gotta bring your own mug because most timeshares have very small cups. Not good for heavy coffee drinkers. My wife usually makes brownies for the boys. We always look for a costco to fill the refrigerator.

Once we are all set up, we check out the location and surroundings of the timeshare resort and give our thanks to the timeshare gods for giving this great gift of travel.

Sometimes we do a lot of sightseeing or we go out to eat. Most of the time, we just enjoy our home away from home living like we would if were at home.

[aliikai2 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close aliikai2]

Like Jim we

tend to treat our timeshare as a home away from home. It does make a difference if it is Mainland, Hawaiian or Mexican since we shop and eat to match the location.

On Kauai, Maui or The Big Island we hit Costco right away, then look for a farmers market for fresh fruits and vegies and will fill in from one of the close island stores.

We fix about 80% of our meals in Hawaii.

In Mexico, we will shop a Mega or Comercial Mexicana for fruits and snack, lunch and breakfast stuff, but we eat out 95% of the dinners, maybe 50% of the lunches.( or if staying in the Marina area of PV, 100% dinners, and 75% lunches)

Since Joyce has become oxygen dependent and almost wheel chair bound, we don't wander as much as we used to, but we still get out and look at the beautiful sites.
Watching a great sunrise or sunset is always one of our favorite things.

fwiw,

Greg

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

We tend to putter around in the morning, then spend the afternoon doing something away from the timeshare, taking advantage of the particular pleasures of where we are visiting, then get home by 6 pm or so and cook a meal.

When vacationing we tend to go out for dinner once a week.

I LOVE timesharing!

[1950bing Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 1950bing]

Never go to any timeshare meetings
Never cook
Get up early ( dark ) go get a good breakfast
Walk a lot
Take in the local stuff
Stay away from chains that are everywhere
Take it easy during the evening

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

Lots of reading and laziness...!

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

Heavily planned or fly by the seat of your pants?

I love this question, and I would like to add to it. Do you plan your time in advance? Or do you just do what feels right at the time?

My family is very fly-by. We don't like being pinned down, don't like reservations except for the essentials (hotel, flights) and enjoy the freedom to do what feels right on any given day. My best friend's family are the ultimate in planners. When they go to Disney, they have reservations for dinners each night and they plan their assault on the park to be at the right place at the right time. We eat wherever we happen to be when we get hungry

What do others do?

Anita

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

When you vacation, do you look forward to sleeping late? getting up early and racing off to explore? Staying close to the bar and pool? Doing something daring or never done by you before? Seeking out familiar haunts?

Hubby looks forward to sleeping late, I look forward to exploring, and half the kids look forward to watching TV (we don't have broadcast or cable TV at home). Quite often every day is different. Normally we stick close to the resort, or within a day's drive, but in Hershey eldest son talked his dad into driving up to Scranton, so the four younger kids and hubby were all gone for a day while eldest daughter and I enjoyed the quiet and read. The kids like to have at least one day where we just stay at the resort; hubby and I like to have at least one day where we go and do something we couldn't do anywhere else (i.e., tour Gettysburg, check out the rock formations in Wisconsin Dells, go to the Great Smokey Mountain Park).

I love this question, and I would like to add to it. Do you plan your time in advance? Or do you just do what feels right at the time?

We usually have a couple of things we definitely plan to do and then a long list of possibilities. We're going to Myrtle Beach next month, and (barring hurricanes) we'll definitely hit the beach and most likely hit Alligator Adventure (especially if we get around to ordering the tickets ahead of time!). I have a list of probably ten other things that we might get to, but odds are we won't, and another four or five little things that could go either way.

The kids felt our last vacation was too scheduled and specifically requested we have more "down time" hanging out at the resort this time around, but half the stuff we did last time they were lobbying for, so we'll see. I do a lot of research ahead of time but don't specifically schedule anything.

[Pstreet1 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pstreet1]

We're definitely out seeing the local sights; for me, if there's nothing new to see, there's no reason to leave home. We eat most meals out (because we're generally out and about), but usually have breakfast stuff in the condo for a few days when we don't start early. We may have a dinner, or maybe two in the condo, but we're usually out experiencing the local options. We tend not to go back to places we've been before, probably because we're looking for new things to see.

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

It all depends where we are but if you read my trip reports you can tell I'm usually on the go. The only place I can really relax is at a beach. When I'm at the beach I fix breakfast and lunch and always go out for dinner. The only time I've ever been truly relaxed is the Tradewinds cruise club. Sleep, eat, drink, snorkle.

When going to an area that I've never been to I'm out exploring every day and usually eat lunch & dinner out.

I used to be a big big planner but not as much anymore. On my next trip outwest in Sept I have reservations on the north rim of the GC but the rest is a list of places we want to go but no certain days. I am trying to be more flexible but this one will be a run, run, go, go , one.

Shaggy

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

I spend my summers vegging at the beach. Usually Florida in Hollywood, Ft. Myers, Vero Beach and Sunny Isles or wherever else I can pick up a last calll or cheap points week at a nice place. I usually have 3 to 4 weeks in a timeshare spread out between May and September. Spend breakfast, lunch and dinner in the resort with usually one night out for Mexican. Might order pizza or Chinese delivered. I'm in Ft. Myers now and we took out Chinese.

I try to do Disney for Food & Wine Festival in October. Breakfast, lunch and dinner in the resort or the parks.

December like to visit somewhere new to explore & enjoy the Christmas ambiance. THis year it's off to Marbella Spain. Don't go during Christmas but during the 1st 2 weeks of December before the prices shoot up. Still get to see all the beautiful decorations everywhere.

February back to Disney for more of the mouse. Gotta use my DVC points.

April or May try to go away somewhere I've never been for 2 weeks in a timeshare. Day tripping to see the sights and night times enjoying new restaurants in the area. Breakfasts are in the room and lunch is skipped in lieu of an early dinner. I try to avoid the school age crowds by vacationing before they get there.

I'll also try to work a cruise in somewhere in the year since I live in Miami and we have lots of cheap deals that I can take advantage of easily.

[dale7 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dale7]

Most of the time we do not stay in the room much when we travel, we really like to see everything that's out there the only time that we are not traveling around is when we have stayed at the resort or in the area many times. When we are out and about we will usually eat out but at night and when we stay around the timeshare we usually cook in. If we are at a Ocean resort then we will stay around the resort and go swimming and hang out. We really like to go to all the local festivals especially in Hawaii.

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

It all depends on where we go. We basically follow 2 rules. First, no schedules as we like to do want we want, when we want. Second, no cooking meals. We always eat out except for snacks. I am retired and my wife is a homemaker so we can come and go as we please. The vast majority of our vacations are non-timeshare. This year we spent 2 weeks in April at the Grand Mayan - Riviera Maya where we have gone for the last 4 years, 2 weeks at a time. This year we just hung out at the pool and spent a lot of time chatting with our friends who are employees at the resort. In May/June we did a 2 week non-timeshare vacation touring Death Valley, the national parks in Utah, and 5 nights in Las Vegas. We also do a lot of 3-5 day trips to various places in California. Next month we are going to Palms Springs for 5 days and will be staying at the Agua Caliente Hotel/Casino/Resort in Rancho Mirage. In October we are going to Wichita Falls, TX to see our new granddaughter. At Thanksgiving in November we are going to Las Vegas for 5 nights at the Paris to see Barry Manilow at the LV Hilton. If we go to New York City then we do lots of tours, sightseeing, fine dining, and enjoying the city. However, we always observe the no schedule and no cooking meals rules no matter where we go. We prefer to stay at luxury hotels with lots of service and amenities.

[Icc5 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Icc5]

Depends where

At new resort locations we:
Explore
find places to eat
make drives sometimes reaching 150 mile radius
We also research before we go so we plan on seeing certain things. Wife loves to sit and read and I'm more wanting to go search.

Resorts we have been to before:
We usually have a reason for going back. An example is next week we will be at Lawrence Welk, Escondido which we own at. We will be there to visit my daughter and family at Camp Pendelton and celebrate grandaughter's birthday. We will spend 3-4 days exploring more of San Diego. A day at Seaworld (grandaughter will be 2 so limited as to what to do).
In the past we have gone from Welk to Disney, Zoo, Animal Park, Universal, Beach, Gourd Farm (wife's passion),and visited about 50 cities within driving distance. We love to BBQ and breakfast is a passion for me.
Bart