Vacation Advice?

[inexorabletruth]

My wife and I never had a honeymoon. We were business owners of a struggling pizzeria when we got married and had to return to work the day after the wedding. On the commute back from the wedding, we were pulled over by a police officer who found outstanding tickets (for expired inspection stickers) on my new bride's record, so she spent the night in a freezing downtown jail. I used the last of the business's money to bail her out and clean her record. Time went on, the business shut down, we had a kid, and we rebuilt from the ashes.

I've got a good paying job, and we're all pretty happy now. I've even got a week of vacation time built up and a bright future ahead of me. My wife has been the anchor that kept me from capsizing in an otherwise tempestuous life. She deserves a beautiful honeymoon, even if it had to wait two years after the wedding to get her one. Any suggestions for where we should go or what we should do once there?

We're likely to travel late in the year.... probably September. She wants to go somewhere in the U.S. I've seen pretty much the entire country except Hawaii, Washington D.C. and Alaska multiple times (I used to travel a lot for a living), so it's hard for me to think of the U.S. in terms of adventure. We're both huge fans of best-kept-secrets and strange new sites... something quirky and off the beaten bath. But we keep going back to the usual vacation suspects... cruises, spas, resorts.

Can anybody think of a place that is fun and unique where you live or where you've been that you'd highly recommend for two people who really need to get away?

[Erloas]

It really depends on what you like doing and how much you have to spend.
Personally I don't like crowds, or big cities, or urban areas in general, so I wouldn't want to go to many big resorts and have no interest in visiting many of the cities people like to go to. I do however love to camp and hike and visit wilderness/outdoors areas.

Earlier this month I took a week long vacation with a friend and her kids and we went up to Thermopolis and Yellowstone, staying about 3 days at each place. I brought a tent (a really nice large canvas one I just bought), we brought all of our food in coolers and didn't eat out once the entire trip. I really enjoyed the trip, though my friend and her kids got a bit tired of the camping by the time we were done, but they had a good time too. That trip cost me almost exactly $900 (not counting the plane tickets to get them to where I live), which is very cheap for a week of vacation for 4 people. It was everything from camp spots to food and ice (lots of ice), to admittance to Yellowstone, a museum and hot springs. It wouldn't be hard to spend that much for just food for the same period of time if you were eating out, or about that just for staying at hotels.

Of course that would require that you like camping and have most of the other stuff required to do that, but since I already had tents, cots, sleeping bags, camp stoves, camp tables, coolers, and everything else required it didn't cost me much.

For reference when I got home I looked up renting an RV and doing the same trip, because we say a lot of rented RVs around and I was curious and also because my friend would have enjoyed the convenience of a RV a lot more. Virtually none of my $900 cost would have changed (still need to pay to park the RV in most places, still have to cook your food, get into places, would have saved maybe $30 on ice though), but the RV rental would have been about $1800 plus another $400 in mileage charges and another $300 extra in gas (I spent about $150, the RV gets about 1/3 what the van got). So that same trip in an RV, which would have been a lot more convenient and easier, would have cost about $3400 instead.
I also looked at hotel options and it could be been cheaper then an RV or more expensive depending how nice of a place you want to stay in. But I have no idea how the availability is for them in Yellowstone (know there are a lot there, there are a lot of people too).

Most of my favorite places to go are camping... and they are almost all in or around Wyoming, so other then Yellowstone most are probably not worth traveling to from Texas.

I have taken a canoing trip through the Boundary Waters in Minnesota that was a lot of fun, I would recommend that too.
The Olympic Peninsula and Hoh Rainforest in Washing is pretty cool too. Also done rafting on the Snake River before.
And the Grand Canyon is always worth a trip.

Of course if you don't like doing stuff like that then none of those are all that great.

[Topus]

Have you ever read Neil Gaiman's "American Gods"?
Someone tried to figure out how to spot the various locations and to reproduce the roap trip. If you liked the novel then you should give it a try, besides there are many strange locations in the book.
I found some informations here:
http://arteriesofamerica.com/2011/07/04/american-gods-roadtrip/

[Crow]

You could always try New Orleans. It shouldn't be oppressively hot the time of year you want to go, and there is plenty of local culture to soak up, as well as a beautiful coastline.

Most people only think of New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but I've found it's a great place to go any time of year, especially if you like to eat!

[inexorabletruth]

The road trip sounds cool, but we don't have a car. I don't even have a license anymore.

Camping out might be fun, too. I hadn't thought of roughing it for a vacation. We've been through so much, I was leaning toward something that would pamper her instead. I mean, we already roughed it in real life. While the business was struggling, we went without running water, electricity and heat. Eventually, we even became homeless and slept in our pizza shop.

We've got a week, about $3,000 to blow, and we need to be able to walk or take public transportation to get around once there.

I honestly never considered New Orleans. The last time I was there, I was part of the Katrina relief project. I'm glad to hear they've bounced back. Is there any particular hotel or resort you'd recommend?

[Telonius]

Back in 2000 I stayed at a terrific little B&B called the Old World Inn. Right next to St. Charles Ave., so you're right next to the streetcar line. I had no trouble walking from there to the French Quarter. Unfortunately I can't seem to find much info on it from Google, which makes me suspect it didn't survive (financially or otherwise) the hurricane...

I've also stayed at the Hampton right next to the convention center (for business). No idea what the actual rates are now, but it's kind of off-season and it's pretty close to most of the attractions people are looking to see.

[Karoht]

Can anybody think of a place that is fun and unique where you live or where you've been that you'd highly recommend for two people who really need to get away?

Mediteranian Cruise. Yeah, it sounds like it's simple because the word Cruise is in there. This is the mediteranian. It is anything but plain. You have street vendors pretty much everywhere you go. If you like history there are some excellent sites to see (depends on your cruise) and some great museums.

Mexico is actually pretty great around september. The night life is better, the bus system is actually pretty decent, but there is plenty of 'been there, done that' in Mexico. That is of course, unless you get incredibly far away from the resorts. And for 3 grand you can go all inclusive, and spoil yourselves with food and drink and other goodies.

Jamaica. It's like mexico, only a bit more laid back and in my opinion, just a nicer atmosphere. 3 grand still gets you all inclusive down there too. And there are some really nifty tours that are near to the resorts, the place has much more history than you might think. I think there are some pirate activities to participate in as well.

My mom was visiting Cuba rather frequently for years. Her opinion is mixed, and highly biased towards jamaica now, but ultimately, I don't think she recommends it.


Either way, congrats on your upcoming trip. Enjoy.

[Katana_Geldar]

Pacific cruise from Hawaii to Sydney. Then fly back.

My fiancee are going on a cruise for our honeymoon and we want to do this.

[Karoht]

Pacific cruise from Hawaii to Sydney. Then fly back.

My fiancee are going on a cruise for our honeymoon and we want to do this.
That is a fantastic idea. I didn't even know they did cruises between those two ports. Awesome.

[Katana_Geldar]

You go around Hawaii through Tahiti, across the equator and date line, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and Noumea.

It's about 18-19 days or so with a full week at sea.

BTW, we want to do this but we can't afford it. Instead we're just going around the pacific.

Cruises are also very child friendly, with kids clubs and all night babysitters.

[Karoht]

You go around Hawaii through Tahiti, across the equator and date line, Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu and Noumea.

It's about 18-19 days or so with a full week at sea.

BTW, we want to do this but we can't afford it. Instead we're just going around the pacific.Aww, I'm sorry to hear that. Sounds like an awesome trip to take though.



Cruises are also very child friendly, with kids clubs and all night babysitters.I didn't realize they had those.
I feel really really crappy for the all night babysitters. That job must Suh-huck!

[Katana_Geldar]

They know what they're in for and they get paid for it.

[Krazzman]

Well it depends.

The main factor would probably be: Money. I have a well paid job too and we can only afford a short trip to the Heidepark in Soltau for about two days. (Yes we are going on "vacations" at a Fun-Park.

My GF dreams to fly to Hawaii. Another thing could be Europe. I can't believe I'm saying this but Paris could be lovely, even if the people there can be weird...but that can happen to you anywhere. But if you are interessted in "weird" or better phrased "special" things, try a europe trip through some churches (jeah I know but what) and try to find the picturing of death in each of those (my GF did this on a trip through france and italy with her parents).

Or if you are in stupid things like drinking overpriced beer, wait till oktober and come to germany to the Oktoberfest... nah just kidding that's not worth your vacation time.

Another thing: if you are flexible with your week of vacation you could book a cruise, like KG mentioned. At least in Germany with the AIDA line of cruise ships we have an offer: Just Aida. You book a "random" course for 1 week at a more or less random week. At lest my parents love that. Maybe there is a cruise-line that does something similar?

I for my part liked vacations in spain (as a kid). Hot summer, beach, cool pool etc. maybe try something like that? Hawaii would probably a blast for that though...^^

Hope this helps.

[dehro]

if this is meant to be the honeymoon you never had, Positano in Italy is an estabilished honeymoon destination.
admittedly, kinda touristy/exclusive and not cheap.. however in september the season is mostly if not entirely over, so prices drop quite a bit. (though with the climate changes it will probably still be very warm)...it remains a place worth seeing and from there you can go to all sorts of interesting places like Amalfi, Capri or Pompei, depending on what you're into.

if you use the internet to find good combinations with regards to transport costs and such, you can get pretty much anything you want from that destination..sea, pampering, some luxury, sun, interesting locations, interesting walks good food and a bit of a culture clash too, depending on how you spend your time.
contrary to any US destination which you can always do, with or without kids, at a later time.. this may be the once in a lifetime thing. of course you do have to factor in a couple of extra days for travel.

[Karoht]

They know what they're in for and they get paid for it.
...
Yeup, still feel crappy for them.

Not everyone gets to pick their jobs, especially in this economy.


I also second the Italy trip.