Curious to Know

[SadieN]

I prefer road trips but Hubby doesn't understand that leaving Saturday means leaving at 6am NOT at 11pm.

He needs to know when the dropdead time is. Although our last long cruise we almost (he, I was ready to get onboard without him) missed the Spirit because he was still working in the car in San Pedro.

[Warm Breezes]

Diverging slightly from the topic, but in answer to Breezes, here is my list of the top twenty (man-made) wonders of the world:

 

1. Pyramids of Giza

2. Great Wall of China

3. Taj Mahal

4. Angkor Wat

5. Parthenon

6. Machu Picchu

7. Temple of Karnac

8. Forbidden City

9. Petra, Jordan

10. Moai of Easter Island

11. Pagodas of Bagan, Burma

12. Xi'an Terracottas, China

13. Lalibela, Ethiopia

14. Djenne Mosque, Mali

15. Cappadocia, Turkey

16. Timbuktu, Mali

17. Valley of the Kings, Egypt

18. Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma

19. Durbar Square, Nepal

20. Chichen Itza, Mexico

 

I believe few would argue with the ordering of the first half dozen. After that it becomes more subjective (Other candidates - Teotihuacan, Red Square, Grand Canal, Blue Mosque, Abu Simbal?). Natural wonders are even more difficult. I would list the top ten as:

 

1. Mt. Everest - highest mountain

2. Grand Canyon - deepest canyon

3. Iguacu Falls - largest cataract

4. Galapagos Islands - most unique ecosystem

5. Victoria Falls - 2nd largest cataract

6. Ngorongoro Crater - largest intact caldera

7. Great Barrier Reef - largest reef

8. Yellowstone - largest thermal basin

9. Sahara Desert - largest desert

10. Angel Falls - highest waterfall

 

There are obviously a lot more candidates which others might include: Ayers Rock, Dead Sea, Sognefjord, Bora Bora, Mauna Kea, Lake Baikal, Mt. Kilimanjaro, etc. Each has a claim to be the biggest or the best.

 

If only we had unlimited time and unlimited funds...unfortunately we are limited on both...another reason we limit our land trips to USA spots. Expanding internationally will most likely have to wait for retirement. Fortunately, we still have many more places to discover closer to home.

[rbcruisin]

We LOVE cruising and would cruise more than once a year if we could. DH only gets one week of vacation per year and thats how he wants to spend it. I get 3 weeks vacation, so last year I took a trip to California to see my sister for a week and then did the Med cruise. This year I am going to Hawaii with my Mom and my sister and then DH and I are doing a doomsday cruise in December! :D

 

Tell Your Hubby to get a Job at Biogenics its a sister co from the one I work for, the pay sucks but the vacation time is good, should have atleast 2 weeks after a year, then with your support you can go on more cruises.

[CRUISE4JANE]

You do the opposite of us. There always seems to be a national site we want to see and have not been enticed enough by any international site to go there over going to a national one that we haven't been to yet. Someday maybe...but I still want to go to Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Gettysburg, Philidelphia, Colorado, Seattle, Alaska, Hawaii, New Orleans, St. Louis, Washington D.C., Maine, Texas, Route 66...I could go on and on.

 

I was born in New Orleans and live on the outskirts of N. O. (20-25 minutes away). You will love it especially if you are a party person :)

[mzloolue]

LOL I can totally relate to your hubby's job issue. I will take a full week and they don't say much but last year we, when we did our Med cruise, we took an extra couple of days and boy did I hear about it when I got back... lol. I was told 5 days, Mon thru Fri... no more.

 

Exactly.

And you are from Memphis too...

 

And since DH works 6 days he has to use a vacation day for Saturday too.

 

If you have a job now, then consider yourself lucky.

If you have a job with weekends off then you are doubly lucky.

And if you have a job with weekends off and more than two weeks vacation, then you probably don't even know how lucky you are.

 

Everyone is talking about Yellowstone.

DH and I would love to go to Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.

But somehow trying to squeeze either one into 5 or 6 days is ridiculous.

 

Our current dream is a repositioning cruise to somewhere in Europe.

 

Time is such a luxury.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

We do both types of vacations. Usually one or two cruises a year and one or two land vacations. My husband is retired (and vehemently wishing I was, but I still own a business) so we can get away a little easier than others. Last year we did only one cruise (to Alaska) and a month and a half land vacation on the West Coast. According to my business partner/daughter-that will not happen again. I took my lap top with me paid bills, paid employees and kept the govenment happy--but she said that was not the same as being there. We have 2 cruises and a land vacation planned for this year. I think they both offer something special. We travel during the fall and winter on weekends to cheer competitions (part of my business) but do not count that as vacation! Too stressful. It is probably obvious --we like to travel!!

[munchkin4]

I am very curious to know if any of you ever go on any vacations other than cruises. I hear that some of you go on cruises several times a year and can't understand why. I like cruises, but most of my vacations are on land.

 

 

We usually do both. One week will be land vaca and within our state or a nearby state. We like the history our country offers and so try to explore as much as we can. We like to take our other week on a cruise. We don't always make it as sometimes we do family things (our kids are grown) and plan accordingly. But I love the sand and surf so sometimes our land vaca are spent on a beach!!

[sharecruises]

I am single and pretty much ONLY do cruises, except for a land vacation to stay at a friends place near nat forest in Ocala, a nice break

 

 

I have :tried: land trips with others...but there are way too many variables....getting people together for hotel, figuring who drives....where to eat.

[Warm Breezes]

Exactly.

And you are from Memphis too...

 

And since DH works 6 days he has to use a vacation day for Saturday too.

 

If you have a job now, then consider yourself lucky.

If you have a job with weekends off then you are doubly lucky.

And if you have a job with weekends off and more than two weeks vacation, then you probably don't even know how lucky you are.

 

Everyone is talking about Yellowstone.

DH and I would love to go to Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.

But somehow trying to squeeze either one into 5 or 6 days is ridiculous.

 

Our current dream is a repositioning cruise to somewhere in Europe.

 

Time is such a luxury.

 

We have been able to squeeze a smaller trips to the Grand Canyon in that time span but are thinking we will have to wait for retirement for Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore. For the Grand Canyon we fly to Las Vegas and do excursions from there. Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore I want to do in a motorhome and take 3 weeks or more to do it. That is definately not possible with our work schedules.

 

DH gets 5 weeks vacation but he needs to compete against many other co-workers with more seniority than his 27 years to get those weeks off during the summer and holiday and we have to put in for them almost a year ahead of time. I get 4 weeks vacation and can't be gone on the 1st through the 15th due to month end close deadlines. DS is a soccer player dual enrolled in high school and the local university and DD is a competive dancer which is a year round sport with competitions in late spring/early summer.

 

So DH always puts in for the week of DD's National Dance Competition first (which luckily has always fallen in the 3rd or 4th week in June), then a week in July or August (3rd or 4th week of the month) in which we either cruise or take a land vacation (if he can get it off), then time at Thanksgiving or Christmas where we will try to fit in another cruise or land vacation (if he can get it off). I always wait for him to get his time off before I put in my vacation time. Sometimes DH and I will take off for a long weekend (without the kids who are in school) around our anniversary in Sept or Oct which is easier for him to take off. But if DH can't get those few weeks off during the summer or at the holidays, our family vacation can't happen no matter how many weeks he has off.

 

I envy those who can take off anytime they want and go where ever they want. For us it is a long and tedious process just to get the time off when we can all go together. I can't wait for retirement :D.

[spleenstomper]

We tend to do a cruise every other year, with land vacations in between. I usually go with the kids and my sister and her kids to the beach for a week every summer. I also take the kids to visit her in California every year or so.

 

We will probably take the kids to Hawaii next year if the airfare comes down from 1100. a person. If not, we'll probably take another cruise.

[Butterbean1000]

We do a cruise once a year. We would do it twice if we could afford it. We also take a yearly trip to NY to see in-laws and travel to Charleston, SC for long weekend trips to see grandbabies. I also take a yearly trip to St Augustine with the "girls".

[BenjiRodney]

Just back from a land vacation to the Smoky Mountains. 2 cruise planed this year and another fall trip to the smokies, I prefer the cruise vacations as they are actually cheaper.

[trvlgirlmq]

This is an interesting topic as I always had the same thought about taking a cruise vacation. I hate beach vacations. All that sitting around and not doing or learning something new kills me.

 

I travel with my mother and 2 boys (and sometimes my niece). We all like to do active vacations. Europe is our favorite. We are planning a return to Paris for 9 days next summer and 2 weeks in Italy in 2014 as a graduation trip for my oldest. The kids have been traveling forever and are great about overnight flights, trains, schlepping their own luggage, etc. We do Disney World every October for Fall Break. We have done a few other US vacations but are trying to focus on Europe while we (my mom and I) are still young enough to really get around.

 

This will be our first cruise and I am excited and a bit nervous at the same time. We are not drinkers, partyers, gamblers so don't really know what we are going to do with ourselves.

[Warm Breezes]

This is an interesting topic as I always had the same thought about taking a cruise vacation. I hate beach vacations. All that sitting around and not doing or learning something new kills me.

 

I travel with my mother and 2 boys (and sometimes my niece). We all like to do active vacations. Europe is our favorite. We are planning a return to Paris for 9 days next summer and 2 weeks in Italy in 2014 as a graduation trip for my oldest. The kids have been traveling forever and are great about overnight flights, trains, schlepping their own luggage, etc. We do Disney World every October for Fall Break. We have done a few other US vacations but are trying to focus on Europe while we (my mom and I) are still young enough to really get around.

 

This will be our first cruise and I am excited and a bit nervous at the same time. We are not drinkers, partyers, gamblers so don't really know what we are going to do with ourselves.

 

We are not drinkers, partyers or gamblers either and we love our cruises. It is a family vacation for us not a party destination. Don't worry...you will find plenty to do with yourselves :).

[trvlgirlmq]

Thanks Warm Breezes. I've had anxiety about our decision for weeks. We've never done a vacation where we had to change our clothes just to eat dinner! I was out this weekend dress shopping. I literally own nothing dressy since I work for a company with the most casual of dress codes (today I am wearing a t-shirt & denim capris).

 

I think reading these boards has not been a good thing. Now I am worried I won't get a chair near enough to the pool to watch the kids so they don't drown and that all my balcony neighbors will be chain smoking honeymooners!

[Warm Breezes]

Thanks Warm Breezes. I've had anxiety about our decision for weeks. We've never done a vacation where we had to change our clothes just to eat dinner! I was out this weekend dress shopping. I literally own nothing dressy since I work for a company with the most casual of dress codes (today I am wearing a t-shirt & denim capris).

 

I think reading these boards has not been a good thing. Now I am worried I won't get a chair near enough to the pool to watch the kids so they don't drown and that all my balcony neighbors will be chain smoking honeymooners!

I usually take one cocktail dress for elegant night...other than that it's capri's and sundresses for me. My work place is pretty casual too...believe it or not I'm in Michigan, it's still officially winter, and I wore capri's and sandals to work today (it was 81 degrees:D).

 

You may not get a chair by the pool during prime time on sea days. Pick off times and you will be ok. We had a balcony on the Glory and I never had any smoke smell from our neighbors. People like to complain. They will complain if things are bad, but they hardly say anything when things are good. Take what you hear here with a grain of salt and go with the anticipation of having your best vacation ever. Relax and enjoy your cruise.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

Don't worry about everything. I used to take a lot more dressy clothes than I have lately. I take a dressy outfit for each elegant night and dress in capris and nice top as well as sundresses with a cute sandal the rest of the time. We always have a balcony and have only had a problem with a smoker this past Aug going to Alaska Since we had a fairly large balcony--we had a suite so we stayed at the other end.

I too have a casual job--I wear sweats year round and no socks or shoes!!! I own a cheer and gymnastics gym so I am really causal. I like dressing up a little as I do not get to do it much. My church is casual-- jeans and nice top so I enjoy the dinners of dressing up. Have a great time.

Thanks Warm Breezes. I've had anxiety about our decision for weeks. We've never done a vacation where we had to change our clothes just to eat dinner! I was out this weekend dress shopping. I literally own nothing dressy since I work for a company with the most casual of dress codes (today I am wearing a t-shirt & denim capris).

 

I think reading these boards has not been a good thing. Now I am worried I won't get a chair near enough to the pool to watch the kids so they don't drown and that all my balcony neighbors will be chain smoking honeymooners!