Where oh where will Dave vacation?

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Dave

Dave

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In July I get my profit sharing/bonus check. This is no small potatoes. We're talking 15-20% of annual salary (before Uncle Sam dips his fingers in) so it's a lot of money. We're going to pay off some of our lingering bills and stuff like that, but there's something I really, really want to do.

My wife and I have never had a vacation together with just the two of us. Hell, we've only really had 1 vacation as a family! We never had a honeymoon and I'd like to give her one.

Having not done anything like this before (planning a trip) help me figure out where to go. A few notes. First, no 16 hour plane rides. No cruises (my wife is terrified of deep water). No snorkling/scuba diving for the same reason.

Ideas I have had:


  1. Train ride from Omaha to Chicago and stay in the Palmer House Hilton. We could just hang out & shop & be together.
  2. CARRIBBEAN VACATION! Starting at $500 a person for 4 nights, including the flights. Of course I can't find the dates that this is available...
Okay, that's all I got. She wants to see Ireland some day but I don't know how much that would cost. I don't want to spend more than a couple thousand but if it's a good deal I'll go higher.
 
Officer_Charon

Officer_Charon

Where or where will Dave vacation?

At the risk of sounding stupid, check with travel agents. They are always running specials - maybe they've got something in green for her?

Failing that, I've yet to hear from an unhappy couple who went to the Caribbean...
 
drawn_inward

drawn_inward

Where or where will Dave vacation?

Get the heck out of the midwest man!! STAT! Chicago is a great town, no doubt, but if you haven't been on vacation in a long time go to the Caribbean or fly to Florida and drive down the coast to Miami and see the Keys.
 
Thread Necromancer

Thread Necromancer

Where or where will Dave vacation?

Go anywhere you need a passport for Dave. Make it a real trip. No doubt it'll be something you will remember forever regardless of where you go, but go big.
 
Dave

Dave

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Where or where will Dave vacation?

Hawaii is prohibitively expensive, isn't it? I'll look at that.

I'm going to be checking with an agent.

The trip to Chicago is not about the location but the company. I stayed at the Palmer when I went on a business trip and she always expressed regret she wasn't there.

Still, she's never seen the ocean.
 
Calleja

Calleja

Where or where will Dave vacation?

How about Cancun/Playa del Carmen? There are some great packages out there and you'll see the most beautiful beaches ever, seriously, you'll think you're in like a beer ad or something, it's jaw dropping. Also the water is very clear and turquoise so it shouldn't make your wife deep-water nervous.
 
Docseverin

Docseverin

Where or where will Dave vacation?

Not if you have the hookup and can get a 3star hotel on Waikiki beach at $90 a night because it is a military resort and you happen to know someone who can get you in.
 
Gusto

Gusto

Where or where will Dave vacation?

Visit scenic southwestern Ontario!



I've been all the places in this ad except the national park...
 
Rob King

Rob King

Where or where will Dave vacation?

Dave said:
Still, she's never seen the ocean.
Click to expand...
I always knew in some sort of intellectual sense that these people existed, but it still floors me to hear of them. I've never lived more than a 20 minute drive from the ocean. I actually get uncomfortable when I go to Toronto and realize that I am hours and hours and hours away from any salt water.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Where or where will Dave vacation?

You just can't beat the caribbean, imo. Well, I guess you could, but only by putting wireless access points in palm trees.
 
Calleja

Calleja

Where or where will Dave vacation?

I've never seen snow :(

Except for once when we went to el Nevado de Toluca (tall volcano thing that has a snowy top lots of days a year), but that was more softish hail than snow :(
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Where or where will Dave vacation?

There was snow in 49 states last year! (Damn you, Hawaii!!) How can someone say they haven't seen snow?

It's definitely going to be Hawaii or the Caribbean, I think. Maybe Jamaica?
 
Null

Null

Where or where will Dave vacation?

Hawai'i or the Caribbean are good ideas for sure. Be careful about heading out of the touristy areas, though - yes, you see more of the "real" culture, but interlopers aren't always welcome there. (One of my sister's former boyfriends got knifed for wandering into the wrong neighborhood in Oahu)
 
Docseverin

Docseverin

Where or where will Dave vacation?

I got body armor he can borrow :). I have never had problems with the locals though I know people who have, it all depends on your attitude and who you have with you....I walk around even the most white boy (haoule) hating areas without fear. Plus Dave can rent a mustang and add one more to my count... I play count the mustangs on my way to and from the beach I reach a hundred during the 20 mile drive easily.
 
Docseverin

Docseverin

Where or where will Dave vacation?

My Challenger is starting to have more friends on the road...I hate it, I remember when I was one of 3 on the island now there are a bunch :(
 
CynicismKills

CynicismKills

Where or where will Dave vacation?

Yeah, it might be different for military types, but everyone I've talked to who's gone to Hawaii says they're not always nice to tourists if you wander off the beaten path.
 
Hailey Knight

Hailey Knight

Where or where will Dave vacation?

If she's never seen the ocean, you need to go somewhere with a nice beach and an ocean.

Crap, Julie's never seen an ocean either. I gotta work on that. (I live on the east coast, but Pacific beats Atlantic.)
 
E

Element 117

Where or where will Dave vacation?

The Mex said:
How about Cancun/Playa del Carmen? There are some great packages out there and you'll see the most beautiful beaches ever, seriously, you'll think you're in like a beer ad or something, it's jaw dropping. Also the water is very clear and turquoise so it shouldn't make your wife deep-water nervous.
Click to expand...
Seriously. Just don't drink tap water.
 
Calleja

Calleja

If you're in a hotel the tap water will be fine, anywhere else, no, we put chlorine in our tap water it's not designed to be drunk, which makes tourists used to drinking tap water sick.
 
Calleja

Calleja

Yeah, but I'm talking a LOT of chlorine and other disinfectant stuff... to compensate the high possibility of bad pipelines in rural areas and shit tap water is designed to get there clean, but not to be consumed by anyone. Potable water is a whole 'nother industry. It's water that's perfectly safe to bathe in, brush your teeth, fill your bong, whatever... but if you drink it you will most probably get very bad diarrhea, yeah.
 
Null

Null

I thought the diarrhea was caused by microorganisms caused by insufficiently sterilized water. Huh.
There are plusses and minuses to going places off-season. Less crowds and inflated prices, but very often in tropical places, it's getting into hurricane or rainy season...
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

I'm going to vote "Last minute warm place hook-up". If you have a few days leeway both sides so you can wait a day or two and stay longer/shorter than planned, and you're not too choosy ("anywhere in the Caribbean" = yes; "a five-star resort within 200 yards of the beach in Havana" = no), you can get simply amazing deals that way.
Heck, friend of mine went on a two week trip to Tenerife in a 5 star+ suite for €550 :confused:
 
Dave

Dave

Staff member
Where or where will Dave vacation?

Ross;377020][QUOTE=Dave said:
There was snow in 49 states last year! (Damn you, Hawaii!!) How can someone say they haven't seen snow?

It's definitely going to be Hawaii or the Caribbean, I think. Maybe Jamaica?
Click to expand...
*AHEM*

Snow in all 50 states on February 12th, 2010 :)

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=mkx&storyid=48319&source=0[/QUOTE]

That's what I thought but I didn't find anything on Hawaii so I amended my post. Thanks, Ross!

---------- Post added at 08:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 AM ----------

And what is considered off-season for the Caribbean?
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Where or where will Dave vacation?

Dave said:
There was snow in 49 states last year! (Damn you, Hawaii!!) How can someone say they haven't seen snow?
Click to expand...
Well I've seen only 2 honest to God, real accumulations of snow in my 41 years. I've seen snow about 10 times but you could usually see the grass through it.
 
W

Wasabi Poptart

Null said:
I thought the diarrhea was caused by microorganisms caused by insufficiently sterilized water. Huh.
There are plusses and minuses to going places off-season. Less crowds and inflated prices, but very often in tropical places, it's getting into hurricane or rainy season...
Click to expand...
A friend of mine had this happen to her honeymoon. She and her husband got a great deal on a week-long vacation at an all-inclusive resort on the Caribbean side of Mexico. Two weeks before they were supposed to go the place was hit by a hurricane.
 
Necronic

Necronic

Staff member
I've stayed at that hotel, it's beautiful. Priceline often can find you a good deal on rooms there. I was able to stay at the Palmer for 100$ per night for like 1.5 weeks.

That said my suggestion is the Carribean. Chicago is awesome, but its still America, its really not that different, even from...Omaha. You could fly there and stay at a resort, or, I have heard really good things about cruises. Like really good things. Like once you start doing them you never stop.
 
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