Thread: Vacation destination

i have a quick question, how many of our outside the US friends would prefer to vacatioin in the US? i was just wondering cause i cant think of anywhere i would want to take a vacation besides OUTSIDE the US, i have never been to europe (except for a flight delay coming back from iraq). sorry if this is hijacking the thread .

p.s. i hope you guys have a wonderful vacation, i know i wish i had one right now

I live in the US, but I am currently deployed ISO OIF. I guess that this qualifies me, loosely, as an "outside the US friend".

When away and on R&R, I travel to Europe. When in the US, I travel internally for vacation. With company, I recommend Orlando, Los Angeles, St. Louis or US Virgin Islands. Alone, maybe Vegas.

If you live in Texas, I assume that you have visited Austin and San Antonio already. If not, please do.

yea been to austin and san antonio, used to be stationed at ft sam so i got my fair share of the river walk while there, probably my favorite city in texas.

Gents sounds like we've all been in a similar boat (my only time visiting Europe was also coming back from there) my stop (both ways) was in Frankfort (Rhein-Main AB, now closed). It was a good time, the Germans were nice, some of us made a side trip down to Heidelberg and saw the castle and various things there. Very cool. Lots of things to do in town, also. Now our guys are going either through Spain or Germany (RamsteinAB). I've heard both are decent but Germany is the one to see, supposedly. I'll find out my next trip over.

Not that this helps much.


John P.

Originally Posted by sinnfein

i have a quick question, how many of our outside the US friends would prefer to vacatioin in the US? i was just wondering cause i cant think of anywhere i would want to take a vacation besides OUTSIDE the US, i have never been to europe (except for a flight delay coming back from iraq). sorry if this is hijacking the thread .

p.s. i hope you guys have a wonderful vacation, i know i wish i had one right now

I don't qualify, but I know that a huge destination for the Japanese is Yellowstone. If you haven't been, you owe it to yourself. Check out Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills while you're near. That's one trip I've never regretted. Rushmore is nothing like you'd think it is, and Yellowstone simply can't be described fully.

I've enjoyed some great vacations on East and West coasts and Florida, but not much in between. We have family in Canada so we have also travelled around BC (love the Rockies) and Ontario loads.

However, living in Europe makes it easy to visit very different cultures over very short distances. Spain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Portugal... all within a 2-hour flight but are very different experiences. For that reason alone I tend to favour travel in Europe.

I've toured the south-west for 2,5 weeks on my honeymoon.
It was a really nice vacation, apart from the fact that people were paranoid about terrorism.
Ther were scanners, metal detectors, shoe sniffers everywhere, ... and some of the things to see are now closed for public, like the hoover dam internals.

Overall the people were very friendly. I liked Bryce canyon best of all, and I found the Grand Canyon very disappointing. It's a gigantic hole on the ground. Apart from the fact that it is huge, it has little going for it imo. I also liked the petrified forest and other places where you could go for hikes without seeing anybody else.

Vegas was awesome, and we plan on going back there sometime. California was nice (South Lakoe Tahoe where we got married) and a welcome change from the incredible humidity of Texas in August, and the heat in Nevada.

Well, living in Canada, I pretty well have one of three options - travel within the very large and culturally diverse Canadian land, go to our US neighbours, or travel abroad and go to Europe. I've been very fortunate enough to experience all three in rather sufficient doses. Here's what I like and find inconvenient for all three

Travel within Canada: I love how culturally diverse Canada is - the BC coast is nothing like the farming/cowboy prairies, which is nothing like the dichotomy that is Ontario (at once very industrial/industrious, and also extremely rugged and untamed). Quebec is a whole different kettle of fish, and some claim that Montreal is the gateway between North America and Europe (I've lived in Montreal for 20+ years, so I can both attest to that and refute it, depending on my mood). The Atlantic provinces are a breed of their own as well, with some of the friendliest and quirky people you'll ever meet.

I find it inconvenient to travel in Canada, because it's just so spread out - the cost of flights are on par to going to Europe a lot of the time, and if you're not going to a major city, you'll spend the lion's share of your vacation just getting to and back from your destination. Public transport is both slow and expensive, so that's the major pitfall I find.

Travel to the U.S.A.: I think the USA is one of the nicest places to go - the people are some of the universally friendliest and unpretentious I've ever met (as long as you stay out of the MAJOR urban centers), and it always floors me how much better customer services (not to mention prices) is offered - they really want your business, whereas in Canada and Europe, I get the feeling that the merchants feel that it is a privilege for the customer to shop in the store. I'm absolutely in love with the Adirondacks - I've been going camping there every year since I was a little boy, and while we have similar mountains and landscapes in Ontario and Quebec, it just doesn't have the same atmosphere. The U.S. has done such a great job of preserving and valorising it's history that it's fascinating to see the Washington Monument, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Library of Congress, etc.

That said, travel to the U.S. is a bit of a pain, and getting worse every year. Waiting for hours on end to cross the boarder by car is both tedious and tiresome. I'm always very put off by the very aggressive manner of the boarder guards, because at least where I'm from, we're not used to being treated so abruptly by our authorities. I think I just find it very intimidating. I find the urban centers just chaotic (as I find Toronto, Vancouver, London, Paris, etc), and I'm openly scared of being accosted (I think the media got to me...).

Travel to Europe: The culture and history just can't be beat - they have houses that are occupied that are older than our North American countries. The pomp, circumstance, and lineage just blow my mind, as do the prevalence of cultural artifacts, paintings, sculptures, museums, etc. What also floors me is the level of knowledge and acceptance of the average European on their own history and art. The enthusiasm they feel for their national sports (which are wholly different than in North America) also baffles me - every second person, in virtually any European city that I've visited is wearing a football (soccer) jersey. The complete similarity and differences to my own experiences is what I love about visiting Europe.

But the travel is getting to be a bit much, and will eat most of your vacation budget - especially if you're going as a family with the children. The people aren't always the friendliest or tolerant of people making their best effort to speak a second language and "do as the Romans." As with everything, I love getting out of the cities and visiting the smaller towns and villages, where the people are usually very accommodating, and try along with you to communicate.

The long and the short of it is that I go to the U.S. for vacation more often than Europe because it's less expensive and more accessible - but I'm equally likely to stay in Canada - every few years we save up enough to go to Europe to visit family, but we are very careful to plan the trip to stay out of the major centers if we're staying for any length of time in one spot.

Mark