What's the best part of your vacation?

[tdn]

This is for your vacations in general, not a specific and unique one.

Is it packing? Unpacking? The sunsets? Ice cream? First run down the snowy mountain?

For me, I usually spend the afternoon at the beach, then head out to dinner. In between those, I shower and then get dressed. It's the time between the shower and getting dressed that I love so much. I'm clean and naked, the bed is freshly made, and I can lie down and truly relax.

What's yours?

[qualityleashdog]

Settling in. Unpacking. It's all ahead of you, ordering takeout, icing down the favorite bottle you brought from home, and watching Jeopardy! at 7 and the Wheel at 7:30, as opposed to versa vice. And if you're anywhere near Baltimore, really good anchovies on your pizza delivered by a pizza boy with a hot-as-hell accent.

[TurboNuke]

Sex, a nap, then sex again.

[Arrendajo]

Realizing that at my age I no longer have to pretend I enjoy travel and can just stay home.

[VernWinterbottom]

Passing by Fat Bob's Ice Cream in Warren, NH, on our way to a cabin by a lake in the White Mountains. That signals our arrival once again to an area that is our "other home" for one week a year.

When we were up there in July, we had ice cream at Fat Bob's four times during the week. . .

[PaulParkhead]

I suppose the actual moment I enjoy best is the moment when the outbound flight takes off. I've done all the security crap, now I'm on my way.

And soon, I'll be in a place where everything is strange and I can't speak the language and it's all gonna be great.

[jackdavinci]

Really, any moment when I'm "in the zone."

Lately I've been making my life more balanced by incorporating the good bits of vacation and non vacation into each other. I make sure to get more relaxation at home and do things that take effort or challenge me or make me grow on vacation.

I've learned to always take an extra day off when I get home to recover from the extra exercise, unpack, and upload all my photos

[blondebear]

Once I reach "escape velocity" and mentally leave all the BS from work behind, I'm in heaven. It usually takes a day or so, and lasts until about 6PM the evening before I have to go back to the grind.

[Onomatopoeia]

For me, it's the anticipation. It's the period of the week or two before I've packed, when I'm constantly thinking about all the things I'm going to do, when I'm looking at all the brochures and YouTube videos about my destination, when my wife and I are planning and changing plans so often that we make each other crazy, when I'm talking to friends, colleagues, and family about it, when I'm salivating over the menus of the various gastronomic delights I'm going to experience, some for the very first time.

Experiencing the vacation itself is never, and I mean never, quite as exciting as the period between committing to the vacation and embarking on it.

[elbows]

I suppose the actual moment I enjoy best is the moment when the outbound flight takes off. I've done all the security crap, now I'm on my way.

And soon, I'll be in a place where everything is strange and I can't speak the language and it's all gonna be great.

This. Exactly.

Oh, and seeing something through new eyes, in a new light, etc. Best experience of any journey for me!

[Trinopus]

Setting out. Hitting the road. Once we're all packed, once we start, once we go back and get what we've forgotten, once we have passed outside the radius of our everyday lives.

Once I hit the open road.

That moment, that beautiful, brief time of total freedom... We're on our way...

For me, that's the high point.

[zoid]

Dinner and sight seeing.

I pretty much go along with whatever the kids and my wife want to do when we're on vacation but I get to plan dinner. I'll spend weeks figuring out where I want to eat. Sometimes it's a little dump I've heard has unbelievable Vietnamese/Pakistani/German/whatever food, and sometimes it's a high end place I've been hearing good things about.

It may rain the whole time, we may not catch any fish, we may have to stay inside at the pool all day, but by GOD if you go on vacation with me you're gonna eat good!

Oh, and there's usually one or two local thing I want to see.

[Rachellelogram]

Peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream in lieu of syrup.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by PaulParkhead

I suppose the actual moment I enjoy best is the moment when the outbound flight takes off. I've done all the security crap, now I'm on my way.

And soon, I'll be in a place where everything is strange and I can't speak the language and it's all gonna be great.

I'm a step past that. I don't really feel my vacation has begun until I've arrived at my destination.

[Little Nemo]

Originally Posted by zoid

I pretty much go along with whatever the kids and my wife want to do when we're on vacation but I get to plan dinner. I'll spend weeks figuring out where I want to eat. Sometimes it's a little dump I've heard has unbelievable Vietnamese/Pakistani/German/whatever food, and sometimes it's a high end place I've been hearing good things about.

It may rain the whole time, we may not catch any fish, we may have to stay inside at the pool all day, but by GOD if you go on vacation with me you're gonna eat good!

The two things I always research before a vacation: restaurants and bookstores.

[Dereknocue67]

Originally Posted by Arrendajo

Realizing that at my age I no longer have to pretend I enjoy travel and can just stay home.

I agree.

There are only three things I dislike about a vacation:

1. Going there.

2. Being there.

3. Returning from there.

Beyond that, a vacation is great.

[HeyHomie]

Ever since my very first trip to Walt Disney World, way back in the 1970's, Space Mountain has always been my very first attraction. I've even continued this tradition into adulthood- when Mrs. Homie and I go (far too infrequently ), our first attraction is always Space Mountain.

It makes me feel "officially" that I have arrived.

[Floater]

The moment when I sit in an airplane seat or in the bar on board a passenger ferry looking out towards a World that is steadily moving away from something towards something else with a G&T in my hand.

[Hari Seldon]

That first cold plunge into the ocean. Ah, that is the life. I look at all those people on the beach and realize that I am, indeed, in the minority. Once, in Myrtle Beach, I was one of a group of maybe 20 people jumping and crashing into the waves and realized that everyone else was less than half my age, mostly much less.

[tdn]

Originally Posted by Rachellelogram

Peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream in lieu of syrup.

Despite what I said in my OP, I really didn't do that on my most recent vacation. But the pancakes... Oh, the pancakes!

I went to the Black Dog Cafe almost every morning, as soon as they opened their doors. Cup of coffee, orange juice, pancakes and bacon. But the best part was feeling the ocean breeze through the open windows, looking out at all the boats, and realizing that I had yet another full day of whatever I wanted. But it was the little things that made it special. The dark stained wood of the tables, the sugar packets in the little things, the friendly people, the cast iron sculpture of a BLT...

[tdn]

Originally Posted by Hari Seldon

That first cold plunge into the ocean.

Oh yeah. Or the first time in the year when you feel sand between your toes.

[not what you'd expect]

I haven't had a vacation in so long, my feelings may have changed, but to be honest, getting back home was always my favorite part.

That's not to say that I don't enjoy the other things like the beach and great seafood, but I'm kind of a home body.

I do wish my home was the on the beach though.

[BetsQ]

I love exploring a new place - figuring out how to get from where I am to where I want to go, how the roads/transit system works, how to interact with others along the way, how reality fits into the maps I've been staring at for weeks. The very best part is when everything clicks and I can get from point A to point B and do whatever it is I want to do there effortlessly. I've had that feeling in the Parisian Metro, walking the streets of Bangkok, and navigating the mountains of Monteverde in Costa Rica, among other places.

[Sattua]

The best part is the first few hours after we arrive. Sun! Warmth! Palm trees! Beach! Ocean! Pool! WHERE'S MY SWIMSUIT???

I love to be in the water. Especially in the ocean.

[stpauler]

I tend to go more on trips than on vacations it seems. Running around a country or two and learning as much as I can, seeing the sights, meeting the people, eating the local foods. All that.

But the best part is actually to spend uninterrupted time with my partner.

[monstro]

I like it best at the half-way point. By then, the scenery is familiar, I have long stopped worrying about stuff that I left behind at home, I don't have to fret about unpleasant surprises with my accommodations, I've had success working down my "must see/do" list, and I've gotten over all travel fatigue.

I don't like the beginning of vacation because my head is usually still back at home and I'm exhausted from the drive and/or flight. I don't like the end of vacation because there is no more fun left, I'm tired, and my mind starts thinking about work. But the middle? You can't get no better than that!

[lost4life]

When the plane takes off and I'm positive I'm on my way. That and after I check into the hotel, grabbing my first vacation drink.

[Sigmagirl]

First palm tree sighting.

[tdn]

Originally Posted by BetsQ

I love exploring a new place

So do I, but my best vacations are in places where I go every year. It's not so much a feeling of going away, but one of coming home. I meet people there all the time that know exactly what I mean.

[Red Wiggler]

Originally Posted by Trinopus

Setting out. Hitting the road. Once we're all packed, once we start, once we go back and get what we've forgotten, once we have passed outside the radius of our everyday lives.

Once I hit the open road.

That moment, that beautiful, brief time of total freedom... We're on our way...

For me, that's the high point.

If we're driving someplace new, this. I'm a happy pappy with strange asphalt ahead of me.

But for our typical beach vacations, it's that first full day's afternoon when I'm sitting out on the deck in shorts and tank top with a cold gin drink and new book.

[control-z]

Definitely not packing or unpacking. I'd say a couple days in, when you're starting to forget about the daily routine at home and you've got all the possibilities of what you can do on vacation ahead of you.

[Mdcastle]

Going on vacation is such a hassle. Plan, pack, deal with the TSA and car rental people. The best two parts of vacation are 1) When I'm out of the airport driving the rental car on the freeway and realizing "I'm really here", and 2) When I get home and realize that despite my fears I didn't smash up the rental car / get mugged / get arrested / get sick, and can see my pets again.

[Emtar KronJonDerSohn]

Being wasted all day.

Sadly I don't really get to vacation like this anymore, and probably won't for 20 years or so.

[Siam Sam]

For me, it's the moment of arrival through to the end of the first full day. When a place is new, before a feeling of familiarity sets in.

[Dr. Woo]

For me it's stepping onto the runway from the aircraft stairs and feeling that warm, moist air of the Caribbean and smelling the scent of the tropics. Next up: the charter boat base and a rum punch!

[BrassyPhrase]

I just got back from a trip to Poughkeepsie <which is not the armpit many said it was!> It's a suburb but it's near a lot of stuff and the Hudson River Valley is GORGEOUS! We were there for roughly a month and didn't have the linens cleaned crazy amounts.

I love not washing sheets and not making the bed. The washing isn't bad but I can't stand making the bed.

I'm sure many of you are clean freaks that it need it done everyday or something. But that feeling of getting into a lovely clean bed, that I had nothing to do with making it happen? Awesome. About two to three times a week.

Also the pool was great.

[Lasciel]

Ok, I'll admit it.


Really nice hotel beds. The ones with about fifteen different types of pillows, extra fluffy memory foam or feathers under the fitted sheet, a round dozen different types of (all soft and comfy) blankets and throws, and even more snuggly shit in the closet.

And I didn't wash ANY OF IT. And I don't HAVE TO WASH ANY OF IT! And I can eat chips in bed, and drink in bed, and get SAND in the bed, and every single night when I go to bed, it's all fresh and clean and nicely made, and I never even THOUGHT about it the whole day long.

God it's amazing. Don't even get me started on the places with towel warmers. My husband calls and checks for them now, because if there is one in the bathroom or the actual room, I'm not leaving the whirlpool for a couple of days at least. (Hint: you can stuff your whole bathrobe in there!)

[JackieLikesVariety]

I like the planning of it. the maps, the websites of wonderful hotels...

[Becky2844]

Being smack dab in the middle of it. Leaning my hair back into the water and watching my toes bob up. Knowing I don't have to cook supper. Feeling like this is the way it should be, and it is.

[LegsAkimbo]

Mr. Akimbo does not like to travel, so my trips are solo. I love it. Favorite parts are the hours reading, totally undisturbed. No dogs want to be let in/out/played with, no one asks me stupid questions, no one cares if I sit and read for hours instead of driving to go look at the largest ball of twine. Wake up when I want, have coffee on deck or porch or patio with great view and good book, read for hours. When camping, read inside with coffee, then take book and chair and camera to the beach and read till my butt is sore from sitting, then walk a little and then go back to reading. Another favorite part is the total lack of compromise required on a solo vacation. Waking up in the morning knowing I can do or not do whatever I want all day.

[gallows fodder]

Depends on where I'm going. This will sound incredibly spoiled, but when I go to any European country, I'm so stressed by navigating a different language and culture that my favorite part of the vacation is being back at home and looking over my pictures and souvenirs. If I'm in the US or Canada, it's either driving around in exploration or eating at a great local restaurant. (Actually, the food is my favorite part about travelling to Europe, too.)

Originally Posted by qualityleashdog

And if you're anywhere near Baltimore, really good anchovies on your pizza delivered by a pizza boy with a hot-as-hell accent.

This is the first time in my life I have ever encountered these two phrases in the same sentence. Where are my smelling salts?

[madmonk28]

Sitting in an outdoor cafe with a slight buzz, eating good food and people watching with my wife, who is one of those rare people who is able to just sit quietly and enjoy a moment without a lot of pointless chatter.