My wife works in a school system that still gives students a Fall break. So for Thursday through Monday in the middle of October, she’ll be out of school. My job allows me to schedule a vacation pretty much whenever I want. I’ve been pretty much all over the US. She has traveled some but not nearly as much as I have. Our closest airport is Oklahoma City but if we needed to, we could be at DFW within a 4 hour drive. Last night she sprung the idea of booking a last minute vacation since (in her words) “We don’t really care where we go.” This is an entirely different way of thinking for her since she’s always wanted things planned out in detail.
If you’ve had any luck with last minute vacations, I’d like to hear your stories, tips, website recommendations etc.
Important caveats: 1. No Vegas - I gamble but she doesn’t. 2. Probably not Mexico - We’ve been there plenty of times. 3. Probably not a cruise - We’ve cruised plenty of times too. 4. We’re both 50 but in good health.
I think that driving around New England and staying at B&B’s would be cool if the fall foliage were still colorful by then.
Personally, most of my vacations are camping trips with a tent–no RV. For me, planning is virtually unnecessary. Almost anywhere that I go, there are campsites available, as long as it’s not peak vacation season.
I’ve also found that with activities such as whitewater rafting or kayaking, it’s generally not necessary to book in advance. If you have only two people, you can call up the day before and they will have space for you. For a larger group, on the other hand, you need to book in advance.
Have you ever been Jackson Hole, WY or southeastern Colorado? Both are beautiful areas and you could probably get good prices since you’d be going in the off-season.
Check out this website (Flight, Hotel, and Vacation Deals by FareCompare) put in OKC as your departure city, and put October for departure month. Look at what cities have the cheapest fares (or sound interesting to you) and start popping them into a site like Orbitz, Kayak, or Hipmunk and see what prices you get. Fare Compare shows the lowest filed fares, minus taxes, so what you can find actually available may or may not be as low as you see on their map. It’s a good starting point, though.
When I pulled it up for October from OKC I see several options you might like. You can easily fill a weekend in Madison or the Twin Cities. Portland looks like a reasonable price. Or what about southern CA? Since your time is limited I’d also see where you can get with non-stop flights. You don’t want to book a flight to MSP just because it’s cheap and then end up sitting in Detroit for 5 hours.
ITR Champion, I’ve been to Jackson Hole but not since I was a kid so that’s a definite possibility. AFAIK, my wife has never been there. She’s expressed interest in Yellowstone from time to time but I’m not sure what the recent fires have done to it. Southeastern Colorado? I’ve driven through it but don’t remember seeing much there. Did you mean southwest or northwest?
SmellMyWort, thanks for the website! That’s exactly the kind of think I’ve been looking for.
I got back from Yellowstone about two weeks ago and there were no problems from the fires. I think about a month ago one road was closed for half a day or so, but that’s about all I heard about. There’s evidence of fire around, but over all it was a great trip. The only thing you might experience in October is roads closing in the area as they say it’s a possibility.
There’s also Kayak Explore, to where you can enter your airport and dates and see what kinds of deals you can get. That’s how I found good prices to Jackson Hole.
Sounds like just the right amount of time for a trip to New Orleans. We scheduled one last-minute once and it was great. Two or three days of eating and drinking yourself silly is all you need.
Just in general, I love the idea of a last minute vacation. My parents are masters of just taking off and going somewhere. When I was a kid, they once handed me the AAA book and let me pick a destination. Later they would drive by my house on a Friday afternoon and ask me if I wanted to join them on a trip. Now that they’re both around 80 years old, I get the occasional call from a hotel room to let me know where they are (to be honest, it’s mostly Atlantic City).
Jackson Hole/Yellowstone/Grand Tetons is my favorite vacation destination. If you haven’t been lately, I think it’s an ideal getaway. Feel free to stop by my house on the way and pick me up.
You might also call a local travel agent and see if there are any packages available. My wife and I did one unplanned weekend getaway like that. We saved a ton, in part because it was at a hotel that was doing some remodeling (which didn’t bother us in the slightest).
If it were solely up to me, I’d do New Orleans in a heartbeat. I love the city, the food and the atmosphere. Unfortunately, my wife doesn’t really care for drinking or spicy foods. She’s also not big on being around drunks.
While you may be able to get into a B&B in new England at the last minute it will be expensive since you eh . . . waited until the last minute. Everyone goes up there in the fall to peep at leaves. Still there are plenty of hotels and I’ve done the last minute thing there myself and had a great experience. Go to the White Mountains and stay in local hotels if you can’t get a B&B. Oh and take the train up to the Mt Washington Observatory.I stayed here and was impressed.
