Best is somewhere I can walk, take easy public transportation, and see different culture, art, and nature, plus try food I enjoy. Cruises work well for this, though not on a very small ship because I would get seasick. Budapest, Barcelona, Jerusalem, Athens, Shanghai, Suva, Sydney, Dublin, are all good.
Good is harder to navigate independently but worth the effort: Antarctica, Botswana, Tobago.
Worst is a long stay in one place, or where the main activity is sitting on the beach drinking, or a theme park. Disney, any beach without good walking access, 2 weeks in the same apartment, camping a long time in the same park.
There’s one type of festive event where I don’t understand the appeal: a food or drink festival. I pay money to get into a location where I have to stand in a crowd and get in line to pay even more money to get something to eat or drink and that’s the main event? Really?
I was about to say that I didn’t have bad vacation locations. I’ve had fun on/enjoyed pretty much all of my vacations- road trips, tours, tours on road trips, resort, camping, vegas, etc. I went, I did some things, or relaxed and didn’t do things, and saw some things, and had an enjoyable-to-great time. I prefer independent travel to new places, but I had a blast at Disney World as a single adult.
But visiting people is just awful. You’re stuck in their house. You’re an imposition. You can’t kick back and enjoy yourself. They’re going about their day-to-day activities, so there’s nothing to do. It’s tedium that I’ve somehow paid for.
Hate it.
That and shopping. It’s just not that interesting (for me).
I depends on where you’re relatives live. My sister lives in NYC, so there’s pretty much always something fun we can go out and do when I visit. But yes, going to visit my parents does pretty much always entail just sitting around their house. I’ve even mentioned that to them and asked if they wanted to go out and do something, but their view is that they don’t really feel to do any “activities”, they just like the “togetherness” even if they’re just sitting on the couch reading a book like they’d be doing if we weren’t there.
That’s one thing I hate about Caribbean cruises - the emphasis seems to be on shopping - specifically for jewelry! Apparently, lots of people enjoy that. It’s a big NOPE for me.
And I agree about visiting people. We’re about to go see my inlaws in Ocala - not really vacation. They’re in their 90s and it could well be the last time we see them. But between their health and COVID in Florida, we won’t be going anywhere. We won’t even risk a restaurant there in plague-land. I’m taking a cooler full of food so my MIL won’t have to cook while we’re there. At least it’ll give her a vacation. But, yeah about being stuck and feeling like an imposition, not to mention hearing the same stories over and over…
Great vacations: cruising Northern Greece from West to East on your own. Granted, you have to stay at not so comfortable camping sites or small pensions, but you’ll get amazing scenery, loads of historical places and some unique beaches. You can make similar tours in other Mediterranean countries like Italy, Spain or France.
My nightmare holidays: Las Vegas or any kind of ocean cruise. I think I could enjoy a river cruise, maybe the Danube or the Nile, but not on an ocean cruiser. I’d be bored to death.
Best - River cruises on European rivers. Great food, interesting cities to visit as many of the main historical cities are on rivers, with the oldest parts right at the river bank. Cultural experiences are available, and most of the guests are nice polite folks who are interesting.
Worst - Ocean cruises anywhere. Pretty much like being in a Las Vegas hotel or an all-in- one resort hotel. Food mediocre, and the main interests of the guests seem to be drinking too much, and partying.
I do like traveling to countries that are significantly different from mine, and have had many interesting experiences in a number of countries in Europe, the Pacific region, and the Americas.
The best vacation I ever took was six weeks exploring the National Parks of the Southwest U.S., mostly in Utah and Arizona. I flew to Salt Lake City and drove around, staying in cabins within the parks if possible. Lots of hiking, some of which was a little beyond my capabilities. The best part was arriving at the North Shore of the Grand Canyon on the first day it reopened, following a huge forest fire. Driving through the still-smoldering forest was fascinating. Great photography!
I haven’t been on a bad vacation, but I guess the worst imaginable would be anywhere where the main activity was drinking and gambling. So that rules out Vegas and cruises.
Oh, and BTW, I love traveling alone, and so does my husband. So we very rarely travel together.
Number one, which we did, was weeks in New York in an AirBnB going to shows, museums, and great restaurants right on our block.
Number two is a cruise to interesting destinations. Our Panama Canal cruise was great, so was our Baltic Cruise. In that one all the cities were close to the port, so we didn’t need tours, we could get out, right the Metro, and get to great places to visit on our own.
Worst is a sun and fun vacation, with nothing to do but lie on the beach. boring. When we stopped at Aruba, one option was to go to a beach. Screw that. We went to an interesting museum, then a grocery store to see what kind of stuff they sold, and then rode the city bus right around the island to see where the real people lived.
My most dependable location type is a city large enough to have a decent number of city parks. I can spend a day just exploring the parks, or multiple days in the case of London. Most of the times when I am disappointed it is because I arrive too late to see anything or the people I am with have other plans rather than being disappointed in the parks themselves.
Overall, the place that ticks off the most boxes for me is Salt Lake City, which has both urban parks and wild parks in walking distance of downtown, and some cultural attractions as well.
When we were still homeschooling, a week into September we’d go rent a house for two weeks somewhere in the woods of New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, or upstate New York. Nearby tourist attractions would still be open, but the crowds would have dwindled down to us and all the retirees coming out of hiding. Those really were some of the best vacations I remember.
Really, the only thing I would think of as worst vacation locations would be crowded places.
I hate: crowds, lines, schedules, noise, invasive security, and ceding control of my activities to anyone else.
I love: quiet, solitude, my own stuff, and wandering in whatever direction suits my fantasy at the moment, with no external inputs or control.
Worst types of vacations: cruise ships, airlines, hotels, theme parks, anything with crowds.
Best vacations: Wandering around in my RV or an empty cove or beach for a few nights on my boat. Just spent 17 days meandering through* the Midwest. Stopped in 6 different towns, no packing/unpacking, no tipping, some days no human contact at all (other than spouse).
*Admission: I did have to schedule a lot sites in advance, due to everyone in America buying an RV last year. But I expect this will fade over time.
We’ve vacationed there twice. The first time was great - just my husband and me, no schedule, no plans, making it up as we went along.
A few years later, we towed our boat there from Jacksonville, accompanied by a couple of friends. That’s when we found out what our friends were really like!
He liked to schedule everything!! When would we get up? When and where would we eat? When are we going this place or that? What are we going to do day after tomorrow? What time are we doing it? OMG!!!
And she would go from pleasant to raging shrew with no apparent warning. Plus at the time she was on some sort of food-pairing diet, which played into where we could go eat. And on top of that, she really believed in astrology.
And all of this played out while we stayed aboard a 23’ sailboat in a marina. Our last night there, we all decided we needed to stay in a hotel - separate hotels. That was a night of bliss! And we never vacationed with them again. Weirdly enough, they remembered the week as a great time, while 30+ years later, my husband and I still cringe.
To me, the best vacation would be either an all-out blast through Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando – staying on-site, buying the dining plan, paying extra for faster access to attractions, etc. I know enough theme park strategery to know how to avoid crowds, so that’s not a problem. I’d probably actually book a flight tomorrow if I could. The day Dr. Anthony Fauci comes on CNN and says “the pandemic is officially over,” I’ll probably start making phone calls.
The worst would be some isolated tent somewhere miles from anywhere. I’d lose my mind after ten minutes without access to my phone. Along those same lines would be some “adventure” vacation that involves hiking and biking and SCUBA diving and such. I’ll limit my diving to the shallow end of my resort’s pool, thankyouverymuch.
Last month we vacationed with my entire family in a large beachfront home. It was fun despite being the reason being a double funeral. The fridge and cooler were full to partake of as one wished. Beach time nap time sightseeing time we all managed our own expectations. A few snags erupted towards the end of the week wrt to whose turn it was to buy groceries and cook dinner. Looking at a fridge full of leftovers I suggested a clean out the fridge buffet but the chief kitchen wench insisted on a fresh meal. So there we were on move out day chucking out hundreds of dollars of groceries even though we sent the booze to island friends and convinced the house handyman to take stuff.
Despite that we all left happy with promises to do it again soon but next year might be too soon.
So vacay with family in luxe digs is tops worst would be bus trip to gamble or some outlet mega mall.
Obviously, it makes sense to be cautious if you’re visiting people in their 90s, regardless, but it’s worth bearing in mind that Florida currently has the fourth-lowest rate of COVID in the US, not counting territories. The situation is completely different than it was a couple of months ago.
