Okay, so we may bail out of a big family trip to Mohonk Mountain House and the Ritz Carlton NYC this Xmas (12/16-12/25). I know, it sounds insane, but a not-very-well-liked extended family member may have just invited herself along, and my husband is seriously considering backing us out of the trip.
So, we need ideas for a vacation! Quickly! Our criteria are pretty simple- a week to 12 days, anywhere that American Airlines flies, staying at a Marriott-owned property would be ideal (we have a gazillion points), we have two boys ages 5 & 7 who are great travelers. We like it all- city, country, cold, warm, lots of culture or lots of beach.
I was going to say Maui, but I see that you’re from Newport Beach. What the hell, Hawaii is awesome even from a Newport Beach perspective. It’s too bad about the NYC thing going south. It’d be a great change of pace from SoCal for the Christmas holidays. I think you should just suck it down and tell the extended family member to fuck off. Or did they just reserve hotel rooms simultaneously? Damn obnoxious if they did.
Man, I would love to, but I have been advised that, due to the insane flight length, it might be better to go down under when we have a month to stay and travel around. I think a max flight length this time might be 12 hours in the air or 10 time zones from CA…
Take a cruise! My family did that over Christmas two years ago, and it was great. No holiday stress, we all agreed on no presents, and nobody had to cook or clean up. We even split up on Christmas Day; my Dad and GRandparents stayed on the ship, I took my Mom, my neice, and my younger son on a dolphin encounter, and my sister and her husband took my older son and their two boys on a jungle canopy tour.
My hubby, kids and I spent this past Christmas in Colonial Williamsburg, VA. We’d been to Colonial Williamsburg before, but the make a big deal about Christmas. There was a very nice Christmas Eve celebration, with the lighting of the community tree, and singing carols, that even my atheist, society-averse hubby enjoyed. If you and your family like history, this might be a consideration for you.
As an ex-New Yorker, I still think you should go, but just book a different hotel (claim you got a better deal elsewhere and remain in the City the entire time). There is something magical about NYC at Christmas - and tons of things to do! (You might want to book those Broadway show tickets now, just to be safe).
Tel-Aviv is **exactly **10 time-zones from CA, and you get to spend Christmas where it happened
There are definitely some Mariotts here.
Don’t think American flies here, however. But they may have exchange programs with El-Al or with Continental (which does fly here) for unserved destinations.
