I’m going to retire in 3-4 years. My 40th anniversary is in 3. These are both excuses to daydream about a nice trip.
Where should I (actually, we) go? Let’s assume a time period of up to 2 weeks and a budget of 10-15k.
I’m going to rule out Alaska and Australia as I have been to both recently. I am in the U.S. and there are significant chunks of it I have not seen (most of the west excluding San Diego and Vegas). Also never been to Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, or Antarctica.
A few random destinations that I’m mulling over: Hawaii, London, and Morocco.
And before anyone asks if I prefer mountains or beaches or museums or hiking or architecture or history or chilling and reading books…I like it all.
We had a vacation to Morocco planned for April before the world spun off its axis, and we plan to go next April if possible. There’s a heck of a lot to do and see there, and it’s exotic and different enough that it will be an entirely new experience for us. You’ve got the Atlas Mountains for hiking, the open desert for an adventure in the dunes and a night in a luxury tent with meals by the fire, Marrakech for immersion into the kasbah and markets, Essaouira for a coastal city, Fez, Chefchaouen, and Tangiers up north for wild sights and sounds. With one week we are pretty limited, but two weeks sounds perfect to see most of the country.
Alternatively, something like Tahiti with a stop in Hawaii would be an excellent way to celebrate 40 years.
I’ve been to Hawaii twice, and have been to Oahu, the big island and Maui, but I’d be hard pressed to find two weeks of things to do there, since we are not big on surfing or sitting on the beach.
London would be my choice. We rented an AirBnB in New York for 3 weeks and we were busy going to shows and museums and just eating. Not exotic since I’m from there, but we haven’t been close to it in 20 years and being in the city makes things so much easier than commuting from NJ. You could do the same in London of that appeals. It’s on our list, but my wife has to get her knees fixed first.
Plenty of other stuff to do in Europe also. I loved the little of Stockholm I saw. We stayed 3 days in Copenhagen before a cruise and I enjoyed that also.
Depends on what you mean by “hiking”. Although London is my default foreign vacation destination for architecture, history, and museums, it isn’t close to much hiking hiking. However, it is close to all varieties of parks below the day hike level, my favorite so far being Hampstead Heath which has history, relaxing nature trails, picnic-worthy grass hills, and old trees, and miles of trails all in one park.
I couldn’t recommend any hiking without knowing what you like. I’ve never stayed a lot in Sedona AZ but for lots of short hikes it seems pretty well-situated. I went there once but didn’t have a lot of time to spend.
Southern Utah is also home to lots of short and beautiful hikes but you have to drive between the parks to get to them all.
Depends on what you mean by “hiking”. Although London is my default foreign vacation destination for architecture, history, and museums, it isn’t close to much hiking hiking. However, it is close to all varieties of parks below the day hike level, my favorite so far being Hampstead Heath which has history, relaxing nature trails, picnic-worthy grass hills, and old trees, and miles of trails all in one park.
I couldn’t recommend any hiking without knowing what you like. I’ve never stayed a lot in Sedona AZ but for lots of short hikes it seems pretty well-situated for red rock viewing. I went there once but didn’t have a lot of time to spend. Of course with 2 weeks you might want to spend some time in the Grand Canyon and other places as well.
Southern Utah is also home to lots of short and beautiful hikes but you have to drive between the parks to get to them all. But again with 2 weeks you could even spend a few days in Salt Lake City (even though it isn’t in southern Utah, it’s close) which has a modicum of metropolitan life but also abuts lots of hikes if you get wanderlust.
London would be my choice. My personal preference is to travel to where I get the feeling that people live there rather than that I’m just going to a tourist destination.
I will second Peru (Cusco and Machu Picchu), and also recommend hiking the Inka Trail to get to Machu Picchu. It is a 4 day hike (you will need to use a guide service) filled with gorgeous scenery and additional Inka sites along the way. One of the best, most memorable trips I’ve done.
If you’re concerned about the high elevation, the group I booked through included days exploring around Cusco to help get acclimated before you start the actual trail. No one in our group got any altitude sickness (some people got a stomach bug that is common, but it appears that was picked up in town).
I would be happy to point you to the tour company that arranged everything for us. PM me if you’re interested.
London definitely and include more of the U.K. than just London. You’ve heard the old saying about when a man is tired of London, they’re tired of life. That applies to any gender identity.
I could give thousands of recommendations. I’d start with YouTube. Look at London Walks, that’s the name of a well known tour company. That’ll give you a taste of London to see if it’s right for you.
London definitely and include more of the U.K. than just London. You’ve heard the old saying about when a man is tired of London, they’re tired of life. That applies to any gender identity.
I could give thousands of recommendations. I’d start with YouTube. Look at London Walks, that’s the name of a well known tour company. That’ll give you a taste of London to see if it’s right for you.
Oh, and given your user name, you can listen to your song while crossing Abbey Road.
If you like hiking and stuff I’d highly recommend Austria. We love it. We ski there and go in the summer for hiking, cycling, swimming etc. Accommodation, food, drink and transport is high quality and cheap and they are set up for tourism to an incredible extent. In the summer most area have a “tourist” card that costs perhaps 80 euros or so for a 12 days and that gives you free entry to gondolas, museums, pools, lakes and dozens of other actvities. Here’s the cardfor the Salzburg area.
South Korea. There is a ton of stuff to do in Seoul, if it is open you can book a tour (I think it’s a ten day notice?) to the DMZ and there are other places to go like Jeju Island, though I have not been there.
Otherwise I’d suggest Central America. Costa Rica. Guatemala. Panama.
If you’ve never been to Europe, I’d say Italy or Greece – they check all the boxes for stuff you like, and I think it’s nice to go someplace that has a lot of really old and famous stuff for your first trip to Europe.
Bavaria, or southern Germany. Wife and I did a three week trip there. It was great. We bopped around on trains to town to town and stayed in small hotels. Easy trip into Vienna too.
Also, for easier, Key West. It’s starting to become our go to place. PM me if you would like a GREAT hotel recommendation.
A year ago with that budget and timeframe, I would have said “Antarctica.” but that involves cruising and… yeah.
Of the places you list, Morocco is a little harder to navigate on your own, but awesome. London is fascinating. You’d have a wonderful time in either place.
Other places, Seoul with side trips (hiking, architecture, history, beaches, museums)? Canary Islands? Road trip up the AlCan highway?
African safari in Tanzania that includes Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti plain. Or a safari in Botswana. Trust me on this: you will never see anything else like it in your lifetime. It takes some planning, and it’s not cheap, but it’s well worth it. You can always see things in the U.S., and Europe is also an easy choice, but for the vacation of a lifetime. . .
