nm
Hell, for $2,500 I’d vacation anywhere! [/first]
Actually, that’s not even true - it would probably take more than that for me to vacation in Afghanistan, Somalia, or any number of other places. Seriously, that’s a big budget. I am lucky enough to be going to Thailand for two weeks very soon and my total budget for that is about £1,000 (roughly half $2,500), and that’s not slumming it either. I will start a separate thread at some point so jjimm, Siam Sam and anyone else who has been does not need to hijack this one.
I think I’d be most tempted by a Caribbean cruise. I love being on boats and seeing lots of different places. Alternatively, I’d go to Vegas and use the rest of the money to play poker with.
Hmmm - not sure I’m in the market for that particular type of massage, good, bad or indifferent.
Screw the exotic destinations: go to Key West and take me with you! 
Misnomer, how you doin?
(Is that still a Dope meme, or has it been played out?)
Many thanks for all the excellent suggestions, folks.
One thing I intend to do before I die is see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda. They charge a pretty hefty fee for that, several hundred dollars per person. We could go see them now, it’s not the fee that stops us, it’s just getting everything arranged, taking the time etc. One of these days… But if such a sudden windfall fell into my lap, that might provide the impetus.
Otherwise, maybe vacation in Europe with the wife. She lived some months in Amsterdam when she was doing some work with Utrecht University that was connected to a project she was in charge of in Thailand and was able to travel a bit around with a Thai colleague but would like to go to Europe with me. I’ve had my time in Europe and can’t get excited about the place anymore and so always drag my feet. There are just too many other places neither of us has seen. But that would be an option.
Harumph! :dubious:
(Still checking to see if Thailand has any elephants.)
I thought I saw one once, but it turned out to be a wasp.
Turkey. Best value for money out there - great sights, food, infrastructure. Start in Istanbul and head to Antalya, then back along the Agenan coast.
But, like, isn’t Washington D.C. already a tourist destination?
Um, both? 
As mentioned, Vegas is fun - you could bring the rest of the money, put it on red and…
Otherwise, I would suggest just taking the money, buy the cheapest ticket to anywhere in Europe and then just wing it. Get on a train and get on and off the train wherever the muse strikes you. Find a hostel, hang out, then get back on the train and keep going.
Sometimes the best trips are those less planned - just go and see where you wind up. That’s how I first traveled to Europe and it was great not having an itinerary and just meeting people and going places and doing things that were always spontaneous, wonderful and exciting as I ventured into the unknown.
Or a cockroach in my old house up North!
Heh! That reminds me of when the (future) wife and I were students in Hawaii and went to the Southwest during one school break. I wrote a check for something at the gift shop on top of Sandia Mountain overlooking Albuquerque, had to show my driver’s license (Hawaiian) and the shop attendants marveled that people in Hawaii would ever want to leave the place. Same at a Motel 6 in Anaheim, California upon check-in.
Another serious suggestion: Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom on the border between India and China. To keep the riffraff out, they impose a mandatory requirement of changing US$200 a day into the local currency (Indians and Bangladeshis enter for free), which cannot be changed back, and you must be part of a registered tour group, so no worries about speaking only English. Beautiful place by all accounts, although I’ve not been there myself. But I know an Englishman there who is working for the Bhutanese government in tourist promotion, and he loves it.
Venice/Rome if you can go in the off-season. (I probably wouldn’t use it for that, but only cause I’ve already been. My sweetie hasn’t, though, so maybe). You can definitely get by with English and hand-waving, but English isn’t universal so you still get the fun of hand-waving on occasion. And learning “Hello” , “Thank You” and “My Uncle is sick, but the highway is green” in Italian is fun, too. And if you already know any French, Spanish or German, it’s worth a try. Depending on flight cost, I think $2500 should do it.