2016 Vacation Porn

[Velar Fricative]

I would choose Iceland and I would kindly beg you to take me with you.

I think two weeks of sufficient if you drive all around Ring Road! I would be so jealous.

[Velar Fricative]

@frclb - Croatia is amazing. I'm pretty anti-beach but Zagreb is pretty cool and I even loved the beaches.

[Deleted]

Barcelona- beautiful city, culture, & you can throw in a side beach trip. Plus the FOOD omg the FOOD!

[Deleted]

I would go to Greece and Turkey!

[Deleted]

Have you ever been to Peru? Machu Picchu is amazing. I'd love to bring the kids back there some day.

[Deleted]

This thread is making me want to do more adventurous travel. I don't know what's wrong with me that other people can take their kids on these kinds of trips and I look at mine and think, "eh, no still a waste of money," lol. I would want to spend time looking at ruins and going in museums and lingering over dinner etc. and I just can't seem them allowing that yet.

[dancingirl21]

We went to Australia in 2010 and it was incredible. We spent 4 days in Queensland (Cairns, specifically) then went to Sydney for 3 days. If we had more time (DH had already been there a week for work, then I flew and we travelled for a week), we would have gone to New Zealand as well.

It was a once in a lifetime trip. Lots of scenery, swimming the Great Barrier Reef, railway tours up to the top of mountains where there was a sleepy little town, great food.

[cajunmom]

If you're wanting to stay in the Western hemisphere, I'd say Chile. You could stay here for a few days www.tierrahotels.com/tierra-patagonia-hotel-boutique-amp-spa/ , you could spend time in Santiago, you could even go to Argentina for a while.

[frlcb]

Jun 24, 2015 7:26:16 GMT -5 @mrsbecky said:

For some reason this thread is cracking me up.

What about Spain with some time in Morocco? The nice thing about Spain is that it is so different. Four days in Pais Vasco feels very different than four days in Andalucia. You could hit up a beach, spend time in cities, and you could tack on a few days in Africa.

What about Japan? I have never been (I'm such a boring traveler lol) but it seems like that could be fun. With your budget and your traveling criteria I think I would also consider Thailand and SE Asia.


Those suggestions aside, I think my final list of where you should go in order would be:

Argentina
Spain
Sweden/Norway
Asia



the thing that pushes Argentina to the top for me is length of flight. Arent flights to there pretty long? so I would want to go when I had a long period of time (like two weeks) to spend there.

It's about 12 hours from Atlanta, but the good thing about the flights to Argentina (and back) are that they are overnight both ways, and minimal time change difference, so it helps with jet lag.

[frlcb]

Also I am dying to go back to New Zealand but feel the same kind of eh about Australia. I loved Melbourne but I am not in any hurry to go back to Australia. I really loved NZ and we did the North Island, and everyone says the South Island is a million times better.

[erbear]

Jun 23, 2015 22:50:18 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

Jun 23, 2015 21:22:53 GMT -5 erbear said:

We did two weeks in Turkey and Greece last year and it was amazing.

That sounds awesome. That is my dream vacation- well one of them anyway.

It was amazing. The pictures would make you drool. They keep coming up on my timehop this week 

[erbear]

What about Scandinavia? Sweden, Norway and Finland's bigger cities seem to have the cultural vibe you're looking for (though I'm not sure about the food...)

Thailand, Vietnam or Cambodia?

Spain and Morocco?

Can I come?!

[anna7602]

Jun 23, 2015 21:50:25 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

BTW, 2018 is likely to be Russia unless they change the World Cup or it just becomes a totally unstable shit show.

Hmmm...

Germany
Brazil
Colombia

I'm surprised Argentina isn't getting more love. anna7602 - you've been to BA, no? And Montevideo? I'm thinking BA, Mendoza, Montevideo. Or maybe just some random other town in Argentina. Iguazu?

I loooooooooove Buenos Aires. I've been twice, once with just DH in our pre-kid days and once with DD, and it was great both times. I also went to Iguazu on a separate trip, from Brazil. I actually think the Argentine side is nicer than the Brazilian side, so yes, you could add this to the itinerary. And don't feel pressured to buy a Brazilian visa to see the Brazilian side. 

I didn't make it over to Uruguay, but you could do Colonia, which gets rave reviews, and for some beach time, Punta del Este, which also gets rave reviews. Just make sure you time it so that you're there for their spring/summer/early fall, not ours. 

Re: Russia, I loved St. Petersburg, hated Moscow. Did some day trips from St. Petersburg that were nice. I really can't emphasize enough how much I hated Moscow. But if you do end up in Russia, I would still plan to do a day or two there, just not several days. 

Re: Germany, Berlin is another city that I love, love, love. And it is very kid-friendly. Here's a post from my now-defunct blog on my experience in Berlin with a then-4-year-old: 

malangababy.blogspot.com/2012/09/72-hours-in-berlin.html

Frankfurt is kind of meh and a lot of the places I went in the East in the 90s have probably changed significantly by now. At the time, they were still just emerging from the communist haze and were an interesting contrast to other parts of Germany and the west. 

[namasteak]

Jun 23, 2015 22:16:53 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

Jun 23, 2015 22:10:26 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

I'm just going to keep posting. I'm currenty planning a week in Bali and I think it would be easy to do two weeks there. Obviously the beach is a big draw, but there seems to be lots of other stuff to do there too.

We also theoretically want to move in 2017 to Europe or Asia, so I keep telling myself I should get my Western Hemisphere travel in.  Of course, wanting to get a job overseas and actually doing so are two different stories.

Nooooooooo!

[jenn248]

Jun 24, 2015 9:18:55 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

Jun 23, 2015 21:50:25 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

BTW, 2018 is likely to be Russia unless they change the World Cup or it just becomes a totally unstable shit show.

Hmmm...

Germany
Brazil
Colombia

I'm surprised Argentina isn't getting more love. anna7602 - you've been to BA, no? And Montevideo? I'm thinking BA, Mendoza, Montevideo. Or maybe just some random other town in Argentina. Iguazu?

I loooooooooove Buenos Aires. I've been twice, once with just DH in our pre-kid days and once with DD, and it was great both times. I also went to Iguazu on a separate trip, from Brazil. I actually think the Argentine side is nicer than the Brazilian side, so yes, you could add this to the itinerary. And don't feel pressured to buy a Brazilian visa to see the Brazilian side. 

I didn't make it over to Uruguay, but you could do Colonia, which gets rave reviews, and for some beach time, Punta del Este, which also gets rave reviews. Just make sure you time it so that you're there for their spring/summer/early fall, not ours. 

Re: Russia, I loved St. Petersburg, hated Moscow. Did some day trips from St. Petersburg that were nice. I really can't emphasize enough how much I hated Moscow. But if you do end up in Russia, I would still plan to do a day or two there, just not several days. 

Re: Germany, Berlin is another city that I love, love, love. And it is very kid-friendly. Here's a post from my now-defunct blog on my experience in Berlin with a then-4-year-old: 

malangababy.blogspot.com/2012/09/72-hours-in-berlin.html

Frankfurt is kind of meh and a lot of the places I went in the East in the 90s have probably changed significantly by now. At the time, they were still just emerging from the communist haze and were an interesting contrast to other parts of Germany and the west. 

Ditto basically all of this.  I've been to Buenos Aires 10-11 times for work and it's a great city.  Montevideo is quite nice as well, but it reminded me a lot of B.A., just smaller and quieter.  The only other cities I've been to in Argentina were Mendoza (which would make a lovely side trip) and Rosario (skip it), but if I have the opportunity to go back for vacation someday, I'd love to spend some time in Patagonia.  I've heard good things about Colonia and Punta del Este from colleagues, but haven't been myself.

I've been to St. Petersburg and Moscow twice each, and greatly preferred St. P.   Moscow was okay, but I am glad I went for work and not on my own dime.

I did study abroad in Germany twice and agree that Berlin is fantastic and Frankfurt is kind of blah (although it's been a decade or more since I've been to either).  Munich is how you picture "typical" Germany and it's a very nice city, but definitely touristy.  If you're planning to spend a lot of time in Germany, Hamburg, Cologne and Heidelberg are all worth visiting (you could also add Dresden as a day trip from Berlin and Nuremberg as a day trip from Munich).  Prague and Vienna are two of my favorite cities in Europe, and you could easily tack on a side trip to either of those by train from Germany.  

In Colombia, I've only been to Bogota; I've heard good things about Cartagena, but I am not sure I would want to spend two weeks in Colombia alone.  If it's someplace you really want to go, I'd maybe do a week in Colombia and a week in Peru or Ecuador.  Is the Galapagos on your radar at all?  We went there for our honeymoon and it's one of my favorite places in the world - tied with NZ's South Island, which I see you've already covered  

[dana2006]

Eastern Europe. We flew into Krakow and took the train to Budapest, Vienna, Cesky Krumlov, and Prague. It was the best vacation all around.

[halfpint]

Top on my list right now:
Kenya (nice beaches + safari!)
Estonia
Prague
Iceland (could couple with Ireland for a two week trip)
Alaska
Mauritius and/or Seychelles

[cilantro]

Just throwing in that your lyfe sounds awesome

[frlcb]

Macchu picchu is fabulous, but I wouldn't take a young kid there, and I would pretty much take my kids almost anywhere. It would make me very nervous walking around the site. I would also do Galapagos with an older child.

I have been to Russia and have no interest to return. But if I did j agree I liked St Pete better than Moscow.

We are always searching for THE trip, and have yet to find it it doesn't help that we have traveled so much, so we just book cool places we want to see and know it probably won't be the end all be all of traveling.