Traveling over Christmas/New Years ?

[neonpink]

My husband and I are in the beginning stages of planning a trip over Christmas/New year. We've never taken a trip in December. I thought I would ask if anyone here has vacationed during Christmas?

Where did you go and would you do it again? TIA

[Deleted]

I think it depends on where you are going. We did Washington DC one year with my whole family and it was great. Nothing was going on in Congress/embassies so hotel prices were great (Kimpton Hotel for $100 a night!)

But a place like Hawaii, you're going to get big crowds and high prices.

[ILikeSloths]

We went to Italy one year for 2 weeks over Christmas, and it was wonderful. The weather was cold, but some cities were decorated beautifully and there weren't as many crowds. Our favorite cities were Florence, Rome, and a few smaller towns like Assisi. I'd love to go back again someday during the holiday season.

[neonpink]

When you were in Rome were things open? We were seriously talking about Italy this weekend but then got nervous that things would be closed.

[ILikeSloths]

From what I recall, the only day some places (Eta: Vatican Museum, colosseum, etc.) were closed was Christmas Day. We didn't do much that day anyway other than wander around the city. Some shops, restaurants, cafes, etc. were still open in the main touristy areas.


ETA 2: I forgot to mention that we were not there over New Year's so I'm not sure if places are opened or closed over NYE and NYD.

[anna7602]

We went to Chile and Argentina over New Year's one year, spending NYE in Valparaiso. The crowds weren't bad, but we did hit a lot of local traffic leaving Santiago for the holiday. Everyone heads to the beaches that time of year. I had only accounted for international travelers, not domestic ones!

The rest of our trip was fairly chill, though, and the weather was amazing since it was summer.

[anna7602]

Jun 4, 2012 16:10:32 GMT -5 neonpink said:

When you were in Rome were things open? We were seriously talking about Italy this weekend but then got nervous that things would be closed.

I nearly forgot I visited Rome just after Christmas one year. Dec. 26th is also a holiday, and I feel like there's another holiday thrown in there, maybe the 27th or the 28th? Whenever "Holy Innocents" falls on the Catholic calendar (I'm a lapsed Catholic). This made it really hard to see everything we wanted to see in Rome in a short amount of time, so we ended up lingering there for a few more days and skipping other cities on our itinerary.

I found the weather to be pretty mild in Rome and Florence that time of year. Definitely jacket-weather, but not super-heavy-coat weather.

[Deleted]

I've done Vietnam (Christmas) and Costa Rica (New Years) and had a great time both places. Everything that we wanted to do was open in both places.

It's one of my favorite times of the year to travel because the weather is so crappy at home.

[emilyinchile]

Jun 4, 2012 16:51:54 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

We went to Chile and Argentina over New Year's one year, spending NYE in Valparaiso. The crowds weren't bad, but we did hit a lot of local traffic leaving Santiago for the holiday. Everyone heads to the beaches that time of year. I had only accounted for international travelers, not domestic ones!

The rest of our trip was fairly chill, though, and the weather was amazing since it was summer.

Oh yeah, the road to the coast is ridiculous on NYE, but the fireworks are worth it!

OP, it totally depends on what you like. If you want to escape the winter, head to the southern hemisphere. But if you're thinking Italy, you probably want cold weather. A lot of places in Europe have well-known Christmas markets that would be fun to check out, although those usually end a few days before Christmas itself.

[basilosaurus]

It completely depends on where you're going. I've lived in tourist towns (and do now) and would prefer to travel on holidays just to escape the hordes. Coming home from college one Christmas, my 13 hour drive ended up being 20 b/c of all the people driving into Florida.

Having lived in cold places, I completely get wanting to escape that for a bit, even if everyone else has the same idea, but now that I'm back in the warmth I'd prefer to take a trip that's cold if it means getting away from crowds.

[GilliC]

I travel a lot around Christmas & New Year's. Since everyone tends to be doing family things, and I don't have any family nearby, I generally find it a little depressing to stay home. And if I'm going to spend the money to travel, I'd rather go somewhere more interesting than my parents' house.

2004 was the first Christmas we spent traveling, and we went to Hawaii. We had a great time. We had the added advantage that my aunt & uncle live in Honolulu, so we had Christmas brunch with them, and we stayed with one of my BMs, because her parents have a house near Diamond Head. On the downside, we spent the week before Christmas on the Big Island, and XH didn't heed the advice to wear glasses when hiking out to the lava flow, so we had to find an eye doctor open on Christmas Eve! Honestly, it wasn't that expensive. We found a decent deal on flights, and we booked our hotel early enough that we could find someplace small and affordable, even with a slight price increase for the holidays.

In 2005 we stayed home in Beijing and celebrated with our friends who were mostly all there on short-term assignments. We booked a big reservation at a British pub and tried to get in the Christmas spirit by buying Santa hats at the market. We just ignored the fact that they were red vinyl with fur trim and looked like something out of a sex shop! I'm pretty sure that we stayed in that evening instead of paying the outrageous cover charges to go to the "Merry Pimpmas" party at our favorite bar.

By 2006 most of our friends had left Beijing, so we spent a long weekend in Xian. I think maybe we flew back on Christmas Day? Apparently Christmas in Xian means scantily-clad women in angel costumes advertising the latest soft drink around a Christmas tree. Christmas Eve was a bit more in the holiday spirit as everyone descended on the city center wearing bunny ears and Scream masks. Apparently they take "Happy Holidays" literally.

2007... We went to visit some friends in Perth, Australia. Christmas in Australia was definitely a strange experience (Am I really saying that after Xian?) since it's all about going to the beach and barbecues and hot weather. Since we were visiting friends, we did get to go to church service and open some presents with their family before everyone hit the waves. We skipped out on the Boxing Day sales, since we were headed down to Margaret River. At New Year's we were traveling farther south and watched the town fireworks in Albany. It reminded me a lot of smalltown Midwest 4th of July.

In 2008 we went to San Francisco for a wedding, so again we spent the Christmas holiday with friends. We actually flew over on Christmas Eve and flew back on New Year's Eve because the flights were cheapest, so we missed most of the holiday festivities. That was fine with us, since fewer places are open in the US on the holidays themselves, and we had the week in between to explore while things were operating as usual. We found fantastic hotel deals on Hotwire.

We spent 2009 in India to visit XH's family. I really enjoyed Christmas service at his family's church in Bombay, and of course everything was open and lively since the Christian population is relatively small. Over New Year's we were down in Kerala, and a lot of the resorts had big New Year's celebrations, which was a bit of a logistical problem when it came to booking. We ended up finding someplace affordable, and I got the adventure of braving the crowds at the local wine shop to buy a few bottles of sparkling wine that afternoon. Overall, the prices weren't bad for the season, but we waited to book the trip until fairly late, and since we were traveling with the family of five, we needed a TA's help to book everything.

In 2010 we stayed in Oslo, because we had a big trip planned for mid-January, and last year I stayed home because we were still figuring out the logistics of our separation, and the holidays mostly landed on the weekend.

This year since Christmas & New Year's are both mid-week, I have tickets to Rio, so that I can experience the big New Year's celebration at Copacabana. I've been watching the plane tickets for a while, and this early they're still the same price as the rest of the year. I'm sure hotels would cost a small fortune, but I have a cute dimpled Brazilian boy to shack up with.

[anna7602]

Jun 4, 2012 17:49:49 GMT -5 GilliC said:

This year since Christmas & New Year's are both mid-week, I have tickets to Rio, so that I can experience the big New Year's celebration at Copacabana. I've been watching the plane tickets for a while, and this early they're still the same price as the rest of the year. I'm sure hotels would cost a small fortune, but I have a cute dimpled Brazilian boy to shack up with.

Ahhh! Throw flowers to Yemaya for me! I think the samba schools are already practicing for Carnaval then, too, so I'm sure that will be a blast to see. Have so much fun.

[GilliC]

Jun 5, 2012 3:17:52 GMT -5 anna7602 said:

I think the samba schools are already practicing for Carnaval then, too, so I'm sure that will be a blast to see. Have so much fun.

Ooh! Good call! I became a Tijuca fan after their performance this year, and thanks to a random wrong turn on the way somewhere else, I know where the school is!

[iheartrice]

I went to Hawaii (Big Island & Maui) last Christmas, loved it! I would do it again in a heartbeat. It's peak whale watching time