i need to burn vacation time, help me pick a place

[jennlin]

we need to use 1-2, or even 3 weeks time, on or around christmas time. ideally, i'd like to spend christmas at home, but it doesn't matter *too* much.

we'd like to spend about $3,500 for 2 adults, 1 10 mos old, flying to/from SEA.

our main options are:
indonesia (various islands).
pros: we have family there, so it'd be cheap
cons: it's his family. flight prices are very very high (1600) right now.

egypt
pros: a girl i've known from TK/TN is currently living there, welcomed us to stay with her. we've met in person before, h has not.
cons: don't know her *that* well

but we've also been exploring the idea of shanghai (h's sister lives there, but we've both been there before)...and also ANY other place in the world. we're open to suggestions. been looking at cruises for convenience..

what do you guys recommend?

[Deleted]

We did Egypt over the holidays a few years ago and it was amazing. The weather was great and the crowds were not terrible. We did a Nile cruise to Luxor and Aswan, a side trip to Abu Simbel, and ended with a few days in Cairo. It was truly a trip of a lifetime.

I just saw airfare from the east coast at 700pp, though it looks like you're on the west coast. The exchange rate is very favorable, so lodging, meals, and entry fees were affordable.

[SJ]

My husband's family also lives in Indonesia (on Java). That would be my vote, although in our case, I'd prefer to spend half the time traveling without them. Is that possible? Or would they expect/want you to spend the whole time with them? As you listed it as a con, it sounds like you might not want that.

We love the north coast of Bali (away from the tourist mess of Kuta) for just relaxing and also had a fabulous time visiting the komodo dragons. I don't know much about traveling with a baby though. Next time we go, I want to make it to Yogyakarta to see Borobodour.

[Wanderista]

I went to Egypt in the summer. We stayed in the Red Sea area at a nice resort in Makadi Bay, snorkeling, camel riding several times, and doing a desert safari, but we really enjoyed it for the most part. The Red Sea is beautiful. We haven't done the Nile part of Egypt but I would definitely go back and visit it. The country is huge and diverse with lots to do. Even though we did not go to the Pyramids (we were in Egypt during a politically iffy time), we still felt like we had a great, action-packed time.

FYI, there's basically no malaria risk in Egypt, except for a low risk at one of the oases so if you visit those then be sure to check the official sites (US & UK gov't health warnings). We did end up needing to take local antibiotics while we were there after we went to a Bedouin village. We stayed at a resort with a doctor, where the medical care was very good.

Egypt is a little bit hit or miss, you can have a fantastic time or a terrible one and sometimes both in the same day. Also, the local culture can take a bit of adjusting to (I had a waiter try to haggle with me at Burger King until I got the manager). We did meet lots of great people though and when it was all over we agreed that it's one of the more incredible places that we've ever been.

If you don't decide to go there this time around then you should in the future.

[jennlin]

thanks for the tips so far. h promised me that if we go to indonesia, we wouldn't spend the whole time with his family, and we could go to bali without his parents..but his cousins might want to come with us.. we just have a hard time stomaching the price of indo because when we started looking at prices, it was only 1200.

budget of 3500 is for airfaire/hotel. food excluded.

[gt7301b]

I'm going to be the voice of decent and say I wouldn't go to Egypt right now. I visited my best friend in 2008 and her sister is still there. They are the most adventurous people in the world and they don't recommend traveling right now. My friend was talking the other day about how travel outside of Cairo is especially unsafe. There have been a number of kidnappings of Americans traveling in Sinai.

[Deleted]

Indonesia, plus somewhere else in SE Asia.
(I may be biased. I grew up in SE Asia and want to go back every chance I get.)