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I enjoy a variety of vacations. Sometimes it is great to just go to the beach for a week and worry about nothing, and those all inclusive resorts are great for that. This is especially true if you vacation is a week or less.
If I just have a weekend I'm going to the mountains and either camping or hanging out in a cabin away from tv/internet.
If I have at least 10 days I'm going to someone abroad and really delving into the culture, but this takes more time planning.
Geez OP, one of my guys is going to be crushed to hear that his two month long motorcycle trip up Vietnam, and then through the Indian Himalayas was boring, because he's an office guy. Of course I understand. I only went with my family and parents travelling through Ethiopia for a couple weeks this summer...slacker...
Same here. I can do a day trip to NYC whenever I want to experience the hustle and bustle.
Vacations to me are about recharging mental batteries.
Exactly. I commute to New York City so that garbage is part of my daily routine. Why would I ever want it on vacation. I want to be taken around in comfort when I'm on vacation, with someone else figuring out how to navigate.
OP, I bet you are popular around your office if you tell everyone there how boring you think they are. Good way to make friends and influence enemies (not).
But, that said, I am fascinated by how you want to get away to see those 'exotic' parts of the world (on a banker's budget no less, while pretending poverty, no doubt just like the natives) but have you hitchhiked the Alaska and Dempster Highways yet? Have you slept in ditches and cardboard boxes lately? Have you seen your own country? Do you truly know its history and geography? Have you traipsed the Rocky Mountains and gone rafting on the Colorado River? Have you spent time helping the downtrodden in the US - perhaps you have built a house for Habitat or maybe you cleaned up the mess after Katrina? Have you ever made time for a creative and interesting stay-cation - and enjoyed really seeing the town/city you actually live in, every nook and cranny - with several children in tow - for less than $10 a day (total)? Have you ever tried the kinds of vacations you criticize so many others for taking?
Do you fly every darned week across the country and/or internationally in all manner of planes from large jets to the bush types, working your behind off from 4 am Monday (or missing Sundays at home to catch that last plane out for an early Monday meeting) till late on Friday night when you touch down and can't even find your car in a snowstorm and drag yourself home to see your family for one day a week before you do it all again? How does that kind of life differ from yours? Can you possibly imagine why some would rather NOT drag their families onto flight after flight and listen to their children cry as they try to settle them down for the night in some hostel in a place everyone is too tired to actually 'see' before they move on like vagabonds?
I am usually the most polite and tolerant person one could meet .. but .. frankly, you sound like a very young, spoiled, boring, callous cad to me. That said, I am glad if you enjoy the kinds of vacations you are choosing to take at this time in your life (and there is nothing wrong with them at all - it is the way you speak of others that is the problem!).
As someone who's travelled to every continent at least once other than Antarctica and makes a point to live as a local as much as possible, I don't understand your issue.
Most Americans do nothing but work and stress out, and have precious little time to really recharge and recover. So can you really blame them from wanting to actually unwind and indulge in serenity for once in their lives rather than going on some strenuous, adrenaline-pumping expedition in an unfamiliar location with few creature comforts?
I've always come back more exhausted from those types of trips than before I left. And especially now that I'm married (as most corporate types tend to be), I now have to take another person (and expenses) into consideration. He's really not the super adventurous type, and prefers simple, relaxed pleasures with a bit more predictability, so that's changed the types of trips I take.
If we had kids, this would be even more true, since safety and health become even more paramount for everybody.
Sure. There are tours run by operators...mercs...who will take clients into active war zones, too. I think that sounds rather interesting, but I'm more than half-crazy at least half the time.
We visited a former conflict border with the occasional burned out military machine and the threat of mines along the river, though it's been clear/over near 25 years now (Namibia-Angola border). Definitely interesting to see, and discuss with the locals. It was a bush war involving guerillas from multiple parties, state and non-state actors, and raged for more than a decade. Weird, to Americans at-least.
I think most people go on boring vacations because of what I quoted, the "planning" can be vastly time-consuming. I delegate some of that, but plan for a living so it's way-fun for me.
For all those who think this would be a great vacation, there's plenty of guys and gals in the sandbox who would happily trade for the boring life in an office instead of MRAP. Local recruiter is just down the road.
I have absolutely no desire to travel internationally. There's nothing about it that interests me in the least.
Growing up, my parents had to pinch pennies, so we did a lot of camping. That was pretty much what we did on every family vacation. As an adult, my idea of a nice vacation is a trip to the mountains (except now we live in the mountains, so I get to enjoy them every day) or a trip to the beach. Rent a place and chill for the entire time. We've traveled up to Maine, which was gorgeous and traveled back to Michigan, where we did all of our camping in my childhood and we had a wonderful time.
As we were just finalizing our reservations for our vacation to Yellowstone next month, I had to chuckle a bit thinking about this thread.
Yeah, we're only going to Wyoming. How boring.
Wonder what the OP would think of my vacation this summer...The weather was wonderful, so I spent a whole week sitting on my deck reading a stack of cheap, trashy books. I had a nice jug of iced tea next to me, a can of sun screen, and my sunglasses nearby. I got up only to go inside to visit the bathroom and get more ice. I thought it was GLORIOUS!! It was SO RELAXING. I had no pressure, no expense (besides the books), nothing. I loved it.
is this thread serious? Why do people think you have to cross an ocean for the trip to "count"? I wouldn't go on a cruise myself but if that's what some people want more power to them! And $4K is a lot of money...
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I had no pressure, no expense (besides the books), nothing. I loved it.
