How often do U Travel?

[Carta]

Wife and I have been going to CUN for the past 8 years first 3 weeks in March...(rent from t/s owners)...Then, in September wifey goes on girl trip for one week. (Ocean City, MD). This year they're going to New Orleans in April...October is when we exchange our t/s in the Poconos to go to Florida.

So I guess we travel 4-5 weeks a year.. Not to mention the miscellaneous trips from time to time..

Been traveling since 1983.....LOVE IT ...Wish we can do more!!

 

[moonstone]

We have always done a lot of traveling, and even more since we retired. We timeshare, camp, take cruises, take the occasional AI as well as trips to England to visit family. In addition to our fixed week timeshare we always add on an Extra or Last Call Week and often book Last Call weeks on their own. We bought some points quite a few years ago and can usually get 3 or more weeks from them. We spend at least 2 weeks and 2 long weekends (5 days) camping within 2 or 3 hrs of our home.
In addition to all that we are spending our 3rd winter (90 days) in Belize.

We probably spend about 20 weeks a year away from home. We have started thinking of selling our big old house in the country and moving to a condo in one of the nearby towns since we are finally empty nesters and our 3 children all have their own homes to look after.


~Diane

 

[Jan M.]

I hope more people post their experiences on this thread. My husband is retiring at the beginning of February and we plan to start going to new places more often.

we are spending our 3rd winter (90 days) in Belize

Do you own a place or timeshare in Belize or do you book it through RCI? I'm clearly not dreaming big enough!

 

[turkel]

We currently vacation 3 times a year. 2 weeks in April or May, 2 weeks in July or August, and 1 week in November for a total of 5 timeshare weeks. My DH works in NCal while our homes are in SCal so he travels home every 3 or 4 weeks. I travel up about 3 times a year. Usually December, x mas party, March to cook St Paddy's dinner for all his employees, and 1 unplanned trip depending on how many Marriott free nights I have Available. We usually pay for Friday and Saturday nights and use a certificate for Sunday. Hotel rates in NCal during commuter days are $$$.

 

[dsmrp]

We take at least 3 trips by air a year. Now I'm approaching 4x/year since I'm going twice a year to visit my mother in Honolulu. It sounds unimaginable, but even I am getting a bit meh about Hawaii LOL.

 

[WinniWoman]

We work full time, but we manage to take our 3 weeks of timeshares and add in an extra vacation to wherever via renting and then we take XMAS week off so we can visit our son in NH for the holiday and spend the rest of the week at home.

We have 2 weeks back to back timeshares in summer at our 2 drive to home resorts in New England (VT and NH), and a pre-assigned floater week (VT) usually in spring or fall. Once in a while we might exchange that one, but rarely. This year we did exchange it for Cape Cod in Sept.

The extra vacation is taken in late spring or fall also. This June we are renting a cottage on Lake Champlain (VT) through Home Away. Last June we rented directly from Rams Horn Resort in Colorado to visit RMNP. Sept. 2019 we are planning 2 Utah National Parks- again renting at a resort- for our extra vacation week.

So- 5 weeks, which uses up all our PTO time! Hubby takes a 6th week to go hunting with his cousin and BIL right after Thanksgiving.

 

[heathpack]

I get 4 weeks of vacation per year, so we for sure are away 4 weeks per year.

I work Mon-Thurs, so we take frequent long weekends as well.

In addition to vacation, I get a week of Continuing Education time.

If I plan things right, I can sometimes string together some vacation days, CE days, and a holiday and be gone for quite a while. This summer, we’ll be gone July 4-18 while only using 2 vacation days!

Anyway, this year we’ll manage the following:

San Diego for a bike race, then a week in Carmel in March. Road & mountain biking, wine tasting, hanging out. Hyatt internal exchange plus free hotel stay in San Diego.

Disneyland weekend in May using DVC points. No bike!

Likely long weekends for bike races: Tahoe in June, maybe Utah, Oregon, and/or Washington from April through June.

Southern Utah, then Park City, then Denver for a conference in July. Marriott exchange Park City, hotel in Denver paid by work, and probably AirBnB for SoUtah. Mountain biking mostly.

I’m going to a weekend woman’s mtb clinic in July up in Mammoth Lakes, probably will stay at the Westin on hotel points.

Labor Day, we’ll take a week in Tahoe. Stay with friends and then Hyatt internal exchange. Did I mention mountain biking yet?! And hanging out.

Disney is doing a Moonlight Magic (free after-hours event for DVC members) in Nov, so we’ll do another Disneyland weekend then.

And we’ll do something over Thanksgiving. In 2017, we did Sedona for mountain biking. I’d like to do that again, but it will depend on how much vacation I use traveling to bike races. We have an SFX exchange to use up. Worst case scenario, we head off sailing on Thanksgiving Day.

We also have a sail boat, so will probably take 6 weekend trips or so. And some mountain biking friends have a cabin at Big Bear Lake, so I’m guessing we’ll head up to Big Bear relatively often once my race season ends in June.

Whew, I’m tired just thinking about it all.

 

[VacationForever]

We are retired and travel about 100 days this year. This year: Jan in Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage for 2 weeks, Feb in Scottsdale for a week, Mar in Singapore for a week, early Apr back to California for a week to visit family, mid Apr to early May, Rome and Venice followed by a cruise to Italy and Greek Isles, Jul back to California to visit family, Sep Newport Coast for a week, Nov back to California to visit family, the entire month of Dec in cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong covering Thailand and Vietnam plus extended stay in Singapore and Hong Kong. Next year includes cruise to Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Copenhagen in Apr and May and end of the year Australia and New Zealand.

 

[moonstone]

I hope more people post their experiences on this thread. My husband is retiring at the beginning of February and we plan to start going to new places more often.



Do you own a place or timeshare in Belize or do you book it through RCI? I'm clearly not dreaming big enough!

We rent an apartment in Corozal, at the north end of Belize. It is actually part of a hotel but our unit is fully self contained. Our first winter here we had a 2 bedroom but had non-stop company, so for the last 2 years we've rented a 1 bedroom one and when anybody wants to visit they can get a hotel room upstairs!

Unfortunately timesharing has spoiled me especially, for other accommodations. Rental apartments here are not furnished/equipped anything like you'd find in even an old motel conversion timeshare. DH says it is a 3rd world country after all! Everything is pretty basic unless you pay big bucks in the touristy areas. Our landlady has very generously offered to store 3 Rubbermaid totes of things, a BBQ & our bicycles that we brought down last year when we drove.

I would much rather spend the winter in FL but it's not warm enough for DH and a similar size apt would be about 4x what we are paying. We've had a cold front slowly going over for the last 3 days, only highs in the upper 70's F & down into the low 60's at night!


~Diane

 

[r1lee]

I’m 40 and my wife is 41. We have 2 kids 8 and 6 and we try a minimum of 4x a year with one being a cruise.
We do lots of short trips and long trips.

Last year
4 days in Ottawa for winterlude
1 week March break Westin Lagunamar
1 week in june in Miami and Cruise
1 week in July in Vancouver
6 days end of aug at Lagunamar
4 days nyc for Black Friday
1 week dec in jamaica followed by
1 week in Orlando at Vistana.


This year we’re cutting it down a little.
4 days at mont tremblant February
3 days in Orlando at svv then 7 days on a cruise for March break
8 days in June/July hawaii at wkorv
4 day somewhere for Black Friday
10 days in Vancouver for Christmas.

We drive if we can to save money and when flying we only take carry on, to save the hassle of check bags.

 

[jme]

We are retired and travel about 100 days this year. This year: Jan in Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage for 2 weeks, Feb in Scottsdale for a week, Mar in Singapore for a week, early Apr back to California for a week to visit family, mid Apr to early May, Rome and Venice followed by a cruise to Italy and Greek Isles, Jul back to California to visit family, Sep Newport Coast for a week, Nov back to California to visit family, the entire month of Dec in cruise from Singapore to Hong Kong covering Thailand and Vietnam plus extended stay in Singapore and Hong Kong. Next year includes cruise to Ireland, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands and Copenhagen in Apr and May and end of the year Australia and New Zealand,

Now, did you REALLY have to share all that?
Talk about a buzz-kill. I was going to post, but I might feel just a weeeeee bit inferior
(even though our travel habits are pretty sweet), so I won't.
But if you'd like to hire a personal valet to travel with you (and I'm cheap, very cheap), please let me know.......

 

[VacationForever]

Now, did you REALLY have to share all that?
Talk about a buzz-kill. I was going to post, but I might feel just a weeeeee bit inferior
(even though our travel habits are pretty sweet), so I won't.
But if you'd like to hire a personal valet to travel with you (and I'm cheap, very cheap), please let me know.......

LOL. I wasn't going to post when OP first posted. But then Jan M. said she hoped more people would post, so I thought why not. Travelling can be stressful too not just because of packing and unpacking and traveling (flying, logistics), but also we have 2 lonely cats at home with a cat sitter visiting once a day is just not enough. Seriously, we do hope to travel less.

 

[pedro47]

We try to travel using our timeshare 6 to 8 weeks per year and we also, enjoy cruising every other year. Plus, mini hotels weekend getaway anywhere within a 200 miles radius.
We are both retired.

 

[jme]

Seriously, we do hope to travel less.

WHY?

Like a similar familiar line regarding "work", at the end of your life, do you really think you'd say,
"Gee, I wish we had traveled less?"

Of course not!

So continue what you've started, there are so many places to see and experience. And enjoy.

PLUS, and maybe the most consequential, you'd have to change your name here on TUG.
And THAT would send a ripple effect through TUG from which we'd never recover.

 

[shorts]

We sold our house and most of our possessions when DH retired and moved into our RV. We spend 8-9 weeks each winter in our timeshare in Grand Cayman and do several timeshare trips of varying lengths throughout the year with our Wyndham points. Often we take our kids and grandkids. The rest of the year we just travel the US exploring places we haven’t seen yet!

 

[DaveNV]

I envy those of you who are free to travel at whim. My household is a bit more demanding, with three pets that require a house sitter, and work schedules that restrict being away. I work at a busy hospital, and time off needs to be coordinated well in advance. My spouse is a career Costco staffer, so no vacations allowed from the third week of November until after New Year's (that's Costco's busiest time of year.) We still try to take two or three trips a year, as time allows.

We like traveling in shoulder seasons, so usually take a two week trip in late May into early June to somewhere "big." This year it's back to Hawaii (it never gets MEH to me. ) In September we're taking our convertible and doing a driving road trip down the coast from Washington to Northern California, then around the Bay Area to visit relatives. This Summer we'll do a short staycation to host family coming in from out of state. And once my WorldMark purchase closes (if it ever does) I want to start doing long weekends in my area of Northwest Washington. I live in one of the most beautiful areas of the country, and I want time to explore. I'm hoping the WorldMark will let me make that happen.

Retirement could happen as early as next year (fingers crossed) - and once it does, stand back - all bets are off.

Dave

 

[bogey21]

Seriously, we do hope to travel less.

I can understand this. For the first 7 or 8 years after retiring I took up to 10 trips a year. I started phasing it down and stopped completely after a health issue and although I've been good to go for the last 5 or 6 years I haven't resumed traveling and am content avoiding the hassle.

George

 

[ronandjoan]

Yes, Jan M (and others) - once you retire, there are lot more opportunities. As most of you know, we sold our Ohio house in 2008 and were absolutely "homeless" for 7 full years as we timeshared the whole time (our BLOG, which does need to be updated, covers most of this) and now, although we do rent a condo from our son in Seattle in order to be nearer the grandchildren, we own so many timeshares, that we are still out 7-8 months. We are enjoying the west coast timeshares now, as in Ohio, we were mainly on the east coast (or even in the Midwest more.)
Our ownership (7 weeks) in St Augustine and 3 weeks plus available bonus weeks in Cable, WI keep us still in those areas annually.

 

[hjsweet2002]

Feb, we have been going to Williamsburg, Governeur Green, April Edisto Island, Memorial Day weekend, Bentley Brook or Shawnee Village, July two weeks at various locations, Thanksgiving Bentley Brook, and Christmas, Inn on Long Wharf. All great Wyndham resorts.

 

[Passepartout]

We don't travel as much as we could. With a second home, it kind of depends on how you define 'travel'. Is it travel when you are away from the primary residence and at the leisure house? I think so. We had to do the usual 'update' ordeal at a Mexican exchange yesterday, and about the first question the weasel asked was 'How many weeks a year can you travel?' And he seemed taken aback when I answered '52'. Then he was a little crestfallen when I told him we were in the timeshare liquidation phase of life, not acquisition. The presentation lasted an hour including breakfast and we got $100USD & the week's wi-fi.

Jim

 

[Patri]

I envy all of you, and hope you can continue your travels for many years to come. DH and I went many neat places with his job, and took memorable family vacations, so I am not deprived of that in the past. But because of his stroke nearly three years ago, our days exploring the world together are over. I did go to Europe this summer with DD, and it was the most awesome trip ever. I take getaways with my siblings from across the US when we can coordinate our schedules. I can plan short trips with a friend or two. But it is not the same as with the one you love.
So go...west, east, north and south. Enjoy it all.

 

[Passepartout]

I envy all of you, and hope you can continue your travels for many years to come. DH and I went many neat places with his job, and took memorable family vacations, so I am not deprived of that in the past. But because of his stroke nearly three years ago, our days exploring the world together are over.......
So go...west, east, north and south. Enjoy it all.

So true. We had to take a year off of traveling, due to a medical diagnosis that had us staying close to home for treatments, and inability to be around crowds of people that could share their bugs with us. Fortunately those trips were insured, so the financial cost was mostly covered.

One never knows when one partner's health will change life's plans, so enjoy each other and your abilities. It won't last forever.

Jim

 

[klpca]

We manage about 4 weeks per year together (me and husband) plus I usually do another week with my sister or my daughters. My husband gets every other Friday off so we should be doing long weekends, but those never seem to come together. I need to try harder!

 

[Lydlady]

We still work and take 3 to 4 trips a year. We have a Marriott lock-off and turn that into two different timeshare trades per year. We also go visit DH's elderly parents once a year in CT (preferable during the fall) and then visit friends in ME. Quite often, there is one other trip. This year it will be visiting my SIL and her husband in Kalispell. We also go to Vegas once or twice a year, mainly to visit friends because it's not that far for us.

 

[klpca]

I envy all of you, and hope you can continue your travels for many years to come. DH and I went many neat places with his job, and took memorable family vacations, so I am not deprived of that in the past. But because of his stroke nearly three years ago, our days exploring the world together are over. I did go to Europe this summer with DD, and it was the most awesome trip ever. I take getaways with my siblings from across the US when we can coordinate our schedules. I can plan short trips with a friend or two. But it is not the same as with the one you love.
So go...west, east, north and south. Enjoy it all.

I truly feel for you. It just doesn't seem fair and I wish that you and your husband weren't going through it. I got a taste of it over the past 2 years - my husband was diagnosed with cancer *and* had a heart issue (complete with ambulance!) that required a stent placement. In addition to those issues, once you are on the merry-go-round of health problems, there are follow-on issues with medications, plus the inevitable decline in overall health because of the toll that the treatments take on the person going through them. My husband isn't even 60 yet. That said, he is a good sport about it and is trying to regain his strength. We haven't missed any trips (although had one cut short by a week) but I am cautious about the travel and try to keep the drives short, as well as flights. The one upside is the bucket list is shorter and more focused.