So now that 2009 is here...Where are you going?

[lprstn]

I love to hear where people are going to travel every year. I get great ideas for my next year's bookings (of which I already started).

Well here goes...

Jan - Massenutten, VA (MLK weekend)
Feb - Shawnee, PA (Pres weekend)
Apr - Smugglers Notch, VT (last week of skiing)
May - Sheraton Vistana, FL (Memorial Day weekend)
July - Cliffs at Peace, Los Vegas (Independence Day week)
July - Wyndham Onshore, RI
Sep - Royal Mayan, Cancun (Labor Day Week)
Nov - Westgate Vacation Villas, FL (Thanksgiving) - 3-Day Disney Cruise to Bahamas
Dec - Mirror Lake & Glacier Canyon, Wisc. Dells (Christmas/New Year's Eve)

I gave away to family for Christmas presents because I couldn't afford the additional airfare...

May - Grand Mayan, Acapulco (Memorial Day weekend)
Aug - Morritt's Grand, Cayman Island

 

[labguides]

Wow, you have lots planned for 2009.
So far, we only have
Grand Timber, Breck, August

 

[Marcia3641]

Apr - Ontario, Canada (Law Cranberry Resort) - Easter Week:whoopie:
Dec - Nuevo Vallarta (Grand Mayan) - Christmas Week


I need to find two more places to go as I have a week with SFX and a week with RCI that will expire the end of the year.


Marcia3641

 

[Steve]

So far in 2009:

Marriott's Newport Coast Villas (March)

Four Seasons Aviara (October)

I'm going to try to get another trip or two in, but this looks like it's going to be one of my quieter years when it comes to travel.

Steve

 

[CatLovers]

Jan - Veracruz Mexico (5 days)
Feb - Maui HI (2 weeks)
Mar - San Francisco CA (extra-long weekend)
Apr - Veracruz Mexico (10 days)
Jul - Napa Valley CA (1 week)
Aug - San Francisco CA (extra-long weekend)
Nov - Puerto Vallarta Mexico (1 week)
Dec - Veracruz Mexico (2 weeks)

I love vacations!

 

[Carolinian]

January - Vilnius, Lithuania (a few extra days after a business trip there)
February - Rome (couple of days on a stopover on a business trip)
March - Sicily (long weekend)
April - France (t/s exchange)
May - Romania painted monasteries (long weekend)
June - Crimea (5 days)
July - Poland and Hungary (t/s exchanges)
August - US
September - Kosovo and Macedonia (4-5 days)
November - UK (t/s exchange)
December - US

 

[Jbart74]

January - Vilnius, Lithuania (a few extra days after a business trip there)
February - Rome (couple of days on a stopover on a business trip)
March - Sicily (long weekend)
April - France (t/s exchange)
May - Romania painted monasteries (long weekend)
June - Crimea (5 days)
July - Poland and Hungary (t/s exchanges)
August - US
September - Kosovo and Macedonia (4-5 days)
November - UK (t/s exchange)
December - US

You forgot October! That's my favorite month! I am so jealous of you TUGGERS who are either retired or so amazingly well-off that you can work from timeshares 9-12 months out of the year!

Ahhhh.... something to look forward to!

I'm just looking forward to Grand Cayman in 7 days!

 

[anne1125]

Wow, I'm jealous too.

We just came back from Orlando (Grande Vista), doing a week in Wyndam Skyline Tower in June and a week in Morritt's Tortuga in July. I think that will be it for this year.

Anne

 

[TerriJ]

I have planned Cancun at an AI for early February to celebrate my 50th birthday.

Then in early April I want to go to Orlando, need to work on this soon.

In the summer DH and want to take a driving trip out west, it will depend on what TS I can get.

And then one more TBD.

This is fun post.

 

[Timeshare Von]

March - San Jose, CA (work for a week)
March - Flagstaff & Sedona (vacation)
May - Williamsburg, VA (sisters' long weekend)
June/July - New Orleans (conference & vacation for a week)
Aug/Sept - Hawaii (vacation for two weeks)
Nov - Orlando (Thanksgiving week with family - all of them!)
Dec - TBA (I have from Chrismas Eve through New Year's Day as paid holiday)

Flagstaff, New Orleans and Hawaii are all t/s trips (4 weeks worth)

 

[pcgirl54]

I have nothing booked! Yikes!!!

For the 1st time in 13 yrs of timesharing I have nothing booked and I am starting to panic. Normally I have 2 weeks booked a year in advance. Most of my former top tens to visit in the past have already been seen to our great fortune so now I have to come up with a new list.

2010-I want to do Napa/Tahoe/Carmel/Yosemite so that is really not a TS trip unless we want to drive really far each day from a central spot.



For those of you with multi months booked I am turning green.

 

[Mimi39]

April - Hawaii - 1 week

May - San Francisco- 1 week

August - Scandinavian/Russia cruise, plus extra days in Copenhagen - 2 weeks

We have one timeshare week due to expire on 12/31/09, so we need to decide where to use it -- maybe Williamsburg, VA in October.

 

[x3 skier]

New Year's Orange Bowl, Miami

Jan-Apr Steamboat Springs

May Puerto Vallarta

June Train Trip Empire Builder Chicago Seattle, Canadian Vancouver Toronto

Oct London

Sometime TBD Charleston SC

Sometime TBD Las Vegas

Cheers

 

[Dori]

We leave in three weeks for a 5-week stay in Florida.

April- Reno, Tahoe, San Francisco

May or June- maybe a trip to South Korea to visit our son who is teaching there.

 

[hibbeln]

I think we're doing pretty well because we're NOT retired and have 2 kids in school (8th and 5th grades). So for all of these we are only taking the kids out of 1.5 days of school, and are doing boy scout camp, band camp, etc!

February: San Francisco
April: Greece (Santorini, Nauplion, Athens)
June/July: Hawaii (Kauai and Oahu)
Labor Day: Bruce Peninsula in Canada

(OK, Pokagon State Park in Indiana for a family reunion for Memorial Day weekend, but I don't think that's glam enough to compare to other's lists!) :hysterical:

I'm itching to plan a trip to Moscow/St. Petersburg/Vilnius, Lithuania for August, but don't know if that will happen.

 

[lprstn]

Wow!!! Keep it coming!

You all have some great vacations planned...:whoopie: some I may steal for 2010!

Oh, BTW, I get to take so many because most of the places we go are usually driving vacations, and we cook in the unit. Not to mention I only take my kids out of school for thankgiving, so Jan/Feb/May's vacations are only from Fri-Tues.

I am so impressed by some of the places you all are going. Keep it coming!!

 

[Cathyb]

Wow, someone who travels more than we do!

Jan Marriott Desert Springs Villas I, Palm Desert
Feb Bluegreen's Marathon and Westin's Key West
Mar Wyndham Las Vegas
Apr Gaslamp Suites in San Diego
Jul The Whaler in Lahaina, Maui (2 wks)
Aug Worldmark in Canada, Wash., and Oregon (3 wks)

So far nothing planned for last quarter of year.

 

[Cathyb]

Catlovers: What is there to do in Veracruz? Whereabouts is it? Do you need to speak Spanish there?

 

[Cathyb]

Carolinian: Tell me something about Crimea -- where is it and what does it offer? You are so fortunate to be able to fairly easily travel among the European countries. Have you noticed any difference with these people in our getting a new president?

 

[lvhmbh]

Aruba - February thru August.

 

[pointsjunkie]

2009 trips

jan-anaheim with DS and his friend 1 air ticket free hotel free
feb-3 weeks in florida free airfare and then to cancun in the middle of trip
mar-westin kierland village- free 1st class air going with DS for her 60th and flying in her best friend for a surprise. friend's air free
apr-westin st. john with DH both free air
may- 10 of us at harborside at the atlantis 3 free flights
july4th weekend orlando free air for both hotel free
aug still up in the air
oct- italy 2 1st calss tick for free and all hotels are free
dec- florida for new years

then i start all over again

life is soooo good.

 

[Carolinian]

Carolinian: Tell me something about Crimea -- where is it and what does it offer? You are so fortunate to be able to fairly easily travel among the European countries. Have you noticed any difference with these people in our getting a new president?

Crimea is a large peninsula in the Black Sea that is part of Ukraine. The attractions are the sea and the palaces and castles there. I will be staying in a hotel in Yalta, and doing a couple of day trips to other places of interest. It was an independent Khanate until the Russians took over in the late 1700s, and the palace of the Khans is supposed to be one of the more interesting. There are also some interesting palaces built by the Romanovs and by Russian aristocrats, and a castle built by the Genoese to protect one of their trading outposts in medieval times.

As to the leadership change in the US, I have been in Italy, Switzerland, and France in western Europe since the election and did not here any comments one way or the other while I was there but then I was not in any situations where such comments would have naturally come up. Here in eastern Europe, especially the closer to Russia one gets, there is apprehension over whether he will be firm enough in standing up to Russia's attempts to dominate its neighbors.

 

[lprstn]

Aruba - February thru August.

Wow!!! How did you manage that!? I would love to be able to do Aruba for that long, heck even 3 weeks!


* And PointsJunki * How do you get the free airfare?

 

[Talent312]

DW and I are working stiffs, so with few opportunities to getaway, we cram in a lot.
May -- five days in London (tickets to Eric Clapton), three days driving in Scotland.
September -- a week in Orlando.

 

[CatLovers]

Catlovers: What is there to do in Veracruz? Whereabouts is it? Do you need to speak Spanish there?

Ah Veracruz, a well-kept secret, but I guess I am about to let the cat out of the bag!

Veracruz is a state in Mexico, bordering on the Gulf of Mexico (about 6-8 'o' clock position). It's also the name of the largest city in the state (also called Puerto de Veracruz). Historically, it's a very important city to Mexico as this is one of the largest seaports in the country, and before the advent of air travel, the closest seaport to Mexico City. Because of its seafaring roots, there is a huge Caribbean influence in this city - in fact there is a whole Afro-Caribbean subculture here that I have never seen in any other part of Mexico. For example, they have a Carnivale celebration here every Feb/Mar that rivals some of the other big ones in the Caribbean and South America.

I said Veracruz is a well-kept secret, but only to those NOT from Mexico. For Mexicans, Veracruz state has been a huge tourist destination for years, so it has a really well-developed infrastructure. There is lots to do here, indoors and out, both in the city and the state, and we have come to love it. It has all the urban comforts as well as endless remote beaches, so a great balance. However, there are not a lot of Americans or Canadians here, and that's why there is not that much English spoken, especially when you venture out of Veracruz City. Also unfortunately (at least for TUGgers), there are no timeshares in this part of Mexico (at least not yet!)

Cathyb, you obviously noticed that we are going there three times this year (the first time this year in less than two weeks actually!!) -- it's because we have purchased a home in a beachfront community about 45 minutes north of Veracruz City. My husband and I have always wanted a beach home, but in so many parts of the world, the prices are already out of sight, at least for our budgets. Veracruz state turned out to be a hidden gem for us -- because it is still relatively undiscovered by Americans and Canadians (in terms of a tourist destination), the real estate prices for beachfront homes are still EXTREMELY reasonable. I'm sure that will become less true over time, but we got in early, so we now have a home here. We figure this was a good decision. If things stay the way they are, then we have a fabulous home right on the ocean, and if this area becomes more popular with foreigners, then the value of our real estate investment will go up. Either way we win!

If you want more information on Veracruz, then please don't hesitate to ask. We have come to love our "secret" , and I'd be happy to share!