Summer vacation: sea, country or city?

I live one block from the ocean ~ and even though I don't visit it often, I wouldn't like living too far away from it.

Wide-open spaces and mountains are great, too.....but just for a visit. (I'm deathly afraid of heights.)

I enjoy all three types of vacations. Cruises are nice, because you need to unpack and repack only once. Cruises also privdes the ability to visit different countries on the same cruise, but they are usually limited to cities not far from the sea. Cruises also provide on-board entertainment daily, and there's never a shortage of food. Country vacations are okay, but I wouldn't want to spend two weeks out in the country to relax. I enjoy visiting places like the Grand Canyon, the Fjords, Alaska, national parks, game parks, and gardens. My favorite places for vacation are cities with good museums, good theater, and good food. That's the reason London is one of my favorite destinations; they have it all. The only problem in London is the high cost of lodging and food. On my recent visit to London, a cup of coffee and one donut costs about US$5.00. We can get the same thing at home for $2.00 or less. One of the nice things about London is that most of the famous museums are free. Cities are fascinating places, because you can actually mingle with the people in different countries, eat and drink their food, see how the people live by visiting their stores and markets, visit their museums, and possibly make new friendships. I love them all. c.i.

I don't take summer vacations. The city I live in is wonderful in the summer, and people and their children are GONE! Why would I want to follow them anywhere.

I wait until school is back in, and then I go away.

I prefer not to 'do' much on vacation. Relax, read, sleep, swim, walk the dogs. So anywhere that allows me to do those things work. Best of all? A few days with hamburger and mrs. hamburger. They live in a great community - people go there to vacation all the time - the architecture is great, the climate is a bit mellower than here, and the people are soooooooo nice!

Hi fbaezer....

I voted for "countryside".... my idea of a perfect vacation is sitting on a mountain in quiet meditation or doing Tai Chi, communing with nature, touching the earth..... Of course, having a Starbucks nearby would be nice, too!!!.... LOL....

PaL

P&L, I don't think you'll ever have a problem being too far from a Starbucks - whereever you are. LOL c.i.

The shore. It calls me yearly. The further out, the better. We started at Daytona, but way out on the Outer Banks, where the water is crystal clear and the beach, unspoiled, is now our permanent vacation.

Love to fish off the dock--parasailed--photograph the old lighthouses--fourwheel out to the wild horses--ferry to Ocracoke--investigate historical spots--sit on the deck and look over the shore--boat in the sound--just the sound of the surf is one of the most pleasurable things for me and hub. It almost changes our outlook on life to be at the beach. Hub dresses in beach wear all the time to recreate that Beach State of Mind.

I can't seem to get much enjoyment from the mountains. Like fbaezer said about the beach, for him--after a couple of days in the mountains, I'm thinking, "Why did we come here?"

Since I moved to Canada 3 years ago I'm on vacation right here at home. I love the ocean, the country, wide open spaces, and the wilderness and I have it all right here at home. We have the ocean in front of the house. We have wide open space leading to the wilderness behind our house, and we're in the country.

Our summer vacations have been... and continue to be everywhere. Mexico, Canadian Provinces, Arizona, Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and of course the double, triple and we ALWAYS go there places... Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and of course every orafice of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 100 times over! Best vacations included Niagra Falls and climbing Mount Washington in car. I WILL NEVER MAKE FUN OF THAT BUMPER STICKER AGAIN... YOU EARN THAT BABY!!!

Could you insert a new category: BACKYARD? That's about as far as I'm going on my new holiday (hollow, hollow laugh).

Mr. Stillwater, you make me sad. There is life beyond the backyard... go forth and prosper!!! But if you need some tips, let me/us know. We will all be more than happy to help!

My favorite vacation is a mix, surf and city! Like we had during the Florida gathering, a bit of both... I'm a citykid, I need asphalt and exhaustfumes...

bigdice, If you need exhaustfumes, try Bangkok and Cairo. You'll love it there! LOL c.i.

Love the ocean but not the beach. We love being out on the ocean but not on a cruise. We are the small group of water bums that ply our coastal waterways telling tales and plundering. Well I lied about telling tales.

Gulf of Maine just sporting with the finbacks and hopping from island o island with only the most general plan . We often radio ahead to canadian waters that well be pulling in three days hence and then barely make it before they send out the Coast Guard.

Other than that, we live in an RV for about 1.5 months each summer (cept last year when I busted my self up). AND we never plan opur return till that time, one morning we all look at each other and say, ok Ive had this crap long enough lets go home.

Assateague ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Probably the best place I've ever been. Miles and miles of walking, and I don't have to share the sunrise with anyone. Also the first place I've ever understood the need for a No Public Nudity sign.

If I could take my dogs (but I wouldn't) it would be the perfect vacation spot.

ehBeth, Good point: you can't appreciate beautiful dawns and sunsets in the middle of steel and glass towers. c.i.

The sea - i love the coast.

Hills or mountains, not flat country and rocky cliffs with a wild rough sea.


Heaven

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I've lived for most of my life by the Pacific Ocean, well, within a mile or so, but spent time by the Hudson River and Lake Michigan as a child, which is to say that is where my parents lived, thus me too.

I always feel a little claustrophobic away from the ocean, but that doesn't affect my choice of vacation.

First of all, I am drawn to great cities I haven't seen (most) and then great cities I have seen and would like to see again (some). I love walking cities, and many are walkable. Given that life is short, these are my first choices.

I like mountains well enough, though I have never gotten into hiking vacations, mountaineering, skiing, mountain biking...and in any case, my town is surrounded by richly forested mountains, and I move through them all the time, usually in the car but sometimes wandering around on foot.

I like land though, as land...looking at it from above, in plan or plane view,
moving through it, through different cultures, which towns and villages really are..little microcosmic cultures... and different microclimates. I am interested in land use over time...why, when looking out of a plane window, such and such a place didn't get developed even now...(mosquitoes?? floods? malaria and enemies and hilltowns...)

So, while I like cities, I also like to move through the space of a country. The closer you are to moving on foot (I feel), the more the place becomes "yours" or if not yours, that you are connected to it - but I like cars and trains too.

I like seeing how countryside and city work together, or don't, as is more usual.

I love food, and like to eat in wonderful restaurants that have tipico food, not necessarily gourmet, but I often like those too.

Beach, I stopped that long ago, I would go bananas baking on a beach now. I would also go bananas on a cruise ship.... I might have to jump off and be eaten by sharks. Well, different strokes for different folks!!!

we enjoy our summers in our garden(watching the flowers AND WEEDS grow and checking to see when we can pick the first veggies - some really small zuccinis should be ready for a stirfry next week - snowpeas and yellow and purple beans are also coming along nicely). in the afternoon we like to sit in the shade on the patio and read(just started bob schieffer's "this just in"; it's a nice easy read. he calls it a book "about what he couldn't say on tv" - i'm enjoying it). by 4:30 pm it's time for a cup of tea, some nice cake - today's feature was "raspberry/strawberry/almond crumble" with some strawberries that we picked at a local farm on the side. at 7pm we went down to lake ontario to listen to the sounds of the(local) BIG BAND - playing glen miller ....it sure is a suitable reward for surviving the winter her on the eastern end of lake ontario. LIFE DOES HAVE IT'S REWARDS ! hbg

My vacations are right here at home.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.