Your Most Jam-packed, Hurried Vacation Ever? (cost, rentals, hotel, hotel)

[tijlover]

So here's the script: You may only get a week or two-week vacation every year, your time is extremely limited, and maybe you're like me and is forever thinking: I may not be alive next year or I may not have the money next year or this may be the last trip I'll ever take.

So what did you all try to cram into that week or two weeks, knowing full well that you'd be in need of a vacation once you got back from that vacation? Perhaps you were too exhausted to even unpack your bags for a few days. Ever been on those kind of trips?

I once got a World Pass and flew around the world in 33 days. I also did that using a South American Air Pass for 3 weeks with unlimited stops. I'm a real sucker for these kind of Air passes, just like a kid in a candy store, and I want to sample all the candy, one bite of this, one bite of that. Come home from something that exhausting, and you're more tired than when you started.

But oh what fun! Let's hear of some fast-paced vacation trips, if you have them.

[country pride]

Lol, Ive taken 'vacations' that were only 2 days long. Last time I went to Az to see my daughter, it was a 2 day turnaround. Not enough time to do anything.

[sierraAZ]

In years past I used to have less time off and more travel funds, so I was religiously taking another day or two off around holiday weekends and going somewhere. It was really tiring - rushing to and from airports and trying to do as much as possible. I was visiting mostly cities in this fashion and at the time I had very rigid schedules. I "had" to visit everything I wanted to visit! Just like you, I thought I might never go there again, which is quite likely. I'd get up pretty early in the morning and run around on adrenaline all day till 6-8 p.m. when I'd either have dinner at a restaurant close to the hotel or take some take-out to the room and drop dead soon after eating. Next day - rinse & repeat.

At the end of this series of trips I'd kinda run out of cities to visit nearby and didn't feel like going too far, so I went to check out a bit strange of a destination out of curiosity. Well, curiosity does kill the kitty. That's where I acquired my last ex-husband and things haven't been the same since... I’m out of energy for this type of trips.

Before I became a totally pooped American myself, I used to frown upon people vegging out at AIs and not caring about the culture around and exploring it. I still don’t understand why one would prefer to lounge by the pool when there’s a beautiful sea/ocean a few steps away, but now I can absolutely relate to this way of vacationing. After having gone to a couple of AIs I don’t think I’d do a beach vacation any other way anymore, at least if I remain alone. I still would love to rent a car and check out the region, but I’m afraid to drive in foreign countries. Not only that, but I can’t drive stick shift at all and automatic rentals are either unavailable or cost an arm and a leg. And the thought of getting into an accident in a foreign country alone simply gives me the creeps.

[stacylee926]

I get 2 weeks of vaca a year (plus a couple of personal days). We usually take 10 days for vacation, but try to do it in conjunction with a paid holiday at work (usually labor day). I need the other days for dr appts etc.

Soooo.. for the last 3 years we have done road trips. We did VA - to Ft Lauderdale with stops everywhere fun along the way. We did 'relax' a few days in Ft Lauderdale though. Then we did VA to Maine. That trip was mostly driving to Maine then the week touring the coast and seeing everything. Stopped in Boston on the way up and NYC on the way back. This year we flew to Las Vegas, then drove all over AZ and southern Utah.

If I look back even further, all of our vacations have one goal - how many miles can we put on the rental car??!! LOL - I just cannot sit still on a vacation. I have to see everything possible. There is no relaxing for us on vacation. Alarm clocks are set every day because there are things to do and places to see and memories to be made. I also never take a day off to recoup after vacation - no way - because that would be a missed day of traveling. There is plenty of time to relax the other 355 days a year.

Every year I think this is the year we will rent a cottage at the beach and chill - hasn't happened yet .

[firebll31]

Two weeks in Japan. A good friend is also a travel agent and grew up outside Tokyo. She met us at the Osaka airport and guided us around the country. We took only carry-on luggage since we knew we would be walking and taking trains most everywhere. We went to 2 different sites most days, and stowed the luggage in lockers at the train station. You could spend a week in Tokyo alone! We karaoked with some of her family members, went to religious festivals, visited shrines, top of Tokyo tower, a wild-monkey viewing area, castles, Samurai home, 3 National Gardens, stayed in traditional ryokan inns, ate street food, went dancing, shopped in Kyoto, museums, island of Miyajima, the Hiroshima Peace Park and museum, my husband got a tattoo, went shopping in Electric City, talked with schoolchildren at the train station, soaked in baths at the inns, saw a restored historical village and so much more! It was a brisk paced trip, and I was exhausted when we got home, partly from the jetlag. But I want to go back-still so much to see! I would do it again in a heartbeat.

[jtur88]

My GF and sister and I were in Europe in a rented car, my sister's first Europe visit. We traveled fairly leisurely, until our last day, when we went through Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany in one calendar day.
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As for a whole vacation, I once had three weeks, and tried to go from Canada to Timbuktoo and back, overland within Africa.

I flew Canada-Lisbon-Canary Islands, and in Canaries, picked up visa for Mauritania. Flew to Mauritania, back of truck to Senegal, got visas for Burkina Faso and Mali, went to Gambia for a day while waiting for visas. Then boarded Dakar-Bamako (horrible 40 hours) train. From Bamako, hitched to Bobo Dioulasso, then up to Mopti, Mali. There I discovered that I had just been caught in a cholera quarantine zone, and could not leave Mopti for three days, so no longer had time for the boat to Timbuktoo. Returned to Bamako, got back on Dakar train, flew back home through Las Palmas and Lisbon, in time to go to work Monday morning.