Where is the Ultimate Anniversary Trip?

[dhbike01]

My 20th Anniversary is coming up in May.  I've been churning away on credit card deals (2 Southwest Cards + Barclay Arrival).  I started using the Target Redcard to quickly earn the Southwest Companion Pass.  I'm now mulling over where to treat my wife for our Anniversary.  Southwest now flys "International" (Caribbean and Costa Rica).  I've been thinking about possibly Puerto Rico and Royal Caribbean.  Perhaps flying to Costa Rica.  Even thinking about options to Europe.  Does anyone have any thoughts on favorite travel spots or experience with the Southern Caribbean?  Any thoughts on adding any other travel cards to the mix?

[deborah]

Where you met

[pagoconcheques]

Where you met

+1

Alternatively, tell all your friends/relatives you'll be out of town, buy enough groceries and beverages to have a good time, close all the curtains/blinds, don't answer our phones, and just stay in!

[dhbike01]

Where you met

Hmmm, the Mall?

Alternatively, tell all your friends/relatives you'll be out of town, buy enough groceries and beverages to have a good time, close all the curtains/blinds, don't answer our phones, and just stay in!

May not work on the kids.

Just really trying to do something nice for my wife who likes to travel.

[pagoconcheques]

May not work on the kids.

Just really trying to do something nice for my wife who likes to travel.

If she really likes the traveling itself (more of a journey type than a destination type) consider getting "open-jaw" tickets.  You can fly to one city, rent a car and take a road trip to another city from which you fly home. 

[dhbike01]

If she really likes the traveling itself (more of a journey type than a destination type) consider getting "open-jaw" tickets.  You can fly to one city, rent a car and take a road trip to another city from which you fly home. 

.

Interesting that you mention "open-jaw".  I had not heard the term.  However, that's kind of what I was investigating with a possible trip to Europe except a reverse "open-jaw".  I would connect the "open-jaw" with Southwest flights in order to get to a less-expensive international origin airport.  I was looking at JFK and Orlando.  From an initial search,  it doesn't look like this is offered by all airlines (I guess you could do 2 one-way flights to simulate it).

[pagoconcheques]

Interesting that you mention "open-jaw".  I had not heard the term.  . . . . .From an initial search,  it doesn't look like this is offered by all airlines (I guess you could do 2 one-way flights to simulate it).

If you're on a travel site like travelocity, you can often get a better listing by checking the box for "multiple destinations".  Good luck!

[MB1443]

Yes. We went to Anguilla for our honeymoon and stayed at th viceroy.  Anguilla is hard to get to, which means like ski resorts it is better.  It is also a good island for which to use miles.  You fly into st maarten.  The food on the island is amazing.  We had a very unmoustachian honeymoon as the room was 500 plus a night. That being said, we save half of our take home pay,not including retirement so I don't feel bad.

Also a lot of the luxury resorts aren't that great. The Ritz is pretty much a more expensive Marriott these days.  We wanted to spend a little more and it was worth it. 

[MB1443]

I'm sure I will get slammed for a 500 a night hotel but keep in mind that saving half of our annual take home pay is approx 100k, not including retirement. 

[dhbike01]

I'm sure I will get slammed for a 500 a night hotel but keep in mind that saving half of our annual take home pay is approx 100k, not including retirement. 

Yeah, I hear ya.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I know this site isn't necessarily the best for asking where can I spend money.  But, I've got a lot of good ideas from MMM and trust that people might know the best way to go have fun while spending less.

[driftwood]

After taking a variety of vacations with my wife at a wide range of costs/locations, I've realized a few things that I will apply to our next trip:

1.  A vacation packed full of flights/events/traveling on a schedule is exhausting and we never really relaxed.  Canned vacations left me bored to death (cruises, resorts, etc).  My main memories of those trips are the boredom.  Not many memories of all the 'fun' we had.

2.  When my wife and I met, we loved to explore together, we didn't get much sleep, we didn't plan things out well, but we enjoyed the hell out of having adventures with each other (to this day, if we get lost or if a day out gets all buggered up by traffic/things we were going to do are closed/unforeseeable doom, we'll look at each other and say "now it's an adventure").

3.  So I'd get the most out of a trip that probably involves a low budget, having no idea what we want to do, but picking a general direction and going with it, and being open to the adventures we'll have on the way.  When we were young we found such joy in exploring, and I think we overplan everything now and forget how much fun it can be to be out there doing something new and strange and unknown.

- Go to the airport with backpacks packed and picking a random flight, renting a car and driving to wherever, then flying back, or riding a train, or whatever way you find to get home; backpacking until you're tired of it then stay at a 5-star hotel, try to get lost somewhere, stay in a hostel, do something a little bit dangerous, etc.

[couponvan]

Puerto Rico is where we went for our 15 year.  We stayed away from town near the rainforest at a hotel that does time shares and got a hotwire rental car.  The flights were on miles, and having the car allowed us to avoid taxi cab fares and go to the grocery store to pick up food to eat in our room/at the poolside.  It was warm and beautiful and relaxing.  It was not camping, but it was fun! The food at the restaurants on property was crazy expensive as were bar drinks.  We bought one drink at the bar and then kept refilling and washing the glass in our room.  No one but us knew. ;-)

This was before we knew anything about MMM, and we still have 2 more pre MMM vacations to go.  CA in January and the Final Four in April. Hubby is not on board MMM, so don't ask me to take away the Final Four - that won't happen.

[tracylayton]

Check out the vacationstogo.com website for cruises. Lots of carribean cruises or spend a little extra for an Alaskan cruise or a Mediterranean cruise. Everything is included except your tips and alcohol. You can even take the kids if you need to. I have booked a 5 day cruise for as low as $179/person before.

[RunHappy]

What kind of places does your wife like to visit? How long are you planning to be gone?  My rule of thumb is if the trip is less than 7 days then only one day destination, for every additional 3-5 days, then another vacation leg can be added. Unless it is a cruise.

If you're planning multiple destinations you can guarantee half-full day travel to the next place, including packing/unpacking, air/rail/car, etc.

[MB1443]

I'm sure I will get slammed for a 500 a night hotel but keep in mind that saving half of our annual take home pay is approx 100k, not including retirement. 

Yeah, I hear ya.  Thanks for the suggestion.  I know this site isn't necessarily the best for asking where can I spend money.  But, I've got a lot of good ideas from MMM and trust that people might know the best way to go have fun while spending less.

In that case think about the cinque Terra in Italy?  There are a bunch of budget hotels and the area is breathtaking. My mom and I did a lot of budget traveling when I was a child so I can assure you it can be done frugally if we went there.

[MrsPete]

Where you met

Nah, my husband goes there every day.  It's his office. 

Seriously though, I'll tell you where I want to go, though I don't think it'd work well for what you're thinking:

LeConte Lodge, which is located inside Great Smokey National Park. 

It's a hike-in lodge at the top of Mt. LeConte.  You cannot drive.  Supplies are brought in via lama once a week.  Several trails approach the lodge, and if you want to hike up one and return through another, you can hire a service to move your car from one trailhead to another.  Once you reach the top, you can rent a small cabin and food service is available. 

They're closed now for the winter but will re-open in the spring.  Reservations for 2015 are probably mostly gone now.  You have to call THE DAY THEY OPEN reservations, if you want prime spots.  It's also not cheap.  I want to say it's something like $100/person/night . . . but that includes cabin rental, sheets, and two meals. 

I said it may not be the kind of thing you want:  It's a 1-2 night type of place.  Unless you're writing a novel and want the quiet, you probably don't want more than that.  However, if it appeals to you, you could do this PLUS a few other things in the area. 

Two other similar places that I'd like to visit:

- The Havasupi village at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.  Again, you need reservations well in advance because they only have ONE hotel.  I'm not sure camping is allowed, but it's been a long time since I did any studying on this topic.  They have wonderful waterfalls and swimming areas.  You can walk down and take a helicopter ride back up to the top . . . or you can hire a mule ride down. 

- Phantom Ranch is a small village of cabins inside the Grand Canyon National Park (the above mentioned Havasupi village is in the canyon but it's in Indian territory on the Western side).  Again, it's a hike-in place. 

[YTProphet]

Two suggestions:

1) The Four Seasons hotels on the island of Lanai (owned by Larry Ellison). Absolutely incredible, and super quiet/remote. A very peaceful, serene location and two gorgeous hotels.

2) Iberostar Grand Hotel Paraiso in Mexico was rated as the #2 all-inclusive in the world. Phenomenally beautiful with tons of great food/alcohol to choose from.

Both locations are pretty pricy, but worth it IMO.

[geekette]

You mention Royal Caribbean, one of my favorite vacations, but it depends on what you like to do on vacation.  The newer ships have a lot of activities (ice skating, zip line, sports stuff, some classes), but we mostly like reading/knitting and watching the ocean go by on our balcony, eating decent food without having to worry about cooking, dishes, or a bill, and going to the various shows (the bigger ships have multiple options nightly).

We're both introverts, so our very favorite time is when the ship's docked and most people are off the ship - feels like the whole place to ourselves! 

Visiting the Caribbean on a cruise ship can be disappointing, though, since when a large ship disgorges a few thousand passengers, it can get very crowded, and where cruise ships dock, there are mostly t-shirt and jewelry shops.  The cruise ship excursions are overpriced and often too large to enjoy the sights.  Check the cruisecritic forums for recommended shore excursion companies.  Last year we did a family cruise (all adults) in Europe and had a private car/driver pick us up at the airport (cheaper than the cruise ship option) and on the return the same company took us all over Rome for the day before our flight out - fabulous!

[Kaspian]

Here's a list of the most romantic places I've been:

- Oia or Fira, Santorini Island, Greece
- Murano Island, Venice, Italy (cheaper than Venice, looks the same, only a 5-minute boatride, and very quiet in the evening)
- Dordogne, France
- Quebec City, Canada

(Google pictures of those breathtaking places!)

As for Costa Rica...  I've only ever been to Tamarindo and it has an amazing beach (which is rare for Costa Rica).  I've stayed twice at the Barceló there and love how small and quiet it is.

[MrsPete]

- Quebec City, Canada

A friend of my husband's did a train trip through Canada, and now I'm interested in doing that.  I understand "the time" to do it is fall /leaf season.

[Kaspian]

- Quebec City, Canada

A friend of my husband's did a train trip through Canada, and now I'm interested in doing that.  I understand "the time" to do it is fall /leaf season.

Oh man, it'd be beautiful!  I've travelled a lot, but I'd never do all of Canada.  People just don't understand how gigantic the ass-end of Ontario is how long the prairies go on and on and on for.  ...Maybe through a nice chunk of Ontario/Quebec though?  My butt gets sore after sitting for 6 hours.  I can't imagine the tailbone pain after 6 or 7 days. 

[socaso]

I love Yosemite and have often mentioned to my husband that I would love to stay at the Ahwahnee hotel there. We've eaten there when we camped in Yosemite and it's a very beautiful historic hotel. We've talked about staying there for a big anniversary. It's pretty spendy.

[lizzie]

The west coast of Ireland. So beautiful. We stayed in the Dingle Peninsula, drove the Ring of Kerry, stayed in Galway for a week with day trips to Connemara National Park and other places. We also spent a night on Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. You can rent bikes and bike all over. Incredible experience.

 

[retired?]

for our 15th, we rented a 2BR/2BA private home with pool overlooking Caribbean on St. Croix.  Was about $2200 for the week.  We rented a car and explored the town, beaches, "rain forest" and did snorkeling, etc.  Very relaxing, but with stuff to do.  Basically, did stuff in the AM and through lunch, relaxed back at the house in the afternoon, and then out somewhere for dinner.  Found it on vrbo.com.

[FarmerPete]

For me, the question isn't often the "price" of the vacation, but getting the most fun for the money.  For example, I booked a family trip to Florida for this winter.  We'll be in the West Palm Beach area.  We talked about going to Disney for a day trip.  Cost would be $200 MSRP for tickets and probably $20 for gas, and of course extras like food.  Another option would be that instead of going to Disney, we could just spend the time at the beach or some other less expensive option.  My son (2yr old), wife and I will enjoy that almost as much.  With the money we save, we can book a weekend night at a great wolf lodge with an indoor water park in February.  So we can either do something really fun in FL, or do something cheaper (yet still really fun) in FL and have another mini-vacation that will help break up the cold MI winter.  It's hardly a choice in my mind.

One thing that I recommend for cheap vacations is Travelzoo.  They send out emails on Wed every week with the top 20 packages.  Prices may vary based on where you are flying out of and the dates selected.  Examples from today's email are:

$1349 -- Italy in Spring: 3-City, 6-Night Vacation incl. Air
$799 -- Balcony on 7-Night Caribbean Cruise w/$350 Credit - Royal Caribbean
$949 -- Adults Only: Jamaica All-Inclusive Trip from Detroit