I have dropped hints here and there that my vacation over the past few weeks exhausted me. I tried to remain upbeat because I definitely value the time that I got to spend with my siblings. That’s always a joy. But the truth is that I don’t like vacations. You aren’t supposed to say that. Everyone loves vacations. You aren’t supposed to complain about having extended time away from home. But I love my home. And although I love to see new things, I don’t love traditional vacations.

I Love My Life

I have set up my “real life” in such a way that it really is the life that I want. I love the city where I live. I love the schedule that I keep. I love the work that I do. I love the friends that I have. I’m not saying that I never want to get away but for the most part, I want to be living the life that I’m living. I’ve got no desire to get away from it and miss it when I’m not in it.

My Ideal Vacation

I do want to travel. I want to see other things and other places. I want to spend time with people I know who live in other parts of the world. But the truth is that my ideal vacation is an impossible one. Because what I would love would be able to take a vacation once every month or two but one that only lasts for three days and requires absolutely no travel time. Let me explain.

Travel Problems

I have had more than my fair share of travel problems and it always makes me kind of dread the travel part of a trip. This sounds like an exaggeration but I kid you not … family and friends often wonder if they should book a separate plane from me because I have had so many problems. Like that time a group of us tried to take the normal one hour flight from San Francisco to Vegas and there was a freak snowstorm so we circled over Vegas for awhile and ended up in Phoenix for the night. Doesn’t sound bad? Last year when I was coming back from the East Coast, I went to check on to my plane and was told that the plane didn’t exist. What? I had my boarding information and the confirmation number and the exact info on the plane’s times and everything printed directly from the site but apparently there is no such thing as the flight path that I was booked on; my plane literally did not exist … it took me more than twenty four hours to get home. So, I’d prefer to avoid travel. I’d like to just be able to beam from my home to the spot I want to be in, spend three days there and beam back.

Why Three Days?

I love doing new things. I love seeing art galleries and live performances and various sights. I like walking around in new places and encountering new things. But I don’t like doing it day after day after day. I guess I’m an introvert at heart. People assume I’m extroverted because I’m personable and I do love talking with people but I get my energy from the time I have alone to process and reflect … being with people drains me a little bit at a time and too many days in a row of doing thing after thing after thing makes me cranky. I think it would be ideal to spend about three days in a cool place doing all of the fun things like aquariums and hiking and urban exploring and so on and so forth, then to beam home and have time to process, write about the experience, relax, organize the photos from the trip, etc. And get back to my real life.

Since This Isn’t Possible …

Obviously, this isn’t possible. I can’t beam myself from one place to another. And I’m not going to go to far away places that I want to see (Reykjavik, New Zealand) for only three days because I realize that’s a waste of time and money. I’d rather waste a little energy and have the longer experience. Nevertheless, I wish it were possible and I’ve been thinking a lot about what types of general vacations I prefer that would be more in line with my travel style. Some ideas:

• Travel to close by places for three days. Weekend trips are fun. I can see flying to San Diego for three days (minus that whole plane travel problem) and enjoying it. If I can get people to meet me for three days in a place then I’d be happy. Actually, I think the Vegas trip I just did for four days with Mom and Sis would have been ideal if it hadn’t fallen right on the heels of so much other travel.
• Plan downtime. For longer trips, I think I actually need to start planning several days of downtime in a row each week. It’s hard for me to do this because if I’m traveling with someone else then it feels like such a party pooper to say I’m staying in my room alone for three days. But the truth is that I’d be a much happier travel if we did stuff together for three days and then I hid in my room for two or three days and then resumed doing stuff.

So we’ll see. I don’t have any trips planned for the near future. I try to go somewhere for my birthday each April but that may not happen this year. And the next big trip I have planned is just a summer weekend at Yosemite. So it’s a non-issue for the time being. And I did enjoy my trip, despite these gripes.

Tags: ideal vacation, introvert extrovert, Travel, travel styles, vacation

If you were going to spend some time visiting Alabama, what would you check out while you were there? I haven’t spent a lot of time there myself. I don’t have any particular plans to visit the state anytime soon, but I do have some idea of what I’d want to see if I do make it there.

Some of the things I’d see in Alabama include:

• Gantts Quarry. This is an old quarry and ghosttown. Since I come from Arizona, I’ve seen a lot of towns like this. I love to check out how the ones in other parts of the country compare to those in my home state.
• Alabama Constitution Village. This is one of those places that’s designed to look like a town looked back in the nineteenth century. I kind of have a love for these places although I’ve only been to a few.
• The Tennessee River. I’ve heard that there are a lot of fun activities that take place along this river. I’d probably stay in Decatur, Alabama and check out some of those activities while I was in the state.
• Festivals. Alabama has some interesting Alabama festivals including a hot air balloon festival and a festival devoted to peanuts. I’d probably try to time my trip to the state to check out some of those things.

Check out my article on ten Alabama cities if you’re interested in what else there is to see in Alabama.

Tags: alabama, alabama attractions, cities, states, Travel, vacation

When I was 21, I spent about a month just hanging out in Florida. I lived out of the back of my pickup truck, camping in parking lots near the beach and staying with friends of friends. It was October. Most of the tourists were gone. The weather was beautiful. I have good memories from the trip.

I didn’t go to all of the popular destinations in Florida. I was broke so there didn’t seem much point in heading somewhere like Orlando, for example. I didn’t like all of the popular spots that I did see; Miami was absolutely unappealing to me in every way. But I did see several places I liked.

For example, I was a bigger fan of Jacksonville than I thought I would be. I think I must really enjoy RiverWalks because I also liked San Antonio, TX more than I thought I would and the RiverWalk was part of the reason why.

I also really loved Vero Beach which is a small town about halfway down the East Coast of Florida. I spent about a week there. Mostly I hung out on the beach. The water was warm and the waves were relaxing. But I also found a coffee shop in the town that I liked and I just generally enjoyed the vibe there.

I didn’t get the chance to check out the Keys at all so I’d like to have that oportunity if I ever go back to Florida. And I’d like to see the Everglades again because that was some really interesting nature that I haven’t seen anywhere else.

Check out the top ten cities to visit in Florida.

Tags: fl cities, florida, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, Travel, vacation

The topic of weddings and honeymoons seems to keep coming up in my life a lot lately. I have to admit, it’s not a topic that I really understand. I’ve never been someone who was a big fan of ceremonies and I kind of think that the whole hullaballoo that people put themselves through for planning an elaborate wedding is really kind of strange. Nevertheless, it’s something that people do so the topic keeps coming up.

What people seem to be telling me lately is that the wedding is stressful but only as stressful as they’d expected it to be. The honeymoon, on the other hand, is also stressful but the stress seems to surprise them because they expected this vacation part of the new marriage to be a breeze.

That expectation seems silly to me. As someone who has done a fair amount of traveling, I have come to expect that there are often going to be problems on my vacations. Travel just comes with a lot of hassles including delays and illnesses and weather issues and getting lost. Don’t get me wrong - I love to travel – but nothing about it really seems simple to me.

And it definitely doesn’t seem simple when it involves planning and going with another person. There are very few people that I’ve actually enjoyed traveling with because people have such different travel styles. I’m lucky because there are some people really close to me that I travel well with but I certainly don’t travel well with everyone that I’m close to so the idea that travel with someone else will go smoothly isn’t something I’d bank on.

I certainly think that honeymoons should be fun and romantic and enjoyable. I think that about all types of vacations. However, I don’t think that they’re simple things to plan out and make happen so that’s something all of these marriage-planning people may want to take into consideration as they do their planning!

Tags: honeymoon, hubpages, kathryn vercillo, marriage, Travel, trips, vacation, wedding

I recently wrote on article about culinary school vacations which is a type of travel that includes learning to cook local foods during your stay in an area. This seems like it could be a really great experience for someone who really enjoys cooking, learning and tasting local foods. Although I somewhat like those things, I don’t think that I enjoy them enough to truly have an interest in culinary school vacations. However, writing the article got me thinking about the different types of classes that you can take as a part of your travel and there are certainly some that interest me.

Language classes are the most obvious. I think it’s important to try to learn the local language any time that you travel somewhere. While it’s good to get some of the basics out of the way before the trip, I think an inmmersion class at the start of your vacation is a great idea if you’re going to be there long enough to benefit from it.

Classes that are specific to things that are popular in a local area are also coming to mind. I’ve gotten very interested in visiting Buenos Aires recently so I’ve read a lot of books by people who have traveled there. All of them seem to suggest that it’s a good idea to take tango classes while you’re there since it’s such an important part of the culture and it’s the best place to get good instruction in the dance.

Mostly I think I’m interested in shorter-duration classes than all of these, however. I’m interested in taking classes that can be completed in a day or two but which will add to my overall experience of the trip. For example, I might take a class in scuba-diving and then go diving at my destination. Or I might take a class in the history of the area or the area’s art movements while I’m there to learn more about those aspects of a destination. This suits my attention span and travel style better than a continuing class.

Tags: classes, education, hub pages, kathryn vercillo, specialty travel, Travel, vacation

I am originally from Arizona but my father was born in Ohio and we spent quite a bit of time vacationing there as kids. Although I can’t say that I’ve seen the entire state, I’ve definitely seen a good chunk of it and I can say that there are some interesting things to see there.

It’s a different world from San Francisco, for sure. The way of life is different. Even the urban areas seem to be at a slower pace than the pace I’m used to out in California. The way people treat each other seems different – neither more friendly nor less so than here but different somehow. It’s not a place that I consider to be right for me but it’s definitely one of the homes of my past.

Like many other states, Ohio has a few different sides to its personality. It’s neither liberal nor conservative (or may be either, depending on where you are). It’s got some urban areas and some rural areas and some college towns that incorporate a little bit of both urban and rural places. It’s got high-tech areas and Amish country.

Check out my suggestions for ten cities in Ohio to visit if you want to get a better sense of what the entire state is all about.  And then let me know your thoughts on different Ohio cities because I’d like some insight into what others make of this state that means something to me.

Tags: best cities, cities in ohio, hub pages, itinerary, kathryn vercillo, ohio, ohio cities, planning, Travel, vacation

One of my favorite things about living in San Francisco (on an admittedly long list of things that I love about this city) is that it’s really a walking city. It’s geographically small, there’s a ton of stuff to see in every neighborhood and lots of other people are out and about walking around. I like that it’s anti-car and that I don’t have to drive here. And I like that it gives me a good excuse to get out, get some exercise and be amidst my neighbors and the visitors to the area.

I try to remember this when I travel to other places. Not every other city is so friendly for walking but I still think that walking around is the best way to really get to know an area. I’ve done some really cool guided walking tours here in San Francisco and I would love to do some in other places throughout the world. Take a look at my list of the top ten cities for walking tours to see where else I’d like to meander around and why.

And drop me a line in the comments here to let me know where else would be a great place to go walking around and exploring. I know there are tons of cities throughout the United States as well as throughout the rest of the world where walking tours are an ideal way to see the sights. I just don’t know where all of them are yet! You can’t be smart about everything all of the time, right? But you can learn, so let me know!

Tags: hubpages, kathryn vercillo, San Francisco, Travel, vacation, walking, walking tours