Do I still want to see new places and cram in sightseeing? (Please not another museum!) or would I rather stay put in a beautiful place and just adjust to the rhythm of that community, sit on a porch reading, stroll into a village to buy croissants, sit on a harbor for dinner while watching the boats returning?
That sort of vacation sounds really good to me now. I've already announced to John that next year we're renting a cottage in Provence. Shopping at the market, tasting local wines and time for me to paint and sketch
Me? Right now I'm feeling there is no place like home.
INGRID THOFT: The big dilemma for us is the active (usually tropical) vacation vs. the cultural/sightseeing trip. We love both, but given that time and money are limited, we have to prioritize. Some trips are restful and re-energizing; they usually involve physical activity, good food, sleep, and lots of time for reading. The trips to foreign cities stimulate our brains, but we rarely come home feeling relaxed. I wouldn’t trade anything for witnessing the chaos of Hanoi and Saigon, but those destinations certainly weren't restful. Last week, we were in Los Angeles, for a mix of business and pleasure. We lived there many years ago, so it was a bit of a homecoming. Rather than rush around to see too many things, we had a little bit of everything: Seeing old friends, taking a hike in Will Rogers State Park, eating poké at the beach. It was wonderful, but now we have a third category of trips to contemplate—the return visit to cities we love!
HALLIE EPHRON: All my travel right now is book related -- which I enjoy but it's work. Still on my bucket list is Alaska, and this summer we're going. Beyond that, I've seen most of the places I've yearned to see, and I hear you Rhys when you describe a few weeks in Provence just living. This year we went to Puerto Rico for a week with our daughters, son-in-law, and two grandkids and I'd love to go back with them and rent a house on the south coast and enjoy PR's Latin rhythms: music, life, food. Or maybe Provence. Or Tuscany...
As for where...Provence sounds divine. But I have to negotiate with my John, who says it can't be all France all the time. Though we haven't been to Brittany, and that I want to see. Or Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand. And I'd love to go back to Australia--our trip there was spectacular! Next up for us though is the Galapagos, which we decided to treat ourselves on for our 25th wedding anniversary. I'll keep you posted on that!
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Over the past three weeks, I've flown back and forth from Boston to Toronto, Pittsburgh and to Chicago. After battling the craziness of OHare, I am so happy to be home.-- although I must say my travels were incredibly rewarding and fantastic.
I've theoretically love to go to Paris for a month, and really live there, just Jonathan and me, and the language and just being there. But then I'd start thinking… How would I pack? What would I take?
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| not the real place--but EXACTLY like |
We are also very happy doing nothing on the beach, I must say. But we are also very happy, like right now, at home without any responsibilities for four whole days. (Pretty much no responsibilities, at least.). We are going to movies, and going out to dinner, and hanging out getting our brains relax.
There are moments, when I think gosh… I should be traveling the world. So, we will. When we get rested enough to do that.
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Rhys, you are a trooper! Six weeks is a long time to be away from home. I start to get homesick at about three weeks, and I think four weeks is about my limit.
There are so many places I have yet to see, and I do love traveling, even the whirlwind of month-long book tours. But what I love even more is going someplace and just settling into the rhythm of life there. I would love to spend a month in Provence or Tuscany, or Paris, or on a narrowboat on the English waterways. And although I get homesick towards the end of three or four weeks in London, I'm never ready to leave!
And I also really like staying home! I am so enjoying this summer, with no travel commitments, no big plans except to write and enjoy the garden and the family. But it is going by much too fast, and come September I'll be traveling again for the autumn. I suppose it's all about finding a balance...
JENN MCKINLAY: I am definitely a go to one place and become one with the locals sort of girl. We have a summer home in Nova Scotia so this is an annual trek (except for this year - sob!) and we hunker in and get in touch with our inner Canadian as we spend our days playing at our house on the Bay of Fundy. When we travel to other locations, it is the same. Instead of ten cities in seven days, I like to go to one place and spend the entire trip getting to know it. My favorite places to date have been London, Florence, and Anna Maria Island but I am always up for seeing more!
RHYS: So, dear Readers... Any dream vacations? New experiences? Saying put?
Six weeks away does seem like a very long time, Rhys . . . I guess there’s a certain amount of truth to “there’s no place like home.” Still, your trip sounds quite lovely.
ReplyDeleteApart from our trip to Hawaii several years ago, most of our vacation time revolves around visiting children and grandchildren. [No complaints about that!]
I like being in one place rather than racing around trying to see this place and that with almost no time to sit back, relax, and simply enjoy.
Six weeks away sounds like forever! It also sounds like a lot of fun. I'm a go someplace and stay girl. In a younger day, before the world changed, I would find a job wherever I was to make it happen. These days, I'm happy to rent a cottage on a foreign shore. Alas, it's not to be. Like Lucy, we've animals to consider and although hubs birds are easy to provide for - we have a friend who I swear is a bird whisperer and all his birds are young conures - my five cats are all special needs and would require in house care. Sigh. So Reds, keep me traveling through your adventures!
ReplyDeleteAnother vote for go and stay. My house still needs a lot of work, so when I get time off from my job, I come home to a whole new list of stuff I have to do. If I want a genuine mental break, I go someplace else for a couple of days to poke around, get the feel of a new place, and take a lot of naps. When I went to Santa Fe last fall, all my friends who play the opera there gave me a whole list of places I "needed" to see. I spent some time strolling around, but my favorite part was sitting on my private balcony at La Fonda, watching the family of crows at the Loretto Chapel and just relaxing. While there are some things in the world that I'd like to see, I tend to avoid the "shoulds" on vacation and just focus on the "want tos."
ReplyDeleteThat sounds lovely, Gigi. I went to Spain a couple of years ago with my mom, and we were very busy most of the time, but one of my favorite memories is sitting in the courtyard of our hotel in Granada. The building used to be a convent, and we sat there for hours--reading, writing postcards, and sipping clara con limóns. It was such a great afternoon, and we didn't do anything!
DeleteThat sounds like my idea of perfect, Ingrid!
DeleteNow that we have a dependable pet/house sitter, we arrange our vacations around her! Not much planned this year except for a drive up the California coast to Seattle in September and a drive to Toronto in October for Bouchercon.
ReplyDeleteDriving trips are my favorite, and anywhere in France works for me. We've done Normandy, Provence, the Louberon, the Mediterranean, Brittany and the Perigord. There is nothing like a trip gently planned, always know where we will sleep at night, just getting to know the area and stopping at all the best bistros for all the best food.
One of the loveliest meals ever was in Avignon at a little place around the corner from where we were staying. I had sweetbreads. I have never forgotton that.
We also like a month in Paris in our little apartment in the 7th, just off the Rue Cler, in sight of the Tour Eiffel. It's a familiar neighborhood now, and we are as likely to spend our days in a park with a jambon buerre as touring the Louvre. Or maybe both.
We've never taken a cruise, saving that for when I am just too damn old to really travel. I think I'd like a riverboat or canal one, am way past Caribbean and beaches in my estimation. I'm sorry I didn't do an Alaskan one when I lived on the Left Coast, so much easier from there.
And now I am off to cruise on a sea of good drugs, returning home sans hernia.
Keeping you in our good thoughts for an easy repair! xoxo
DeleteFinta, an apartment in Paris! I'd adore that and always find myself gravitating back to France. There is such an appeal with the slow pace, good food there
DeleteRhys
Wow, that sounds fabulous! ( Paris part, not the hernia part, poor thing. )
DeleteAnn, sending you good thoughts! And I thought I was the only person in the world who is not French and LOVES sweetbreads:-) My mom used to cook them in a lovely French recipe with sherry. I've never tried, sadly, because no one else in my family would eat them. Boo.
DeleteI love the concept of a trip that is "gently planned." What a nice way to think about it! Sending you warm wishes today, Ann. Hope the recovery is speedy!
DeleteDebs, you really need to get your narrowboat trip! It's so slow-paced that it's really like settling in to an area. Stopping in the towns for provisions, or at a farm for fresh eggs. And of course lunch and dinner at the pubs.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds lovely… Tell us all about it!
DeleteLisa, I know. But not something I can do on my own, and haven't talked Hub into it quite yet. Although we do watch a guy who does YouTube videos on "Cruising the Cut," so maybe there's hope. But like so many of us, we have a house full of animals to look after, and a long trip for both us would be a challenge.
DeleteOh Hallie, the south coast of Puerto Rico is divine. Can I stow away in your suitcase and spend the time working as a personal assistant to your family?
ReplyDeleteI am definitely a "stay in one place and relax" kind of girl. And after driving to D.C. last week, I have decided I'm not fond of the travel process. Love being in a place once I get there, but the going to and from kinda sucks no matter what way you slice it.
And of course there is no place like home.
Mary/Liz
I love being at home. Right now I'm sitting on the back deck here at home in the mountains enjoying a view that I love. But I also love sitting on a deck at the beach watching the waves. I can deck sit for hours and hours at a time. I am going to Paris in September for a week with three women friends. We've rented an old home in Montparnasse and am I excited? LordAMercy, I am excited. And aside from a couple of things planned that the three of us agreed were "we gotta do this," I plan on practicing the art of being a Flâneuse.
ReplyDeleteKaye! That sound fabulous! You are going to tell us all about it???
DeleteYou know I will!
DeleteI'm a homebody but I love traveling, but not alone, so getting involved in the mystery community is a blessing to me because I get to satisfy my travel bug with the conferences I attend. I also like that is all in one place as well.
ReplyDeleteTraveling alone can be kind of fun, Dru. You only have to please yourself, and if you're even a little extroverted you can meet interesting people along the way. Of course I would prefer to travel with a companion, but since my choices are to travel alone or stay home, I've come to appreciate the joys of traveling alone.
DeleteI like traveling alone, too. Lots of thinking and observing time!
DeleteWhile I don't see myself ever actually going on a vacation trip, I know that two places I'd want to go if I could would be Ireland (ancestral homeland) and Hawaii (my mom always wanted to go, I'd like to do the trip for her...plus beautiful women in grass skirts. LOL) I have tourist magazines Ireland of the Welcomes and Hawaii coming to the house in the mail.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I'd love to be able to go to some of the European rock and heavy metal festivals like the Wacken Open Air or Keep It True festivals in Germany or the Download Festival (formerly known as the Castle Donington Festival) in England. But given the state of the world, those are just never going to happen.
I'm not a big fan of the heat (despite wanting to go to Hawaii) but I think I'd love to go someplace where I could swim with dolphins. I don't know I've always been kind of fascinated by that experience.
My vacations are usually, a day here or a day there to do something specific. The last real extended vacation with a destination in mind was in 2005 when I went to the Wizard World comic convention in Philadelphia.
These days, I'm mostly happy with just going home and laying on my bed, reading relaxing and watching TV with nothing to do and no one to bother me.
Oh, boy, I love going and staying in a place, especially if there are natives around to direct me to the best places to eat and buy provisions. But despite traveling and living abroad a lot, I still haven't been to Ireland, Scotland, Australia, Italy, India. Would love to get to all of those, and also get back to Greece, Sweden, France, Japan, Brazil.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing to have for a touristy trip is someone who does all the planning and arranging for you... my husband is brilliant at this - he even checks out restaurants before we leaves and compiles a complete food vocabulary We have our priorities
ReplyDeleteHallie, my daughter is great at that, too. Such fun to travel with her.
DeleteWriting to you from the Black Hills of South Dakota. My sister and I drove and it took 2 and a half days. I'm still wiped! After all that driving we aren't doing a heck of a lot of driving here. Hanging around Lead and Deadwood for the most part. I tell husband Frank I'd like to sell our house and stuff someday and try living in different places for a few months at a time and see what grabs us. I know I don't wish to retire where we live now. I still want to wander the world (some of it) and explore but it isn't doable yet. Someday. . .
ReplyDeleteOkay, my answer disappeared. I love to travel and want to see the world now that I have time. However, other considerations are postponing that for now. Currently, my sister and I are in the Black Hills, SD on a roadtrip. It took 2 and a half days to get here and we are mainly sightseeing nearby around Lead and Deadwood. Because we are tired of driving! I tell husband Frank I would like to sell our house and get rid of a lot of stuff and hit the road. I think it'd be neat to stay in different places for several months at a time and see how we like it. Perhaps find our "retirement" home that way. Or keep traveling. Of course it would be very hard to keep a dog if we did that, so I don't know. . .
ReplyDeleteRhys, we will all be glad when you're home! We've missed you!
ReplyDeleteOn my way home now from seeing my youngest daughter get married on a hill in her Virginia backyard yesterday. I'm glad my husband's with me, because I just did this drive a couple months ago, for Malice. Five hundred miles each way. I love visiting my family, but this is a long drive.
ReplyDeleteStaying at the writing retreat last year for nine days was the longest stop in one place for me. I can see how appealing it might be to make an extended visit somewhere.
Roberta, you'll love the Galapagos, as long as you prepare ahead for seasickness. The only way around the islands is by boat, and some areas are choppy.
Advance apologies for the inevitable double post. I can't figure out how to keep from it on my phone.
On my way home now from seeing my youngest daughter get married on a hill in her Virginia backyard yesterday. I'm glad my husband's with me, because I just did this drive a couple months ago, for Malice. Five hundred miles each way. I love visiting my family, but this is a long drive.
ReplyDeleteStaying at the writing retreat last year for nine days was the longest stop in one place for me. I can see how appealing it might be to make an extended visit somewhere.
Roberta, you'll love the Galapagos, as long as you prepare ahead for seasickness. The only way around the islands is by boat, and some areas are choppy.
Advance apologies for the inevitable double post. I can't figure out how to keep from it on my phone.
Welcome back Rys, I too have missed your wisdom. I have enjoyed years of travel, lived in Japan for a year.. been to all the states in the US and most of the provinces in CA. Would love to visit Europe. My burning desire was to do the Silk Road. For years I have planned to do a Virtual Silk Road trip. Maybe just maybe this will be my first venture into writing more than one paragraph a day... The world is full of wonder, I itch to go our and join it.
ReplyDeleteSix weeks away is a long time, Rhys. Many of you know that I love to travel, and prefer to travel alone. Usually it's a packed cultural trip full of sights, great food, awesome scenery and plenty of times for hiking/wallking treks. So far, I have gone to Iceland and O'ahu in February and March. Since Bouchercon is in Toronto, that's a cheap, short trip for me. So that leaves me more money to spend on another travelling adventure.
ReplyDeleteLucy/Roberta: I will love to hear about your Galapagos trip. My next dream trip is to Peru, Ecuador (and maybe Galapagos).
I love to travel alone, Grace. No compromising or dithering - it's fabulous!
DeleteHi Rhys! I am so glad I stopped by today. My ideal vacation is living temporarily in a place that is central to a place I want to visit for several weeks and exploring the town. When I lived abroad for two months, I was able to travel up to Scotland from London. I also lived in Oxford for several weeks and travelled to London from there and explored places I wanted to visit. Wow, I am impressed that you can take a 6 week vacation. It is rare for an American to be able to take longer than two weeks vacation. Though I love to travel, I notice that I get sick staying at hotels since 2004. My ideal vacation would be either staying at a B&B if I am visiting a place for a few days or renting a place for a month so I can explore the place where I am visiting.
ReplyDeleteYour mention of the 14th century house reminded me of a visit from my Oxford class. We travelled to the Cotswolds and we met an elderly lady who lived in the house that belonged to her family since the 1400s! To an American, it is amazing that families can keep the same house in the same family.
Re: cruises, I could take a river cruise. That would be fun too. I love to travel.
Among my travel adventures, my Mom and I took a ferry from England to Norway. We took a cross country train trip from Bergen to Oslo. That was fun! I stayed with family friends in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was very kind of them to do that since they had not met me. They are good friends of my relatives who mentioned that I would visit Edinburgh. We drove from Edinburgh in their little car (very typical in the UK) from Edinburgh to visit Glamis Castle and Balmoral Castle. Outside the Palace of Holyroodhouse, we saw the Queen leaving in an automobile.
I decoded to stay at a B&B before starting my studies at Oxford. The Tourist Office was very helpful and they called ahead for me and found a place for me to stay.
Rhys, I love your vacation photos. Thank you for sharing.
Wishing you and your family a safe and Happy 4th of July!
Diana
Right about now, I'll take any vacation I can. A month sounds about right.
ReplyDeleteMark - Agreed! :)
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