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Vote on Christmas Vacation (poll)
My husband is driving me crazy with trip planning today, so I thought I'd solicit the excellent opinions of GR Nesties.
All trips last roughly from 12/24 through 1/1, plus or minus a day or two depending on exact flights.
All trips would cost the same amount of frequent flier miles for the plane tickets--minimal cash cost to us.
Lodging would be through our timeshare (except California, which would use my father-in-law's timeshare) with no cash cost to us. The disadvantage to use my FIL's timeshare is that we have points we need to use this year with our plan. If we don't use them, we pay a $35 fee to save them and they become somewhat restricted, but not impossible to use.
Option 1: Phoenix/Sedona--Arrive PHX, drive to Sedona for two nights, check into condo in Phoenix area for four nights. We have visited both cities once before, and spent a long weekend in Phoenix in January.
Option 2: Florida--Arrive Orlando 12/23, exact cities still somewhat TBD. We would probably spend a mix of time at my in-laws, some time in Orlando (we would likely visit a theme park), and possibly spend a couple of nights in the Miami area. This is very similar to what we did last Christmas (spent 8 action-packed days in FL), and we both loved it.
Option 3: Southern California--Arrive LAX, spend some time with my husband's uncle and family, stay 5 nights in a condo in the San Diego area. If my cousin doesn't go home for Christmas, we could see her as well, but she will probably go home.
[Poll]
Re: Vote on Christmas Vacation (poll)
I voted for California because it's something different and you'd be able to visit some family around Christmastime. And California has been a second choice vacation destination for us for the past three years!
That said, if you did Florida last year and loved it, maybe you should do that again and make it a sort of Christmas tradition? I couldn't bring myself to vote for Florida though, because I'm personally not a fan.
It's a slight pro, particularly with L's parents in Florida because they love to see us. The California family would be great to see, too because we see them very rarely, but because we see them so rarely, it's kind of "out of sight out of mind." We also haven't verified their plans yet, so we're not sure if they'll be around or not.
California has sort of been a second choice destination for us recently as well. The biggest drawback for me this time is the lodging uncertainty. If the weather ends up not very nice, we're stuck at a resort for much of the time. If my FIL books it, I have less control over that resort. That makes the control freak in me kind of twitchy. With AZ, the place in PHX is somewhere we really liked last year (and they super heat the pools).
I love Florida, but am not completely feeling it this year for a few reasons. The biggest of which is that we got stuck with pretty cold weather last year. It was fine and we still had a great time, but this vacation will be our only chance to escape Michigan winter this year so I would be disappointed if it were cold again. Also, as much fun as we had at Harry Potter world last year, it was mega crowded at the holidays and I just don't know if I'm up for the crazy crowds a second consecutive year.
It's so out of character for us to have such a hard time choosing a destination!
hhmm...
I guess my choice would be San Diego. Brian and I did that trip before we were married. We really like San Diego. Even if the weather isn't the greatest, there is still plenty you can do. The average high is 66 - so even if it gets to the mid 50s you can go to the zoo, the old town area and downtown. We stayed in an area called Ocean City. It is in city limits but it isn't corporated. They have their own ordiances and don't allow chain places. They have a bunch of cool places to eat and antique stores. I bet if you wanted to splurge, you could do a really nice holiday dinner at the Corondo Hotel.
I think with December, you are going to run into a chance of cooler weather. I think you need to either be prepared for that or just go some place you know is going to be cold. I keep telling Brian for the holidays I want to go to a big city like Boston or NY and go to holiday concerts, shop, etc or once the kids get older, I would love to go a mountain resort and relax and eat really good food. (I think I have been watchign too much of the travel channel)
Here you go...Christmas in San Diego.
http://gocalifornia.about.com/od/casdmenu/ig/Christmas-in-San-Diego/
Another area I would want to go to during the holidays is San Antinio - but no way for 8 days. That would be good for 3-4 days or combine it with another city like Austin or one of the gulf resort towns for a week.
I voted for Florida.
I really wanted to vote for California, but nothing in your description really called out to me.
We are going to Florida in October and I'm so ridiculously excited. It's for my grandpa's 90th birthday, and my entire family is going to be there. I'm excited to see everybody and hang out. Plus there is an endless supply of things to do in Florida. Plus you have points to use up
I just have really warm fuzzy feelings about Florida, even though I normally hate going to places I've already been.