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Travel: Where have you been; where are you going?

Mudinyeri

Mudinyeri

20g
"Philanthropist"
Who's traveling? I travel fairly frequently for work. I used to travel nearly 100% of the time when I owned my own business. I'd get on a plane Sunday night, usually get back home late Friday and then get back on a plane again Sunday .... It was no way to raise a family or have a marriage I'll tell you that.

On a happier note, the summer travel season is almost upon us. Parent will be loading kids into cars and heading off to vacation spots around the country. Where do you plan to go this summer? Where have you been previously? Any tips, if any of us decide to go to those same places, would be helpful.
 
I'll kick things off with Disney World. We went there last year over my son's spring break. It wasn't something that any of us were just dying to do, but I was already in Orlando for work so I flew my wife and son down and we did the "Disney Thing".

First, let me say that this is definitely NOT my kind of vacation. I'd much rather be by myself 100 miles from nowhere than in the middle of tens of thousands of people waiting in line to ride in teacups.

With that said, here are a few tips if you decide you want to punish yourself with a Disney World vacation:

1. Make reservations at restaurants at the parks WELL in advance. We started making reservations about three months in advance and several of the more interesting restaurants were already booked.

2. Prepare yourself and your family to eat at odd times. Even if you book reservations for restaurants well in advance, you'll probably have to eat lunch at 3:30 in the afternoon or dinner at 4:20. Take some snacks and bottled water with you in a pack.

3. Get to the parks EARLY and go directly to the ride you want to ride the most. You'll still probably end up with a Fastpass (basically a reservation), but at least your Fastpass reservation shouldn't be too far in the future.

4. DO NOT go during Spring Break, over Memorial Day or any other long weekend holiday. The parks are CROWDED.

5. My family preferred the action events like the Indiana Jones show and the Lights, Motors, Action show over most of the rides. Neither my wife or son like roller coasters much.

6. Prepare yourself for dozens of overweight people on scooters. I seriously believe that there were more "disabled" people per capita at Disney World than virtually anywhere else on earth. Now, when I say "disabled", I mean morbidly obese. Contrary to popular believe, Disney World is not the happiest place on earth. It's the fattest place on earth. :roll:

7. If parents with unruly children annoy you, you're going to want to punch Mickey in the face about 30 minutes into your Disney World visit. My family came up with a saying that helped us deal with it. It was something like, "There's no crying/screaming/tantrum-throwing at Disney World. This is the happiest place in the world."

8. No weapons at Disney World. Probably a good thing because by the end of the day, you'll be on a hair trigger anyway.

9. Stay off property at a hotel that has a free shuttle. You'll save about $1,000,000.

10. Wear good walking shoes ... or rent a scooter if you're morbidly obese.

11. If you're doing a whole week at Disney, plan a couple days off to just veg. Otherwise, by the end of the week, you'll pretty much hate your family and virtually every Disney character.

12. Take something with you to do while you wait in line. If your kids have portable gaming systems - take 'em. Take a deck of cards. The waiting is extremely painful if you don't have something to distract you.

13. Go to the bathroom before you get in line. 'Nuff said.
 
I'm with you on the Disney thing. I've managed to avoid that trip so far, but we're working on starting a family so I know my days are numbered.


I travel for work pretty regularly. Mostly to major markets, New York, Boston, Philly, San Diego, L.A., Portland, Miami, Orlando, Chicago, Detrioit, Dallas, Houston, etc., etc. Then there are the trade shows in Las Vegas twice a year. For these business trips, I only pack the essentials and never check a bag. It's carry-on only for me. Less time waiting on luggage and I've seen co-workers have to deal with spending a week half way across the country from home with only the clothes on their back b'cause the airline lost their bag.

My wife and I live in TN, but our families are back home split between north TX and Louisiana. When we head home to visit, we load the dogs up in the car and drive to either Dallas, Amarillo, or Shreveport. It's a haul, but well worth it compared to the cost of air travel and boarding the dogs for a week. Good news is that every state in between honors the TN carry permit!

As for vacation, the wife and I were married on Kaua'i and head back there every few years for a 7-10 days of pure R&R. It's the best place on earth in my book. We pack for different occasions, but I could get by just fine with only my flip-flops and a pair of board shorts! Can't wait to get back...
 
I too used to travel for work quite a bit, all driving, no air travel. I would drive to Toledo, Cleveland, Fort Wayne, Columbus was a daily drive for me @100 miles one way, South Carolina for 3 weeks at a time, New Jersey most recently for a six week stay, Kentucky pretty frequently but usually 70 to 80 miles or less one way...

When I was younger I used to go to SoCal to visit my dad. Loved, and still love, In N Out Burgers. San Diego was always beautiful, as well as Santa Montica. The school surf team was strange to me. I've lived in Ohio all my life, so hockey was not uncommon, but surf team? Never seen anything like that before. Used to like drivin through the desert, Masacre Valley. Not really anything out there, just a cool drive with sand blowin across the highway on the way to Palm Springs. Odd little town.

Last Vacation I had was a summer trip to Myrtle Beach about 6 years ago. We camped in a public campground near the beach. Wasnt too bad, but my tent still has sand in it.

I'm plannin on doin some hiking and camping this summer, not sure where, but back country. Maybe not too much so, I'll have a couple of youngins with me, so we may keep just off the beaten path down at Red River Gorge. Hope to do a couple or few hunting/camping trips too. Would like to head west.

I dont ever pack much for myself personally no matter how I travel or where I go, just whatever I can fit in a bag which yields to functionallity and the Boy Scouts of America motto, "Always be prepared".
 
Anyone considering Cancun, let me know. We were there in January and have been several times before. I've also been to Nicaragua fairly recently as well as Austin and San Diego.
 
I have been all over the western states, seen the most beautiful remote darkest corners of the west but the only problem is they were always on fire so I couldn’t always enjoy the views the way I wanted LOL. For the last number of years I have stayed in my own back yard fighting fire for the state but I just got back from an event where I got accepted to a interagency incident command team as a division supervisor and there is a push to get us to Alaska so I might be spending some time there here soon but have to be back here for our fire season……cool thing about Alaska is the bears. They actually assign a guy to the squads and at camp just to run off or last resort shoot troublesome bears….kind of fun to sign a guys shift tickets that says “shooter”. They get paid well and are issued 12 ga pump with slugs. I have seen a mix of Remington and Mossberg…..the state fire fighters there all pack SG in their rigs
 
I will post up a more thorough response when I get back to NY but I have traveled and lived all over. Right now I am typing this while driving from Colorado (spent a few days snowboarding at Breckenridge and Loveland) to Nevada. This year alone I have driven in 29 of the 50 states in my Jeep. I also lived in St. Kitts for 3 years and traveled to many of the islands while I was there.
 
DHonovich said:
I will post up a more thorough response when I get back to NY but I have traveled and lived all over. Right now I am typing this while driving from Colorado (spent a few days snowboarding at Breckenridge and Loveland) to Nevada. This year alone I have driven in 29 of the 50 states in my Jeep. I also lived in St. Kitts for 3 years and traveled to many of the islands while I was there.
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Do you take your Jeep off road? I've been off roading in several states: Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Utah, California, Wisconsin ... probably a few more.
 
Mudinyeri said:
DHonovich said:
I will post up a more thorough response when I get back to NY but I have traveled and lived all over. Right now I am typing this while driving from Colorado (spent a few days snowboarding at Breckenridge and Loveland) to Nevada. This year alone I have driven in 29 of the 50 states in my Jeep. I also lived in St. Kitts for 3 years and traveled to many of the islands while I was th jere.
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Do you take your Jeep off road? I've been off roading in several states: Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, Utah, California, Wisconsin ... probably a few more.
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Yea I take the Jeep offroading wherever I travel with it. Sometimes its great wheeling othertimes its just some access roads. In Colorado I did some backcountry snowboarding so we used the Jeep to get to some of the places to drop in. I am going offroading in Red Rock this weekend with the Jeep which is very mild but when you get up to some of the peaks there are incredible views. We planned to hit up Moab since there is a big Jeep Easter event going on but it doesn't look like we are going to make it now. Where has been your favorite place to wheel?
 
This year I plan on visiting my Mom in Fl in Sep for golf and bike riding (my favorite week of the year) and I am hoping to get to Mass, RI and NH to visit relitives this summer, on the bike ofcourse.
 
DHonovich said:
Where has been your favorite place to wheel?
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Not sure I could pick just one. They were all great in their own way. It's hard to beat Moab and The Hammers in California for the sheer number of great trails within easy driving distance. South Dakota has thousands of miles of great trails up in the Black Hills area but some of them are a 25-50 mile drive from others.
 
In another life I did almost 2 million (accident free) miles in coast-to-coast 18-wheelers. I have been in around 46 of the 50 states at one time or another. I occasionally tell people the only 2 states I never went to were Maine, because it's the end of the line and nothing comes out of there (always needed a backhaul), and Rhode Island, because it's too small to turn the truck around in. :D

Montana, Wyoming, Idaho areas were my favorites for sparse populations and beautiful country (although there is beautiful country in just about every state somewhere). And sorry folks, I was never too keen for anything east of the Mississippi: running the I-95 corridor is a nightmare in a big truck.

As to traveling? I get a pain just having to drive to the store anymore. But before I go to the last roundup, I want to ride a train to somewhere, probably a western route up through the Rockies.
 
Flew into NYC this morning. Working up here through tomorrow afternoon and then heading back home. We lucked out and landed before the POTUS flew in. That coulda been bad. Typical for me I packed a change of clothes, my laptop, and necessary reports in a backpack.

Travel light = Travel fast.
 
2 summers ago, I took my family to Washington DC for 8 days ... best trip ever. I was there in 1976 (I was 13 years old at the time) and I always wanted to take my family too. It was an absolute great trip ... I love DC, so much history.

My family doesn't travel much anymore because I've got to fund 2 college educations soon enough and I have a crap load of saving to do. This summer, my oldest daughter is spending 2 weeks in NY going to Marist College (trip will probably cost me $4,000) for a criminology pre-college experience. My oldest daughter wants to become a homicide detective someday. That's my vacation ... sending them off to places to prepare for their life.
 
Sounds like a great trip and a great upcoming experience for your daughter. This world could use more dedicated dads like you!
 
Well you will be right in my backyard when you come to NY. Depending on what campus she will be at you may be within a few minutes of where I live now. Let me know if you need any help with that trip when the time comes. BTW hats off to you being a great father!
 
Thanks, guys ... I do it because I'm a firm believer in the phrase of "pay me now or pay me later but you will pay" concept of parenting. I'd rather put in my hard work up front (pay me now) so that I'm not carrying them later as adults.

Her Marist College experience this summer is great ... hell, I wish I could go too. :lol: She'll be living in the dorms and eating in their cafeteria. This comes directly from their site:

You will visit many different law enforcement agencies such as local and state police, county courts, district attorney offices, and a correctional facility. You will get a first-hand look at Police Academy training and a chance to test your skill with a firearms training simulator, FTS. Even a demonstration from a K-9 Unit will be included. One day will take you to New York City to meet with Federal Agents in the United States Secret Service and members of the New York Police Department at its headquarters.
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Doesn't that sound cool? There will also be some lecture and study plus she'll earn 3 college credits. This experience will help solidify whether she wants to go down the law enforcement path. She's already very comfortable with shooting guns and has received some training plus I plan on sending her to Gunsite Academy (since it's only 1 hour away from the house) for more intensive tactical training.


DHonovich - she'll be at the main campus (Poughkeepsie), right on the Hudson River.
 
That sounds like quite the experience! That campus is about 35 minutes from where I live.
 
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