I love to take vacations. My family and I take a vacation each summer and I look forward to it all year. I think this is pretty common. It’s actually a little sad…I work 51 weeks a year in anticipation of one week of vacation bliss. I don’t think this is how we were meant to live but it’s the life I have so I have to go with it. Maybe one day I can be that guy who packs up his family and travels for a living…but I doubt it.
With all of this in mind, I’m going to do a little day dreaming now and tell you about my top 3 dream vacations. I will probably never see any of them in person but I can dream. Actually, I have three kids…so maybe one of them will be a successful brain surgeon and send me to one of these places.
Tahiti
“It’s a magical place”. If you watch Agents of Shield then you know that statement…if you don’t then you may think I’m a bit special. Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia and it is a popular destination for couples. Tahiti makes my dream vacation list because of the white sand beaches, the clear blue water, beautiful waterfalls, and the awesome over water bungalows.
You may ask…why don’t you just go? Well, expect to pay at least $500/night for an over the water bungalow. The airfare to get to Tahiti would be roughly $4000 for two people which puts airfare and lodging $7500 for one week. That’s before you do anything or eat a bit of food. My guess is it would be over $8000 for the total trip…and that makes this a “Dream” vacation.
European Tour
There may be a time when I get to go to London…or maybe Paris…Rome if I’m lucky but not all three. I would love to take a month long tour of Europe. I’d hit England, France, and Italy for sure. Here’s the thing….I’d spend maybe two days in London, two in Paris, and Two in Rome. But I’d spend the rest of my time hitting the small villages and seeing all of the history Europe has. That’s one thing we miss out on here in America.
Now comes the not so fun part…where I tell you how expensive this is. A flight to London would cost my wife and I roughly $2800. Now, we could go the cheap route and stay in hostels…but I’m not kid so I don’t think I can do that. This means that we would need lodging for an entire month in various countries. I actually found a travel package that is 26 days and visits 13 countries. It’s $3800 per person and that includes staying in hostels. Here’s a quote from their site “When staying on a Club trip, multi-share accommodation is single-sex and therefore couples should not expect to share a room.” Boy, that sounds romantic. This trip costs more than the Tahiti vacation and you’re with a group of 30 other people. That doesn’t interest me at all…I want to explore what I want to explore when I want to explore it. So I guess my European tour truly is a “Dream” vacation.
USA Road Trip
We have a great country and I’d love to see all of it. I have this grand idea of taking a summer off work and renting an RV to tour the country. I’d start in Georgia, head west through Texas towards California. Head north at California towards Seattle. Let me stop here for a moment…these are not straight line drives and I won’t take any interstates. This is a winding back road trip. Back to my dream….from Seattle I head east, zig zagging through the midwest until I reach the east coast. Then it’s south until I get back home. Imagine the sights I’d see.
Now, there’s no way I can take that kind of time off work and even if I could…I can’t afford that kind of rental. To rent an RV for just 31 days (not 62) it is around $6800 for just 3100 miles. This trip is much more than 3100 miles which means I’m pushing $10,000 before I even pay for RV parking or buy any food.
Of all three of these dream vacations, the USA Road Trip is the one I have the best chance of doing at some point in time. My wife and I have talked about buying a large camper/RV when we retire and touring the country while I do contract work. This would involve selling our home and putting a lot of money into a nice RV. I don’t know if it will ever happen but at least there is a glimmer of hope.
What about you? Do you have a dream vacation that you hope to take one day? Leave a comment below and let me hear about it.