Checking Assumptions

[kyburg]

You're on vacation.

You've spent a pretty penny or two to get here, it's someplace you've always wanted to go...and....

POLL TIME!

[Poll #536304]

Anyone who knows me, knows the Overbook Fairy loves me like a ugly, red-headed stepchild - but I'm having a hard time getting my head around the idea that I should spend an awful lot of money to travel anyplace - just to spend most of it asleep.

But hey, I can ask. I might be wrong.

Comments

My Vacation Theory...

[ziactrice.livejournal.com]

is to take off my watch when I arrive. Then everything runs on when-I-want-to-time. This worked especially well in Jamaica, where all the locals apparently always run on when-they-want-to-time. I slept late if I wanted, I got up at 4 AM if I wanted - or I didn't sleep at all, if that's what I felt like.

It's extremely liberating to say there is no schedule, I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.

Re: My Vacation Theory...

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

I like your theory, and exercised it on Catalina a few years ago. Very relaxing. Very pleasant. Definitely refreshing.

Re: My Vacation Theory...

[kyburg.livejournal.com]

When it only costs $38 and half an hour to get there, yeah. Makes a whole lot of sense -

[reannon.livejournal.com]

Have fun! Sleep when you get home.

[cowgrrl.livejournal.com]

I actually prefer moderation rather than the two extremes you list here. Especially for question 2.

A bed and breakfast that stops serving breakfast at, say, 9:30am, will motivate me to get up in the morning. I'll be the one arriving in the breakast room at 9:25am. :)

[betnoir.livejournal.com]

See my latest entry for why I don't do overly-scheduled vacations.

Re: My Vacation Theory...

[snobahr.livejournal.com]

Tee-hee! Hubby booked us on the helicopter to get there. And we had the "Admiral's Lounge" on the boat trip back. He'd never been on a helicopter before, and had a blast. It was all of 15 minutes long. But fun!

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I'm of two minds on these issues. There are some vacation situations where R&R would definitely be at the top of my priority list, and I would get plenty of snooze time. OTOH, if I've expended great effort and sums of money to get to an exotic place where there are lots of things to do and I'm not sure when (or if) I'll ever return, I'll *make* myself get up at a reasonable hour.

I took the latter approach when I went to England and Wales in 1989. From guidebooks I learned that a lot of the things I wanted to see were only open during the day, and plus I was staying with folks who were basically morning people. So I forced myself to get up in the morning and get my butt out the door, so I wouldn't miss out on art galleries and museums and whatnot, even though my body was screaming "jet lag" for the whole first week of my trip. When I got home to the States, I went to the oral surgeon, got my wisdom teeth out, and spent the next few days sleeping 20 hours per day.

Same with the balance of "knowing what to see" and "winging it." I think there is room for both in almost every vacation. If I were to go visit another country, I'd prepare a list of some things I'd like to see. But I wouldn't mind taking a serendipitous stroll through the heart of the city I'm in, or get off at some random subway station and see what's there.

I've thought for years that if I ever have the chance to visit Australia, I'd definitely go my own way in the major cities, because in general I detest being herded around like sheep. But if I went out into the Outback, I'd want to be with a small group with at least one person who knows what they're doing, for safety's sake.

[dwinghy.livejournal.com]

While I do like to get up at a reasonable hour when on a siteseeing vacation (as opposed to when I'm at home, when I sleep in), I don't generally eat breakfast anyway. As for winging it versus a tight itinerary, I'm with the others who prefer to be somewhere in the middle. When I go somewhere I have a general idea of what I want to see and do, but don't really care what order it falls into, and always leave room for new developments once I get there. I can't stand anything to be too tightly scheduled-- too much like work that way.

[lorriejharris.livejournal.com]

I chose sleeping until noon, but I'm a night owl anyway (and a bad disco song just popped into my head..."I love the night life....").

And I chose wing it, because 99.9% of the time, if I make definite plans to do something, they always fall through. I figure if I -go- somewhere for vacation, I'll want to know what there is to do, but planning exactly what, I won't do.

Of course I've never tried to deny that I'm weird, either. ;)