Now that it’s been a few years and a few vacations since my last thought on travelling strategy, I’ve had a bit more of a think about what sort of vacations I want to take. I realize that there are several aspects that we generally focus on during our trip planning; we try and strike a balance, but that might not necessary be a good idea – sometimes you just want to do something specific. Here’s my though on what the different types of vacations are:

• The Sightseeing vacation
  This is typically what you intend to do when you’re going travelling. You want to see the main tourist sites of your destination, such as visiting the Great Wall of China or Golden Gate Bridge. This type of vacation is sometimes a caricature of a vacation; you go to the attraction, take a few photos, and then move on to the next one (think: duckling tour). However, sometimes its worthwhile to visit these sites because they are amazing (have you ever seen a waterfall as long as Niagara Falls?)
• The Cultural vacation
  When people talk about visiting Europe, I think this is the type of vacation they mean. You want to visit Paris and be able to sit in a café and watch as people pass, or you visit a poorer country and understand how people live their lives. I think we have been a bit too guilty of expecting a cultural vacation when we visit Europe; but we have just visited it so often that it is not novel anymore.
• The Unique Experiences vacation
  Travelling to a destination just to do something Really Cool. Like staying on top of a mountain or catching a concert, or skydiving or visiting a specific restaurant. The list goes on. I think this is the most interesting type of vacation now.
• The Culinary vacation
  This is a subset of a cultural vacation, but focused on the food. You go to a specific place to indulge in the regional specialities; for example Spain and Tapas.
• The Shopping vacation
  You might want to go to a particular place for shopping because they sell specific brands, or have specific discounts. You can classify all our cross-border jaunts to Buffalo under this category!
• The Learning vacation
  I classify visiting museums and other historical sites under this type of vacation. We don’t do this very much as it is not too interesting to us right now.
• The Relax & Unwind vacation
  Another type of vacation we don’t do is to visit a beach or a resort and just sit/lie around for a week without and stress. But I know a lot of people enjoy doing this, and it is its own type of vacation.

Posted by Kevin in Blogs Tags: ideas