Vacation. All I ever wanted, Vacation, Had to get away.

Jay and I had friends who used to go to Barbados every year. He worked for Air Canada, so they travelled for cheap (or nothing) and of all the places they'd visited, they liked Barbados best for its laid back atmosphere and friendly locals. The problem with Cuba is that you're pretty much forced to stay on an artifical resort. I have an uncle who goes there annually, but who has made "off-resort" contacts over the years (which is apparently a real no-no for foreigners visiting there), so the experience he enjoys would be different from that of the usual tourist.

Not much help, am I?

My parents are big fans of Barbados. It seems a little pricey tho. I think we'd be well served to have something all-inclusive so that my parents don't have to worry about whipping out the american express card all the time.

I priced some places this morning at it was like $300 dollars a day for some places! it worked out to 26 thousand dollars for the whole family for vacation.

from wn

Well,

I've never been anywhere tropical but I'm not sure how much I'd enjoy those artificial resort type places as I think I'd have some issues with living like a rich person at the expense of the locals but then again, with enough alcohol I could have a tendency to forget....

All kidding aside...the one place that Erik and I did go that we THOUROUGHLY enjoyed (relaxation-wise) was the South of France. We stayed in Nice for 3 nights and vowed that we'd one day make it back. The Meditaranean was dreamy....and there were lots of fun and relaxing little things to visit in the city.

We also had fun on the beach in Barcelona and found it to be much more lush than what we would have previously imagined. The plus side to Barcelona is that you'd get to visit a really cool city at the same time.

Those are my recommendations based on my very limited traveling experience.

I’ve taken family trips to the Dominican and the Mayan Riviera area of Mexico. I’m not sure if either are back in business after the hurricanes but both were good. I preferred Mexico though. A tad pricier, but everything from the food to the service to the variety of things to do was far better. We stayed at this resort. It was great for a large family trip (13 of us ranging from four to sixty) because the resort was big enough that it was easy to get away for “non-family” time when you needed it. It was also a short shuttle ride from Playa Del Carmen and walking distance to a cool snorkel park. There are also some Mayan pyramids nearby so you can mix in some culture. :-).

What to do when you want "non-family" time all the time? ;-)

I'm such a homebody.

Well, if the rest of the fam goes to Mexico, someone has to watch the cats - right?