Planning my first-ever vacation. Need help.

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Aww, it's not that bad. There's a underground classic video of two Korean guys hitchiking and freight-hopping across the US. That's pretty hairy, yet they didn't need to know much. I did stuff when traveling that I would't recommend now, but I always muddled through. When Blanche DuBois put her trust in the kindness of strangers, it at least gave her good odds.

Why not get back to mini-trips? An afternoon pretending you are a stranger looking for something of interest near your home. There are probably things like tours of old buildings, theatre festivals, and so on you could join.

I was in an ACA group that used to go on field trips to bowl or play miniature golf, just practicing at playing, since we didn't really know how to have fun.

There's sort of a hierarchy of travel authenticity:
Still pictures
Small video clips
Theatre
Package Tour
Car travel, HoJo or KOA
Subway train or intercity bus
Off-Road motoring
Imax theatre
Boating
Bicycling
Walking

As my friend Steve notes, "The bigger the vehicle, the smaller the adventure."

Don't waste fuel. I just turned down a free tropical vacation, and it won't thaw here for 4 months. Travel isn't magic - wherever you go, there you are.

I am still pretty discouraged. Someone suggested a multi-state train ride, which sounded appealing, but Amtrak offers limited options. It looks like you can travel on your own, eat train food, and go from hotel to hotel, or for quite a bit more money, you can take a more luxurious escorted tour, possibly with sleeping accommodations. The latter, I think, is out of my price range. I need to do some further looking.

Train travel is interesting, partly because there is no attempt at landscaping. The tracks reduce property values nearby, except for industry. I've had a few good train trips. One time, I spent 3 days finishing off chores like mending that I could do on the train. As we got close to a major destination, there was a minor party in the car, as we got over our caution about being stuck with awkward associations for days, and made friends. A couple with a guitar helped a lot. You don't get that on busses. The last trip I took was on Amtrak, in '88, and I was reading about a primitive farming town. I was delighted to find a mouse cleaning up my crumbs. I always pack all my own food. One time, one of the RR workers offered to pay my bill in the dining car, worried that my diet was from poverty, not preference. You can sleep reasonably well even in the cheapest seats on a train. In Europe, some tourists buy a 1-month pass, good for unlimited train travel, and do most of their sleeping on trains, with a new town to explore every morning. Once again, my advice it to try a short trip, to see if you like it.

I know that it is not a very environmentally friendly option, but I find cruising to be a very manageable vacation. Both my son and I are aspies and cruising is good for us because it is safe, comfortable, meals are taken care of, low stress, and there are many choices for excursions. Additionally room service is free, and my son finds that very helpful when he is not up to being around people. There are many choices leaving from So Cal or Florida. There are also some that leave from New England.

For land trips I find that renting a condo or staying at a B&B works well. At a condo there is private space and a kitchen. After a couple of days eating out gets stressful. B&B are usually small and low key. Breakfast is generally very good and the proprietors are helpful and knowledgeable.

It may be easier to start with local travel. Try renting a car for the day locally. Try a weekend in a nearby tourist town. Visit your local airport and just check out the areas that do not require a security check. Once you have done a couple of small things, the bigger ones get easier.

GreenTurtle GreenTurtle - isn't it just so harsh outdoors now? I like your idea of going to a warm place but that would involve big travel and maybe that's just too overwhelming right now. I had a 3hour layover in Philly recently. It's very nice (for an airport). I actually had a nice experience with a couple of the security agents, of all things. One of them is a burly black man who was singing softly in a beautiful soprano falsetto.

I like DearOne's mini-vac ideas. If I were in Philly and wanted a change 'o scene, change 'o heart and a change 'o temp; I'd go to Longwood Gardens and spend the day in the greenhouse. It's so warm in there, it's a tropical journey and a desert journey too.

I'm up here in CT and won't be going to Longwood anytime soon. But I've been there, it's a wonderful place. Just remembering it caused me to resolve to visit the Bronx Botanical greenhouse this winter.

This forum won't let me post a link yet but it's; longwoodgardens with a dot org.

oh dear, it made me a little sad to read greenturtle's posts.

I am not one for vacations either unless there is some purpose to them. I just couldn't sit on a beach somewhere.

If I were going to San Diego, I think I would visit the zoo there, it is supposed to be one of the best in the world and it takes 3 days to see it all. But I love animals, so maybe its not for you. But maybe there is something you are interested in? I went to Washington DC once to see the Smithsonian Institution when they had a Star trek exhibit. I was so naiive- I thought that there was only one building- I learned a lot! But it was also cool because my travel agent booked me into the Watergate hotel, which was famous because of Richard Nixon, but cheaper than most hotels because it is older now, but it was still good.

You got some good advice on traveling by air- you arrive 2 hours early, check in at the Airline desk at the airport, go through the security gates and wait while reading a book or playing on your laptop until your flight is called to board, then you get your seat and strap in for the ride. most airports ( and hotels) have wifi now so the laptops work, if you have a small one you can take. Make sure you go to the washroom about 20 minutes before your flight boards, so you won't have to go on the plane- those bathrooms are tiny and sometimes skanky and sometimes there's a lineup in the plane. Take some dry snacks on the plane, like cookies or nuts or dried fruit so you won't get hungry because mostly planes don't serve food anymore unless you pay like $6 for a mcdonalds style hamburger that's been microwaved on the plane. They will serve some water or pop or coffee on the plane for free.

Most big hotels in big cities will have a shuttle bus to get to and from the airport- your travel agent can check that, so you don't have to worry about getting to the hotel.

I like to go to a travel agent even to book my plane tickets and I don't mind the agency fee they charge you because then I am not overwhelmed by all the choices on line and maybe getting things wrong.

I also don't like to go away for too long- a week is my maximum nowadays. So a "mini vacation"- one where you only go for a weekend or so, might be a good idea.

What to pack? It's better if you can fit it into a "carry on bag"- a small suitcase that you can put in the overhead bin on the plane. Usually you can get a few pairs of underwear, socks, a change of shirt and pants, your toothbrush and hairbrush, medicines, etc, into your bag. If you pack a big suitcase you will have to find out where the bags come off the plane onto a carousel or conveyor belt and pick them up after the flight is over. If you will need a coat or raincoat or something, you wear it on the plane, not pack it in the suitcase or you will need a big suitcase. You can take the coat or sweater off and put it in the overhead bin too once you get on the plane.

I hope you will plan a vacation and take one- that time I went to washington it was for one thing, but I liked to walk and enjoyed seeing all the things I could walk to that I never knew were even there. I saw a lot of things I had only seen in the moveis before.

I love traveling and see something from places I have never been. When I was much younger, between 18 and 25 years old I traveled a lot. I stopped because I found it pretty boring and because I want to safe some money. I restart traveling again in about 2007.

I live in the Netherlands, in Europe and there are a lot of countries I can pick to travel to. A disadvantage is the language problem, but in most countries you can talk English or German. I am pretty good at these languages, although my native tongue is Dutch.

I went to Berlin a few times, in 1988 when the Wall was yet there, and later in 1991 and 2009. Berlin is cool, but TBH it lost some of the adventurous feeling because the DDR no longer exists. The Wall and the Volkspolizei are gone. But the people in Berlin hate the Wall and are glad, they are rid of it.

In 2004 I was in New York. That was a very great vacation. I loved it!

Later on I went to Paris. There was a game conference. A wounderful city. I had a hotel in the eastern part of Paris. Not too expensive: I paid 300 euros for 5 days. The train travel, at least from Rotterdam to Paris costs € 35,- for one direction, that is € 70,- from Rotterdam to Paris and back.

The last time I was on vacation was a cruise. That was a pretty complicated vacation, but I loved it. I flew from Amsterdam Schiphol to Atlanta in the US. From there to Fort Lauderdale. I had a hotel there for one day. The next day I went on the biggest cruiseship of the world and I participated in some excursions.

The travel agency helped me with the flights, with finding the right hotel, and with traveling between the airport, the hotel and the ship.

The next vacation will be London. I want to spare some money again so I will do cheaper vacations for the coming few years.

woohoo.. pack sunscreen and a towel.

Don't be discouraged, sometimes first time travel is like losing your virginity, the first trip is the hardest and after that it gets fun. I've lost track of the number of times I have been lobbed to a foreign country with nil preparation, and then I have to work things out pretty quickly, I am completely used to it. Its fun now

Its easy to get overwhelmed with the details when it comes to travel, but really all you need to arrange is the means to get to your destination and a place to stay, all the rest you can work out once you get there.

My Wife and I HATE, and I mean HATE, package tours and such, way too restrictive and you get zero feel for a town/country. I find you need at least a week in one place before you start to get it, anything less is just scratching the surface. Get there and relax and go do stuff, and not necessarily tourist stuff. In no time you are getting it

Two pieces of advice; HAVE FUN and DON'T PANIC

Can you start small? You live in Philadelphia. So that means you're like 2-3 hours from both Washington, dc and NYC, both of which ought to offer SOMETHING exciting for an overnight trip. What are you interested in? If you want warm weather and a beach, go to Florida, it's closer. Cross country plane trips can be difficult. But the point is like someone else said, you're in a major city on the east coast, there's no shortage of interesting things to do within a few hours driving distance. Just depends what your interests are. But don't try to plan a major vacation your first time.

I am back from my trip to Maine, and it was a wonderful time. It was the perfect thing for me. I watched whales, went to the top of a mountain, took a boat to a tiny island for a picnic lunch, and generally soaked in the beautiful scenery and tranquility for a few days. I was away from Internet the whole time and didn't miss it. I was fine on the plane and getting where I needed to go, and I was even quite social within my little group. It was unforgettable, and now that I've done it, I have the travel bug and I must do more.

It was suggested to me to visit all the national parks. Maybe that is what I will do.

That's awesome. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself! Travelling alone isn't always easy, so it's an accomplishment that you were able to make everything go smoothly. You must have planned it out v. well.