When I think of vacation, I picture quality time spent in a poolside lounge chair with a great book, a pile of magazines and being served too many cocktails.
I also associate vacations with letting my hair down, uninterrupted conversations, new experiences, sleeping in and room service.
Costa Rica, October, 2005
I envision escaping it all: laundry, bills, TV; the mundane of my every day existence at home.
Vacations are meant to be memory-making adventures sprinkled with a little more indulgence than usual and hopefully some decent photos to bring home and frame.
Cabo San Lucas, April, 2001
My perfect vacation [and only because it has been so long that I've had one quite like this] would be somewhere sunny and coastal and alone with my husband.
Grand Canyon, Summer, 2008
My perfect vacation would also include:
1. Someone to pack for me, first class tickets and a limousine ride to and from the airport would all be wonderful, but I honestly don’t mind shuttles or coach seats (just so long as I don’t get stuck next to a screaming kid or a stinky fat man).
2. The ability to enjoy the vacation without any mommy guilt!
3. Having been rained on, snowed in and caught in a hurricane, the perfect vacation would include perfect weather upon arrival and for the entire length of our stay.
4. The ability to pack everything I might need and nothing I won’t, in other words, as many shoes as I want without any questions from my traveling companion and no emergency stops at a mall or drug store for something stupid I forgot at home, like a bathing suit. Yes, I have done this before. More than once!
5. Souvenirs. In the form of a special trinket, new friends or the rekindling of an old relationship with a true BFF.
Visiting my BFF, Sophie in New Caledonia, May, 2010
6. The ability to truly relax. This is so much easier said that done, especially for my husband when confined to a lounge chair. For me, if in a beach or pool setting, I could hang out in the sun all day every day, breaking only to eat, sleep and shower, but for him, it’s not so easy. I’m open to water sports and boat rides.
7. The ability to indulge in sweet treats and pretty drinks without gaining a single pound.
8. The ability to NOT get sick. I have had some of the nastiest colds in my life while on vacation.
9. Spa services. Enough said.
10. Returning home to a clean home, fresh sheets on the bed, mail sorted and someone to do the mounds of laundry.
Hawaii, August, 2011
This post was inspired by Stasha’s Monday Listicles, a linky right up my alley, as I LOVE lists! This week’s topic: 10 Things That Make A Vacation Perfect (selected by Hopes@StayingAfloat)
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Oh yes, number 1 and 10 are a good place to start and finish. you have had some bad luck with weather on your holidays… Love the photos.
Thanks. I’ve taken some great vacations in my life, all of them included tons of laundry.
11. Having the Amex bill with everything you charged to the room magically taken care of before it hits your statement. (However, still accumulate all the points!)
Excellent addition!
I love #7! Now that would be a perfect vacation…as well as all the others in your list.
Great pictures! Looks like you’ve had some pretty awesome vacations
Wouldn’t that be great?! Truth be told, I always pack workout gear and sneakers and usually use them. At least once. I feel too guilty otherwise.
Yes, I have been very fortunate to see a lot of very cool places.
I want to go on this vacation with you.
Let’s go!! I am SO ready.
YES! So when are we leaving?
Doesn’t this sound perfect?
Yes, Yes to number 10! I will also need someone to cook for me and make my bed for a few days, and bring me random drinks during the day so that I can ease back into life. LOL
#10 is key to making this the PERFECT vacation.
I love #10. That would certainly make my vacay a perfect one. As it is, that’s the only one that’s difficult to achieve. Great list Tonya
Thanks! I think #10 is the best part too.
Love Hawaii. I really want to go back soon. Last time we went I was 9 weeks pregnant so I didn’t get to surf or enjoy those fruity drinks.
Hawaii must be experienced without a baby in the belly. Get on that, will ya? !
Great list! Every time I get home from vacation, the first things I do are: unpack, laundry, clean house, do sheets. So #10? YES please.
Isn’t #10 the best?!
totally, returning to a clean ready-made home would complete the circle of a perfect vacation.
It’s sort of the cherry on top of a perfect vacay, no? My bags are packed!
You and I would be perfect travel companions!!! I am a lazy slug on vaca and there is nothing I enjoy more than just sitting..looking out over a crystal blue ocean! Your list gives me a peek of paradise!
xo
Laying around and doing nothing sounds divine, doesn’t it? I’m SO ready!!
Great list! #6 is especially tough for me. I’m with you – I can relax and sit in the sun and read all day long, but my husband can’t, so that makes it hard for me to relax!
It really puts a damper on my relaxation, so I have learned to compromise. Sigh…
I love all of these, but especially #10 so I don’t feel like I’m paying for my vacation for the next week after I get home! This is indeed a dream vacation. Where can we find those personal packers?? I totally want one.
#10 is my favorite too… the perfect homecoming makes the perfect trip.
Someone to pack for you- that is GENIUS!
I can pull it off, but I’d much rather have someone do it for me.
Tonya, I think I’ll just add all of these to my list. Why stop at ten? Love, especially, coming home to a clean home and easing into chores by not having to do any for a while! Perfect!
Oh, now I have to check out your list too!
I think I would have a reeeeeallly hard time letting go of the Mommy guilt. Although I did take off to a family reunion for 5 days and relished in not having anyone to be responsible for but myself! Great list!
The mommy guilt would ruin the trip for me for sure. Sigh…
Book your next vacation already! I’m here to take Lucas! Perhaps a weekend to Santa Barbara or San Fran?? You and Todd should go somewhere asap! At least over Thankgiving in AZ, I’ll be there every night so you and Todd can at least go out to dinner and stuff…
Hey, I’m trying…haha XOXO
Yes! Maybe sometime in January.
Okay, now I need a vacation and a better bikini body. xo
Ugh… tell me about it!
A girl after my own heart! All sounds great to me!
Let’s go, my bags are packed!
AMEN, sister!
Your list is perfect from escaping mommy guilt to spa packages, you covered it all!
Coming up with the perfect vacay was easy, now I just have to figure out where to go, when to go and how to pay for it all.
This is HEAVEN. Really, this must be what heaven is like.
I could not agree more!
I love your list (esp. the returning to clean sheets part – there’s nothing like going away, except the feeling you get when you come home again…)
Also, may I say that all of you in that Cabo picture look really great!
Thanks! I met my husband on that trip.
Love this Tonya! Your photos and words perfectly capture the pure fun and joy and more fun that vacations are meant to be!
Also? Just look at how gorgeous you are, sweet friend! Wowsa!
xo
I love vacations! And this one would be heaven.
Thanks for the compliment. I do my best to be bikini ready before a trip and then once I’m there… I lose all willpower.
Great list, my friend! I like n°10 too! It would make things so perfect! Now, you and Todd need to book yourselves some “real” holidays for yourselves!
I loved it when you and Lucas came to see us here. They weren’t the most relaxing holidays for you with your sick little one, but we did have some good laughs, and it was so nice being able to catch up! I loved the time we had together on Duck Island
and it was lovely that we got to meet eachothers children! The girls LOVE you, just like me! XOXO
Love #10
That is the best.
The only thing that concerns me with #4 (The ability to pack everything I might need and nothing I won’t) is the airlines! My goodness they are picky with the amount of, the size of, and the weight of your luggage these days! So annoying
I want a vacation. I’ll take it even if it’s not perfect (though if you figure out how to find one like this, please share!).
Mmmmmm, a vacation sounds nice right about now. Love your photos!
wow you know how to pick a vacation site girl! The clean sheets when you get home is a MUST! My neighbor and I do that for each other when we’re gone!
#10 is a total MUST for a vacation to be dubbed as perfect! If only, right?
LNB Ku…
Very informative article post.Really thank you! Will read on……