Where to go - eastern/southeast US

Old Jul 8th, 2016, 08:51 AM
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Where to go - eastern/southeast US

We were planning on going to WDW next summer but the price between flights from Boston, hotel, food, and tickets are coming to more than I want to spend. So, I'm looking for alternatives. I'll be celebrating my 50th wherever we go and it'll be dh, 11 year old daughter, 19 year old son and me. Son and husband like to scuba dive. We don't like to spend hours sitting on the beach; we'd rather be somewhere exploring. Options I was thinking about are New Orleans or one of the islands in Florida like San Marco Island. We're open to pretty much anywhere that is near the ocean, has good food, and has things to do (historic places, swamp tour, etc).
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 09:22 AM
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Well, no matter where you go in Florida or Louisiana you are still going to have airfare, hotel and food costs and when you add in the costs for scuba diving, swamp tours and other activities your "alternate" destination may end up costing you the same as WDW - just something to think about.

Since you mentioned historic places have you considered St. Augustine? I don't know how the scuba diving there is though.

Are you dead set on Florida? Charleston is a wonderfully historic city with some very nice nearby beaches plus you can take day trips to Beaufort and Savanah for most "history".
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 09:38 AM
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Nope, not dead set on Florida. Open to pretty much anywhere along the coast. I'll go check out Charleston online, thanks! We're still considering WDW but I'm looking for alternatives to see what we can do for the biggest bang for our buck. DH only wants to stay on property if we go to WDW so we're looking then at around $3K just for hotel and park tickets.
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 09:56 AM
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Think about Charleston--as above.
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 10:34 AM
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Well, if you can show your DH, there are some beautiful properties near WDW for a lot less money and they run daily shuttles to WDW. We stayed recently in a Wyndam (different city) for only a bit over $200 a night for two separate bedrooms, living room, beautiful kitchen, two baths and several great pools. I know there is one near WDW because I am also looking for a place in September. Food cost us a lot less too.

Anyway, another, completely different idea. Cruise out of Boston and NY and NJ. Save time and airfare and be on vacation from day one.
One, from Boston, goes to Burmuda. Another goes to lots of stops in Canada. Look at vacationstogo.com and cruisecritic.com for what is available, costs, etc. There are other good website, but these are easy to navigate and give a good overall picture of prices, etc. You could get two, inside cabins, lots to do on the ship, decent food, etc. then days to explore Burmuda or other places in Canada. Unfortunately, it will still be in that $3,000 to $4,000 price range.

Also, consider Puerto Rico - great food, lots to do.

Mexico. I haven't been, except in a cruise, but lots of info here.
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 08:31 PM
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We love Bermuda. We've done the cruise 3 times and last year we rented an apartment and stayed for a week - I would highly recommend that to anyone looking for a beautiful, relaxing vacation but not sure I could get dh to do it again this soon. We've also done the cruise to Canada twice - that was a lot of fun as well. DH won't go to Mexico; he says its not safe. I'll have to see how he is on Puerto Rico. I wish I wasn't limited to school vacations for Disney. I went a few years ago when I worked for a different school system and was able to finagle 4 days unpaid off the first week of December - that was perfect. The district I'm in now would never go for that unfortunately. I will look at the offsite properties and see if I can find something he'd be okay with. When we went to Disneyland we were able to walk to the park from an offsite hotel; I know that's not an option in FL and we hear horror stories about the buses and wait times during peak season which I think influences his preference. I'll have to check it out though. Thank you for the ideas!
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Old Jul 8th, 2016, 10:09 PM
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Glad you like Bermuda. We haven't done that particular cruise, but a friend loved it and we are thinking about doing it from Baltimore. Our GD and DD love cruises. It is now hard to get them to anything different, but we are doing Disney world in the Fall this year because our other DD wants to do it with GD.
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Old Jul 9th, 2016, 05:53 AM
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St. Augustine meets all of your requirements. A few links:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trave...ry.html#page=1
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trave.../st-augustine/
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trave...2.photogallery
http://www.staugustine.com/visit/
http://www.visitflorida.com/St_Augustine
http://www.getaway4florida.com/


_____________________________________________
Vic's travels: http://my.flightmemory.com/vogilvie
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Old Jul 10th, 2016, 03:10 AM
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"Son and husband like to scuba dive. We don't like to spend hours sitting on the beach; we'd rather be somewhere exploring." And you're celebrating your 50th.

How long is the trip? Week? Long weekend?

My recommendation:
Fly to Miami. I'll bet you can get cheap flights from Boston.
Spend a couple days "somewhere exploring" Miami.
Spend a couple days in the Florida Keys for this reason: "Son and husband like to scuba dive"
While they are diving, (and there are too many places to list here for scuba in the keys, I know people who spend two weeks there just scuba diving), you and daughter can go exploring. Key West has lots to offer in the way of exploring with an 11 year old.
Take your birthday and pick something YOU want to do, either in Miami or the Keys.
Oh, and recommend the Catamaran Trip out of Key West to the Dry Tortugas NP for the day. Go snorkeling, visit the fort of the National Park. Its amazing.
Note: the Keys are mostly coral, and there are very few beaches in the Keys. One of the nice sand beaches is at Bahia Honda State Park. They also have a snorkel boat which goes out to Looe Key Marine Sanctuary if you want to all go snorkeling together. Its really nice.
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Old Jul 10th, 2016, 03:11 AM
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Another plug for the Florida Keys is the temps - they aren't as hot as the rest of the state in the summer. WDW in summer just sounds brutal.
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