ArkansasNurse,

Doing a marathon is really not that big of a deal. You must be in reasonably good shape but if you are a 5 hour marathon finisher like I am (5:39 L.A. Marathon in March 2002, 5:07 Rock N Roll San Diego Marathon in June 2002 and 5:18 Vina Del Mar, Chile, Marathon in December 2002), but that hardly qualifies a person to go trekking in Patagonia, especially if travelling with a less active spouse...a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

Chile and my wife & I were just not a good match. We are just not the outdoorsy, camping types and it is that type of person that will really appreciate Chile.

The short answer~not enough! The long answer 1 big one 10 days at least. We were in Italy for 3 weeks in 2002. This year it is Vancouver BC,Seattle and Whidbey Island for 10 days. Come SPring I think we're trying for two weeks in Mexico probably Merida and the ruins. In between a 4 day jaunt to Portland(Oregon) and numerous weekends in the California wine country. The trp to Italy was my first official 3 week vacation..such relaxation!

As many as we can afford and fit into our schedules. Absolutely love to travel! Preparation is part of the excitement - return home from one trip and start planning the next.

Just returned from #6 for this year, and 2 more to go (that I know of). Find it quite fortunate that I am able to do this, sometimes with husband, sometimes with kid(s), sometimes with friends. We have friends that believe it preferable to take 1-2 long trips each year (10+ days) but I am just like heartburn3 and Mileking. Each trip makes me crave another - it's a sickness!! And our trips range from a long weekend visiting our daughter at college to 10-12 days somewhere warm in the wintertime. Most of them require flying to our destination but road trips are nice too.

I've heard far too many stories of folks who waited to travel "when they retired" and then poor health or other reasons kept them from doing so.

Different things for all people though, and I certainly appreciate all the advice I've received on this board over the last few years.

Heard on the news this a.m. that travel is still down and I actually believe some of that, as our flights yesterday weren't full. The flight to Vancouver was only because it was full of cruise passengers. Cruising seems quite healthy.

I'm surprised travel is still down. Seems like people I know are traveling again. I'm ready for another vacation!!!
We should all count our blessings to be able to travel often.

Janny, not everyone here is all that well-heeled, although a lot of the frequent posters probably are. And as MileKing said, it depends on what you consider a vacation. If you'd asked how many trips do you take a year, the answer would obviously be very different.

We take a fair number of trips each year but very few pure vacations. Our son lives on the other coast, my mother lives almost 1000 miles away, we each have many siblings, I stay in close touch with a number of cousins, we each travel a fair amount to professional meetings and, fortunately, I'm married to someone who gets an occasional paid-for junket to Europe that I can hitch a ride on.

So we tack on our own time to these various trips and call it "Honeymoon part 273" (sorry to sound a little sappy, but...). I use Fodors extensively for resources to help save money, find the great places to stay and eat, etc. for all these trips.

As for how many trips are exclusively for vacation? Maybe one longer one and one long weekend per year, but more some years (significant anniversaries), less others (if schedules don't work or if we have pre-emptive family emergencies, which seems more and more often lately).

One way to break down others' answers might be to think of different life situations: First, single vs. married; then pre-marriage; marriage/no children; marriage/children; post-marriage dating; marriage or post-marriage empty nest; then maybe grandchildren/elderhostel! If you are a travel junkie, like most of us here, you fit each situation into a lifestyle that includes travel.

As a single mom of two for years, a vacation of any length was pure luxury. There was one when my kids were small (in 1986!) when I took them to Hawaii - it was great and I even took the 16 year old babysitter with us! Other than that and frequent visits to my ex (their father) who lived in Maui for a few years, the biggest vacation we took was from L.A. to Las Vegas in the dead of summer when the rates were cheaper.

I just returned from the first vacation of my new life - as a single woman. My kids are now on their own and mom had a blast! I spent two weeks in Hawaii - all alone except for the company of the same boyfriend I'd had back in 1986 - we spent the last two weeks re-kindling that love affair. Now that I've been home about a week I'm well into planning the next vacation - to Hawaii again, of course, this time in March. Now that I'm on my own and don't have to pay three or four times for everything from plane tickets to food to souvenirs I will be traveling far more than I ever have before. The fact that a handsome man who loves me lives across an ocean from me definetly has an impact on my future vacation plans!