I just returned from a three week trip across the American West. The first week was great, the second week, OK, but by the third week, we were getting bored.

I am curious about other travelers, do you face the same problem in long trips. For me, it was like the trip to the buffet, the eye was bigger than the smomach!

Looking back at it, we would have broken the trip in three different week long trips.

There are some places that 3 weeks would not be enough time, and other places where not even a week would be enough. Sounds like you were in the wrong place for 3 weeks.
We usually book longer trips when we travel farther to get there, there is a great variety of things to do, places to see, terrain to cross (Nepal, India and the South of France).
Try it again, but give yourself more of a smorgasbord than that once course meal that you had

Ditto, depends on where you are traveling I would think 3 weeks would be great in the west if you are moving around.

Maybe you missed your TV and your computer. I cant imagine getting bored, especially if you had planned out things to look forward to seeing at each stop. Was it the company?

Billy,
I would have to say that I am the opposite of you. I prefer longer trips for many reasons. First, I find that I dont really unwind/relax until after the first week or so. Second, I love to get into a vacation "routine" if you will...sorta get into the groove type thing. When planning a trip, I find that just thinking about a week or two worth doesnt seem to excite me. We want to do a trip to Arizona and area and I am trying to figure out how to do it in under a month! I guess it is really a persons personal preference. For me, the longer the better!

Am leaving Thursday for a month and hope that I actually come back then and dont wind up stretching it more
When we took one week type vacations, really have only done two of those types; resort/island; came home and felt sort of "ripped off". The best two week vacations we used to take were the driving/camping type holidays years ago, when two weeks vacation was all we had, and I used to long for more.

So I guess it is really what one does with their vacations. Figure out what "type" of holidays you really enjoyed the most and maybe combine different styles in one trip if possible. Or, just stick with what you seem to prefer, shorter vacations and go away more often! Happy travels.

My cousin and I did a 3 1/2 week trip of England, Scotland, and Ireland. I wouldn't say the trip got dull but I definitely noticed interest lagging by the time we were in Ireland. We didn't bother to even go see the Book of Kells when in Dublin etc.

I think it is not 'dull', but an overload of new information. I found that in Italy, by the 4th week, I had seen enough churches and gilt frames. Now we take shorter trips and break them down with some relaxing and some sightseeing. Example: 2 weeks in Italy would be 4 days relaxing in Capri or Positano, 3 days in Rome sightseeing, 4 days in Florence sightseeing, and then 3 days at Lake Como relaxing.

We just returned from 8 weeks on Maui and could have stayed longer. Previously we did a month in Asia with our two kids 13 and 15. Again we were not bored. On that trip we did move around a lot: Hong Kong, Singapore, Java, Bali (for 9 fabulous days). Now that I am older I think I would tire of the moving around and get saturated by seeing too many "sights". Maybe that was your problem.

I agree with the other posters that the problem isn't boredom, but overload and being tired (classic burn-out). We schedule more "days off" at the end of a two or three week trip just to relax.