2012 Summer Vacation Thread

[sauerkraut]

I like tropical Islands & beachs. I'd like to travel to Australia, but can't afford to. With the high Obama gas prices here in the USA it's hard to travel around home too.

[Townsend]

I like tropical Islands & beachs. I'd like to travel to Australia, but can't afford to. With the high Obama gas prices here in the USA it's hard to travel around home too.

You're a mess.

[Hoss]

I like tropical Islands & beachs. I'd like to travel to Australia, but can't afford to. With the high Obama gas prices here in the USA it's hard to travel around home too.

Must be hell to get across into Iowa, huh?

[nathanm]

With the high Obama gas prices here in the USA it's hard to travel around home too.

Have you driven by a gas station in the last week or two?

Speaking of gas, I am not terribly pleased with Reasor's new rewards program. Way to make most everything worse, guys!

[Jammie]

Wow, some of you guys have taken some pretty fabulous vacations!

We went to Florida about a month ago and it was to my favorite area, which is the Tampa Bay area. Unfortunately it was a sad trip because my brother was ill and we ended up losing him.

We hope to spend a few days in the Black Hills like we often do in the summertime. Toward autumn we would like to take a trip in your direction and spend a couple of days in Tulsa and the rest of the time in Grove.

Guido, the gal I go to for massages has a mother and stepfather that live in Costa Rica. They've been struggling to get residency. Even though it's supposed to be relatively easy, all the paperwork has to be in at specific times, they've been told to mail it to one place, ends up it was really supposed to go to the other side of our country, it gets there late and they have to start over again.

I realize you're not asking about residency, but my point is that they love it there and will never return to the U.S. They bought a tiny farm/small acreage for peanuts. They said the cost of living is very cheap if you live among the locals, but it's comparable to here if you are at the tourist resorts. They have many types of fruit trees in their yard and grow their own vegetables and even have a small coffee bean area. They're within a short distance to mountains and to the beach and they say it's Paradise.

My guess is that you couldn't go wrong with vacationing there.

[guido911]

Wow, some of you guys have taken some pretty fabulous vacations!

We went to Florida about a month ago and it was to my favorite area, which is the Tampa Bay area. Unfortunately it was a sad trip because my brother was ill and we ended up losing him.

We hope to spend a few days in the Black Hills like we often do in the summertime. Toward autumn we would like to take a trip in your direction and spend a couple of days in Tulsa and the rest of the time in Grove.

Guido, the gal I go to for massages has a mother and stepfather that live in Costa Rica. They've been struggling to get residency. Even though it's supposed to be relatively easy, all the paperwork has to be in at specific times, they've been told to mail it to one place, ends up it was really supposed to go to the other side of our country, it gets there late and they have to start over again.

I realize you're not asking about residency, but my point is that they love it there and will never return to the U.S. They bought a tiny farm/small acreage for peanuts. They said the cost of living is very cheap if you live among the locals, but it's comparable to here if you are at the tourist resorts. They have many types of fruit trees in their yard and grow their own vegetables and even have a small coffee bean area. They're within a short distance to mountains and to the beach and they say it's Paradise.

My guess is that you couldn't go wrong with vacationing there.

Thanks J. After our little family reunion in Missouri next month, it's either Costa Rica or Panama in early July. Maybe (with proper amount of begging) a 5 day cruise in late August. BVI or its equivalent may have to wait until winter because it looks like I will not be skiing for a while.

[nathanm]

I didn't make it down there while they were still there, but my sister and her now-husband spent a year in Costa Rica and loved it.

Back in the 70s, a guy who I work with would buy old school buses here and ship them (and himself) down to Costa Rica, sell them there and make enough to live for 6 months at a time. He also continually raves about how great Costa Rica is. One of these years I'm going to have to get down there...

[Conan71]

I didn't make it down there while they were still there, but my sister and her now-husband spent a year in Costa Rica and loved it.

Back in the 70s, a guy who I work with would buy old school buses here and ship them (and himself) down to Costa Rica, sell them there and make enough to live for 6 months at a time. He also continually raves about how great Costa Rica is. One of these years I'm going to have to get down there...

Sounds like a place to visit before all the idiot developers manage to wreck the place like a lot of parts of the Caribbean.  I hear Belize is still a cool place, but not near what it was 15 years ago.

Unfortunately, greedy development types seem to think everyone wants their idyllic destination to eventually look like Vail or Miami Beach.

[DolfanBob]

A very good friend of mine built a house on the side of a Mountain in Costa Rica and has a fantastic view from his front deck patio of the Ocean. He said that he has very little insects and no flies because of how high up he built the house. Clouds float through and around his home.
I asked him how long it takes to get to the beach and he said with the twisting and winding roads around a hour. From the pictures I saw, I couldnt believe it would take that long. He drives almost two hours twice a week to go to market. Not the grocery store. It is a street market with everything they need and all fresh.
He is currently renting it out and plans on going back when he is ready to finally retire. He had his Ford Bronco shipped down there also. He can't say enough great things about the place.

[Conan71]

A very good friend of mine built a house on the side of a Mountain in Costa Rica and has a fantastic view from his front deck patio of the Ocean. He said that he has very little insects and no flies because of how high up he built the house. Clouds float through and around his home.
I asked him how long it takes to get to the beach and he said with the twisting and winding roads around a hour. From the pictures I saw, I couldnt believe it would take that long. He drives almost two hours twice a week to go to market. Not the grocery store. It is a street market with everything they need and all fresh.
He is currently renting it out and plans on going back when he is ready to finally retire. He had his Ford Bronco shipped down there also. He can't say enough great things about the place.

Wait... he doesn't call it "My Little Mule" does he?

[DolfanBob]

No his isn't as cool as that mule. 

[nathanm]

Unfortunately, greedy development types seem to think everyone wants their idyllic destination to eventually look like Vail or Miami Beach.

Costa Rica has very strong development restrictions in much of the country. Not all of it, but a lot of it. Plus they have pretty extensive national parks.

[Conan71]

Costa Rica has very strong development restrictions in much of the country. Not all of it, but a lot of it. Plus they have pretty extensive national parks.

The BVI has for many years, now they are starting to buckle to the idea they need to make more off land-based tourism. 

[nathanm]

The BVI has for many years, now they are starting to buckle to the idea they need to make more off land-based tourism. 

Boo. The DR can get away with little in the way of zoning or anything like that because it's (relatively) quite large. Seems like there's only so much development you can get away with and not lose all sense of nature on some of the smaller islands.

[Conan71]

Boo. The DR can get away with little in the way of zoning or anything like that because it's (relatively) quite large. Seems like there's only so much development you can get away with and not lose all sense of nature on some of the smaller islands.

Two things disturbed me on our trip out there this year.  Anegada has been completely platted into "lots".  Each native or belonger gets a lot.  Many may never be able to afford to build something there, which is what I fear most.  Rather than homesteads, eventually some tool of a developer snaps up a bunch of contiguous lots then figures out how to sell a naive government on how great this development will be for the locals.  They are also considering whether or not to expand the air strip at Beef Island on Tortola or extend the strip on Anegada and make it the primary travel hub.  I seriously don't see that ever happening, but if it does it would ruin much more than just the charm of the island.