How far to travel with only 2 weeks vacation time/year

[michigansandzil]

I have seen this many times in numerous threads and I find it very interesting how people's opinions differ. So I thought I'd do a quick poll and see what everyone thinks.

We plan to go 1800 miles one way with 650+miles in one day when necessary. So, about 3600 miles round trip.


How far will you travel if you only have 2 weeks of vacation time/year?

[michigansandzil]

Bamaman1 wrote:
Given 2 week's vacation, surely there's somewhere you'd like to stay in Michigan--even if it was on the Upper Peninsula.

????
Why?

With the entire United States to explore, why stay in the same state? It's like a gift to have two weeks off of work. Why in the world would you choose to stay in the same place that you have lived your entire life? I can go just about anywhere in the state for a long weekend.

Why not go to DC, or NYC, or Assateague Island (our trip this summer), or Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon or ...........

[John_S_]

I have driven 900 miles in a day but the second day had to be shorter. I solve the issue by leaving the night before and getting 200 miles done and pulling into a rest stop for the night. Then the next day I am up like a work day at 5 am and on the road. I stop about 9 for breakfast and then drive again. I can cover 800- 900 miles that way. I can do 600 the next day so that is your 1800 miles with two days driving and arriving in time for a late dinner at your destination. It helps that you gain an hour going west every so often. Now coming home I plan for three days so I am driving 5 days of my 2 weeks. I will stop and see something on the way home too so it is not all driving each day.

That said I did that when I was younger. I am not quite at the 2-2-2 club but I usually limit a day to 500 miles unless I have a reason to push.

[glkids2]

With the distance of 1800 miles from Michigan that would put yellowstone in the running for possible destination. We did that journey 2yrs ago. It is a lot miles to dash there but well worth it! Can't wait until we retire and don't have to rush

[tragusa3]

toedtoes, that's it.

Another thing that kept going through our minds was using the large block of time to it's best advantage. Spending time in places that we could reach in a 4 day weekend seemed pointless. I want to be at the furthest sites that fit my time window. 4 day trips will always come up a few times a year. 2 week trips can't be counted on at all. I think our tolerance for driving changes based partly on that factor.

[tatest]

When I was a kid our family did many vacation trips where all we did was travel, just tourist stops and overnights. There was no destination where we stayed more than a day. It is called a road trip.

My wife's family did not do this, they always had a long-stay (at least 2-3 days) destination at one end of the drive. So I did not do road trips with my wife and children, it was something we started doing in the RV, after retirement. My wife's tolerance in the latter years of her life was about two weeks.

But we did the other thing too, with family in Florida. In the '50s it was about three days each way from Detroit to Brockville, so we would have a week there. I-75 cut it down to two days, then one very long day as it got built deeper into Central Florida. So we could have at least 10 days at destination.

Both vacation modes are valid, as are also cruises, flying to foreign cities and tropical beaches.

However, I try to manage my road trips to 200-400 miles a day, with 3-4 hours a day visiting things along the way. Because, if there is not some place I have to get to, then why push it beyond what is relaxed and enjoyable?

[toedtoes]

tragusa3 wrote:
We did 3 days of 600 miles last year to get out and the same coming home. Doing it that way gave us all the advantages of more time in the places we wanted to be, but it also gave a unique sense of distance.

I think it's that "all the advantages of more time in the places we wanted to be" that counts. If you want your trip to be about seeing the sites along the way, then 600 miles per day doesn't make much sense (no time left to sightsee). But if you are just trying to get to a destination, then why waste time in places where you don't want to be and lose time at the place where you do want to be.

[tragusa3]

Glad to hear of your trip this summer. Look forward to hearing more about it!

I can't tell you how many times my wife and I get in our car after visiting other folks and comment that we're so lucky we get to do things "OUR WAY"! Isn't freedom a beautiful thing!!! You run your family, and I'll run mine.

We don't have a lot of travel experience. YET! But we do know that our trips have all turned out great. We've done them with differing philosophies, and they always work out great.

There are so many variables to the question. Age, work, mood, everyone on the same page, comfort of vehicle, and on and on...

Pushing hard on a trip is somehow tied into the level of adventure that we feel. In some sadistic way, we savor the things we work harder for. We did 3 days of 600 miles last year to get out and the same coming home. Doing it that way gave us all the advantages of more time in the places we wanted to be, but it also gave a unique sense of distance.

Many or most of you will think that makes no sense, but there's the beauty thing I was talking about earlier...you can do it the way you want.

We most often chose to hump it to our fullest ability to see what we want. We would not keep our trips local. We'd wear ourselves out and recuperate afterwards. It's just how we roll. 🙂

[toedtoes]

I think there is a difference between driving 2 days for 500+ miles to get to a destination, spend 4-7 days there, then drive 2 days for 500+ miles back

Versus

Driving 500+ every day to see multiple places during a 2-week time frame.

The latter ends up being a 12 countries in 7 days type of trip and usually leaves a lot to be desired.

Also, while the idea of "I can come back and see more" is encouraging, I would hate to miss something I really wanted to see because I was too tired from driving, only to have my circumstances change and not be able to go back.

[MetalGator]

coachjeff wrote:
I would be curious to know the ages of some of the posters that say driving 200-250 mile a day is enough. I have driven to Gulf Shores, and Pensacola which is a little over 700 miles, in a day pulling the travel trailer and came home a week later. because being a younger family working man that is all of the vacation that I get. I feel that if you are comfortable driving 1000 miles a day go for it. I myself do not have any issues driving for 12 hours stopping only for gas, food, potty breaks.

Same here. I get 10 vacation days a year. If I only drove 200 miles a day, I won't have much time to spend at my destination as it would take 2-3 days to get there and 2-3 days to get back. I'd rather drive all day to get to my destination than blow a couple of vacation days just to get to my destination.

[rk911]

coachjeff wrote:
I would be curious to know the ages of some of the posters that say driving 200-250 mile a day is enough. I have driven to Gulf Shores, and Pensacola which is a little over 700 miles, in a day pulling the travel trailer and came home a week later. because being a younger family working man that is all of the vacation that I get. I feel that if you are comfortable driving 1000 miles a day go for it. I myself do not have any issues driving for 12 hours stopping only for gas, food, potty breaks.

we're now 64/63 but started doing the short drives (4 hrs) when we were 58/57 (retired at 55). the wife doesn't drive the MH.

[Dog_Folks]

coachjeff wrote:
I would be curious to know the ages of some of the posters that say driving 200-250 mile a day is enough. I have driven to Gulf Shores, and Pensacola in a day pulling the travel trailer and came home a week later. because being a younger family working man that is all of the vacation that I get. I feel that if you are comfortable driving 1000 miles a day go for it. I myself do not have any issues driving for 12 hours stopping only for gas, food, potty breaks.

Can't speak for others but we are retired (63 & 58 years) and now part of the 2-2-2 club. That is: no more than 200 miles, stop before 2 pm, and stay two days. In other words, we are taking our time and enjoying the journey. We can do that as we have lots more than 14 days to get it done.

When you have a limited time available it forces you to get to your destination faster.

[coachjeff]

I would be curious to know the ages of some of the posters that say driving 200-250 mile a day is enough. I have driven to Gulf Shores, and Pensacola which is a little over 700 miles, in a day pulling the travel trailer and came home a week later. because being a younger family working man that is all of the vacation that I get. I feel that if you are comfortable driving 1000 miles a day go for it. I myself do not have any issues driving for 12 hours stopping only for gas, food, potty breaks.

[john_bet]

Our 1800 mile one way trips were from southern Indiana to Great Falls,MT. 4-5 days out, 5-6 days there with the family(grandkids) and 5 days back home. Very enjoyable trip with no rushing. Last year as are retired it was 49 days and 7K+ miles. Still no rushing.

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

When we're sightseeing, we gobble up the miles, too. Did a "drive-by" of Alaska (LOL!) 9610 miles in 26 days. Many days were 500-700 mile days - we both share the driving duties.

[valhalla360]

paulcardoza wrote:
Personally, If I'm using up 2 weeks of vacation, I don't want to be driving more than 2 days out and two days back, at most. That leaves 10 days of real vacation out of 14 days. Anything less seems like a waste of precious vacation days to me. I'd say 800-1,000 miles each way, would be my guideline.

While we prefer 100-150mile days now (spoiled since we have no schedule), if limited, the above is pretty much our thought.

I can see blasting out a couple long days so you can get somewhere but day after day just driving...

May as well get a job as a long haul trucker, they always say if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life.