A Bad Vacation Taught Us 8 Lessons That Made Our Next Trip Amazing
We took what we learned from a stressful trip and used it to plan a joyful, relaxing babymoon across Europe.
Kerry and I are on our way back from our babymoon.
We had a wonderful two weeks exploring Iceland, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
This was not the outcome of our last trip. That vacation to Mexico during the holidays went so badly that we left two days early. We definetely had some great moments on it, but it was overall not a satisying vacation.
That trip taught us a number of important lessons that we carried into the this one.
Travel is expensive, and our time, especially our vacation time, is precious.
Therefore we want to share these 8 lessons that made our most recent trip one of our best ever.
1. Research your ideal destination and time of year
In November of last year, I purchased tickets for us to go to the Mayan Riviera as a surprise Christmas present for Kerry.
I should have done more research. Cancun, Playa del Carmen, and the whole area is always PACKED at this time of year. It’s full of not just American tourists, but also tourists from Mexico and the entire world. This was never more evident than walking down the beach, where thousands of people were recreating.
For some, that is an enjoyable vacation. For me, it’s not.
We still managed to walk to find a quiet spot on the beach about a mile down where we had more privacy.
Traveling during the holidays to warm locations can be competitive, so do your research. Maybe you can find a spot that will have less people. The earlier you can book, the better. Or if you can afford it, stay at a resort where you know the number of people will be capped.
If you’re able to avoid traveling during busy times of year, and instead push it back a week or two, then do.
Our friends traveled to the same location in Mexico 10 days after us and had the whole beach to themselves. They said it was a wonderful trip.
—
This year, Kerry and I decided we wanted to take a baby moon. Neither of us had been to the United Kingdom before, and Kerry had never been to Ireland, her paternal side’s ancestral.
Destination chosen.
Now how about time of year?
Kerry’s a kindergarten teacher so her summer break is set.
We decided to go just a couple days after school got out. We knew that most of Europe goes on holiday big time in the summer, especially July and August, and so the earlier we could go, the more we thought we would miss crowds.
That is exactly what happened. During our trip from about June 6 to June 20th, we never had giant crowds at any of our locations. Pre-booking for the most popular sites was critical. We got one of the last spots at Edinburgh Castle for example because we almost waited too long.
But overall the timing worked out great.
We didn’t know how lucky we got until our flight out.
A woman at the departure airport told us how we had timed the vacation well. Just one week later would be the first weekend the entire country of Ireland’s school population would be on holiday, and the airport would be swamped.
This was part luck and part planning. We find if we put some thought into things, the LORD usually provides what we’re looking for!
On a more serendipitious note, the weather was also wonderful, even in Ireland. We had multiple days of sunshine, very few clouds, and only one morning of rain.
2. Stay somewhere quiet
Around New Year’s when we were in Mexico, we decided to stay in two towns. The first was Puerto Morelos. The second was Playa del Carmen.
Puerto Morelos had a reputation as a quieter beach town. Unfortunately, our Airbnb was near a club that played music until 5 am. It wasn’t particularly loud, but it was still audible. And the air conditioner on the home was loud too. It was really hard to sleep.
Our experience in Playa was even worse. We decided to stay at what looked like a great Airbnb in town. It was beautifully designed, and had great reviews. When we did a survey of the area we saw a handful of restaurants nearby. Little did we know one of those restaurants also played music until 5 am. This time it was so loud that it rattled the walls of our home.
We thought it was just going to be for New Year’s Eve when we moved in. But it was EVERY SINGLE NIGHT. Eventually my sleep deprivation was so bad that we cut our losses and got a place in a quiet neighborhood. That was the most restorative sleep of my life.
—
For our trip this time around Kerry and I looked to make sure our Airbnbs were quiet. That didn’t mean far away from things. But it did mean there were no reviews mentioning lots of noise. It also meant staying away from knock party / bar and nightlife districts.
All of our hotels and Airbnbs were extremely quiet even though they were in solid locations.
You could hear a cotton ball drop at our hotel (the Grandi) in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.
In London we stayed in Earl’s Court, a lovely neighborhood on the west side of the city. It was just a 10-minute walk and 10-minute tube ride to the center of the city. We liked the more suburban feel of it.
In Edinburgh we stayed in Stockbridge, a 15-minute walk from the center of the city.
And finally in Ireland we stayed in a quieter yet central neighborhood, then at a small beach town (Lahinch), and finally to cap off our trip at a resort outside Dublin called the K Club.. Thankfully, noise was never a problem.
Although we did run into some other issues as a heat wave was coming through the UK, which made sleep difficult a couple of nights.
3. Enjoy enough time at each location
At all of our locations we stayed between three and four days, never less. That gave us enough time to get some great tours and sightseeing at each location. We never felt rushed. If you prefer an even more relaxed pace or diving deeper into one city, then staying for five days, a week or even longer works great too.
You could easily do this in London, and be entertained, amused and enthralled the whole time. One thing we did on our last day in London was attend Evensong at St. Paul’s Cathedral. We were fortunate to get a spot near the quire as well.
We found the three-to-four-day pace to be perfect for us, especially because Kerry is pregnant.
Rushing with just a couple days at each location, but trying to get more locations would have just left us burned out, and only getting an extremely surface level view of each place.
4. Create your desired blend of culture and sport / recreation
I have learned that I cannot simply see sight after sight, museum after museum or castle after castle.
I love sports and recreation, and so injecting some of that into vacation works well for me.
I think that a great vacation blends the person, couple or family’s preferred mix of culture and recreation.
On this trip that meant incorporating outdoor hikes, golf, tennis, and even a gym workout into our vacation.
At the same time, I don’t like a vacation that is only about recreation and exercise.
Therefore, we also enjoyed a fair share of museums, castles and guided tours.
For example, in Dublin we saw the wonderful Book of Kells, a beautifully illustrated early Gospels from around the 6th century. And the next day we did a road trip and hiked along the Cliffs of Moher. Two days later I got to play golf at a beautiful course. And got paired up with an Irish father and son duo. They were awesome, and I felt a got a great and authentic taste of Irish culture from these lads.
5. Plan your time with a great guidebook
Kerry and I are both procrastinators.
When we went to Mexico, my plan for us was to relax on the beach, and see Chichen Itza. That plan (or lack thereof) quickly blew up when the beach was wildly crowded.
We had to force ourselves multiple times over the course of a couple of months to sit down with each other, and knock out details of the vacation like where we are going, where we’re going to stay, what we’re going to do, when we’re going to go.
One of the best things I’ve found to help with this is buying a guidebook, especially from an author like Rick Steves. I think his books are outstanding. I have found them better than most guidebooks, although there are some good Lonely Planet type books out there too. I find Rick Steves knows places deeply and has great recommendations. His writing favors cities a bit more than recreation, but overall is great advice.
Steves will also advise you about which destinations need to be booked in advance because of crowds. This is immensely important. Sometimes without a reservation you will be locked out of big sites that are worth seeing. So book those reservations!
6. But also leave some time unstructured and for resting
Sometimes the best thing you can do is not plan certain things. I find this especially true for meals.
A lot of our meals, most of which were fantastic, came from doing a Google Map search of what was around us, and then looking at reviews.
For example, we had a wonderful lunch a couple minutes walk from our Airbnb. From Rick’s guidebook, we knew the city had great restaurants that offered amazing lunches at a fraction of the cost of dinner. So we went to Purslane and got an awesome lunch on a whim. No reservations or anything.
You also need downtime. We had a lovely rainy morning where we just read, journaled, and went to a delicious pastry shop, Project Canalé.
Our final full day of the trip was very unstructured, especially for Kerry. I played golf. She got a massage, went to the gym, and spent time outside.
Going with the flow can be great to a degree.
7. Book small group tours, if you can
When we went to Chichen Itza we went on a massive bus with a tour group. It took us about 90 minutes just to pick up the members of our tour. The tour didn’t feel as personal or interesting. It felt touristy.
Chichen Itza was still very cool! But we realized we wanted smaller tour groups in the future.
Therefore this time around we booked a maximum 12 person tour to see the Golden Circle in Iceland. Everyone was at the bus stop a little before 8 am. Our bus arrived a few minutes before then. By 8 am we were on the road. About 9 people were on the tour in total. This made a world of difference, and allowed our guide to show us many things, like the country’s main prison, which houses 56 inmates, and is more like a boarding house than a jail. It also included an impromptu stop at a horse farm.
We also had some great conversations with other guests on the tour.
Tours should feel like tours not touristy.
Paying a bit more (usually 50% to 80%) for a small group tour makes a world of difference!
8. See friends, and make friends
If you have friends in low places or friends in high places, making a point to see them can add joy to your trip. We were able to see my childhood friend Selby and her husband Nico (and their dog Chef) in London, and it was lovely. Thanks for the pint, guys!
Make friends too
Almost everywhere we went we met nice people. We struck up conversation with some of them, and others struck it up with us. Most people are happy to talk, and are in a good mood because they’re on vacation.
Americans especially liked starting conversations with us.
It’s a great way to meet people, and add some personality and flavor to your trip.
When we were in Mexico we didn’t engage with too many people around us. This time we were much more outgoing, and it made the trip much more enjoyable.
In Conclusion
Travel and vacation are beautiful things.
They help us relax, expand our horizons, teach us history, get us off our couches, and ultimately transform us.
Hopefully this article gave you a tip or two on venturing out, whether near or far, and making some lifelong memories with the ones you love the most.
I’m also curious what travel tips you have. Feel free to drop them below in the comments!
Thank you for reading!
Feel free to connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
If you would like to receive more articles like this one, then subscribe here on Substack.