The following article was originally written for CompareItAll.com. The rights have reverted to the author.
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For most of us, true vacations are rare. We plan and save both time (vacation days) and money in anticipation of the great event. These aren't fixed holidays (with their family get-togethers and traditional activities), and aren't get-aways (which tend to be brief and spontaneous). These also aren't the traditional family vacation, where you go to the same general area, if not the same cottage year after year. Not that those vacations aren't memorable and enjoyable, but rather that they, over the years, have become part of your regular routine -- you don't need to shop for them, and they usually don't play a major role in your imaginative life.
With a true vacation, you are unconstrained in choosing when to go, where to go, and, perhaps even, with whom to go. Hence you try on this idea and that, like trying on hats or new identities. Your vacation is a break with the ordinary work-a-day world, and also an expression of who you are, or at least the self you dream yourself to be. The pleasure of a vacation, in large part, comes from the anticipation -- the fact that you know you are going to the Carribean or Paris or Alaska in a few months helps you put up with the daily grind.
So vacation shopping isn't a matter of price. First comes the dream, then you worry about whether you can afford it or how long it will take to save for it, and how to get the best deal on travel and lodging and entertainment.
And the Web has many different fields of dreams for you to explore.
Pick a destination and research it
You could begin by shopping for a piece of the world. Check the standard travel guides like Fodor's www.fodors.com and Rough Guides travel.roughguides.com. Fodor's let's you "build" you own miniguide, focusing on one of 110 destination countries or cities and including just the kinds of information that matter to you.
You also might want to look at some of the innumerable travel magazines, which inevitably have their own Web sites, such as National Geographic www.nationalgeographic.com, National Geographic Traveler www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler, Travel Holiday www.travelholiday.com, Arthur Fromer's BudgetTravel www.frommers.com, and CondeNast Traveler www.cntraveler.com. Also check the travel center at About.com www.about.com/travel
Or you could try travel sites that are organized by destination, such as Vacation.com www.vacation.com , Vacations.com www.vacations.com, and Travel Destinations at Lycos dir.lycos.com/Recreation/Travel/Destinations/
Then you can use search engines and directories to track down more detailed information, from tourist bureaus, chambers of commerce, city and country Web sites, and sites for particular hotels, resorts, and businesses.
If you want to see photos of your destination, be sure to go to AltaVista www.altavista.com and use their Image Search.
Pick a travel style/personality
For some people it isn't the destination that matters so much as the style. Some people would prefer to stay at a four-star hotel, and others at a youth hostel -- and it's not just a matter of cost, it's also a matter of the people you'll meet there and the kinds of things you'd like to do.
If that's your mode of dreaming, you might want to start at LookSmart www.looksmart.com, click on Trip Planning, then on Types of Travelers. There your choices include: Backpacking/Hostels, Disabled Travelers, Family Travel, Gay and Lesbian Travel, Honeymoon and Romance, Senior Travelers, Single and Solo Travel, Traveling with Pets, Vegetarian, and Women Travelers. From there, you'll find sites such as Hostelling International www.iyhf.org, New Choices (for ages 50 to retirement) www.newchoices.com, Seniors Vacation and Home Exchange www.seniorshomeexchange.com, Travel with Kids travelwithkids.about.com, Adventurous Traveler www.AdventurousTraveler.com, and Away.com away.com (also for the adventurous). If you'd like still more choices (including Nudism, Batttlefields, and Pilgrimages), try Open Directory dmoz.org, under Travel, Specialty Travel.
In some cases the destination has a branded personality -- such as Club Med www.clubmed.com. They have many resorts all over the world, but they all cater to the same life style and personality.
Pick an activity
On the other hand, you might want to shop by a sport or activity that you love to engage in, regardless of where in the world you might be. For golf, for instance, you could go to Golf Destinations www.golf-destinations.com, Golf Travel Associates www.golf.travelwithus.com, and Escapade Golf and Travel www.escapade-travelcom. Or you can check the Open Directory with links to over a hundred golf travel sites at dmoz.org/sports/golf/travel. For skiing, at LookSmart www.looksmart.com, try Travel, Activities, Skiing and Resorts.
Go green
If you are a fan of wild life and an ecology activist, you should check the "ecotourism" sites. Go to LookSmart, and under Travel, click on Activities, then Ecotourism. There you'll find Bird Watching, Whale Watching, Safaris, Llama Treks,and Antarctica.
Target a theme park zone
Orlando and Los Angeles seem to have a lock on theme parks -- at least on the ones that are big enough, diverse enough, and exciting enough to motivate people to travel great distances for a vacation-length stay. For an exhaustive list of theme park guides, check the Open Directory at dmoz.org/Recreation/Theme_Parks/Theme_Park_Guides/
Pick a tour or cruise
Some people prefer to minimize the decisions and plans they have to make. For them, the ideal vacation is a pre-packaged tour, with all the arrangements made for them. In that case, you should check travel agencies, tour companies, and cruise companies. You might first want to check sites that amalgamate the offerings of hundreds or thousands of travel agencies, for instance: TravelHUB www.travelhub.com, Uniglobe www.uniglobe.com, or Traveler's Net www.travelersnet.com.
The ultimate vacation
The ultimate summer vacation service still does not exist. Such a service would arrange to have your phone number changed for the vacation period, and changed back when you returned. They would have your car painted a new color, then painted back. They would have your mail stopped and then restarted. They would provide you and your family with easy to apply, but realistic and convincing disguises, including high-tech devices to change the sound of your voices. As a result of these measures, you would be like a family that had house-swapped with you for the vacation period. You would have the incomparably relaxing pleasure of spending your vacation time in your own house, without any of the usual obligations, responsibilities, or interruptions. You'd be free to do whatever you want -- wearing a new identity -- but without any of the cost or hassle of going some place else. You'd have an opportunity to see your own city and state with the fresh eyes of a tourist, or to simply do nothing at all.
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