Anonymous wrote:Go wherever you can find relatively cheap flights to Europe and then use trains and public transportation to get around. Focus on places where groceries and street food are inexpensive.

I found what I thought were cheap tickets to Ireland in July recently. But
Couldn’t convince my spouse to do it for our family vacation. (We will be driving somewhere)

Go wherever you can find relatively cheap flights to Europe and then use trains and public transportation to get around. Focus on places where groceries and street food are inexpensive.

The thing is, it’s rare to have 2+ weeks of vacation time, at least for me and my whole family. The kids are also in the sweet spot where they don’t have to be back in August for school sports like in high school and stuff like that, they want to be with you kind of, more so than teenagers, and they will remember it and they’re old enough not to be little babies.

I would go out of the country, and save Acadia and other driving stuff where you only have a week. You can do that any year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you outdoorsy? I'd vote for the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Olympia, and then out to the islands in Puget Sound. If you prefer cities, you could tack on Vancouver too.

Not going to happen for $5K to $10K, unless OP happens to live within driving distance.

You can do a pacific nw trip for under 10k, for sure.

I keep detailed records of vacation spending and my family of 4 spent just over $10k for 9 nights in PNW in 2022. Combo of no frills hotel and VRBOs where we occasionally did our own cooking. Airfare plus lodging alone was almost $8,000.

I think everyone realizes airfare eats up the budget.

Focus on a road-trip and your budget goes further.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you outdoorsy? I'd vote for the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Olympia, and then out to the islands in Puget Sound. If you prefer cities, you could tack on Vancouver too.

Not going to happen for $5K to $10K, unless OP happens to live within driving distance.

You can do a pacific nw trip for under 10k, for sure.

I keep detailed records of vacation spending and my family of 4 spent just over $10k for 9 nights in PNW in 2022. Combo of no frills hotel and VRBOs where we occasionally did our own cooking. Airfare plus lodging alone was almost $8,000.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are you outdoorsy? I'd vote for the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, Olympia, and then out to the islands in Puget Sound. If you prefer cities, you could tack on Vancouver too.

Not going to happen for $5K to $10K, unless OP happens to live within driving distance.

You can do a pacific nw trip for under 10k, for sure.

I would take a month and drive to California and back, visiting the national parks and camping/cheap hotels at night.