My family is quite laid back and lazy, so 100% time I am in charge of our vacation. Nowadays, we know where and when we want to go for what types of vacation , so I book them way early, when I have time or when I am bored of my routine life—-at that time, all the tickets are still available and may be cheap too.

In the first day, we will be landing, picking up the rental car, finding the hotel, unpacking, having a comfy shower, and then going out for a good meal. Starting the second day, every other day, I typically do an interesting thing/excursion booked in advance. These are the things that are either time-sensitive or very important that you can’t miss. On the rest days, we will have no plans and play by ear depending on that day. Typically it will be either relax with books, writing, late morning breakfast and board games, or find a place spontaneously for exploration. It can be a national park, old city wandering, some local shops and restaurants told by a local taxi driver or a hotel receptionist.

Caribbean islands are my favorite destination for Christmas. They are located in the tropics and beautiful exotic plants (I just love running around with my tank tops, shorts and flip flops during my vacation). They have pleasant blue/green oceans and are the excellent snorkeling sites with many cute sea creatures. Many of them become independent from the colonies of European countries but also have their own interesting local cultures and food (very tasty). Island buildings are colorful and its architectures are influenced, for example, by English, dutch, Spanish or French colonizers. Island people are very friendly; they invent many fun things to do for your vacation, and can speak English well. It’s all super fun to me, no matter it is swimming in oceans and seeing sinked boats/tropic fish, or driving ATV/UTV in deserts and hiking around sugar plant ruins. Those countries are mostly US friendly. You almost don’t need any visa, and at many places you directly use dollars. There are US custom right on the islands, so you’ll need to prepare 3 hours for boarding your plane back to US (we almost missed our plane when back from Aruba).

I have been to the Virgin islands and St Thomas. They are elegant, nice and relax, but they are not as interesting compared to other exotic Caribbean countries. Similarly, I often don’t live in 5-star hotels where the food and resorts are super luxury. Instead, I like to live in villages hosted by the locals. Somehow I feel those dirty streets, rundownish buildings and local restaurants can bring in my Childhood memories, and I deeply understand where they are coming from.