In my mind there are three types of travel:

1. The relax trip:  this involves reading, eating, some exercise of the conventional nature (to balance out eating) and for us, usually a beach. Recently, that was a family week in Guam. Nothing to do but enjoy the beach and the sunset …. Barely brought out the camera. No point, but read a few books (4), swam and snorkelled, relaxed with the family. It was perfect.

2. The experience trip:  This is about learning a new culture, adventure and activity. A trip in Europe fits into this category, or our recent trip to Kyoto where it was all about exploring a culture. On this vacation you often come home more tired than you left. This is what our upcoming trip to Palau will be.

3. The hybrid trip:  A mix of 1 and 2 – some relaxation, sprinkled experiences. To which I pose a question – do these trips ever work out how you want them?

I have the opinion that if you set an expectation to experience and relax, that something always comes up wanting, one of the items will be mediocre. To illustrate: Bali. We had hoped that Bali would be a great hybrid trip, a mix of culture and relaxation. On the culture front, we were not disappointed, it was an amazing trip filled with history, culture and wonderful sites. On the relaxation front, we stayed at a wonderful hotel but the beach was mediocre. Nusa Dua simply isn’t a place where we would travel for the beach – that was the mediocre part.

It seems to me, you have to choose one or the other, or be prepared to “settle”. Thoughts?