Still Traveling

By Melinda

June 23, 2005 11:05 AM | Link to this

The best last minute trip I ever took was to rescue a friend and his buddy who were on their way to visit Atlanta from Galveston, TX. Their van had literally blown up outside Baton Rouge so I did what any girl would - call in a personal emergency to work, bribe a girlfriend to come along, and hit the road! Eight hours later, we pulled into Baton Rouge, partied there and again in New Orleans before deciding to head to Galveston ourselves. Once there we ate great seafood, met awesome people, and had a huge BBQ, during a tropical storm of course (we hadn’t seen the news in days!). In the end, my friend decided to come back to Atlanta with us and we dated for 2 years afterwards. It was, by far, the best trip EVER!

By Amanda Miller

June 23, 2005 11:39 AM | Link to this

Hi Melinda

Any excuse for a road trip! Sounds like this one turned out to be fun, and you helped a friend besides. But when you came back a few days later, did you still have a job?

Amanda

By Joe

June 23, 2005 12:52 PM | Link to this

My most memorable spur-of-the-moment trip happened mid-summer, 1975, when I was a college student in Atlanta. My fiance was spending the summer at home in Naples, Florida, so I had not seen her for a few weeks. Some of her friends called me one evening and asked if I could meet them at a motel near DisneyWorld the following afternoon. A group of them were driving up to Orlando and thought it would be fun if I could surprise her there. This was before cell phones, so we had to plan my arrival down to the minute. Early the next morning, I headed out for Orlando. When I arrived at the motel, I parked around the back and met her friends at a designated place. Then I snuck out to the pool while my fiance was in the pool swimming. I settled down into her chair and waited. When she came out of the pool, she actually recognized the t-shirt I was wearing before she knew for sure it was me. She screamed, ran and jumped into my lap (soaking wet, of course) and everybody around the pool applauded. We all enjoyed several days at DisneyWorld and it by far has the most enjoyable spontaneous decision I ever made.

By Amy

June 23, 2005 2:27 PM | Link to this

The best last minute trip I took was 3 years ago to Myrtle Beach. I had just come back from a weekend cruise with my best friend, where I had a horrible time, and my boyfriend & I took off the next day to Myrtle Beach. We had no reservations & ended up getting a good deal at a resort hotel, The Yachtsman, and had a great 5 days. It more than made up for the horrible 3 days on the cruise.

By Wendy Mack

June 23, 2005 3:17 PM | Link to this

My best last minute trip happened in Greenville, SC. My boyfriend (now Husband) and I decided we wanted to run away from all of our problems and responsibilities. We hopped in the car and drove straight out of GA. We didn’t have anything but the clothes on our back(and a credit card), but we had the time of our lives. We walked around the state parks, camped out, stopped at new restaurants, and we loved every minute of it. After 2 days we decided to finally come back home, but we had a great time and didn’t have to spend too much money.

By Amanda Miller

June 23, 2005 4:52 PM | Link to this

Joe, Amy and Wendy

All three of your adventures sound so romantic. I love the surprise trip to Orlando and just getting out of the state on the spur of the moment (you must have felt so light and free). And taking a break with your boyfriend to recover from a not-so-great cruise with someone who may no longer be your best friend is not such a bad idea, either.

We often truck down to Sarasota now for a “get out of town before we start screaming” trip. My husband’s sister’s house is vacant this year while she’s traveling, so we don’t even have to call ahead and say we’re coming. AND, she has a backyard pool, and the price is certainly right!

Amanda

By Christine

June 24, 2005 11:17 AM | Link to this

My favorite spontaneous trip was not wild nor romantic, but it comes up in family conversations often. About 12 years ago, when I was attending Florida State, my Mom (who is really more of a best friend) came up to visit me from Boca Raton (as she often did, as she despised living there!) She had barely set her bags down when she just said “Let’s get out of here.” I think the frat boys that lived next door to me lugging a keg into the house late Friday aftenoon may have played a significant part in this suggestion.

We made a few phone calls to find a hotel, packed up the car and headed to Clearwater Beach (a favorite summer vacation spot from my childhood - it has more significance now, as I got married there in March!) We had lunch at the St. Petersburg Pier (where we found out that it’s not a visit to the Pier unless your car is used as a toilet by every seagull on the west coast!) and finally got to see the Salvador Dali museum, which I loved! It was just a great opportunity to spend time together, away from everybody, and I am so glad we had that time together. Since I now live in Tampa, we’ll have to find a new place to run off to (Tallahassee, perhaps?)

By Amy

June 24, 2005 12:21 PM | Link to this

Christine, that sounds like a great trip with your mom. And a very special memory. Believe it or not, the friend I went on the horrible cruise with is still my best friend, we just don’t vacation together anymore!

By Amanda Miller

June 24, 2005 12:26 PM | Link to this

Hi Christine

I love Clearwater Beach, too, and spent a relaxing weekend there several years ago after attending a conference. That was in the days of Saturday night stays being ultra important in getting the best airfare, and the company actually encouraged me to stay Saturday night because paying for the hotel was much cheaper than flying me back on Friday. I didn’t complain.

I bet you got a lot more sleep at the Clearwater hotel than you would have in your own room, with party central next door. And you have a fun memory of time spent with your Mom at a special place. Now that’s a perfect getaway!

Amanda

By Tina

June 24, 2005 2:20 PM | Link to this

My most memorable last minute trip was to Hilton Head Beach with my 2 teenage sons a few mths ago. We got up early one Saturday morning (mid Febuary), packed a overnight bag and headed towards Savannah area around 6:30am. We checked into the Red Roof Inn ($40/nt) on the main street into Hilton Head. It was nice,very clean and super convenient to everything. We put our bags down, walked over to Stacks Pancake restaurant in the parking lot with Red Roof and had a leisurely breakfast, went shopping at nearby mall/outlet stores, to a Gullah Festival in the park, to the beach, go the putt-putt/arcade venue down the street and than out to a really nice seafood dinner that evening. The boys had just as much fun as I did and it could not have been better if we had planned it all out.

By Amanda Miller

June 27, 2005 2:11 PM | Link to this

Tina

I love that trip for its “let’s just go” attitude. Plus, in the off season you still get better weather than Atlanta’s, the prices are lower and you’re sure to find vacancies in lots of places without reservations.

And I love that it wasn’t a luxury trip, but more about spending time with your teenagers. I find the hotel room usually isn’t all that important as long as it’s clean and quiet — if you’re spending a lot of time in your room, then you aren’t seeing and doing what you came for!

Amanda

By KC

June 27, 2005 4:15 PM | Link to this

Belgium and the Netherlands…shortly after 9/11. I was in college and could be a little more spontaneous then. We heard about an extremely low fare on Clark Howard’s radio show. We didn’t book hotels in advance. We just went to the tourist information centers as we traveled and booked day by day. We took one bag each for the week. It was very bohemian and cool and I only spent about $550 total (plane, hotels, food, etc).

By Mark

June 27, 2005 4:23 PM | Link to this

My favorite spur of the moment trip was decided on a Monday afternoon this past May. I was driving from Snellville to babysit my 2 1/2 year old granddaughter in Newnan. I phoned her parents and told them to pack her a bag and we would just head on to Panama City beach and spend the night. I was not prepaired for a overnight trip anywhere. We made a quick stop at Wal-Mart for swimsuits, lotion, and other overnight items. We spent one night in a hotel and all of the following day on the beach. After dinner that evening we headed back home. She had the best time of her life on the beach with her Grandpa.

By Dave Gillam

June 28, 2005 10:29 AM | Link to this

My business partner and I sold our company in 1995. At that time my partner was to be married but at the last minute she dumped him. He had already made arrangements for an exotic vacation overseas. He called me on a sunday night after she dumped him and asked if I would like to go with him on his paid honeymoon. Ha! I said heck yeah! We went to Twiwan, Bangkok, and Bali indonesia for 5 weeks. However, every hotel we checked into had a heart shaped bed. I was immediately at the front desk demanding seperate beds of course. Since we were both straight there was no way I was sleeping in a heart shaped bed with him. What a great vaction though once we ironed a few kinks out of his former arrangements. It was a vacation of a life time that I will never forget. We did get sick of each other after 3 weeks so when we got to Bali, he went to one side of the island and I went bungy jumping on the other side of the island. We met back at the airport at the end of the vacation and flew happily back to the US together. Wow! now is that a great story or what?

By ada

June 28, 2005 10:32 AM | Link to this

When I read that Christo and Jeanne Claude’s “The Gates” were up in Central Park, I got there as fast as I could. I called a friend to see if I could stay with her and looked at airfare. As a student, I flew on Airtran’s x-fares. But that only got me to Philadelphia - all the flights to NY were overbooked so they wouldn’t let me fly standby. I took the train from PA to NY and the best time. I was only there from Saturday night to Monday morning, but being able to say I stood in the Gates was totally worth it.

By BFlores

June 28, 2005 10:41 AM | Link to this

I went to Paris for a long weekend after a friend who was heading back to Australia asked me and some other friends to meet up with him there. 10 of us made it and I don’t think we slept more than 8 hours the whole weekend. It was fantastic!

By Amanda Miller

June 28, 2005 3:30 PM | Link to this

Hi all

Reading all your last-minute adventures makes me long for more flexibility in my life, the days when taking a trip didn’t involve calling the vet to arrange doggie hoosegow for (oh, no!) three dogs or figuring a way to take them along. I’d love to throw a bag together and hop a plane to Paris or tell my boss, “See you in three weeks — just got an offer for a fantastic trip the bride couldn’t make.” Or even run into the Wal-Mart for a swimsuit and lotion when the beach suddenly called.

Last-minute trips are such as delight, not so much running away from responsibilities but running toward adventure. I really, really want to go now!

Amanda

By Matthew S.

June 30, 2005 9:31 AM | Link to this

On a cold January Monday, a good friend called with an offer, through his travel agent friend, for us to get a half-price day trip to Jamaica. Catch was that the flight left that Wednesday.

Fortunately, my boss was understanding (albeit incredulous) and gave me the okay, so aroun 4:30am we headed to the airport, threw our winter coats in the trunk, and raced to the concourse braving the sub-freezing temperatures in shorts and t-shirts.

Within a few hours, we were basking poolside at a Montego Bay resort, enjoying the Jamaican Delights prepared by Clive the bartender and the warm temperatures in the upper 70s.

Following a day of swimming, playing games with other guests, amazing jerk chicken at a beachside shack, a waterspout, and yes, more Jamaican Delights, we boarded the plane for home around 7:30 and were back home in time for Letterman.

The quizzical looks from co-workers at my sudden tan and their “you did what?” responses to the story were priceless.

By Amanda Miller

June 30, 2005 11:08 AM | Link to this

Hi Matthew

Don’t you just love it that Atlanta is so close to tropical islands it’s practically a commute? I can just see the looks you got racing to the airport in shorts and T-shirts. And there’s nothing like getting out of Atlanta in the wintertime to some place warm and sunny.

Amanda