In my opinion a sightseeing vacation can almost never be mixed with a relaxing vacation unless there are only a few sights worth seeing where you are going. Maybe if you went to Ocho Rios for a week in a resort, you could hit the Dunn's River Falls and Bob Marley's house and then have the rest of the week for relaxing. But my problem is that once I start the sightseeing thing, I can't stop. For me it is all or nothing. Once I get started there is really no stopping me until I get on the plane to come back home. Even then I kick myself in the butt for the next year if there is a single sight that I missed.
For instance, last year my travel buddy, Jenny and I went to Hawaii. Our time there consisted of the following.... Immediately after checking into our hotel on the afternoon of the first day, we walked down Waikiki Beach for an hour or two before finding a place to eat, which wound up being the Jimmy Buffett's at the Beachcomber, by the way, that's where we were staying. By the time we finished dinner it was late and we were tired after a full day of traveling so we called it a night. The following morning we began exploring and in the next week we visited Hale'iwa, Kawailoa Beach, Waimea, Pu'u O Mahuka Heiau, Sunset Beach, Kawela, every wide spot in the road on Hwy 83 including stopping for multiple views of the Chinaman's Hat at different times of day and night.
We also stopped at every point of interest on Hwy 72 including the Halona Blowhole and Makapu'u Beach. We hiked the Makapu'u Point trail. We went up to the Pali Lookout and made two trips to Pearl Harbor, one in the rental car and another on the bus (never count on the bus in Hawaii). We went to the Paradise Cove Luau. We spent most of a day getting to and from Hanauma Bay and snorkeling there followed by an evening at the Aloha Festival street party. We climbed Diamond Head and then had lunch at Duke's on Sunday just because that's the name of a Jimmy Buffett song. After all of that we made it over to the Big Island for a full day of volcanoes, a black sand beach and beautiful scenery.
Cramming all of that sightseeing into a week you might think that we couldn't possibly have missed anything, but you would be wrong. That was more than a year ago and I am still kicking myself in the butt because we didn't make it to Manoa Falls. If I went at this point after thinking about it for the last year, I would probably be disappointed since I have now built it up so much in my head. But my point is that I that I don't think I have ever been on a vacation and come away thinking "I couldn't have spent another moment there.... I officially did EVERYTHING". I'm just not wired that way. When I leave a location, I want to know it better than the locals know it. You can't do that in a week!
When we went to Seattle several years ago, I was disappointed that we didn't get to go to Olympic National Park and drive down the coast and make it to Mt. St. Helens. Now I am aware that this would have all taken several more days than we had available on that trip. But I still feel that we missed something important. Read that last sentence again... "we missed something important..." Ugh! We walked all over Seattle. We did the Locks Cruise. We went whale watching in the San Juan Islands. We went to Bainbridge Island for a day. We went to Victoria, BC and visited the Buchart Gardens, had tea at The Empress and walked through Chinatown. Back in Seattle we ate lunch at the Pike Place Market after walking all through it and went to the top of the Space Needle. We even spent an hour in Nordstroms and I hate shopping and still I feel that I needed another week there so that we could make it to Olympic National Park.
Don't even get me started on all of the things we missed with only one day in Rome! A person could write an entire encyclopedia of all the things we missed in Rome. I think if I spent a month there, I would still feel the same way. Perhaps that is why I am not in a huge hurry to get back there. I'm just so overwhelmed by all that I would have to do if I went back for a week and all that we would miss if we only had a week, that I can't make myself think about it.
I think this is what makes your 8th or 9th Caribbean cruise so enjoyable. I'll be going on a cruise in January to Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. I have been to all of these places multiple times. I think I have been to Cozumel 10 or 11 times. There isn't that much to see there. In Cozumel, you go to the beach or you snorkel or you do both... end of story. So, when I get off the ship in Cozumel, I exhale deeply and I am in a state of total relaxation for the entire day. On this trip, we will do the Dune Buggy, Beach, Snorkel excursion. I have done this excursion before. I have also done the same excursion in a Jeep. But you stop at all the same places and take the exact same route. I could drive that dune buggy around Cozumel with my eyes closed. Can I tell you how relaxed I am going to be in Cozumel this time around?
In Jamaica, we'll be doing a catamaran snorkel excursion. The most stressful part of that day will probably be when I stand up to do the Macarana on the catamaran as we head back to the ship. Not that doing the Macarana is stressful, but you know, I'll have to move my mouth and feet at the same time and I have that little coordination problem. Plus, I'll have had a few rum punches before I stand up. :-) So, for me, I think you have to choose between a relaxing vacation and a sightseeing vacation. I love both. But for me, I don't think they can be combined.
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