Weekend Getaways and Mini- Vacations!
by: Joe Collinsworth
You need to get away, but don’t have the time or money to take a week or two off to head to your favorite destinations. Many people count out taking a weekend and heading to a semi-local vacation spot that allows them to get away, relax, enjoy time alone or together, and find romance, rest, fun, or whatever it is you are looking for in a vacation.
The beauty of weekend getaways is that you can travel on a budget and not miss work, kids activities, and so forth. For a few years while in school, my wife and I never had enough time or money to take a full fledged trip, so we would take little weekend trips a few times a year experiencing more types of travel than if we had taken one big trip.
So, we have put together a simple list of weekend getaways that you can print out and enjoy immediately. Many of the ideas we mention are generalized to any area of the world, however we will mention various locations that are close to where we live as examples. Use your imagination to brainstorm destinations that are within driving range and quite affordable.
1. Romantic Getaways: These are usually at the top of the list. With anniversaries, holidays, romantic events, and so on always around the corner, we need to be on our toes to come up with fresh ideas to sweep our significant others off their feet and keep the romance going. Rent out a bed and breakfast in a small town, grab a hotel in a romantic city like Paris, head to Las Vegas and enjoy all it has to offer. Romantic spots are as creative as you make them.
2. Sporting Events: Big sporting events like March Madness coming up is always fun. An example is two of my best friends for Valentines Day are traveling a couple hours to our state capital to watch the state high school basketball championships. Spring training is coming up for baseball and is always in a warm location. You have racing, football, golf, the Olympics, baseball, the major horse racing events like the Kentucky Derby. The list goes on and on.
3. Camping: This is a cheap vacation that can be fun, romantic, and adventurous. Combine camping with white water rafting or go hiking or without being too adventurous, rent a cabin in the woods and get away from society all together.
4. Theme Parks: One year we traveled to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio and enjoyed a day at the theme park and the night at Put-n-Bay on Lake Erie. Also, we live near Kings Island in Cincinnati, Ohio and many people travel from all over to spend a couple of days enjoying the attractions there. There are theme parks everywhere and are a great way to have some fun while enjoying an array of activities. If you aren’t close to Disney World or Disneyland, then think of a closer location.
5. Famous vacations spots: Las Vegas comes to mind. We enjoy traveling to Gatlingurg, Tennessee and spending a couple days in a cabin, shopping, eating, and hanging out. New York, San Diego, anywhere in a 6 hour driving time to your home can be perfect. Just write down a few places within that circle and pick one.
6. Beaches: Unfortunately, we don’t live within a few hours of a beach, but many people do. A great weekend getaway to enjoy the walks on the beach, dinner overlooking the ocean, beachfront hotel or villa, and all a beach vacation has to offer.
7. Festivals, Events, Concerts: Is there a musician playing in a town not too far away? What about a major event or festival? Pack the bags and head out for the weekend. Grab a hotel and head to this event. You’ll have a great time. We have done this many times and always have a good time.
This is just a short list of ideas. Pack your bags and just get away. You’ll come back feeling refreshed and ready to plan your next weekend getaway.
Have fun and tell us how your trip was!!
About The Author
Joe Collinsworth is an avid traveler & runs Discount-Florida-Vacations.com. Feel like you’re in Florida and make planning easier with our total Florida vacation guide. Discover the beauty, feel the sun, have fun, and make your trip to Florida easy and enjoyable with us!
We aren’t just another travel booking site- we are a site for lovers of travel and Florida!!
You can visit us and explore Florida at… www.discount-florida-vacations.com
Editor’s Corner – Yahoo! News UK
This week
there have been two high-profile prison sentences made by British courts which
have highlighted big flaws in our judicial system.
The first
decision came on Tuesday 14th April when Jack Tweed (right) was sentenced
to a 12-week jail sentence for an assault on a taxi driver. The chairwoman for
Harlow Magistrates’ Court said that Tweed’s
sentence was reduced from 18 weeks because of a “recent change in his personal
circumstances” – Jade Goody’s death. Of this 12-week sentence Jack will only
have to spend six weeks in prison.
The conviction was the second time in six months that Tweed
had been found guilty of assault. In September, he was given an 18-month jail
sentence after being found guilty of hitting a 16-year-old boy with a golf
club. He was released from prison in January, having to wear a monitoring tag
and observe a curfew. It was during this time that the attack on the taxi
driver took place.
Speaking after the hearing Tweed’s solicitor,
George Kampanella, said: “The family are devastated and feel that Jack has been
treated more severely because of who he is. We are considering the prospects of
an appeal.”
Compare
this to a more recent decision where Aaron Billington (left) was on Thursday 16th
April sentenced to a 20-week jail term for vandalising Jamiroquai frontman Jay
Kay’s Ferrari.
Billington inflicted nearly £10,000 of damage to the vehicle
after seeing a girl he had an “emotional attachment to” go to the star’s hotel
room. He was also allegedly mocked by Jay Kay because of his stutter. Billington,
who admitted criminal damage as well as failing to answer bail and leaving bed
and breakfast accommodation and an Indian restaurant without paying, was jailed
for a total of 20 weeks.
First of
all there should be questions raised about whether a court should take into
account the death of a loved one when handing down a sentence. Should the law
be immune from sympathy?
Secondly,
even without the six-week reduction in Jack Tweed’s sentence because of Jade’s
death, he would have served a smaller sentence for assaulting a man than Aaron
Billington will for damaging a car.
It’s no
secret that our laws are centred on possessions more than people but these
examples just highlight how wrong they can be. Why is the legal system still
deeming crime against people a lower priority than crimes against material
objects?
Related content:
Jack Tweed jailed for taxi driver assault
Attack on Jamiroquai’s Ferrari: Chef jailed
Because modern day society values material wealth above all else. A rich man with a Ferrari is admired far more than a 'mere' taxi driver thus the damage to some stupid piece of metal called a Ferrari is a more serious crime than the damage caused to an ordinary human being. Someone once told me that “People can mend themselves but things can't” therefore he considered things more important. Strikes me nothing has improved since that comment.
The law has ALWAYS been about keeping the have-nots in their place, and protecting the rich.
Jack Tweed is an ignorant lout. He has been found gulity twice of assaulting people – I think he has been given a lenient sentence because of who he was married to. Jack Tweed should be locked away for a long time for the safety of the public instaed he is basking in this false sentimentality over Jade Goody.As forAaron Billington – he again is a lout who takes violence as an answer to his problems. However, whether he should have been jailed is a moot point – depends on his previous form…which he clearly has. Both of these two have criminal tendencies so I don't have a lot of symapathy for either. However, of the 2, I think Jack Tweed is the most reprehensible. He is a vicious lout who needs locking up fgor a long time – if only to keep him away from Jade Goody's money!
This is a more serious situation than we can presently envisage.There seem
to be something in man that is fiercely protecting his own interests and de
stroying God's.We see this in the destruction of nature and environment and
anything that bears the mark of life.It is this mystery in human reasoning that makes a man
a man value his possession more than his own very life.That makes judges pity a ferrari
ri more than a man.This is food for thought for everyone.
Well, either way we are agonising too much about this sort of dross. The answer to much of our crime is as simple as it is elegant. Any individual should have a personal multiplier added to his sentence. So, if you get found guilty of assault a second time, the sentence should double. Do it a third time, and the last one is doubled again et al. This would put the fear of God into these scumbags. Why have we got 'Career Criminals' wandering free..? We just don't lock them up properly. There are scumbags with insanely long records, still free to carry on. Why???? If they won't learn fine. Throw the damned keys away.
Lets try this, (…with a wink to 'V for Vendetta' )
THE VIRAL ELECTION. Thursday, November the 5th 2009. 'We the people demand a General Election upon this day'.
Lets spread the word. Post this everywhere. Demand it on the Number 10 Downing Street website. Write it, speak it, paste it and post it. Lets let this corrupt diseased bunch af money-grubbing crooks know that we are not prepared to wait any longer. It's not going to be 2010. We can't, and we REFUSE to wait that long. This can be our bloodless revolution. If this is spread, it can be completely UNSTOPPABLE. Don't just read this. Spread it. Anywhere. Everywhere. Show your contempt for this wretched, crooked government. In the words of a certain airline passenger;- 'Lets roll…!'
.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/GoToCountryNow/
Lets try this, (…with a wink to 'V for Vendetta' )
THE VIRAL ELECTION. Thursday, November the 5th 2009. 'We the people demand a General Election upon this day'.
Lets spread the word. Post this everywhere. Demand it on the Number 10 Downing Street website. Write it, speak it, paste it and post it. Lets let this corrupt diseased bunch af money-grubbing crooks know that we are not prepared to wait any longer. It's not going to be 2010. We can't, and we REFUSE to wait that long. This can be our bloodless revolution. If this is spread, it can be completely UNSTOPPABLE. Don't just read this. Spread it. Anywhere. Everywhere. Show your contempt for this wretched, crooked government. In the words of a certain airline passenger;- 'Lets roll…!'
.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/GoToCountryNow/
Too the average person people come before material objects, the judiciary 'ant average they don't have to worry where the next meal comes from! Thats why their out of touch with the people and a car is more important than a taxi driver, if there was more working class people sitting on the bench you'd get better justice but Brown wont build the prisons to hold them. Then there's the do gooder's and the human rights lot I say once you break the law you give up your rights do your time and shut up! As for Tweed yer he got special treatment because the dippy cow die he gets off light!! Thats fu(king justice in this country proud to be ENGLISH
jesus lol its only a few weeks less id understand the prob if it was 18mnths and he got 12 weeks but its 18 weeks for god sake he would have only doen an extra 3 weeks on good behaviour any way
Todays possessions are the rubbish of the future. Possessions are just “things” of little value in real terms, I wont feel any pain or die because my car was dingged!
The thuggery that our youth indulge in against anyone unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place deserves the harshest punishments, the punishments meted out by our courts today are worn like badges of honour because they are so ineffective. Violent acts deserve a violent punishment, bring back the birch & tell the human rights lobby to s@od off.
The British Judiciary is a joke end of get better treatment in a kanaroo court!!!!!!!
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