For those who vacation for a really long time

[bankr63]

I'd be questioning more if it is a "vacation" at all. My in-laws 'vacation' on the gulf coast every winter. They rent the same ocean view condo for several months any winter. They used to golf a lot, but now that age is slowing them down, they may look very much like what you describe. But I am sure that a winter in Florida is a heck of a lot easier to take than a winter in Toronto, and is easier on their health. And the view from their lanai is something I could spend weeks on end enjoying.
Thing is I don't know that snowbirds like that consider it a vacation. Florida is the winter home, Toronto is the summer home, and at home you just live your best life. They saw all the sights long ago; it's just living a good life now.

 

[epcotty]

We would certainly go out to eat, do some activ

Oh, your first post said "hotel/house/condo". What sort of place are you actually talking about? Is it a resort complex or a residential complex? Are there shops, restaurants, a pool, fitness center, game room, activities and such on site? Or are people just literally staying in their house and never leaving? Are they not going out to eat, buying groceries, doing any sort of shopping or other activities?

I can't help but wonder how you know these folks are never leaving.

It's a condo but it's in a larger complex that also has houses (I think the houses are also rented as a vacation rental sometimes). So far we haven't noticed anyone being there for over a month. No shops or restaurants. It does have pools and a fitness center (and golf as an option- large extra fee). Nothing else. If you see them leave they're always back within an hour, they're not seeing any sights or attractions in the area. I assume they grocery shop besides basically walking around but that's it

 

[disneysteve]

It's a condo but it's in a larger complex that also has houses (I think the houses are also rented as a vacation rental sometimes). So far we haven't noticed anyone being there for over a month. No shops or restaurants. It does have pools and a fitness center (and optional as a large extra fee-golf). Nothing else. If you see them leave they're always back within an hour, so it's not like they're even enjoying the area at all or seeing any sights. I assume they do grocery shopping besides basically walking around the place but that's it

Sounds like they are there more as a 2nd home and not as a vacation. That's a little different. They may not be there for sightseeing and exploring. They may be there specifically to kick back and relax and do very little. Personally, I like to be active so I'd probably go stir crazy after a couple of days in the house even if I just ran out to pick up dinner or groceries. Even when we rent a house in Florida, sometimes I'll leave and drive around for a bit while my wife and daughter stay in the house/condo.

 

[Bete]

You can immerse yourself in the community. Go to church functions, for example. If you're a senior there may be activity centers to play bingo or watch a movie. See the museums and parks in the area. Go to a different restaurant each night. You can do some bar hopping if that's your thing. There are plenty of places offering trivia contests or karaoke. Go dancing.

Pick a central hub and take one day trips everywhere you can.

And what's wrong with just swimming and using the hot tub at the resort each day. Also, you can catch up and rekindle your relationship with your loved one.

 

[Kate_45]

Yep. They're probably busy catching up and rekindling all day

 

[kathy884]

I know when my nephew was between jobs in the Orlando area and had some extra time on his hands without a lot of extra money, he really got into exploring nature areas nearby Orlando (There are a ton of them). He is now busy working, but on time off is continuously hitting locations nearby and doing a lot of kayaking. If you are into nature and nature adventures, there is not shortage per my nephew of things to do in the area.

Having that much time to be in a different area would be a paradigm shift for me, so OP the question makes sense to me. I rarely go anywhere for more than a week / 10 days (job, limited vacation time, limited budget, family/extended family stuff). And given that, I typically have plans made in advance for every day.

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico I think could be an easy place for me to have an extended stay that would be run. There is an International Friendship Club of expats that do lots of fun social activities and volunteer work (really neat people), and I would get involved with that organization if I were down for an extended stay. For me the key I think would be the opportunity to touch base and have a meaningful time interacting with locals. As a tourist just down for a week, I always do the house tour they sponsor (people open up their homes to tour) and monies go to charities (a lot to Doctor's without Borders who do cleft palette surgery for local kids).

The closest thing I ever had to an extended vacation was a 10 week exchange student stay in Paris when I was just 16. My French family and brothers (family I was living with) had jobs during the day. I didn't. I touched base with some other exchanges students and usually one on one did a lot of exploring of Paris during the day with the different students and really got to know them. It's quite amazing really (as I'm really not that into city exploring), but I didn't get bored at all (seems Paris was a city where adventure meets you every time you are out). As an English speaking people from the US too who seemed to know how to get around in the city (me and whatever other exchange student I was hanging with), lots of other young people (backpackers) would come over and talk us at cafes. People from the US, UK, Germany, etc. We'd all sit down together and chat (sometimes for hours), and it was really fun to hear about their adventures and encounters with people they had met in France and all over Europe. We could talk about our family living experiences and cultural differences that were so interesting (at least to us) between France and the US. Seems like this just happened over and over, and we just met so many interesting people. Sometimes too if I met folks who I thought my French parents and brothers would love to meet, I'd invite them over to my French parent's house to have dinner with us too. I kind of worked out an arrangement on this with my French mom. They were a very open family who enjoyed conversations with people from other cultures. The whole experience was really a blast. I was so into the other culture thing that when I got back home, I befriended exchange students at my own high school and others from my home town who had been exchanges students and did a lot of hanging out with them. (Not so sure though how to make something like that happen or if it would happen again as an adult with a similar long stay).

 

[BostonEd]

Go to church functions, for example. If you're a senior there may be activity centers to play bingo or watch a movie. See the museums and parks in the area. Go to a different restaurant each night. You can do some bar hopping if that's your thing. There are plenty of places offering trivia contests or karaoke. Go dancing.

You've just defined a "staycation".

 

[NH-to-FL]

Thing is I don't know that snowbirds like that consider it a vacation. Florida is the winter home, Toronto is the summer home, and at home you just live your best life. They saw all the sights long ago; it's just living a good life now.

Slight drift off topic but you ask an interesting question. DW and I are headed into our fifth snowbird winter near Disney and we consider our time in our snowbird home a vacation. We relax, visit with friends, visit Disney, and volunteer at GKTW. Of course there are the usual household activities, cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. to take care of. The HOA takes care of the yard maintenance. I feel like I am "on vacation" from working in our gardens and keeping up our 35 year old northern home and DW from a couple of very busy months of charity fundraising activities. I have a long "to do" list up north. The southern "to do" list is pretty short.

Yes, I know, it is a subtle difference but we have actually talked about the "vacation" aspect of our southern life. Perhaps because it is still relatively "new" compared to our northern life. Whatever the reason we feel different when we are near Disney.

And, as you say, "it's just living the good life".

 

[Starport Seven-Five]

If you're not at Disney/Universal etc, how do you vacation for weeks/months etc in one place without getting really sick of where you are? I just don't understand it.

How do you live in the same place for years without getting really sick of where you are? It's not that different.

I like to see what a destination is about beyond the handful of overly traveled tourist destinations. I greatly look forward to having the time to actually do that as right now our vacations get packed with stuff to do as we only have XX days to do everything instead of a month or two.

 

[1andrea]

My longest was 26 nights on property at WDW. I could stay a year if I could take my doggies! x

 

[TiggerTrigger]

I like to take longer vacations, but we tend to make these more of a destination road trip sort of thing. Ex. We flew into Denver over the summer and built a trip around all of the national parks and monuments we wanted to visit in CO and UT. We did something similar in the winter where we used Las Vegas as our base point and went back and forth between sites in Arizona and California...as well as another trip over the previous summer where we started in Montana and picked spots along the way in MT, WY, and SD. That being said, I know people who hate trips like this and would be content to spend 2-3 weeks on a beach. It's not my thing, but it makes them happy. So, I take my kind of vacation and they take theirs and that's all we need to understand

 

[HeatherC]

Nowadays, a lot of people also work remotely which could also be the case here. These people may not even be on vacation. They could be “working” and simply like trying out a new place, escaping a cold winter, being closer to family as a trial, etc.. Lots of possible reasons.

For me, I love to vacation and never get bored no matter how long I am in a place. There is always something new to discover. You just have to seek it out.