About

Unique Vacation Ideas began in 2009 when friends started asking us more and more often, “Where should I Go?” and more importantly, “What Should I Do?”  More and more people are realizing that travel is so much more than just getting a stamp on your passport or a fruity drink with an umbrella in it.  Giant resort packages and all-inclusives often tend to leave out the most critical ingredient: actual, unmediated human interaction and experience.

At Unique Vacation Ideas, we like to think of every traveler as not just a consumer, but as a potential explorer and ambassador.  While it may take just a few more minutes to plan a trip on your own and venture out a little bit beyond the pre-packaged and pre-arranged, the potential rewards are endless.  You get the opportunity to, even for a brief moment, encounter your destination on its own terms and in the process become changed and transformed.

That’s why when we tell you about potential places to go and things to do, we try and leave some of the trip open to you—the traveller.  Depending on the trip, we may suggest alternatives or add-ons.  Other times we may just point you towards a destination that hasn’t become quite as dominated by the tourism industry and you’ll be able to experience the place and the people without feeling the impenetrable tourist/local divide.

The best part about experiential travel and being an explorer is that you can take it at whatever level is comfortable for you.  If you’ve never travelled, or have only stayed at major all-inclusives before we don’t suggest that for your first trip you just hop on the next plane going anywhere and wander to whatever place your feet take you (though that can be fun, too).  Maybe just start off by taking a couple of meals outside the all-inclusive resort, or hotel restaurant.  Go for a walk and ask a local what their favorite place for dinner is.

You can also give yourself a challenge, or a goal.  It can be serious and profound, like going on a pilgrimage or searching for long-lost relatives.  Or it can be silly—José once made it his goal to have a spring roll (or variation thereof) at every meal he ate in San Francisco.  Whatever you choose, it will get you out of that passive receiving mode and get you into the mode of more fully engaging the places you see and people you will meet.

Many of our posts include recommendations for books and movies that you may want to read or watch while planning your trip, or even take with you.  These aren’t guidebooks—there’s no shortage of those.  Rather, our hope is that they will provide you with some cultural references, clues into the local experience that will help prepare you to appreciate the entire journey.  We pick these suggestions carefully, having read or watched them ourselves and believing them to be of good quality.