Living in Cary NC - the summer has been great, the fall also..

BUT

With a couple of thousand dollars to spend - a limited number of days holiday to take (6 left for the year) We want to get away before xmas..!

The question is where to go, how to get there and what to do. (not cold)

Cruise Caribbean
Florida beach
Belize expolre
Hawaii relax
Caribbean Beach
Vegas excitement
California drive and stay

We have looked through all the trip advisor suggestions.. places to go before you die etc.. But actual experiences from BritishExpats might go a long way to swaying our decisions.

What say the forum...?

If your time in the USA is limited, i.e. this is a five year stint or something, I would try to do the things that would be most difficult to do once you return home. For example, a cross country California drive, or a trip to Hawaii (which is much further from the UK than NC). However, given that you only have 6 days you might want to stay a bit closer, perhaps some of the resorts in Mexico or the Caribbean? No sense wasting 2-days flying there and back. Someplace within say 2 hour flight time might be easier.

I have a big birthday trip this weekend, am heading to Miami for a few days and then driving to key west via the overseas highway its supposed to be a spectacular drive 120 miles of bridges, roads though the keys etc. Was worried for a while due to possible hurricane but am hopeful we will be ok. I will let you know how it goes if you are interested.

http://goflorida.about.com/od/allabo...7wonders_2.htm

Machu Picchu. Bearing in mind Penguinsix's comments, it's a looong way from the UK but only an overnight flight and a short hop from the US. Couple of other things in Peru as well which I didn't have time to do.

We live in NE Georgia and for us, one of the best value vacations around is cruising. In fact, we leave Port Canaveral on Saturday for a seven night cruise to Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Jamaica and the cruise-line's private island in the Bahamas.

Canaveral is about 9 hours from here, but the outlaws live in Kissimmee, so we'll drive there tomorrow and they will take us to the port.

We are booked in a balcony stateroom and including food and entertainment, it's costing $600 each (plus fees), so for under $2k for the two of us, we should have a great time.

This will be our 10th cruise in total, leaving from Canaveral, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans and Charleston (the latter to Bermuda). There are lots of different itineraries and there's something for everyone. You can do as much or as little as you want on a cruise.

I would second a Caribbean cruise in a heartbeat. I wouldn't go anywhere near Mexico though, but that's just MHO. Eastern Carribean is great to visit various islands. You can have a quick look at some of them and maybe decide if you would like to spend time on any of them for a longer holiday sometime.

Another vote for a Caribbean cruise...try to find one that leaves nearer to where you live. We always book to leave from NJ or NYC.

Bradford Lass...we've done the drive from Miami down to Key West. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

We have been to the Riviera Maya 4 times and have always enjoyed it. Aruba also comes highly recommended. Off to Punta Cana on Wednesday for 6 days, which will be a new experience.

A week exploring the beaches on St John (USVI) followed by a side-trip to Jost Van Dyke (BVI)

The US site of LastMinute.com also has ideas on the Home Page:

http://us.lastminute.com/uslm/index.html

New Orleans and drive around atmospheric swampy bits. Not to far, good food, interesting things to see, cocktails and general niceness.