What has been your favorite timeshare trip or exchange?

Being from the south, we had not traveled extensively to the western states, I would have to say our favortie exchange was to Las Vegas (for a week) then our drive to southern California from LV the second week. We had always dreamed of going to southern California, but until retirement and buying into timeshares we had not pursued that goal, although we had traveled extensively in the south and had taken many cruises to islands in the eastern Caribbean and the western Caribbean to Mexico.

We had never been to Vegas and we took our best friends with us (she had been there but he had not). After the first week our friends flew back home and we took off driving across the Mojave desert to California. That was quite an adventure in itself as we were not that familiar with deserts (except for a week's stay in Sedona AZ) and then we drove across the mountains to Capistrano Beach.

We had exchanged into a timeshare resort in Capistrano Beach directly on hwy. 1 facing the Pacific Ocean ... the only negatives being the traffic noise on heavily traveled hwy. 1 and the trains going back and forth on the tracks across hwy 1, but that inconvenience was minor compared with the awesome scenery we witnessed everyday. We couldn't believe how huge the waves were breaking off the Pacific Ocean compared to the Atlantic Ocean in the south.

We took the Amtrak from San Juan Capistrano to San Diego and toured that city. We had always dreamed of visiting San Diego and that city didn't disappoint us. After a week in Southern Califronia we drove back across the Mojave desert to Vegas to catch our plane back home.

I've always dreamed of visiting the Orient, but that's one dream that probably won't ever happen since there's no way I could sit on an airplane for 15 hours .... oh well, some dreams become reality and others do not.

Speaking of timeshare trips ---- while traveling to a timeshare resort in the mountains of North Carolina, we found the place where we wanted to spend the rest of our lives ..... the beauty is awesome here year round. We sold our home, had a cabin built in the mountains of North Carolina and have never been happier. Thanks to timesharing we found our shangrilah (sp).

What's been your favorite timeshare trip or exchange?

when we went to Europe, used our United Airlines Mileage to fly to Rome. Hotel Partners for 3 nights in Rome,used l fixed week for discount on 14 day MED. cruise to Venice, hotel exchange in venice 3 nights, flew to london, hotel exchange in london, flew home, 4 weeks total it takes a lot of time and patience to arrange a trip like this,but it does payoff. charles671

charles671 wrote:

when we went to Europe, used our United Airlines Mileage to fly to Rome. Hotel Partners for 3 nights in Rome,used l fixed week for discount on 14 day MED. cruise to Venice, hotel exchange in venice 3 nights, flew to london, hotel exchange in london, flew home, 4 weeks total it takes a lot of time and patience to arrange a trip like this,but it does payoff. charles671

charles671, what a nice trip!

jayjay wrote:

charles671 wrote:

when we went to Europe, used our United Airlines Mileage to fly to Rome. Hotel Partners for 3 nights in Rome,used l fixed week for discount on 14 day MED. cruise to Venice, hotel exchange in venice 3 nights, flew to london, hotel exchange in london, flew home, 4 weeks total it takes a lot of time and patience to arrange a trip like this,but it does payoff. charles671

charles671, what a nice trip!

Our most memorable, though, had to be our trip to Disney in March of 1993. We left RI in the morning with a light snow falling. It turned out to be a Storm of the Century. We never made it past our layover point in NJ. After a night of sleep(?), we found out the airport was going to be closed for at least another day, so we rented a car and spent the next 24 hours driving the rest of the way.

Our timeshare has given us the opportunity to take our kids places where we might not have gone if we needed to constantly rent hotel rooms and condo. Now the kids are grown (never thought it would happen) and we were able to take a 25th anniversary trip to Aruba. Next stop is St. Maarten. We were able to give a week to our daughters and their friends for a mini vacation to Aruba as well.

To anyone who has regretted buying an overpriced TS from a developer, just enjoy the travel experience. Take your kids or your parents on a trip they won't forget. If it wasn't for our first TS (overpriced from a developer) we probably would not have traveled as much as we did.

Happy TSing Mike

jayjay wrote:

Being from the south, we had not traveled extensively to the western states, I would have to say our favortie exchange was to Las Vegas (for a week) then our drive to southern California from LV the second week. We had always dreamed of going to southern California, but until retirement and buying into timeshares we had not pursued that goal, although we had traveled extensively in the south and had taken many cruises to islands in the eastern Caribbean and the western Caribbean to Mexico.

We had never been to Vegas and we took our best friends with us (she had been there but he had not). After the first week our friends flew back home and we took off driving across the Mojave desert to California. That was quite an adventure in itself as we were not that familiar with deserts (except for a week's stay in Sedona AZ) and then we drove across the mountains to Capistrano Beach.

We had exchanged into a timeshare resort in Capistrano Beach directly on hwy. 1 facing the Pacific Ocean ... the only negatives being the traffic noise on heavily traveled hwy. 1 and the trains going back and forth on the tracks across hwy 1, but that inconvenience was minor compared with the awesome scenery we witnessed everyday. We couldn't believe how huge the waves were breaking off the Pacific Ocean compared to the Atlantic Ocean in the south.

We took the Amtrak from San Juan Capistrano to San Diego and toured that city. We had always dreamed of visiting San Diego and that city didn't disappoint us. After a week in Southern Califronia we drove back across the Mojave desert to Vegas to catch our plane back home.

I've always dreamed of visiting the Orient, but that's one dream that probably won't ever happen since there's no way I could sit on an airplane for 15 hours .... oh well, some dreams become reality and others do not.

Speaking of timeshare trips ---- while traveling to a timeshare resort in the mountains of North Carolina, we found the place where we wanted to spend the rest of our lives ..... the beauty is awesome here year round. We sold our home, had a cabin built in the mountains of North Carolina and have never been happier. Thanks to timesharing we found our shangrilah (sp).

What's been your favorite timeshare trip or exchange?

lynnew34 wrote:

Did you stay at the Riveria Shores Resort in Capistrano Beach by any chance? We are going in August. Did you visit the LA area while you were there?

We stayed at Riviera Beach & Spa Resort, which is right next door to Riviera Shores Resort. They are both part of Monarch Grand Vacations and both are rated 5 star with II.

We didn't care to go to LA .... just too big and too much traffic. We preferred to visit south of LA and the San Diego area.

<<What has been your favorite timeshare trip or exchange?>>

every vacation (from a weekend in local mountains to two weeks in hawaii) we've been able to take with our three children since purchasing 5 years ago. once they got out of baby/toddlerhood we realized hotel rooms were just not going to cut it any longer. we researched and went to at least a half dozen sales pitches with different timeshare companies before deciding on one and buying resale on ebay - for less than half the retail cost!!

there is no way we could afford to take the many trips (several dozen) we've taken as a family (and a few no-kids!) without our timeshare ownership.

favorites: ~two weeks in hawaii (maui and oahu) with the kids ~skiing in park city for a week with the kids ~just me and hubby for a week in cabo ~san francisco with and without the kids - love that city! ~girlfriends weekend in vegas for my 40th