Personally, I’m a lifelong backpacker and the more exciting and exotic the destination the better.  I prefer to stay in cheap accommodation and eat at roadside food stands instead of restaurants in order to extend my vacation, or to use that saved money to complete an adventurous activity like river rafting.  Traveling in this way definitely suits some people and doesn’t work at all for others.  If you have just two weeks off, lots of people don’t want to spend all that time flying and figuring out how to order food.  They want sun, they want beach, they want pampering and piña coladas. 

I now often go on trips with my wife, which is a challenge as our travel styles differ significantly.  She’s happily intrepid regarding destinations but prefers a more relaxing brand of travel.  On top of comfort, sunshine and beach are important to her, as is visiting friends.  While I enjoy those things, too, I wouldn’t likely book my holidays based on them; I’m more concerned about finding adventure.

The usual happy compromise is that we pick somewhere new and foreign that is maybe more my style than hers, but then we treat ourselves nicely while we’re there.   Hotels instead of hostels, short flights instead of 24-hour bus rides.  Trips I make with her often lead to more pampering than I’d ever do on my own.  As a shoestring-budget traveller, this is something I still find slightly unnatural, but that my aging bones quietly thank her for after a couple of weeks on the road.

Being flexible with one’s schedule and destination really helps with this compromise, as it allows for opportunity to find cheap airfare which can go a long way to meeting everyone’s travel wishes.  Good luck helps, too.  Two years ago, we happened upon a special Air Canada Escape that got us two domestic tickets and one international flight, all for an incredible $1000 each, taxes in.  We didn’t even know where we intended on going, but we bought the pass anyway; it was too good to pass up.

My preference for the international trip was Bogota, while my wife wanted to go to London (where we used to live) to see friends.  London sounded great, but not as adventurous as I’d hoped, and so my compromise was twofold: firstly, with one domestic ticket, I wanted to go to Whitehorse for a weekend in winter and see the Northern Lights.  (Side note: she agreed, and it was amazing.  And really, really cold.)

Part two was that while I was pleased to revisit London, I also wanted to find a cheap flight to visit somewhere I hadn’t been in Europe, as well.  London is a haven for cheap airfare, and so for next to nothing we found a flight to Poland and spent a few days traveling there, enjoying Krakow’s nightlife and pork fat sandwiches.  Poland is still a cheaper European country, which let us spoil ourselves rotten in some unbelievable hotels, making my wife happy, and was in a part of the world I’d never been, and so I was pretty pleased, too. 

While none of Whitehorse, London or Poland were on our list of preferred destinations prior to purchasing the ticket, by being flexible on where we went, and when, we each got to have the trips we wanted.  That flexibility allowed us to have three indulgent, exotic vacations for the price of one, all without divorce proceedings, and nobody can complain about that.

My Recommendations

• Takhini Hot Springs, Whitehorse – It’s -30C out, but keep warm and toasty by basking up to your neck in some outdoor hot springs and watching the Northern Lights.  The restaurant serves surprisingly good German food.  Magical.
  
  
• EasyJet and RyanAir – A cheap way to see Europe is to book an affordable flight to London, then find some discount airfare on these low budget airlines and hit mainland Europe.  Return flights from London to Spain, France, Italy and beyond often cost under $100 if you have a flexible schedule.
  
  
• Wrocław, Poland – A still relatively unknown gem of a city, at least until the Euro soccer tournament plays there in summer 2012.  Wrocław is supremely pretty, with a massive, stunning central square and gorgeous gothic architecture.  Oh, and whatever you were thinking, no, that’s not how it’s pronounced: it’s pronounced vrots-wahf.
  
  
• Hotel Dwór Polski – A beautiful old gothic hotel near the main square, decked out with handsome wood furnishings.  Want to spoil yourself?  $150/night gets you a 5-room apartment with a four-poster bed and your very own antechamber!
  
  
• Singer Bar – Located in Kazimierz, the Jewish section of Krakow, Singer bar is a fantastic place to be boisterous.  Named for the Singer sewing machines still attached to the tables, the bar blasts traditional Klezmer (hyperactive Romanian folk) music until the wee hours and it’s absolutely impossible not to have a good time.  Even your grandmother will be table dancing.