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December can cause a significant amount of anxiety. Whether it's snow to shovel or gifts to buy and wrap or pressure at work to finish a job before the calendar turns, there's a lot that can happen in the year's last month to put you on edge.
To ease the stress of this upcoming slog, we're prescribing a long weekend vacation to anyone that needs it. Vacations are important. And there's a good chance you still have some vacation days lying around — the average US worker only uses half of the paid time off for which their eligible.
Don’t be a part of the 41% of US workers who let paid vacation days go to waste. Find a weekend this December to cash in and take the break you need to charge up before the holidays.
*While searching for prices on flights for this piece, we searched the potential long weekend of December 11, 2015 to December 14, 2015 and determined a median range from the deals available. Prices may go up or down with the market, so be sure to keep an eye out in case things swing your way.
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah is a beautiful southern town that’s as pleasurable to become acquainted with as a southerner is hospitable. This year "Travel and Leisure" listed it as one of the top affordable getaways in the country. While in town be sure to stop by the Telfair Academy, the oldest public art museum in the South. But the most can’t-miss attraction the city has to offer is other-worldly: Savannah is regularly cited as the most haunted city in the country. The setting for the based-on-a-true-story "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," Savannah is filled with enough ghost stories to satiate even the hungriest of horror fiends.
Approximate prices from:
NYC $190-$230 | CHI $240-$280 | LAX $440-$500
Austin, Texas
To get an idea of how your three days in this Texas city might go you need look no further than the official/unofficial slogan of the town: Keep Austin Weird. If you’re seeking a normal weekend, please, take your business elsewhere. Unmissable pieces of weirdness to check out include the Cathedral of Junk and an outdoor graffiti gallery. And when your hunger for oddity is replaced with a hunger for food, you’ll be met with a plethora of fantastic options both Tex-Mex and BBQ. Then, wait an hour after you eat before heading to Zilker Park and hopping into Barton Spring for a swim, where the year-round water temperature hovers around 70 degrees. And before you're flight back home Monday morning, be sure to snag a couple breakfast tacos for the road.
Approximate prices from:
NYC $230-$300 | CHI $300-$400
LAX $300-$350 | ATL $210-$250
Denver, Colorado
Denver is an amazing city to spend a long weekend if you’re into towns with high elevation. Filled with tons of joints to eat and drink at, you won’t have to strain to find something you enjoy in this Colorado city. For the beer-drinkers, take a tour through the local microbreweries of Denver or head over to Coors and see take a walk through the macrobrewery of America to see how they make their bottles as cold as the Rockies.
Once you need to walk off your beer belly, take a walk inside the beautiful City Park; visitors will find grass, trees, and see the city with truly clear eyes. Let me be blunt: a weekend trip to Denver might not be for everyone, but for some, it's a blue dream come true.
Approximate prices from:
NYC $260-$300 | CHI $180-$220
LAX $160-$220 | ATL $200-$250
Washington, DC
If you want to spend your paid days off learning something, our nation’s capital is a city worth considering. To start, entry into every single Smithsonian museum is free; visiting The National Air and Space Museum, National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, the National Zoo, or any of the other 13 museums in the city will not cost you a penny. Conveniently, most of these museums (not the zoo though) are centrally located around the National Mall, too.
If you can take a Monday off, you might be able to catch the Supreme Court during oral arguments, an event we believe would be as exhilarating to see live as it is difficult to sit through on C-SPAN. No matter how you spend your time in DC, though, you’ll probably come out of it at least a little smarter and with a bit more patriotism.
Approximate prices from:
CHI $80-$180 | LAX $250-$300 | ATL $160-$240
Nashville, Tennessee
The Music City has become a popular weekend destination in the past few years as people become more and more aware of the trendy scene that is developing there. There’s a certain buzz around the town that prompted GQ to declare it “Nowville.”
Old staples like the Country Music Hall of Fame are well worth a visit, but don’t let them distract you from the up-and-coming hipness of the town. Stop by Jack White’s Third Man Records to fill out your vinyl collection and catch a happy hour at whichever top-rated bar appeals to you most. For those looking to use up their remaining vacation days, time in Nashville is time well spent.
Approximate prices from:
NYC $200-$270 | CHI $250-$300 | LAX $360-$420
Bimini, Bahamas
Bimini is a a fantastic spot for a short trip that feels like you’ve travelled across the world. Fly into Miami and take a two hour boat ride to arrive in Bimini. The island offers pristine beaches and protected marine habitats. This'll make for phenomenal snorkeling and scuba diving — the historic and spooky wreck of the SS Sapona, which stored liquor in secret during Prohibition, is one such spot you'll probably want to dive at. Once you’ve returned to land, catch a taste of the conch-centric local eats Bimini has to offer.
Approximate prices from:
NYC $260-$290 | CHI $280-$320
LAX $440-$480 | ATL $180-$220
Las Vegas, Nevada
Yes you can legally gamble in Las Vegas, and yes, that is the most prominent trait for which the town is known, but if you think that a blackjack table and roulette wheel are all it has to offer, you are severely mistaken. Sin City is also home to phenomenal restaurants, top-rated hotels, and live shows that range from acrobatic to magic to risqué, and in some cases incorporate all three.
If you go bankrupt early, save yourself the $10 ATM fees in the casinos and take a short drive to hike the trails of Red Rock Canyon. While there, I can personally recommend staying at the Aria or the Cosmopolitan, eating French cuisine at Bouchon, Mexican at Javier’s, drinking Old Fashioneds at the Mandarin Bar, and placing all of your sports bets at Mandalay Bay (unless one of the other books is offering a better number). With many vices to indulge in, it will surely be a weekend you’ll never forget and possibly one you’ll never tell anyone about.
And if the thought of a weekend trip in Sin City sounds a bit overwhelming, maybe start off with a quick trip to Atlantic City and work your way up to the big leagues.
Approximate prices from:
NYC $350-$400 | CHI $160-$240
LAX $90-$150 | ATL $180-$220
Sonoma, California
In Sonoma, every weekend is a wine weekend, so don’t feel like you have to make it any specific dates in order to get the most out of your vino experience. With a fairly cool climate, the region produces phenomenal Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. There are frankly too many wineries for one to properly appreciate in one weekend, so our best suggestion is to examine some best-of lists and see what appeals to you. If you have to spend some time walking off a fermented-grape-induced headache, there are plenty of beautiful parks in the region to take in as you prepare for your next round of tasting. We recommend flying into San Francisco and enjoying the scenic drive upstate.
Approximate prices from:
NYC $280-$320 | CHI $150-$250
LAX $100-$150 | ATL $300-$400
Montreal, Canada
For a French experience without the trans-Atlantic flight, Montreal is the spot for you to spend a long weekend. Start off with some authentic baguettes at Bistro Le Paris before taking in one of Montreal’s many art galleries. Take a few hours to stroll through the city’s Botanical Gardens and if you still have the energy, walk a bit more and explore old Montreal. Shopping along Boulevard Saint-Laurent and a visit to Basilique Notre-Dame are also both highly recommended. If you never tire of fine French foods, be sure to grab some poutine before leaving the country.
Approximate prices from:
NYC $280-$320 | CHI $240-$260
LAX $470-$520 | ATL $400-$450
Stowe, Vermont
If you’re looking to spend the last of your vacation days on the mountains, there are few on the East Coast that come close to the slopes offered at Stowe. With some trails peaking at an elevation over 3,600 feet, Stowe will be a completely new skiing and snowboarding experience to anyone who’s been bound to ride the Lower Appalachians thus far in life. While the mountain is definitely too big to explore in just a day, if you are eager to get in as wide a variety of trails in as possible, other great mountains, Smuggler’s Notch and Jay Peak to name a few, are just a short ride away.
When you’re out on the mountain and your legs need a rest, ride the gondola to Stowe’s peak and snag a waffle and cup of cocoa from the Waffle Cabin to warm up. The only downside to spending a long weekend is Stowe is you might come home more exhausted than you left.
Approximate prices from:
CHI $250-$270 | LAX $360-$420 | ATL $270-$350
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