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Maybe your idea of "vacation" is going away to stay at a Holiday Inn and eat at an Applebee's.
There's comfort in what's familiar, but not much adventure. Here are ways to make your next getaway a bit more unpredictable.
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From Steve Ray, nation/world editor:
It was a simple idea. Probably the same idea that occurs to just about all of us who live at this latitude in January and February.
For me, it came on the heels of a certain beer commercial. You know, the one with the white sand, turquoise water and the sound of surf crashing over a distant reef. Oh, and an ice bucket filled with bottles of my favorite beverage.
"Yes," I thought. "This is it. This is what I want. This is what I need!"
But somewhere between that single moment of clarity and the whoosh of the jet engines, too many people lose track of the simple idea.
Sometimes it morphs into an all-inclusive, cocoa butter-soaked journey to the far side of self-indulgence. Or it's hijacked by a tour bus full of sunburned Americans gaping through the windows as they speed from one attraction to the next.
But no, I was going to keep it simple.
On an eight-day trip to the Yucatan's Caribbean coast in Mexico, I spent four nights this spring in a cabana near Tulum.
These cheap, low-tech beach huts are popular with the backpacker/ travel-bum types who crisscross Latin America. It's no wonder. For $18 a night, I nailed the most important feature in travel lodging: location.
To my left and right, white sand, coconut palms and surf stretched to the horizons. Directly in front of me, the Caribbean's turquoise and powder blue hues deepened to a darker blue at the edge of the reef, some 300 yards offshore. Behind me, a thick tangle of vegetation was filled with the strangest birdcalls.
The amenities are spartan. Just a round stick building with a thatched roof and sand floor. A frame of rusted plumbing cradled a plywood...