First time traveling to Aruba!

[lutts2011]

Hi, My family and I are planning on going to the caribbean for vacation and we are thinking about going to Aruba. I am a 18 yo male, i will be bringing a friend (18 yo male) i have a 10 year old brother and a 13 year old mildly autistic sister and my parents are obviously older (47 and 52).
I have a couple questions because Im thinking we will go in may of 2012 (have not really talked about it but i have been doing research and that's what i am thinking haha.
1.) how long should we go for?
I was thinking like 2 weeks roughly b/c, for me, one week wouldn't be enough haha
2.) what are some things to do there (trying not to do alot of the touristy type of stuff b/c i personally am not a big fan of touring the whole island and stuff like that)
3.)What are some things to do as a whole family (including my brother from another mother hahah)
4.) How many people that are our age (my friend and I's) will be there? and how many good looking girls? haha
I realize that there are alot of hotels and what not, but like is it relatively easy to find people our age from the states to hang with?
5.) And what are some things for my parents to do by themselves while me, my friend and siblings sit on the beach or hang in the hotel for a day?

Sorry for all the questions, but we are trying to find the best place to take a vacation to since we probably wont do another vacation like this for a long time.
And i know that this is my first post and alot of people on forums dont respond to new people but if you could i would greatly appreciate it.

Oh and if you would like to know any other info about me or my family to give better answers just ask and ill let ya know
thanks!

[lutts2011]

man this place is rather quiet lol....

[Andrea J.]

my comments are inred

Originally Posted by lutts2011

welcome to the aruba.com community forum and yes it is quiet, saturday evenings are ALWAYS quiet.Hi, My family and I are planning on going to the caribbean for vacation and we are thinking about going to Aruba. I am a 18 yo male, i will be bringing a friend (18 yo male) i have a 10 year old brother and a 13 year old mildly autistic sister and my parents are obviously older (47 and 52).
I have a couple questions because Im thinking we will go in may of 2012 (have not really talked about it but i have been doing research and that's what i am thinking haha.
1.) how long should we go for? if this is your first time in aruba my opinion is to stay 7 - 10 days or whatever your finances allow. imo a 4 day or less trip is too short. your first and last days are pretty much travel days.
I was thinking like 2 weeks roughly b/c, for me, one week wouldn't be enough haha
2.) what are some things to do there (trying not to do alot of the touristy type of stuff b/c i personally am not a big fan of touring the whole island and stuff like that)
3.)What are some things to do as a whole family (including my brother from another mother hahah)things to do as a whole family include going to the beach, dining out, snorkeling, horseback riding, boat trips including snorkeling adventures..........please check out the FAMILY VACATION SECTION on the forum
4.) How many people that are our age (my friend and I's) will be there? and how many good looking girls? haha really!?
I realize that there are alot of hotels and what not, but like is it relatively easy to find people our age from the states to hang with?check out the FAMILY VACATION SECTION and the SPORTS ACTIVITIES section
5.) And what are some things for my parents to do by themselves while me, my friend and siblings sit on the beach or hang in the hotel for a day?your parents can do any or all the things you folks are doing.

Sorry for all the questions, but we are trying to find the best place to take a vacation to since we probably wont do another vacation like this for a long time.
And i know that this is my first post and alot of people on forums dont respond to new people but if you could i would greatly appreciate it.this forum people respond and try to guide members to answers and direct members to appropriate threads that can answer specific questions.

i have some questions for you

WHAT do you WANT to do?

Considering you are traveling from ohio? expect day 1 and your last day to be kind of tiring and take that into account.

Where are you staying or what kind of accommodations do you need? do you want hotel rooms or a timeshare condo like apartment, where there are cooking facilities?

Do you enjoy outdoor activities? hiking, ATV? windsurfing, sailing, tennis, golf, swimming, beach volleyball?

I encourage you to go thru this site.

use the search menu on the left and type in a keyword and then read read read.

tons of info here.

if you can answer my questions, then maybe we can better answer your questions.

my son has been to aruba 15+ times and most of his times in aruba was between age 12 and 19.
he always had a ball.
and he always met kids from the usa, canada, aruba, venezuela and holland.
meeting and hanging with kids was never an issue.

Oh and if you would like to know any other info about me or my family to give better answers just ask and ill let ya know
thanks!

[lutts2011]

My comments are also in red
welcome to the aruba.com community forum and yes it is quiet, saturday evenings are ALWAYS quiet.
if this is your first time in aruba my opinion is to stay 7 - 10 days or whatever your finances allow. imo a 4 day or less trip is too short. your first and last days are pretty much travel days. [COLRO="Red"]Alright sounds good [/COLOR]

things to do as a whole family include going to the beach, dining out, snorkeling, horseback riding, boat trips including snorkeling adventures..........please check out the FAMILY VACATION SECTION on the forum. Okay will do

really!? Yeah! hah
check out the FAMILY VACATION SECTION and the SPORTS ACTIVITIES section
your parents can do any or all the things you folks are doing. Alrighty

this forum people respond and try to guide members to answers and direct members to appropriate threads that can answer specific questions.

i have some questions for you

WHAT do you WANT to do? Well probably hang at the beach, go snorkling/diving, rent jet skis, enjoy the clubs and being able to drink (my parents let me drink at home anyway), etc.

Considering you are traveling from ohio? expect day 1 and your last day to be kind of tiring and take that into account.

Where are you staying or what kind of accommodations do you need? do you want hotel rooms or a timeshare condo like apartment, where there are cooking facilities? We are not sure where we are staying or anything yet since we will probably go in may (i heard that is a good time to go) we are just trying to do some research, but will probably want an apartment type because we wont want to eat out for every single meal

Do you enjoy outdoor activities? hiking, ATV? windsurfing, sailing, tennis, golf, swimming, beach volleyball? yeah i like atv riding, golf, swimming, beach volleyball, but not big on windsurfing sailing or tennis (maybe cuz i havent done any of those) also thinking about doing jet skiing

I encourage you to go thru this site.
use the search menu on the left and type in a keyword and then read read read.
tons of info here. Yeah i have been doing a little bit of searching

if you can answer my questions, then maybe we can better answer your questions.

my son has been to aruba 15+ times and most of his times in aruba was between age 12 and 19.
he always had a ball.
and he always met kids from the usa, canada, aruba, venezuela and holland.
meeting and hanging with kids was never an issue.
If you have any more questions just let me know