My husband and I have done 4-day trips to Europe (leave Thursday, return Monday). One was during a time when both our jobs were in jeopardy and we just needed an escape- didn't want to spend a lot of money. Last year we went to Scotland from Kansas and kept it short because I didn't want to run out of vacation days (but we WERE running out of single-cask whisky and wanted to see an exhibit at the Royal Museum of Scotland). We're repeating the Scotland trip next month. Typically, though, we go for a week.

Neither of us sleeps well on planes and we're older (I'm 53 and he's 68) but we still enjoy these trips. Fortunately, next year I get 4 weeks of vacation and we have a pile of Hilton points so one of our trips may be around 2 weeks.

Is a 3-day trip practical? No, but sometimes it's fun to be a little crazy.