For our honeymoon my wife and I went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico for seven days. This was an amazing vacation. We spent the first five days laying on the whitest beaches and swimming in the clearest ocean water that I have ever seen. It was complete relaxation. On the last two days of our vacation we decided to take a tour of some Mayan ruins. We visited the walled city of Talum, which was one of the last cities inhabited by the Mayans. We also went snorkeling in underground caves. This was amazing, the water was so clear and it made our skin feel very smooth. There are over five miles of underground caves throughout the Yucatan peninsula. These are some of the longest caves in the world and they are completely underwater. It is too bad that Mexico is turning into such a scary place to vacation because of the drug cartels. I hope that someday we are going to be able to go back to Playa del Carmen. We are probably going stay away from there until the security situation gets better. At least we will always have the memories of our Mexican honeymoon.
My most memorable holiday was with my family. We traveled across a few countries in Europe: France, Germany, Luxembourg, Croatia, Italy, and there's probably somewhere else, too, but I can't remember. We climbed the tower of Pisa, went on a gondola where an Italian sang, with English words, 'Just one Cornetto', and so on. I had a wonderful time, and it was worth it; just over three weeks of bliss. I suppose there'll be a contender pretty soon, though, as I'm hoping to go and study part of my degree in Vancouver for four months next year. That may well be a new favourite!
A blast of icy cold wind hit me as the train doors opened. I pulled my jacket closer to my body and made for the building. I knew it would be warmed. We all highfived; we were finally in Japan. A quick hunt around and we discovered the next train to take us to Osaka. The start of what was going to be an epic three week adventure. With our trusty Lonely Planet guide and one night of accommodation booked we arrived. We spent the next three weeks flying by the seat of our pants, deciding as we went where we wanted to go then door knocking on the recommended places to stay. This worked perfectly every single time except for one place where we had to go for our second choice. Some of our crazy adventures included cycling around Osaka, visiting the snow monkeys, and getting personally rowed down the river with little rapids every few hundred metres. Overall an amazing experience and highly recommended.
I'm born and raised in Miami, Fl. All I knew was Hispanic music, hispanic food, and palm trees. Day in and day out that's just everywhere in Miami, FL. When I got my first car at 18 I started exploring all over Miami looking for the historic spots and looking for the different beauties Miami holds. Don't get me wrong beaches and cabanas are nice but only for the tourists. In one exploration I did with a friend was when we got lost in Coconut grove. Though this isn't classified as an official vacation, but once I go into the details you'll see how relaxed I left the area after what I found. It was raining on and off that day, but, my friend and I already made the commitment to do it. If anyone went through Coconut Grove you'll know how easy it is to get slightly lost with the twist and turns because a lot of the big homes are hidden behind a lot of mangroves and limestone walls making it all blend and give it the exotic grove look unique to Miami when it just first started in the early 1900s. Well, we got tired of trying to figure out where we were so we just went with the flow. Little over 10 minutes of driving we noticed these little colorful flags in the middle of no where and we parked the car on the side of the road in the dirt. We walked over and saw they were Tibetan prayer flags. Our curiosity led us forward into those cute quaint house with two floors. It held a welcoming trance like entrance that we got absorbed into. Upon going in we were met with the most peaceful smile you can barely imagine. Sadly I don't remember her name but her smile and her hospitality always stands out clearly. She introduced the place as Zen village. She gave us a tour where on the first floor they have a kitchen that they prepare tea and have a little lounge area and upstairs it's a whole open floor with no walls and natural light room where instructors come to teach meditation and yoga. We couldn't over look on noticing that aura of not just the people that work there but the whole place gives to everyone. I've been to many different places and had many exciting events happen. But, this stuck out because I was in natural energy- like peace that left my muscles more relaxed than any massage I've ever received and that was a truly nice vacation for me.
In the summer of 2011, I drove from Maine to Florida. I loved Florida, Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware the most. I'd love to do more travelling in 2014, but only if I can afford it.
Cyprus. First of all, the conflict between the Greeks and the Turkish over 'ownership' of the island was still in full effect, a Berlin Wall-esque structure running right through the heart of Nicosia, it's capital, so we were basically instructed against going into Turkish territory and warned against several establishments that were pro-inhibition and were prone to fights and other conflicts. Other than that, the food was absolutely fantastic-- we went to a different restaurant every night and they all were equally fantastic. One Mexican place served me the largest steak I've ever had by some considerable distance and it was just the right amount of spicy. Also, the bar next to the resort we stayed in was open to children (I was 11) and thus we were in there most nights playing pool and darts. Despite being only 11, that didn't stop one particular barmaid from offering me a shot of Tequila on our last night there, which my mom promptly rejected for me! I also managed to flood our flat by leaving a tap on and a spoon conveniently placed underneath so that the water defected up and out of the sink at just the right angle! Twas great stuff
When I was 13 my family went camping. My family went camping a lot when I was younger but after my mom married my stepdad we almost never went again. He didn’t like dirt, or bugs, or not having electricity, or sleeping on the ground… you get the idea. But anyway, my sister and I whined for a few years straight and finally with mom’s help we wore him down. It wasn’t just any camping trip either; we spent a week and a half in Yellowstone. We were stuck in a traffic jam when a buffalo decided to trot right down the yellow line of the highway. We saw a black bear way closer to the road than the 100 yards the park rangers require. We got to watch a grizzly bear eat an elk calf. We took a horseback ride through the back country and got to witness some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever been privileged to see. Elk wandered right through our campsite on two different nights. We caught a glimpse of a wolf as she darted through the trees. Not to mention all of the natural wonders the park is chock-full of; the geysers, hot springs, thermal features, waterfalls, etc. The only disappointment we had on that trip was at the end of it. We were informed by some rangers that one of their wolf packs had been hanging out in a certain valley for the last several mornings at dawn, making them really easy to observe. So we planned to get up at 5 a.m. and drive out to see if we could get a look at them. Unfortunately, our trip was in June and that night we got three feet of snow dumped on top of us. After we woke up and dug out our collapsed tent we decided we wouldn’t let a little snow stop us. So we bundled up in just about all the clothes we had brought (we didn’t bring coats, it was June!) and piled into the van and took off further into the mountains. We got about half way to the valley when we realized that the snow was so far over our bumper that our vehicle was basically plowing the road. We turned around at the next turn off and headed back to camp. We got there just after dawn and had to dig our stuff out again as the snow was still falling. A ranger came by to let us know that they were starting to close the roads out of the park. In fact, only one was still open. We decided to play it safe this time and get out while the getting was good. We threw everything, which was all soaking wet from the snow, into the back of the van. We couldn’t even empty our water jug as it was frozen solid. We headed north, out the road that runs past Mammoth (wrong direction from home,) and managed to get around the storm. Just in time for the van to break down. Apparently there was some sort of leak and it had overheated. Luckily, we still had our now half-frozen water jug. After filling it up we were able to limp the rest of the way to the next town where they were able to fix it. The whole last two day and a half of the trip all I could think was, “BEST VACATION EVER!”
I feel like most of my life has consisted of what others might think of as vacation. I enjoyed a childhood in the military and then also a young adulthood of the same. I've lived for years across the expanse of the U.S., coast to coast, 8 years in Hawai'i, 3 in Japan, 4 in Germany, a few months in Bedfordshire U.K., several months down in the hot during Desert Storm, more than a decade total in the Caribbean, etc. My most memorable vacation has been the last 43 years.
I can't call them vacations. I've taken very few vacations, and they're usually a week or two or laziness, but I have taken off large chunks of time to travel and do things. One time was for a year. We bought a Volkswagen van and lived in it for that time, moving slowly from Cabo San Lucas to Inuvik, doing nothing but, climbing, backpacking and kayaking. Then went to India and Nepal for 3 months for more of the same.
I suppose my favourite vacation was the one I took, on my own, to Scotland, in 1985. I spent two months schlumming around, going to traditional music events, hillwalking, seeing the country, camping out, staying in occasional B&Bs, hostels, and with friends I made along the way. Had some incredibly crappy weather to deal with, but some awfully good weather as well. It was midsummer, and I was astonished how early the sun came up (4am, blazing daylight) and how late it went to bed (around midnight in the far north. I got lucky. I met the guy who was to become my husband that summer as well. Returned the NEXT summer, we got married ...and I'm still here, still married. The weather is still crap much of the time, but hey. A decision I've never regretted. This is a fantastic country, and I love it to bits.
In 1984, I took a trip across Canada by train. I stopped in Winnepeg, Manitoba to see my uncle, and he took me down to Winkler and Morden (two small towns near the US border) where my extended family lived. I met some cousins I never knew I had, and learned a ton about the roots of my family on this continent. Wonderful. In 1985, after university, I went to Australia for four months alone. I visited Sydney, Brisbane, the Gold Coast (awesome!), Cairns, Darwin, Alice Springs, Melbourne, and Canberra (not awesome, unfortunately). The people of Australia were so friendly to me that their laughter still resonates in my head. I did a scuba diving course on the Great Barrier Reef when I was in Cairns and it was one of the most exciting and memorable times of my life, in spite of the seasickness. I have great memories of that trip and I desperately want to visit Australia again. In 1989, my family and I took a ferry up the Inside Passage from the north end of Vancouver Island up to the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii). The scenery is the most beautiful I've ever seen in my life. I have fallen hopelessly in love with the northwest coast of North America and that love can never be shaken. If I were a painter, I would never have put down my brush. Everywhere I turned, there was something even more stunning than what I was looking at the previous minute. Now I live in Los Angeles, which is a hopeless, ugly desert, and I yearn to go north. Maybe in a year or two I'll move there (I lived in Victoria for five years - I know the geography). It's my spiritual home. Those are the vacations I remember. In 2002, my partner and I went to Maui, but that felt like, well, just a vacation in a nice place. It didn't shake my soul to its foundations like the others did. As The Band said, "Set my compass north, I got winter in my blood."
