the ask@AAR: What’s the best vacation you’ve ever taken?
I am on a mediocre vacation. It’s a large family trip to a very boring beach with accommodations that unfortunately resembles a cave. The weather has been on the chilly side and the traffic is a bummer. Now any vacation with my very fun giant family is a good thing but, as vacations we’ve taken, this one is on the meh side.
This has got me thinking about fabulous vacations, the ones you savor your memories of and dream of repeating. I’ve been recalling our incredible trip to India on the Maharaja’s Express, the week we spent in a rented house in Paris with my brother’s family where the kids played endless games of President and every day we went somewhere extraordinary, just about every time I’ve ever been to Italy.
How about you? What is the best vacation you’ve ever taken? And what’s your dream trip?
Just finished a trip to see Yellowstone National Park via arriving Salt Lake City and driving Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming. Beautiful!
That’s a tough question as there are so many favorites. One which might be interesting to my fellow Jane Austen fans was a trip to England a few years ago. It was in June, and the weather was glorious the entire time. Everyone kept telling us how lucky we were. We went to London, Bath (which featured prominently in Persuasion,) Alton (where Jane lived in her later years), and Winchester (where she died.) Of course, we did plenty of non-Jane things, but I was so very fortunate that my family indulged me. It was a lovely trip.
My brother and I are huge hockey fans and 24 yrs ago we went to Montreal to watch the Bruins and the Habs play in the final game of the regular season unfortunately the Habs lost but the experience was unforgettable.
My husband and I seem to go on driving jaunts to various places of scenic wonder (our favorite kind of trip). When I was pregnant with my first child we did a driving trip in CA over 7 or 8 days in September when the crowds were moderate and the weather was beautiful. We spent a few days in San Fran (went to the science museum, botanical gardens, and had dinner at the Cliffhouse while there), then drove to wine country and visited and ate at several places up there. We also drove through Yosemite and then to Tahoe before going back to San Fran. While in Tahoe, we trekked down to the Vikingsholm castle and drove around the entire lake taking lots of pictures. We still love Tahoe, and managed to go there with our girls for a ski trip many years later. While on that trip we also drove around the high desert in Nevada and visited Pyramid Lake and a few other sites.
Another very memorable trip we took was when my husband was working on a project in Las Vegas. We drove from Vegas to an old ghost town and through Titus Canyon into Death Valley National Park. The drive through the canyon was an offroad trail, so not for the faint of heart. But the coolest part was that it rained in Death Valley that day.
As for beach vacations, one of our favorites that is drivable from where we live (GA), is Amelia Island. And if you go to Amelia Island, I definitely recommend a side trip to Cumberland Island for the day.
My husband surprised me with a trip to Culebra off the coast of Puerto Rico for our 25th anniversary a few years ago. He grew up in San Juan but never made it to Culebra. He booked a lovely B and B and we tooled around the island on a golf cart. We snorkeled every day (Carlos Rosario beach was spectacular) and took a day trip to culebrita for swimming and exploring. And the seafood was the best!!I told him he can plan our 30th anniversary trip since he did such a great job.
Almost all our family vacations were either trips to Asheville, NC to visit with family or to the tidewater area of Virginia to visit Will’s family. We had one disastrous vacation to the FL panhandle with Will’s family when I had three kids. Two were sick the day we got there and it rained for the entire week. The baby broke out in hives and the 3 year old came down with bronchitis. Much fun was had by all. (Not really.) With the infinite wisdom of the childless, Will’s brother and sister thought we’d do just fine with one bedroom (double bed) and the couch in the LR. I ended up sleeping between my 7 yr old daughter and my coughing 3 yr old. Well, sleeping is an exaggeration, especially with an itching, irritable toddler in the portacrib. I let my husband take the couch. I’m a saint.
Will and I have a dream of visiting Scotland and Wales some day but so far it hasn’t been possible. Will’s family traces back to Wales. We have traced his ancestor Thomas Gwaltney who immigrated to the US back to an area in Wales and would love to go and see it.
Which part of Wales,. Carrie?
Pembrokeshire, which I believe is the westernmost part of Wales.
I’ve had some great trips… Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore, Phoenix, Sedona, Chicago, Boston, Disneyland and Disney World, Mexico, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain, in particular Scotland twice. But the trip I always look back on was in 1978 when I was 18. My BFF and I went to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras. It was very low budget, I had maybe $40 on me, and we traded housekeeping and babysitting for room and board for two weeks while we stayed in the apartment of a friend of BFF’s older sister. The friend showed us some of the sights during the day and explained Mardi Gras traditions. Then we went out every night to enjoy the parades and night life. That trip was life changing for me as I gained a lot of confidence and learned to explore. For future trips, I have a goal of joining the 50 State Club. I only have 24 more to go and will knock off about 4 of them this Fall. I also would like to visit all seven continents some day.
I need to make a list of the states. I’ve been to North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. I am ambivalent about Antarctica but plan to go to Australia in the next two years.
I have four more states to go: Hawaii, Oregon, Missouri, and Arkansas. My list is so big because my family drove across the US twice–once the Northern Route and once the Southern Route and we used to drive up and down the East Coast.
Three of my four kids just drove across the US twice–the Southern Route from NC to San Francisco and then back–on the Northern Route–from San Fran to Virginia. They’ve now gone to all these cool places I went to as a kid–the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, White Sands National Park–which I just love!
I have wanted to do a cross country trip, so maybe one day I will. In the meantime I am doing a few states at a time with a goal of at least two states a year. I have to stay at least one full day and night, so all those layovers in airports don’t count.
Cross country trips are pretty amazing especially if you are into national parks.
I downloaded a coloring book map of the U.S. so I can color in each state as I visit.
We’re on the same vacation! But with my kids getting older, I’ve been trying to carve out beach time with my boys & husband.
My favorite best trips include an annual trip to Santa Monica/LA with my sister’s, weekends spent listening to live music and pretending I’m 20 years younger at Outside Lands in San Francisco, and trips to Mexico. Food, amazing small towns and cities (if you love Paris, you should try Mexico City), sunshine, shopping, beaches, pools…I love Mexico & have so many great memories of fantastic vacations there.
Fiction has made me terrified of Mexico. I realize it’s a varied nation but it just freaks me out.
My husband has some projects in Mexico. He travels there for a week or so once a quarter. After my youngest starts college (this year) I want to take a week off and go with him next time he needs to travel to either Cabo or Puerto Villarta.
I know my fear is totally hyped but it’s real. I also feel that way about Israel but, despite that, I am going there in April. So, I’m sure I’ll make it back to Mexico. (We went to Acapulco on our honeymoon which was a disaster and I’ve never been back!)
My parents have a home in the San Jose side of Cabo. It’s a wonderful getaway. But my husband does A LOT of work allover Mexico & a great getaway is the small college town of Puebla. We feel very safe when we are there – but I understand that the news inspires fear.
Pre-kids, we had some great times backpacking around the Greek Islands. We’d book the last flight out of Heathrow to Athens on a Friday night (around 10.30 pm), arrive in the early hours and then see where the next local flight was going, or go to the harbour to catch a boat if we wanted to go farther. (I’m not great on boats though, so usually it was the plane option!) With the kids, we’ve had some lovely times in France, and I can’t wait to get back, although that seems as though it’s a way off yet. I have so many places I want to go – and yet now I’ve got the time (I’m sort of semi-retired now) I can’t go anywhere!!
I’m going to Greece (and Turkey and Israel) for the first time in April. I can’t wait!!!
With the kids: probably our trip to Washington DC in 2007. Our children were just old enough to understand and appreciate the history of every place we visited. And through our congressional representative, we were able to sit in the gallery and watch a session of the House of Representatives. We visited all the museums and attended a service at the National Cathedral. A busy but wonderful week.
As empty-nesters: A toss-up between a trip to New York in 2017 (where my husband and I visited the museums and, being the big baseball fans we are, saw a Yankees game, a Mets game, and went to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown); or our Key West vacation in 2018 where we had the most relaxing time and were able (with visits to Miami and Tampa) to see both a Marlins game and a Rays game.
Our current plan is for a big family vacation with our children next year in Asheville. We will, of course, be driving there with a stop in Atlanta to see a Braves game. I told ya—we’re a baseball-lovin’ family!
My brother’s family lives in Asheville, and my daughter graduated from UNC Asheville a couple of years ago. It’s a fun place to vacation.
We’re really looking forward to it and already have a long list of places we want to visit and things we want to do while we’re there. If I ever win the lottery, I’m going to make Asheville my base of operations and buy a big house there (I think, climate-wise, it’s the best of the south, not too hot/humid, not too cold/snowy), with a little place in the Florida Keys and a pied-a-terre in the museum district of NYC. Well, a gal can dream….
Well, it gets really cold there! Very windy. But then I’m a total wimp about cold weather.:-) It is beautiful and the summers are not bad. I think your post-lottery win plans are very appealing. I’d just change it up to a summer house in Asheville, a beachy place for the cold season and use the rest for airbnbs. We’ve never been able to afford to travel, so I’d love to hit out across the country and then on to foreign climes!
I love Asheville and spend a lot of time there. It’s one of the best small cities in America and the surrounding area is the bomb!!!
And a foodie place from what I remember. My husband and I went there once over Valentine’s day weekend and our lesson was that you NEED TO MAKE RESERVATIONS to eat anywhere in Asheville when it’s a popular holiday (and probably normal weekends as well).
I love eating in Asheville. My current faves are:
Corner Kitchen
Curate
Chai Pani
Early Girl
The Bull and Beggar
It’s a toss-up for me. My first trip to the western Highlands of Scotland many years ago was memorable because it was a return to the land of my forefathers who emigrated during the last of the clearances in the late 19th century to first Canada and then the USA. The highlight was the Isle of Skye which, to my mind, is the most beautiful place on the planet. We were lucky that there was a clear, cloudless blue sky and we could see the Cuillin mountains sharp and clear as we approached from the mainland. I know some hikers who, despite many climbing trips, have never seen the Cuillins without them being shrouded in fog. I never tire of the Highlands (despite many visits) and though I have visited wonderful and stunning places in the USA, Europe, Russia and China, I have never loved them as much.
For a short break holiday, I guess that would be our 40th wedding anniversary when we had two nights at The Ritz in London. It was utterly magical. We were treated like royalty, nothing was too much trouble for the staff and the dining room is often said to be the most beautiful in Europe:
The Ritz Restaurant in Mayfair | The Ritz London Hotel
My dream trip? To eat and drink my way from Milan to Palermo though my dear husband always tells me that I could have done that for free during WW2 though it would have meant wearing a helmet and carrying a rifle. If I had to choose just one cuisine to eat for the rest of my life it would be Italian.
I have eaten many of the best meals in my life in Italy. So. Good.