One of the best was when we drove to Florida, through Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Georgia, took a cruise to the Bahamas, then drove up the coast, stopping at many places along the way, through South and North Carolina, looked up some of my ancestry at the Library of Virginia in Richmond, then went to Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello. Through West Virginia to my wife's cousins in Ohio. Through Indiana and Illinois to a family cemetery of my ancestors in Missouri then back home. I think we were gone three weeks or a little longer. This was in 2006, the year before I retired.
That would have been a really fun trip. That involved a lot of driving. A friend and I drove from Virginia to New Mexico and back again, in about a week. That was a long trip as well. It was late Winter at the time. and getting into a blizzard in Arkansas that lasted and extended up until Illinois was pretty frightening, Arkansas is a bigger state than people realize. Trying to find a motel in that storm was a real bear!
I've traveled a lot so it's hard to pick a favorite, different places for different reasons. The Caribbean wedding Cruise for my niece was fun because there were about 40 of us from both families. It was like a family reunion on a cruise ship. I think that may have been the last trip also my mother was on...at least with me. I shared a cabin with her. The only 2 widows in the family. But I think I'll pick Tunisia as my favorite place. It was a unique experience and our hotel was right on the Mediterranean. Plus I can say I've been in Africa. I've been in South America, Europe, Africa and North America. My trip to Tunisia was in 2000.
The place I would have loved to go see is the Grand Canyon, I have a DVD of it and I shed tears, such an inspiring view. In our clip, a little animal goes to the edge and looks over - I'm fillin' up thinking on it ............. Then I would like to go to Austria, to the spot where Julie Andrews runs up that hill and does her twirl I want to do that ....................
I have seen this thread before but I failed to have a clear idea of what to post. We travel frequently abroad aside from local trips. Maybe I would settle for Hongkong, my first trip there in 1994. We bought a tour package with Emirates airlines. On our departure in Manila, we were upgraded to business class. Gee, my first plane ride on business class, huh. The airport was in Kai Tak, a very busy airport with so many passengers but the tour guide named Polly did not miss us or should I say we did not miss her. In the hotel, my husband's cousin Sheila met with us and treated us to lunch, our first dining in Hongkong for free. And then I did my first shopping with Bossini and some other stores. I can't forget my awe and admiration for Hongkong as the first foreign country I visited. In 2012, I returned to Hongkong twice that year and every year thereafter. My latest trip was last month where we stayed in Guangdong hotel for a 3-day vacation.
That one is on my bucket list! I have a thing about literary birthplaces/homes, so I definitely will get there before I kick the bucket. Another one I enjoyed was the Carl Sandburg house in Hendersonville North Carolina. Not quite as old as the aforementioned Orchard House and LIW house, but it is still fascinating if you are a fan of Sandburg at all. (Or goats, for that matter!) The family wanted everything left exactly as it was when he died, and so you can wander around the house and see what he was reading at the time, the dishes that were out, the blanket that was draped here or the cushion there, etc. It's really neat.
There are several trips that I have enjoyed, and sometimes, it is hard to choose a favorite one, especially when they are different kinds of trips and different places. However, probably the one that stands out in my mind was "taking Robin to Disneyland" . I love Disneyland ! When I was about 10, my folks drove to California to see my grandmother, and we stopped for a short visit to Disneyland . That was in 1955, and it was actually fairly new back then. Of course, when I grew up and had children, we promised them each year that we were going to take them to Disneyland . Finances were always too short, and we never got to take the kids, and eventually they all grew up. But in 1990, when Robin was almost 20, we actually did make the trip. We drove down in my 1980 Chevy Caprice, and we camped our way from just south of Seattle down through Washington, Oregon, and California, ending up at Disneyland. We had two tents, one for her dad and I , and a small pup tent for Robin, and we planned out the trip to spend each night at a campground along the way. I had a campground membership at that time, and we could camp at any of the member campgrounds free; and at affiliate ones for a nominal camping fee. The campgrounds had good showers/facilities, and some even had swimming pools and hot tubs. We didn't have to hurry, and we stayed off of the main I-5 freeway, and went along the older hwy.101 which went along the west coast, and had some spectacular views of the ocean as we drove through areas where the highway was close to the Pacific. We stopped at some of the local attactions along the way, such as the Oregon Vortex, where everythiing is topsy-turvy, and the wax museum , and several other places we were interested in seeing. Except for gas, it really did not cost a lot, because we had the cooler and kept it stocked with food and pop, and stopped for burgers or breakfast at truck stops along the way. One campground had a nice little lake for fishing (we had the fishing poles along) and we had fresh-caught trout for dinner that night. All in all, it was a great time, and if I were to have something that I called a "bucket list" (maybe a Wish List is a better name), it would be to have a little camper van, and @Bobby Cole and I could travel around to campgrounds and enjoy seeing more of America while we are still mobile enough to do something like that.
I lived in Anaheim for about ten years. I had a friend who worked the gates at Disneyland, and she would always let my son and I in free. In fact, as we got to know her friends at the gate, they'd let us in free too. So we went there often, and I always made sure that I had enough money for the tickets in the event that someone we didn't know was at the gate, but usually we got in for free. I also loved the coastal route.
I've enjoyed the road trips from Naples, Florida to Mobile, Alabama a side trip to Bayou La Batre. In the movie "Forest Gump." the shrimp boat and area was filmed there. Mobile, to visit relatives. I loved spending time with them growing up. Then a visit to Bellingrath Gardens and Home. On to Gulf Port, Mississippi, and off to New Orleans, Louisiana. I have friends there, were artists at heart, when we get together. A while back, my one friend had me relief wood carving with his Foredom flex shaft carver. I did look into the micro Foredom carver, kind of pricey. Now that I don't drive much. It's catching a plane from Ft,Myers Southwest Regional Airport Florida to Atlanta International Georgia and then Louis Armstrong Airport, New Orleans, Louisiana. It's alright, but lots of up and down. Driving it is 857 miles from Naples,Florida. Driving the gulf states is my favorite.
I've got two. We went on a 2 week Viking River Cruise, it was wonderful. Started in Amsterdam, ended in Budapest. Second was a side trip while on a South America cruise to the Galápagos Islands.
I lived in Budapest for 6 years while my husband was there on business, @Debbie in Seattle. Of course I am Hungarian so it was wonderful. Both sound like great trips! I was also born in South America...Argentina.