1) I had a birthday.
2) Bernie visited and looked through my scrapbooks from my big trip to Greece.
3) I found out we were hopelessly broke and it made me remember those days before marriage and kids when I had money.
Since I was sort of pining for the past, I thought I might look through the same scrapbooks I showed Bernie. If nothing else, I hoped it would motivate me to clean up my office so I could scrapbook again. All it did was make me a little weepy.
I went to Greece with a girlfriend who I never see anymore. (She, like MOST of my friends, moved away. And like most of THOSE friends, she moved to Charlotte.) She sent me a card while I was on leave to tell me she is expecting. She's been TRYING to expect since before I started trying to get pregnant the first time. I haven't even called her. I'm such a loser.
Anyway, we had the most amazing trip EVER. I look back at the pictures and realize that I will never have that chance again. I'm so glad I did it when I could. The way the finances look right now, I'm not sure we'll ever get to go to Europe again. Certainly not like that trip.
We were two American girls without any ties to anything... free to wander about as we pleased. She and I were great traveling companions because we understood each other so well. We are both a little wacky, albeit in different ways.
I can't get over how SKINNY I am in these pictures. This was the summer before I met Chris. I had just lost 40 pounds on the old "eat right and exercise" diet. I really need to get back to doing that. It's not like it would kill me. And these pictures remind me of just what CAN be possible.
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Sorry if they are a bit fuzzy... I scanned them from my scrapbook, obviously. But I hope they convey the youth and party-atmosphere of that wonderful trip. These are not the best pictures we took, but they are still great to look back on.
I would rank this as my favorite vacation ever. I've had other wonderful vacations, but this one really defies description. We were there two and a half weeks. We immersed ourselves in that beautiful country, and we came home changed. I would feel bad that my best vacation hasn't been with my husband, but I suspect he would tell you that his favorite vacation didn't include me. Sure, we've had some nice ones... but the number one trip... not with each other.
So tell me, what was YOUR number one vacation?
8 comments:
I'm very tempted to say England--you know I am!--but I'd have to go with Italy. I went in the summer of 2000, while I was living in the UK, with my two dearest friends (who I've sadly not kept in touch with since I moved back to the US--because I, like you, am a correspondanslacker). We spent a couple of weeks in Rome and Venice, on the cheap, but it was terrific! We stayed in an old youth hostel in Rome (had a private room, but the bathroom was in the hall) that had a wonderful teeny-tiny balcony with french doors. And in Venice we camped right on the edge of the Venitian Lagoon (I mean right on--every morning we walked over to the dock to catch the ferry to the island). I had just taken Italian classes for the trip and always tried to order food, purchase things, and ask for directions in Italian. Add in all the amazing things we saw and did, and the sheer beauty of that country...and I think this trip deserves its own post in my blog!
I'd have to say, my favorite vacation so far was the week I spent with two friends in Hawaii. I was 20, I was skinny, our hotel was two blocks from Waikiki beach.
We had a blast.
That was a fun week.
Although my honeymoon was a dream trip that I will always cherish, my best vacation ever was with my family (Mom, Dad, Bro, Sis) to Asia in the summer of 2000. We roughed it in Laos, travelled through Thailand, shopped like madmen in Singapore and relaxed in Bintan (Indonesia). Not only was the trip itself great, but it happened at a time when everything was going well in my family's lives, and we each had so much to celebrate and look forward to. That trip was a huge turning point in all of our lives, and I truly believe it made us connect with one another all over again, and is part of the reason we are so close today. To me, that's the amazing thing about traveling. It goes beyond the destination ... I hope one day I'll get to take my husband and children on such an adventure.
Traveling on my own through the London, Edinborough, and Prague in three weeks was fun, as was doing New Years in Madrid. The Princess Cruise we took through the Caribbean - taking us to Venezuela and Grenada, was also a blast.
BTW: Va va voom...
You and I should both get on the "eat less, exercise more" program now...evem though it was anorexia that got me skinny
before...I'm too busy now.
Hiking in Alaska and camping out next to a frozen lake and waking up to the sounds of ptarmigans and surrounded by snowcapped mountains was awesome. It was totally serene and peaceful.
Also traveling on my own to South Korea was an adventure. It was a challenge since nobody spoke English and I was walking around like a mad tourist.
I know. I was hot, wasn't I? I'm starting to use some portion control (as of yesterday...) so hopefully I can at least get close to what I was. We'll see.
I wish I could say that I don't lose weight because I sit around and eat twinkies all day, but it's really not that, I don't even LIKE twinkies!
It's a mystery.
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