BATE: Vacation Memories

[Basel Gill]

Hi everyone! It's time for the annual Brown Ajah Travel Event! In this thread, everyone is invited to share their remembrances of vacations past. Have any funny or touching stories of something that happened to you on vacation? Or just some really nerve-wracking experience that you will never forget?

 

I'd like to start off with an experience I had in Washington, DC about 7 years ago. I was there for a weekend gathering of online friends. Some of us had met before, and some were new to meeting in real life. On Saturday evening after everyone had dinner together, a bunch of us decided to do a driving tour of the monuments at night. We had fun, but as we were making our way back to the group hotel, it began to rain. Hard. It was raining hard enough that we had to stop driving because some major streets we needed to go down were blocked off. So the five cars or so we had gotten into pulled over on a hilly section of some street to try and wait it out. Except it kept raining and raining, and I would later find out that it made the national news. We kept in touch with the people in the other cars via cell phone. (Actually, this was a pivotal event in my decision to finally get my first cell phone.) When it kept raining, and the surrounding streets were still blocked off, we got out, locked the cars up, and made our way to the nearest subway station, and took the train back to the hotel. The drivers went back on the train the next morning to get the cars and then safely drive back to the hotel.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I need to post every single vacation I ever went on now (not many which is why I remember each) but I'm wandering the wooded sandy path from our cabin to the town of Montauk in my memory now and as I'm 16 I think I'll just stay there for a bit :)

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

key west... went twice to my aunts little house with the canal in the back. age 5 and again at 8.

 

key west is Hemingway country and the cats roam free, like sacred cows. my aunt hates cats because of this.

 

I remember these visits more clearly than almost anything else from those days.

 

stars. no stars in the city, but I lay outside on the lawn at night in key west, and look up in the sky and I realize what infinite means. I don't think I ever saw more than two stars at a time before then. I stared all night and watched the sun rise every night I was there.

 

the water was beautiful and clear but I wasn't allowed near it because there were barracudas. hardly seemed fair.

 

uncle ward was my favorite uncle ever and he taught me what a metronome was and played his sax... I think it was a sax... out in the carport day and night.

 

they had a big police dog called Gustavus Adolphus, and he was a good dog. I was too shy to talk to anyone but him. Id read the Sunday comics to him and he'd listen.

 

I learned to needlepoint on the airplane cause I was too young for Valium and ... never took to flying. and I read Jonathan Livingston seagull. mom insisted. I didn't get it.

 

my aunt I thought was very religious bc she had the serenity prayer all over the house. and she took us to some sort of meeting where they gave me coloring books with Santa which was exotic to me. turns out that was AA. friendly bunch.

 

we ate dinner at 4 in buffets full of old people. and then went on drives with uncle ward who if he ever did less than 75 must have been making a left turn... we went to places with funny names like big deer key and sugarloaf.

 

worst thing about the trips was I still had to do my homework. but I did that on the plane back and no one ever tested me on those chapters of judges I skipped.

 

so all in all a very good time.

[blank]

Right so, favourite holidays!

 

So one of my favourite holidays is when I went to Cardiff to visit my best friend who lives there. (Infact I'm going next week   )

 

Cardiff is a lovely city - it's another big city (like the one I live in) so it's quite similar but it certainly has it's own characteristic feel.

 

They also have this magnificent castle right in the middle of the city which has amazing old history but is extra wonderful as they used the inside of the castle walls as bomb shelters during WW2! Also per Welsh humour...all the bins in the castle have men with top hats on them 

 

 

I went to the Doctor Who museum, stood in the place where the filmed Torchwood, visited the shrine that Torchwood diehards have created for a beloved character than was killed off in the series.

 

I think the reason I love it so much though is I like going to down to visit my best friend and getting to see how she has been living since she moved. I love meeting her new friends and putting faces to names and hanging out where she hangs out and stuff. 

The fact that I can still do this helps me feel closer to her even though we speak most days.

[The Bard Babe]

Ok, I basically wrote this in the favourite vacations thread... 

 

Also  o.O  !!!!!!!!!!!!! Blank, which character is that?   Was it

Ianto

????  Just nod, yes or no?  I kinda really hope it is and really hope it isn't at the same time...I'm planning a trip to Cardiff at the beginning of next year...I must mentally prepare myself if it's the spoiler tagged person!!!

[blank]

I'm hesitant to give you spoilers BB! 

 

Have you watched Children of Earth?

[The Bard Babe]

Yeah, I've watched them all, I just need to know which character your referring to. Based off that response, I'm going to assume it's who I said XD

 

Also, Frobisher as the new doctor?!?!?! So excited!!!  *stops spamming thread* 

[blank]

Eh yes it is 

 

It's very cute and also kind of mental, defo recommend going if you're down Cardiff Bay area!

[The Bard Babe]

Oh, there is no way I'm not going to that...and bawling my eyes out XD

 

I have the curse of my favourite characters always dying. I got attached to that character reeeeally quickly, and Starry already knew they were going to die and had to watch my descent into madness after it happened. XD

 

Right, stopping spamming....nnnnnnnnnnow.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

on a non spoiler related note...

 

Maine.

 

as advertised, full of lobsters. and lobster rolls omg lobster rolls. even McDonald's has them but like most everything they do it wrong, is ok, everyone else in Maine does it right. though not any cheaper than anywhere else, they are sooooo much better. and you can always get soft shells so you can tear them apart without special tools. I like ripping into my food. it's a carnivore thing.

 

a friend and i rented a room with a kitchen so we could cook and all we cooked and all we ate were lobsters. morning, noon, night.

 

Maine also has gorgeous rocky beaches and an ocean so blue... I've never seen just that shade of indigo anywhere else, little ripples of violet, stunning.

 

it's a long drive through a lot of states from PA. funny thing I noticed is that when you cross state lines the predominant trees change immediately. I guess every state replanted something different after the last deforestation.

 

also... moose are big and roads are very windy, so be careful if you go. and the mosquitoes up north are deadly, so deet for sure.

 

good time, that.

[keyholder21]

It's funny that the bad things are usually what you remember most.  I'm going to post a good memory and frustrating one heh.

 

 

Good Memories:  

 

I have fond memories of cruise ships since my husband and I had an amazing time on our honeymoon.  It was amazing not having to worry about anything moneywise (it was all paid up front) and to see my husband let loose in a way he never does in the States . 

 

I will forever hold Disneyland in my heart because it's the first place I met my Rasilove :).  We have been friends for years through various websites, but last February (2012) we finally got to meet in person!  It was awkward for a hot minute but then it was just amazing.  It was like we'd known each other all our lives .  The Tower of Terror was our fave ride and we rode a billion times - even going so far as to memorize the intro.

 

I also have a feeling that the trip home I'm about to take will be amazing.  I'm taking my son home to meet my family for the first time (he'll be 7 months).  We're taking family photos and hopefully will make lots of memories .  My little nephew is one month older than my son so it will be hilarious to watch them crawl around each other.

 

 

Frustrating Memory:

 

On the way back from our honeymoon cruise, our boat got delayed due to fog at the harbor.  Long story made shorter: it took hours to get into the harbor.  We had a flight home from Houston, which was an hour drive from the harbor, that day.  When we made the reservations, we figured 9 hours between docking and flight time would give us enough time. I had to catch the flight on that day because I HAD to be back at work on Monday morning (so I was told). This was in my first year of teaching and I was told to keep my contact valid (aka to keep my job and get paid) I needed to be there.  So, we finally get in to port hours later.  I have already rescheduled the flight twice and they tell me that the flight at 7 or 8 (I can't remember which one) was the last of the day.  So we had to catch that one to get home!  

 

The line to get back into the States is crazy long and we are super antsy because there's not a lot of time (*tip: if you go on a cruise, take your bags off the boat yourself.  It saves a ton of time and hassle*).  Sadly, we had them take our bags so then we have to wait in line for our luggage.  Then for customs.  Then an hour drive until the airport and like 65 minutes before the flight is supposed to leave.  We have a town car and he says he can't speed much, but he'll get us there as quick as he can.  A couple of shortcuts later and we get to the airport maybe 15 minutes before the flight is supposed to leave.  We run up to the counter and stand in line.  They have two lines - one speedy one for already checked in (us) and one regular line.  There is one person ahead of us in the speedy line.  He finishes and then the label switches over to regular.  Instead of helping us they make us get at the back of the regular line (GAH).  Husband starts to get super pissed and getting loud, so I'm trying to calm him down.  

 

We get up to the agent and check in.  An alarm goes off because it's so close to flight time and she says our bags might not arrive until tomorrow - we say fine.  Then we have alcohol from Mexico and Belize and they don't like the way we've packaged them.  So we have to buy special bags.  Okay, we say.  Well then she only has two and needs a third so she has to go in the back and look for one.  (GAH!) We ask if she can do that and we can leave.  She says no, we have to watch her put our bag on the belt.  So she finally comes back, packages the alcohol (in the slowest possible) and finally puts the bag on the belt.  Husband is steaming mad,but I'm shoving him behind me to talk to the woman because it's not her fault and she could definitely hurt us instead of helping.  I ask her to radio that we are on the way.  She agrees to and we run toward security.

 

Go through security having to remove our belts (both of us had lost weight and needed a belt to hold our pants up).  They decide husband is a terrorist and tell him to stand aside for a pat down.  We are basically the only people in security at this point.  He is standing there and they make an announcement over the loudspeaker for last call boarding our flight.  We both panic of course.  They finish with him and we shove on our shoes without untying them and are literally running through the airport holding our pants up and screaming that we are on the way.  

 

We get to the gate and they are all - I assume you are the people the front desk called us about  (Freaking DUH).  We nod and then shuffle us on the plane.  Then we can finally put our belts on and settle down.

 

If that wasn't frustrating enough, I get to the meeting on Monday morning and only half the people are there. I ask where they are (thinking maybe they split us up) and TPTB say that they are still on vacation.  I ask about contracts and they say that it wasn't a 'have to be here' it was more of a 'we hope you will be here.' I said that's not what it sounded like and they said if they make it sound nicer then no one shows, so they make it sound bad but it's not really that big a deal since they do the same meeting a week later for those that missed it.

 

HEADDESK. 

[Daruya]

Wow, Em . . .   Sometimes it seems airlines go out of their way to make things difficult.  I remember one time when I was TDY, the airline changed the depature gate in Dallas but the gate they announced on the plane as we were preparing to land reflected the old gate.  Of course, we were running late (out of Abilene) so I literally ran to the gate only to find out it had been switched. So I ran all the way to the other gate only to find out the plane was already on the runway.  I ended up spending the night in Dallas and catching an early morning flight out.  I have gotten to where I hate flying because I've had so many horrible experiences when I was TDY.  The worst one was probably when I was trying to get back from Shreveport . . .

 

We used to go on vacation a lot when I was a kid but money has been so tight we haven't been able to do the same for my kids.  But when I was a kid and we lived in Germany, we used to go camping a LOT, usually outside Bundenback.  Us kids would explore caves and ruins of castles and be gone all day roaming the hills.  Another time, we drove to Venice, Italy, on a vacation.  We visited the Luxembourg Zoo and a military cemetary there.  We visited Salzburg and Chiemsee and Burg Eltz . . . so many happy memories from that time!  I loved the castles!

 

With our kids, we've driven once to Canada to visit my M-I-L shortly after she had a stroke.  She'd never met our youngest (who was about 2 years old at the time) and hadn't seen our oldest since he was about 18 months old.  That was the last time we saw her (though we weren't to know it then). On the way home, we stopped at Ft. Boonesboro and they had some reenactment stuff going on.  We sat and talked with some Shawnee, who invited the boys into their wigwam and told them the story about the Mingo leader Logan (my oldest's name is Logan).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Logan  We took photos but lost the disposable camera by leaving it on top of the van as we buckled the boys into their car seats to leave.  I was pretty upset about that . . .  We also took the boys to Six Flags in 2006, I think (we had free tickets).  We took them to Wild Adventures a few years later (stayed in our camper at a campground in Valdosta).  Most recently, we took them to Disney World (last year).  Although they were born in Florida and lived here all their lives so far, they'd never been.  The only reason we were able to go was I had won 4 free tickets to Night of Joy.  We were able to gain entry into the park at 2 and catch many concerts and ride many rides.  It was really fun.  I've been entering to win tickets this year, too; Skillet and Plumb are going to be there in concert!

 

We've had big dreams about the vacations we'd love to take our boys on.  Driving an RV around the U.S., visiting so many places - Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon . . . but we refuse to vacation on credit cards and go deep into debt.  So we try to make the most of staycations, on the rare occasion we all have time off together.

[Rhea]

My best vacation memories from childhood are traveling all over the USA with my parents. From Hawaii to Florida and everywhere in between. We took many road trips across the States and spent time with family all over the country. We also went on cruises and to the Bahamas. One trip in particular when we were on a cruise we spent one of day ports in Haiti. I remember the children there running up to us to see if we would buy different thing. They were all wearing shabby clothes and none of them had shoes. One little girl was about my age. I gave her my flip flops and made my mom buy a few things from her. I still have them. That same night when we were supposed to take the small boat back to the ship a storm came in and the little boat almost capsized. I was very scared. The crew said all the women and children were supposed to move to the front of the boat and the men to the rear. I refused to let go of my father. My mother was a tiny thing and she couldn't swim, there was no way I was going with her! When we got back to the ship the crew was waiting for us with warm towels and in each of our rooms they had warm blankets and hot tea waiting. We were grateful for that! We were all drenched!

 

Best vacation memory with my kids was going to Orlando as a family and visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park. We did other stuff too, but that was the highlight!

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

I remember the first time I went to my best friends home for part of the summer. she's from Saratoga springs... well, really from a few hundred acres of woods and sand outside of balston spa, ny.

 

she has a very nice family. her parents had her when they were older, so she's always been careful of them. and her brothers seven years older than she so he's always been careful of her.

 

I don't know why but she and her family adopted me more or less in college. they took me in as one of their own.

 

her house was like summer camp, a cabin in the woods. I was fresh from the city, and everything about the place drew me in. it was like another world. it smelled different, tasted different.

 

we spent the days walking the property, helping in the garden (I thought of it as a farm back then, at least five acres planted), riding ancient trucks though the woods looking for poachers, lol, watching her mom stand up to some of those bad boys was hysterical. we'd play with her dogs, and the ptarmigan her dad had tamed from the wild. we'd bake bread, slice up fresh tomatoes still hot from the sun, boil the water before we picked the sweet corn... head into town for an ice cream or Sunday breakfast.

 

at night we'd go out into the woods when the grown ups were asleep and meet up with her and her brothers friends and ... you know, college kid stuff.

 

once a week we'd take the bonneville with the 6x6 wooden bumper into Saratoga and go to a dive or a club. usually a dive bc tho we were of age (it was 18 then) they gave us a hard time about IDs cause me and my friend have the same birthday. they thought they must be fake. lol, like we'd be that dumb.

 

but the dives wouldn't care.

 

and then we'd creep back through the foggy summer nights in the old boat, treats ready to hush the dogs, and sneak into the house in bare feet... and sleep till the birds woke us a few hours later.

 

best days of my life I think.

[Basel Gill]

It was an experience when I was in Virginia Beach in 2004. This was for my first online meetup. In fact, it was my first vacation as an adult and the first time I had made my own travel arrangements. I had booked this three weeks in advance, and the people involved had booked an outdoor table at a hotel restaurant for lunch. What no one knew when they made the arrangements was that Hurricane Ivan would come rolling through Virginia and North Carolina that weekend. I wound up staying in my hotel room much of Friday night due to the massive rainstorm. The area was only grazed by the hurricane, with the brunt of landfall hitting farther south. Lunch on Saturday involved us staying outside, but the restaurant had plastic sheeting that could be pulled down from the roof to enclose the outdoor seating in case of bad weather. It began to rain moderately right then, and we availed ourselves of the sheeting. The area just got hit enough to turn the weather bad, but not hard enough to evacuate. So now I can say that I've been in a hurricane.

[Mrs. Cindy Gill]

does anyone keep souvenirs of their vacations to keep their memories tangible?

 

I used to keep scrapbooks and seashells and little statues of the places I'd go. but they're all gone now I think.

 

I still have some pictures of Spanish galleons and the sky and fields and rainbows I'd see from an airplane window. but I found carrying the camera (they were real cameras, with extra lenses and film canisters... mostly full of film... and tripods and flashes and slave flashes and all) took my attention away from what was happening so I didn't have the memory, just the picture.

 

my sister has a vial of sand from every beach she's ever visited. she brings back intercontinental chocolate, too, but doesn't save it.

 

do things like that preserve the memory or maybe give you something to trigger the sensations of a special moment in time and space?

[Rasheta Ardashir]

I will forever hold Disneyland in my heart because it's the first place I met my Rasilove :).  We have been friends for years through various websites, but last February (2012) we finally got to meet in person!  It was awkward for a hot minute but then it was just amazing.  It was like we'd known each other all our lives .  The Tower of Terror was our fave ride and we rode a billion times - even going so far as to memorize the intro.

 

I miss you too you know. ;) I couldn't have said the above better one of the best memories i've had.

 

Other good ones were I met Charis and Ryrin this year in Disneyland. We had a great time, although it was cold the whole week we were there and so we all had summer clothes and we ended up all having to buy winter clothes at the park because it was so cold. So let that be a lesson to all remember to pack for all weather conditions. *laughs*

 

Dar I miss Germany I need to get back over the pond! Germany is full of really good memories for me too long to type them all out just the whole country is awesome.

[KassidyRose DaiShan]

I am now just starting to go on vacations with my fiancee  so, I don't have many memories . Our vacation time is coming to a stop we are saving for our wedding !

[tonnalea]

Oh, I thought of one again. This wasn't really a vacation, but any time that my fiancee and I get to be away from that hole of a 

place that we work in counts! lol 

 

We went to his uncles for the weekend last year. His cousin was pregnant and I was going to the baby shower. They had rented the

gymnasium in the rec center there for it. So the guys drop all of us off and then go down to one of the pubs while we did the shower

thing. Everything was going great, we were eating, playing silly little baby shower games, and just goofing off. Finally, we get to the 

part when it's time to open all of the presents. Our mommy-to-be is sitting up in front of us, and after opening a ton of other presents,

she finally gets this one and opens it up. Someone had bought her a little nighty-like set...it wasn't really a provocative one or anything, but it

had these dainty little straps and a pair of shorts. They came with a little note that read, "For mommy, after the baby". So we're all whistling

and making silly comments geared towards the couple having another baby. About that time, the fire alarm goes off in the building. It is an old 

building, and no one smelled smoke or anything...so at first, we all just ignore it. Finally this man comes running in there and tells us that we need

to get out. We all file out of there and we're milling around in the parking lot, listening to fire trucks coming up the road and making jokes about that

nighty being so hot that it caught the building on fire. The timing of the whole thing was just funny. Our guys had heard a scanner in the pub and came

running back to the rec center in an effort to "save us" from the fire. 

 

As it turns out, the smoke alarms in that building were really sensitive. They have kitchens in another part of the building and they have a lot of activities

for the elderly. What had happened was one of the older women in that part of the building had tried to boil an egg and had forgotten about it. The water

boiled away and the egg started smoking in the pot she was using. That's what set off the alarm. We eventually got to go back in and finish our party. The

older woman came down and apologized to us, she was worried that she had scared the little pregnant girl. We gave her some cake and she went back to 

her friends. It was a great weekend, but that part was just funny. We're still laughing about it and making jokes.