A Life Changing Moment at a Football Game (Of All Places)!
Sometimes, short moments in someone’s life can influence them forever. It was my first Giants away game. It was a battle between the Giants and the Colts at Indianapolis: a sibling rivalry between...
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In the Unglamorous Side of Traveling, We Often Find the Remarkable
It was the scenery. The colors in the market in Otavalo to the sun just visible behind the peaks in Maccu Piccu. But it was also the food. Fish tacos in a nearly deserted restaurant on the shore...
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It Passes All My Understanding
As we neared the ground to Cusco, Peru I took notice to the beautiful mountains. Green. Not from the trees... It was an incredible view from above. The farm lands looked like a patchwork quilt of different...
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A Week with a Few Half Wild Elephants
I had always wanted a “real” volunteer experience and so, after three years of saving and a dream I thought would never be true, I was now sleeping in the jungle of Chiang Mai, Thailand with my sister,...
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An Agnostic in Paris
March 23, 2011 I'm not sure how to cleverly start this, so I just have to begin with the basic fact that I am currently on a speed train going through the French countryside. I've just spent two wonderful...
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Never Sea-sick – Our Baltic Adventure
Last summer I went on a family vacation that surpassed all my high expectations. My “frequently cruising” family announced that our next trip would be a Baltic Cruise by Celebrity, and prepared for...
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Deux Semaines a Paris (Two Weeks in Paris)
It is really quite a surreal feeling. My whole life I had been planted firmly in America, having no knowledge of the world outside of my confinements. When the massive airbus 380 touched down in Paris,...
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Change in the Canadian Rockies: Banff National Park
There are many Canadian national parks, but perhaps the oldest and most well know is the Banff National Park, located 110—180 km (68—110 mi) west of Calgary, Alberta. Its large area (6,641 sq km;...
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A Week in Alaska — a Twilight Zone
I step off the airplane and look around nervously; I scan the unfamiliar faces until I suddenly make eye contact with a graying-redhead. I smile, run over, and give her a hug of pure exhilaration. I check...
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Jazmine’s Trip
My trip was from Mexico to the United States, during the spring of 2009. It was my first trip without my parents. It took my aunt and me three days to travel from San Luis Potosi to Chicago, Illinois....
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I Grew Up
Funerals and burials in America seem so easy, simple, and closing. Once you step into another country, it’s completely different. Traveling to Dominican Republic for the burial of my grandmother changed...
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Homage to History
After a ten hour drive across California, Nevada, and into Utah, it is always nice to step out of the car and take in the fresh mountain air. At a quick stop, on the way into Salt Lake City to pick up...
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A very different summer vacation
When I was thirteen years old, I took a trip that changed my life. After a summer spent constructing awkward Spanish phrases I was ready to board the plane to Nicaragua. A beautiful country, Nicaragua...
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My amazing trip to China
My trip to China was amazing. I miss China even more now than I did the day I had to leave. I was able to visit 6 different cities, Beijing, Xi'an, Guilin, Shanghai, Wuzhen, and Hangzhou. Shanghai was...
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My Trip to Buffalo, New York
05/15/12 We left at 6 in the evening. The 18-hour journey to Buffalo, New York gave me plenty of time to think. My family...
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My Life Changing Trip to Syria
The excitement that built up inside me over the year was finally expelled when I saw my parents carry the suitcases upstairs into our bedrooms. The leftover smell of the spices...
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The perspective changing trip to Costa Rica
An abrupt silence fell over the previously boisterous bus. I had never seen anything resembling such an area in my entire life. I could not have imagined anything similar. Compared...
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Welcome to the Jungle!
“Welcome to Jamaica! We got fun and games!” bellowed my fellow team members as we bumped down a dirt road. I only paid half my attention to their Guns ‘N Roses parody, for...
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Back to the One I Love
Last summer, my mother, sister and I took a 14 hour long flight back to our roots in Guangzhou, China. The last time I visited China was three years ago and the wait was long overdue....
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Two Weeks, Two Visits, Two Families
My family has always been one that enjoys traveling, however, in all of the vacations we have taken, our trip to Spain is the most interesting adventure. The vacation started,...
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To Grandmother’s House We Go
Every few years, my family packs the car and we head to my grandmother’s house for the holidays. My grandmother lives in a small farm community just west of Chicago, called...
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No’ar Hadash Summer 2010; Discovering My Second Home, Israel.
It is July 13th, 2010, local Israeli time, 7:15am, I am on an ElAl flight from Newark, New Jersey to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. I am with a Reconstructionist youth...
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Getting to the Penny
When my guidance counselor suggested that I visit colleges before applying, I don’t think that this is what she had in mind. There were six of us-my mom, aunt, brother, sister,...
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My Life Changing Experience
Fall 2009, I was chosen to be on the leadership team at my high school. I was put in charge of a Christmas shoebox drive for Haiti. I was excited to help collect shoeboxes...
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Christmas in Italy—10 Days of History, Art, & Culture
There I stood, a child of just 13, gazing up at Michelangelo’s majestic David, still not believing I was actually in Italy. As I glanced around the room, I couldn’t recognize any other works...
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Marble in the Rockies
The beauty of the mountains surrounding the tiny town of Marble, Colorado is astounding. Sitting on the deck outside our room at Beaver Lake Lodge, I can see one of the many sparkling...
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Parlez-Vous Français?
Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I glanced out the airplane window preparing to land into Nice, France. My first glance of the French Alps lining the sparkling Mediterranean...
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Surprise!
“Okay kids, we’ll go ahead and tell you. We are going to take a weekend trip to Atlanta, Georgia next weekend!” Mom said. ...
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Nicaragua’s Next Top Model: The Real Deal
I take my first step into a world that, until a few years ago, I never would have conceived knowing. The humidity shocks me, giving my straight, smooth hair a new, un-appealing...
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My Alaskan Expedition
It is cold, there are mountains surrounding me, the sky is overcast, yet the sun seems unaware that it is after midnight; this is Alaska in the summer. Two years ago my family decided to take...
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A Williamsburg Trip With Many Misadventures!
The blistering sun beats down upon the beautiful, yet old-fashioned décor while a trumpet and the pounding of drums fill the air with an intense feeling of patriotism. Such a...
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An Afternoon at St. Peter’s
I happily pulled a less-than-ideal-in-100-degree-weather black cardigan over my shoulders and gazed up 450 feet to the world famous dome of
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Farm Fresh
This summer, my family and I traveled to another world! The people were strange, the water tasted weird, and I had the time of my life!
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Jazz, Chocolate, Spaghetti, and Unity
The trip began as multiple performances but ended as an eye-opening experience. I sat quietly in the Chicago Airport—a reserved 14-year-old girl high school freshman awaiting...
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A Hellas of a Time
Each summer, my family and I travel to Serbia to visit our relatives in Belgrade and Leskovac, the former a vibrant capital city and the latter a charming town rooted in tradition....
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A Requiem for Hope in a Forlorn Nation
A thick blanket of humidity and heat surrounded my mother and me. We had arrived to the rendezvous point where our Haiti Medical Mission Team would assemble before departing for...
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Peace, Love, and Ducks
I woke with a smile on my face and more energy than I could imagine. It was the summer of my sixteenth year and the first time I had left the United States. The beauty...
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A Ray of Hope
The summer after my sophomore year in high school I went on a family vacation to Maui. I had heard so many wonderful stories about Hawaii that I had no doubt my vacation would...
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Pore, Croatia.
This summer I went to Pore, a little town located on the west coast of Istria Peninsula in Croatia. Pore is almost 2,000 years old and it has a population of approximately 17,000....
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Nashville and Gatlinburg: A Great Family Adventure
Our amazing vacation started with a long car drive from Missouri to Tennessee. Upon arriving in Gatlinburg, we were fascinated by the brightly-lit shopping strip in the middle...
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Up to Mackinac Island
Interesting family vacations are no stranger to my family and I. We have traveled all around the United States, Maine to Florida to Wyoming, and accumulated many great stories...
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OHSET State Trip
Hey everyone! I am from Elmira, Oregon and am heading up to Redmond in a couple of minutes. That means I have sit in the truck for three hours. And listen to my mom and a couple of her friends talk, boring....
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Lost in Nature
In today’s society getting away from all technology is a hard thing to do, even when you travel the technology, like cell phones, is still a temptation for most teenagers. In...
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Journey to Nicaragua
During the summer, I discovered a lot about my father's homeland of Nicaragua. As a teen, my father and his family barely escaped the Sandinista Rebels, sadly leaving...
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My friend, Tortuguero and My Pre-Historic Adventure
It was a very early morning in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, a modern community of resorts and upscale residences. I was up early. It was, after all, my first morning in beautiful Nuevo,...
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India 2010: Family, Food, Fun, Fantastic and Family…Again
I could start this essay the ol' fashioned way. You know "the days were hot, the nights were cold," yada, yada, yada. The days were hot and the nights were hot but not as hot. What would you...
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Eye Opener
The exhausting 22 hours plane ride, unusual bed times and powerful aches are all bearable for a vacation to Nepal, my home and one of the third...
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Next Year in Jerusalem
"Next Year in Jerusalem," said my dad as he stared at me with eyes full of pride. The phrase used to end the Seder ceremony during Passover was finally about to come true for me. In just a matter of...
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Shoes for Haiti
My trip to Haiti this year was a completely unexpected miracle that expanded my view on the world. This year the family trip was supposed to be a three week fiesta in Europe - "exploring the world"...
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