Jamaican Paradise
It was the Summer of 2008. My family and I had boarded the Carnival Sensation cruise ship. I could here the Jamaican band playing tunes...
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Worry-Free Southern California
During the summer, my family and...
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Goodbye’s Don’t Last Forever
We had finally arrived to the Belfast International Airport in Ireland after traveling for six and a half long hours from Atlanta Georgia. Though we had our house in...
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One Trip to Rule Them All
My family doesn't get to go on very many vacations. We are limited by many things, money being one of them. Another notable thing...
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Time for a change
In the summer of 2007, I visited Durango, Mexico. I can still picture it, as if it were only yesterday. When I think...
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My Sunkissed Summer of Fun
Knowing that my family and I were leaving for beautiful sunny California in less than day made me so stoked. Finally, I get to leave lame bipolar Oregon. Nevertheless, my body was pretty burnt out...
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My two weeks in the most inimitable city on Earth; New York City. This is where my heart is.
The sun shines through my window as I pull the covers off of me. It’s a new day, and the excitement that I have cannot be contained. I hurry to the shower and then hurry back to my room...
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Missery in Missouri
It was four o clock in the morning and there were four of us stuffed into our small Grand Am. All I could think about was how excited I was. We all couldn’t stop...
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The Neverending Night
We made our way down the darkend walkway to the dimly lit house on the corner. All that was heard was the slap of our feet hitting the concrete beneath us. Soon enough, my...
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Childhood Dreams Revisited
Ever since I was a tiny little girl, I have been obsessed with the magical world of Harry Potter. I'm sure many people have, but I'm serious when I say it's been a giant part of my life...
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Texas two times.
My mom disappeared when I was 8 years old, and the last time I saw her side of the family was when I was five years old. When I was 15, I finally got on a plan to go to Brenham Texas and see the...
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A Desert, A Tiny Car, and Some Complete Strangers
The ONLY reason I’m going is to visit my best friend at college, I told myself. Why else would I spend my senior year spring break sitting in a car for 12 hours with people I don’t...
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Annual Trip to the Southern Most Tip of NJ
Every year since I've been 7, my family has gone on vacation to the Southernmost tip of New Jersey, a three hour drive that is worth every single second. Just thinking about Cape May brings a...
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Reuniting With The Mayans
The musky, tropical, humid air was the first thing I noticed as I walked down those narrow steps of that six hour plane ride. We didn't even walk into the airport, but right in to the smack middle...
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My Bite of the Big Apple
When my aunt called me a few weeks before Christmas and invited me to go with her and my cousin Allynn to New York for Christmas, I was ecstatic! I had never done anything like...
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Bon Voyage
The summer of 2011, my sister and I had taken a trip to Northern France to visit our aunt, uncle, and cousin who have a summer house there. We were to stay there for a month to earn knowledge and...
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Sleeping on a bus, McDonalds, and New York City
On April 30th, 2008 things went from good to worse, as the Bagley Middle School Band and Chorus were ready and set to go on their yearly trip. This year...
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My Bonding Vacation
I have taken many great vacations with my family, but the vacation that we took in March of 2012 changed my life forever. My parents booked our Spring Break vacation from March 10 – 17, 2012...
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Kristen’s journey to the Bahamas
I was in 7th grade when I got the news "we're going on a cruise to the Bahamas!" my brother J.D told me excitedly, he wasn't supposed to tell me because I tend to get overly...
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An Amateur Wanderlust
I had never left the country without my parents. I live minutes away from the Mexican border yet I've never crossed it. The last intercontinental voyage I embarked on was to the Philippines with...
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My Journey
My Personal Journey & Adventure My family and I had been dreaming about visiting the Grand Canyon in Arizona since before I was born. It was always...
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Family Heritage.
Last summer, I traveled halfway across the world to China. My grandparents from both sides of my family currently live there. Most of my family lives in China, so whenever I go there I get bombarded...
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Vacationing in the Keys
From the moment I know the trip has been planned, my mind anticipates the relaxation, and when I see the low, aquamarine median wall out of the car window on U.S. 1, I know I’m close. Salt water...
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Flags and Footprints
I came around the bend on the wooded path and gasped. Rarely have I ever seen anything quite as stunning as the view that was before...
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Bravery at the top of a temple
The heat of the sun was beating down...
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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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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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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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My Hut Is Your Hut
Pitch dark, ten degrees hotter than outside, a stench of manure. I can barely make out the outline of a woman, or rather a girl of twenty, who sits in silence as she feeds her...
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Who Can Get The Closest?
It was reckless. It was reckless, stupid, and dangerous. But, it was just the rush I was looking for in my Yellowstone vacation. Standing outside of the Gardiner, Montana Gateway...
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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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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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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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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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Road to Lonavala
Mumbai has two temperatures; hot and hotter. Especially during the summer months, the city can be nearly unbearable. The traffic, the incessant push of humanity, and the raw poverty that fill the muddy,...
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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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The Roman Equation
As the saying goes, “Rome was not built in a day.” Therefore, being able to explore all of Rome and its treasures in a day alone is a highly impossible feat. To make this equation...
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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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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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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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