An Eye Opening Exerience
There are many recollections of memorable family vacations and reunions, however there is one vacation that stands out. It was a cruise vacation on the Royal Caribbean ship liberty...
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The Beauty of the Falls
When you imagine beauty do you see a magnificent waterfall streaming water into a river below? I do, and that’s why my recent trip to Niagara Falls was...
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An EPIC Adventure (Traveling through “Disneyland for Grownups”)
It was not supposed to be anything other than getting my oldest brother, Andrew, settled into his new job at Epic Systems Corporation in Verona, Wisconsin. At least, that is what I first thought. ...
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The Great and Mighty Sequoia National Park
Sequoia. A breath taking sight to behold no matter what season. A haven for people seeking an escape from their daily stressful routines. The park is blessed with wise old trees towering at unbelievable...
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Disney World or Bust….Or That Was What I Thought!
The large pretzel jar was labeled “Disney World or Bust” and was almost filled to the top with coins. My family had been saving for our family trip for two years and we knew this...
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Meeting Myself
If you haven’t seen Barcelona at twilight, you will never really understand the true meaning of the word “beautiful.” I toured Barcelona on a cold, yet refreshing December day....
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Family Vacation to Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia
Spring break, 2012, and my parents, my three younger siblings, and I left North Carolina for a two day stay in a lakeside home at Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. The...
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The Big, The Beautiful, The Bison and The Broken
Throughout my life I’ve traveled across the United States after my parents set the goal for me to see the 48 continental states before going to college. However no trip has compared to...
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Cruise Through Radiator Aprings
Schools out for the summer but that doesn’t mean it’s time to stop learning. An education doesn’t always present itself in the form of text books, life experience is a valuable...
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The View of Hong Kong from a Double Decker Bus
After a stressful junior year of High School, nothing could describe how happy I felt when the airplane lifted off the ground of Chicago. I had been anticipating this trip for months, waiting to...
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The summer adventure of a lifetime: Summer vacation 2007
In the summer of 2007 my family and I took a trip to Europe. Throughout the trip we explored Berlin Germany, Zurich Switzerland, and Barcelona Spain. Although we had a blast, our main mission in...
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Assimilating with Nature
Traveling can be a very relaxing and rejuvenating experience, specifically when traveling to an area that is open in a variety of natural aspects. Every summer my family travels to San Luis Potosi,...
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Locks of Love
The Louvre: a famous palace-turned-museum most famous for housing the well-known Mona Lisa, or la Jaconde,...
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Where are the spies in Washington D.C.?
As we stepped out of our car and onto the gravel parking lot, I knew we were going on an adventure that was completely new to me and my family. As we waited for the Amtrak train bound for Chicago to arrive,...
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An ocean of sounds
As we walked, passing small stores, people’s shadows and Nigerian men selling coach bags on the streets, we realized that Camila had been crying for about twenty minutes. Her chapped lips were...
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My 17th Birthday in Belgium
In January of this year, 2012, I went to Belgium with my mom to celebrate my 17th birthday. This trip really changed my life. We only went for three short days, but in those three days I experienced...
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New York City Is a Place To Be
New York City is a place to be. Looking at the city of dreams from a distance, I saw a prestigious monument signifying freedom and hope. I heard the man in the subway effortlessly...
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Where the Past Meets the Present
The ocean is truth. It doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not, and it doesn’t...
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Roatan, Honduras: A Change In Me For The Better
Last summer, when I was 14 years old, my parents, grandmother, sister, and I took a trip to Roatan, Honduras. When we left, I had the normal thoughts of a teenage girl on my mind. Would...
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The Edge of the Earth: My Family’s Vacation to Norway, Iceland and Beyond
An eight hour plane ride and a 20 degree drop in temperature was what kicked off the beginning of my summer. After a frenzied week of packing, my parents...
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Home Sweet Philippines!
On the summer of 2008, I was twelve years old when we had a vacation in the Philippines. We visit the Philippines every couple years to reunite with our relatives again and explore the country. The...
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Dear John,
I believe I can safely state that we have all had a time where the desire for a restroom outweighs any rational decision making typical of humans. You know what I’m talking about--like that...
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Helen: The Town Where Time Stood Still
In life, there are moments when one feels a sense of happiness that is not common or experienced often. Those moments...
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Life Landscapes
My ideal trips to Paris, India, and Germany do not involve the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, or Heidelberg Castle, respectively. I went to England and I didn’t see the golden rafters of Big Ben,...
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Dachau: Preserving the Past
The cool breeze flickers in the air, momentarily relieving my skin from the scorching sun. As we follow our tour guide, I notice how perfectly the tree’s green leaves complement the blue sky....
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A Scintillating Sabbatical in Singapore
After landing from a 20-hour flight I was tired and grumpy. Jet lag was weighing down everyone in my family as we crossed customs and collected our luggage. As we drove through the modern city of...
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Personal Evolution through Familial Tradition
Since I can remember, my family has taken a yearly travel to the beach. Through the changes in my life (divorce, lost friends, and the like) the beach seemed to always be a safe-haven...
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The Greatest Trip Ever
The greatest trips are the unexpected ones. This was the case for my family in April 2012. We were headed back home from a youth convention in New Orleans, Louisiana when we decided to visit family...
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Traveling- It is an Education in Itself
I peered down the airplane window watching the lights glow as I descended into the city of Tehran, Iran. After...
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Cross Country Dreams
I was once told that everyone out there should save a little time, somewhere in their life, for a cross country road trip and that is exactly what I have just experienced. For the month of...
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A Journey Through Uttar Bharat
I had never been far from the metropolitan city of Mumbai when I had visited India, so traveling to North India, or Uttar Bharat, was the first time I would see different parts of India. North...
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My family’s weekend trip to Barcelona, Spain during the summer entering my senior year of high school
I flew in to Reus, Spain from Frankfurt Hahn, Germany. My sister and I are staying in Germany to visit our dad, who is stationed in the Army, but we took a side trip to Barcelona and flew in ahead....
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Boracay, Philippines: Your Next Beautiful, Fun, and Memorable Vacation Spot
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So Much More Than Just A Vacation
I have lived my entire life in
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The Other Coast
Something about breathing the air of the other coast and exploring the other side of America gives me an exhilarated feeling. On a late July summer night in 2011, I walked to the...
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A Montanan Meandering
My sisters married Viking brothers. No, no, not like the kind who wear horns; but that is my affectionate name for my very large, and hairy, Norwegian brother-in-laws from Montana. They are great...
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A Token of Gratitude
From my aunt’s hillside cabin in Silver Gate, Montana I could hear the strums of a guitar in the children’s park below. My dad had already set up our chairs in the lawn so we could...
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The Never Ending Journey
Traveling, it's a never ending journey. Traveling through life, through memories, through stages and phases. It also signifies journeying to a new landscape. Facing new climates, challenges,...
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Chased down the Mountain
An Adventure and beautiful scenery– that was the promise my dad and younger brother made to me as we made our way to the trailhead for the MacRae Peak hike on Grandfather Mountain, North Carolina. ...
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The Kintamani Experience
If you saw my family and me in the early morning hours of June 17th, 2008, you would never guess that we were in for the experience of a lifetime. It came in the form of a bicycle tour...
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Aquatic thrills, mingling with mammals, and much more found only in Paradise
As I gripped the rails that kept me from plummeting, my knuckles turned as white as the grains of sand on the pearly white beach. Then the light turned green signaling that it was my turn. ...
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Hoodwinked
When I first found out that I would be vacationing in Haiti, I had mixed emotions. Visiting exotic locations is one of my passions, but the idea of spending three weeks in isolated villages had me...
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The Rain Clouds Below Us
A blast of hot sticky air hit my face as I got off the bus; my first instinct was to turn around and retreat back into the air-conditioned oasis. But unfortunately for me the bus doors had already...
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Destination Free Wifi
Getting up at 4:00am to go to the Airport is not what I had in mind for my first week of summer vacation....
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Personally Exotic
In the spring of 2012, my junior year of high school, I had the pleasure to go on a Royal Caribbean cruse to the Bahamas. It was for four sun filled days spent out near the beautiful clear ocean...
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A Tale of Two Countries
The scorching sun beams on my face, the dry, sandy wind blows by, causing me to squint my eyes, and the sizzling terrain burns my feet. Saudi Arabia is one of the hottest places in the world; it’s...
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Foot-sore and Fancy-Free
Ten AM local time, and we’re taking our first steps into Midway Airport on patriotic July Fourth. My family has no map, no plans, and no problems. At face value, our reason for coming here...
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A Shift in Perspective
Travel. That one word brings many images to mind. Beautiful locations and amazing times, new foods and different...
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And My Future Was Written To Be in NYC
It all started with Nick Jonas. I was 16 and madly obsessed with him and the Jonas Brothers. He had a Broadway show and I live 3000 miles away from it. So, I longed. I persuaded. I convinced. I bought....
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Tales From a Mountain Side
After nine hours, I finally stepped off the small, confined plane into the cool Alaska breeze. Gorgeous mountains, peaks covered with snow surrounded me. The picture perfect scenery, as if painted...
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Key to Nature’s Door
I’ve never really been a nature walker, but after travelling to New York I have recognized the beauty and wonder of nature in its simplest and grandest forms. With my family, I visited...
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Just Take the Tube!
I had never been in England before. Rarely had I ever travelled without my parents in the past either. Yet both these situations somehow came together in my trip to London this summer with my brother. ...
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Japan: Connecting to My Heritage and Studies
Authors are awe-inspiring. They miraculously create vivid images and emotions which depict fierce battles, heartbreaking romance, historical societies, scientific discoveries, suspenseful adventures,...
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Wedding on the Westcoast
Having our mother work for the airlines for most of our childhood has provided us with great experiences that my sisters and I consider ourselves very lucky to have had. Unlike many of the people in our...
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An oasis of serenity..11 miles away from a volcano
I felt my heart racing, my lungs begging for more oxygen, my feet hurting with every step and my brain screaming at me “Are we close? What were you thinking, bringing yourself all the way...
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Defining Alaska
Alaska…snow, Eskimos, and igloos, right? Well, not exactly. When I first touched ground in Fairbanks, Alaska, I was completely shocked. “This isn’t the Alaska that I see in movies and...
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Going West
The summer of 2012, my aunt, uncle and cousin Sasha invited me on a three-week trip to Colorado and Utah. I was there partially to keep my cousin company on while camping and touring state and national...
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Adventuring To Key West & Mexico
My trip began at the Port Of Miami where my petite mother Sharon bustled along trying to make sure everything is in order. My inaudible sister Brigette was ears deep in her head phones listening...
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A Yellowstone Dream Come True
Last summer, when I went on a family trip, was the BEST summer of my entire life. The memory of that special vacation is forever imprinted into my memory… and I smile to myself as I sweetly...
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