Best vacation EVER? (Paris, Amsterdam, plane, Rome)

[turkeydance]

they went to Disney World.
i stayed home. best ever.

[gouligann]

Although I don't like riding in a vehicle, we took a 13,000 mile road trip towing our travel trailer in 2016.

Started in Ontario, down through Michigan, out to Montana, up through Alberta, British Columbia, and Yukon to Alaska, then down to Vancouver Island, down along the coast of Washington, Oregon and California, headed inland and across on a different route back to Michigan, then up to Ontario.

Alaska, Montana, Wyoming and South Dakoda are my favorites. Want to go and do it all over again

The Top of the World highway was amazing, fishing in Alaska was great fun, Vancouver Island was beautiful, Avenue of Giants were amazing, the Grand Tetons were breathtaking, Yellowstone was a huge disappointment, the Badlands were beautiful and The Little Bighorn was very interesting.

[lieqiang]

gouligann that sounds absolutely amazing. How long did it take?

[MarisaMay]

Probably when DD was living in London and we met her at Heathrow and flew to Turkey. Did a tour which included Anzac Day at Gallipoli ( have to be a Kiwi or Aussie to understand the meaning of that) Back in England we drove down to Bath and Cornwall. We had been to Turkey before but not to Cappadocia, which is stunning.

But I think the favourite of DH's was last year when we went to Honolulu, Vancouver, a cruise and cruisetour in Alaska, then self drive in Utah, Yellowstone and flew out of SF. Obviously wonderful scenery everywhere.

[cebuan]

Defining vacation as close-ended when you have to go back to work. Mine was a two-week family trip when my son was five, two weeks Kansas to Florida in the era before Disney World and mandatory car-seats for kids. It was awesome, exploring with a child that age. He spent the whole trip, standng in the back leaning with hes elbows on the front seatbacks, demanding explanations of what he sew. Every day, something just for him built into the plan. Street car in New Orleans. Sponge-diving boat in Tarpon Springs. Marineland. Wood storks by the roadside.

[hackwriter]

Negril, Jamaica, 1994. T-Water Beach Hotel. We were upgraded to a beachfront room. Open the drapes in the morning and there is the turquoise Caribbean sea. Coffee on the patio. Sweet beach dog sleeping there.

Went snorkeling one day and were invited to have fresh fish dinner with the boat operator. Cost: $7.00 per person. That night, had fresh fish cooked with rice and vegetables in a dutchie over an open fire on the beach with a local guy playing Bob Marley songs. Best meal I ever had, best vacation I ever had.

The hotel is long gone (alas, so is my husband, died in 2013), but the boat operator is still there. He operates out of the Beach House Villas as "Captain Jack", and his boat is called "Local Motion."

[NJBoy3]

Driving across country with my sister and parents when I was in was 13. My father made sure every motel had a pool.

[athena53]

Dubrovnik. DH and I are/were European history buffs (he died in 2016) and we typically visited Europe in the "shoulder season" (late spring or early fall) to get better prices and more award travel availability. We were used to occasional bad weather and being in cities where there might be a park but otherwise not a lot of natural beauty. Dubrovnik had a fascinating history AND natural beauty and the weather was perfect. We had a reward stay at the Hilton Dubrovnik with Executive Lounge access (balcony facing the Aegean). The highlight was something I'd seen in a banner ad when booking flights between Zagreb and Dubrovnik- a kayak trip around the Dubrovnik city walls. I think it's the only time I ever bought something after clicking on a banner ad. What an experience- a view few tourists ever get to enjoy. I still have pictures- with DH's head in the foreground. (He was 15 years older so I was the stronger paddler and took the back seat.)

Reykjavik in 2015 would be a close second. It was our last major trip together- fascinating history and geology, nice people. I went back again by myself in 2017 and still loved it- FaceBook is showing me my posts from there 2 years ago!

[Lodestar]

I've planned more elaborate vacations but I think the day that stands out as the most perfect day in my life was the Saturday of the weekend we picked up our twelve-year old-son from Scout Camp in northern MN.

Our daughter was about fifteen-years-old. We took the motorcycles from south central Minnesota and it was a perfect day to ride.

They had a special campsite and small lake for parents to stay so we picked up our son and spent the weekend. On Saturday we took one of the canoes available and spent much of the day on the lake with the fishing loons. The water was so clear you could see the bottom and the air was still and fragrant with pine.

There was a celebration in a nearby town and we offered to take the kids but they were having so much fun they didn't want to leave. Later in the day one of the Scout leaders took them and some other kids fishing with him and then showed them how to clean the fish.

In the night we heard our first whippoorwill.

As we were saddling up to leave someone approached us about the canoe and we've had many laughs over this since. It seems we accidently used someone's private canoe all day and they were afraid to tell us because we were "motorcycle people." We''ve both been educators and have Master's Degrees. I don't think we're very scary looking either. A bit of a pity.

At any rate it was a wonderful day. Imagine two kids that age spending a day together without a word of dissent in lovely surroundings.

A simple pleasure - the day we stole the canoe.

[earslikeacat]

Most happiest I ever was on a vacay was when the parental unit and I flew into LAX then drove all (most) of the California coast, San Diego thru Frisco and beyond. Saw Sacremento and a bit of inland.
This was in the 1980's before the population explosion.