You may have already guessed this, but we’re a family who loves to travel. We’ve been around the world and our 10 year old has already been to 25 countries, so a “dream vacation” is not as easy to describe as you might think. Hawaii? Been there. Japan? Done that. Egypt? Have the hieroglyphic T-shirt to prove it.
I have my ideas about what an “ultimate vacation” means, and Frank and Alex have theirs. So, when I was asked to write about our family’s ultimate vacation, I had to be fair and poll our family members to find out what their “ultimate vacation” would entail. As long as there’s good food, interesting sights to see, and a comfortable place to sleep, I’m game.
As for specific places, my son chose snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef; for Frank, it was a family trip to see penguins in Antarctica, a place he visited when he was a lonely bachelor dude; for me, it was a trek to the ancient ruins of Macchu Pichu. Since we couldn’t decide on one, we decided our ultimate vcation would be month-long trip exploring all three places, a big “Around the Southern Hemisphere tour” of the best places we could think of that we haven’t visited yet.
Our best vacations have been ones in which our extended family has come along with us. After we’ve assembled our dream travel team, we would fly everyone from San Francisco to Cairns, Australia. We would start our journey at a nice beach resort near the Great Barrier Reef that would offer up opportunities for snorkeling. Ever since “Finding Nemo”, Alex has wanted to swim with the fishes and take in the coral reefs. After snorkeling with sharks at age 4 in the Galapagos, I thought he was over it, be he says no.
Next, we would fly from Sydney to McMurdo Sound, for a tour of the Antarctic research stations. Alex is prone to sea-sickness, so we would prefer to fly in rather than risk the rough seas crossing the South Pacific. If that’s not possible, we could hop aboard a cruise ship in Buenos Aires, and hope for fair seas. Maybe we could get Dramamine to sponsor this leg of the trip.
In Antarctica, we would hope to visit penguin rookeries, see some incredible icebergs, and experience a completely different climate from Australia. If we’re lucky, we might run into the crew of the Bob Barker and the Steve Irwin of Whale Wars fame, so we can tell them to keep up the good work (and compelling tv).
After we’ve had our fill of cold-weather, penguins, and whales, we would cruise back to South America, and hop a flight to Peru, where we would hike the ruins of Macchu Picchu. This was my pick for dream destinations. I love visiting ancient ruins, and Macchu Picchu has long been on my list of “must see before I die” dream vacations. We’ve seen the pyramids and the statues of Easter Island, so this would round out the list nicely.
Our vacation would have to take place in the winter, so we would take advantage of the holiday break and extend it a bit, and probably have to roadschool the kids for a couple of weeks. What better education could they have than a trip to some amazing natural and man-made wonders?
If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
PHOTO CREDIT (Macchu Picchu): Beth Stern, used with permission. All Rights Reserved.
Glennia Campbell has been around the world and loved something about every part of it. She is interested in reading, photography, politics, reality television, food and travel and lives in the Bay Area of the U.S.
She blogs about family travel at The Silent I and is also the co-founder of MOMocrats Beth Blecherman and Stefania Pomponi Butler, which launched out of a desire to include the voices of progressive women, particularly mothers, in the political dialogue of the 2008 campaign.
She found her way to Democratic politics under the tutelage of the late Rev. Dr. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Cora Weiss, and other anti-war activists and leaders in the anti-nuclear campaigns of the 1980’s. She has been a speaker at BlogHer, Netroots Nation, and Mom 2.0, and published print articles in KoreAm Journal.
Professionally, Glennia is a lawyer and lifelong volunteer. She has been a poverty lawyer in the South Bronx, a crisis counselor for a domestic violence shelter in Texas, President of a 3,000 member non-profit parent’s organization in California, and has worked in support of high-tech and medical research throughout her professional career.
