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Your best vacation?


Calibandar

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I'm deep into researching holiday destinations for next year and looking at all sorts of stuff, from a nature holiday to a beach holiday combined with some city stuff.



So I was wondering, what's the best holiday you've ever had, and what was it about the place that made it so great?


Where would you love to go back to again?


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I went to Rome for a few days with my Classics class then we went to Pomepeii. Weather was beautiful, we went around all the historical sites, I took to many photos, learned so much and was the first holiday abroad with no parents. One of the happiest times of my life. Everything looked so beautiful!! History! Sun! Friends! :D waking up decent times, walking everywhere, damn it was great.

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Lake Garda in Italy. Just loved how relaxed it was and everything was so pretty. Plus the beer was great. Also went on day trips to Verona and Venice both of which were pretty awesome places. I haven't been on that many vacations but that was my favourite. I would definitely go back there.


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Six days backcountry hike in Pemigewasset Wilderness in the White Mts up in New Hanpshire a few years ago over 4th of July weekend. Nobody goes backcountry.that week so my brother, myself. and a couple friends.saw about three other human beings the entire week.

Nothing like waking up just before dawn.and drinking coffee with a shot of bourbon in it while watching the.sunrise in the middle if nowhere. Other higlights included bathing in 40 degree water on 90 + degree days, following a moose an entire morning on a swampy loop to Thoreau pond. Never saw that swamp donkey, just the steaming piles it left us to follow.

Close second is going to Gathering of the Vibes with my gf last summer

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My favorite vacation was northern England. Not the most exotic location, I know, but we were there for a wedding I was in. What made it so great was that we stayed for 3 weeks, rented a little cottage with huge highland cattle grazing outside my window and rented a car. The groom's parents owned a pub in a small town that was our home base. So our days consisted of driving around and exploring whatever the fuck we wanted, then ending up at the pub, chatting with the locals.



We arrived late (flight delay) and arrived after midnight, so drove to Scotland in the wee hours of the morning, We hadn't met the groom's parents and he wasn't there yet, so we had nothing else to do and couldn't sleep. We ended up discovering a lovely little seaside town where we had breakfast and read the local paper while watching the sun come up. We were invited to tea by a nice lady living down the road. We went to another guys house and checked out his homing pigeons flying around our head. We bowled on the pub lawn. We trekked through the woods for hours to get to a local spot called the fairy steps that wasn't on any map and we wouldn't have found without help. A farmer invited us to see his land which included the ruins of a castle that was listed in the Domesday Book - he now uses it for lambing season. You could still see the soot on the walls from the hearth. He told us the local history and showed us a large stone that was still on the property where taxes were paid to the Lord of the castle, judgement meted out, etc. He told us how the town got it's name. We went to see some viking graves and ended up picking bags full of the biggest blackberries you've ever seen. Etc, etc.



Point is, I don't think it really matters where you go as long as you take in all it has to offer. Granted, my vacation preference has always been off-the-beaten-path rather than Disneyworld and not everyone likes the same things. But I encourage you to go local - make friends and ask them what is great about their home. I've had the same experience (not to the same degree, of course) in other places - doesn't matter the terrain or how touristy it normally is. Ask the locals.



We had planned to do a lot of big things - see London, Stonehenge, Bath etc ... Got as far North as Oban*, Scotland, but never further south than Chester. Way too much to do just in the area. Was enjoying the uncrowded exploration too much to want to take a stock tour with tons of strangers.




* btw we had to sleep in the car that night because we didn't know the freaking Queen Mum was visiting and we hadn't made reservations so nothing to be had for miles and miles. The upside is that we woke at dawn to see the fog rolling over the loch and I will never forget that sight. It was a little magical.


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My best vacation recently was a week of snowboarding back in 2010.

It was in a local ski centre in Serbia, but I went there with my girlfriend and my best friends and their girlfriends.

I learned to snowboard and had fun with some of the people dearest to me. A win-win situation.

I hate Italy.

I loved Belgium. St. Bart's was nice, for total relaxation.

But no Italy, ever again.

If you don't mind me asking, which part of Italy were you in and what didn't you like?

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I think Europe is wonderful, any place.


I loved Berlin, so full of history, you won't have eyes enough to see it all..


Prague is also awesome, Budapest, Cracow..


it depends how long will you stay, what your interest are (culture, nature, sea..)..


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My favorite vacation was northern England. Not the most exotic location, I know, but we were there for a wedding I was in. What made it so great was that we stayed for 3 weeks, rented a little cottage with huge highland cattle grazing outside my window and rented a car. The groom's parents owned a pub in a small town that was our home base. So our days consisted of driving around and exploring whatever the fuck we wanted, then ending up at the pub, chatting with the locals.

That sounds ideal to me!

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had a decent trip one summer with first wife while we were in graduate school (i.e., broke), from deep south to new mexico, then vegas, then colorado for someone's ski resort wedding, then on to several destinations in the great plans & great lakes. something over five weeks altogether.



highlights included her drinking forty ouncers all the way through texas because of some stomach ailment that only malt liquor might cure; her outing me as a red to the bridesmaids with whom i had been associating politely during the wedding reception, to their general horror; a fairly tawdry melodrama when someone other woman's undergarments showed up in our laundry after the wedding portion of the trip was over; neo-nazis in my cousin's denver neighborhood where we stayed; and a quaint little soviet ex-pat nostalgia shoppe in the old market district of Omaha, whereat i procured an ironic coffee mug with leninist stuff on it for a reasonable price.


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I hate Italy.

I loved Belgium. St. Bart's was nice, for total relaxation.

But no Italy, ever again.

I'd associate with baxus request: If you don't mind me asking, which part of Italy were you in and what didn't you like?

I know i'm going to regret this... :)

:grouphug:

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I don't know if this qualifies as vacation but I spent a semester studying abroad in a little village called Ormskirk about half an hour east of Liverpool going on... damn.. 10 years ago now. It was probably the best half of a year on my life.



As for actual vacation, anything with the ocean makes me content. I try to avoid hotels and look into renting directly from the owner of a house/condo/whatever. Vrbo and Air BnB are both good for that. Last year we went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, rented a house for a week that was 25 feet from the beach. It was great.


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Scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef. I got specifically scuba certified for this trip, then never dived again. I stayed on a boat overnight at the reef. The memories of the coral, the millions of colors on millions of fish, the little reef sharks, even the little clownfish guarding their anemones just dominate over everything else I've seen and done, even 20 years later. An incredible Immersive experience, literally.


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I don't know if this qualifies as vacation but I spent a semester studying abroad in a little village called Ormskirk about half an hour east of Liverpool going on... damn.. 10 years ago now. It was probably the best half of a year on my life.

I do not like Ormskirk personally lol. So freaking boring. YMMV.

Why would you choose to study at Edge Hill of all places :P

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I've only ever really been to the rugby club but, yeah, if I was going to guess the places people were going to list in this thread I don't think Ormskirk would have been top of the list. But every holiday/trip abroad is what you make of it I suppose.


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SE Asia. I don't think I'd ever want to settle there or anything but it had everything I wanted in what was a lengthy vacation. Lots of beach time on really nice beaches. Great food. Good diving. Plenty of beers to be had and places to go out. Friendly locals. Low cost.


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I do not like Ormskirk personally lol. So freaking boring. YMMV.

Why would you choose to study at Edge Hill of all places :P

My university here in the states had an exchange program with Edge Hill. I was able to study there for the same price as a regular semester here, just had to buy the plane ticket.

Ormskirk was boring after a while but it had its own old English charm about it. As a Beatles fanatic I really loved being able to jump on the train and go to Liverpool in 15-20 minutes, hang out at the Cavern Club and listen to Beatles cover bands.

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When i was 18 my Dad and I went on a collection trip to the Bahamas with the New England Aquarium. 10 other NEA member volunteers plus crew on an 85ft research vessel/dive boat for two weeks of near constant shallow water diving. Every day we'd go to a new site and they'd give us various collection equipment and some waterproof cards with pictures of the fish they were hoping we'd find.



Saw all sorts of amazing stuff. Swam with sharks, eagle rays, moray eels. Went on several night dives through some lava tube caves. Had/got to swim under a formidable wall of barracuda that completely encircled the tiny reef that was our objective for the day. I personally caught something called a Golden Spotted Snake Eel that wound up with his very own exhibit tank back in Boston.



Also, in addition to already being scuba certified, all of the volunteers had to be checked out for basic scuba skills before the trip. Which meant we all got to go for a brief dive in the main tank at the NEA.

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My university here in the states had an exchange program with Edge Hill. I was able to study there for the same price as a regular semester here, just had to buy the plane ticket.

Ormskirk was boring after a while but it had its own old English charm about it. As a Beatles fanatic I really loved being able to jump on the train and go to Liverpool in 15-20 minutes, hang out at the Cavern Club and listen to Beatles cover bands.

Ahhh understandable then :)

My ex girlfriend did her degree at Edge Hill so I visited Ormskirk a few times, they had a cool cocktail bar but that was about it..,

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