Tell us about your dream vacation!

Delaware.

My dream vacation? Gads... a dream for each night of the year. Let's see, here are four dream vacations...

1) Greek Isles -- We are invited to accompany friends on THEIR large yacht as it visits the Greek Isles. Nobody is in a hurry, nobody has to rush home. We spend our days messing about in boats and our evenings at open-air cafes near the beach. Once a week we are sure to visit an "important" historical or archeological site. Every photograph turns out and my swimsuit looks fantastic on me. I get a great tan and never, ever burn.

2) Hiking in the Alps -- We take all summer to walk from small village to small village. All hiking ends up being on level ground or downhill, somehow. Gorgeous flower fields, no bugs, wonderful weather. Every night we find a picturesque place to sleep and during the day, we find Farmers Markets for incredible cheeses, butter, fruit and breads. The wines are first-rate. I never get blisters and it only rains while we're asleep. Somehow we've learned both French & Italian* which makes for fun conversing with the people we meet.

3) Canyon and rock hopping in Mexico and the Southwest -- We decide to make a personal comparison between the great canyons of the southwest starting with Copper Canyon and its sisters in Mexico, and continuing with a boat trip down through the Grand Canyon; touring Zion and Bryce. Then we take a houseboat through Glen Canyon on Lake Powell. End up trekking through Monument Valley & riding by horseback up to Canyon de Chelly. Again, all photographs turn out and the National Geographic asks if they can have the opportunity to publish them. The weather, of course, is amazingly perfect... not too hot, not too windy... just right. We see plenty of wildlife but are never frightened by snakes and no scorpions or spiders come anywhere near!

4) Ferry-boating around the Isles of Scotland. With unlimited resources, plenty of time, a gorgeous car (probably a late-model 700 series BMW) and perfect weather we visit every island surrounding Scotland, beginning at the west side and hauling all the way around to the Shetlands and Orkneys. There are no scary storms and we have a chance to visit some of the most remote islands around. We bring plenty of wonderful provisions which helps to endear us to the people we meet, so they show us lots of special places that are well off the beaten path. We end up at John O' Groats and decide to circle Scotland again counterclockwise. Fuel prices are amazingly low, the car runs perfectly and we find fantastic places to stay every night. As we are coming back along Loch Ness we see Nessie.

*edit -- and German!

Believe it or not, I've already been to all my dream vacations. Gosh! What do I do for a encore? LOL Here's some destinations I'm looking at for the future: Countries around the Black Sea, Iceland, Copper Canyon, Antarctica, Northern Germany (to visit Walter), Southern Italy, Southern France, and the US of A. Might even squeeze in another trip to the UK. c.i.

I, or maybe we, should I run into a gentleman who would like to go with me, take a non stop flight to Rome, sitting in first class, a new and interesting experience which I manage not to feel guilty about. I sleep on the flight, also new, possibly interesting. We get there and stay in a hotel I already know, but don't worry about the bill, which isn't that high, but would ordinarily be a concern for me.

There we meet other international travelers, since the place is near the UN Food and Agriculture headquarters. We also meet some Romans, somehow, and have a lovely time with them...perhaps they go with us to the Alban hills, which I haven't seen.

I suppose I shouldn't dither about how in love I am with my fellow traveler, since I remain at present unaware of who that is, but in any case, we are happy to be together during this vacation, and grow more and more, well, ne'er mind.

We see places both of us care about and are energized by seeing...triggering our desires to write and paint and compose, and we both take notes, photos, draw little sketches, are not competitive, but supportive in our enthusiasms.

We eat well at small restaurants in Perugia and Lucca and, oh, Ravenna. We go visit a friend across some border for a day, hmm, perhaps in Nice..I have never been to France. We drive, we take trains, we walk and walk and walk and walk.

OK, I suppose I'd better stop now.

You like Winterthur or the Delmarva peninsula? :-D

These are great!

I forgot how much I want to go back to Scotland - thanks for the reminder, Piffka. I think I might actually plan a vacation there, just for the fun of reading up about it. Not that that's going to happen in the foreseeable future, it just sounds like a fun waste of time.

Your fantasy sounds good too, osso. I haven't progressed so far as to imagine my travelling companion - I guess I need to work on that fantasy a bit...

I love Ossobuco's fantasy, too. (Why didn't I think about traveling first class, darn it! Or going to Italy????? That would be dream vacation #5!) Tis true, the traveling companion is very important to the enjoyment of a trip since a lot of fun is in the sharing.

Balmy breezes, foamy surf, white ginger blossoms,orchids, the best pineapples in the world, Blue Hawaii's (lots of rum). I'll settle for my daughter as my companion, a one-way ticket and, I almost forgot - 20 years off of my life, and I'm on my way. Thanks for refreshing my dream vacation, Mac.

My dream vacation, the one that I will probably never experience, is winning the lottery and taking my best friend and my favorite cousin to Paris or Milan and buying for them a couture outfit which would mean having our mannequins made and returning for fittings and such.
The vacation I dream about, and plan on taking, is my husband and I celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary on a meditteranean cruise with two favorite couples in 2005.