With thanks to commenter Knapsack for this:
My favorite childhood vacation was to Gettysburg. My dad was a Civil War buff, later a re-enactor, and it was the last trip we took my grandmother, his mother, with us. We visited family I’d never met before on the way there, I made a friend at the pool when we all went there evenings who was visiting from the strange and exotic land of New England, I ate shoo-fly pie. And from Jennie Wade to Armistead’s last ride, I learned something of the story and the sacrifice in why this place was meaningful and how all these monuments came to be there. I was barely Boy Scout age, burdened with three younger siblings and responsibility I barely fulfilled in watching out for them at Devil’s Den and on Little Round Top, but it became the beaux-ideal of what a real vacation feels like to me ever since. The summer of ”˜73 gave me a taste of family and history and mystery that I first began to respond to in my own right, not simply as a child along for the ride.
What vacation experience gave you the model for what makes for getaway and renewal and enjoyment?
I’m the kind that likes a big party. But It never fails that the most enjoyable and refreshing vacations are those where its just my wife, my children and me.
There is a difference between a vacation and a trip. A vacation is without the kids.
I would rate our last cruise to the eastern Mediterranean as one of the best.
I think of a vacation/trip I made in my early 20’s. It was a challenging time for me – I was awaiting news of a new job and recovering from three days in bed when my back had gone into spasm after some unwise wrestling with my parents’ garden. An advert for a fortnights holiday on the beach in Kenya led to me taking up the offer and I said goodbye to my then girlfriend [who was miffed at not going with me] at the airport and headed into the departure zone.
Doubt set in and the thought came into my head that I was off on my own – I would have a miserable two weeks not knowing anybody and not talking to anybody. I was quite wrong – I started talking to people heading to the same place in the departure area, met a group of non-English speaking Germans who I had supper with on the first night challenging my Goethe Institut German attempts at conversation. Things got better – my father rang with news of a firm career offer, I swam every day and the back strengthened. I met people I would never have met if constrained by those I was with. I had to make the effort and formed into a group who headed out each day along exploring the coast, and its forts and its beaches by tuktuk. On one occassion the tuktuk diverted to drop us at the hotel. The priceless expression on the face of the hotel manager contemplating the noisy and happy group of passengers letting us out made that worthwhile. We took the train up to Nairobi, and I only missed out on a chartered aircraft visit to Zanzibar due to the closeness to my departure time.
I had time on my own when I wanted it – sitting on the sea wall watching the beautiful African sunsets listening to music through my earphones, thinking and sometimes praying. I had time to read. I returned healthy, happy, and encouraged after the best holiday I can remember.
I was challenged, taken outside my comfort zone, and rewarded with experiences and growth which would not have happened if I had travelled with others. Sometimes it is good to just strike out on your own.