What are your top 5 travel memories?
I am conducting a special promotion - between now and November 8, I am asking you to list your top 5 travel memories and briefly explain ‘why’ in the comment box. By November 10, my associate and I will have carefully reviewed all the comments and choose the top 3 entries. First prize will be a valuable souvenir - craft or artwork from Thailand; 2nd prize will be a unique 16 X 20 watercolor print(s) of a tropical landscape mounted on mat board and Third prize will be a 2 DVD set of Calypso Island’s unique travel slideshow videos (fairly high quality). *
————————————————————————————————————————————————
First of all - you’re probably wondering, what are my top five travel memories?
I have to admit it was so very difficult to come up with a top 5 list as I have made so many memorable trips in my short lifetime. Searching my memory bank, I have concluded that the most indelible memories (travel or otherwise) happen when one is a child - at least that was the case for me. My explanation for this is that children are so much more sensitive to new life experiences than fully-grown adults. Ok, enough of this psychobabble. Here’s my top five…
#1 STATUTE OF LIBERTY When I visited New York City as a little boy circa 1957, I was totally awestruck by the Big Apple. I visited so many exciting new places and experienced so many new things - the T-Rex skeleton at the Museum of Natural History, the towering Empire State building, the underground Subway and the Coney Island Amusement Park. What blew me away more than anything else was seeing the Statute of Liberty. As an innocent and naïve child, this impressive Statute represented the embodiment of America. I’ll never forget it!
#2 KING OF THE WORLD Last year, I hiked to the top of Waynu Picchu which overlooks the majestic Machu Picchu archaeological site in the Peruvian Andes. Wow what an experience! I wouldn’t have been able to complete this hike without the camaraderie of my two new Peruvian friends, Edward and Armando. Upon reaching the summit, we proudly declared ourselves “Kings of the World” as we assumed our Condor pose.
#3 THE GRAND CANYON Seeing this spectacular natural wonder for the first time circa 1959 is forever etched in my memory. Up to that point in my life, I didn’t know that such incredible natural beauty like this existed on our planet. Unfortunately, I have never returned.
#4 THE LONG RUN IN JAMAICA In September 1982, I ran from Montego Bay to Negril (a distance of 52 miles) on Jamaica’s North Coast over a 3 day period. No, I didn’t run just for the fun of it – it was a publicity stunt for the staging of a marathon road race in Jamaica. Running along the coastal highway in the tropical heat was very grueling, but in the end, when I reached the Negril lighthouse, I was totally exhilarated. I would do it again in heartbeat.
#5 REGGAE SUNSPLASH In 1981, I attended my first Reggae Sunsplash Music Festival in Montego Bay, Jamaica. For this hardcore reggae enthusiast, I was totally blown away seeing many of my favorite artists - Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Black Uhuru, Third World, Chalice, Eek A Mouse – perform. I was in Reggae Heaven!
Sphere: Related Content* Please Note: I will need at least 10 people to leave comments on their 5 top travel memories in order for me to give away prize #2 and 3. Only one entry per contestant.
Tags: Machu Picchu, Reggae Sunsplash, Top five, top five travel memories, travel memories
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:20 am
Let’s see if I can get the ball rolling
In no particular order:
1. Climbing Yr Wyddfa (Mount Snowdon), Snowdonia, North Wales: When I was a child, my family would frequently go on camping holidays to North Wales, which was not far from where we lived. Many fond memories of treking in Snowdonia, and especially the first time we scaled Yr Wyddfa.
2. Annapurna Circuit, Nepal: Treking for 21 days, reaching 5500M, and some of the most stunning places I’ve ever had the privilege of visiting. Amazing experience.
3. Hampi, India: Fascinating Geology and Archaeology - may long walks alone, stumbling upon incredible temple comlexes, with no other visitors around. I could easily imagine how the pioneers of Archaeology felt when first discovering temples and cities uninhabited, and untouched for centuries.
4. Buddhist Pilgrimage, North India: Bodhgaya (including a 2 day Puja lead by the four heads of the four primary schools of Tibetan Buddhism), Sarnath, and finishing with the public teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in McLeod Ganj - an incredible place in itself.
5. Angkor Wat, Cambodia: Turning the corner which revealed Angkor Wat to me for the first time, and realizing a dream come true, brought me to the verge of tears. For as long as I can remember, the vast Angkor complex has been a dream destination for me. Seven days was nowhere near enough time to explore the fascinating complexes, but every day was an incredible experience.
Hodge’s last blog post..Ubuntu Bundle and Widget Debugging on YouBundle
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
1) My visit some years ago to the Alhambra in Spain. The carvings and magnificant work done within the building was spell binding.
2)My visit six years ago to the Panama Canal was equally fascinating. We traveled aboard one of the Princess Line’s cruise ships. I couldn’t believe how close the ship’s sides came to the edge of the locks, and didn’t even collide with the walls. This work of humans was a tribute to their incredible ability to overcome all odds, and build a canal that is the water highway from East to West.
3) Our visit to Australia produced many surprises. We held a Koala Bear. I always thought they had very soft hair, instead it was rather wiry and stiff. Sidney was a beautiful City, but the land on the way to Cambara was very dry and looked like the semi-desert outside of Los Angeles.
4) I sat one warm evening on a beach near our Hotel in Tahiti. The sunset sky turned a light pink, then a deep orange-red finally pink again while tapering off in a light golden tint framed by darkening coconut palms.
5) A visit to my childhood home many years after I moved away. The setting was an old ranch house up Villa Creek canyon near Cayucos, California. I was amazed at how small the rooms in the house were. As a child every thing looked so big. There were memories in every corner of the old house, but I knew they were long gone, and this visit was only a renewal of a time that no longer existed. The swallows were still there and the bee hive near the house still hummed with activity, but the house looked lonely without any children there.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
[…] « What are your top 5 travel memories? […]
November 8th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
My best memories are seeing the Yellow Stone National Park with friends. The majestic beauty of the vast expanse of land, wild life up close, snow capped mountains, high altitude lakes was the best I could dream about. I went back in 2007 for another trip and shot extensive videos that I watch time to time.
Index-options-trading’s last blog post..Obama Wins- Markets lower