Favorite Trips

My favorite trips of all time

1. Pac Rim (2004) -
   
   The best of the best and not just just because it was the most expensive or the most memorable. There are very few trips (if any) in your life that imagine having quite as much impact on your life as this one did on mine. In terms of friendship I was able to gain some of my closest friends that I still talk to you on a regular basis. It was amazing how close we all got on the trip and how even after the 6.5 weeks were over we still kept in touch. We were the only study abroad program that continued its listserv (a collection of everyone's email addresses) after the trip was over. In fact we still have the same email listserv going today. One of the most amazing things that I like to quote is that I invited 11 Pac Rim friends to my wedding and there was an 100% attendance rate. In terms of wedding attendance there were literally more friends from 6 weeks in Asia than there were from almost 6 years in Minnesota. The trip also served as a great interview answer when applying for jobs and is still something I can reference in conversation. I don't know if you heard, but China is apparently a large, growing country that is kind of important in the business world. That is especially true when you go work for a large retailer that sources most of their low cost products from China. Besides China the trip included South Korea, Japan and Hawaii. I loved this trip.


2. Roadtrip to Canada (2002) - Coming out of high school I hadn't really been to many places that I actively remembered. Sure, my family had been on my trips, but as a kid you are really too young to appreciate most of the things you see. (There is the famous story in our family of my Mom nearly throwing my Gameboy out the car window in Colorado, because I was playing RBI baseball instead of looking at the Rocky Mountains.) When I went to Ohio for college I came to the realization that I hadn't really seen much of the country. I then decided to plan a roadtrip and invited the eventual best man in my wedding along. Being college students it needed to be cheap, so I looked at where we had friends, family or pretty much anyone willing to host us. The trip ended up being from Jackson, MS to Atlanta to North Carolina to Virginia to DC to Pennsylvania to Boston to Maine to Quebec to Montreal to Ottawa to the Niagara Falls to Cleveland to Oxford, OH to Nashville and then back to Jackson. It was 4,620 miles over 16 days. We saw both the basketball and football Hall of Fame's. We saw both the Unites States and Canada's capitals. It was a great trip with many funny stories that I enjoy retelling if you are ever interested.
   
3. Austria/Budapest (2007) -
   
   My first two trips on the list were pre-M, but that doesn't mean I haven't been on some great tips with her. In fact one of my favorite things about M is that she is great to travel with. She matches my personality well and we both complement each other in planning/executing the trip. One of those trips was our first overseas trip to go see Nancy and Nicholas's wedding. Part of the reason for the trip was that I was going to be a bridesman in the wedding. This was in the early days of the blog, so if I ever want to go back and remember what I was thinking I can look back at my old posts; Hooked on a Feeling, Blue Jean Blues in Budapest, Things are looking up, Vienna is Vonderful, Graz, Countdown till the wedding, Always a Bridesman. It was my first time in Europe and definitely something that was memorable. I would recommend Austria to anyone looking for a great place to visit in Europe.
   
4. Spring Training (1994) - As I wrote before I don't really remember many of the trips my family took because as a kid I didn't really appreciate things as much as I do now that I am an adult. One of the the trips that I do remember and did appreciate was our family's (minus E) trip to see Spring Training in Florida. Wow. I remember seeing the Dodgers, Phillies, Blue Jays and other teams and was just amazed. This was back before the strike when baseball probably was my favorite sport. I still remember Raul Mondesi tossing me a ball and me running back up to my parents to show them my treasure. The trip was even highlighted by a stop in St. Petersburg to see the 1994 Duke team led by Grant Hill. We were able to watch one of their practices, which again as an 11 year old boy was about the coolest thing ever. If kids are ever in my future I think a trip to Spring Training would definitely be something fun to do.


5. Spain (2010) - Another really fun trip that came during the blog years. Unlike the Budapest/Austria trip I didn't take my computer with me to blog on the trip. Therefore when I got back I did a summary of what I liked and didn't like on the Honeymoon in Spain post.

Just missed the cut: Thunder Bay (2007), Bemidji (2006), Kansas City (2010), Vegas (2010), Grand Canyon (sometime when I was a kid), one of the family's Florida trips.