I ask people to describe their favorite travel.....

Rio de Janiero 2002.
drinking Skol beer at Ipanema Beach
with the Two Brothers Mountain as a back drop,
while watching the ladies,

listening and dancing Samba with the ladies

• Walking the Camino
• Walking tour of the Golden Gate Bridge with my daughter
• Seeing the Ishtar Gate and Nefertiti in the museum in Berlin
• Touring the Normandy Beaches on a 2 day private tour, seeing the craters, the foxholes, the hedgerows, and the heartbreaking cemeteries. We feel this was the best use of money, ever.
• Meeting the Sacramento and San Francisco forum members, lunching on the bay with that gorgeous view.
• Meeting up with so many other forum members over the years. Always memorable.

People make memories for me usually. Though the beautiful sunrises on the Camino were pretty breathtaking.

Great thread! So many memories...

2012, Russia with my 20 year old daughter. So many memories- they're priceless. One though, getting ready for the muster drill on our river cruise, standing in the hallway in our puffy life vests, waiting for inspection. Wanting to make her laugh I started body slamming her and making her bounce off the walls. She laughed so hard she got the hiccups. I also met 3 lovely ladies that I'm still friends with. One was from Scotland. In 2015 I went to Scotland for a week and stayed with her.

2015, RS 21 BOE. I went by myself but I made so many friends, 2 of whom I'll be traveling back to Europe with this fall. One memory is writing backwards messages on a notepad and holding them up to the bus camera for our driver to read; things like: Are we there yet? I'm bored! And of course, I have to go to the bathroom! Another fun memory was getting to chat with the lady running the cable car up the Shilthorn in Switzerland. She let me drive the cable car! Later, one of my tour buddies had me help her find a geocache at the top of the Shilthorn. We had so much fun scurrying around and exploring that barren mountaintop trying to find her treasure! It was below freezing, snowy and deserted while we were up there (we were there crazy early in the morning, so it was just our group of 10 plus a couple of opening employees). I had the sensation of being on the moon. Then the sun began to rise. It was incredible!

Having lunch at a mountain top restaurant somewhere in the Austrian alps, we noticed about 10 women in their 70's sitting around a large booth next to us sipping wine and having conversation. And then.....it happened....they all broke out in beautiful soft voices singing together, wine in hand. Then, back to conversation, another 15 minutes, song again. Our backs were to them and we couldn't help turning around to watch. They all had a good laugh when we told them how beautiful it was. Later on another song and I asked if I could video tape it. They welcomed the camera as I took video. We had some conversation, they learned about us and we learned about them, at least the best we could with our limited understanding, and they waved us goodbye.

Where do you ever get a chance to experience that?

Yesterday in Catania. I dropped a coin on the floor at the bar, didn't see it, so walked away. A man came after me, to deliver my €2 coin.

Also yesterday, the woman whose apartment I stayed in at Lipari met me in Messina to give me my passport, which I had left behind. Long story, will be in a trip report.

Seeing the temple at Segesta from the highway as the sun was setting.

Being passed around from Swede to Swede as they showed me where my ancestors lived, made me dinner, invited me to their homes. They were total strangers, who I decided to trust (Smäland). Or the taxi driver and taxi company, who drove me around for the afternoon and which googled sights from the appropriate era that I should see and why...and treated me like their cousin (Umeå).

...early (like 6:30-7am) walks around Rome, Venice and Amalfi with my mom in 2014 (while hubby and the rest of the tourists slept).

...couchsurfers we stayed with who went out of their way to show us around - esp the ones in Bern who rented a car, took us to a ski hill (in early Oct, no snow, just hiking) somewhere outside the city - our first time ever on a ski lift! - had a lovely meal at a restaurant at the top (mmmm....rosti) then hiked down the hill...something we never would have done on our own. Also, the couchsurfer in Augsburg who we had such a blast with, we stayed much later in the day with her before moving on to Munich (to the detriment of Munich). Our couchsurfing friends in London who are now just regular friends who we've stayed with 5 times. And so many other couchsurfers who fed us, gave us a bed to sleep in and just talked to us about their lives and their cities.

...our just completed trip to the Netherlands where I scratched tulips and windmills off my bucket list - renting the bikes at Keukenhof and going past the tulip/daffodil/hyacinth fields was so amazing. And Madurodam - I totally felt like a kid again.

...2015 - getting up at 3 or 4 am local time in Paris (after arriving that morning) to walk over to the Eiffel Tower and take photos of the blood moon/lunar eclipse - I'm jetlagged darn it, but when ever again will I be in Paris during a lunar eclipse with nice clear skies?!

...literally the first time I saw Venice - walking out the doors of the train station, I INSTANTLY fell in love - I felt like I was in some fairy tale movie - and that feeling hasn't gone away after multiple visits.

...honestly - even just the joy I get sitting in the window seat and seeing the world from above - nothing like the flight arriving early and having to circle London a few times as the sun was coming up...or flying out of Venice and seeing it from above...seeing the tulip fields from the airplane, flying over the Alps...as much as the whole airport thing is a bummer - flying is such a joy.

My best connections with people came on my first trip to continental Europe. DH's former prof (we were both in the workforce by this time) wanted him to present some research in Poland and set up a kind of exchange. She opened many doors for us:

• getting invited to the University of Warsaw choir's end of year picnic. They shared all their delicious Polish food, even though we had none to share in return (just ran into them, it wasn't a plan).
• being put up in a prof's house (prof was in Italy) - but the daughter didn't know and got quite the surprise to find us in her mom's house when she came to water the plants.
• being taken for a very dodgy massage from a Russian guy in a Soviet-era apartment building (in Warsaw). Instead of a spa atmosphere, the table was in his bedroom which was decorated with Soviet memorabilia and guns.
• being taken strawberry picking somewhere in the countryside (not really sure why). The farmer gave us fresh milk and lemon cake.
• being taken to meet some couple (not really sure who or why). They spoke absolutely no English and us no Polish, so they got out the vodka and all was well.
• and outside of that trip, we've met lots of people in Liverpool because we go there to support LFC. Being supporters has opened a lot of doors for us.

There are many more but those are the ones I can think of at the moment. I also have many vivid and wonderful memories about non-people travel moments.

Our greatest, mind blogging, exhausting, eye opening, etc., trip was to Cuba as a part of a state department sanctioned cultural exchange program. We were there the week that Obama soften regulations and returned legally with Cuban rum and cigars. After returning to Miami we checked into a beach hotel and slept for five days. There will never ever be another trip or experience like that one.

Stepping off the lift from Ortisei to see the Alpe di Siusi for the first time.

Meeting forum members who were visiting Rome

Stopping in Paris just for lunch

Chatting with an elderly hiker along the Gothic line in Emilia-Romagna

The exploding oven incident in a London vacation rental

All memorable...not all good. :-)

Two day trip to Lerwick , Shetland Island , Scotland via three airport stops, then final journey via overnight (12 hour) ferry ride in gale force winds in the North Sea. Occasion was Hamerfarin and getting to trace my ancestors and meeting 5th cousins. Awesome experience. Driving a stick shift on the left side of the road. Very fond and wonderful memories on Burra Island and cousins who live in Scalloway. Went with sister and my dad's cousin(my 1st cousin once-removed)

We just completed our first visit to Europe (mostly Italy) a couple of weeks ago. Two memories that stand out are:

• On May Day, standing on the deck of the return ferry from Procida to Napes, watching a father and his child holding out bread to entice the gulls following the ferry. Occasionally, the gulls succeeded in taking the bread from the hand, much to everyone's delight. The weather was perfect, the view of the coast enchanting, and the excited buzz of the packed deck of people enjoying the last bit of their holiday combined to create a magic moment.
• In Rome we walked into the Basilica of Santi Quattro Coronati and found a small choir of nuns having a rehearsal. We quietly sat in a back pew and enjoyed the most peaceful fifteen minutes of our entire trip.
  

1) Having two humpback whale right next to our Zodiac in Antarctica...so close we could have touched one of them.
2) Seeing the tulips fields in full bloom in Holland , followed by a visit to Keukenhof
3) Sitting on a bench in Ghent while my husband climbed a bell tower, then I closed my eyes to enjoy the sound of the noon church bells.
4) Waking up and seeing the sunrise in the Cinque Terre while enjoying breakfast on our little balcony
5) The blue domes and bells in Santorini, as well as the fabulous view toward the caldera
6) Sunsets in Hawaiii
7) Walking along the calm beach at Caneel Bay in the early morning/evening
8) Riding camels in Morocco (and it was much easier than I ever dreamed it would be)
9) Enjoying toasts of champagne/mimosas with our fellow passengers and ship staff while sailing under the Sydney Harbor Bridge as we arrived in Australia in the very early a.m.
10) Arriving by water taxi in Venice.....looking at my husband and seeing the total look of joy on his face as we entered the canals.
11) Glaciers calving in Alaska
12) The pure beauty of the Canadian Rockies, and waking up with elk sleeping right at our cabin door
13) Seeing in person the tiny stone cottage in which my grandmother (and her dozen sibilings) were raised in Ireland, then walking the fields my great grandparents would have farmed (I had an old black/white photo of the cottage as a child of humble means, and I never dreamed I would actually someday fly to Ireland and step into that photo myself).
14)Looking out at the lovely view from Ravello, pinching myself that I was actually there!
15) Hearing our guide in Estonia describe just how much she values her freedom and what her childhood like before the country was free. She reminded us to not take freedom for granted.
16) Learning to launch and land hawks at Ashford Castle, then having a surprise upgrade to the most fabulous corner room with incredible views
17) Interacting with merchants at the Rue Cler market, and using our RS translation booklet to talk with a family on the train.
18) Successfully purchasing a stamp at the post office in Paris, speaking totally in French (with help from my RS translation book)
19) Seeing the small version of the Statue of Liberty while on a river barge evening trip in Paris, then having a group of students (I think from Spain) begin singing God Bless America spontaneously, while the Eiffel Tower was all aglow with its night-time lights.
20) Our fabulous RS guide who made the Roman Forum come alive, as she explained what we were seeing and how it evolved over the many centuries
21) Meals...such special experiences in so many places, but Italy stands out as having the very best food. Group meals with platters of food and great conversation were especially enjoyable.

This posting could go on and on...........so many precious memories. It is such a joy to receive travel catalogs and smile when I see places we have visited. We put travel off for a long time, but then we made it a priority about 10 years ago. We'll start to slow down on the frequency of our travels, but the memories we will hold dear.

Yet to be experienced is seeing the Northern Lights, and my husband would still love to see the Valley of the Kings someday. The list seems never ending of experiences yet to have.

Norway Troll Loypa Ski Tour, Hovringen to Lillihammer, our first trip to Europe.

Toured Oslo and did the Norway in a Nutshell before the ski tour during Easter Week. I learned that people beyond North America can live the good live too. Our outbound NIN train was packed with Norwegians heading for their winter mountain huts.

Departed for Smuksjoseter in Hovringen Easter Thursday as Norwegians deserted Oslo. Spent four nights at Smuksjoseter experiencing a Norwegian Paske holiday with special cakes, Norwegian music and dancing at night, and skiing during the day.

Post Easter, as the hills emptied headed headed south on our 10 day ski trek to Lillihammer. Overnight accommodations were a combination of staffed mountain lodges and self-serve huts. Learned that Norwegians are honest with self-serve hut users expected to reimburse the touring association with the food taken from the hut's food closet.

Expected great skiing, but surprised at the enjoyable cultural experience of meeting Norwegians in their native environment. One memorable comment from a coffee cafe waitperson was something like: Taxes are high here in Norway but the benefits are great. And this wait person was an immigrant from Germany who lived/worked in the US for six months.

many, many that all involve people but here is a special one--
Hemingway Bar in Prague with lifelong friends celebrating 30th wedding anniversary and son and his fiance celebrating engagement -- best bartender ever -- drinks works of art -- perfect evening

So many, where to start?
-Pompeii
-sitting on the hotel terrace with my mom in Cochem drinking wine, enjoying the peace of evening in the vineyard, and then walking around that vineyard.
-Solo in Rome enjoying a late dinner (and wine!) near the pantheon and then walking around between the pantheon and Piazza Navona enjoying the lights, fountains, and people.
-dinner (and wine-they don't all involve wine!) with a friend at a restaurant in the marina in Sorrento, looking out at Vesuvius and the water.
- enjoying Raclette on my German friends' terrace in Darmstadt, and then seeing the fireworks at a nearby festival from their yard on my last night of a trip a few years back.
-sledding down the corkscrew in Oslo on February. The same trip I went to see a Norwegian professional hockey game-also a highlight.
-snowshoeing with a group of friends to a snowy, frozen mountain lake in Colorado.
And many more....

Our very first welcome to Rome bus ride after dark. We had taken the train the wrong way and got off hopelessly lost. I approached a young man speaking English and he got us on a bus heading the right direction. Seeing all of the up lit columns and statues for the first time was incredible! Meeting a couple and two other single strangers on a bus and end up spending the rest of the day and evening with them in Montelcino/Siena.

OMG, where to start? There are so many wow moments in the course of my travels.

-- Sitting on a wall in Orvieto with my other half, eating a sandwich I purchased myself from a shop where nobody spoke English, just looking at everything
-- Talking to a bartender in Edinburgh whose travel wish was to visit MY home town
-- Sitting at breakfast in an open air restaurant near Manuel Antonino National Park in Costa Rica, watching monkeys run across ropes strung over the road for just that purpose
-- Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge right when the song changes to 'We Built This City'
-- Standing on the very spot where MLK Jr. stood at the Lincoln Memorial to give his speech

-- Being stuck in the airport at Florence when all the computers went down and standing near a Welsh mother/daughter who were not above using the pretty adult daughter to charm some information out of anyone who looked official.
-- Sitting in a biergarten in Munich (with a pretzel and a beer) and sharing our table with people who quickly realized we spoke little German. (They were so nice!)

I can't even try to list all of the moments. Travel is truly an amazing thing.

My most memorable experience was walking in the American cemetery at Omaha Beach then going down to the beach and realizing what sacrifices were made by the young men on June 6, 1944. Would I have had the courage to do what they did?

Christmas Eve in Bethlehem,

Cruising around Cape Horn,

Walking the Great Wall of China,

Evening at the Opera, Sydney,

Transiting the Panama Canal,

Berlin when the wall was coming down,

Watching Parliament with PM question time,

Glacier Bay, Alaska,

Bayeux Tapestry in Normandy,

Sistine Chapel,

Kyoto, Japan

I constantly have to remind myself of this idea... I love checking the must-sees off the list -- but the best stories come from unexpected situations that pleasantly surprise. Happy travels.

Near Sparta/Mystra, Greece -- my sister and I woke early to sketch almost every morning on our tour and one morning we happened upon a garden with ruins including what looked like a tub. It was so peaceful. We would buy giant bottles full of local wine and drink and play cards in the evenings and then wonder why we were SO exhausted the next morning.

In Monterosso, Italy-- my mother likes to shop and we only had one hotel key, so I told her to come and get me at the beach when she was done. The rocky (but smooth) beach was warm with sunlight and I dozed in and out of sleep listening to families playing in the water and the ocean waves. She agreed that I spent my time better.

In Dublin, Ireland -- my husband and I missed our bus tour to see the Blarney Stone (my alarm didn't go off) so we ran there anyway and paid cash to hop on a bus going to the Cliff of Moher instead. We were sweaty and un-showered but we had an exciting day that we will never forget.

Here are a few of my happily unplanned moments of interaction with locals or fellow travelers, from a compulsive over-planner.
- In Cairo, while posing for a photo for my then husband a local man leaned in and said "don't smile for him, don't do it!" He cracked me up and I'm so glad the ex got the gentleman in the photo.
- Just outside of Jasper, Alberta we met a young Danish couple looking for wildlife near a pond, just as we were doing. They were looking for beaver, we were looking for bear. We talked for about 45 minutes until it got dark. The next day we saw a grizzly bear come out of that same pond and both wished our Danish friends had been there.
- Walking along the waterfront in Plockton, Scotland we happened upon a small ceilidh for the local "yacht club". We sat on a stone wall and enjoyed traditional music with an incredible view.
- On a beach on Kauai while sitting on a picnic table watching the sun set, a local came and sat next to me with his favorite beverage and talked to me about Nihau (sp) and Kauai lore and how he tries never to miss a sunset.
- and finally.....trading my wedding sandals for a small bag of ganja and a "sample" of same on the beach with a Jamaican fellow in Negril. This was in 1980. Happy to say it's legal now where I live. Jenny

We have many. One I especially like is:
My wife and I having dinner in Mittenwald at Der kleiner Kartoffelsack. Very lively, friendly atmosphere. We are at a table for two talking away. I speak and understand German fairly well. Anyway, there's a couple at the next table and the man asks in broken English, where we were from. I said we lived in NJ in the U.S. using my German. He said you German was quite good and asked how I learned it. I briefly explained. He spoke with his wife and asked if we'd like to join them. We said we'd love to. They got up and pushed their table right next to ours. After dinner, they invited us for drinks at a nearby bar. We stayed until after 1am. We had a great night that we'll always remember. Oh, they were from Stuttgart.

This may sound contrived, but the year before the same thing happened, but with a couple of German women at the next table, the same place. We all got along so well we wound up meeting for dinner and sharing our daily travels for three nights in a row. They also lived in Germany somewhere in the Heidelberg area.

Paul

All of my Vaughantown experiences come to mind immediately. Vaughantown is a program where you are given room and board at a very nice hotel for six days in exchange for speaking English to Spaniards. Every time I go, I meet 14 or so other "Anglos" from all over - Ireland, UK, South Africa, Australia, all parts of the US - and 15 or so Spaniards from all parts of Spain, as well as places like Portugal or Colombia. After each week, I have a new network of people that I know in various places around the world who can become local guides if I visit their areas. The program itself is a wonderful way to learn in depth about Spanish people and their lives, share meals (and learn how to do things the Spanish way), and just relax in a beautiful setting. Too many wonderful experiences to pick just one or two (ok, maybe it was dancing the Macarena under a disco ball in a tiny village pub after midnight with a group of new Spanish friends).

The other unforgettable memory was in China with my parents several years ago. We stood on the Great Wall, and my dad asked my mom if she could ever have imagined the two of them, from fairly humble backgrounds, raised in central Illinois, standing on the Great Wall of China. The wonder in his voice is something I will never forget.

I think the general sentiment of the OP is very wise. When I think of what things really made a trip wonderful, it usually wasn't the "must see" attractions. Not that most are not worth seeing. But it's the lazy lunch with a great glass of wine while watching life on the street, or while sitting over a spectacular vista, or wandering a market on market day, or getting off the wrong exit on a subway and realizing that this is a cool neighborhood, let's walk around for a while. By all means, folks should take the time to see some of the sights that are important to them. But I'm not sure rushing from one must see attraction to another through an entire holiday is advisable either. Some of the attractions can wait till your next trip. And even if there's never a next trip, you'll never see it all. So take a little time to embrace the people and culture.

On my very first trip to Europe in 1972.

The boyfriend and I were in Munich a month before the Olympics. We were on a tram, looking at a map and couldn't figure out which stop to exit for the Hofbrau House. A woman in the car must of overheard our discussion. At the next stop she motioned for us to follow her. We didn't speak German. She didn't speak English. I was hesitant. The boyfriend less so. Off we got. She was carrying grocery bags. The boyfriend offered to carry them. She refused. We followed her for about two blocks. We tried to engage her but she remained a few feet ahead of us. We weren't on a busy road. I was suspicious but down a pathway, around a corner, she stopped and pointed. An entrance. We tried very hard to get her to join us. She smiled, shook her head no and walked away.

That spirit of generosity of her time and willingness to help remains with me to this day.

As far as travel moments:

Looking out the window of my flight from London to Dublin and seeing Ireland thru the cloud cover.
The utterance of " 'swear word' it really is that green," and the laughter in the cabin as I apologized profusely.

The smile of a young Cuban school boy when I gave him some baseball cards. The most beautiful smile I've ever seen.

Purposely getting lost in Venice and coming across a church. I could hear a choir. Wonderful voices. Door was open, I peered inside. It was a children's choir. As I stood there a woman approached with a smile and motioned me to sit. I did.

Years ago leaving St Paul's after Christmas Eve midnight mass as a light snow began. Bells peeling, the glow of the street lamps, the chill in the air. Magical, simply magical.

Seeing my first theatre performance in London and being offered an ice cream cup at intermission. Brought a smile to my face. Still does. The play? London Assurance, a farce with a very tall Sir Donald Swindon and a petite young actress named Judi Dench.

The RS Florence tour when we were first inside and spent 15 minutes seeing David before the hordes were allowed through the doors.

Climbing the steps of the Eiffel Tower in 1972. A young college student abroad for the first time ever.

In Amsterdam seeing Rembrant's The Night Watch. Must have missed the high school art history lecture

that mentioned the size. Stopped me in my tracks. Utterly amazed.

Being overwhelmed with emotion in the Museum D'Orsay while looking at The Impressionists. Understanding that many of those painters died impoverished never knowing the joy their art would bring to millions of people.

Seeing the Last Supper in Milan. Just me and the guard in the room.

Lastly, being at the 1983 World Series in San Francisco. The Earthquake game. As we were jerked back and forth in our seats, one row from the top in right field I wondered what it was going to feel like falling backward to my death into the parking lot below. We'd driven from the East Bay across the Bay Bridge. As we wandered in the stadium a guy had a small portable TV. News footage was showing the collapse on the bridge. That reality necessitated that we drive North into The City and across the Golden Gate and San Rafael bridges to get home. Sun was setting as we made our way through SF. Traffic lights were out, civilians, police, fire personnel were all directing traffic. No chaos. As we finally got on the Golden Gate Bridge I turned back to look at San Francisco. In my mind thinking I be seeing that iconic POV. I could see nothing but the fires on the Marina. Eerie memory of the City by The Bay.

1) We were in Moscow in 1969 when Armstrong landed on the moon. The little old lady Curator of the museum we visited came down to our tour bus to congratulated us as Americans for landing on the moon. Watching Armstrong walk on the moon in the West Berlin hotel lobby the next night.
2) The sweet old man in Helsinki who tried to translate our deli order. We swore his only English words were "I speak English."

3) Galloping along the beach in Donegal on a big rangy Irish Sport horse.
4) Taking a wrong turn near Bandon Ireland and finding a memorial to Michael Collins. Another wrong turn took us to a 300 y/o woolen mill.

The little bit I've travelled I've learned that enjoying people is more important that seeing another museum. And don't fret if your schedule gets out whack. There are interesting surprises around every corner.

Right now what comes to mind were the Holy Thursday processions in Zaragosa and the April Faire in Seville. Both were great cultural experiences.

Some places really stick with me. Venice and Salzburg stick out as particularly beautiful cities. The tides around Brittany are pretty amazing.

Any prehistory sight, inlcluding Carnac, Newgrange, Antiquera, Spain and (yes) Stonehenge, are memorable for me.

• laughing til we cried in the mountains near Wengen, Switzerland as we navigated a trail through a bunch of cows. I'd been imagining this idyllic mountain scene of cows with bells and there they were! One of us was surprising scared of the cows which made the whole thing hilarious

-savoring a spritz in a Venice square as local families gathered and played at the end of their day. Way more memorable than the crowd of tourists at St Marks

• sharing stories of parenting and family life with a German family on a long train journey

Great idea!
2002: Tea and scones with the coolest lady running a farm in Ireland. They usually do group tours and have sheep herding demonstrations but it was raining so everyone canceled except us. She felt bad so she fed us homemade scones with churned butter and homemade jam. And the best Irish tea. We sat by her fireplace and chatted about America and how much they (Irish people) liked Bill Clinton and disliked GWB (she called him 'the cowboy' lol). It was such a non-touristy experience, I'll never forget it.

2017: Finding a small enoteca in Florence just off the duomo area and hanging out for a while, soaking it all in. The owner was celebrating his 4th anniversary and he cut us a plate of really amazing peccorino cheese. We enjoyed a couple glasses of wine and got to meet his infant son (Cosimo) and his wife when she brought him in for a visit with his dad. It was a heartwarming experience.

I loved reading everyone's stories! I have a few to share:

First trip to Europe and arriving in Paris CDG after midnight after a 3 hour delay thanks to Easyjet- the train was closed, the bus took forever to show up so my sister and I ended up sharing a cab with a sister duo from New Zealand. We went to Gare du Nord to take the metro to our hotel and struck a conversation with a young German male on the metro who spent a year abroad at my alma mater- CSULB. It turns out he also hung out at my hometown, Huntington Beach.

A few years ago, I took my 3 kids to celebrate my 50th birthday. We had so much fun seeing the usual sights in London, Paris and Barcelona but we always talk about the day we spent on the beach in Barcelona. We picked up picnic food at Bouqueria and had an awesome day relaxing on the beach- watching the locals play with their dogs (and missing ours), getting massages from the Chinese women walking around (€5 for 15 minutes) and enjoying buying sangria from the Pakistani men serving them!

Thanks for the shoutout Ms.Jo! Along those lines, I have enjoyed meeting up with people I know, and people I've met through the forum. Exploring Frankfurt with Ms. Jo, as well as spending time with her and her sweet daughter in California (come back Jo!), exploring the Cotswolds with Nigel and his lovely wife, meeting Laura B. and her hubby for a gondola ride in Venice, meeting Darcy and Pam from Idaho for lunch in Paris, and on another trip meeting Darcy and her family in Venice and for a lovely dinner in Siena. Spending time with family who live in Germany.

As far as specific things, I will always remember our agriturismo outside of Siena. We were the only people from the U.S. staying there over 4 nights. Everyone spoke varying degrees of English and interacting with them during breakfasts and delicious dinners at the communal table, discussing their countries and answering questions about ours, drinking the wine left over from dinner with some of them and talking until midnight was all so memorable.

Being at the American Cemetery in Normandy at the just the right time. In the late afternoon I noticed they were taking an American flag down. We went closer. Then they went to another flagpole and everyone stopped in their tracks. Even though there were hundreds of people from all over the world there, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. As the flag was coming down, taps was played. It was very moving and I still get emotional every time I think about it.

In Paris I was in awe seeing the Eiffel Tower lights sparkle for the first time. It was magical. I fell in love with Paris on that first trip and have been back 4 more times. So far. It's my favorite city. Our 2nd trip to Paris was for a 10 day period over New Years. On New Year's Eve day we did a walking tour. There were two young women there who were students from Seattle, stopping over in Paris on their way home from Egypt. They eventually just stayed by us (me, hubby & 20 year old daughter), and decided to go on an evening walking tour of Montmartre with us. After that tour we all went to dinner together. As it got close to midnight we went to Pont Neuf to have a good view of the fireworks over the Eiffel Tower at midnight. We had heard how crazy it got being closer. More and more people joined us on the bridge, carrying bottles of champagne. It was a bit of a let down when, at the stoke of midnight, the tower sparkled like it always does at the top of the hour and that was it. The only fireworks were from people who had brought them to the bridge. But it was still fun being surrounded by people in various levels of inebriation celebrating the new year.

Going to Giverny and walking into Monet's water garden. It was like stepping into one of his paintings.

In Salzburg, going to visit a church and finding a girls choir from Scotland there performing. We got there as they were finishing the next to the last song. Then they began singing Edelweiss. The Sound of Music holds a special meaning to me and my family, especially for me and my sister, who had passed away 5 months earlier. It was wonderful. We were staying in a small town about 30km from Salzburg and had driven to Salzburg that day. The following day we took the train to Salzburg to go on a Sound of Music tour. From the train we saw graffiti in many places, as is common in Europe. But as we were going by some pillars holding up a bridge there was one pillar that had only one thing. Ange. Ange is what my sister called me. No one else did, only her. I even looked for it on the way back to be sure. I had seen it correctly. I know she was with me on that tour.

I could go on and on, but I agree that people who rush around checking things to see off boxes are not allowing themselves time to really experience where they are. Those experiences are what make the best memories.

So many. First trip over in '83 on a trip only in Germany. 1) Standing on a subway platform in Germany (Hanover?). Across the platform heading in the other direction was another young man wearing a sweater I had at home. We were the only ones waiting on our trains. He was Russian and it struck me then that we really are no different than people in other countries. 2) I stopped for the night in the Alps at a small hotel. Not really a clue as to where I was exactly. In the morning I had breakfast looking out a large window to the Alps and watched the clouds roll down the hill. Beautiful! 3) The last night of that trip I spent in Gross Gerau behind a hotel in what I can only describe as a converted shed. Bed, shower, toilette, all a young man needs.

Honeymoon trip. Back to Germany and sharing the joy of travel with my new wife. Little did I know what I had done. She loves to travel as much as I do. We wandered around southern Germany and Switzerland without any planned stops. Springtime in Germany will always be the smell of manure on plowed fields to us. 10 years later, a family trip to Paris for one week. Waking up in the morning before the family and going to the local boulangerie for fresh croissants and juice. Walking about Paris and having the feeling that just about any street we walked down was as if we were in a painting. Our first sight of the Eiffel Tower over the rooftops as we walked towards it. Spending time and being shown around Paris by the family our middle child had stayed with a few years before.
Trips to Italy and England and Scotland to look up our ancestry. The serendipity of meeting a genealogy hobbyist in London wha was from the town my greatgrandparents lived in and where my grandma & grandpa lived long enough for an aunt to be born in. Finding my great grandfathers grave in a cemetery outside of London. Wanting to see Australia for many many years and only doing so because my daughter had gone to New Zealand for 3 months.
Lastly, the joy a parent feels when their adult child travels to see the world. My parents instilled the love of travel in me having dragged me (at the time it seemed as if I was being dragged) all across this great big beautiful country of ours. I can now see parts of the world through her eyes.

I'd say my favorite moment obviously was proposing to my wife while she sat on the ledge of Trevi fountain. Secondly, I would say the moment I opened up the front doors and stepped out onto the balcony of our hotel in Varenna on Lake Como. That was a truly awe inspiring moment to see the beauty and charm of Lake Como