After every vacation I love to make a scrapbook to capture all my favorite moments. I spent a couple hours today scrap-booking my recent trip to France. While affixing photos, stickers, and accent colors to each page and adding captions it really hit me how much I love traveling and I just can't seem to get enough of it.
My first 'big girl' vacation was in June 2007. I went to Arizona with a friend from college. We explored the beautiful red rocks of Sedona Arizona and the Grand Canyon for a few days before heading to Scottsdale for a relaxing few days at the spa. I would highly recommend the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale which is affiliated with JW Marriott resorts. Great accommodations and location. We squeezed in a quick visit to the Desert Botanical Gardens and the Phoenix Zoo when we weren't relaxing by the pool or getting spa treatments. I must say that my favorite treatment was the Desert Nectar Honey Wrap. Arizona was great because all though it was hot there was no humidity - so goodbye frizz!
In May of 2008 I took a quick trip to Bermuda. This was my second time to Bermuda and yet again the weather was not that great so I don't think I'll be venturing back to Bermuda anytime soon. But of course, the spa was excellent at the Southhampton Princess Resort and Spa.
By August of 2008 I felt the need to travel again and use my passport so I bought a plane ticket to London England for November. I immediately contacted a friend from college who moved to England with her husband and worked out a visit. I spent a quick two and a half days in London rushing from site to site to see all the major tourist attractions before getting on a train to Leeds England. I spent a week in Leeds with my friend taking side trips to explore York, Hull, Skipton, and Saltaire. Great quaint little English countryside towns. Of course I went to England in November so it was cold, rainy, damp, and gray but that was ok because I got stamps in my passport and there was hardly any tourist crowds anywhere that I went!
Now it is April 2009 and it has been less than six months since I've been in Europe and I feel the need to go back so I book a plane ticket to CDG for June 2009. Charles deGaulle Airport in Paris is my favorite airport to type into the destination city on continental.com. I went to Paris with one friend from college and met up with another who was living in Paris at the time. We spent two fantastic weeks in Paris with an overnight trip to Bayeux France to visit Normandy and other D-Day sites. I immediately fell in love with Paris from the moment I landed. I love everything about this city - from food, to tourist sites, to the hotels, to the Seine, and the abundance of outdoor cafes. It was amazing to be in Paris in June because the sun didn't set until 11pm so we had nice long days. And I loved the challenge of having to communicate in French.
One Wednesday in August of 2009 I decided that I hadn't been away in six weeks now so I bought a plane ticket to Chicago for that Friday through Monday. That was the most spur of the moment trip I have ever done - there was no time to plan and map out my trip like I normally do. So I spent a hot quick long weekend in Chicago visiting the Navy Pier, Michigan Ave, and Millennium Park. Chicago reminded me so much of Europe. The plethora of bridges crossing over the Chicago River was just like scenes from London and Paris with the many foot and car bridges passing over the Thames and the Seine Rivers.
In November of 2009 we were told at work that we needed to try and work our comp vacation time down to zero so obviously I started planning a trip before year end to follow orders. My college friend from my Arizona trip suggested meeting up since we hadn't seen each other in a while so we met half way between our homes in Mystic CT for a long weekend in December. Of course we had spa appointments, went to Mohegan Sun, an aquarium, and did a lot of shopping on Main Street in Mystic for Christmas.
Since I loved Mystic so much I went back twenty days later for one day to meet with my friends from England who were in the states for holiday.
By early May 2010 I realized that the span of time between my past European holidays was just a little over six months and now it had been over ten months since I've been in Europe and was in desperate need to get back. So without have talked to anyone or planned any logistics I bought a plane ticket from EWR to CDG for September 2010.
A few days later I decided to be crazy and purchase another spur of the moment plane ticket and on Monday I bought a plane ticket to Fort Myers Florida for that Thursday morning to go to the Ritz Carlton Resort and Spa in Naples. I spent two nights on the hot beautiful west coast and of course spent some amazing time at the spa.
Upon my return from the Ritz I started really planning for France 2010. The highlights from my best trip yet to follow......
No comments:
Post a Comment