AskSteemit: What has been your best vacation?
Lately I've been thinking about taking a small break from Steem, feels like I'm nearing the burn out zone again when most of my waking hour revolves around it.
I was thinking of where I should go and looked back at some of the places I've been in in the past. Last year we went to Spain with my roommate and had a pretty good time.
The best vacation that comes to mind though, has been when I went to Germany after my highschool finished. We visited this german exchange student and as it so happened the World Cup in Football was held there that year at the same time. The best part about the trip was that I was really into german and was going to study it in the university so it felt great to use it a bit more and practice talking. To my surprise it went better than I expected, after a few days of talking it actively it became so fluent that my german friend's friends thought I was just some friend of his from another city.
It was in the middle of summer, the weather was great, a lot of drinking involved - I remember that it was because of german beer that I started to like beer in the first place. I never drank it here in Finland before. Italy went on to win the World Cup and it was an awesome trip overall and met a lot of great people.
Now I feel like I really want to visit Germany again but then again there are so many places I still haven't visited so I thought I'd ask you guys where you've spent the best vacation in so far and why you liked it so much. So...
Steemit, where have you enjoyed your vacation the most and why?
I've travelled to a few countries, but all of them were Western until I had the occasion to travel to Japan, which was by far my best vacation ever. There were many sources to my pleasure there, but the main one was that I have a strong interest in analysing people and their behaviour, and Japan is absolutely different from what I would have expected. I was even told many things about it before, but it is truly a fascinating place to be in.
First of all, everything was absolutely clean on the streets. There was not one cigar, one little piece of plastic. I don't know how they manage it. I think that I saw one piece of garbage and it was a little bag that had flown off a cliff near a cave, where it was really hard go to pick it up. I imagine that if it had not been so hard to reach, it would have been picked up already by the time I passed by.
While on there, I talked to quite a few tourists and many had only explored the main touristic parts and been to places filled with other tourists. They were sightseeing, and that's ok, but they didn't have the chance to really see the Japanese in their "natural habitat". I went to farms, to middle-class apartments, to a fisher's home and followed a tourist guide in Hiroshima who described their view on the terrible events that ended World War II. I was amazed that they were not resentful at all but felt guilty of their participation in the war and felt that it was some kind of rightly but disastrous punishment.
On my way back, I felt that I still had so much to explore, and ever since then, every vacation I've taken hasn't been to "exotic places" to see beaches or buildings but to reach into communities and examine them thoroughly. What I love about it is that it creates the greatest separation from the zone of comfort where we are accustomed to be and pops the bubble of our familiarity. We cannot become one with this new environment at once, and this feeling of our minds trying to adapt is just wonderful.
Japan has been on my list in forever! I love their culture and grew up with anime and manga! <3
Our very best vacations have been Hawaii (rented a house) and the beautiful beaches there. Snorkling, swimming, touring a lava tube, seeing volcanoes, going to the top of Mt Haleakala. Our kids loved it!
Maine - we rented a beach house in a small town. It was gorgeous. One beach nearby was a sand beach. The other beach you had to hike to and it was a rock/pebble beach. At low tide you could hike out to a little island and explore it. This was magical for the kids!
Camping at the Grand Canyon. The kids had a BLAST. My oldest brought his bike and rode it around the campsite. We had so much fun doing hikes, riding mules, eating good food, making a campfire every night.
We had one vacation in Moab...we went mountain biking (on easy trails bc our youngest would sit in her bike seat) which our kids LOVED. We hiked/explored at Arches Nat'l Park which our kids also loved.
We do ski vacations each winter...there are a gazillion ski areas within a day's driving distance from here. Our ski passes are good at 7 different ski areas, so we go to each one each year (if we can make it work). The kids love it. Our 3 year old was skiing on her own by the end of last year which was amazing to me.
Last summer was one of our best vacations ever. We flew to Juneau, Alaska (where we used to live). Rented a car, and took it on the ferry to Haines. Then we drove up into interior Alaska, visited my brother, camped, and saw the sights. The kids had such an amazing time...they got to canoe, pick berries, see glaciers, see all kinds of wildlife, go to national refuges and state and national parks. All of us agree the most amazing part of the trip was Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and the Kennicott mine. WOW. Truly incredible.
someone told me before that Germans are really fond of drinking. Was it because of their weather or is there something else behind that? Whenever I feel like I'm burnt out, I always escape from the usual things that I do everyday, that includes working or even socializing in social media sites(that also includes Steemit). I escape, I try to go to a place where there is peace and serenity. Usually, beach,resort or some good place with good food and weak wifi is my go-to place to visit. After taking a break, I feel energized and more than ready to fight again! 😁
You see, resting is really important. We should not drain ourselves. Life is good! We just need to balance everything ❤
The best trip in my life was to Rajasthan, I went there with my family, the best place I visited in Rajasthan is known as pink city Jaipur, each and every house there is coloured by pink. I really loved to see that, as if it was some kind of uniform code. I went through a lot of old palaces too the "Maharajas" still oen these palaces. Certain palaces contain a lot of historical things too which were used by thier ancestors. A palce of culture, history and love.
I have fond memories of watching that 2006 world cup with a couple of friends!
I would have to say that my best vacation was on my 2nd visit to the United States back in 2008, I was 13 years old and that time i finally understood the difference between where i was living and the USA, i had so much fun walking around the streets, visiting malls and eating fast food that from that time on, i decided that i would eventually move into the United States.
Taking a vacation is always good, especially if you are starting to feel burnout.
Hello Sir, @acidyo
The best vacation I ever had in my life was my trip to Dubai and US.
This trip was best because I am with my lovely sister. It was the first time when we together had gone for a trip. This is so because we live extremely apart from each other.
The amazing experience I had in my life was paragliding. It was immensely beautiful to see the ocean beyond the limits and to fly in the sky like a bird. This was a pretty amazing beautiful thing that ever happened to me.
The credit of this fantastic experience goes to my sis. As her desire to do paragliding, I accompanied her This was an experience that made my trip the best trip of my life.
Barcelona. It was the first trip with my now wife for her 30th. It is a fantastic city and it is really laid back. We spent the time walking around the streets talking and taking pictures of the amazing architecture. I'd say it is a pretty chill place to hang out and relax.
Go somewhere a little further a field. Germany is on your doorstep. How about Cape Town? There is so much to see and the best scenery in the world. It is not that expensive. exchange rate is favorable at 14 rands to the Euro. A weeks break would be long enough and even though it is winter will still be warmer than Finland's summer. If you decide on going there i will be able to help you as I know it like the back of my hand as I grew up there.
Not true (maybe the far north of Finland north of the arctic circle).
How hot is your summer then?
In July, it is about 5 C warmer in Helsinki than in Cape Town in terms of daily average, minimum and maximum. The average daily maximum in Cape Town is about 17.5 C and about 22.5 C in Helsinki in July.
Not much can beat the Finnish summers. :)
Won't argue with facts but if you haven't been you have to go.
Cape Town sure sounds like an interesting place to visit. A friend of mine visited it a few years ago. The Western Cape province is told to be the best area of South Africa to visit. Is it in your opinion?
Yes and Natal. Game farms are good in Zulu land.
How many times did you get your SBD pickpocketed? :P
lol.. It is only a problem if you don't look Spanish.. ;)
How do you "look" Spanish? 🙄
I mean, "not white" :P
@tarazkp sir and @acidyo sir its an awesome conversation :)
lol tio!
I wish I would go to Barcelona and Real Madrid to look at two places in the future, I and my wife together this place will be sharing the group together and of course with you, and Sir, it's been nice to know that you spent a lot of moments in Barcelona.
xD
Sounds like German had a special place in your life before you went there. Additionally timing ended up on your side as well, unintentionally even.
So it's hard for me to suggest a place or an event. I would say that coming to America could do that. I would suggest going to Zion and the grand canyon.. and coming when you can go to burning man or the electric Daisy carnival.
If those sound to wild. Come and go to a comicon or the e3 event.
Me, I don't like big crowds. I had a really good time travelling around Alaska and I would like to go back again.
There are many place where I feel like best but my memorible day that day when I went to with my friends to visit sagordari in jesore.we enjoy very much that day.
What is that strange word "vacation", haven't heard about it before!
I only know words like sleepless and no-weekends!