What's the most exciting city or place you have been to, and why was it so?
Do you think you'll ever go back there?

GREAT topic Diamond.

This is a hard one...can I say two? LOL

My first thought was Budepest, Hungry. What a magnificiant city. The buildings are just awe-some!

Then Venice, Italy came to mind......talk about unique beauty.

I would like to go back to both - will we? I don't know.

ohhhh ohhh, and I thought of a third. (sorry)

We were on a trip back from Finland, and we had a stop over in Keflevic, Iceland. We were actually traveling with our church, coming back from a conference. People were buying Iceland T-shirts (I was just rolling my eyes, as I don't feel that a stop in an airport consititutes an actual "visit" to the place).

Anywho, an annoucement came over the loudspeaker that a flight to NY was overbooked and they were looking for people to give up their seats. That wasn't our flight...but this little voice inside of me said that ours was going to have the same issue. So, I found my hubby, grabbed our tickets, and went to stand in line at our airline to find out if we were going to have the same issue. No sooner was I the 4th person in line, when the announcement came for our flight.

WOooohoooo. They needed 4 couples to let go of their seats, they would get a free roundtrip ticket to anywhere in the world, an overnight stay at a hotel in iceland, all meals, AND a tour the next day. We were in. O.K. Talk about nice "christian" people climbing all over each other to try to get to the top of the pig pile (I mean line). LOL It was, uuummm, interesting.

So, we got off the flight, and had a dream 24 hours in Iceland. The only yucky part was not having clean undergarmets and socks -- we had already been on the road for many, many hours.

The food was the freshest seafood I had EVER tasted. The dinner we had was buffet style....talk about seafood with every type of sauce.

There were two other couples from our church(and another random couple) that got bummped, we walked up and down the streets after dinner...played cards...it was wonderful.

The next day we got to go on the tour....wow. We saw a fish processing plant...AND...we got to go to the "blue lagoon". Now who here would willingly RENT a swimsuit. WELL, I have to tell you - I was NOT going to miss this experience. The blue lagon was a natural hot spring (HUGE) surrounded by volcanic rock, FUELED by the volcano, sitting in the shadow of the power plant that the hot springs generated power for. The temp of the wate was 101 degrees, the air temp. was in the 30's, so there was a beautiful mist rising from the waters.

So, I RENTED a swimsuit, and partook in a slice of sureal heaven!

I would loooovvveeee to go back and see more of Iceland. What a country!

Thanks for letting me share. lol

Danita

Jamaica, mon!
That was probably the best and most romantic week of my life.
The reason, Me, my husband, no kids, on a beautiful beach at an all inclusive club where the staff treated us like royalty.
No worries!
I'd love to go back someday.

Danita, yours sounds like it was a great time!

[ February 25, 2006, 12:10 PM: Message edited by: TVC15 ]

I never thought of Iceland as a place to visit but your trip made me think about it for sure.

This is a hard one as we travel a lot. I think St Tropez in Southern France. It's clean and beautiful with wonderful restaurants and little shops and huge yachts all along the coast.

We had lunch at this wonderful restaurant on the water with music playing and nude people sunbathing and the menu was the owner (in his speedos!) taking you to the kitchen where his mother was the chef and that's how you chose what to eat.

The bar was outside and the bartender was topless. After a while, you don't notice it anymore. There was a little clothing shop that had a runway show going all the time.

They didn't take credit cards...cash only. Just a lot of wonderful memories and we've gone back again and will probably do so again.

WoW Danita talk about being well traveled, so cool....

While growing up in Indiana with parents that didn't have much money left over to vacation outside the USA we went to places like Wisconsin Dells, had a summer place in The Indiana Dunes and of course to see the Redwoods in California and Yosemite National Park, your regular tourist stuff. As a young adult I came to Las Vegas for a vacation and was blown away, so much to see and do here. Years later I decided to pack up the kids and moved here. I have always wanted to see my beloved Italy but never have (YET) one never knows. I know its nothing like being in the real places but for now this will have to do, I visit Paris, Venice, Egypt, Rome, San Tropez, Rio and Treasure Island all right here in my back yard and never have to set foot on a plane...Works for me!....

[ February 25, 2006, 09:07 PM: Message edited by: chatty lady ]

Chatty,

THAT is what I LOVE about Vegas. I've been begging my husband to take me back - I didn't get enough of the "world of Vegas". I want my kids to see it too....just amazing! LOL.

I think YOU have the best of all the worlds...you can go anytime -- no language barrier, no issues with currency...and you can sleep in your own bed. LOL!

Danita

Danita..My son's best friend is getting married and my son is his best man...they are going to Iceland for a 5 day Bachelor party in May...12 guys and the groom"s Father...when he told me this I was dumbfounded...the last 3 weddings he was in, the bachelor parties were in Vegas...which I thought sounded great...but Iceland?? So I went online and did a search on Iceland and was completely blown away by what I read and saw..The Hot Springs, Fabulous restaurants, all kinds of entertainment and very reasonable travel packages. I really hate the cold weather..but I must admit...this looks like a very tempting place to vacation...

I love Islands though...and we have been lucky to travel to quite a few beautiful ones over the years...but I still think my very favorite is Bermuda...Maybe because we went there on our Honeymoon...it was like a dream come true...but we have been back there 3 more times and it never disappoints us...

Chatty, that's so cool...that's why we love going
to Vegas twice a year : ) And when we go there is
never enough time to cover everything...have yet to
see Jubilee!!

Girls, love reading your posts!

I have so many places I'd like to return to.
I am so in love with Germany, as I lived there as
a small child, then later again as an adult. We
lived in Kleinluder, a wee little town about one
hour away from Frankfurt.
We loved driving just about everywhere in Germany,
always went to the German Alps for ski vacations
(mostly to the town of Garmisch-Partenkirschen)
just a little south of Munich.
Over and over again we'd go to Rothenburg-ob-der-
tauber...very old and quaint German town loved by
tourists.

These days we find ourselves returning to very
exotic Bangkok, Thailand. I also want to return
to very exciting Hong Kong next year : )

Now I still need a long tour of the USA East Coast!

Diamond...I forgot to mention how much I loved Maui...all of the rainbows...breathtaking!!!I live on the East Coast though so I really hated the long plane ride to get there...so next time we visit Hawaii I told my hubby we should plan to stay for at least a month:) ...he rolled his eyes!!