One of the things I’ve found to be odd, or rather unexpected as I’ve reached the second half of my twenties is that the nature of vacations didn’t work out the way I anticipated as I made my early life transitions. When I was a child we took our vacations together as a family, as many people do. This continued into high school when I was allowed to go to Greece with my best friend’s family and my parents and my younger brother and sister went to St. Thomas Island in the Caribbean that year. It was fun and a turning point, though I have to admit I did miss my family a bit.
Finally, when I turned eighteen and hit college, I felt I was on my own and couldn’t wait to take a Spring Break trip with some of my friends. We did of course, and had a great time in Cabo San Lucas. In fact, it was so great that parts of it I can’t even remember. That was probably the highlight of the trips I took with friends during my college years. After I finished college and tried to settle into a career, I have taken a couple of short trips, more like getaways, with friends. And ironically, after all of these years I have come to the conclusion that I had the best vacations with my family.
There’s a possibility that this is largely due to the places we visited. But I think there’s something special and nostalgic about that time too. And everyone knows nostalgia trumps the present time any day. For instance, one year we went to Spain and stayed in the most incredible Costa Brava hotel. We spent a lot of time on the beach and went swimming almost every day. I remember a lot of other people there and I think most of them were on vacation too. This actually made it more fun and we met people from all over the world that year. We had great food at the local restaurants. And we went to some of the smaller towns that had a different and more traditional feel than the coastal resorts. We also visited the Dali Museum and I remember being somewhat disturbed but mostly impressed with his work. I’m still a huge Salvador Dali fan to this day. And I’m also a strong supporter of family vacations.