Where are you going on vacation this summer, and is there a special reason why you are going there?

I'm going to the Bahamas next month to celebrate my one year anniversary with my boyfriend - I can't wait!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

Answers

Suki, make sure you get your hair braided. I got it done when I went there and it looked so great!!! Happy one year anniversary, too!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

Suki, you blatantly only asked that question so you could talk about your glam holiday plans.

I've been thinking about going to Asia, now that I can afford to stay somewhere nice, rather than sleeping under a pile of bricks at the back of an illegal gambling den. I might try Tieland, because I need some new ties.

I WAS considering China, but that all sounds a bit confusing, and I'm a bit worried that if they can't decide whether there's One China or not, how on earth will they schedule flights there?

Germany is another option, but I wouldn't want to get Lost In Munich.

Probably, though, I'll spend a fortnight down at World of Carpets near Brent Cross: it's not so far that I can't get there by bus, the staff are really helpful, and the scenery changes depending on which corner of the store you are standing in.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

C'mon suki, tell the truth. The only reason you're really going is because your boyfriend is paying for it! I know all about people like you.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

If that's true, Sukster, then take him for all he's got! Ha ha!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

Shelly, how else do you think I could make my way to the Bahamas!?

My man wants me to show off my new breasts on a new beach, so he got us a reservation at Sandals - it is an all-inclusive. Eat all day, drink all night!

And I really want to know what you guys are doing this summer - come on, tell me!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

I'm spending my vacation in Canfield, Ohio, in two weeks. Thirteen hours driving up, two days there, thirteen hours driving back. Believe it or not, it'll be the highlight of my summer. 'Course, I already did spend three exotic days in Perry, Georgia, and a whole Interstate 20 extravaganza to get to Ft. Worth, Texas, in March, so you can tell I'm a globetrotter.

I did my real world traveling as a kid, now I just go to dog shows. I learned to hate airports so it kind of knocks out the real vacation destinations.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

I finally get a REAL vacation this summer. By real I mean going somewhere to be a tourist and have fun. The last REAL vacation I had was a trip to Yellowstone in 1989. I spent 4 or 5 days there camping and it was almost a religious experience. Hiking and listening to ranger talks after dinner. Alone on a mountain top a year after the big burn listening to the trees creak and watching Old Faithful spew in the distance. This summer my brother, whose wife is in the Air Force, is flying myself and my daughter to England for 10 days. It will be the first time I've gone "across the pond". I've got a list of things to do. Do you guys have stuff to add? We leave Aug. 10 and I am sooooo excited. Just hope my daughter and I can cope with being on a plane that long. It will be great to see my brother and his wife and kids. Years ago I got to go to the Bahamas (very, very cheap) and stay on a dive boat. I love the Bahamas!!! The water is so clear, blue and warm and the beaches are white.

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

suki--you ho!

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2000

Shelly, that really hurts my feelings. You don't even know me and my relationship with my boyfriend. Just because I don't have money to travel and he does, that doesn't make me a ho because I accept his offer to take me somewhere. Would I be a ho if he took me to Disney World instead of a tropical island?

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2000

Suki, are you counting down the days until your trip? How many?

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

Suki: that depends. Does he set a minimum-amount requirement for blowjobs before y'all go to Disney?

:D

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

Gwen, it depends on how long we are staying. How many blow jobs does Paul expect from you after telling you that you don't have to go camping with him?

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

Uh, it's not about quantity, Suki. It's about quality.

You just wouldn't understand.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2000

I just got back from New Mexico and I do so wish I were still there! I had an amazing time. I stayed on a campus on top of a mesa in the middle of nowhere and it was so gorgeous. There was lots of fat, healthy wildlife and you could see for miles. Almost every day there were spectacular electrical storms in the distance. We spent some time in Santa Fe, which was pretty but too commercial for my taste(my mom calls it a giant adobe theme park). My favorite places were a museum of folk art in Santa Fe, Bandolier National Park (groovy pueblos), and el sanctuario de Chimayo. In Chimayo there is a church where there is "healing dirt". Before the Spanish came the Indians made pilgrimages there seeking out the dirt's healing powers. Then when the missionaries arrived of course they appropriated the spot and built a church there so that the natives would come to church. I collect Mexican religious art so I was in hog heaven. The people at all the little shops there were all so sweet and sincere. I even got to take home some sacred dirt. I also got lots of cool dia de los muertes skeleton art at the flea market outside of Santa Fe. In Albuquerque we went to a national monument and hiked around and saw lots of ancient petroglyphs and then went to the National Atomic Museum. Sadly we were only there a few days and didn't have enough time to make our way to Taos or Roswell. Still we saw lots of amazing things and got tons of exercise hiking and swimming. I can't wait to go back to the land of enchantment!

For all of you contemplating long, intercontinetnal flights, take some sleeping pills with you. They're a must if you're gonna fly coach. Skip Germany. I wasn't terribly impressed by anything I saw there; there's much more to do and it's much prettier in Switzerland and France. And you know how people always say that the French, especially Parisians, are so rude? Totally untrue. I found Germans and Austrians less than cordial, but I've never had a bad experience in Paris. Bon voyage, y'all!

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Jill, was it super-duper hot in NM? Or was it, like, a "dry heat"?

This summer I've gone to Toronto and Fredericksburg, TX. I'm hoping to go to Dallas in August for a weekend. That'll probably be the extent of my summer travels. Pretty good, though, huh?

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Most of my travels for the last 5 years have centered around either a.)family visits or b.)weddings of friends. I don't get that much vacation time, so when I can, I go home to see the nieces and nephews because they're cute (and they worship me...which makes them even cuter). I'm a little sick of weddings though. I have 3 friends getting married between now and November. I may skip one and go to New York instead. When I win the lottery tommorrow, however, I'm going to go to Austria, Fiji and Alaska.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

This year I went to Las Vegas for my brother's wedding. Yes, he planned a wedding in Las Vegas - they made arrangements last August for a February wedding. Last month I spent a few days to Toronto, which was too short a time. I was invited to go to Las Vegas again next month, but I'm not sure if I have the money. I was also invited to go to Vegas this month for a family reunion, but I have no desire to hang out with said family members in Sin City.

You know, for years I had wanted to go to Vegas, and now I have had 3 chances to go in one year. I wonder when I'll ever have the chance to go again.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Nicole, you gotta go to see Seigfreid and Roy! I've never been to LV, but don't you want to see those crazy guys and their tigers? Plus, that blowing up Pirate ship? It's a kitsch mecca....

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

I'm going to DC to visit the National Archives and listen to the Nixon tapes. I'm also going to the White House to make fun of the Reagan china. Which is probably only an exciting vacation to me and the friend who is going with me, so it's a good thing we're the ones taking it.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

This is apparently my summer of vacations. Already I have been to Toronto and the Adirondacks. Later this summer, I am going to NYC and hopefully Las Vegas. I'm not sure how I am affording all of this, but I know that I won't always have the free time and opportunity to go so many places, so I'm taking advantage of it, even if it means selling a kidney.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Lisa, I've seen Sigrfreid and Roy twice. Once when I was 15 or 16 at Radio City Music Hall, and then again in February in Vegas. They haven't changed their act. At all. It was totally not worth the $98 a ticket, even if it came with two drinks.

Now, I can watch the water fountain show at Bellagio over and over. Maybe that is because they change the music and show every time it goes on. I didn't get to see the pirate battle because the week I was there there were some mechanical problems. The volcano explosion at the Mirage is weak.

I love how cheesy Las Vegas is, no matter how classy they are trying to make their resorts.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Right now I'm in beautiful San Juan Capistrano, CA and I'll be here until the end of the month.

Gwen, I can't believe that's the first time you've been to Fredricksburg! Isn't it wonderful? You have to go during Ocktberfest (only on the first weekend in Oct.) cuz oompa music rocks!

I consider my stopover at DFW a trip because it took me three days to walk from Gate 7 to Gate 33.

Suki, Suki, Suki...only if he buys you diamonds is it ok. Sheesh!

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2000

Actually, Gwen, it was very temperate in New Mexico, about 85 in the afternoons and much cooler at night. I had expected it to be sweltering like it is here and was very pleasantly surprised.

I saw Sig & Roy when I was in Vegas a couple of years ago. It was very kitschy and fun, but I never would have paid for it. The tickets were a gift from the boyfriend's boss.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000

Considering how close I live to London, I guess I shouldn't be all, 'Aiya! I'm going to London!' every time I go there, but that's always how I feel about it. The schlep down there is annoying, but I feel so completely at home and in my element there that it's like a mini-holiday whenever I can make it down. I wonder if I would love it as much if we moved to central London, but I'd kind of like to find out. Anyway, I've only been there once so far this summer, but I know I'm going back at least two more times before the end of August, so yay.

I got invited to go to Las Vegas next month, too, but there's too much going on for me to make it. Same goes for a couple of other trips (Tokyo, Moscow) that I'd hoped to make, but there'll be time next year. I hope.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000

whoa! If someone invited me to Tokyo or Moscow, I'd be trying to find those as little towns on the Florida map, because that would not be happenin' for me. Dang!

I think it's great to appreciate and be excited about things, especially if they're in your own backyard (like London is.) I can't think of how many places I've been to and seen cool stuff, and the people that live there say to me "you know, I've lived here XX years, and I've never been to the XX before", and it turns out it's the most fucking spectacular thing. I just don't get that. I used to go to The Alligator Farm (in the next town) to see Gomek, (the world's biggest captive crocodile) because he was pretty neat. Now he's dead, and it just too late for Betty and Bob that didn't see him, isn't it?

That's not the best example, but I think you see what I'm getting at.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000

*cough, cough*... I got invited to Vegas, too! But I'm not gonna go, I don't think, coz I'm still paying off my bills from the Great Torontonian Adventure.

Shelly, I can't believe it, either! Paul says we're gonna go again without the kids. I want to do the romantic German B&B thing, visit the herb farm, maybe climb Enchanted Rock, and maybe scope out the Wildflower Farm and Beer Garden. I'm not sure about Oktoberfest, though, coz Paul might have bad flashbacks. He was forced to play the tuba in junior high band.

-- Anonymous, July 20, 2000

I love the way I'm the one who kills off my own topics...

Hey, y'all! Tell me the cheapest ways y'all know to vacation in Italy. If you don't know that, tell me which Mexican resort is the grooviest.

If those are too easy for you, tell me how to afford Japan on a bargain-basement budget.

Thanks!

-- Anonymous, August 24, 2000

I want to go to the Wildflower Garden too! I think I picked up pamplet when we were at the rose gardens. I hear they have some really nice B&Bs there. Anyway, just tell Paul to wear some laderhosen (sp?) and he'll fit right in.

If you do ever go to Japan don't forget to visit youknowwho.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

Dude, you know I'm gonna be staying at her house. (I think it's called "Hana House".) And Paul wears lederhosen all the time. He's like that cat in the Richard Scarry books. And he says, "Please, don't make me run. I'm full of chocolate!"

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

Summer? Too late. Christmas vacation? Maui, Hawaii. Trip number 3 of many, hopefully. Don't like the big expensive resorts, so it's either Lahaina or Hana. Hana: a little place called Maui Sun Club, next to Wai'anapanapa State Park. Also don't miss Red Sand Beach. Then there's Little Beach in Makena. I could live there forever. Oh yeah, this isn't the "Where would you live" thread. Sorry.

Maui for Christmas? It's better than snow and -20 windchills here.

Jim Somewhere in the midwest

-- Anonymous, December 10, 2000