Due to a last-minute flight snafu, my girlfriend and I ended up with a week off work but stuck at home. We learned so much about the hiking and parks near us, found a bunch of new cafes and restaurants, just really took the opportunity to explore our surroundings in a relatively new city for us and relax with no itinerary or agenda.
Road tripping across Iceland for two weeks in a small SUV with my best buddies. Can't beat that nature. Volcanoes, glaciers, hot springs, mountains, rivers, waterfalls... They have it all, yo.
I went with my wife for a week when we were first dating... and again when it was hosting GopherCon EU. Man that was a weird few days. It never got dark. But it was pretty damn awesome.
I'm a friendly, non-dev, cisgender guy from NC who enjoys playing music/making noise, hiking, eating veggies, and hanging out with my best friend/wife + our 3 kitties + 1 greyhound.
Really really loved hiking Samariá Gorge on Crete, off the mainland of Greece. It's beautiful!
That whole trip we backpacked around, starting in Crete , then flying to Athens, bussing through Delphi, and finally arriving on the western coast of Greece where we took a ferry to an island called Kefalonia.
We just traveled by public transport & asked for directions and it was seriously amazing! I felt like everywhere we went there were generous people offering us incredible food and helping us find places to stay. The architecture, art, history... Greece has so much to offer. Not to mention, the different mediterranean beaches we went to and mountains around Delphi are beautiful and so unique from each other.
It was one of those trips where we definitely left a bit to chance, traveling by bus and relatively low tech. But everything worked out better than I could ever imagine!
Never been to Samariá Gorge, but I LOVED Kriti. Couple yrs ago, We rented a car and drove the length of the island. We flew into Herculeam(sp?) and then immediately drove to Chania and started there. We drove east all drove over two weeks to the east side of the island. We ended up in a little village in the hill above Io Nicholas(sp?) called Kritsa. The town had the proverbial little old lady with the donkey and everything, very cool.
I'm a friendly, non-dev, cisgender guy from NC who enjoys playing music/making noise, hiking, eating veggies, and hanging out with my best friend/wife + our 3 kitties + 1 greyhound.
That sounds really similar to the way we did things, but I would've loved to have had a car!
We flew into Herculeam too (I think that's the one at least - Heraklion - though pretty sure it's got multiple spellings!) and eventually made it to Chania for our flight out to the mainland. But you went to different places for sure!
If I make it back there - and I definitely intend too - I'll have to check out Kritsa. That definitely sounds like a place we'd like to see. 👍
My trip to the North Pole, for sure.
I went hiking/camping in an archipelago called Svalbard, which had been my dream since I was 12 years old. I had the chance to do the Arctic Challenge (3 highest peaks there) and visit insane places like kilometres-wide glaciers and a soviet ghost town.
Although I'm writing this from the centre of a volcano crater in Bali and this is a strong contender :)
I saved $8,000 and went to Ireland for R&R, and being able to tourist around without worrying about the cost is the most freeing experience I've ever had. So I think any vacation that happens clear of financial stress, even if it were Branson, MO, could be the best vacation ever. 😉
One of the BEST vacations I had was a trip down to the City of Oaxaca (pronounced: wa-Ha-ka) in the State of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico. 15 years ago it was not overly touristy. You could go fairly native if you wanted a hammock or crash-pad for US$10 a night. If you wanted middle-end you could get it for $40. Even in the winter you can go light on the clothing, shorts on the beach and just jeans in the city and polo shirts, real-cas.
We met a real Anthropologist/Ethanographer studying the indigenous people there called the Zapotec and befriended a few. We learned learned how to make rugs and cook mole', very cool time. We took the proverbial chicken-bus and even one pig-bus, where we were the only anglos. They have pyramids too.
The State of Oaxaca is on the Pacific and has some great beaches. Goto Zipolte or Port Angel. Mexico is so much cheaper than Europe too. I have been to both (many times) and find Europe pretty but just over-priced, over-populated and kinda over-rated in comparison.
That's my 2 cents,
I used to go to Camp Grounded on Memorial Day weekend. It’s a “digital detox”. No technology for 3 days. You don’t use your real name, and you don’t talk about work or what you do at all.
As a chronic workaholic it was a great opportunity to separate the “what” from the “who.” E.g. I do software development, but that’s not all I am. It’s helped me better separate work from play and find hobbies outside of programming. I met a lot of really wonderful people that I still talk to all the time.
Sadly Camp Grounded is on an indefinite hiatus. The founder passed away (rest in peace Fidget).
Definitely my honeymoon that my wife and I took earlier this year. We went to Mo'orea for a week, an island off of Tahiti. Flew first class both ways where the seats fold flat into beds and unlimited alcohol. Got a hut on the water with the glass window in the floor and our own dock that we could go into the water to go snorkeling. Did an ATV tour of the island going through creeks, seeing the pineapple plantations, and going up a few mountains for some breathtaking views. Did a boat tour that included having lunch in the water with stingrays swimming at your feet and begging for food like little puppies, then swimming with them and black-tip sharks after. The grand finale for me was being able to get a legitimate Polynesian tattoo where the tattoo is designed on the spot after a short discussion and tapped into the skin with a stick with homemade needles made of bone. Got to even keep the tool. It will be hard to ever top that trip.
I had a trip to Northern Areas of Pakistan with a group of 12 friends in our final year of bachelor's degree in 2014. I can never forget those 10 days. I wish I could go back to that time.
It's a toss up between going to Hawaii a couple of years ago as it was our first real relaxing vacation (we were use to busy trips like Disneyland or around a conference) or a very short trip to Seattle. I loved the city and can't wait to go back.
For me it was a 5-week long trip across Europe visiting incredible places in :
Spain & Catalan, Italy, Poland and the UK.
So many unforgettable memories!!
If you can -ever- find the time to really take an extra-long extended vacation, I can’t recommend it enough!
It truly lets you forget about everyday life/work, learn more about yourself 👀, and a chance to reaaaally take it the experience!
Tie for first: the time my wife and I went to an all inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and our honeymoon, where we road tripped across Ireland. Two completely different experiences that I loved equally.
Ben,
Another trip I would recommend to anyone, is (leisurely) driving across the US. If you have not done it yet you will be amazed. You never realize how big/diverse the US is until you drive and camp it.
To know yourself, you must know your home. :))
I think the two weeks I stayed on the Isle of Arran off the west coast of Scotland would be mine. The weather was perfect, had great company, lovely food and some fun adventures. It was a very happy time really.
2 weeks in a 4×4 with two local guides. Drove from Johannesburg to Kruger, spent several nights in the park. Through Swaziland to hluhluwe, another great park. Down to the Indian ocean. Up through the drakensbergs for some hot air ballooning. Back to joburg. Did around 25 game drives. Also night drives and bush walks. Saw hundreds of animals. Met some great folks.
4 years ago my husband and I went to 5 countries in Europe/UK for 12 days (it was his 1st time overseas),and that was fun, but stressful.
This might be a tie with our most recent trip, we rented an Escape Campervan in Las Vegas and drove to and camped at the Grand Canyon for a few nights and then went to Sedona for one night. It was so chill yet we did so much.
Two weeks out camping in the french backlands without power to charge phones or laptops, but with a couple of people wo are as far way from tech as it gets.
I'd say my trip to Arizona last year or the trip to Las Vegas my family took on behalf of Make A Wish and getting to see my brother meet Michael Jordan.
Went to Crete, Greece. Had a few close death trips with our cheap-as-possible car and in general a lot of fun :) Great country, great food, great weather and a lot of awesome mountains and plateus.
I’m a full stack developer who has experience with several front-end tools like Reactjs, Vuejs, and jQuery as well as some back-end tools like PHP, Laravel, Node, and Express.
Location
IL
Education
AAS in Information Technology/Web Development
Work
Senior Software Development Engineer at Wizards of the Coast
A two week vacation in Florida with all of our friends and family, we got married, and went to Disney World with our daughter for the second week. So many good memories!
Hogmanay (New Years) in Edinburgh with the best friend. I literally cried when we flew home. Met tons of nice folks, partied, ate, drank. I get sentimental thinking back.
Due to a last-minute flight snafu, my girlfriend and I ended up with a week off work but stuck at home. We learned so much about the hiking and parks near us, found a bunch of new cafes and restaurants, just really took the opportunity to explore our surroundings in a relatively new city for us and relax with no itinerary or agenda.
I recommend it. Cheap as heck, too.
Road tripping across Iceland for two weeks in a small SUV with my best buddies. Can't beat that nature. Volcanoes, glaciers, hot springs, mountains, rivers, waterfalls... They have it all, yo.
My folks went several years ago and several other ppl I know too. Everyone raves about it.
I went with my wife for a week when we were first dating... and again when it was hosting GopherCon EU. Man that was a weird few days. It never got dark. But it was pretty damn awesome.
Really really loved hiking Samariá Gorge on Crete, off the mainland of Greece. It's beautiful!
That whole trip we backpacked around, starting in Crete , then flying to Athens, bussing through Delphi, and finally arriving on the western coast of Greece where we took a ferry to an island called Kefalonia.
We just traveled by public transport & asked for directions and it was seriously amazing! I felt like everywhere we went there were generous people offering us incredible food and helping us find places to stay. The architecture, art, history... Greece has so much to offer. Not to mention, the different mediterranean beaches we went to and mountains around Delphi are beautiful and so unique from each other.
It was one of those trips where we definitely left a bit to chance, traveling by bus and relatively low tech. But everything worked out better than I could ever imagine!
Never been to Samariá Gorge, but I LOVED Kriti. Couple yrs ago, We rented a car and drove the length of the island. We flew into Herculeam(sp?) and then immediately drove to Chania and started there. We drove east all drove over two weeks to the east side of the island. We ended up in a little village in the hill above Io Nicholas(sp?) called Kritsa. The town had the proverbial little old lady with the donkey and everything, very cool.
Awesome! 😀
That sounds really similar to the way we did things, but I would've loved to have had a car!
We flew into Herculeam too (I think that's the one at least - Heraklion - though pretty sure it's got multiple spellings!) and eventually made it to Chania for our flight out to the mainland. But you went to different places for sure!
If I make it back there - and I definitely intend too - I'll have to check out Kritsa. That definitely sounds like a place we'd like to see. 👍
Didn't you love the little harbor with cafes and restaurants. We walked all over that town, loved it.
My trip to the North Pole, for sure.
I went hiking/camping in an archipelago called Svalbard, which had been my dream since I was 12 years old. I had the chance to do the Arctic Challenge (3 highest peaks there) and visit insane places like kilometres-wide glaciers and a soviet ghost town.
Although I'm writing this from the centre of a volcano crater in Bali and this is a strong contender :)
Did you go with 50 Years of Victory?
I saved $8,000 and went to Ireland for R&R, and being able to tourist around without worrying about the cost is the most freeing experience I've ever had. So I think any vacation that happens clear of financial stress, even if it were Branson, MO, could be the best vacation ever. 😉
One of the BEST vacations I had was a trip down to the City of Oaxaca (pronounced: wa-Ha-ka) in the State of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico. 15 years ago it was not overly touristy. You could go fairly native if you wanted a hammock or crash-pad for US$10 a night. If you wanted middle-end you could get it for $40. Even in the winter you can go light on the clothing, shorts on the beach and just jeans in the city and polo shirts, real-cas.
We met a real Anthropologist/Ethanographer studying the indigenous people there called the Zapotec and befriended a few. We learned learned how to make rugs and cook mole', very cool time. We took the proverbial chicken-bus and even one pig-bus, where we were the only anglos. They have pyramids too.
The State of Oaxaca is on the Pacific and has some great beaches. Goto Zipolte or Port Angel. Mexico is so much cheaper than Europe too. I have been to both (many times) and find Europe pretty but just over-priced, over-populated and kinda over-rated in comparison.
That's my 2 cents,
I used to go to Camp Grounded on Memorial Day weekend. It’s a “digital detox”. No technology for 3 days. You don’t use your real name, and you don’t talk about work or what you do at all.
As a chronic workaholic it was a great opportunity to separate the “what” from the “who.” E.g. I do software development, but that’s not all I am. It’s helped me better separate work from play and find hobbies outside of programming. I met a lot of really wonderful people that I still talk to all the time.
Sadly Camp Grounded is on an indefinite hiatus. The founder passed away (rest in peace Fidget).
Definitely my honeymoon that my wife and I took earlier this year. We went to Mo'orea for a week, an island off of Tahiti. Flew first class both ways where the seats fold flat into beds and unlimited alcohol. Got a hut on the water with the glass window in the floor and our own dock that we could go into the water to go snorkeling. Did an ATV tour of the island going through creeks, seeing the pineapple plantations, and going up a few mountains for some breathtaking views. Did a boat tour that included having lunch in the water with stingrays swimming at your feet and begging for food like little puppies, then swimming with them and black-tip sharks after. The grand finale for me was being able to get a legitimate Polynesian tattoo where the tattoo is designed on the spot after a short discussion and tapped into the skin with a stick with homemade needles made of bone. Got to even keep the tool. It will be hard to ever top that trip.
I had a trip to Northern Areas of Pakistan with a group of 12 friends in our final year of bachelor's degree in 2014. I can never forget those 10 days. I wish I could go back to that time.
Oh gosh... I just read the title as "what's the best vaccination you've ever had?". And I was thinking: tetanus of course. I clearly need a vacation
It's a toss up between going to Hawaii a couple of years ago as it was our first real relaxing vacation (we were use to busy trips like Disneyland or around a conference) or a very short trip to Seattle. I loved the city and can't wait to go back.
When I went to Dublin with my mom last October. That was my first time in Europe and I had so much fun. We even checked out the Guinness Storehouse.
For me it was a 5-week long trip across Europe visiting incredible places in :
Spain & Catalan, Italy, Poland and the UK.
So many unforgettable memories!!
If you can -ever- find the time to really take an extra-long extended vacation, I can’t recommend it enough!
It truly lets you forget about everyday life/work, learn more about yourself 👀, and a chance to reaaaally take it the experience!
Tie for first: the time my wife and I went to an all inclusive resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, and our honeymoon, where we road tripped across Ireland. Two completely different experiences that I loved equally.
Ben,
Another trip I would recommend to anyone, is (leisurely) driving across the US. If you have not done it yet you will be amazed. You never realize how big/diverse the US is until you drive and camp it.
To know yourself, you must know your home. :))
7.5 months traveling through Central-America. Don't let anyone tell you that 'traveling' isn't an extended vacation :D.
I think the two weeks I stayed on the Isle of Arran off the west coast of Scotland would be mine. The weather was perfect, had great company, lovely food and some fun adventures. It was a very happy time really.
2 weeks in a 4×4 with two local guides. Drove from Johannesburg to Kruger, spent several nights in the park. Through Swaziland to hluhluwe, another great park. Down to the Indian ocean. Up through the drakensbergs for some hot air ballooning. Back to joburg. Did around 25 game drives. Also night drives and bush walks. Saw hundreds of animals. Met some great folks.
4 years ago my husband and I went to 5 countries in Europe/UK for 12 days (it was his 1st time overseas),and that was fun, but stressful.
This might be a tie with our most recent trip, we rented an Escape Campervan in Las Vegas and drove to and camped at the Grand Canyon for a few nights and then went to Sedona for one night. It was so chill yet we did so much.
I think it has to be going fishing with a friend's family. Nice weather out on the river, caught some fish, ate them. It was just a nice chill time.
I had been pretty burnt out before that, so it was sorely needed.
Two weeks out camping in the french backlands without power to charge phones or laptops, but with a couple of people wo are as far way from tech as it gets.
Short, but good. I went to Peru, to an interamerican scout camp in Cuzco. First time off my country!
South America is my dream trip. I read "Motorcycle Diary" by C.Guerva many yrs ago and I have yet to scratch that itch. lol.
I'd say my trip to Arizona last year or the trip to Las Vegas my family took on behalf of Make A Wish and getting to see my brother meet Michael Jordan.
Went to Crete, Greece. Had a few close death trips with our cheap-as-possible car and in general a lot of fun :) Great country, great food, great weather and a lot of awesome mountains and plateus.
Kriti is Kewl! :))
First trip to Iceland, 2014 IIRC. First time out of the country. Went solo for a video game conference. So good I went back two more time.
Either Croatia or Sri Lanka
❤️Sri Lanka ❤️
Welcome to my motherland.
Last year my vacations are splited into GUADEC 2018 and the wedding of my friend at Canary Islands. And that's were my best vacations until today.
Hoping that it will be this trip to ReactConf in Vegas ;)
Final year research paper publication at Singapore. Had a nice week at Sentosa island and marina bay sands. It's not a vacation though.
A two week vacation in Florida with all of our friends and family, we got married, and went to Disney World with our daughter for the second week. So many good memories!
Hogmanay (New Years) in Edinburgh with the best friend. I literally cried when we flew home. Met tons of nice folks, partied, ate, drank. I get sentimental thinking back.
In 2017 I went on a 5 week cross country road trip with my family.
Last year, me and Dad, SF → LV → Orlando → Miami. First leg and all intl flights paid by Google. Never have I ever had more fun!
I’m really up to describe but I think dev.to doesn’t quite appreciate that kind of content.
In the Island that weak signal of a network. The next I want is Cruise Holidays.