Yahoo! Answers

What was your best memory in a foreign city? Why was it so memorable?

Kathy_is_a_nurse’s Best Answer:

Thirty-six years ago I was stationed in Turkey where I met my future husband, Grady… also in the Air Force. We travelled all over Europe together on our vacations, but the most memorable for me was our trip to Italy, and specifically, the Isle of Capris, an island just off the coast near Naples.

At one point we decided to go to the Blue Grotto, a giant sea cave filled with water. According to the islanders, an ancient Roman patriarch lived on the top of the island but carved a tunnel down to this grotto where he would bring his concubines to escape the heat and play in the water. Today, the only access is via flat-bottomed boat through a tiny seaside opening in the cave wall. And even then, passengers must lay down when passing under the lip of the entrance. The cave entrance extends below water and is much larger, allowing light for the cave to be reflected up from the underwater opening. This gives everything and everyone in the grotto a beautiful silver-blue hue… hence the name, Blue Grotto.

Our boat was one of three in the grotto that day. Each boat held about eight passengers plus the oarsman who stood at the back. As we drifted around the cave listening to the history of the Grotto and admiring how our hands changed from blue to the same silver as the occasional fish seen when dipped in the water, Grady and I snuggled contentedly near the front of the boat.

At one point the oarsman, an Italian of course, noticed us and said loudly enough for the whole cave to hear, “Are you two married?” We shook our heads. “Are you in love?” We laughed and nodded our heads. “Well, KISS her! This is Italy!” We were more than happy to comply with a kiss right out of an Italian romance movie. Not only did our entire boat clap and cheer, but passengers in the other boats did too.

We got married later that year.

Grady and I riding in the boat taking us to the Blue Grotto.

One of the other boats from our group squeezing through the opening leading into the Blue Grotto.

What was your most picturesque and idyllic holiday in the countryside?

Lisa’s Best Answer:

Hi! I went with a group of 8 people to Costa Rica the Summer before last & it was amazing. The first 4 nights we stayed in Arenal, named after one of the many active volcanoes CR has. I’ll try to upload pics. Around 10 PM every night Arenal Volcano would sort of gurgle & burp up small amounts of lava, which sounds disgusting but is actual gorgeous. The volcano lit up the dark purple sky with a bright red & peach & pink HALO of light! Wild flowers grow naturally everywhere, and they’re the kinds of flowers we have to buy in an “exotic” flower shops here. The jungles in CR are just like any jungle you’ve seen on TV; in that I mean they are real jungles, with giant parrots, monkeys, sloths and enormous bugs. Just being on a touristy hiking trail sounded like every jungle soundtrack I’ve ever heard at Disneyland! We bathed in natural hot springs, rode across the jungle canopy hanging from wires called “Zip lines,” rode down rivers while being harangued by pissed-off monkeys & stopped at a store that had HUGE iguanas hanging around the parking lot mooching food as naturally as pigeons in any city park. It was exhausting, incredible! Then we went to the beach, Playa Grande, & saw a tropical beach that had coconut trees (w/ coconuts) growing next to our house, & huge cliffs that drop off into the ocean. It was so perfect it looked like every travel poster you’ve ever seen. I had forgotten that these places actually exist! Okay, now I have to figure out how to upload my pics!

Do you have a special story about air travel or an unforgettable skyscape you have experienced?

Matt G’s Best Answer:

Iceland. August. 2003. Just outside of Akureyri. I had arrived two days earlier and was camping on the arctic circle. The sun never really “set” at that time of year there, and I was already jet lagged from my journey. I went to bed in my tent at 10pm, but it was still light outside. After a few hours I was awoken by the sound of people talking and making astonished noises. I came out of the tent at 1am and the entire sky was green like the Answer title bar at the top of the page, with incredible Northern Lights through the entire sky. I have seen what people in the Northern US, Northern UK and Southern Canada call Northern Lights and let me tell you, if you have never seen them from the arctic circle or farther north you have NOT seen the Northern Lights. Absolutely amazing, blazing green and yellow bands!

Photo by GuideGunnar

What was your most memorable beach or seaside vacation?

Countrygirl84’s Best Answer:

When I was 11, my family and I all went to Panama City Beach. It was a tradition that we had kept going since I was 2. We stayed in the same room at the same hotel on the water each year.

This particular year was bittersweet for me and will always remain one of my favorite childhood beach memories. Our room was on the 8th floor of the hotel and I practically lived on the balcony when my toes weren’t in the sand or surf. One evening, towards the end of our week long vacation, I looked out towards the horizon and saw something jumping in the water. I looked closer and realized it was whales! i counted almost 13 of them and called my family out to watch them. My grandfather grabbed some binoculars, (now that i am older i am thinking he used them for watching girls on the beach) and saw that they were Killer whales, orcas. we sat there for almost 2 hours, until the sun set over the gulf of Mexico. After researching it, we realized it was a very rare event to see them in the gulf, much less that close to shore. There are only a few other accounts of this happening, but they were there. Clear as daylight.

When we arrived home about a week later, my parents informed me that they were filing for divorce. that trip was the last my family would ever take together and that is one reason the memory is so bittersweet. as corny as t sounds, it’s almost like the whale sighting happened to make sure i would never forget that last precious memory of my family together all at once.