This post is part 1 of my Best of 2009 Series.
With what has turned out to be a pretty awesome year coming to a close, it seems worthwhile to take Gwen Bell up on her Best of 2009 Blog Challenge. Gwen has listed prompts for each of the 31 days of December.
I won't promise myself I'll hit them all (and here I am starting two days late), but I do promise to have fun writing to the prompts I do select. So, without further ado:
December 1st: Trip - What was my best trip in 2009?
(1) Pink Cluster (2) Olives Oh Glorious Olives (3) Girl with Braids (4) Sunshine
My best trip in 2009? Well, my initial impulse was to shout Istanbul! But then I realized I have quite a few other trips to choose from too, ones spent at beautiful places in Northern California, with my lover and (usually) my bicycle: the little jaunt down to Monterey, the weekend away for the Napa Century (er, 30k), Levi's Gran Fondo, Thanksgiving week in Mendocino...! Do I really have to pick just one best trip? Because I don't think I would trade away any of them. So instead of of picking just one, I will instead list the elements I think comprise epic trips:
- Good company: Having traveled solo in 2006, I can honestly say that travel is better when you get to share it with someone. Of course, it's important that that person have a compatible travel style to your own, that you like to hear each other babble, that your idea of a great time is on the same page. For my Turkey trip, I had the good fortune of trekking with my BFF Erin, and was actually surprised at how well we navigated the whole endeavor. The other trips were romantic little getaways with Ken, and we definitely click when it comes to how to spend our vacation hours.
- Scenery, scenery, scenery: It's no secret that I'm a fan of awe-inspiring sights. (Isn't everyone?) I love to be able to use the word epic in describing something I've seen.
- Good food: Those huge white beans drenched in olive oil and tomatoes that we ate in Istanbul, the ridiculously creamy Alsacian pizza in Strasbourg, the most delightful salad of weeds (!) at Ubuntu, off-the-menu vegetarian risotto... Yes, divine food is definitely one of those "good for the soul" things.
- Pictures: New places make for new opportunities to catch the world in my lens in ways that surprise me. Even if only one picture makes it past my own editorial eye during the processing stage, success!
- Feeling a little out of my element: Part of fun of traveling is feeling at least a little like I don't belong where I am.
- Exhausting myself: If I don't get worn out during part of a vacation, I wasn't trying hard enough.
- Some down time: Of course, no vacation is complete without time to read a book, take a nap, lounge on the beach, and/or just sit in a cafe and watch the world go by.
Indeed, every trip that can claim each of these elements is a best trip.
