We asked our staff, ‘What great international experiences have you had that aren’t available at home?’ Here is what they had to say!
‘One thing you just don’t find in America very often is a group of monkeys hanging out in the shade near a 400-year-old mausoleum. This incredible encounter happened to me in India, a country with many alien experiences for Americans, including its distinctive cuisine, traffic and occasional snake charmer. At the Tomb of Itmad-ud-Daulah in Agra, I not only got to marvel at an elaborate tomb that became the precursor to the Taj Mahal, but also got an up-close encounter with about 15 monkeys who regarded me with little concern as I snapped photos.’
— Eliza Myers,
Online Editor
‘Long dinners! I know it sounds simple, but at home I always feel rushed. Even on a domestic vacation, I don’t want to linger over dinner because I feel like its rude to take up a table when another party could be seated. Our international friends embrace and encourage spending the time to relax, socialize and fully enjoy the food as an experience.’
— Stacey Bowman,
Director, Advertising Sales
‘My family lived in Germany for four years when I was a young child, and I was in awe of the beautiful castles and Old World architecture throughout the country, sights that you definitely don’t see in America. I returned to Germany a few years ago and took a river cruise with Avalon Waterways down the Rhine River. It was just as impressive to me as an adult as I remembered it from my childhood.’
— Kelly Tyner,
Director, Sales and Marketing
‘I know it’s not for everyone, but my favorite international travel memory will remain walking the streets of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, by myself while on liberty from the USS Elmer Montgomery in 1973.’
— David Brown,
Art Director
‘A dozen or so years ago, a few of us went clubbing at a very haute disco on the Champs d’Elysee in Paris. A local VIP walked us past dozens of people in line and got us in. Last and only time I ever partied like a rock star in Paris.’
— Mac Lacy,
Publisher
‘Walking on the Great Wall of China fulfilled a lifelong dream for me. I remember looking at pictures of the Great Wall in atlases when I was a child and wondering what it would be like to see it one day. In 2011, I found myself overwhelmed by the feeling of standing on the wall outside of Beijing, experiencing one of the world’s most amazing human feats firsthand.’
— Brian Jewell,
Executive Editor
‘Obviously, a Kenyan safari will generate amazing experiences not available in the United States, such as seeing the “big five” — lion, African elephant, cape buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros — in their natural habitat, viewing Mount Kilimanjaro in fading daylight, taking a hot-air balloon ride over the Serengeti and going inside a mud hut in a Maasi village.
‘Among my many other distinctive international experiences are England’s Stonehenge, Amsterdam’s canals, market day in a small Italian village, Roman ruins in the south of France and dining on salmon cooked on the deck of a small cruise ship in British Columbia’s Princess Louisa Inlet. My most poignant international experience was looking out over D-Day’s Omaha Beach from the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, France, with its row after row of white crosses and Stars of David.’
— Herb Sparrow,
Senior Writer
