Vacation Places

Resources for making any family vacation idea a reality: the Best Vacation Places USA, All Inclusive resort vacations, Caribbean beaches, Disney theme parks, great cities of Europe, top winter getaways, Africa safaris, the Australian outback and vacation spots around the world.

Our last night in Madrid

Exchange Program to Madrid, Spain

I had the amazing privilege to be part of Iberdrola, an exchange program to Madrid, Spain. The exchange program was designed for American and Scottish teens to fly out to Madrid to spend two weeks with a Spanish teen they were paired up with. They noted that I was extremely well rounded,...

Category: Europe
Sara and I, our last night together in Spain

Madrid, Spain

Category: Europe

"Rest in Peace"

   In the summer of 2008, I was given yet another wonderful opportunity to participate in a People to People Student Ambassador trip. This trip took me to Japan, which is where I got to "Discover the Land of the Rising Sun." Although I got to experience the beauty of a...

Category: Asia

The Curious Travels of Ashley van der Laan

     Throughout my life, I have been privileged to have numerous family vacations all over the world.  Recently, however, I have had a new found independence and find traveling alone invigorating.  Now when I say alone, I don't just mean aimlessly wandering the...

Category: Europe
Portland

The Unforgettable Road Trip

            I remember the road trip started at three in the morning on August 10th, 2011. My sister, Alia, Mickey, and I left Portland, Oregon to Missoula, Montana. It was the longest day of my life. We went to Montana to drop off...

Category: US & Canada

Irreplaceable Feelings

  A crisp, fresh, clean, neat, white, frosty, exhilarating, and exciting snowy day, describes the first morning when a student wakes up at winter camp.  In between Redlands and Big Bear lie Forest Falls: home to Forest Home, the best winter camp ever. The first trip I took to...

Category: USA by State

Irreplaceable Feelings

A crisp, fresh, clean, neat, white, frosty, exhilarating, and exciting snowy day, describes the first morning when a student wake up at winter camp.  In between Redlands and Big Bear lie Forest Falls: home to Forest Home, the best winter camp ever. The first trip I took to Forest Home...

Category: USA by State

The tiny miracle of my life, in a big way.

       On October 11, 2011, I was in the hospital. What I didn’t know, was how MUCH my experience would truly change my life. That morning at 10:33 am, I was sitting on my couch watching TV, when I felt a very uncomfortable pain. It kept happening quite often...

Category: US & Canada

The Village that the World Forgot

  In the summer of 2011, I spent ten days in a village that most have never heard of, in the midst of a culture that the world has overlooked. This village is known as Nasivikoso and is located in the highlands of the island Vitu Levu of The Fiji Islands. How I ended up there isn'...

The Painters

             My brother and I explored the East Coast, darting from train to train to visit every art museum we could. We saw paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Bierstadt, and Moran. But we did not notice any dirt or bugs buried in the paint; unfortunately,...

Category: USA by State