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Travel Creates Memories – When to Travel?

When our son was younger, our travel plans were dictated by his school holidays.  Airline tickets were expensive during holidays and we travelled less frequently.  Tickets were also a little cheaper after Christmas but had to return much before schools started.  Hence, we were able to have shorter vacations closer to the New Year and my son’s birthday in January.  We have found that vacationing on such special days can help to create good memories.
Although we are not Catholics, my most memorable travel was to the Vatican on Christmas Day in 2004.  Along with thousand other people, we attended Pope John Paul II blessings outside in Saint Peter’s square (photo). It was an opportunity to listen to the Pope give an address in Italian, followed by prayers, and at the end of the ceremony, the Pope blessed any religious articles we had in our hands. Through religiosity we had rosaries in our hand but through uncontrollable emotions we had tears in our eyes.  Our emotions were due to gratitude for the opportunity to see a saint and his love for other human beings.  Although we don’t understand Italian, we heard the Pope mention Sri Lanka and thought he somehow knew there were Sri Lankans in the audience.  Only when we returned to the hotel that evening, we heard about the Indian Ocean Tsunami and its impacts on coastal Sri Lankan communities.
We took our son to Costa Rica for his 21st Birthday.  He went Zip Lining on his birthday and shared the photo with his friends on Facebook.  We were at Curacao on 31st December 2015.  Tripadvisor is a good resource for booking travel to this Caribbean island, one of the most unspoiled island that I have visited. In New Year's eve, the whole town assembles in the city square to party and welcome the New Year each year. To celebrate Clemson Tiger’s victory over Oklahoma we joined the party all dressed in orange. 
The length of time needed to visit a country will also affect the response to the question, “when to travel”. High on our bucket list for cultural tourism is visiting China.  We plan to do that only after we retire as we will need more time in a huge country, with different cultures in each region and a long history. We would like to walk on the great-wall of China.  I want to visit the Tiananmen Square, which is a city square in the center of Beijing.  It has a long history but what I remember in our life time is the armed suppression of a pro-democracy movement in June 1989.  I also want to visit rural areas, learn about agriculture and traditional dances.

Question:  When is the best time to travel?


My experience:


  • Often the available time to travel is restricted by school holidays, seasonal ticket prices and number of vacation days available.
  • You can make travel more memorable by traveling on “special” days, e.g., visiting significant places on religious days or doing things that you normally don’t do on birthdays.
  • Weather,festivals and special events can affect when you travel. Responsible travel is a good resource to compare weather in different continents.
  • And, then there are places that you may need to postpone until retirement when you have more time to enjoy the vacation.
References:
A good source of information.  Where to buy cheap tickets, etc. https://www.outsideonline.com/2391872/how-to-find-cheapest-flight-possible

Share Your Experience:  Is there a special time of the year that you travel and why?


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