Favorite Childhood Vacation

I was lucky in my childhood to enjoy a number of memorable, wonderful family vacations. From traveling across the US in a motor home for the summer, to traveling to Hawaii, Caribbean, Canada, etc.

My favorite of all of the trips would be the two week Christmas vacation that we took to Europe when I was in the 6th grade. At that time we were living in Nebraska, and my mother, father, brother and I flew into Heidelberg Germany. We traveled all over via the Euro Rail, which was an amazing experience and allowed us to see more of the countryside and not just the "tourist" areas. From there we traveled to Paris to see many of the amazing sites around the city. We visited the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, etc. After spending some time in Paris, we traveled by Euro rail to Nice where we had family friends. We enjoyed traditional French breakfast while with them and they took around the area. From there we traveled to Monte Carlo en route to Barcelona. What a beautiful area, and I remember quite fondly when the palace guards had to ask my dad to move away from the area he was standing after crossing over into an area that was cordoned off because the royal family was in residence.

In Barcelona, we visited Olympic Park as well as La Sagrada Familia Cathedral that is still under construction today after being started in 1882. We found a quaint little restaurant off the beaten path and enjoyed my first ever Paella. It was out of this work and I can still see it and taste how wonderful it was.

Then we traveled back through Paris on our way back to Heidelberg. We spent Christmas and a few days after in Heidelberg and had the opportunity to walk around the mesmerizing Christmas market and all of the unique foods and gifts for sale.

I'll never forget this Christmas and being all together for the holiday. My brother and I sitting watching movies from the video library where we were staying and having Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Heidelberg.

This vacation helped fuel my love and travel and treasure how lucky I've been to be able to see many parts of the world. I'll forever treasure these memories and hope to be able to create new ones with my family for many years to come. I hope to one day take my children on a similar trip to experience the world. My mother has been fighting oral cancer, and my brother and his family are now stationed in the UK with the US Air Force, so its harder to get the entire family together but it makes all the times we do even more special and I can't wait to book another one with the help of Homeaway.