Anonymous wrote:Aren't there rules against engaging with wildlife that all you Galapagos fans quote?

I haven’t been to Galapagos but in Hawaii, the rule is basically you can chase the turtles. If you’re just swimming and a turtle comes up to you, it’s not like you have to run away, but you can’t then follow the turtle when it swims away.
In Yellowstone, you are supposed to keep a certain number of feet from bison. We had a bison walk right by our rental car—within 2 feet—and there was no place we could go as we were stuck in a line of cars (stopped waiting for bison crossing the road). I held my breath and took pictures through the closed window as the bison could have clearly flipped out car with little effort if he had been startled. He was so big!

I guess both of those are on my list —
Snorkeling with turtles and boating along na Palo coast in Hawaii
Stopping for bison crossing in Yellowstone
Dog sledding on glacier in Alaska
Meeting the bark rangers at Denali
A week we stayed on isla Mujeres before there were any real hotels there, in the 90s—just little Mexican family owned hotels and sk American hippies that ran a smoothie and waffles shop

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Falconry in Ireland
Jumping off a boat in Hawaii right as a pod of dolphins swam by
Holding and petting sting rays in grand cayman
Getting to Machu Picchu early and watching the fog lift around the llamas

Apparently it’s all about the animals for me!

Weird. Do sting rays actually want to be held and petted by humans?

DP but many rays enjoy humans. I have touched them all over the world diving..they come back for gentle pets. Also sea lions…we were diving and played with the sea lions in the Galapagos. They would swim/somerdault/flip around and then look at you and wait, then let you do something, then zoom around again and come back and wait…so cool. You wait for them to come to you but there is nothing wrong with touching them if they like it.

Manta rays are like the dogs of the sea. If they think you might give them a little treat, they are thrilled to come up and be petted. And they are surprisingly cute—somehow they have real expression on their face. Stingray city in the caymans developed because fisherman would dump their unused chum there … the stingrays gathered for the chum and a tourist attraction was born. The ships give you chunks of fish and the rays eat it out of your hands. It’s pretty cool.

-moonshine tasting in Gatlinburg
-Dukes of Hazard dinner theater also in Gatlinburg
-double fisting Thrasher’s fries on OC boardwalk
-renting a French chateau for a whole summer

Snorkeling in the Maldives. Simply amazing (and yes, I’ve snorkeled all over the Caribbean and it just doesn’t compare!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't there rules against engaging with wildlife that all you Galapagos fans quote?

Tell it to the wildlife then. They didn’t read the book. If they seek you out to play or get petted, I’m not going to say no. Don’t be an ass and chase the wildlife and you are fine. —PP

So you can't follow the rules which is why we can't have nice things

I could. I don’t always follow stupid rules. Neither do you.

So far, visiting Castlerigg Stone Circle in England’s Lake District has been the best thing. It was the closest I have ever come to a spiritual experience. I felt so connected.

Anonymous wrote:Seeing dolphins off the coast of Rehoboth

Seriously - who are all you people and these vacations - with kids?!

Lol

Seeing the lifeguards run past at rehoboth 🤣

Anonymous wrote:Me: high tea at the Balmoral in Scotland with my mom. I will never forget how amazing that was.
Second: snorkeling in Maui every day. I wanted to read my book on the beach but the snorkeling was so good I was in the water all the time.

The Don Ho show in Honolulu. It was a little sappy very cute, and it’s just something that can’t ever be replicated in quite that way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren't there rules against engaging with wildlife that all you Galapagos fans quote?

Tell it to the wildlife then. They didn’t read the book. If they seek you out to play or get petted, I’m not going to say no. Don’t be an ass and chase the wildlife and you are fine. —PP

So you can't follow the rules which is why we can't have nice things

Anonymous wrote:Aren't there rules against engaging with wildlife that all you Galapagos fans quote?

Tell it to the wildlife then. They didn’t read the book. If they seek you out to play or get petted, I’m not going to say no. Don’t be an ass and chase the wildlife and you are fine. —PP

Anonymous wrote:The 4 day macchu picchu hike

Me again - but 2 other things very high up there that other people have said in this post are hiking the Na Pali coast and night snorkeling with the manta rays in the big island.

The 4 day macchu picchu hike

Anonymous wrote:Spent a fabulous week in Cottage 7 at Caneel Bay (RIP) on St. John. Fun fact: Brangelina and Madonna stayed in the same cottage after we did (saw pics). It was everything you would imagine. Sigh.

My friend was there the same time as Brangelina! She told me Angelina took her sun protection SERIOUSLY and was fully covered when she went out.

We’ve done a few big ticket things but honestly, for my family it was a glass bottom kayak tour in Myrtle Beach. The weather was perfect, the guide was the right mix of interesting and funny, the fish cooperated beautifully by showing up in droves under our glass bottoms, and my kids were all old enough to handle it on their own without needing any support from us. I look back at that trip, and especially that tour, as the moment when I realized we were really taking family vacations and not just trips where we parented in new locations. And my kids definitely feel the same way, we were recently talking about our next travel adventure, and they all mentioned that kayak tour as a favorite.

Aren't there rules against engaging with wildlife that all you Galapagos fans quote?