We have always said if we find someplace nicer than Hawaii we will move. The best thing about traveling is coming home!

Aloha!

Joe

I just returned from a week in Iowa helping with the estate of an elderly aunt who moved to a nursing home. Not really a vacation but an important trip and a nice connection to family.

My experience with United Airlines was another story and I will NEVER, ever fly on United again. There is no reason whatsoever to treat people the way that airline treated those of us who were on three flights they cancelled. They didn't even have the courtesy to make the announcement over the public address system--they merely posted it on their departures board after their gate employees had all left for the night. We had no way of knowing what we were supposed to do about rebooking our flights. To make matters worse, my flight to Boise had been delayed because of a mechanical problem and they kept announcing the progress of the mechanics and giving approximate times for departure but when the cancellation of the flight was posted, they said it was because of weather--that way they didn't have to put us up on hotels. If it was mechanical they were liable--weather they were not. But for four hours before, they kept making announcements about the mechanical problems. We (about 300 people) stood in lines for hours to use the computers in the customer information centers to try to rebook flights. In another part of the terminal there were some gate agents present--with huge numbers of people waiting. Instead of telling people they were closing, they let us all stand there for over an hour then one of the United employees yelled, "These are the last two people I am helping. The rest of you will have to go to the computer stations." Hmmm.... we'd already waited at those computer stations to no avail. The computers would just tell us that the flights were cancelled and nothing was available.

I spent 24 hours between the Omaha and Denver airports then 4 hours for a layover in San Francisco. Talk about frustrating!!!

I have lived and traveled all over the world so picking a favorite is extremely hard. I took the kids to Botswana last year and they have the most beautiful skies ever! (BTW, for KLE618, I have flown United numerous times and have had wonderful experiences. I've also had bad experiences on all carriers at some point or another. You couldn't pay me enough to be a stewardess or on-ground personnel!)

I too must agree that United has to be the worst, in fact I saw an article where they sent their employees to Disneyland to learn "customer service" from them. But I digress...

My favorite spot has to be Northern Italy in the lake region near the Swiss border. All the old hotels were so well preserved along Lake Maggiore, the zoo and botanical gardens were spectacular and going out on the lake to Isola Bella offered terrific views coming and going. The climate was extremely interesting as well, a mix of forests and tropics with a mountain backdrop. I was always a fan of the southern regions but this was a wonderful surprise, one that I would repeat in a heartbeat. I am not a professional photog by any stretch but I was absolutely amazed by what was revealed to me when I got back. I have a rotating supply of beauty to greet me on my laptop everyday. (If I was more computer savvy I would post one as well but you can't imagine what I went thru just to get a pic loaded for my profile LOL I loved the fact that you all were able

Have you ever been to Barbados? Sand is like sugar, standard of living high for the Caribbean and cost of living not so expensive. I found the beauty of Hawaii (Oahu) tainted by a lot of folks that seemed desparate to be away from whatever bad circumstances they left on the Mainland. Kauai seemed a little more real but only in the North- the rest was entirely too commercial for my taste and it made my soooooo sad to see all the elderly couples in their matching shirts and mumu's hobbling down the beaches or queueing up for the 5 o'clock buffets on walkers and motorized scooters. I did gain a tremendous life lesson from those scenes at a fairly early age and that was "don't wait until the kids are raised,the student loans are history, the house is payed off, (insert your own reason here.....) to see the world or you may be just too old/tired to enjoy it"