Just as the weather turns, I begin to think about escaping the cold and inevitable snow and ice. Usually, when I weigh the advantages of warmer climes over the temperate ones, the four-season locales get the edge and I realize it is less about the weather and more about the travel.
In thinking about this hypothesis — for surely I am not leaving New England in the next few months — I was considering the “what ifs.”
Now, without limitations, the “what ifs” can be nothing more than a contest in outlandish re-upping.
There need to be rules in any worthwhile contest, right?
Here’s how to play:
You have been given a passport (if traveling internationally), any required visa (if traveling to a place that makes you obtain one for entry), and $500.00 USD. You’re transportation had been paid for. You’re staying a week.
- Where do you go?
- Who do you take with you? (Your $500 covers you and any companion(s) you might bring along.)
- What three items do you pack? (You are traveling in normal, regular clothing, not in multiple layers.)
- Who is your emergency contact back home? How are you related to this person?
Here’s my travel agenda:
- Fiji
- Rob
- Tent, pillow, camera
- Pawel. He is our former au pair/our youngest child’s godfather/the likely caretaker of our four while Rob and I are away.
He’d be the first one to learn that we’ve decide not to return.
How about you?
Jenna Brownson 
I’m in New England, too, Jenna (western Mass.).
1. Ireland
2. My sister, Cindy
3. Camera, notebook, cell phone (because I’ll be homesick).
4. My husband, Jeremy. He’s the only one I’d leave my daughter with.
Sigh. Someday.
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1. Madeira
2. Scott
3. Bikini, cell phone (covers camera), tent (since accommodations are not included!)
4. Whomever the kids are staying with.
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You won’t have a pillow, though you won’t be nude sunbathing.
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I might use the scuba tank I’ve rented for the week as a pillow. Although, after scuba gear rental, there won’t be much left for vittles, so we’ll probably be roasting crabs over the fire built from collected driftwood and drinking coconut water all week… Why on earth did you limit us to $500!? We all have to camp, no matter where we go…
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I think if you go someplace “1st world” then you’d need to camp. There are lots of inexpensive lodging choices in developing countries and ever heard of COUCHSURFING?
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Yeah, actually I have heard of couchsurfing, now that you mention it! I’m thinking it wouldn’t be very romantic though, so maybe I’ll look into house swapping for the week. Surely someone in Madeira would love the opportunity to stay someplace where there’s snow and skiing! Even Airbnb’s cheapest rates of around $30-50 doesn’t leave much after a seven night rental… If I had to pick one place in the contiguous US rather than having the whole wide world open for choosing, I’d go camping in Yellowstone with the same companion, but swap the bikini for hiking boots!
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