A.Word.A.Day -- AWADmail Issue 1189

My favorite place to visit is Hawaii. I have been there many times over the years because it is truly paradise. We are planning a honeymoon there now!
-Janice A Hiley, Rolling Prairie, Indiana (jan janhiley.com)

I’m writing now from Greece, my sanctuary from the world that’s too much with us. Particularly now, as chaos threatens to engulf the United States. The area called Mani, on the Peloponnesus, is as far away from the present as one can get. I’ll turn 87 in a few weeks and have been coming here for more than 50 years.
-Judy Tinelli, Easton, Maryland (judytinelli hotmail.com)

My favorite place to visit is Philmont Scout Ranch in Northeastern New Mexico. Took my first backpacking trip there in 1969, then spent four summers working on the staff. I still consider that my best job ever. A favorite statement of fellow staff alumni is “I Wanna Go Back to Philmont.” If you see a mysterious vanity license plate IWGBTP you know that car is being driven by a current or former Philmont staffer.
-Steve Harmony, Mancos, Colorado (steveharmo gmail.com)

Besides NZ, a place I would like to go back to is Prague. I took some advice and visited the Orloj, or Prague Astronomical Clock early in the morning so I got a great view of it. We had a cab driver give us a tour and it was worth it. We ate in one of the oldest restaurants in Prague, established in the 1500s. Its walls and ceilings were decorated with paintings done by artists who painted in return for meals. Really, I can’t think of a location in the world that I have visited which I would not like to return to just to see it in more detail. There are always pleasant surprises when I am open to them.
-Que Areste Estavia, Seattle, Washington (queness66 gmail.com)

My wife is Portuguese, so twice a year (spring and late summer) we go visit her family. I know in the last few years Portugal has gotten very trendy, but it really is a great place. Especially northern Portugal, which sometimes gets short shrift compared to the south.
-Deirdre Goldsworth, Denver, Colorado (goldsworth hotmail.com)

A favorite place for my spouse and me to vacay is Yellowstone National Park. Having been there numerous times before frees us to explore new areas of it. Our favorite activity is hiking in the backcountry.
-David R. Jennys, Mitchell, South Dakota (drjennys live.com)

One favorite was a condo building on Maui, the other a campsite on a lake in remote northern California. I liked going to the same place. It was familiar so it eliminated a day of getting to know what’s what, where, how etc. leaving more time to start having fun or relaxing right away. It also expanded on the anticipatory period, as there was less worry about unexpected aspects and more anticipating good times.
-Betsy Wilson, El Segundo, California (w_betsy hotmail.com)

Museum of Natural History in NYC, and specifically the Gems and Minerals exhibit. My (now adult) kids and I were always fascinated, and still are.
-Steve Phelan, Holmes, New York (stephen.d.phelan gmail.com)

I’m an American married to a Swiss and have lived in Bern for over three decades. My husband and I don’t have to travel more than an hour to see magnificent Alpine scenery, and we also take vacations all over Europe, a different region once or twice a year. One place we go back to almost every year, though, is Paris. It’s less than five hours from Bern by train, so we can even visit for a long weekend. Who can be bored in Paris? Yes, it’s packed with tourists, even in November or February, but as a tourist myself, how can I complain? Plus, since we’ve been there so many times, we no longer need to stand in line to go up the Eiffel Tower!
-Kim Hays, Bern, Switzerland (kim.n.hays gmail.com)

My favorite place was the clinic of my massage therapist in Toronto where I used to go on business frequently in the previous century. She’s the one who told me about A.Word.A.Day which has changed my life!
-Steve Benko, New York, New York (stevebenko1 gmail.com)

They’re all up there, the mental recapitulations that allow me -- now, at age 94 -- to revisit and re-exult not merely in the geographic aspects of the initial visit to my favorite places, but, often far more memorable, the human interactions that defined them.
-Bindy Bitterman, Chicago, Illinois (bindy eurekaevanston.com)