I grew up on a Caribbean island, and although St. Croix is actually a United States territory, it’s also an exotic travel destination with sandy beaches and warm weather year round. That was my norm before I moved to Boston, but because I grew up on a tropical island I usually don’t consider an island vacation my ideal travel experience. Growing up, I dreamed of seeing snow and building snowmen, but since my family traveled in the summertime, there was never any snow to be found.
My desire to see snow aside, I have had some memorable travel experiences, most of them involving visits to see family in Florida or halfway around the world. I have had just as much fun touring museums and landmarks in Jerusalem as I have at theme parks in Florida.
Like me, the staff at PSG is well traveled, making it hard to choose favorite destinations or a single memorable experience, but we gave it a try anyway.
As it turns out, European travel is popular with the PSG staff, especially when it comes to visiting landmarks. Colleen and Chelsea have both been to Ireland where they each fell in love with the gorgeous castles and scenery. Annette, Chelsea, Kate and Colleen have all visited Italy; since Colleen majored in history, the highlight of her trip was visiting Pompeii and feeling like she had stepped through time. Colleen also visited Austria and Germany on a class trip. In addition to visiting museums and castles, she had the sobering experience of visiting the Dachau concentration camp.
Beyond landmarks, beaches are a hit with Alyssa and Eileen. Alyssa will travel anywhere as long as there are beaches, and Eileen visited Turks and Caicos when she was younger, where she enjoyed local markets, banana boat rides and the warm climate.
Despite their treks abroad, the PSG staff has also enjoyed travel experiences that are closer to home. One of Alyssa’s favorite experiences took place in New Orleans, where she got a taste of the history and the artsy culture in museums and even took a cemetery tour. Kate remembers the awe-inspiring, if overly decadent, Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, where her favorite room was the library, complete with a fireplace and two floors of wall-to-wall books. She enjoyed seeing where some of Edith Wharton’s inspiration for The Age of Innocence likely came from.
Whether the PSG staff is traveling as near as Maine or as far as Ireland, they will find the experience memorable if there are historical or cultural landmarks to visit.
Did You Know?
According to MasterCard’s 2015 Final Report, New York is the only city in North or South America in the list of top 10 destination cities for international travelers. The city had 12.27 million international visitors in 2015 who generated $17.4 billion in revenue for the city.
