CONTEST: We want your romantic trip tales!
Many moons ago, an emperor named Shah Jahan was so grifstricken when one of his beloved wives died while giving birth that he decided to dedicate a building in her honor. Some 20,000 folks worked like slaves for two decades. Tah dah! The Taj Mahal was born.
Now, that’s romantic.
Some of you may be that lucky, but for the rest of us, not so.
Yet, we all have that memorable trip full of romantic sparks. Maybe that person wasn’t special before the trip, but became so afterwards. (Boom! OMG, where had you been all my life!)
Do you recall your romantic getaway? Were there stars, chirping birds and cupid arrows? Did he surprise you by proposing? Did she say yes?
What happened? What was so special about that trip, lovers?
June 1 marked the starting line for our summer vacation story contest. Every two weeks, we’ll focus on a different category of vacation memories. You share your stories. We’ll pick three and during the second week we’ll let readers decide whose is best. Last week’s theme was family trips.
You can post your romantic trip tales to this blog in the comments section below. If you want to email your stories instead, send them to Travelajc@gmail.com. (If you have vacation stories that just can’t be categorized but are totally worth sharing, just send it to us. We’ll find a place for it.)
And the prizes?
Each bi-weekly winner will get to see his or her story published in Sunday’s AJC travel pages and become a finalist for a grand prize getaway to a Florida resort. The prize is valued at $800.
So if you think you have a tale, go for it. Compare it with other Atlantans.
Make all of us jealous.
- What is the grand prize!
- The winner for Horror trip tales: The eye, the rat & the parasite
- Check out the finalists for vacation horror stories!
- The winner for Family trip tales: “Pull my finger”
- Check out the finalists of family vacation stories!
- Atlanta, be here now. Check out ajc.com/travel
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18 comments Add your comment
CONTEST The winner of vacation horror stories - The eye, the rat & the parasite | Still Traveling
June 29th, 2009
7:09 am
[...] This week’s topic: We want your romantic vacation stories! [...]
Elizabeth Thomas
June 29th, 2009
1:43 pm
My most romantic trip with my now husband had to be when we drove from Pittsburgh, PA to Mrytle Beach. I know it does not sound like much, but it was fun. We spent time on the beach and other places and had a really good time. We spent the whole weekend there and it was so simple. No stress. He decided we were going to go and we went. Although, on our way back home we ran into a rain storm and I actually had to move the windshield wiper with my hand outside of the window. I know you had to be there but it is one of those stories we tell now and laugh and that is really what its all about.
Amy
June 29th, 2009
2:06 pm
When we were dating each other, my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I had this running joke about me getting my hair cut short. Jason likes my hair shorter, I like it longer. So one day, he asked me to cut my hair, and I said, jokingly, “I’ll cut it short when you ask me to marry you.” Of course, I wasn’t expecting to get engaged anytime soon whenever I made that comment!
Jason invited me to go to Alaska with him on a cruise. The second night on the boat was our first formal dress-up night. After dinner Jason suggested we go back to our stateroom to rest, so back we went to the stateroom, hand in hand. When we got there, he went to use the bathroom. I started changing into t-shirts and shorts. Jason got out of the bathroom, took one look at me, and said, “Put your dress back on!! Why are you changing?” I thought it was a little bizarre that he told me to change back into my dress, but I did as asked.
Then Jason grabbed my hand and led me over to the living room. He pulled me close, looked me in the eyes, and said, “I think you’re going to have to get your hair cut short.” I was really confused. “What?” He looked away, getting teary-eyed, and choked out, “AMY! don’t make me say it.” I was still confused. “What? Say what?”
He got down on one knee, took out a black box, and opened it up, offering it to me. “Will you marry me?” He was tearing up, and I started tearing up too. I got down on my knees and hugged him. “Yes, of course I will!” And then it was a happy mixture of tears and astonishment and hugs–you know, everything is a blur because you’re giddy. It was perfect.
And thinking back on it, I should have realized something was up! Jason told me he walked around for two days with that ring in his pocket, waiting for the right moment. The first night he couldn’t do it because we both got really seasick.
Cinnamon
June 30th, 2009
9:40 am
What happens if you never meet Mr. Right! I have done everything right. I have worked hard, taken care of my children, been support of my family. But then one day I realize that the kids are older and I home alone. No one to talk to, share my dreams with, or play footsies with for that matter. Where are all the Mr. Rights. Is there truly sucha a thing. But for those of you who have found that long lasting happiness, I am truly happy for you. For me, I will continue to search within myself, ask god for comfort and companion and most of all live life to the fullest.
Alyssa
June 30th, 2009
9:47 am
The most romantic travel story for my husband and I happened, in fact, before we were even husband and wife! I was 20, having just studied abroad in Paris, and was traveling with a friend around Europe. My husband had just graduated from college and was also doing the grand European tour with a friend. I was from Connecticut and went to school in Boston. He was from Baltimore and was starting school at Emory in the fall. Needless to say, our paths never would have crossed in the U.S.
But thankfully, we did cross paths… in Rome, Italy. We both ended up at the same hostel in Rome at the same time. The hostel itself, located near the train station, was very dirty and filled with college students drinking their way through the continent. I was not enjoying our stay there at all. But then, one evening, after a long day of sight-seeing, my friends and I happened upon my husband and his friend eating in the communal kitchen. They seemed nice enough, so we sat down to join them. We talked for a long time, and I remember thinking that it was terribly unfortunate to meet such a wonderful guy all the way in Rome.
The next day, we had to part to go our separate ways. We exchanged email addresses, but I didn’t think anything would come of it. However, when I moved back to Boston in the fall, in a strange twist of events, my now-husband’s best friend moved in down the street! We spent all fall going to football games together while the one I really liked was beginning graduate school thousands of miles away in Atlanta. Thankfully, my husband came to visit that January, when we had only been communicating my email for six months. It was just as wonderful and comfortable as the first time we met in Rome. It was as if we’d known each other our whole lives. But we were so far apart!
Then, in a leap of faith, I applied to and was accepted to graduate school at Emory as well. Though I was planning on going to Harvard, there was something even stronger calling me in the South- and that was my future husband. I moved across the country for a man I’d met completely by chance in a horribly sketchy hostel in Rome– now, five years later, we are happily married and enjoy reminiscing about our happenstance meeting.
sharon
June 30th, 2009
9:48 am
Cinnamon hang in there. Love arrives in the most unexpected ways you just need to be receptive. You also have to make yourself available and more sociable.
Wabbit
June 30th, 2009
11:11 am
My story has the attributes of family, a bit or horror and romance at the same time. After 38 years of old maid-hood, I met the man of my dreams. I was not looking, it just happened. Here is my story.
My father had recently married a bimbo and he wanted me to meet my new “grandparents”. (My dad got along with them because they all were the same age.) It was a scorching July day when Dad, the bimbo, my boyfriend and I started up the interstate in Dad’s brand new motor home. The bimbo had picked it out so of course, it had all of the bells and whistles.
After many miles, my boyfriend told me that he was not feeling well and went into the bathroom. That is when we discovered that there was something horribly wrong with the plumbing.
The smell that filled vehicle was deadly. The bimbo and I kept looking at each other, finally breaking into hysterical laughter. We opened every window as quickly as possible. The result was sort of an internal tornado with anything not tied down, blowing around in the foul smelling, now blistering hot air.
My father reacted to the smell and the flying debris by trying to outrun it. The worse the smell got, the faster he drove. Pretty soon, we were flying. He passed everyone and everything. You know how they tell you to vary your speed when breaking in a new vehicle. Well that went out the window (while the smell did not). He had the pedal to the metal and was not letting up.
My boyfriend finally came out of the bathroom, looking sort of green. When he realized what he had caused, he played the “I am sick” card (which was really the “I am embarrassed” card) and went to the bedroom to lie down.
Shortly afterward, he called me to the back. There, he took my hand and asked me to marry him. That was almost 15 years ago and we have been happily married for over 14 years now. Dad and the bimbo did not fare as well. She has gone back to bimbo-land which made everyone happy.
So, while most women can paint a pretty picture of the story of how they got engaged, the one I can relate has mini-tornados, noxious odors and my dad driving up the interstate like a bat out of hell.
The Big Box Proposal.
June 30th, 2009
4:17 pm
I moved to Atlanta from Iowa in 2005, and for various reasons, wasn’t able to spend the holidays with my boyfriend in 2005 and 2006. Finally, in 2007, we decided that he would come home with me for Christmas no matter what. I excitedly spent months telling him about my family’s traditions, but in October, he broke the news that he didn’t think he’d be able to come home with me for Christmas because he would have unexpected family coming to Atlanta. Although I was really disappointed, I still wanted to head back to Iowa and see my family, so we agreed to spend the holidays apart. I drove 16 hours through a snowstorm from Georgia to Iowa three days before Christmas (almost getting stranded at a gas station in the middle of Iowa)to see my parents.
Christmas day rolled around, and we went to my grandparents’ house for Christmas. When we arrived, my aunt(in which I would realize later was a slip-up) asked if my boyfriend was there yet. I told her he wasn’t coming and explained next year he would, not thinking anything of it.
My mom asked me to go downstairs and “help the kids with their Christmas carols,” and about ten minutes later, my aunt came and stood at the bottom of the steps. It didn’t cross my mind that she was manning a post (and my cousin was at the top of the stairs doing the same). My mom calls us all upstairs for dinner, and when I walk into the kitchen, I notice a very large present, about five feet wide and three feet tall sitting on the floor. My dad hands me a note and tells me to read it.
At this point there are 25 people staring at me with goofy looks on their faces and camcorders. I knew something wasn’t right. I read a letter from my boyfriend, which says there was something he forgot to give me in Atlanta, and he collaborated with my mom to get this last present to me. I walked over to the box, lifted the lid, and out pops my boyfriend! He was holding a special ornament in his hand, and he walked over to me and got down on one knee, and asked if I would marry him.
I had my hands over my face and I couldn’t speak, and someone had to prompt me for the answer, which of course was yes. Then comes surprise number two…his parents popped out from the living room! He and his parents drove from Atlanta on Monday, stayed overnight in Cedar Rapids, IA, and arrived around noon on Tuesday at my grandparents. The whole story about family in town for Christmas? It turns out that my boyfriend, my parents and his parents plotted this trip since AUGUST of that year. We spent the next few days with my family and his, going to Christmas gatherings and showing off my new sparkler.
On the way back to Atlanta, we stopped at quirky sports like Metropolis, IL, home of Superman and posed with plywood cutouts of the super heroes, and took pictures of the crazy billboards we saw. While the trip to Iowa was tough, the trip back home was the best road trip I can remember!
The Big Surprise
July 1st, 2009
10:33 am
January of 2008 I had decided that I wanted to go to vacation with my boyfriend. After looking around for some deals online, I suggested that we go to Vegas. We started looking into it, and the next day he asked if we could rent a car and make the 3 almost 4 hour drive to Zion National Park, Utah for a few days after Vegas. Obviously, I said yes to that. After two nights in Vegas, we headed over to Utah for three.
Now, before we left for this trip, I walked into my livingroom and caught him looking at Facebook and saving a number into his cell phone. I immediately started making accusations, and he assured me that he had some surprise waiting for me, and that the plans would be finalized on Monday and e would tell me. Okay, so I let it go.
Fast forwards to Monday, we wake up and head over to Zion National Park, where he had planned for us to make the trek up to Angel’s landing. At first we had planned on eating breakfast at the park’s lodge, but we got there to late. Instead, we went up the trail to the Emerald Pools (i think that’s what is was called) and ate lunch afterwards.
Blistering hot and semi-exhausted, he said that we should still try to make the trek up, and since he was talking on and on about this trail for the last two months, I said sure. After a while of attempting to beat the heat, I told him that I could not go any further. I began to cry because he had really been wanting to do this, and here I was telling him it was a no go.
I was really upset and he told me it was okay. He reminded me about the surprise he had waiting for me and asked me to turn around. He got on one knee and asked me to marry him right there on the side of the mountain.
Needless to say, I’m very happy!
Lindsey
July 1st, 2009
1:29 pm
In 2004, I was studying abroad in Quebec City. As a French major, I was there for 6 weeks for a language-intensive course at Laval University. My 21st birthday happened to fall during this six-week summer trip. As a surprise, my boyfriend, John, came to visit me for a weekend. He came to visit and sightsee but also to celebrate my birthday.
Saturday morning we got up to see all of the sites in Quebec City. We had fun taking in the sights together. Before he left Atlanta, he had made reservations for dinner at the Chateau Frontenac, a historic hotel over looking the St. Lawrence River. As we were leaving the hotel to make our way to dinner, he handed me my birthday present to hold. It was a little smaller than a shirt box. I must say I was a little disappointed…. We had been dating for about a year and a half, and were talking about marriage. I had hoped that the proposal would happen this weekend…How perfect! However, he quickly assured me the first night he arrived that was not going to happen, as he was planning a holiday proposal.
So, we were off to dinner in his rental car. He quickly became nervous that we were going to miss our reservation because of traffic. I told him it would be no big deal and we could just eat wherever. That, he would not accept. We made it just in time and we were seated at a beautiful table overlooking a statue of Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec as well as the St. Lawrence River. How perfect! The waiter brought us our menus and as soon as he left, John insisted that I open my gift. He said he didn’t want to wait until dessert. So, I opened the card, which was really sweet. I open the box to find Wedding Wishes tissue paper. I remarked that it was a cruel joke, and he didn’t even notice it…he just said “it matched perfectly.” When I removed the tissue paper, I saw a beautiful picture frame with a picture of him on one knee holding a ring box. Written on the glass in silver marker was “Seras-tu ma femme?” which means “Will you be my wife?” I was so stunned that I couldn’t speak. He walked around the table to my chair and got down on one knee, with the ring, and said, “Lindsey, will you be my wife?” The best part was that he was so nervous, he had to tilt his head to the side and take a deep breath to get the words out. I quickly said Yes! The ring was beautiful and we had a wonderful, romantic dinner to celebrate.
I will never forget that day as long as I live.