It's that time of year, when parents of overscheduled children everywhere look at their calendars and go "Crap!! If I don't book summer camp NOW, they'll be home alone and bored all summer!" Which means that parents also have to start planning summer vacations, as well. For some of us, that means staycations and trips to the local beach or park; for others it's more involved. Tonight, I want to take us all on the kind of vacation we dream of... follow me below the dingledoodle squigglie dKosagnocchi dividerthingie fold after a word from our sponsor...
Here at Top Comments we strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group dKosemailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
I have a suspicion that for most of us, the vacations we WANT to take aren't always the ones we get to take... if there's time or money to take one at all. Either it costs too much, or would need to happen at a time when it's not possible to take time off from work, or the people that we'd want to accompany us would absolutely hate the plans. So, much like fantasy football, let's play Fantasy Vacation. Here's the rules:
1. There are no financial barriers. Pretend you've got enough funds for whatever your Fantasy Vacation will require.
2. There are no work barriers. Pretend you've got enough vacation days to use, and that you can take them in whatever season you need to. Teachers, June is now yours. Accountants, go wild and travel that first week of April. You get the drift... :)
3. Your intended travel companions aren't going to complain about your Fantasy Vacation choice. Pretend the spouse who hates camping or the teenager who hates anything that involves Family Time are all on board with your Fantasy Plans. You can also take the FV alone, or with the Traveling Companion of your choice.
4. It's got to be a real place accessible via current modes of transport. No Fantasy trips to the moon or alternative universes, please. Oh, and for those of you traveling with a Companion... the TARDIS is not yet common transport. Sorry.
Ready... Set... Embark!!!
Having set the rules, I now find myself torn between several different FV's. Figures I can't even decide on a FV
::grin::
The First FV: I'd like to take a month or a summer, and tour Europe. Places I'd like to see include London, the Scottish Highlands (only made it as far north as Inverness the one time I visited), Paris, Rome, Venice, Germany and Belgium (three days was NOT enough time to experience it all, and there's this bar I'd like to revisit, as I only made it through 2.8% of the beer menu :-)). I'd like to sample food from all over, visit museums, find B&B's or small hotels to stay in and find the local music scene wherever we were. This probably would be a two-person vacation.
The Second FV: Mr. Brillig and I honeymooned in French Polynesia, and I'd love to go back for a return trip with the kids as the first part of this FV. I'd like to spend time in the water snorkeling (presumably this would entail everyone but me snorkeling down below the water while I floated around on the surface because I'm terrified to go underwater :-)), boating, biking, eating the delicious food, and enjoying the tropical weather. From Tahiti, we'd continue on to Australia, where we'd start in Sydney and travel all over. I'd like to see Uluru and the Great Barrier Reef (this FV better happen soon if that's going to happen, sigh), go wine tasting and watch the kids as they see kangaroos and other animals they only see in zoos.
I'm ignoring the little voice within clamoring for a FV entirely within US borders, driving all over the country seeing the sights. Because asking for THREE fantasies in one diary seems, well... greedy :).
What's on your Fantasy Vacation Bucket List?
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything
without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do
not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From David Nir:
What if Bowser from Super Mario Bros. (instead of East Orange (NJ) Mayor Bob Bowser) were the one seeking re-election? This comment thread, begun by sapelcovits, tries to answer that vexing question.
From Ninepatch:
In Joan McCarter's diary John Kerry confirmed as SOS, HarryParatestisis puts a telling spin on Texan-by-way-of-Canada Ted Cruz who voted against Senator Kerry's confirmation. I love kossack humor, especially when it's so spot on.
From Noddy:
jim in IA found a cool pic to post in today's Cheers and Jeers.
From Yours Truly, brillig:
Secretary of State John Kerry has a nice ring to it. AllDemsOnBoard brings us the Whereases, and OleHippieChick gets a nod for this reply
Ekaterin on Senator Graham's getting away with murder comment, from Hunter's Sen. Lindsey Graham: 'Hillary Clinton got away with murder'.
Top Mojo for yesterday, January 28th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic!
1) You should see the comments in the CT Mirror by SwedishJewfish — 190
2) Thank you, Kos by Dave in Northridge — 154
3) I am so going to by just another vet — 131
4) I think a lot of them by SwedishJewfish — 113
5) HR'd for lack of commas. by voracious — 110
6) I think some folk have by smoothnmellow — 108
7) I don't believe the open casket was at the service by SwedishJewfish — 107
8) Uprated to counter blatant punctuationism. by angry marmot — 91
9) Jeezuz...Thank Cthulhu... by CanisMaximus — 87
10) It's Complicated, Anton by JekyllnHyde — 83
11) Somehow I don't think you take this by loggersbrat — 83
12) That's not a church.... by Ekaterin — 75
13) Bob, this is pretty offensive stuff. by pico — 73
14) and when the Taliban destroyed the 1,700 year old by Tamar — 73
15) I have the greatest respect and affection for you, by belinda ridgewood — 73
16) Isn't this a GBCW? by angry marmot — 70
17) if or when you return... by jbou — 69
18) This comes from way beyond Ortiz. by Publius2008 — 68
19) Best Wishes by DFWmom — 68
20) I am going to steal a quote from a movie here by idbecrazyif — 68
21) make sure you light a match by jbou — 67
22) Um this is way wrong. by smoothnmellow — 65
23) Yes I did by Puddytat — 64
24) I am not replying because I am not here to reply. by Bob Johnson — 64
25) HR'ed for uprating by just another vet — 63
26) Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by gulfgal98 — 61
27) I think they mostly lurk--you can tell, because by PhilJD — 60
28) Or to be a little less concise, from the end of by Rei — 60
29) Oh, no doubt by SwedishJewfish — 60
30) How about some movie titles? by ivorybill — 60
31) Terrible sad news by Heavy Mettle — 60
THIS JUST IN: For the best most awesomest description of How Top Mojo Works ever, please see
this diary just posted by
mik.
Top
Pooties Pictures for yesterday, January 28th. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!
And one quick note: Dave in Northridge wants you to know this is the last Tuesday Top Comments he'll be participating in until the week before NN13. Next week he begins teaching a class that meets when Top Comments publishes and runs until 1:10 AM Eastern, and it will run through the last week in May. The following week he'll be grading AP US History exams in Louisville.