Our glasses clinked to our first vacation as a couple. Sitting at the airport bar, I couldn’t help but wonder: would we survive, not to mention, enjoy six days alone with eachother? We were still eyeing each other suspiciously at the boarding gate when to my shock …..“I’m sorry. This flight is closed.” Survive? I fumed. We couldn’t even make our flight; And we were only 30 yards from the boarding gate! It was a rough start, but two planes, a train, and a ferry ride later—not to mention a few gin and tonics—we were finally standing at the base of a 2000-meter volcano.

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Alison Ogden, Contest, 01/18/2008

Hello?

Cell Phone Observations From Home and Abroad


“Pronto.” This sound was heard over and over when I was working and living in Rome, Italy about 6 years ago. You see, this is how the laid back Italians answered their cell phones. Pronto, means NOW. So it took every effort for me to not laugh out loud everytime I heard this. Italians are understandably well known for their food, romance and beautiful architecture. Speediness and efficiency, well, not so much.

But it was this word that littered my wandering days in Rome that started my sociological cell phone research. Since then I have visited or lived in places such as Ireland, the Czech Republic, Taiwan, Argentina, and Vietnam. And I must admit right away that cell phone usage in all of these countries is a much freer and playful form of expression and communication than in my home base of San Francisco, California, USA. How dare I say such a thing about a city that has a global reputation for being almost excessively liberal? Let me explain.

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Stephanie Fuccio, Contest, 01/10/2008

I along with my fiancé and my parents went to visit the Rockhouse Hotel in Negril, Jamaica this past March. One of the most memorable moments from our trip was when my father decided to jump off the 30 foot bridge outside his villa into the Caribbean Ocean. Unfortunately for my father, not only did the camera not work properly to document his jump, but he made the mistake of going head first into the water. This lead to him landing flat on his stomach and his belly flop could be heard throughout the property. The Jamaicans in the glass bottom boat below also witnessed the whole event and said, "Ouch mon, you have to go feet first." Then my father had to swim all the way around to the ladder in his painful state. We had to throw him a floaty because he was afraid he wouldn't make it.

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May Chau, Contest, 01/18/2008

How I Ambushed Airport Security with a Tiny Purple Laser Gun

I never thought they’d actually confiscate my gun. I was eight years old. I didn’t even know what confiscate meant.

My carry-on backpack held all the trappings of an elementary school boy: Walkman, magic markers, a few Garfield coloring books, and a travel tic-tac-toe game.

But the new pride of my toy box was Shockwave: a purple, plastic toy robot able to transform into a laser pistol in five seconds flat. When he wasn’t battling evil archrivals in robot form, he and I were saving the world one space age gun battle at a time. My grandparents had just gifted him to me for Christmas. I nearly tore out my mother’s eyeballs when she insisted I put him away and go to bed.

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Mike Richard, Contest, 01/10/2008

True Love Second Time Around

The most exciting and wonderful holiday experience I have had is my holiday last October 2007 in Maldives. My husband and I decided to renew our wedding vows because I did not feel getting married in a drive-thru in Las Vegas was romantic enough for me and wanted something a little special.

When looking around for the perfect vacation I wanted somewhere exclusive, romantic, hot and a place where you would not find loads of young party animals. So I found a hotel called Anantara Resort in Maldives. On arrival at the airport in the Maldives we was greeted by the hotel representatives who then took us on a luxury speed boat which took around 30 minutes not too long and I did not feel like I was going to throw up, luckily for me as I usually get sea-sick.

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Jason Neuman, Contest, 01/31/2008