A Golfer's Dream Vacations

If you are a true golf fanatic than there are only two real dream vacations a person can take in life.  The first would be to take a trip to Augusta, Georgia to play a round on Augusta National.  The second dream vacation would be to travel to Scotland to play the Old Course at St. Andrews.  Either of these two trips would most definitely be a golfer's dream come true.

Augusta National

Augusta National was both founded and designed by Bobby Jones, one of the best golfers to ever play the game, and also few other individuals including Clifford Roberts and Alister Mackenzie.  The course officially opened in the year 1933 and is most notable for hosting the annual Masters tournament, one of golf's four majors.  Augusta National is without any doubt one of the most challenging courses in the world both physically and mentally.  While playing Augusta National, you will have to make sure that you hit the ball extra far, as the course yardage is just shy of 7,500 yards.  Furthermore, your mental game will be challenged due to the fact that the scenery of Augusta is so breathtaking that it has been described as difficult to maintain one's focus.  Despite the fact that it is a private club, meaning that only members or invited guests are allowed to play on the grounds, if I ever got the opportunity to play a round there it would surely be a dream vacation in my eyes.  As a whole traveling to Augusta from Massachusetts would be a moderately expensive trip as you could either drive or fly.  I would recommend driving in order to do extra site seeing in the many cities and attractions along the way.  Driving to Augusta would cost around a thousand dollars in gas, food, hotel, and golf money. 

The entrance to Augusta National known as Magnolia Lane

The Old Course at St. Andrews

The second dream vacation for any golfer would be to take a trip to Scotland to play the Old Course at St. Andrews.  This vacation would be truly amazing as this is the birthplace of golf, the greatest game on earth.  Unlike Augusta National, the Old Course at St. Andrews remains public to this day since its establishment in 1552.  In other words, anyone has the ability to play at this course if they reserve a tee time and have the money.  The Old Course at St. Andrews is one of the most recognizable courses in all of golf, and has also hosted countless premiere tournaments including the Open Championship.  As a whole, I believe going to Scotland would be a great experience not only for the golf but also to experience the culture their.  There are several other points of attraction on can visit both in and around St. Andrews that only enhance one's overall experience.  Opposed to the trip to Augusta National, traveling to Scotland to play St. Andrews would be an extremely expensive trip, with costs upwards of five thousand dollars if you were to bring only three guests with you and stay for just a week.  

The Old Course at St. Andrews in 1891

I would recommend either of these two destinations as a must visit.  The history behind these two locations spans hundreds of years involving countless countless stories of great individual and truly amazing events.  

Yearly Visit to Florida

Every year during April vacation my mom, my sister and myself would go down to Florida to visit my grandfather and step-grandmother. They moved from Springfield down to Lady Lake when I was five years old. They live in a small section called The Villages which is famous for its golf courses and being what they call a "golf cart community." I'm very big into golf so having a week of 80 or 90 degree weather in the middle of April is a dream come true for me. Usually I have the opportunity to go out twice while I am down there since there is much more for us to do during the vacation.

Since it is a vacation, we go out for food to a variety of places throughout the week either for lunch or dinner. My favorite place we have gone over the years is called Oakwood. I was never big into barbeque ribs until we went to eat there a couple years ago. Ever since then I have loved eating ribs even though I hate the mess that they can bring about. Another place that we like to visit is the Boston Fish House in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. I think my favorite part of this restaurant is not only the amazing fried haddock, but also the view of the beach in the backdrop.


Over the years we have visited many different landmarks in Florida. My favorite being Daytona Motor Speedway in Daytona, Florida. While there, we got a tour of the track and all the behind the scene things you don't normally see. It was a memorable experience because my grandfather, my sister and myself all got to stand on "Victory Lane." If you are in Daytona, the beach is a must see. So after we spent most of the morning at the Speedway, we headed over to the beach to finish off our day. I am disappointed I'm unable to accompany my sister and mother to Florida this April.

"A very friendly place with soooooo much to do." - P.B.

Disney World

Have you ever had a feeling that you want to go back in time and be a kid again? Well, you can! At place were "dreams come true." I am talking about Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The trip to disney could cost you less the $165 a night in a moderate restore hotel. The air far is between $200-$400 round trip. If you plan on taking a trip to Disney, the best time to go is on their off season. Disney's off-season is between the months of  January to March, and September to November.
When you off the plane, you don't have to worry about your bags and making sure you don't get them in time. Disney has their know service called The Magical Express. The Magical Express picks you and your family up and drops you off at the airport, and take care of your bags. If you pay a little more money, Magical Express would pick up your's and your family's bag and bring it straight to your room, so you don't have to worry about your bags till you get to your room. The bell men will come by and drop your bags off around 2 hours after you arrive and the best part of it, you don't need to be in the room waiting for them. But when its time to head back to the airport, they would bring you so you don't have to find a ride.
Once your at the hotel and checked in, you could head to one of the seven parks Disney has to offer. Magic Kingdom, Disney's Blizzard Beach, Disney's Hollywood Stud-

ios, Epcot, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon, and Downtown Disney. Disney's Blizzard Beach and Disney's Typhoon Lagoon are two water parks that are open seasonally, and the other parks are open all year around. Magic Kingdom is famous for Cinderella's Castle, but it also has mini-parks inside. They have Frontierland, Adventureland, Liberty Square, Tomorrowland, Main Street USA, and Fantasyland. Magic Kingdom is my favorite because they just reopen and added onto Fantasyland. If you would love to take a trip away with the family or by yourself, you could aways goto Disney World in Florida. Its the place where dreams come true!

Tampa Florida

My dream destination where I would like to vacation in is Tampa Florida. The reason I chose Tampa is because it is the home of the New York Yankees Spring Training facilities. As a huge yankee fan, I want to be at the spring training games to root for a vacation trip.  I grew up watching and playing nothing but baseball. I always idolized the New York Yankees. Every spring, I try to watch at least one spring training game. I always say to myself that one day I'm going to take a trip down to Tampa for a couple of days to watch spring training baseball. My favorite Yankee's baseball player is Robinson Cano.  He is #24 for the Yankees and is also their second baseman. He won the 2011 Homerun Derby and is considered the 3rd best player in baseball of the 2012 and 2013 seasons. My trip to Florida would be for 6 days and 5 nights. The round trip flight with hotel accommodations would cost in total $1025. I would be flying by American Airlines. This total cost doesn't include rental car and gas costs.

While in Tampa, I would like to take a road trip to Miami and visit the beaches to get a tan and experience the life of sitting on the most famous beaches in Florida. Any trip that involves baseball and tanning on a beach is a trip for me. Tampa is 283 miles away and approx. 4 hours and 17 minutes from Miami Beach. I will be staying at the Holiday Inn Hotel in a Luxury Suite right on the beaches of Tampa.

My ticket prices for each game could range from $9 to $59 or if I wanted to rent a Luxury Box, it would cost $450. My rental car would be a 2013 Dodge Durango that would cost me $99 per day. For a total of 6 days of rental car use, I would pay a total of $594.

My dream trip to Tampa, Florida would be one for the ages for myself. Normally, I do not like to travel. I am a stay at home kind of guy. I don't normally like to spend too much money to travel far away where I can see it on TV or the Internet.

My Destination

 My destination is not so much as a vacation, or rather as a place I would love to own, and make my own, so I could have personalized vacations. To start with my plan I would have to purchase an island. One that fits my requirements is called Lazy Caye. This island is located in the Caribbeans, it has about 5.8 acres, and is located in a very good fishing spot. The island is big enough to build a fairly large house, and has plenty of room for activities in and around the island.

                                                                         

The island itself costs $650,000, after purchasing the island it would be necessary to build a house, and all of the fun toys that go with a house. The house I would build would be pretty large, preferably a castle, and that is going to cost a lot. 

To give a rough estimate I researched a couple of castles, and found one that I liked the style of. The castle below was built in OakBrook Illinois, and is up for sale at 4.5 million dollars. This was built on normal land, and not across the seas, so I would make the assumption that it would cost at least 10 million dollars to build this castle on an island. 

After figuring out the housing situation I would have to figure out transportation. The fastest and easiest way to get to the island would be via helicopter. The helicopter I would use, would be this one. The helicopter would allow me to leave and come back whenever I wanted to, and probably be the quickest transportation to there. If I am going to get a helicopter though, I would need to get my pilots license as well. There's a company on the east coast that I would use just for that. After getting my pilots license and having a house to live in, I would almost be all set, but I still need recreational activities. The island in the brochure that was selling it, mentioned that the surrounding areas are fantastic for deep sea fishing. Fishing being one of my hobbies back home, that would be an ideal recreation activity besides sitting at the beach. Fishing gear can get expensive, and I would also need a boat. This would be an ideal boat. Good speed, and plenty of room for fishing gear. It would probably cost around 40,000-80,000 dollars. Just to add on to the recreational side of things, I would have to get some jet skis to take out just for fun. Jet skiing has always been something I want to do, or to own one. To buy a jet-ski I would go here. That would be one the most perfect and ideal things for me to do when I can achieve such wealth, and the grand total being around 12,620,000 being a rough estimate, I'll either need to hit the lottery or make a lot of money. I will succeed though. 

Dream Vacation

I have been on many vacations, from summers in Wells and York Maine, to class trips in Quebec, and even to the Amazon and Ireland. I can say that I have enjoyed every single one of these trips. One thing that I do want to do, however, is go on a cruise. I would love to do what is called “a semester at sea,” where you don’t just visit one country but about ten. Basically you are a cruise ship for an entire semester and you go to class just like you would at Nichols. On the weekends, you stop at various locations. I would love to stop in France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, and maybe even Egypt!

 

I studied French throughout my high school career and I would love to continue learning French. While in France, I would want to visit the Eiffel Tower, La Louvre, L’Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame Cathedral! As bad as it may sound, I enjoy a lot of the history involving World War II, especially the Holocaust. I find it interesting because the multiple stories that is still being discovered. So while in Germany, I would love to visit the Nazi Camps. In Spain I would love to visit my friend in Madrid, but I also studied Spanish throughout high school and would like to attempt using it while in Spain. Ireland would be hands down a stop for me. Why? Well, I am very Irish! There are a lot of places I would love to visit. I would love to go back to the Cliffs of Moher in Doolin, but I would also love to visit Dublin. I still have family over there so I would of course love to visit them. Lastly, I would want to make a stop at Egypt. I really just find Egypt very special because of all the pyramids and I would love to see some mummies!

 

The Cost of this trip would be the same cost it is for me to go a semester at Nichols. There is no extra cost. The only reason I would have to pay more is if the cruise took off from Florida, where I would need to pay for my own flight. I hope to one day be able to do the semester at sea, hopefully it will happen!

 

TESTIMONIALS:

Semester at Sea is the only program I know of which provides students an opportunity for a true cross-cultural experience. On my voyage, we traveled to 10 countries on 3 continents. The time spent in each country is short, true, but the classes on the ship give students knowledge of the history and culture of countries before visits, so students have enough background to make sense of what they experience. The approach of traveling to countries in far corners of the world means students can compare the culture and lifestyles of people in very diverse places - and come to understand what makes us all unique, but how truly similar people around the world are.

    My dream place to live would be in Hawaii on an island.  It's my dream place because it's such a beautiful place to begin with and I love the beach.  For my dream house I would like it to be on the island and be very big.  The back porch would lead to my private beach.  I would want Palm trees and flowers all around.  To live here I would need a lot of money.  I would have to bring my dogs, husband (when or if I have one), sunblock, lounge chairs, patio set, floats, cleaning supplies, and everything else you would find in a house.  I would make sure I have my I.D and passport.  While being there I would just love life.  I would want to be retired so I could just relax all the time and be able to enjoy all the beauty around me. I'd go swimming and tan all day.  Plus I would want to learn how to hula dance and take surfing lessons as well.  I would also plant an orange tree in my yard or side of my house.  I would want my house to be a tan color with a variety of colorful flowers all around it.  Air fair would be about 1,200 for two people.  But to send both of my dogs I would have to pay an extra fee.  The cost for my house would most likely be outrageously expensive.  Mainly because it's on it's own island, plus the actual house.  So if I had to guess it would probably cost about one million dollars. To take the hula dancing lessons it would be about three hundred dollars.  The surfing lessons would be about six hundred dollars.  Also I would need to pay to have furniture sent over which would also be expensive.  I would sell my car in the states and just buy a new one when I arrived in Hawaii.  Not that I'd really need a car since I'm on an island.  But I would also want a yacht to go along with my house which would cost one million eight hundred and ninety five dollars.  Plus I would have to cover all of these purchases with insurance to top it all off.