My Ideal Destination: Well, that’s a hard one. Because, usually, the best travel destinations turn out to be the ones where absolutely nothing went exactly as you had originally, "ideally" planned. For instance, I had an amazing time in Spain, even though I was stuck in a train station for a substantial part of the trip, trying to conquer the language barrier in order to snag a seat on a train that seemed to be endlessly booked. I ended up making some awesome friends who were trying to do the same thing, and to this day, it's one of my favorite travel stories to tell. So is the Barcelona train station necessarily what I would immediately consider an 'ideal travel destination'? Probably not. But even so, it trumps most of the other spots I've been to in terms of overall experience (and I have been to a lot of spots)... So, I guess the thing that I think makes a destination ideal is your own ability to go with the flow and make the best out of a potentially stressful situation. That being said, there are a few key ingredients that help to make a trip worthwhile: say, running water, for instance? Perhaps some form of substantial sustenance? In all honesty, I like a place that has good food, fun people and a cool landscape to check out. If I can spend a few days in a city, and leave with a full roll of film, a full address book, and a full stomach, then I am totally content. For me, a place isn’t ideal because it has the amenities of a five-star vacation; instead, a destination is truly perfect when I leave, and find myself wishing I could have stayed just a little bit longer.
