Your Most Memorable Family Vacations

Summary

All Of It: Your Most Memorable Family Vacations

Host: Alison Stewart
Guest: Nithya Chambers, Executive Editor of Lonely Planet
Release Date: August 6, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of All Of It, hosted by Alison Stewart of WNYC, the conversation centers around memorable family vacations. Alongside Nithya Chambers, the Executive Editor of Lonely Planet, they explore the essence of what makes family trips unforgettable, sharing personal anecdotes, listener stories, and expert insights on planning the perfect getaway.

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The Essence of a Memorable Family Vacation

Nithya Chambers emphasizes the importance of collective enjoyment and flexibility in family travels. She states at [02:34]:

"A memorable family vacation is first of all just doing something that you all wanted to do together and making the time and creating the space for your family to be together."

Chambers highlights the balance between planning and spontaneity, noting that while it's beneficial to have a focus, it's equally important to allow moments of togetherness to unfold naturally.

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Guest Personal Experiences

Nithya Chambers' Summer Plans ([03:45]):
Chambers shares her unique approach to balancing staycations with short drives, making the most of local attractions such as:

• Camping at Toby Hanna State Park in Eastern Pennsylvania
• Enjoying New York City’s offerings like the Central Park Pool and Queens Night Market
• Visiting Grandparents in Maryland and indulging in local delicacies like steamed blue crabs
• Upcoming Trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, adhering to their tradition of visiting national parks annually

Simon’s Adventure with Newfoundlands ([05:49] - [10:01]):
Producer Simon narrates a humorous and heartwarming story about transporting two large Newfoundland dogs from New Jersey to Chicago. Facing challenges like accommodating the dogs on a shared pet charter flight and sleepless nights at Dubois, Pennsylvania, Simon and his brother successfully delivered the dogs, showcasing the unexpected joys and obstacles that can arise during family trips.

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Listener Stories

Chris from Castleton, New York ([13:37]):
Shared an amusing experience from Great Falls, Montana, where his family enjoyed a unique water show featuring mermaids and mermen at the Sip and Dip Lounge. This quirky attraction transformed an ordinary night into a memorable adventure.

Allison from Newburgh ([15:09]):
Described a backpacking trip to Leconte Lodge in the Smoky Mountains with her family’s young child. Despite challenging conditions like torrential rain, her parents’ adaptability led to cozy moments in a boat under the stars, turning potential frustration into cherished memories.

Raina from Quebec ([19:15]):
Recounted a New Year’s Eve trip to Quebec City where a last-minute restaurant experience turned into an unexpected dance party, delighting the family and surpassing their initial disappointment about the lack of reservations.

Pilar, AOI Producer ([22:14]):
Took her family on a quest to find the best key lime pie in Florida, tasting at least 15 varieties. The journey underscored the fun in shared goals and the joy of the search itself, regardless of finding a definitive "best" pie.

Erin from Randolph, New Jersey ([24:02]):
Narrated adventures where unplanned events led to profound family connections, such as discovering ancestral roots in Ireland and creating intimate moments during unexpected weather disruptions in Lake George.

Debbie from the Bronx ([26:21]):
Shared a 1974 family trip to Savannah, Georgia, highlighting the warmth and hospitality received regardless of the family's racial background. The trip included cultural and historical explorations, reinforcing family bonds and creating lasting memories.

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Expert Insights on Planning Family Vacations

Nithya Chambers offers practical advice for families planning their trips:

• Balancing Activities:
  At [10:22], Chambers advises maintaining a mix of kid-friendly and adult-friendly activities, suggesting one primary activity per day to ensure it appeals to all generations.

• Flexibility with Group Dynamics:
  For larger groups, she recommends allowing the family to split into smaller pods based on interests and energy levels, ensuring everyone enjoys their experience without feeling overwhelmed.

• Tour Guides:
  Chambers advocates for incorporating local tour guides into the itinerary. She shares her positive experience in Mexico City, where guided tours enhanced cultural understanding and introduced the family to unique local experiences they might have otherwise missed [12:09].

• National Parks and Nature:
  Emphasizing the value of national parks, Chambers highlights their affordability, the immersive experience of nature, and the opportunity for families to disconnect and bond [16:59]. She recommends the national parks pass and the accompanying stamp book as engaging activities for children.

• International Travel Tips:
  Advises multi-generational travel to destinations like India and Jamaica to expose children to their heritage and foster deeper family connections. Chambers warns against whirlwind trips and encourages staying longer in one place to fully absorb and enjoy the environment [20:30].

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Concluding Thoughts

As the episode wraps up, Nithya Chambers reflects on the shared stories, emphasizing the lasting impact of family vacations:

"It's about making the space to disconnect and to have a new experience with people that you love. And I think, like, the stories themselves just prove, like, how long that lasts with you, no matter how small it might seem when you're carving it out." ([27:53])

Chambers underscores the significance of intentional family time, whether through grand adventures or simple local explorations, and how these experiences weave into the fabric of family history and personal growth.

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Final Remarks

All Of It beautifully captures the multifaceted nature of family vacations, blending expert advice with heartfelt stories. Whether it's navigating the logistics of traveling with pets or embracing the unexpected turns of a journey, the episode offers valuable insights for listeners seeking to create their own memorable family adventures.

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Join the Conversation:
Listeners are encouraged to share their own family vacation stories or seek advice by calling 212-433-96 433 WNYC or messaging on social media. Share your experiences and become part of the All Of It community, celebrating the diverse tapestry of family journeys.

Transcript

[Alison Stewart]

This is all of it. I'm Alison Stewart live from the WNYC studios in soho. Thank you for spending part of your day with us. I'm grateful that you're here on today's show. More in our week of travel, we'll be taking planes, trains, automobiles and family. Your most memorable trips with relatives and loved ones. Plus weekend getaway ideas that you can get to by car or by train. And then an hour of music. Rachel and Ville will play live songs for us in studio from their new album west of Broadway. And we'll celebrate the 25th anniversary of Jill Scott's debut album. And we'll take your calls. That is our plan. So let's get this started with family trips. Traveling together can mean much needed quality time, a break from the day to day, an opportunity to share new adventures, maybe even learn a thing or two about a culture or explore new environments or create lasting memories with one another. Now sometimes things don't always go as planned. We all have a funny story or two where something unexpected happened for better or for worse. Like maybe you lost your luggage on the flight and had to buy all new clothes or the time you stumbled into a late night comedy show and you ended up having a great time. Joining us to talk about some of her most memorable family vacation is Nithya Chambers, the executive editor of Lonely Planet. Nithya, it is nice to talk to you again.

[Nithya Chambers]

Yeah, I love being here. This is one of my favorites.

[Alison Stewart]

Thanks so much for coming. Hey listeners, what is a trip you went on with your family that always comes to mind? Where did you go? What did you do? What do you remember about the time spent together? Did you do something out of the ordinary or did something fun, funny happen? Our phone number is 2124-3396-9221-2433 wnyc or maybe you have questions for Nithya about ideas about where to take your next family vacation. Our number is 2124-3396-9221-2433 wnyc or you can send us a message on social media. LLNYC when you really think of a memorable family vacation, what are some of the key ingredients that come to mind?

[Nithya Chambers]

Nithya I think a memorable family vacation is first of all just doing something that you all wanted to do together and making the time and creating the space for your family to be together. I also think knowing your team, I kind of have a family rule that the bigger the group gets, the lower the expectations have to go for what we'll finish in a day what, how rigorous the agenda can be. But I think, and I think at the end of the day, just like you can plan and plan and plan, but like get there and have fun and be together and let the, let the space kind of be the togetherness and be clear about what you want to accomplish on the trip. I think if it's a trip where you are, you know, planning on seeing a very specific site to check off a bucket list item, kind of focus on that and let other things fall to the wayside. But that all kind of goes into like knowing your audience and knowing the trip that you want to take and honoring the space and the time that you've created for yourselves together.

[Alison Stewart]

You decided to shake things up a little bit this summer. Tell us what you did with your family this summer.

[Nithya Chambers]

I really wanted us to blend staycation and vacation. So I feel like, you know, it was a summer where I feel like the early part of the year was a little bit like chaotic. I have a 11 year old and a, and a 13 year old and middle school, high school applications and we just like, we weren't in the zone, weren't in the zone to do the planning at the moments of when the planning needed to happen. So I really blended staycation in New York City with short drives and vacations. We kicked off the summer camping in Toby Hanna State park in Eastern Pennsylvania. Really doing a lot of local favorites in New York, like the city pools. The Central park pool is amazing, Queen's Night Market, Island Orchard Beach. We visited some grandparents in Maryland. We did four days of kind of going in all in on steamed blue crabs and trying different places in the area. That's like for those that don't know, that's a specialty in the region in the summertime. And later this summer, the big trip that we kind of plan for ourselves actually next week is we're headed to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. We do one national parks trip a year. Our little unit of four, my husband and I and our kids and that's that. We're checking Yellowstone and Grand Tetons off the list. Next week.

[Alison Stewart]

Listeners, we want to hear from you. What family trip did you go on? Do you remember something that you remember about it that you spent time together? Was it something ordinary or does something funny happen? How did it bring you closer together? Our phone number is 2124-3396-9221-2433 wnyc or do you have some questions for Nithya about ideas on where you can take your family on vacation. You can call or Text us at 212-433-96 433 WNYC, or you can come right into the next room. Our producer and director today, Simon, has joined me in studio. Simon, you have a great story, which we put up on Instagram llnyc that is really pretty incredible. Tell us about this trip you took with your brother.

[Simon]

Sure. I took this trip in January. This is actually good for this hour because I realized it's both. It's family vacation, sort of, except we were also, like, on the job at work. But it's also a weekend getaway in a setting. So I have a cousin who lived in England. He was living in London, and he and his wife decided to. They bought a house in Chicago. So they had to fly over to Chicago. The issue was that they have two dogs, and both of those dogs are Newfoundlands. So if you. I don't know if everyone knows.

[Alison Stewart]

They're huge.

[Simon]

They're like Saint Bernards. They're like.

[Alison Stewart]

They're furry, enormous.

[Simon]

And these were the platonic ideal of a Newfoundland. Like, just like big balls of fur like Totoro and, you know, just like giant and animals, mythical creatures. And as you. If you're kind of gaming this out, you might realize you have to fly to get from London to Chicago. And dogs like that size don't fit in overhead, you know, like, it's not. There's not a lot of room. So they had to figure out a way to get these dogs from London to Chicago. And what they ended up doing was there. There are apparently, like, sort of chartered airlines you can use for pets when you can't travel on the, you know, regular flight with a. And so they got seats for these two giant Newfoundlands on. I forget what the airline's called, but, like, Dog Ear. Yeah. There's one that's called, like, canine jets, I think. So you picture that it's like a private jet that, like, a few different people can sign up to, like, get a seat with their pet on. And so my. They also need to be accompanied. So my aunt and uncle flew over on one of these planes with the two dogs after my cousin and his wife had already flown to Chicago, so they were already based in the US they fly over with the dogs. That's where my brother and I come in. So we were commissioned, I guess, to pick up these dogs in New York, in New Jersey, and drive them in a van in one weekend from New Jersey to Chicago, where my cousin and his wife Literally had like just moved into their house. It was like furniture.

[Alison Stewart]

Please go to our instagram all@wnycthestories to see the size of these dogs, the hotels you had to have the dogs, how the dogs fit in the car.

[Simon]

So we, so we get this van, we pick them up and they like bound off this plane. A plane that had a few other pets on it. You know, it's like a shared thing. But like the other pets were all like Chihuahua type situations like that, you know, smaller dogs. And then these two giant Newfoundlands like running down the plane in the snow. And like their first time in the US their first time seeing true snow also because it was January, so they were excited about that. As Newfoundlands our want to be about snow. And we pick him up, we put him in the van, we left like I had to work that day. So I came straight from here. I think my brother picked me up and we go to the airport, pick him up in the van. Then around like 5pm our journey begins and we make our way first to pretty much nonstop Western Pennsylvania, a town called Dubois. I'd never been before. I don't expect that I have a reason to go back, but it was like the midway point between here and our destination. And so we, we stayed overnight in a hotel. The plan was to, it was a dog friendly hotel. The plan was to get a room for the two of us where my, where we could get some rest. Turns out dogs also get jet lag and get anxiety when they've been flying on a plane. So we didn't get a wink of sleep. I think my brother who drove for the trip got maybe like five minutes, which he was only able to get one eye around like 4am decided to get on the floor, like brought my pillow and sheets down on the floor with the dogs, keep the dogs happy, to just pet them, which allowed them to stop like roaming around the hotel room and just to at least stay in one place for a little bit.

[Alison Stewart]

You made it to Chicago.

[Simon]

We made it to Chicago. We jumped back in the van on no sleep, delirious, drove to Chicago, met our cousin and got to see my cousin and his wife and their new baby who I hadn't met yet. And we delivered the dog safely.

[Alison Stewart]

Well done. Thank you, Simon.

[Simon]

Thank you.

[Alison Stewart]

That cracked me up. Nithya, you were laughing through the entire episode.

[Nithya Chambers]

Totally. I mean it is like, it's such a great caper, you know?

[Alison Stewart]

It is such a great caper.

[Nithya Chambers]

Exactly what you want.

[Alison Stewart]

When families are together and they're trying to Balance the, you know, the kid friendly activity with the adult friendly activity. How do you deal with that balance?

[Nithya Chambers]

Well, it's funny because as you're saying that I am remembering a family trip we took to San Francisco where my dad really wanted everyone to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, children of all ages, which is quite windy. And that was the time I made the rule that we will do one activity a day. And it has to appeal to all generations. It's hard, right? I. At the. At a point where your parents are older, you kind of want to make things happen for them. Your kids are young and that's where I am in my life. You want to respect their boundaries and not have meltdowns on. On, you know, scenic bridges in San Francisco. I think it's. I think it's just. I think it's about. Again, it goes back to what I said at the beginning, knowing the group.

[Alison Stewart]

Yeah.

[Nithya Chambers]

And I think, okay. I also think sometimes the bigger the group gets, it's okay to split off into pods. This group of people is going to go do this activity. This group of people is going to hang back. Not every moment can be everyone at the same time. And I think just planning ahead on what day rhythms look like for the different. For the neediest people in your group sometimes helps you plan out the week that way. I try to sort of have a philosophy of soft and hard commitments. Like the hard commitments are the dinner reservations. This needed a ticket. And when you have days like that, there's only one thing you should focus on that day, and that is the hard commitment. Soft commitments are the, hey, we were going to go to this park and walk around. Hey, we weren't going to take the kids out for ice cream. And those things can float a little bit. And I, and I think, like, thinking about it that way lets you not get so anxious on, like, making a schedule that kind of has to run on, like, military time.

[Alison Stewart]

I love that. The hard commitment and the soft commitment.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Alison Stewart]

What about tour guides? Are tour guides helpful or not so helpful?

[Nithya Chambers]

I really love tour guides. I initially, you know, I. There was a period of my life where it. It felt like I was worried it felt too manufactured. We took a trip in February over the winter break to Mexico City. And we did three different tour guides. We did like a market tour, we did a taco tour, and we did a tour of the pyramids. And I really loved having that local voice answering questions, helping us navigate. I think we tried things that we wouldn't have tried if the tour guide hadn't been there. We ate things we wouldn't have eaten. We drank things we wouldn't have drank. We understood kind of history and significance and culture and the connection that that folks have to the places they live is so powerful and passionate and special. And I think when you, when you have local tour guides and you have the opportunity to bring tour guides into the planning experience, it's a really, it's a really lovely way to create that context for your family or your traveling group when you're out on a trip.

[Alison Stewart]

We are talking with Nithya Chambers. She's Lonely Planet executive editor. We're talking about the most memorable family vacations that she's been on, that you're on, have gone on. Let's take some calls. Chris from Castleton, New York. Hi, Chris. Thanks for being on all of it.

[Chris]

Thank you. Our trip was not so exciting, but we did come up with something very unusual. We were out in Montana, of all places, and we ended up seeing a water show with a mermaid and a merman in a bar.

[Alison Stewart]

Wow.

[Chris]

We were in Great Falls, Montana, which I recommend going to if you're ever in Montana. There's a place called the Sip and Dip Lounge. It's a motel with a pool. And one of the walls of the pool is glass. And there's a bar underneath the underground that looks in the window of the pool. And it's set up like a tiki lounge in Hawaii. The motel was built during the Hawaii craze in the late 50s and 60s. And there's a tiki bar with a piano player who's 80 years old playing tunes. There's small tables. There's tropical plant type things hanging from the ceiling. And the, and the star of the show are mermaids and mermen behind this glass wall. Swimming and tumbling and taking pool toys and dropping them. And you have to guess which one will reach the bottom of the pool first. And it was a hoot. And it was in the desert in Montana.

[Alison Stewart]

Love that story. Everybody, let's all go to Great Falls, Montana.

[Nithya Chambers]

I mean, I'm going to figure out where the Sip and Dip Lounge is relative to my trip next week for sure.

[Alison Stewart]

Let's talk to Allison, who's calling in from Newburgh. Hi, Al, for taking the time to call, all of it.

[Allison]

Hi, everyone. So we had a wonderful trip with our three and a half year old who will be turning five on 9 11. We drove from Newburgh, New York, so I don't know, 10, 12 hours. We stopped once and we went to the Smoky Mountains. And there's a lodge that you can only get to. It's the highest point I think in the Smokies called Leconte Lodge. You can only get to via five hour hike. So we backpacked with our three and a half year old. And all the food and provisions are brought up by alpaca and there's no electricity or like working. You know, there's outhouses, they do feed you and it's just really wonderful. People book years in advance. So like we just kept calling and calling and calling and they had a cancellation and we were like, we're doing it and it was absolutely amazing. And just one other thing, we also went to Puerto Vallarta when she was two and a half and we did a tour guide with a taco tasting tour. And she was like loving the beer tacos and having so much fun. Did you say the beer?

[Alison Stewart]

Did you say the beer and tacos? Wait a second.

[Allison]

Vera Sabira.

[Alison Stewart]

Just, just checking, just checking. That's all, just checking.

[Allison]

Yeah. And, and it was El Dia de los Muertos tip would be get a national parks pass book. It's so fun to collect the stamps.

[Alison Stewart]

Thank you so much for calling in. You gave the national pass book a thumbs up, Neitha.

[Nithya Chambers]

Yeah, it was the national parks book. The pass book is amazing. I can't say enough about it. I also think what she was sharing about the Smoky Mountains Lodge, a lot of the national parks have lodges inside of them. The Grand Canyon has a hotel.

[Allison]

The.

[Nithya Chambers]

They'Re just, they're kind of built in and the, the, the wait list for them can be a little bit years long. Sometimes you gotta sign on at like midnight on New Year's Day and get the booking. But I feel like the national parks in terms of kind of the affordability, the experience, what the idea of being disconnected is also just really amazing. Like you can kind of cut off from the world and just be with your family in that space, in the outdoors, the fresh air and the national parks. There's a national parks pass that you can get, you get for the year that kind of gives you different levels, give you different access to the parks. But there's also like a stamp book that you can do with your family and collect stamps from the different national parks. Kids get like junior ranger like you do. There's like a little ceremony for junior rangers. And so, you know, I am such an advocate of the national parks. I think it is just such an incredible experience and so great to have that kind of as part of your family story when the kids are young and as they grow up.

[Alison Stewart]

Our guest is Lonely Planet Executive editor Nethia Chambers. We're talking about most memorable family vacations. We do want you to call in and tell us about your trip. Our number is 2124-3396-9221-2433. WNYC. We'll have more after a quick break. This is all of it. You are listening to all of IT on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. My guest is Lonely Planet Executive editor Nethia Chambers. We're talking about memorable family vacations. Let's take another call. Neithia, this is Rania who is calling in. Hey Rania, thanks for calling all of it.

[Raina]

Hi, it's actually Raina.

[Alison Stewart]

Raina, hi reyna.

[Allison]

Hi.

[Raina]

About 10 years ago, we took a family trip up to Quebec City over the Christmas break. And as we rolled in on New Year's Eve into Quebec City, we realized that we did not have any kind of reservation for dinner. And because it was New Year's, everything was booked up and we figured we were going to be eating at McDonald's and sitting by ourselves in our Airbnb. And our, our kids were particularly disappointed by this. So after a couple of tries, we managed to find a restaurant that had a few seats at the bar and would feed us there. But the kids were still upset that New Year's Eve they were not going to be doing anything fun. Well, the next thing we know, the restaurant turned into a multi level dance party with DJs on different floors. And because the kids were already there, they were under 18, but they let them stay and we had a great time dancing past midnight.

[Alison Stewart]

That is a great story. Thanks for sharing it. All right, let's talk about international travel. Since you brought up Quebec, what is your tip for traveling internationally? What are some popular destinations right now for families?

[Nithya Chambers]

Well, I think, you know, I think beach destinations are always popular for families. I think, you know, the, the once you kind of get through this part of the season looking towards like the end of the year, like looking at the Caribbean is always popular for families, especially with flights coming from this area. I think Europe is, is popular with families. I think, you know, going to Paris, going to Portugal, going to, going to Italy, going to Greece, like those are, those are international trips from here. We, I think I, a lot of our international travel has been multi generational international travel. My family is from India, my husband's family is from Jamaica. Both of our families immigrated here. And so we really have really wanted to give them our kids the experience of Going back with their grandparents. So right before COVID we took a trip to India with my parents. Later this year we're taking a trip to Jamaica with my in laws. Just because I think that's an important experience for the kids. And I think that like the multi generational aspect of it, if you're fortunate enough to do it, I think is where expectations have to come down and you have to just be sort of committed to the experience. And I think we really have kind of leaned into asking our parents, like, what do you want the kids to experience when they're here? But last year we did kind of a whirlwind. We wanted the kids to see London and Paris over spring break and we found a cheap flight to London and we did a couple days there, we did a couple days in Paris, we took the train. It was very whirlwind. I would highly not recommend doing the whirlwind again.

[Alison Stewart]

Don't do the whirlwind, okay?

[Nithya Chambers]

My lesson from that is unless you're trying to check a bunch of things off of boxes, like commit to a place, like let, let, let the family sort of absorb the place and be in the place and live in the place, even if it starts to feel like, oh, we've seen everything, you know, that's when you go to the grocery store, like have an ex walk around, have an experience that doesn't feel over planned. And. But I, but I, you know, I'm glad I did it. I'm glad my, as my husband said, I'm glad we know that they can, they can hang if we need them to move quickly. But I, but I, but I definitely, you know, I think from that we, like when we decided to go to Mexico City, we're like, let's just go there, stay the week and sort of absorb, absorb the full place instead of rushing around and trying to fit too much in.

[Alison Stewart]

We got another one from an AOI producer, Pilar. She went on a family vacation to find the best key lime pie and Florida. They ate at least 15 pies in a week long period for breakfast and for lunch, for dinner. She also said they found some pretty good pies, but none of them could ever agree on what the best pie was. In the end, it was more about the fun of the search for finding the perfect pie.

[Nithya Chambers]

I love that, I love this sort of taking something that you love and doing like a, like a challenge around the best slice of pizza, the best pie in this area. I think that was a little bit of what we were trying to do with the, with the crabs. Although we did hit a point of. I think we, I think we've had a lot of crabs. But I think like that's, that's just a really fun way to kind of like create a moment in the trip that everybody can, can like identify with and create a memory that's like very specific to the trip that everyone can be a part of.

[Alison Stewart]

Let's talk to Erin from Randolph, New Jersey. Hi Erin, thank you so much for calling all of on the air.

[Allison]

Hi Allison. This is so exciting. I'm so glad I can talk with you guys. So when the question was posed kind of what are the adventures or the trips that I remember, it's interesting. I had a lot of adventures as a little kid with my parents. They took us on lots of different places. And the two things that really came to mind first and foremost were trips where the itinerary actually just took an unexpected turn. And my parents really rolled with it and it created memories they probably were not expecting or we were expecting, but because they were not sticklers to the plan that things unfolded that were awesome. So one, we were camping up in Lake George. We had a little off board boat that we wanted to put in the water we never got to because it was a torrential rain out there was just rain coming out your ears by day three. And my parents, instead of kind of packing up and leaving, instead they let us climb into the boat kind of underneath where like the COVID is. We lit some candles or whatever and we played Uno. And I remember feeling so close and cozy and it was rainy and my parents weren't upset, they were happy and like, they just didn't let the idea that things got so different really get in the way of us having fun. The other was when we went to Ireland. Very similar. My dad has such a beautiful relationship to his Irish American heritage, but he didn't have a deep connection or a real understanding of kind of the place where he was born. And Ireland kind of gave us this experience where it connected some of the dots and you could see it in his eyes. Like he wanted the chance to kind of continue that journey and maybe, you know, kind of go to go to the left and kind of see what else we could find. And we wound up, long story short, like finding his grandma's birth certificate. And then like we just found this old church and we wound up like finding the ruins of where his grandfather's grandfather was born. And that never would have happened if we didn't see the fact that Ireland was giving us this opportunity because of the experience it was showing us. And we just kind of led where it went, and it was beautiful. And that never would have happened if we were stuck to the schedule.

[Alison Stewart]

Thanks so much for calling. And quickly, we're going to get Debbie, who's calling from the Bronx. Debbie, can you tell us your story real quick?

[Allison]

Hi, Alison. Ara, first of all, may you and your sister remain in good health. Oh, thank you.

[Alison Stewart]

It's our kidneyversary. Thank you.

[Allison]

Yes, yes, yes. This goes back to 1974. My mom was born in Savannah, Georgia, and she had always wanted me and my sister to see her home. So with my dad, we took a family trip down to Savannah, Georgia. I was terrified. I was very afraid because we are a black family and I was afraid. But we were treated royally by everyone, black, white and other, and had a lovely time. My sister and I got to see a patent seal in bloom. We got to see where my mom's family was buried, and mom took us and showed us where the Ku Klux Klan. We took the tour of Underground Railroad sites in Savannah, and all in all, had a wonderful time. And being the staunch Democrats we are, we were happy to be down and see on television when Nixon resigned from office. So it was a very, very memorable trip.

[Alison Stewart]

Thank you so much for calling, Debbie. We really appreciate it. We're about to run out of time. Nithya, is there anything you wanted to tell anybody about a family vacation, about a staycation, something you think that's just really important for people to keep in mind?

[Nithya Chambers]

No, I, I'm just honestly so struck by the stories that people have called in with, in this sense of, like, serendipity and connection and family and, and like, and, and, and. And like I said, the sense of history, it gives you your personal history and your outlook on the world. So, like, the. What I would end with is just to say, like, I think, however, you can carve out that time for yourself and the people that you care about and, and think about it obviously, in the context of your budget. I think at the end of the day, it's about making the space to disconnect and to have a new experience with people that you love. And I think it, like, the stories themselves just prove, like, how long that lasts with you, no matter how small it might seem when you're carving it out.

[Alison Stewart]

My guest has been Lonely Planet Executive Editor Nithia Chambers. Thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it.

[Nithya Chambers]

Thank you. Love being here.

[Alison Stewart]

This is Ira Flato, host of Science Friday for over 30 years, the science Friday team has been reporting high quality science and technology news, making science fun for curious people by covering everything from the outer reaches of space to the rapidly changing world of AI to the tiniest microbes in our bodies. Audiences trust our show because they know we're driven by a mission to inform and serve listeners first and foremost with important news they won't get anywhere else. And our sponsors benefit from that halo effect. For more information on becoming a sponsor, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.