Two Big Christmases in the USA: Adventures in the Big Apple and the Big Easy

Why are some trips and holidays, or adventures as I like to call them, better than others? The best ones and some special experiences linger longer and clearer in your mind. With the right triggers, vivid memories lead to major flashbacks, getting your heart racing and bringing tears to your eyes. The choice of holiday venue for two separate occasions could not have been more exciting - Manhattan in New York and New Orleans. How could you not come out the other side without that feeling of "I had a holiday of a lifetime"? One thing though - the timing is Christmas and New Year, the weather cold and even some attractions shut. What is experience - an event and an activity - and we supply the encircling explanation, interpretation and consolidation to make the adventure fit our expectations. We might even alter and exaggerate what happened in our minds so that the stories sound better when retold. Truth and reality become indistinguishable. My position is to treat vacations and trips as adventures and the actual foundation of new experiences. We are then better placed at the time to cope with uncertainty through an approach which is positive and energy-generating. Our recollections then remain crisp and faithful to the adventures, big and small, as they panned out.