Are you and your family going on vacation this summer?
Most people look forward to their summer vacation so that they can have a great time while getting away from the pressures of their every day lives. Some people love to travel and explore new places whereas others simply like to get away for some rest and relaxation. I would have to say that I enjoy both. I love exploring new places but at the same time I don’t mind lounging on the beach doing absolutely nothing but listening to the waves and the cries of the seagulls without a care in the world.
Let’s face it – all the planning in the world doesn’t guarantee a perfect vacation. Things happen that we don’t expect or plan for. I’m not talking about missed flights or overbooked hotels. I’m talking about really wild and crazy things.
My family hasn’t been on many vacations over the past 17 years. We did go to Walt Disney World and Lake George (NY) which were “uneventful” vacations- meaning nothing bad happened. One year we went to Point Pleasant, NJ for a few days with two other families (friends). There was an incident where we thought our one friend who was swimming far out in the ocean was bring trailed by a shark. We yelled for him but he couldn’t hear us. When he did hear us and turned around to see what was trailing him he freaked out and quickly swam to shore. It wasn’t a shark but a very large fish head. The current must have made it float in his direction. It was a HUGE head too. I don’t want to see the fish it came from. Yikes!
Growing up my family and my relatives went on a lot of trips and vacations together. There is one vacation that was certainly the craziest – or to use today’s slang – Cray Cray!
I was about 9 years old at the time. My family, aunts, uncles and cousins had piled into two cars to head out to Massachusetts for vacation. We were already packed full in both cars (car seat laws were different then). We resembled a pair of clown cars where most people come out of the car then would technically fit in the car.
Our vacation was cut short due to an impending hurricane. We hopped back into our cars and raced back to NY to get home before the hurricane hit. Unfortunately we ended up driving in a lot of wind and rain.
Just our luck one of the cars broke down. We had to call for a tow truck in the pouring rain.
We did our best to squeeze and entire car full of people into the other car. When I say we were sitting on each other’s laps that is an understatement. We actually had people sitting on the floor in between people’s legs. It was “cray cray”.
The tow truck driver said he could take one person with him in the tow truck. My cousin “J” volunteered to go. He was really into cars so it was fun for him to ride in a tow truck.
We tried to follow the truck but with the wind and rain it was hard. Not using our heads no one remembered what the name of the towing truck company was or where they were taking the car.
So there we were driving around in wind and rain in a car stuffed full of people, trying to find our missing car AND my cousin!
After a while we finally tracked down the gas station the car was taken too. When we pulled into the station my cousin came running to our car hysterically crying. The tow truck driver thought he was being funny by telling my cousin that if we didn’t show up to get him that he was going to sell him. You don’t say stuff like that to a 12 year old who is already scared and worried that he’ll never see his family again. That’s awful!
We can laugh at all of this now, but back then it was certainly not funny.
Have you ever experienced a “vacay” (vacation) that went “cray cray” (crazy)? Choice Hotels, as part of their 75th anniversary celebration, would love to hear your stories with their summer contest called #VacayGoneCrayCray. One lucky participant will win $10,000! You can use that money to re-do your vacation that went horribly wrong.
“Every traveler has a story about a vacation or business trip that didn’t necessarily go according to plan,” said Robert McDowell, senior vice president, marketing and distribution of Choice Hotels. “This summer and in honor of our 75th anniversary, we wanted to connect with our travelers in a fun and unexpected way. Through the #VacayGoneCrayCray contest, Choice Hotels can help turn those crazy misadventures back into positive memories.”
YouTube sensations Rhett & Link have signed on to generate buzz surrounding the contest, and will select the best of the worst trip experiences to reenact on their Good Mythical Morning Show every Thursday beginning July 17th for their millions of viewers.
Let Rhett & Link tell you more about this fun contest.
Entering is easy. Simply submit your extreme vacation misadventures at via www.VacayGoneCcrayCray.com or through the embedded video link on Rhett & Link’s YouTube channel.
The contest ends at 11:59 PM (EST) on August 27, 2014. The lucky winner will be announced on September 4, 2014.
For official rules and prize descriptions please visit the official website www.VacayGoneCrayCray.com.
For more information about Choice Hotels please visit www.ChoiceHotels.com. Choice Hotels covers several popular hotel chains.
You can also check out Choice Hotels on Facebook and on Twitter.
Do you have a Vacay that went Cray Cray? I would love to hear about it. Better yet consider entering the contest for your chance to win the $10,000 grand prize.
Kimberly
*I have partnered with Choice Hotels to bring you this information. Although compensated the opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.