Holiday of a lifetime
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The Inca trail has been a dream of mine for a very long time. Circumstance will probably play a bit part in any final decision as it could well be feasible for me to save money in the business and put some away so I can keep myself afloat for a couple of months with dividends. I think part of me just wants to be able to go somewhere amazing and say, 'Cheers Dad - you made this possible'. He'd would have appreciated the black humour of the sentiment :-)
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
Rhys666 wrote:
can keep myself afloat for a couple of months with dividends.
If it is just the Inca Trail, than you can do it in couple of days :)
Rhys666 wrote:
I think part of me just wants to be able to go somewhere amazing ...
Well, Machu Pichu was that for me...
My Blog A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
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Well at last! Let no-one say the French legal system is a speedy beast. My dad was killed while cycling on Holiday in France two and a half years ago, my mum injured. They were hit by a car doing about 50kph, my dad straight on while my mum was juat clipped. The driver was found guily of vehicular manslaughter about two years ago, but under french, (Napoleonic), Law and because of the responsibility of the driver for the death, all of my Dads blood relatives down to his Grandchildren are automatically entitled to compensation for 'moral suffering' or something like that. So, in the last few days I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000. Its taken its time, which has been a pain for just getting closure and fully moving on, not because of wanting the money, but its getting there. So, my plan. I can't justify it to myself to spend the money on mundanity. I've thought about it, but guiven the circumstances I want to do something fantastically memorable with at most of it. Basically, I'm setting aside about £2500 for a new PC build, (and I'm going Quad Core and SLI baby!), and want to spend the rest on a 'holiday of a lifetime' for me and my better half. To that end I'm asking for your thoughts. My current thinking is for about ten days somewhere in fiji, somewhere a bit special and I'd love to just spend at least a day on an uninhabited island, and to be about as far from the UK as I can physically get whilst staying on the Earth :-) My second thought to that effect would be that if I did that, I'd like to arrange it to fly out to Fiji, then return to continue in the same direction so I can say that I've completely circumnavigated the Earth, and to always wonder whether I really have lost/gained a day :~ Anyway, thoughts - we love travelling, we love going as native as possible and hate compund holidays, we'd love to meet someone we've communicated with before-hand from a distance - just to see how judgements meet reality and to say 'hi - hoy ya' doing?' [edit] Spelling apology - I'm armed with a bottle of Rum and I haven't been afraid to use it ;P [/edit]
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
Rhys666 wrote:
...I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000.
Will you be required to pay any (income) taxes on that?
"A good athlete is the result of a good and worthy opponent." - David Crow
"To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne
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JazzJackRabbit wrote:
Am I alone feeling like this?
No, I'd feel very uncomfortable accepting weregeld myself.
-- CleaKO The sad part about this instance is that none of the users ever said anything [about the problem]. Pete O`Hanlon Doesn't that just tell you everything you need to know about users?
I think thats my reasoning for almost squandering it. To me its a case of doing something with it I would never have done without it. I didn't want a payment of any kind for what happened, I certainly don't want it to make a long term difference to my life, or to be something that draws me back to why I have it. I love the memories I have of my Dad as I knew him, when he was alive and kicking. I really don't need anything to draw my mind to his death. I'm the eldest of three, and when this happened I was on holiday with my daughter, who lives in Malta so I only see her once, maybe twice a year if I'm lucky. The accident was in France, I was in Cornwall in a tent. It took me 96 vhours to get a passport and get to the Ardeche where we spent two weeks with my mum injured, organising the morgue, organising transport of my Dads body. Trust me, its an experience I wouldn't wish on my my worst enemy. But even two years later I still have to be strong for my Mum, brother, sister and Daughter about it. I'm sorry for the rant, I know it is one, but it wasn't actually in anger at you. Its a subject encompassing emotions and feelings that are very, very difficult to explain - if its possible to entirely do so. Its like an old scratch that'll break open when you itch at it enough or in the right place, so apologies for any offence :-)
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
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Rhys666 wrote:
...I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000.
Will you be required to pay any (income) taxes on that?
"A good athlete is the result of a good and worthy opponent." - David Crow
"To have a respect for ourselves guides our morals; to have deference for others governs our manners." - Laurence Sterne
No, not for that, (according to solicitors letter), its a straight £7000.
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
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Dunno, if I received money for that sort of thing I'd feel bad about spending them, instead I'd probably put them into savings and haven't touched until retirement. Am I alone feeling like this?
Nah, I think I'd do exactly what Rhys plans to do.
BW
Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand.
Ignorance and prejudice and fear walk hand in hand.
-- Neil Peart -
Well at last! Let no-one say the French legal system is a speedy beast. My dad was killed while cycling on Holiday in France two and a half years ago, my mum injured. They were hit by a car doing about 50kph, my dad straight on while my mum was juat clipped. The driver was found guily of vehicular manslaughter about two years ago, but under french, (Napoleonic), Law and because of the responsibility of the driver for the death, all of my Dads blood relatives down to his Grandchildren are automatically entitled to compensation for 'moral suffering' or something like that. So, in the last few days I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000. Its taken its time, which has been a pain for just getting closure and fully moving on, not because of wanting the money, but its getting there. So, my plan. I can't justify it to myself to spend the money on mundanity. I've thought about it, but guiven the circumstances I want to do something fantastically memorable with at most of it. Basically, I'm setting aside about £2500 for a new PC build, (and I'm going Quad Core and SLI baby!), and want to spend the rest on a 'holiday of a lifetime' for me and my better half. To that end I'm asking for your thoughts. My current thinking is for about ten days somewhere in fiji, somewhere a bit special and I'd love to just spend at least a day on an uninhabited island, and to be about as far from the UK as I can physically get whilst staying on the Earth :-) My second thought to that effect would be that if I did that, I'd like to arrange it to fly out to Fiji, then return to continue in the same direction so I can say that I've completely circumnavigated the Earth, and to always wonder whether I really have lost/gained a day :~ Anyway, thoughts - we love travelling, we love going as native as possible and hate compund holidays, we'd love to meet someone we've communicated with before-hand from a distance - just to see how judgements meet reality and to say 'hi - hoy ya' doing?' [edit] Spelling apology - I'm armed with a bottle of Rum and I haven't been afraid to use it ;P [/edit]
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
First off, i'm sorry to hear about your father, that is a terrible thing to read. Really makes me think about my drive home from the office today... i'll most likely slow down. If that happened to my father (he has a lot of life insurance so i can see myself in your position) i know i couldn't friviously spend the money. I'd do with it what he always told me to do with money.. he always says "Steve you should save your money" then again i might go back to school... he'd have no problems with that either.
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Well at last! Let no-one say the French legal system is a speedy beast. My dad was killed while cycling on Holiday in France two and a half years ago, my mum injured. They were hit by a car doing about 50kph, my dad straight on while my mum was juat clipped. The driver was found guily of vehicular manslaughter about two years ago, but under french, (Napoleonic), Law and because of the responsibility of the driver for the death, all of my Dads blood relatives down to his Grandchildren are automatically entitled to compensation for 'moral suffering' or something like that. So, in the last few days I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000. Its taken its time, which has been a pain for just getting closure and fully moving on, not because of wanting the money, but its getting there. So, my plan. I can't justify it to myself to spend the money on mundanity. I've thought about it, but guiven the circumstances I want to do something fantastically memorable with at most of it. Basically, I'm setting aside about £2500 for a new PC build, (and I'm going Quad Core and SLI baby!), and want to spend the rest on a 'holiday of a lifetime' for me and my better half. To that end I'm asking for your thoughts. My current thinking is for about ten days somewhere in fiji, somewhere a bit special and I'd love to just spend at least a day on an uninhabited island, and to be about as far from the UK as I can physically get whilst staying on the Earth :-) My second thought to that effect would be that if I did that, I'd like to arrange it to fly out to Fiji, then return to continue in the same direction so I can say that I've completely circumnavigated the Earth, and to always wonder whether I really have lost/gained a day :~ Anyway, thoughts - we love travelling, we love going as native as possible and hate compund holidays, we'd love to meet someone we've communicated with before-hand from a distance - just to see how judgements meet reality and to say 'hi - hoy ya' doing?' [edit] Spelling apology - I'm armed with a bottle of Rum and I haven't been afraid to use it ;P [/edit]
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
Fiji is nice enough, but I wouldn't call it the 'holiday of a lifetime'. I mean, if I had the choice to go anywhere, and I wanted that sort of an island thingy, I'd probably choose somewhere else ( but then, I've been to Fiji a number of times ). I've done the resort thing in Fiji and it really sucks. I've stayed with locals and that was pretty cool. But, I did that through my church, it wasn't something that was on offer to tourists.
Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog "I am working on a project that will convert a FORTRAN code to corresponding C++ code.I am not aware of FORTRAN syntax" ( spotted in the C++/CLI forum )
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Dunno, if I received money for that sort of thing I'd feel bad about spending them, instead I'd probably put them into savings and haven't touched until retirement. Am I alone feeling like this?
Life is short....you have got to enjoy the moments like this when they come because they wont come too often.
My Blog A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. - -Lazarus Long
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Well at last! Let no-one say the French legal system is a speedy beast. My dad was killed while cycling on Holiday in France two and a half years ago, my mum injured. They were hit by a car doing about 50kph, my dad straight on while my mum was juat clipped. The driver was found guily of vehicular manslaughter about two years ago, but under french, (Napoleonic), Law and because of the responsibility of the driver for the death, all of my Dads blood relatives down to his Grandchildren are automatically entitled to compensation for 'moral suffering' or something like that. So, in the last few days I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000. Its taken its time, which has been a pain for just getting closure and fully moving on, not because of wanting the money, but its getting there. So, my plan. I can't justify it to myself to spend the money on mundanity. I've thought about it, but guiven the circumstances I want to do something fantastically memorable with at most of it. Basically, I'm setting aside about £2500 for a new PC build, (and I'm going Quad Core and SLI baby!), and want to spend the rest on a 'holiday of a lifetime' for me and my better half. To that end I'm asking for your thoughts. My current thinking is for about ten days somewhere in fiji, somewhere a bit special and I'd love to just spend at least a day on an uninhabited island, and to be about as far from the UK as I can physically get whilst staying on the Earth :-) My second thought to that effect would be that if I did that, I'd like to arrange it to fly out to Fiji, then return to continue in the same direction so I can say that I've completely circumnavigated the Earth, and to always wonder whether I really have lost/gained a day :~ Anyway, thoughts - we love travelling, we love going as native as possible and hate compund holidays, we'd love to meet someone we've communicated with before-hand from a distance - just to see how judgements meet reality and to say 'hi - hoy ya' doing?' [edit] Spelling apology - I'm armed with a bottle of Rum and I haven't been afraid to use it ;P [/edit]
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
http://www.jamaicasunsets.com/[^] Don't know if I would call it the trip of a lifetime or not. It was my first chance to leave the U.S. after a horrific battle keeping one of my children alive and losing almost everything in the process. I will always treasure the experience and I hope to return but I'd like to visit a few other places as well. We went all-inclusive because both of us were so fried we just wanted to completely turn our brains off the entire time. We did and we loved it.
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered process, husband to a murdered thread. And I will have my affinity, in this life or the next. - Gladiator. (Okay, not quite Gladiator but close.) I work to live. I do not live to work. My clients do not seem capable of grasping this fact. Ancient of days! august Athena! where, Where are thy men of might? - Lord Byron
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Dunno, if I received money for that sort of thing I'd feel bad about spending them, instead I'd probably put them into savings and haven't touched until retirement. Am I alone feeling like this?
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Well at last! Let no-one say the French legal system is a speedy beast. My dad was killed while cycling on Holiday in France two and a half years ago, my mum injured. They were hit by a car doing about 50kph, my dad straight on while my mum was juat clipped. The driver was found guily of vehicular manslaughter about two years ago, but under french, (Napoleonic), Law and because of the responsibility of the driver for the death, all of my Dads blood relatives down to his Grandchildren are automatically entitled to compensation for 'moral suffering' or something like that. So, in the last few days I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000. Its taken its time, which has been a pain for just getting closure and fully moving on, not because of wanting the money, but its getting there. So, my plan. I can't justify it to myself to spend the money on mundanity. I've thought about it, but guiven the circumstances I want to do something fantastically memorable with at most of it. Basically, I'm setting aside about £2500 for a new PC build, (and I'm going Quad Core and SLI baby!), and want to spend the rest on a 'holiday of a lifetime' for me and my better half. To that end I'm asking for your thoughts. My current thinking is for about ten days somewhere in fiji, somewhere a bit special and I'd love to just spend at least a day on an uninhabited island, and to be about as far from the UK as I can physically get whilst staying on the Earth :-) My second thought to that effect would be that if I did that, I'd like to arrange it to fly out to Fiji, then return to continue in the same direction so I can say that I've completely circumnavigated the Earth, and to always wonder whether I really have lost/gained a day :~ Anyway, thoughts - we love travelling, we love going as native as possible and hate compund holidays, we'd love to meet someone we've communicated with before-hand from a distance - just to see how judgements meet reality and to say 'hi - hoy ya' doing?' [edit] Spelling apology - I'm armed with a bottle of Rum and I haven't been afraid to use it ;P [/edit]
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
My condolences. A really great holiday often seems to have little to do with the actual place you go to and more about the experiences you have there. Nothing ruins a holiday more easily than overplanning it. For our honeymoon, my wife and I could have gone anywhere and done anything, we chose a cabin on a lake in southern British Columbia (we lived in Northern B.C. at the time), that was the only plan we made in advance other than putting the mountain bikes on the bike rack. We did about as close to absolutely nothing as you can get, we lazed around in the shade reading books, fished from a canoe on the lake for trout, did a fair amount of mountain biking down trails with no maps, went on some winery tours ate pounds and pounds of fresh cherries from roadside stands and I cooked a wicked steak Diane in our cabin one night just for the hell of it because we had some tasty wine from the winery tour. If you were to offer that holiday on paper to someone they would probably say "no that sucks I need something more" but it was one of the best holidays I've ever had in my life and mostly for the simple reason we had no expectations and no pre-concieved notions of what we *had* to do.
"110%" - it's the new 70%
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Well at last! Let no-one say the French legal system is a speedy beast. My dad was killed while cycling on Holiday in France two and a half years ago, my mum injured. They were hit by a car doing about 50kph, my dad straight on while my mum was juat clipped. The driver was found guily of vehicular manslaughter about two years ago, but under french, (Napoleonic), Law and because of the responsibility of the driver for the death, all of my Dads blood relatives down to his Grandchildren are automatically entitled to compensation for 'moral suffering' or something like that. So, in the last few days I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000. Its taken its time, which has been a pain for just getting closure and fully moving on, not because of wanting the money, but its getting there. So, my plan. I can't justify it to myself to spend the money on mundanity. I've thought about it, but guiven the circumstances I want to do something fantastically memorable with at most of it. Basically, I'm setting aside about £2500 for a new PC build, (and I'm going Quad Core and SLI baby!), and want to spend the rest on a 'holiday of a lifetime' for me and my better half. To that end I'm asking for your thoughts. My current thinking is for about ten days somewhere in fiji, somewhere a bit special and I'd love to just spend at least a day on an uninhabited island, and to be about as far from the UK as I can physically get whilst staying on the Earth :-) My second thought to that effect would be that if I did that, I'd like to arrange it to fly out to Fiji, then return to continue in the same direction so I can say that I've completely circumnavigated the Earth, and to always wonder whether I really have lost/gained a day :~ Anyway, thoughts - we love travelling, we love going as native as possible and hate compund holidays, we'd love to meet someone we've communicated with before-hand from a distance - just to see how judgements meet reality and to say 'hi - hoy ya' doing?' [edit] Spelling apology - I'm armed with a bottle of Rum and I haven't been afraid to use it ;P [/edit]
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
Re Fiji - stay away from the large resorts (same advice for anywhere really), some of the smaller islands are nice. We have been to Treasure Island which was pretty good. The best tropical island holiday I have been to by far is Tahiti, and my recommendation would be Bora Bora[^]. Spend as little time on the main island as possible (don't let the travel agents talk you into 3 days in Papette) and get to Bora Bora. Check it out on the web - it's as good as the pictures. Not sure what the exchange rate will do to things, but Lizard Island[^]has a pretty good reputation here - but I have not been there (yet;))
Peter "Until the invention of the computer, the machine gun was the device that enabled humans to make the most mistakes in the smallest amount of time."
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Well at last! Let no-one say the French legal system is a speedy beast. My dad was killed while cycling on Holiday in France two and a half years ago, my mum injured. They were hit by a car doing about 50kph, my dad straight on while my mum was juat clipped. The driver was found guily of vehicular manslaughter about two years ago, but under french, (Napoleonic), Law and because of the responsibility of the driver for the death, all of my Dads blood relatives down to his Grandchildren are automatically entitled to compensation for 'moral suffering' or something like that. So, in the last few days I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000. Its taken its time, which has been a pain for just getting closure and fully moving on, not because of wanting the money, but its getting there. So, my plan. I can't justify it to myself to spend the money on mundanity. I've thought about it, but guiven the circumstances I want to do something fantastically memorable with at most of it. Basically, I'm setting aside about £2500 for a new PC build, (and I'm going Quad Core and SLI baby!), and want to spend the rest on a 'holiday of a lifetime' for me and my better half. To that end I'm asking for your thoughts. My current thinking is for about ten days somewhere in fiji, somewhere a bit special and I'd love to just spend at least a day on an uninhabited island, and to be about as far from the UK as I can physically get whilst staying on the Earth :-) My second thought to that effect would be that if I did that, I'd like to arrange it to fly out to Fiji, then return to continue in the same direction so I can say that I've completely circumnavigated the Earth, and to always wonder whether I really have lost/gained a day :~ Anyway, thoughts - we love travelling, we love going as native as possible and hate compund holidays, we'd love to meet someone we've communicated with before-hand from a distance - just to see how judgements meet reality and to say 'hi - hoy ya' doing?' [edit] Spelling apology - I'm armed with a bottle of Rum and I haven't been afraid to use it ;P [/edit]
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
You probably will be giving some money back to the French if you go to Tahiti. UTA, a French airline, flies there!
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You probably will be giving some money back to the French if you go to Tahiti. UTA, a French airline, flies there!
I've gotta say, the help and support we received at the time from the local French community and the authorities in general was exceptional, unlike almost every UK contact we had to make with the exception of the British consulate. It took five days to even get a response from an English funeral home with whom to arrange re-patriation or my Dads body and you can't imagine the stress that causes. In contrast on the French side, any group we contacted for information or arrangement of details had an immediate response or kept us informed at least daily until they had pertinent information. After the event we did write a letter of gratitude to one of the papers in the area of France we were in, just to say thanks to the people there for everything they did at the time as it certainly made things easier for us than they could have been.
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
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Well at last! Let no-one say the French legal system is a speedy beast. My dad was killed while cycling on Holiday in France two and a half years ago, my mum injured. They were hit by a car doing about 50kph, my dad straight on while my mum was juat clipped. The driver was found guily of vehicular manslaughter about two years ago, but under french, (Napoleonic), Law and because of the responsibility of the driver for the death, all of my Dads blood relatives down to his Grandchildren are automatically entitled to compensation for 'moral suffering' or something like that. So, in the last few days I've found I'll soon be receiving about £7000. Its taken its time, which has been a pain for just getting closure and fully moving on, not because of wanting the money, but its getting there. So, my plan. I can't justify it to myself to spend the money on mundanity. I've thought about it, but guiven the circumstances I want to do something fantastically memorable with at most of it. Basically, I'm setting aside about £2500 for a new PC build, (and I'm going Quad Core and SLI baby!), and want to spend the rest on a 'holiday of a lifetime' for me and my better half. To that end I'm asking for your thoughts. My current thinking is for about ten days somewhere in fiji, somewhere a bit special and I'd love to just spend at least a day on an uninhabited island, and to be about as far from the UK as I can physically get whilst staying on the Earth :-) My second thought to that effect would be that if I did that, I'd like to arrange it to fly out to Fiji, then return to continue in the same direction so I can say that I've completely circumnavigated the Earth, and to always wonder whether I really have lost/gained a day :~ Anyway, thoughts - we love travelling, we love going as native as possible and hate compund holidays, we'd love to meet someone we've communicated with before-hand from a distance - just to see how judgements meet reality and to say 'hi - hoy ya' doing?' [edit] Spelling apology - I'm armed with a bottle of Rum and I haven't been afraid to use it ;P [/edit]
Rhys "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it" They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." Terry Pratchett
This might not apply, but especially as it sounds like your dad might have been a real traveler/adventuresome type, I'd figure if there was one crazy place he had wanted to go to but didn't. If, for example, he always wanted to go on safari in africa, or whatever, than doing that could be damn cool -- a killer vacation with a little spiritual gravy so to speak. Otherwise, I'd recommend checking out Thailand or Bali (if you look, you can get deserted beach type stuff for CHEAP in both those places). Fly through Tokyo and check that out for 2 or 3 days too on the way there if you haven't ever been. Anyway, wherever you end up going, have the time of your life.