My wife and I, along with a friend from Seattle, took a trip to the Alps in August, visiting Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy, Chamonix in France, and Zermatt in Switzerland. The weather cooperated, for the most part, with just one rain day interfering with our schedule. On our only day in Zermatt, the Matterhorn emerged from the clouds at midmorning. The photo is an early morning view from our hotel on the way out.

myswitzerland.com

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My husband, Bob, and I boarded a SeaDream yacht in Rome in mid-May and after making a stop for a day in Porto Ercole, we spent a day on the lovely island of Elba, at the port of Portoferraio. Elba is where Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled in 1814. The Villa dei Mulini is open to the public, with absolutely beautiful interiors and gorgeous gardens where he spent much of his time. Only someone with Napoleon’s ambitions would want to leave this idyllic island to return to France. We continued on with several more stops before spending a day in Monte Carlo, where the Grand Prix was taking place, and finishing our trip in Nice, France, What a trip!

discovertuscany.com

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Share your adventure Tell us about one favorite part — a restaurant, a hike, a monument, a hotel room — of one of your trips. Day trips, too. Submit a high resolution horizontal photo and a description of not more than 125 words to whatatrip@pilotonline.com. Include the city where you live.

Earlier this spring, our trip to Paris and Normandy was a lesson in history that every American needs to learn. On D-Day — June 6, 1944 — American, British and Canadian soldiers, and their allies, left their boats and waded through the water to free France and the world from Nazi occupation. Omaha Beach, an American target, is a crescent surrounded by a high embankment. German soldiers shot the men — average age 20 to 24 — like fish in a fishbowl. There, 2,400 Americans died that day. The invasion up the hill and through surrounding occupied areas lasted more than a month; 8,000 more lives were lost.  The bravery of these soldiers defending democracy for the world was monumental. In the photo is the sculpture on Omaha Beach to honor and always remember them.

Visit en.normandie-tourisme.fr.

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Tell us about one favorite part — a restaurant, a hike, a monument, a hotel room — of one of your trips. Day trips, too. Submit a high resolution horizontal photo and a description of not more than 125 words to whatatrip@pilotonline.com. Include the city where you live.

In September, my husband and I and some travel friends flew to Northern Ireland for our vacation exploration. We chose the scenic route along the Antrim Coast from Belfast to our Vrbo in the most northern part — in Cushendun, a very small village complete with one tiny grocery store, a 192-year-old pub (McBride’s), a hurling field and a workable red phone booth. Our lodgings were perched on a very steep hill overlooking the water with sheep and caves. To our surprise, the caves and many other nearby places, often secluded, had provided filming locations for “Game of Thrones.”

citytoursbelfast.com
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Share your adventure Tell us about one favorite part — a restaurant, a hike, a monument, a hotel room — of one of your trips. Day trips, too. Submit a high resolution horizontal photo and a description of not more than 125 words to whatatrip@pilotonline.com. Include the city where you live.

I don’t know where I first heard about the glass chapels in the forest of Arkansas, but this past fall, my husband and I had the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of all three chapels in the woods. They were designed by E. Fay Jones, a native of Arkansas, who was an apprentice with Frank Lloyd Wright. You cannot imagine walking through the woods, turning a corner, and being presented with the unique beauty of these chapels made of steel-beamed glass walls and ceilings! Once inside the glass chapels, it is hard to tell if you are inside or out, they blend so well with their environment. Pictured is the Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel, in Bella Vista, Arkansas.

cooperchapel.com
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Share your adventure Tell us about one favorite part — a restaurant, a hike, a monument, a hotel room — of one of your trips. Day trips, too. Submit a high resolution horizontal photo and a description of not more than 125 words to whatatrip@pilotonline.com. Include the city where you live.

We were able to find a condo in the Keystone ski resort of Colorado that accommodated our large family. There is a brand-new, high-speed lift operating to upper reaches of the more than 3,000 skiable acres. The kids enjoyed the ski fort at the top. We came from far west — Kauai — and Williamsburg to enjoy the experience.

keystoneresort.com

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Share your adventure Tell us about one favorite part — a restaurant, a hike, a monument, a hotel room — of one of your trips. Day trips, too. Submit a high resolution horizontal photo and a description of not more than 125 words to whatatrip@pilotonline.com. Include the city where you live.

This nighttime view of Koblenz, Germany, decked out for Christmas was one of many holiday highlights from the Christmas to New Year’s Rhine River cruise I took this winter. I had never visited the interior of Germany, my maternal grandmother’s homeland, and I truly enjoyed the beauty of my ancestral roots.

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Share your adventure Tell us about one favorite part — a restaurant, a hike, a monument, a hotel room — of one of your trips. Day trips, too. Submit a high resolution horizontal photo and a description of not more than 125 words to whatatrip@pilotonline.com. Include the city where you live.

What a vacation to Paulet Island on the northeastern end of Antarctica. We were aboard the National Geographic expedition ship Explorer, on a Lindblad trip arranged through UVA’s alumni travel program. We saw humpback whales, albatrosses, elephant seals, four kinds of penguins, and other birds among the beautifully shaped icebergs and glaciers. In the 10 days on the Explorer, we enjoyed the endless daylight — no nights! We also enjoyed the perspicacious lectures by scientists on topics such as keels, evolution of the penguins, global warming, whale songs, enhancing your photos, and the Indigenous Selk’nam of Ushuaia, Argentina.

expeditions.com/expeditions/journey-to-antarctica-the-white-continent

Share your adventure Tell us about one favorite part — a restaurant, a hike, a monument, a hotel room — of one of your trips. Day trips, too. Submit a high resolution horizontal photo and a description of not more than 125 words to whatatrip@pilotonline.com. Include the city where you live.

In October we went on a six-day fall foliage trip to western Virginia. In addition to beautiful colors everywhere, we had interesting stops at the newly renovated Warm Springs Pools (previously called the Jefferson Pools); Douthat State Park, pictured; the Greenbrier, in West Virginia; Mountain Lake Lodge, where “Dirty Dancing” was filmed; the Friday night Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store; and the Mabry Mill. Virginia has some neat places off the beaten path.
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dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/douthat

Share your adventure Tell us about one favorite part — a restaurant, a hike, a monument, a hotel room — of one of your trips. Day trips, too. Submit a high-resolution horizontal photo and a description of not more than 125 words to whatatrip@pilotonline.com. Include the city where you live.