Cover Story

Dream vacations

Everyone has a place that captures their heart. Three women tell us about their dream trips.

By None

ROCKFORD WOMAN

Oct 03, 2008 @ 10:48 PM

A cruise with a view

For years, Ronit Golan, a physical therapist, wanted to take a cruise. Last winter, she got her wish and embarked with her husband, Roni, on a Carnival cruise to the Caribbean.

"I felt like I was royalty while on the ship," Golan says.

The most romantic aspect of their trip was the private balcony on their eighth-floor, ocean-side room.

The ship stopped at many places: Cozumel, Grand Cayman Island and Jamaica. Golan's favorite place was Dunn River Falls in Jamaica, where "we actually had to climb up a river holding hands."

"Everything was green and lush," a welcome break from the winter in Rockford, Golan says. She continues to experience a taste of the trip in her husband's artwork. "He brought back the colors, the blues and green of the foliage."

Permanence in Ireland

Eve Dano joined her father and extended family for a trip to Ireland in 1993, visiting the home of Dano's great grandmother and traveling throughout the country, from Dublin to Galway.

Dano's favorite place was the Aran Islands, which are on the western side of Ireland, a ferry ride away from Galway. They toured "on foot, bicycle and horse cart, and it was like stepping back in time," Dano says. A real estate agent with Gambino Realtors, Dano reports that one of the "fascinating things for me was the permanence. People have been in the same place for centuries. Even the graves that we saw on the island dated back 700 to 800 years."

Next time Dano visits Ireland, she plans to linger a long time in a few select places.

On African time

Ada Johnson is a seasoned traveler who has already been to Europe, Egypt and Alaska. In the winter of 2006, Johnson traveled to Tanzania with her husband, daughter, and a longtime friend on a 12-day safari organized by Overseas Adventure Travel.

The safari turned into the most unforgettable experience of Johnson's life. In particular, Johnson remembers the "musical cadence of the day." She enjoyed getting up early, driving to see the animals, eating lunch, and then resting in the afternoon.

They saw baboons crossing a river, mamas carrying their young, and "the males strutting their stuff as they crossed the road." They also saw lions in the mating process.

Johnson concludes that it was an "amazing combination of nature, life. The animals and the wonderful people we were able to see and observe ... it felt more extraordinary than any place we've ever been."