Life-Changing Travel Contest – Vote Now!

*Editor’s Note:

The Life-Changing Travel Contest is closed as of February 1, 2012. Click the link to meet our contest winner!

In our Life-Changing Travel Contest we asked the travel community to share their most life-changing travel moments for a chance to win a $1500 flight voucher on the airline of their choice. The response was overwhelming – we were thrilled to read through all the extraordinary entries we received, and are excited to announce our TEN FINALISTS!

We hope that in reading through our 10 finalist submissions you’ll find ample inspiration to explore the world in 2012 and make this the year you fulfill your wildest, most wanderlustful fantasies. And be sure to cast your vote to send one deserving finalist to the destination of their dreams!

Here’s how you can join the travel community in deciding which finalist is awarded a $1500 flight voucher on the airline of their choice:

Step 1: Review all 10 Finalists’ Submissions

The finalists’ submissions can be found below. Read, reflect, and decide which life-changing travel moment inspires you the most.

Step 2. To Vote, Leave a Comment

Click on the submission that inspires you most. Leave a comment on your favorite submission before January 31, 2012 to vote. Only your first comment counts as your vote – all subsequent comments will not count as votes in the contest.

Step 3. Tune in on The Ambler

Visit The Ambler in January to follow the progress of the contest. The finalist to receive the most votes by January 31, 2012 will be announced as the winner of the Life-Changing Travel Contest on February 1, 2012!

 

The Finalists:

Christy Villegas

It was the day after Christmas, my younger sister and I flew to Guatemala to visit each of our sponsored children. To actually meet the child you have been writing and giving money to live off of for years makes a person nervous and terribly excited. We pulled up to a clearing in the forest near San Lucas Toliman and the children bombarded us with 100+ smiling faces, hugs, kissing and sticky hands. We were ushered to a circle and then greeted by the children’s parents…….they were giving thanks to God in their Mayan language for us being brought into their lives. The unrecognizable Mayan chant was whispered up into the heavens, hands were raised to the sky and tears pooled at the corner of my eyes. <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Christy Villegas

Debby Seabrook

My family said I should go to help my youngest brother buy property overseas, and my love of travel and adventure automatically said “yes” to their request.
Forty eight hours later, my brother and I descended from a small hopper flight into a little village on the edge of the great Pacific rainforest. The roads were clay, with holes the size of small yachts. It was dusty. As Spanish  was spoken all around me, I did not ask why he or anyone would want to purchase property here of all places, but my thoughts were screaming the question nonetheless.
We boarded a large pickup to travel to our resort and it was dusk when we arrived. I ate a light dinner and retired to my room, flashlight in hand, to get ready for bed.
It was upon awakening the next morning that first, I heard the roar of the Pacific and when I stepped out on the deck of my room, which jutted out over the ocean, I was breathtaken.
Color was everywhere, from the soft green swollen waves of the pacific, to the flash of green thick foliage surrounding me. I saw a Macaw squelling in the sky above and flowers of all shapes and colors clinging to their hosts below. It was a raw, primitive beauty that I had  never seen before.
I was in love, a love that has lasted over twenty years. A love so passionate that I moved here.
Yes, the roads are still dusty and the sewers not repaired, but the beauty of this natural world remains
This glorious hand of the universe always lets me know what is truly important in life: and it was not the property my brother came to buy, it was the beauty of nature itself that held me in its dreams. <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Debby Seabrook

Diane O

When I joined the Foreign Service in 1992 my mother was pretty unhappy about it.  She likes to keep her kids close and there I was moving to South America, the land of drug wars and terrorism.  She was quietly resistant, not that it made much of a difference to me because I went anyway.  My second posting was to Europe and my parents came to visit me there and we traveled to Paris together, which is where my life changing travel moment happened.

I got out my map, guidebook, and phrase book and took us from our hotel to and through the Louve, up the Champs Elysees, to the Arc de Trioump to a restaurant where I ordered dinner for the three of us, down to the Eiffel Tower.  That night we were sitting in our hotel room, resting our tired feet and having a glass of wine when my Mom told me that she thought this Foreign Service thing was very good for me, She missed seeing me and having me close, but I was more confident than she had ever seen me before and that I made her proud.  Thinking of it still makes me emotional, all these years later. <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Diane O

Kirsten

I went to Hawaii in 2007 for an Intercultural communications class.  For three weeks, we were able to learn about the true hawaiian culture, and not being “Tourists” of Hawaii, rather, we were able to be engolfed in the culture and live their way of life.   Their culture and spirituality has had a great impact on who I am today – almost 5 years later.  For me, Hawaii is one of those places that leaves me speechless.  I have been back twice since 2007 and I get the chills every time I am there.  The typical tourist may not feel this way, but when you are able to spend time with local hawaiians and listen to their stories about their culture and way of life, it is truly an inspiration. <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Kirsten

Kristen Jacobson

In the summer of 2008, I traveled to Peru where I met a underprivledged family of 8 living in extreme poverty.  After spending 2 days with the family, I learned that they had been saving for years in order to get a clean water system in their village.  After 3 years of saving, they only had 1/6 of what was needed.  My fiancé, Siya, and I put together all of the money we had in our wallets and it equaled the exact balance of what it would cost the family for the pipeline. Siya and I took the mother aside and discretely handed her the money. We told her that we wanted her to have it so that her family would have access to what all living beings should have the right to – clean water. The moment we handed her the money, is one of the moments I will never forget. The mother covered her face and broke down crying. She was speechless for words but managed to get out “bless you and thank you.” At that moment, I felt so grateful for having the chance to do something that seemed so little but would ultimately change their life.

Months after returning home, I got an email from a Peruvian friend with pictures of the family infront of their new water system with smiles that covered their entire faces. <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Kristen Jacobson

Lauren

It happened in a fleeting moment; everything changed yet it was all still the same. The adrenaline I felt pumping through my body as we pulled up our paddles and prepared for the free-fall down the 7 meter waterfall on the Kaituna river in New Zealand made me realize that there is so much more to this world that I need to see. It was a matter of seconds, but that’s all it takes to realize that there will be so many more worldwide adventures to experience. <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Lauren

Louise Orr

The first time I went on an African safari (Okavango Delta in Botswana) I was overwhelmed by a feeling of “coming home,” a not-uncommon sensation felt by first time visitors to the continent. Upon my return I sold my home; downsized everything in my life and immediately booked another safari for the following year! My third safari (2 years later) was my personal reward to myself for having fought and survived cancer. Africa is my “soul” place, and the one destination I hope to see again and again before I die. <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Louise Orr

Melody Miller

After graduating from The University of Texas and working at the career for which I’d prepared for more than 16 years, I felt like I’d climbed a ladder that was leaning against the wrong wall.  So, packing my giant, pink graduation-present suitcase with what I thought were necessities for life, which exploded with makeup,curlers, pantyhose and pink polyester pantsuits  (did I mention this was l973) in the concourse of Luxembourg Airport upon arrival, I discovered my first problem was not knowing whether I was a Herren or a Damen…which restroom do I use?  Forty-five countries and 10 months later, I’d learned a lifetime of lessons and was only shouldering a small backpack with a passport, a sleeping bag, two pair of jeans and 3 shirts…and was happy as a lark and free as a bird…of all the trappings of “normal” life…and transformed forever! <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Melody Miller

Rebecca

While visiting England, I was driving on the M1 with my sister who had exact directions and a map for her to assist in getting us to our destination.  About 20 minutes before our I exit I asked where we were on the map.  She looked at me, and then the map, and then circled the entire map with her finger saying, “somewhere around here.”  She had spent the entire time looking out the window soaking everything in.  It was then that I was reminded of how important every minute and every location is.  Don’t be worried about the destination, enjoy the journey. <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Rebecca

Ricardo Perna

In 2006, I was in Mozambique as a volunteer for the whole year. It was a year which changed my life, with so many stories that there’s just no space here to tell them all. But you need one, right? Ok, so when I was on the final days of my mission, we went on a walk to Mount Mitucué to see the sunset. As we came down, some of the villagers started calling the “white people” to see a baby two months old. Me and my friend looked at each other and thought “what’s the big deal?” But they were insisting and so we went. As we were getting close, the man who told us the age corrected himself: “sorry, I said two months, but no, it’s two days!!” As we turned the corner to the house, there she was, on her mother’s lap, a newborn with two days of life. We got close and it was like witnessing the miracle of life happening. They said it was a girl and that we could name her, and so we called her Sara, the name of the friend who was with me, just staring marvelled, at the little girl. We went away and I never returned to that place again, but I still think of little Sara many, many times… <<click here to leave a comment to vote for Ricardo Perna

 

Questions about the Life-Changing Travel Contest or voting? Leave a comment on this post.

TAGS: Business Community Outreach Contests Travel

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