High Life / A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : When Vacations Are Family Affairs

As a teen-ager, the last place anyone wants to go is somewhere with your parents. Especially if it’s to another city or country, where parents tend to produce their most embarrassing moments.

Though dreaded, family vacations are inevitable, but, thankfully, are often less painful than imagined.

Hot Topics asks, “What’s your most memorable family vacation?”

“That would have to be the British Isles in the summer after third grade, because we got to go around to castles and stay at bed-and-breakfast places and I got to go to a five-story toy store in London.”

Melody McGrath, 16,

junior, Sunny Hills

“We went to Hawaii. It was the most free time I had away from problems, away from the telephone and away from nagging friends.”

Paul Friedman, 15,

junior, Edison

“When my family went on a cruise to the Caribbean. We all had a lot of fun, but were there as a family and had fun as a family. We got to spend time with our friends, but we came out loving each other a lot more.”

Carrie Peroutka, 16,

junior, Fountain Valley

“Probably going to see my sister Michelle’s college graduation because she had just had an accident with her eye and it was a total trauma. Everyone was really tense and nervous and it was good for us to be together. It was really beautiful in Santa Cruz, and Michelle was really miserable.”

Joyce Chen, 16,

senior, Sunny Hills

“Boston--it was like a different time separated from a known society surrounded by unfamiliar faces but surrounded by an inner circle of love.”

Danine Dias, 15,

junior, Fullerton

“Our trip to Southeast Asia was the most memorable because I experienced new and different cultures.”

Lenny Malo, 17,

senior, Villa Park

“My most memorable family vacation was when we went to Israel. I don’t remember much because I was so young, but that was our first big vacation together.”

Elizabeth Green, 17,

senior, Villa Park

“Last month I went on a cruise to the Caribbean and it started off really stupid because everyone was getting on each other’s nerves, but by the end it was cool because the cruise kind of fixed everything.”

Joyce Chen, 16,

senior, Sunny Hills

“My most memorable family vacation was when we went to Canada because of the length of time we spent there. It was a clean city, very nice and very beautiful. It was a change of pace and the first time in a long time that we went on vacation. Everybody in our family needed a vacation.”

Mohan Randhava, 16,

senior, Servite

“To tell you the truth, my family doesn’t really go on vacations, just little things like to Knott’s Berry Farm or Palm Springs for the day.”

Steve Kim, 16,

junior, Sunny Hills

“I would have to say definitely white-water rafting in Moab, Utah, because we were all alone in the middle of wilderness but we were together, sort of braving the wild.”

Marci Garfinkle, 18,

senior, El Toro

“When we went to Hawaii. It was a nice experience to go somewhere, and because my brother and I were both in high school, it gave us some time to get to know each other and be away from home.”

Sarah Landau, 17,

senior, Woodbridge

“Going on a cruise and having my father moon every Caribbean Island we went to. That would have to be it.”

Lisa Ross, 15,

junior, Mission Viejo

Next Week’s Hot Topic:

Where’s your favorite hangout?

Responses gathered by Shara Cohen.

DR, JUDY TSAI