Everyone has favorites: books, bands, restaurants -- and vacations. What's yours? And more importantly, what made it so special?
Send me a photo and a brief description (100 words or less) about your best vacation ever. Our panel of esteemed judges (me) will pick a winner.
The prize?
Seeing your best vacation immortalized in the Chicago Sun-Times. But wait: There's more. You'll also get a brand new copy of the cool "Eat London" book by Peter Prescott & Terence Conran. Here's Amazon's synopsis:
London is a city brimful of culinary possibilities from great gastropubs to trendy bars, lively markets and chefs (Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal, Jamie Oliver) at the top of their game. "Eat London" is not a restaurant guide - it is a book all about food and the people who make, sell, cook and care about it. From cafes to delis, the Indian food markets of East London to haute cuisine in Mayfair, food quality and originality is the main criterion alongside recognising good, interesting decor, comfortable furnishings, pleasant and interesting surroundings, a convivial ambiance, a sense of history or tradition, consistency and wonderful amusing personalities. Each chapter encompasses a specific area of London with full address listings for every entry and suggestions of itinaries or fun things to do. More than 60 recipes will appear throughout the book by some of Britain' s top chefs including Peter Gordon of Providores, Georgio Locatelli of Locanda Locatelli, John Torode of Smiths of Smithfield, Fergus Henderson of St. John, Rose Grey and Ruth Rogers of The River Cafe, Tom Conran of The Cow and Richard Corrigan of Lindsay House as well as recipes from some of the capital' s favourite restaurants such as Fifteen, Le Gavroche, Coq d' Argent, Moro, Bibendum, Gaucho Grill, and Racine amongst others. All photographs are specially shot throughout and the text is full of anecdotes, stories and a sense of London streetlife.
You can send me your photo and synopsis either via email or snail mail. The former is lrackl@suntimes.com. The latter is Lori Rackl, Chicago Sun-Times, 350 N. Orleans St., Chicago, IL 60654.
Deadline for submissions is Monday, Nov. 19.
Good luck!
Lori Rackl writes a weekly Travel section that runs Wednesdays in the 
I read with interest the article about Russia. This
past summer my wife and I went on a river cruise from
Moscow to St. Petersburg and had an amazing time. We
too are not “cruise people” but having taken a great
river cruise in China last year we embarked on the
Russian cruise this year. There were no regrets.
There were only about 200 people on the cruise, almost
all excursions were included in the package price, and
as long as one didn’t drink too much vodka in the
ship’s bars the cost of incidentals was minimal. The
ruble is more favorable to Americans than the Euro
also. There was an excellent mix of leisure time and
tour time. The passengers tended to be older but this
was not a problem. The price was very reasonable,
food was good, cabins were (as advertised) small but
we were not in the cabin very much anyway. We thought
that St Petersburg was a wonderful place but had fond
memories of Moscow and the towns we saw along the
rivers and canals between Moscow and St. Petersburg.