My little brother Matt and I have been going on family vacations together since the beginning of time. Of course, these trips used to entail lots of back-seat squabbling, punching, kicking, whining and the like. When I was 16 and he was 11, we went on a trip to Europe (with our mom), and I remember acting snobbish and annoyed when he complained about seeing too many castles and other “educational junk.” A couple of years later, we went on a family cruise, and I reacted similarly when he spent most of his time in the buffet line.

But as we age, we get along better and better (I think it’s because his tastes have improved, but he’d probably tell you I’ve just learned to lighten up). Now he’s one of my favorite people in the entire world, and we have so much in common—most importantly, our wacky sense of humor. He’s turned into such a funny, smart guy—I’m really not sure when it happened. (Probably he has been all along!)

We haven’t had much opportunity to travel together since I went to college and then moved out of state to attend graduate school. And we probably won’t get many chances in the future, because he just turned 18 and will be going off to college himself in a few months. We’ve talked about taking a trip this summer (he says he wouldn’t even mind some “educational junk” now), but I’m also not sure, with all my student loans, how much I can afford.
To top all this off, I’m already a total travel junkie, so I would jump at a trip to Australia even if I had to go with my worst enemy. But two weeks there with my brother? That would be beyond amazing.