As the Chairman of the Business School National Advisory Board for UVU it is my job to oversee an annual retreat for our Board, so last week we took a group of 40 of us from the National Advisory Board of UVU on an amazing trip to Prague, then to Cesky Krumlov, on to Vienna, and finally we visited Budapest.  It was an amazing adventure we all took together and it included planes, trains, a subway, a tour bus, and all kinds of walking. During the trip we laughed together, cried together, sang songs together, ate far too much ice cream and gelato together, and nearly got killed during our bus rides together…and we loved EVERY SINGLE SECOND OF IT!   It was truly one of the most amazing trips I have ever been on and we had more fun and laughter on our trip than I can remember having in a very long time.

When we weren’t taking in the sights of each city we were listening to my husband tell stupid elephant jokes on the bus and singing songs from the Sound of Music soundtrack. And as we toured each country one couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for our tour guides who had no idea how to handle 40 high-powered, attention deficit, successful entrepreneurs that are all used to giving direction rather than following direction. Let’s just say they earned their pay with our group 🙂

Each country we visited was so different from one another and each had such amazing sites to see and history to learn about. I honestly wish I could write every detail of the trip down to share with you because it was all so fantastic and it was filled with great bonding experiences.  Obviously that would take an entire week just to write it all up but what I will tell you is this – one of the great experiences of life is taking time away with close friends to experience new things together. Its not often we put down our phones and stop checking emails to really talk to one another, and it’s not very often that we actually take in the amazing views out our window as we drive along. So it is a rare treat to go on a trip like we did with such a great group of people and build memories that will forever be treasured. It was worth every ounce of work it took to make this trip come together this year.

Going away last week was probably the least ideal time for me to have gone because my daughter is getting married this week and I have a huge wedding to plan and put on and family flying in for it etc, but honestly I wouldn’t have missed this trip for anything – It will go down in history as one of the greatest trips of my life with one of the greatest groups of people I have ever had the pleasure of spending that kind of time with. I LOVED IT!

Here are a few fun pics from the trip (you may have to turn your cell phone sideways to view entire picture):

~Amy Rees Anderson