Another Bring Back the Words prompt from Ginger at Ramble, Ramble... and another one where I don't know if I'll be able to narrow down my list to just the number she lists!

I'm lucky that I've been able to travel a lot in the last 6-7 years.  As a kid we went to England to visit my biodad's family, to Disneyland with my mom and brother, and to Camp Tsoona with Girl Guides, but that's about it except for visiting family and stuff.  We weren't a camping family - I remember going with a friend to Little Qualicum Falls one summer, and I enjoyed myself... but I'm a fairweather camper.  I very much like showering and I hate having dirty hair.  So - if you can hook me up with a campsite that has a shower (preferably with hot water) and a flush toilet, I'm your girl.

That being said, I don't like spending a lot of money travelling... my last three big trips (with the exception of my cruise) were hostel-based, sharing rooms to save on cash.  I think I'm getting to the age where I want a bit more privacy, and while I doubt I'll give up on hostels completely, I think I'll spend the extra cash to get a private room or a double. My sanity depends on it.

Okay... back to the reason for this post - my top 5 favourite vacation locations.  Here goes (in no particular order)...

1. Ireland (and Northern Ireland)
2. London, England
3. Berlin, Germany
4. Switzerland
5. Dubrovnik, Croatia

Honourable mentions go to... Edinburgh, Sarajevo, Budpest, Las Vegas, Istanbul and the Dominican Republic.

Ginger over at Ramble Ramble has started a meme - Bring Back the Words, where she posts a prompt or two each week to help us bloggers dust off the cobwebs and actually blog (you wouldn't imagine the ideas in my head sometimes... I want to blog... but I'm too lazy to blog!).

This week she posted two prompts, and I'm going to get some use out of them so I'll post them as different posts.  The first one this week is 10 favourite TV shows.

Really? Only 10? What the heck?

Okay... here we go, in no particular order (there's no way I could rank them one through ten!)...

1. NCIS: LA. Surprisingly I've actually started liking this spin-off more than the original NCIS. Perhaps it's that the obvious sexual tension between Deeks and Kensi in NCIS: LA outshines the tension between Tony and Ziva.  I was looking forward to the new spin-off, NCIS: Red, but it looks like that idea was shelved.
2. Deadliest Catch.  I don't know why, but life on a crab boat in the middle of the Bering Sea absolutely captivates me. Well, that and any other shows like this... there is also Wicked Tuna about tuna fishing by the Grand Banks, and Swords: Life on the Line about swordfishing out of Massachusetts. I also like shows about gold... there are two right now - Bering Sea Gold and Ice Cold Gold - both about gold mining in the north.
3. CSI.  But really only the original one.  Yes - I watched the New York and Miami ones, but only because I felt some sort of requirement to do so.  I was a little worried when Ted Danson and Elizabeth Shue came on set - but I like it... I personally think the show was in a bit of a funk for awhile and the new cast has turned it around.
4. Degrassi.  It all started with the Kids of Degrassi Street, then Degrassi Jr. High, then Degrassi High and now Degrassi: the Next Generation (although they seem to have dropped "the Next Generation" part).  This show introduced me to many topics growing up... teen pregnancy, suicide, HIV, interracial couples, terminal illness, rape, bullying... and now the new group is dealing with issues of transexuality, religion, teen marriage... you name it, the show over the last 20 years has dealt with it.  I'm proud that this is a Canadian show!
5. Vampire Diaries.  Pure eye candy.  Can't say the storyline makes sense all the time, but if there is even one moment with Ian Somerhalder shirtless, it's a good episode.  See also: True Blood.  Half the time I have no idea what is going on... vampire/werewolf/faerie/shape-shifter... but Ryan Kwantlen or Alexander Skarsgard shirtless?  I'm all in.
6. Hawaii Five-O.  I didn't start watching this one when it actually started on TV... I watched the first couple of seasons last summer and now I'm hooked.  Alex O'Loughlin?  Hello Commander!  Another show I watched like this (not from the beginning and then I watched two seasons in about two weeks) is Scandal... that's a good one as well.
7. The Amazing Race.  I think one of my favourite parts of this show is when they travel to places I've been... then I can squeal at the TV and say "I've been there!" to nobody in particular.  I like this show better than Survivor (although I do continue to watch survivor) because the challenges are always different, and for the most part, there aren't ways to cheat or "backdoor" people.  Try hard, read instructions, generally be a decent human - those are the keys to winning the Amazing Race.
8. Criminal Minds.  Now that JJ is back, I'm back on the Criminal Minds train... I frigging love Spencer Reid, and I think they've done a good job with some stories that continue year over year, but without making them drag at the same time.  And really - who wouldn't want to be the middle of a Shemar Moore/Thomas Gibson sandwich?
9. The New Girl.  Oh, how I did not like this show when it first started... I couldn't get past Zooey Deschanel's whiny voice.  Now - throw in the sexual tension between Jess and Nick, and I'm all over the show.  I'm not a huge sitcom person... although I do also love the Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother too.
10. Hockey Night in Canada.  Okay... I actually like the TSN broadcasts way better than the CBC ones, but there isn't a "name" for their broadcast.

Did you like how my list of 10 TV shows actually talked about a dozen more!  I couldn't narrow it down!