We Had to Ask . . .

Vacation Likes

· Sightseeing and shopping. I kept expecting the kids to rave about Disney World or trips on the wild side like snowboarding in Quebec or whitewater rafting in Idaho. Boy, was I wrong. Instead, most on the panel preferred sightseeing or shopping in Old World European cities.

Asked about his best trip ever, Will Clansky, 11, of Bethesda picked Rome. "It had cool sights like the Colosseum," he said. "I like places which are ruins but you know that people wore uniforms and had fights there." Emily Barkan, 13, of Foster, R.I., said she's not impressed by uniforms or "any fights that have gone on." But, though she hasn't been yet, Rome is her dream destination. "I've got a purse collection," she said, "so I'd look for Italian ones. Also, I'd check out the jewelry."

Isabel Deixel, 13, of Brooklyn, N.Y., likes Siena and Florence best of the places she has been. "On vacation," she said, "I'm a shopaholic. I'm also obsessed with shoes. In Florence I got to buy these black, strappy heels by Annabella Club. I love them since they're from Italy even though they're really uncomfortable."

· Big cities. Sullivan Sweet, 8, of Madison, Wis., liked Paris, where his family took him last summer, "because they have tons of famous monuments and the Metro and stuff like that. Though you felt kind of small because everything's so big." Sullivan's sister, Charlotte, who just turned 4, agreed, though for a specific reason. "I didn't believe the Eiffel Tower had a bathroom inside," she said. "But it did. And I got to use it."

And though Pablo Drexler Serrano, 10, of Escorial, Spain, said it's "boring when people make you walk around too much," he liked London "because it has good toy stores. I bought a microscope when we went there last year. It's amazing. It has a screen like a TV."

· Cruises. Another overall hit with kids was going anywhere by boat or ship. Jack Giuricich, 14, of Bethesda liked the days at sea on his family's recent Baltic cruise even though he had to wear a rented tuxedo and "eat at a table with the ship's doctor."

Nate O'Donnell, 13, of West Gloucester, Mass., went on a Caribbean cruise and a whale watch last year. The cruise was good, he said, "because they had soft-serve ice cream. Sometimes in the middle of the night I would sneak downstairs. The machine worked, and you could have as much as you wanted." On a ship, he added, "you can be out there standing in the front doing the 'Titanic' thing with all the wind. There are usually no grown-ups up there. They're too scared or too cold. Or having tea or something."

· Mot els and lodges. Top-rated places to stay were basic, unfancy motels. Adam Landry, 12, of Woonsocket, R.I., said it's because of the pools. "They're really huge," he said. "Plus motels have cool soda machines and ice machines. I'm always going down to get more ice." Isabel Deixel said she's not into "ritzy" hotels. "Instead I liked the place we went in Belize last summer. It was called Lamanai Outpost Lodge, and you stayed in thatched-roof cabanas."