Travel – Page 16

Categories: Travel

Carnival Paradise | Western Caribbean Cruise | Day 3 Recap (Part I)

On Wednesday morning, I woke up to discover we were in Grand Cayman. I was super, ridiculously excited for what the day had in store for us:

My alarm went off at 6am and I must say, it wasn’t so hard to wake up from that alarm since it meant a fun day in Grand Cayman awaited me. Showers were had, bathing suits were put on, and a backpack was filled with necessities for the day. We grabbed a quick breakfast at the buffet and then headed downstairs to meet the tender boat.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before but the ship has to drop anchor in the middle of the ocean when stopping in Grand Cayman which means taking a tender to the port terminal. In most ports, you simply walk right off the ship and to the terminal but Cayman is different. So it’s always a little crazier since you have to factor in time taking the boat to the shore.

In any event, we were on one of the first boats to go over, and soon enough: we were in Grand Cayman!

We found our excursion tour guide without any issue, signed our life away, and before we knew it, we were walking over to get on a boat that would take us parasailing!

In all the excursions I’ve done so far with Carnival, tour guides can easily make or break your experience. For the most part, we’ve had great tour guides but the guides for our parasailing adventure stand out as two of the best. They were young, cute, and had great accents. What’s not to love? Oh, and they also made us feel completely comfortable and safe. We were basically putting our life into their hands!

We had 14 people in our group, including a 7-year-old girl. (Brave little thing!) It was a pretty great group of people, aside from one lone guy who talked too much. Once we were in the boat that would take us deeper into the Caribbean to go parasailing, it all started to feel real and I started getting super excited.

Obviously, the number one thing everyone was worried about was the worst-case scenario of the rope breaking and us crashing into the sea and possibly being eaten by a shark. We weren’t deep enough to be in any shark-infested waters, obviously, and they assured us if the line did break, the parachute would slowly float down into the ocean and since we would all be wearing life vests, we would simply bob out in the water and they would circle back to pick us up. The likelihood of this happening was almost nil, but it was good to know what to do just in case.

We were the fourth pair to go up and after seeing three couples go up together, I was so excited for my turn! Once the couple ahead of us was safely in the air, the guide started setting us up with the harness and life vest. The harness came up over my thighs and tied around my chest, creating what was essentially a seat so when we were hanging in the air, it felt like we were sitting. (It was very similar to a zip-lining harness.) When it was our turn, we walked to the front of the boat and sat down with our backs to the water. The guide locked us into a bar with clamps and soon enough, we were floating into the air!

It was a slow climb into the air, but it took no longer than 30 seconds until we were flying.

We had a fairly long time up, around 6-7 minutes. It was the perfect length; it didn’t feel too long or too short. It was enough time for me to take lots of pictures, take in the beautiful views, and drop my eyes a few times to realize, whoa, we are up really, really high. I could basically see all of Grand Cayman while we were up there, but I mainly kept my eyes on the water and how incredible it looked.

I won’t lie, though, it was a bit scarier than I imagined. We were high. We were really, really high. My body was thrumming with adrenaline, but also a dose of fear. Which I think is natural. Even with the fear, it was still one of the most incredible experiences of my life. Flying through the air like that was something I will never, ever forget. I can see myself doing something like this again and again and again.

Towards the end of the ride, the driver in the boat started moving faster and faster, which was another thrill, though it didn’t feel as fast in the air as it did on the boat.

The guide slowly started lowering us down and then dipped us waist-deep into the water! Love. (I held my camera high above my head and it didn’t get wet at all. I was very nervous about bringing my camera along, but it didn’t prove to be much of an issue.)

We were told at the beginning to lift our feet up when we’re coming down so that when the rope guides us back in, we simply slide back onto the back of the boat so I reminded my mom to do that as we started coming back in.

And then it was over! Just like that! Poof.

It was short and sweet, but it also felt like the perfect amount of time. Would I have enjoyed going up again or having more time in the air? Of course! But it was well worth the money spent.

We were detached from the parasail and gingerly made our way back onto a seat on the boat. (It was very rocky, as the boat was still moving!) We were given an SD card with around 60 photos of us, which came to $30. It’s fun to have photos of us from the boat’s point of view

Once everyone had a chance to sail, we made our way to the 7-Mile Beach where the second part of our day would begin. I’ll talk more about our time in Grand Cayman and the third day of our cruise in my next post since this one is getting lengthy. I’ll leave you with some more awesome pictures of my mom and me parasailing!

Categories: Travel

Carnival Paradise | Western Caribbean Cruise | Day 2 Recap

I woke up around 8:30 on our second day after such a great night of sleep. I haven’t been sleeping well lately, so a good night of sleep was much needed.

I let myself wake up leisurely, which meant lounging around in bed for a good 45 minutes before finally getting up and getting ready for the day – which involved putting on my bathing suit, cover-up, and pulling my hair into a ponytail. Life on a cruise ship – so tough! My mom and I made our way down to Serenity around 9:30 where we were able to snag two deck chairs next to each other.

I went upstairs to the lido deck to get breakfast and brought it down to the deck to eat right in front of the ocean. Best view ever? Yes.

We spent a little over two hours on Serenity, sunbathing and reading and spending some time in the hot tub. It was relaxing and just perfection. Exactly what I needed! Unfortunately, it was hot, hot, hot and we were directly in the path of the sun with no shade so we finally packed up and went upstairs to find a table in the shade. We found the perfect location where we got the feel the cool sea breeze and also have a fabulous view of the ocean.

Around 12:45, we went inside. I must have drank a liter of water while I was outside so I wasn’t hungry at all but just wanted to go back to the cabin to take a nap. I found that I couldn’t take a nap while on the deck because too much was going on (and I was terrified of falling asleep for hours and waking up with an awful sunburn) so my best naps happened in the comfort of my cabin. I took an epic three-hour nap and woke up around 3:45 famished.

We left our room to grab a very late lunch and then spend a few hours on the Serenity Deck. By this time, the crowds had thinned out immensely and the sun wasn’t as intense so it just felt good to be outside. I sat back to read, people watch, and ocean watch. It was so nice, so relaxing (because, you know, I needed time to relax after such a long nap…) and honestly, just the absolute best.

Tuesday’s dinner was elegant night, which is something I used to stress about on past cruises. This time, I packed a dress I already had and really didn’t stress about what to wear. On this cruise, I went super casual with most of my dinner outfits. Some people go super fancy every night with dresses and high heels and intense make-up. Me? I was in jeans, sandals, and a nice tee most nights. Carnival really isn’t a stickler with their dress code. (I mean, you can’t waltz into the dining room in your bathing suit or cut-off shorts, of course.)

Almost every night, a photographer comes by to take photos of you at dinner. Most of them turned out terrible but our formal night pictures turned out pretty nice. But they were $22 a piece and there were three we wanted, so I… um… may have taken photos of them with my phone as surreptitiously as possible. I have seen photographers force people to delete the photos from their phones if they see them doing this but I somehow didn’t get caught. BOOYA! (Also, kids, don’t do this. It’s wrong. I feel bad. But not bad enough not to keep the photos. Muahaha!)

At dinner this night, we got to talking about what everyone would be doing in Grand Cayman the following day. My mom revealed to the table that we were going parasailing, which astounded the whole table. They thought we were absolutely crazy. (One of the guys even had a moment of silence for us at the end of the meal, in case something happened to us. It was cute, though it did make me a bit more apprehensive about parasailing.)

After dinner, we headed over to the Queen Mary Lounge for another adult-only comedy show, this time the female comic. Since the comedy the previous night had been good, we thought we would try out the female. I wasn’t very impressed with the comic, though, and was pretty much over the adult comedy by then. There is so much more to comedy than sex jokes. Am I right? I think I am. At least for me. I want more from my comedy!

Anyway, after the show, we went back to our cabin since we had an early start to our morning. Next up: parasailing in Grand Cayman!

Categories: Travel

Carnival Paradise | Western Caribbean Cruise | Day 1 Recap

It went by in a flash, but it was easily one of the best weeks of my life. There’s always this enveloping feeling of happiness and rightness and peace when I’m on a cruise ship as if it’s where I’m meant to be all along. So much happened this week: lots of laughs and adventures and afternoon naps and time in the sunshine. I wanted to be outside and in the sun as much as possible since so much of my life is spent inside. Usually, when I recap my cruises, I only talk about my time spent in the ports of call and leave out everything that happens on the ship itself but this time around, I’m going to do a daily recap of everything I did.

Let’s jump right into the first day of my cruise: Monday!

Check-in was a breeze. It probably took us no longer than 30 minutes from the time our driver dropped us off in front of the port until we were on the ship. Sometimes, it can take an hour or more but we got there as early as possible to avoid delays (and we just wanted to be on the ship already!). When we were checked in, we were informed our rooms were ready for us so once we were on the ship, we headed straight to our room.

We had the perfect room that was right next to the elevator and in the middle of the ship. It was in the perfect location! Our room was very similar to the room layout we had on our first cruise, so it was spacious enough. We unpacked and then headed out to the lido deck to have lunch.

Lunch was good, but what was the best was buying my first mango swirl of the cruise! It was just as delicious as I remember.

A little after 4pm, the ship began to leave Tampa. I wrote down in my Notes app on my iPhone how I was feeling at that moment in time, because I wanted to capture the essence of my thoughts as they were happening: “It’s hard to describe my feelings right now. Excitement for what lies ahead. A little anxiety, which is normal for me. Nothing debilitating but there. And just complete happiness about being on a cruise again. I’m just so, so happy and at peace and in my element on a cruise ship.”

We were able to snag a great spot on Serenity and were able to watch Tampa grow tinier and tinier as we began our travels to Grand Cayman. We would be sailing for a day and a half before seeing land again, but I wasn’t sad to see it all go. My phone was on airplane mode, I was stretched out on a deck chair with my Kindle in hand, and I was ready for my vacation to start.

We stayed out on the Serenity deck until 6:30 and were able to watch as we passed under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Such a great landmark! We got ready for dinner pretty quickly, so we tried to go to the top deck to play a game of putt-putt golf but it was so windy and just not fun at all, so we quit after one hole. Actually, not even one hole. After about two putts, we realized it was impossible to play at all so we handed in our clubs and found a window seat inside, where we could people-watch and listen to music while waiting for our dining time.

At dinner, we were seated with 4 other couples and at first, I was really, really upset at who we were seated with. They didn’t seem very friendly and I was the youngest one there by at least 25 years so I felt out of place. I was very unhappy with Carnival’s selection of who to seat us with! Where were all the young people at?!

HOO BOY, was I wrong! This group was the best, friendliest, funniest group I have ever been seated with. I was always excited to come to dinner for what new antics would lay in store for us. At this dinner, we mostly talked about our cruising experience (one of the couples has been on 14 cruises!) and life at home. There were some really hilarious moments, such as when the wife of one couple opened her purse to set out hot sauce, cayenne pepper, and garlic pepper for her husband and her to season their food with. Their own pantry in her purse, it seems!

We also quickly learned that one of our tablemates, Z., is not a fan of his food touching each other on his plate. At all. Every night, we would watch in amusement as he received his dinner plate and then would spend time pushing each food on his plate to its own section so it wasn’t touching. When someone remarked that food usually ends up touching anyway, he shot back with, “They can touch at the end, but it doesn’t mean they have to hold hands on the way there!” Touché, Z., touché.

Everyone was also shocked when they found out we were mother and daughter. They were convinced we were sisters or friends and our nicknames became the “Sisters” anyway. Ha! (Although, I later learned everyone at the table thought I was still in high school. SO.)

Our first dinner turned out to be such a fun time and I quickly reversed my opinion that the dinners were going to be awful. After dinner, we headed over to the Normandie Lounge, where most of the shows aboard would be held. This was the “Welcome Aboard” show, which would give us a taste of everything that would be happening entertainment-wise while we were on the ship.

Oh, man. This show was so cheesy. The outfits were horrible, the dancing wasn’t very good, and it was just very hard to watch. I remember someone talking about how cheesy Carnival cruises are and I never agreed with her until I saw this show. Luckily, we only had to endure the dancing and singing for a short time before the cruise director (seriously, the goofiest man I have ever seen! I adored him!) came on to talk about what would be happening this week. There wasn’t any new information, but once he was done, the comedians came on to give short teaser performances to entice us to see their shows. I was crying from laughter and couldn’t wait to see their whole show!

After that show, we walked over to the Queen Mary Lounge where the Punchliner Comedy Club would be held every night. On this night, it was the adults-only comedy and the male comic. It was pretty good, though he mostly picked on people from the audience. It was all in good fun, though, and everyone was a good sport about it. The comedy was tamer than I imagined and it was just a really fun time.

It was a little after midnight by then and it had been a busy, busy day for us so we were ready to get to our room, into our PJs, and off to dreamland. A relaxing day at sea awaited us in the morning!

Categories: Travel

Labor Day Getaway

Last Saturday, at the disgusting hour of 5:30AM, I boarded my first-ever airplane. My mom and I had planned a whirlwind weekend in Georgia with family for the Labor Day weekend and I was psyched when tickets to Atlanta dropped to a very reasonable rate. Our flight up was easy and I was like a five-year-old with my face planted against the window, watching the city fly by.

We arrived in Atlanta at 7:30 in the morning and met the smiling faces of my aunt and uncle. I think everyone has people in their family that make family functions more fun and easier to bear. They are the ones who get you. My aunt and uncle are these people. We went out for breakfast, where I nommed on a delicious omelet. (I’m obsessed with omelets lately.) After that, we headed to their home! They live in Cartersville, which is a little less than an hour from Atlanta. It’s honestly one of those places that gets etched on your heart and is unforgettable. I love this little town.

Around lunchtime, we headed out for a hike! My mom had mentioned wanting to hike a trail my aunt walks/runs on and I was up for it as well. Hiking would be fun! The exercise! The endorphins! The views! The sprained ankles?

Oh, yes. It was an unforgettable hike. The walk up was tough. It was SO steep and hilly and I seriously think it took me an hour to hike the one-mile to the top. Luckily, I had a buddy in my 10-year-old cousin, Mallory, who would stop and wait for me. She was good company. But the way up was tough and felt like it went on forever. But I kept on going. Kept climbing and walking and huffing and puffing. I would see the top eventually.

And boy, was the view something spectacular. The view from the top was incredible.

We stopped for about 20 minutes or so (well, 20 minutes for me. Everyone else arrived at the top way before me!), and then started to make our way down. The way down was so much easier than the way up. I was behind my uncle and two cousins, until my younger cousin wanted to be carried by my uncle so they stopped and I took the lead.

BAD IDEA, STEPHANY. BAD. BAD. IDEA.

I was intent on maintaining a fast pace and though I was looking down and watching where I was going, I ended up stepping wrong on a steep decline and twisting my ankle. I heard something snap in my ankle as I tumbled down, also landed hard on the knee on my other leg. It hurt like no other. My ankle started throbbing immediately but after a 5-second sit-down, I got up and tried walking on it, more scared it was broken and I would miss Six Flags the next day than anything else. (Yes, I am eight years old.) I could walk on it, but it was extremely, extremely painful. But there was nothing else I could do. I had to continue down to the end of the trail.

I had about a half-mile to go to get to the end and it was slow-going. Luckily, nobody complained and they let me set the pace as I hobbled my way down, trying to bypass as many rocks as I could. It was awful and hard and I think I whimpered the entire time. I remember pleading with God, “Please, just take the pain away for now. Just lessen the pain.” I made it to the end. The way down was a billion times harder than the way up in a way I could have never imagined.

After our hike, we all went to a cupcake shop where I had a delicious cupcake that I didn’t get a picture of! I actually wound up being terrible at taking pictures on this vacation but oh well! The cupcake was fabulous but my ankle put a damper on everything. At this point, it was still throbbing immensely and the adrenaline of hiking down was wearing off. I needed some ibuprofen, a chair, and ice STAT.

I spent the majority of Saturday in a chair with my foot propped up, icing my ankle and bruised knee. Fun, right?

Ouch.

On Sunday, we had plans for Six Flags and I didn’t want my ankle to ruin all the fun so my mom bought me a brace at CVS and I was prepared to spend the day in a wheelchair. Luckily, the pain lessened thanks to the brace, ibuprofen, and walking around on it and I was able to keep up pretty decently without the need for a wheelchair. The lines were disgustingly long so I only ended up going on three rollercoasters but they were all SO amazing and reaffirmed my love for adrenaline-pumping rollercoasters! We stood in line for probably two hours for a water ride, but it kept getting closed down due to lightning in the area so we finally left.

It was a super fun day, though, and it was the most fun to spend it with my favorite family members. They are good people. 🙂

Monday was a pretty low-key day for all of us. My aunt and my mom attended a boot camp at my aunt’s gym (my aunt seriously has Kelly Ripa arms. I need her to put ME through a boot camp!), while I did about an hour on the recumbent bike. Not my favorite gym equipment but it was the only piece that wouldn’t put too much pressure on my ankle. My aunt whipped up chocolate protein shakes afterward (SO good!) and then we just lazed around.

I love lazy vacations. I love vacations where I’m super busy and on the go, seeing the sights, but lazy ones are good for recharging and getting away. We ended up going bowling and then out for an early dinner, before coming home and my uncle making us to-die-for cookies.

We left Tuesday afternoon for our flight home, which was another easy-peasy flight. (Although navigating around the Atlanta airport is another story!) And I was able to see the cloud more clearly and took about 15 or so pictures of my view. So, so amazing and surreal.

All in all, a very successful and fun trip. Aside from my sprained ankle that is on the mend, but still not 100%. I still need to use my brace to get around. It was a blast to hang out with this family with just my mom and me because we’ve always been surrounded by other family members when we do see them. I know this wasn’t a one-time thing and something we want to do again.

Have you ever injured yourself while on vacation? What’s your favorite city to visit?

Categories: Travel

Carnival Paradise | Cozumel Cruise | Zip-Lining Excursion Recap

On our cruise, Saturday was all about Cozumel.

This was my second time there, my first time being a bit of a shock. Between a disappointing excursion and trying to walk through their shopping district without getting accosted, I was a little put off by Cozumel and its people. But I was still excited to go back, to be more open and explore new parts of the city.

My mom and I booked another zip-lining excursion, after enjoying the zip-line so much in Jamaica. The weather report was pretty nasty: an 80% chance of rain and all we’d been seeing for days were gray, cloudy skies. We were hoping the zip-lining wouldn’t get canceled but with the rain and high winds, it wasn’t looking good.

Thankfully, the weather report was way off.

It sprinkled for about five seconds when we entered Cozumel but that. was. it. The rest of the time, it was simply cloudy, although the sun did make an appearance in the afternoon.

After checking in, signing our lives away, and waiting for about 20 minutes, we were off for another fun adventure in a foreign land! The ride to the zip-line was short and sweet and before I knew it, I was being fitted into the zip-line gear by an adorable Spanish guy.

We had a small group of eight, including us. There were about six tour guides, all of who would meet us at various stopping points along the zip line. We were given instructions, including how to stop. Unlike the zip-line in Jamaica, we were given work gloves where one glove was fitted with a wooden block on the palm. That was our stopping glove. We would put one hand (our less dominant hand) on our front cables and with our other hand, the one with the block glove, we would reach back as far as our arm would reach behind us and hold directly onto the line. When we wanted to slow down, we would grip the line more tightly and pull it down. When we wanted to speed up, we would loosen our grip on the line. It took me quite a few turns on the zip line to get used to stopping and I still crashed into the guides more than a few times. (Not that I was complaining… heh.)

This zip-lining experience was much, much scarier than Jamaica. I don’t think I was ever fearful in Jamaica. I enjoyed it, the tour guides made it relaxing and fun, and the only time I felt real fear was during the 30-foot drop but that was more fear of the drop than losing my life. Based on the shortness of breath and tightness in my chest, I believe I might have been having a panic attack during this experience. It really wasn’t all that fun for me. Jamaica made me want to zip-line all over the world. Cozumel made me never want to zip-line again.

What made it so much worse than my previous zip-lining experience? I think a combination of the height, having to stop myself on the line, and the tour guides. I was well aware of how high up we were since we were in more of a jungle setting than a rainforest and as we were climbing the (shaky!) stairs to each platform, it brought into focus how high up we were. I never felt 100% safe.

The tour guides were pleasant, some better than others, but they didn’t offer the same level of comfort and ease as our Jamaican tour guides. Zip-lining with them felt fun and playful. They cracked jokes and I felt completely comfortable with them. They had big personalities and I felt like I was on an adventure with them, rather than they were working for us. In Cozumel, they were very businesslike and professional. No joking around and only a few of the guides actually made an attempt at being friendly. I didn’t feel as comfortable with them and believe me, you really want to feel comfortable with someone who is locking you into a line hundreds of feet off the ground.

We went through the series of zip lines twice and I was actually very happy when our time was up. I was ready to climb down from the shaky platform, take off my equipment, and restore my equilibrium once again.

I hate to be so negative about this excursion, but I have to be honest about my own experience. My mom, on the other hand, loved it. She agreed it wasn’t as amazing as our experience in Jamaica, but she enjoyed it more than I did. We were able to buy our entire CD of photographs for just $38, which is a steal.

After zip-lining, we headed to a resort where we could enjoy a refreshing dip in the pool, a free drink, and lunch. My mom and I took a swim in the pool and then laid out for a short while before we decided to head back over to the shops and do a little shopping! I ended up with a new sling bag, a t-shirt, and a key chain. We also ended up buying my brother a t-shirt and my nephew a maraca, a tambourine, and a t-shirt. (When he was opening the bag that held the tambourine, his eyes got real big and he said, “It’s an instrument!” Cutest ever.) She also ended up buying herself a t-shirt and the cutest bag in the history of bags. Seriously. I’m jealous I didn’t see it first.

After shopping, we found our way over to Senor Frogs! The restaurant was located in the shopping district towards the front and you could tell it was a party in there! We ended up sharing a drink (and I left my souvenir glass in the restaurant! I’m still so sad about that) because the glasses were 28oz! No way could I have finished that on my own. The atmosphere there was so fun and light! The music was loud, the drinks were delicious, and the food was yummy! Sure, maybe it’s not totally authentic but we had fun and didn’t want to venture too far from the boat.

And that was Cozumel. Another excursion that I wasn’t totally happy with, but there’s something about this little island that has stolen my heart. I love the flavor of Cozumel and it’s a place I know I’ll be returning to again and again.