Stephany Writes

Categories: Travel

Two More Sleeps

Two days from now, I will board a ship that will take me to places I’ve never seen and experiences I’ve only heard about. My mom purchased an ocean-view room for the two of us as my graduation present months ago and the time has finally come. This past week, we have been busy little bees buying all those essentials for our cruise and making sure we have the perfect outfits for our every need. My thoughts are filled with cruise, cruise, cruise and it’s hard to get through a day of work because my excitement level is through the roof.

May 21st seemed so far away in February. And now it is two days away.

The cruise is a five-day one, stopping in the Cayman Islands and Cozumel, Mexico. And to further up the ante for this dream vacation, we’ve booked two excursions for those stops.

In the Cayman Islands, we’re going snorkeling and swimming with sting rays! I’ll admit that I’m a bit more apprehensive now than I was when I signed up for this. I’m not a big risk-taker and this is a bit out of my comfort zone. But this is the chance of a lifetime! I’ll be in the Cayman Islands — snorkeling! How amazing is that? I know I’ll completely enjoy this experience and have some incredible pictures/stories to share.

Cozumel is more of a low-key, but no less fun, excursion: a tour of the city, shopping, lunch, and the beach! Whew, that’s a lot! I’m really excited about this excursion because it’ll be fun to actually experience the city and do some shopping!

I think I’m most excited about getting away from it all and having the time of my life with my best friend. Forgetting the pressures of finding a job. Not stepping foot in my work for 10 days. Spending time in the sun, interacting with strangers, and eating some good, good food. Disconnecting from all things Internet. Reading romance novels with no literary value. Meeting the man of my dreams. (OK, so this last one may not happen. But a girl can dream!)

Over the next week, I have a slew of guest bloggers lined up, people I adore and love with all my heart. You guys are in for such a treat with their posts.

I am so ready for this cruise. I haven’t been on a vacation like this since I was twelve when my mom took my brother and me (along with my grandparents and twin cousins) skiing in Virginia and West Virginia for a week. Weekend trips to Orlando do not count.

Two more sleeps.

Categories: Travel

BOOKED!

During my class yesterday, I received this text message from my mom: “We are booked.”

I responded with, “Ahhh!!!” because I can’t believe it’s really happening! I’ve never been out of the Eastern time zone, much less in an entirely different country. My excitement level is through the roof!

We leave towards the end of May from Tampa and will be spending 5 days on our ship. We stop once at Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands and then again at Cozumel, Mexico.

We’ve put a lot of thought into the ship, such as how long, where we want to go, what kind of room we want. (We booked an oceanview room.) We decided that we wanted to take it easy for our first cruise but did want to make two stops at two different places. So this was the perfect cruise for us and pretty cheap at under $400 a person!

We’ve been looking at shore excursions and we’re pretty set on going snorkeling in Cayman Islands. (Although my mom did admit she’s scared to snorkel. I told her it was a must.) There is really so much to choose from! Everything from scuba diving to swimming with dolphins to shopping to sightseeing. It’s crazy!

So here’s where you come in, dear readers! What advice do you have for a cruise-going virgin? Any must-dos while I’m in the Cayman Islands or Cozumel? Anything I need to know about the cruise ship, things to bring, etc.? I’m all ears!

Categories: Travel

Orlando

If I had to give a label to this vacation, I would say interesting. It was riddled with injuries and sickness. We didn’t get to do everything we set out to do, and I spent most of it worrying I had a broken ankle.

Here’s what you’re probably not thinking: Wait a minute! Back the truck up! A broken ankle? What are you even talking about?

Basically, I fell off a sidewalk while running. No, it’s true. I went out for my 2-mile run with my mom and about half a mile in, we came across a runner running the opposite way. Well, she didn’t look like she was moving over for anybody so I moved a little off the sidewalk (which is uneven and badly made to begin with) and the middle of my foot hit the edge of the sidewalk, causing my ankle to bend inward and scrapping my knee up badly. I walked the rest of the way home, but when I got home my ankle was badly swollen. Basically, there’s not much I can do unless I know for sure this is a broken ankle because I don’t have insurance. I don’t have money to pay a hospital, especially if they’re just going to tell me to rest and ice it. That’s what I’ve been doing, and it seems to be helping a lot. My ankle, after puffing up to twice the size, is now back to normal. At it’s worst, the pain was about a 3 on a scale of 1-10. But it’s still a little tender and sore so I’m taking the next week off my training to let it heal. (Fingers crossed I can get back to running on Saturday!)

What this meant for my vacation was that we had to nix our Disney World plans. We already had paid for Aquatica and Sea World, so we were determined to get to those theme parks.

We went to Aquatica on Thursday, which was a lot of fun. (Even if I did forget to apply sunscreen, which meant I was Sunburn City after spending a day in the sun.) I don’t think it’s all that much different than Adventure Island, with a lot of the same types of rides they have there. But it’s still fun and definitely the perfect place to take kids! Because of my ankle, we spent a lot of time on the lazy river, just floating along and enjoying the sun. I kept a brace on it until lunchtime, where I took it off and see it had swollen up and was bruising, which worried me a lot.

On Friday, we decided to lay low so I could stay off my ankle as much as possible. We slept in and then went to play putt-putt golfing, which is one of my favorite things ever. (Except it’s only fun when you play on vacation. Am I right?) I just about killed my mom at the game and spent most of the time telling her to “just tap it in.” (Movie reference, anyone?) We came back to the hotel and spent a few hours laying by the pool. We cooled off with a strawberry daiquiri and pina colada. (I got carded. Big surprise. I know I look 14.) We went out to dinner that night, but it was a very low-key day.

Saturday was spent at Sea World and I stand by my declaration that it is the Best Theme Park Ever. I love that place. The shows are spectacular, being so close to the animals is amazing, and basically, you haven’t lived if you’ve never fed an adorable sea lion stinky fish. For serious. Highlight of my life. I really want a pet sea lion.

While the vacation wasn’t everything we hoped for, it was still nice to get away for a long weekend. I love everything about hotels and the atmosphere surrounding them. I love Orlando and the magic surrounding the entire town. And I love being with my mom. She’s my best friend and I have such a great time with her. She’s one of my favorite people.

In other news, I decided to join up with a couple other crazy kids to do VEDA, which stands for Vlog Every Day in August. I’ll try to upload videos on this blog but the majority of them will be on my Youtube page. I don’t even know why I did this, because I’m not any type of video genius. But I think it’ll be fun and something different to do!