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Friday, October 9, 2015

How Peru Stole A Little Piece Of My Heart

I never in a million years expected the reaction that I had to Peru. I absolutely fell in love with this beautiful country. And somehow this is how Peru somehow stole a little piece of my heart . . .

I had HUGE culture shock when I first arrived in Cusco (almost to the point of completely hating the city), there were hundreds of homeless dogs urinating and pooping in the streets, sometimes your just not quite sure what your eating (and learn for your stomach's sake to not ask), you may not know if that puddle your stepping in is water or quite possibly dog urine, I (quickly) learned the importance of carrying toilet paper around Peru, I was completely taken aback by how incredibly beautiful the Peruvian countryside is, fell in love with Peruvian coffee (i hate coffee, so this was a big deal!), bartered the price of my Machu Picchu painting down successfully by 25 soles-in broken Spanish. I ate Alpaca which tastes very similar to pork tenderloin, stayed very far away from guinea pig, learned what it was like to be a minority and took a different perspective away with that.


 
I've learned the importance of staying hydrated at a high altitude, and to just carry aspirin or advil for those headaches. I learned about the burial practices of their culture, attended a Peruvian cooking class- and brought recipes home with me! I visited a 900 year old Inca town that still uses the same irrigation system from 700 years ago, learned the difference between an alpaca and llama, and that Peru has some really woolly donkeys, that in fact are not alpacas. Ooops . . .



 
 

I drank Inca tea (mixture of eucalyptus and coca leaves), bought three big bags of Peruvian coffee from a market- surrounded by animal heads, took the most beautiful train ride in my life. And I drank more than one Pisco Sour (an alcoholic drink that contains raw egg)!!

Pisco Sour
I was charmed by 2, 3, and four year olds we visited at their school, was welcomed into a local Peruvian home for dinner, learned that even though you don't fluently speak each other's language you can still have fun and laugh with each other throughout an entire meal (the highlight of my trip). I took part in a ceremony conducted by a local shaman, learned that complete strangers can become such great friends. I visited Machu Picchu after getting up at 4:30am, taking two buses and a train to get there, realized (as I have with every trip I've taken) how incredibly lucky am for the life I have chosen to live. I saw a glimpse of what abject poverty looks like, I've learned that sometimes we get so caught up in the little things that we steer away from the things that really matter. 



I did not want to leave this country and come back home. I was contemplating how I could study abroad in Cusco, but I also understood that even if I did, the moments would never be the same. I came home humbled and grateful. For the very first time I experienced reverse culture shock, and, honestly had a hard time adjusting. I don't know the exact moment it happened, but Peru took a little piece of my heart. I can't wait until I can return and explore more of this beautiful country!

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Lolablue Goes To Peru

Lolablue is a company located in Southwest Florida that creates "eco-lux", all natural products. They use all natural, raw ingredients to handcraft their products ranging from soaps, sugar scrubs, soy-wax candles, lip balm, hydrating crème, bug spray (all natural!!!), essential oils, roll on perfumes, candle tarts, aromatherapy, ect.

I'm sharing these products with you because I love them!!! I've been using them non-stop since January and will never use anything else. I love their soaps, lotions and bugspray. Their soaps come in so many scents and smell wonderful! The fall scents have just come out and I've been using my Pumpkin Spice soap. I love how wonderful you (and your bathroom) smell after taking a shower. These products are great for all my fellow travelers. I love that the soap is versatile enough to substitute for my shaving cream! The products are eco friendly, no palm oil, no paraben, paraffin or sulfate or phthalate in any of their products. These products are never tested on animals.

Added bonus for travelers: they make their soaps in travel size!! Some of my favorite scents are Raspberry Patchouli, Sexy Mama, Dirty Pumpkin, Pumpkin Spice and Holiday Peppermint. These products aren't just for the ladies. They create soaps for men, such as, Bark, Irish Mud (beer soap), Valquero, Summer Suds (beer soap), and Summer Coconut. I always take Lolablue soaps and bug-spray on my trips now. You can't beat a great product! My Pumpkin Spice, Rosemary Mint and lip balm made it to Peru with me!!





 Lolablue products are great for your skin and the environment. Take a look at their products for your next trip. They can be bought here or here. I did receive two free products for this trip, however all opinions are my own!

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Feature Friday: Two Drifters


Today we are featuring a post from Amy and Nathan over at Two Drifters. I love following along with their blog and adventures. Amy and Nathan bring a unique perspective to travel blogging: traveling as a couple. This is inspirational for me as single traveler. It gives me hope that you can have the best of both worlds: your love of travel and your love of another person. Unfortunately, this has not worked for me in the past, but I have hope thanks to Amy and Nathan!


Courtsey of Two Drifters
We have decided to feature two of their posts about traveling with as a couple. The first post we are featuring is Traveling As A Couple: Romance or Ruin. This post discusses the benefits and challenges of traveling as a couple from both Amy and Nathan's perspective. The second post we are featuring is Traveling The Essential Test of True Love. In this post they explain why you should travel as a couple and what can be learned from it. I love the interesting perspective that they bring to their blog. Head on over to their blog and I would hazard to guess that you may be there a little while. While your at it subscribe to their blog and then visit their facebook page.

Monday, August 31, 2015

Giordano's: A Little Slice of Pizza Heaven

The Story: I grew up on Felix and Oscars pizza in Des Moines, IA. I love this pizza. There is nothing in the world that comes close to this deep dish, sauce on the very top, pizza. Every single time I go back to hometown I eat this pizza. I eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner until it's gone (sad face). I have been patiently waiting for the last five years of their promises to start shipping their pizza's across state lines. Unfortunately, I still do not see that happening anytime soon. So I make do in-between visits.

Plans to meet my best friend from high school in Chicago for a weekend enters the picture. Said friend knows how much I'm obsessed with this pizza, so for my Christmas and birthday presents she sends me two pizza's from her favorite pizzeria in Chicago. I'm at work when I'm delightfully surprised by two freeze-dried pizza's from Giordano's. I had know idea what it was until a co-worker of mine excitedly tells me it's the best deep dish pizza in Chicago. Now I'm sure this point is debatable among people who live/are from Chicago. There are rivalries about everything in that city! Even freeze-dried this pizza was pretty damn good, and the closest thing to Felix and Oscars that I had ate in the last six months.



This was a must eat place for us while we were visiting. We ate dinner at this lovely pizzeria on our second night in town, which happened to be a Friday night. We made reservations and I'm glad we did. It was a 65 minute wait for people who were walking in the door without reservations! The décor of this pizzeria was funky and fun!

 
 

Can I just take a minute to tell you how much I love brick décor. I love it! Even with our reservation we had just a little bit of a wait, but it was well worth it. The waitress was super nice and friendly, even with how busy she was. We started off with Bruschetta for our appetizer. I have to be honest and tell you, I wasn't really expecting it to be that good. My mom makes the best bruschetta in the world and nothing has ever come close to hers. I was pleasantly surprised and would rate this as the second best bruschetta I have ate.


The pizza was subperb and well worth the wait. The last time I ate it was 6 months before this trip and I was really looking forward to it. You can get any sort of pizza you want, but we went with the deep dish, cheese pizza. There is just something about the deep dish pizza that I never ever have toppings put on it.

Does this not just look so delicious?!?

I would highly recommend Giordano's be given a spot on your "eating" list, while in the city. They are reasonably priced and I just learnt that there are several locations in Orlando! Yay next trip to Orlando (November) I will be eating here! There are several locations in the city of Chicago and it's surrounding suburbs.

Friday, August 28, 2015

Feature Friday: A Broken Backpack

Today's Feature Friday blog is A Broken Backpack. I love this series of feature Fridays. I'm learning about fellow travel bloggers and it's inspiring to see what people do in order to travel! I love all the ideas I get from seeing so many blogs (so many destinations)! Money is a big deterrent for people who want to travel. I won't lie, traveling can get expensive (I'm looking at you flights), however there are ways to budget, to travel cheaply, and reasonably. There is always a way to travel. So today we are helping those of you out. Those of you who want to travel but look at the price and immediately look away, come look at this post!



big bud
Courtsey of A Broken Backpack

Melissa over at A Broken Backpack wrote this fabulous post about saving money while traveling. Travel Without A Big Budget gives travelers several options on how to save money while traveling. I highly recommend you pop over to her blog and check this money-saving post out. Also, prepare yourself to stay awhile . . . before you know it you'll be checking all her blog posts out! Melissa is a great writer, who injects humor and real life common sense into her writing! An added bonus: she also writes in FRENCH! While your at it stop on over to her facebook page to keep in touch: https://www.facebook.com/abrokenbackpack?fref=ts. You'll thank me later!

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Liebster 2015 Award Nomination



I'm so excited . . . beyond excited to announce that I have been nominated for the Liebster 2015 Award. Now at this very moment you're probably asking yourself what the Liebster Award is? The Liebster Award is handed out by bloggers to other bloggers. It's a way to promote new or smaller blogs in order to get them more recognition throughout the blogging community.







 The meaning of Liebster in German means " sweetest, kindest, lovely, endearing and sweetheart". I want to give a HUGE thanks to Ryan Webster at A Backpack and a Boarding Pass for nominating me!! I was so excited when I heard that The World At My Feet  was being nominated and couldn't believe. I had to tell everyone I could!! As part of the nomination I have to ask the following questions that were given to me by Ryan. In return I have to nominated 10 small blogs, who in turn will answer the questions I give them. I hope you guys learn something new about me and without further ado:

1. What are 11 fun facts about you?

~ I'm a huge animal lover
~ I'm a homeowner
~ In addition to writing on my blog, I'm a full time worker and a part time student
~ I have moved nine times so far in my life ( 4 of which were cross country)
~ I went to camp as a child and loved every minute of it. It taught me so much and I met people from around the world
~ I have lived in four states and moved back to two of them at one point
~ It took me until my 21st year on this earth to travel internationally
~ I have toe that grows crooked
~ I love DIY projects
~ I love to write stories
~ Reading is my favorite pastime

2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

This is a really hard question to answer! After I read the question I had three places immediately pop into my head. They were Norway, Ireland and Scotland. Out of those three countries I have only visited Ireland (so far) and I was enchanted with the incredible natural beauty. I would definitely have to live somewhere that has natural beauty and outdoor activities.

3. What is your favorite travel destination and why? And what is your least favorite?

So far Ireland was my favorite destination, although London ranks close! I love Ireland because of it's beauty. The natural beauty of the country and the beauty of it's people. It's astonishing how friendly people are and their willingness to go out of their way to help a stranger. That's uncommon here in the states and it was quite refreshing to come across. At the moment I don't have a least favorite destination. I've enjoyed everywhere I have visited.



4. Do you have any crazy or scary travel stories?

I'm not sure if this really falls under crazy or scary . . . maybe weird, creepy, or crazy. I recently returned from a trip to Chicago, where I met up with my best friend from high school. We were taking the train from Chicago to the suburb we were staying in. Toward the end of the trip a guy got on and sat across from us. Did I mention that he was tweaking out on some sort of drugs and acting really odd? We decided to move to the stairs to disembark, because we were approaching our stop. While standing on the stairs a ticket collector joined us and stood across from us. He accidently (I'm assuming/ hoping) bumped his arm into me. Which happens . . . except he turns and looks at me, touches my arm and said "It was a pleasure touching you. I'll always remember it". 


5. What is your favorite dish from abroad? What is your favorite dish from your country?

My favorite dish from abroad at the moment is Filipino pancit and lumpia. So incredibly yummy. My favorite dish from my country is pizza. I could eat pizza all day every day!!

6. Which Blog post are you most proud of?

The blog post that I am most proud of is My Travel Wishlist. This is a continually changing list of places I want to visit and experiences that I want to have. I think this list helps to keep me grounded and it's something I look forward to doing. The more places you visit and see the more things come into focus for me.



7. What type of traveler are you (Backpacker/Budget, Luxury, Business, etc.) ?

I would say that I'm a mixture between a budget and luxury traveler leaning more towards budget. I'm always looking to save money (hey that's more to go towards another trip), but who wouldn't want some luxury in their life? I will never sacrifice my safety for money though.



8. What is the most useful or important thing that you have learned from your travels?

I love this question! I have learned so much from my travels that I can't just list one. Throughout my travels I have learned a lot about myself. I have learned that it's ok to be alone and you don't have to always be surrounded by people. I have learned to have more confidence in myself and to rely on myself. I have learned that while there aren't good people in the world not everyone is out to get you. I discovered that its good for the soul to get outside your comfort zone everyone once in a while!

9. What are your favorite third-party sites when planning a trip abroad?

I have several third-party sites I use whenever I'm planning a trip. Believe it or not Pinterest is my first go to site! I can find so much stuff to do by just typing my destination in, and I can organize it on my boards so I always have it. My second site is Tripadvisor. I almost always check their site for reviews on things I want to do and places I'm looking at staying at.

10. What are your travel essentials?

I have a list of things that I always have to take with me on a trip. I have to have my passport (international travel)/ id, credit cards (always alert the companies), lotion, hand sanitizer, my ipad mini; a book (or three), chapstick, and sunglasses. Oh and you can't forget a scarf!

11. What inspired you to create a blog?

My first international trip. It takes so much work to plan a trip yourself. There is so much that goes into it. Should I stay here? Should I rent a car, take a plane, a ferry, a train? Is this attraction worth my time and money? How can I save money without being too cheap and still have fun? I wanted a place that people could come to and read reviews about places I have been and the answers to all the above questions. It's an overwhelming process that I wanted to help people with. I also wanted to inspire people to travel and prove that you can travel no matter what. I work full time, go to school and travel. I have also have responsibilities like being a homeowner and taking care of my dog . . . and I still travel. If there is a will, there is a way.

I nominate the following blogs . . .

~ Cathy Merrifield: Roarloud
~ Karlie: Miss Wanderlust
~ Hannah: Postcards from Hannah
~ Ginger: One Year, My Dear
~ Maggie: The Woven Whim
~ Melissa: A Broken Backpack
~ Mimi: The Atlas Heart
~ Melissa: KC Girl Travels
~ Jessica: Journey's with Jessica

Nominees now you need to:

~ Now you need to create a post answering the questions I have for you (listed below).
~In your post make sure to link it back to ME with a thank you!
~ After answering the questions, nominated 11 other blogs with under 200 followers. You will need to provide them with 11 of your own questions, and provide them with the same instructions.
~ You will need to notify your nominees and provide them with the link back to your post, so they know what to do
~ When everything is completed, come back to my blog, comment on this post with a link back your post. I can't wait to see everyone's answers!!

Questions for the Nominees:

1. What are 11 random facts about you?

2. What is your travel style (luxury, business, budget, ect)?

3. If you had to choose between make-up or shampoo, which would you choose?

4. What can ruin a good travel person?

5. Why do you travel?

6. What inspired you start a blog and how long have you been blogging?

7. Do you have pets? Tell us about them and how you travel with that responsibility.

8. How do you deal with culture shock/homesickness?

9.  When and where was your first trip?

10. What is the most unusual experience you have had while travelling?

11. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I can't wait to read everyone's posts!!

Friday, August 21, 2015

Feature Friday: A Backpack and a Boarding Pass


 Welcome to our second week of Friday Features! This week we are featuring A Backpack and a Boarding Pass. This blog was created by Ryan and she has some fabulous posts about Italy and travel tips. I highly recommend everyone to stop over to her blog and show it some love. Italy is a country I have yet to visit, but her posts make me want to board the next plane to Italy.

A Backpack & A Boarding Pass
A Backpack and a Bording Pass

The post we are featuring today from A Backpack and a Boarding Pass is Tips for First Time Solo Traveling. This is a great post for male and females alike who are looking to go on their first solo trip. Ryan provides great advice for first time solo travelers who aren't sure what to expect or nervous/scared about their upcoming trips. I know I was about my first solo trip and then again my first international trip. This is also a great reminder post to those who travel more frequently. Female solo travel has been on the rise in recent years. Yay! I think that every female should travel solo at least once in their lives and keep these tips in mind.

Tips for First Time Solo Traveling
Tips for first time solo traveling
 
 
 
 

Monday, August 17, 2015

Potbelly's

The whole time leading up to our trip my friend kept telling about this place we should eat lunch in the city. I had never heard of this place before and she raved about, so we stepped out of Union station and walked down the street to  . . . Potbelly. Potbelly is a sandwich, soup, salad store, similar to Jimmy Johns. Except I didn't know they were hot sandwiches when I ordered. Maybe they have cold sandwiches too, but the one I received was hot.


Upon entering the store you are immediately entering into the line. A worker comes down the line with a tablet to take your order. I had about 8 seconds to decide what to order in a place I had never been. I was hem hawing between a turkey sandwich (because those are usually a safe bet) and a pizza sandwich (sounded good, but not for a cold sandwich). So I placed my order and after we moved up the line my friends goes "Oh by the way there sandwiches are hot". Oh . . . honestly if I had known that ahead of time I would have gone with the pizza sandwich. So here I am thinking that this hot turkey sandwich was going to be gross and lamenting the fact I didn't order the pizza sandwich. Instead I started staring at the décor and realizing how cool and funky it was.


Moving along in line I grabbed my drink ( a bottle of water) and then made my way to the counter. This is the counter of add- on (I wasn't expecting that). It was hard to hear what the guy was asking me and I could tell he was getting annoyed (it's very fast paced in Chicago). My friend whispered to me "what do you want on the sandwich". " Oh uh mayo"? Like it was a question. One second later I'm in front of the cashier and paying for my sandwich, chips and water. We decided to eat outside because the weather was so nice. I was pleasantly surprised by my sandwich. I had never had a hot turkey sandwich before and it was actually delicious!!


Next time I will have to try the pizza sandwich! This entire lunch (sandwich, chips and bottled water) cost $8.84. We had a fantastic view of the river and skyscrapers from where we sat. The location is great for anyone coming into Union Station around lunch time.

Has anyone ate here or heard of Potbelly's before?

Friday, August 14, 2015

Feature Friday: Roarloud

We are introducing a new blog post series called Feature Friday. This series will introduce a post from other travel blogs that I believe will resonate with our readers. It's a way to introduce our readers to blogs that they may enjoy reading.

Our very first Feature Friday post is to introduce a post written by Cathy of Roarloud. The post I chose to feature is titled How to Make Time. I chose this post because I think this is something that we all need to remember at times. Sometimes we just need to make time to disconnect for a little while. You can check the post out here:

http://roarloud.net/2015/06/24/how-to-make-time/

picture courtesy of Cathy  @ http://roarloud.net/


Don't forget to check out their facebook page and follow them at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/RoarLoud/798552366881677?fref=ts

This is a great blog for travelers who love to hike and be out in nature. I love that about this blog! Go check them out!!

Photo Courtsey of Cathy @ http://roarloud.net/

Saturday, August 8, 2015

A Visit to the Windy City

I just recently returned from my very first trip to the windy city . . . Chicago. I loved wandering around and exploring this beautiful city and I spent the weekend with my best friend from high school. For this visit I stayed with her in Naperville and we used that as our home base. Every day we took an hour train ride into Chicago. And everyone that knows me knows how much I love trains!!


We took the train into Union station and walked or grabbed a taxi from there.


The very first thought I had walking out of union station was "how incredibly massive the buildings were". I now fully understand the term "concrete jungle". They were so big it was hard to see the sky sometimes. However there is a beauty to Chicago. I'm used to natural beauty, but Chicago is beautiful in its own way.





We technically had just one day to spend in the city, so we packed a lot into. Once we arrived in the city we walked to Potbelly for lunch and then took a taxi straight to the Field Museum. This was on my Chicago bucket list, so I'm glad we were able to do this. After the Field Museum we took a water taxi ride through Chicago. I would highly recommend doing this! It gives you a completely different perspective of the city and it's relaxing. There our "tour" boat taxi's that give you the history of the city and point out landmarks to you as you cruise along the river. We took a regular city water taxi and had a blast. We walked to mag mile and visit some of the shops. There were a lot of shops and I had wanted to visit the American Girl Doll Place ever since I was a little girl. I'm glad I was able to see it, but if your short for time and not really into shopping I would skip Mag Mile and go somewhere else. Like Navy Pier. There was a food festival going on while we were in town, so it was busier and more crowded down by Navy Pier. Our last stop before the train station was visit " the bean", which is really called . . . Cloud Gate.




Crowded . . .




Unfortunately we just didn't have the time to do everything I had wanted to do in Chicago. No worries that just gives me an excuse to visit again! Look for reviews of Potbelly, the Field Museum, water taxi ride, Giordano's, Portillo's, my visit to Wrigley Field and Naperville.

Train ticket from Naperville - Chicago: $19.00 for two people paying cash on the train
Taxi fare from Union Station- Field Museum: $10.25
Taxi fare from Field Museum- Union Station: $20.09 (more traffic)
Water Taxi: $6.50
Train ticket from Chicago - Naperville: $6.50 (bought from ticket Kiosk in train station)

What are you favorite places to visit and favorite things to do in Chicago?

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Travel Wishlist:

Everyone has that one place they always dream of visiting. I was bit with the travel bug when I was young (I think it started with our moves across the country). I have a never ending list of places that I would like to visit. The following is my never-ending, always adding destinations I would like to visit and experience I would like do:

North America:

- Take a Civil War Road Trip
- Visit British Colombia
- Visit all the Florida State Parks
- Visit Colonial Williamsburg
- Visit Asheville, NC
- Take a railroad trip throughout Canada
- Take a cross country train ride with Amtrak
- Hike in Oregon
- Visit all 50 states



- Stand with the Redwoods
- Gaze into the Grand Canyon
- Go to Yosemite!!
- Visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
- Visit the haunted Alcatraz
- Banff National Park
- Niagara Falls
- Yellowstone Park
- The Fingers Lake, NY
Visit Wrigley Field  (July 2015)
- Visit Boston
- Fenway Park

South America:

- Visit Machu Picchu  (September 2015)
- Take a Amazon River Cruise
- Iguazu Falls
- Patagonia
- Costa Rica
- Canopy Tour in Costa Rica

Europe:

- Visit Scotland (Isle of Sky, Edinburgh, the whole country)
- Stonehenge
- Road trip across England
- See the Black Sea
- Count Dracula's Castle
- Petra, Jordan
- Visit Norway
-Visit Ireland
- Visit Romania
-Chase and see the Northern Lights



- Visit Iceland

Middle East:

- Petra

Artic:

- Visit the Falkland Islands
- See Polar Bears in their natural habitat

 

Asia:

- Shicheng, China
- Visit a Temple
- Great Wall of China
- Samurai Culture in Japan
- Kyoto Japan
- Mount Fuji

Africa:

- Visit Kuger National Park
-  Go on a safari
- Go on a night safari
- Visit Victoria Falls
-  Ride Camels in the Sahara Desert

Personal:

- Go to as many UNESCO World Heritage Sites as possible (3)
- See Moose in their natural habitat




- Get my scuba diving license
- Cage diving with sharks
- Ride in a Helicopter
- Ride in a hot air balloon
- Step foot on all 7 continents (3/7)
- Whale Watching
- Try a food native to every country I visit
- Swim with Dolphins (2013)
- Snorkel with Manatees
- Volunteer at an Elephant Sanctuary




Saturday, July 18, 2015

Atlantis and Swimming with the Dolphins

For this cruise we didn't have anything planned beyond getting on the ship and enjoying ourselves. After we arrived at our room we had a booklet listing the excursion that were available for the following day at Nassau. When we both saw that swimming with the dolphins were available we agreed that we should do. It was something I had always wanted to do, so I was fine with shelling out the money for it. The option we chose was the shallow swimming with the dolphins and the aqua venture park. This allowed us six hours at Atlantis, swimming with the dolphins and access to their water park and all the rides. It cost us $150 per person.



The Atlantis property is awe inspiring huge. We had a guide that took our group from the ship to the property and directly to the water park section. It's very easy to get lost and it can very easily take you 30 minutes from one side of the property to the other. We were assigned a time of 10:30am to swim with the dolphins. We had almost two hours before then, so we started riding all the water rides. It was nice being at the property that early, because most of the resort guests were still sleeping or just getting up. This means no lines for the rides, lockers or beach chairs.

 
 
There are six water slides available on the property. They are the Leap of Faith (the one you see on all the commercials), challenger slide, the abyss, the surge, the drop, serpent slide, the falls and the jungle slide. The first ride we went on was the abyss and this is a pretty crazy slide. You are completely inclosed in a tube with rushing water. As soon as you push yourself off there is a drop that puts your heart in your mouth. There is eventually a opening in the tube that I thought meant you were at the end of the ride. This is not the case!!! I opened my mouth and choked on water the rest of the way down. At the end of the ride you are spit out into a cave with aquariums. This is definitely a thrill ride that will give you a rush.


The challenger slide is two slides side by side and you race someone to the bottom. The serpent slide was and still is my favorite ride. This ride requires a tube, single or two person. This ride is also enclosed and towards the bottom you spit out into a clear container, where you can observe all the sharks and fish swimming around you. We also rode the drop, the surge and the falls. They are all open water slides that require either a single or two person tube. They are very fast slides!! I also went on the leap of faith. Since I was at Atlantis I had to ride it at least once . . . and once was enough. I was scared to ride this and it's terrifying (at least to me) to sit at the top staring straight down the slide wondering how you can possibly survive it and not fall into the shark infested waters below. I had to force myself to push off (with my heart in my stomach) and go down. It was over in a few seconds and you don't really see the sharks as you go by them.


We walked to the dolphin cay where we were suited up in a tight wetsuit . . . did I mention tight? Then our group (maybe around 6 or 7 people) were shuttled into a room where we watched a short informational video on dolphins and how to interact with them. We were then taken to a section of the pool, with our instructor, and met our dolphin Noah. Noah was at Atlantis with two of his siblings, who were rescued during Hurricane Katrina and brought to Atlantis to recover from their injuries. Noah was such a sweet dolphin!! We spent around a hour with Noah and the instructor will answer any questions that you have about dolphins, in fact they really encourage questions. We were able to feed Noah, have pictures taken with him, and he performed tricks for us. Noah has quite the personality! He was constantly swimming away and stealing brother and sister from other groups and bringing them back to our group. There were multiple times we had 3 dolphins interacting with us and it was a blast!!!

Noah doing tricks


One of my favorite pictures from my travels.
 
Afterwards we purchased our pictures (the only way to get pictures). You are not allowed to take your camera to swim with the dolphins. If you want any pictures you have to purchase them from Atlantis. They have different package options available and we chose to purchase a cd and split the cost. The rest of the day we spent riding the water slides and lazy river. We unfortunately didn't take a look at the aquariums while we were there, but I hear wonderful things about them. We also had to purchase lunch while we were there. The food and drinks were slightly pricey. Overall, I'm so glad we chose this excursion and were able to swim with the dolphins. It was such a blast and this day was the highlight of our cruise. However you do have to pay for a locker to use during the day, lunch and any drinks and this can add up to be a pricey day. The resort itself is beautiful and there is so much to see and do. I have no doubts I will be back again.

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Cruisin to the Carribean . . .

In December of 2013 I went on my first cruise. This was a girls weekend away with one of my friends. We chose to take carnival cruise line and purchased our four day cruise for $200 each. We had two days at sea, 1 day in Nassau, and one day in Freeport. The nice thing about a cruise is you pay the money and that includes your food, most drinks and your room for four days. However, there are some exceptions as to what is included in the price. If you want to eat at any of the speciality restaurants that will cost extra, all alcoholic and soft drinks will cost you extra, along with any excursion you choose to do. In order to offset the cost of this most cruise lines will offer dinner packages, soda packages and packages for your drinks.

We were on the Carnival Ecstasy ship, which did offer a alcoholic package. We had looked into purchasing one, but the cost was too much in our opinion. It was $59 a day, every person staying in a stateroom had to get it, and you were cut off at 10 drinks in a 24 hour period. Each cruise line allows each person to bring a limited amount of alcohol on the ship with them. We chose to do that and just purchase whatever drinks we wanted.

Image result for carnival ecstacy ship

This ship was an older ship and you could see that around the boat. Our state room was pretty spacious as was our bathroom. I really surprised about this after reading reviews about the staterooms being small. We had plenty of space for the two of us. We chose to pay a little bit more for an exterior room with a window. The interior rooms were running about $50 cheaper, but I was afraid of getting claustrophobic.

Our stateroom


We had our towel animals waiting for us every night. We loved the surprise of a new animal every night.



The food on the ship was surprisingly good. We ate in the dining room 3 nights and one night we grabbed food from the "cafeteria" and ate outside. I had dessert every single night .  . . mainly the hot lava cake.


We also can't forget those delicious late night drinks that occupied us to the different shows.



This ship had shows every single night and we took advantage of them. We really enjoyed the Hasbro Game Show and Newlyweds. The pool on the ship was relatively small and always crowded. That was disappointing, but it comes with the territory. They also had a waterworks area on the top of the ship with slides and a waterpark for the children. One thing I really liked about this ship was the serenity adult only area. This was at the back of the ship with lounge chairs, hammocks, hot tubs and a bar for anyone 21 and older. It seems like this is was the place for parents to escape from their children, because of this it was sometimes hard to find a lounge chair open.

Overall this was a nice weekend getaway for a relatively cheap price. The cruise was $250, our excursion was $150 and about $100 in drinks for a four day vacation. Cruise ships are not my preferred travel style. I like to visit a place and immerse myself into the culture and try and find every nook and cranny wherever I go, and that is impossible to do on a cruise. However, if your looking for a cheap relaxing weekend getaway then I would definitely recommend a cruise. The shorter cruises mainly go to Nassau and somewhere else in the Bahamas and that is nice to do every once in a while. The longer cruises have some fun destinations, but you only get a couple hours at the destination. While this isn't my preferred travel style I can still see myself every once in a while going on a cruise.

Keep an eye out for our Nassau excursion review!!

Who prefers cruises as their main vacation style?