Another feature we've decided to introduce into our blog is the Official Fanta Count. In the US Fanta is not very popular...or even available in most places. However, in most other parts of the world it is as prominent as Coca-Cola. There are several flavors: Grape, Lemon, Orange (the best). Current count is 3. Watch for updates in future posts, it will be interesting to see how many we rack up in 4 months!! This is partly because we plan to go to an island where Fanta flows like water. Churros y Chocolate is a breakfast favorite in Madrid. It consists [View Full Entry]

---

---

Had to put this in...CM wore socks for the first time on the trip today. At home in summer you will see me in skirts and sandals daily. Wearing socks again not only feels totally foreign, but marks my resignation that is is finally fall. Sigh. Luckily there will be more sandal weather ahead on this trip! So this post isn't totally without merit, we should mention that everything you've heard about the Spanish eating late is true. We would find restaurants empty at even 8PM. One place that was recommended to us for lunch, we showed up at Noon. The [View Full Entry]

---

---

We quickly learned that when ordering food in Madrid, you have to say "no mas" when you are done. Otherwise, the waiter will just keeping asking "uno mas?" We were a little taken aback by the lack of English speakers in Madrid. We were able to get along fine with our fractured high school Spanish, but overall we found far fewer people who spoke English here than in Paris, Germany or Switzerland. We're not really sure why this is the case. J thinks that it is because there is a large, Spanish speaking base around the world (including the USA), and [View Full Entry]

---

---

Virgin Gorda, BVI - Beef Island, BVI - San Juan, PR - Madrid, Spain Today we said goodbye to the beautiful Mango Bay Resort and flew to Madrid via San Juan. J kept looking outside at the beautiful, empty beaches and saying "why are we leaving here?" Well, although our tickets do allow date and place changes, the first segment out of the States to a new continent is locked in. I suppose it's a good thing because otherwise we'd probably blow at least another week here. We took a "ferry" - actually a fast speedboat that only held about 10 [View Full Entry]

---

---

The pickin's are slim at this time of year for restaurants on Virgin Gorda. Here are the ones we enjoyed (in no particular order): 1) Dixie's - local joint in Spanishtown open late and serving up tray after tray of fried chicken, fabulous milkshakes, and reggae videos. We got to meet "Chicken Harry" and "Shadow", two frequent patrons. 2) Island Pot (see previous post). We only saw Island Pot open twice in the week, it seems to be run by high school girls and their moms on non-school nights. 3) Bath & Turtle - this place has a variety of things [View Full Entry]

---

---

We are huge proponents of free Wi-Fi. It's always the smaller, poorer cafes, hotels and terminals that have free wireless, while the large, rich chains such as Starbucks and Westin charge an arm and a leg for access. Airport lounges are the worst. Not only should Wi-Fi be provided free by the Port, but at a minimum, the super exclusive executive lounges should provide it gratis. The cost to do so is tiny compared with even the daily complementary newspaper or magazine budget. Luckily, in Virgin Gorda, the Marina offers free wireless Internet across the whole harbor. Several of these po [View Full Entry]

---

---

Are you tired of hearing about deserted beaches with crystal blue waters and soft as can be sand? Well too bad - here's one more for you to salivate over! Savannah Bay is two bays over from Maho Bay (where Mango Bay Resort is located). We stopped by to catch the sunset there one evening and met an American bulldog named Captain. He is not a swimmer like our Salty, but he loves to jump and play in the surf! His master owns Top o' the Baths. On our last full day on VG once the diving was done, we spent [View Full Entry]

---

---

J is now a certified PADI Open Water Scuba Diver! After 4 days of intense work with "Scuba Steve" and his wife Sara, he graduated at the top of his class (of one). The classroom and shallow water part of the course were conducted at Little Dix Bay - I know, life's rough! He made 4 dives off the Dog Islands: Coral Gardens, the Chimney, Cockroach Island, and the Visibles. These locations also had great snorkeling which CM happily explored. We saw numerous large barracudas, lobsters, sea turtles and one nurse shark. The water temperature at the surface was 88F and [View Full Entry]

---

---

The biggest tourist attraction in Virgin Gorda is the Baths. It is difficult to describe this surreal place, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves. There are actually two beaches. We hiked from one to the other through caves and up and down ladders, then snorkeled back to the first. While snorkeling we saw a sea turtle and of course the requisite hundreds of tropical fish. Unfortunately, J's sister and her boyfriend had to return to St. Thomas for work on Monday morning so we had to say goodbye. Thanks again to you both for your hospitality, we wish [View Full Entry]

---

---

We had one whirlwind day on St. John. Really we're cutting things way too short on this beautiful island, but 10 days is all we had allocated for the Caribbean, and we can't change the dates on our first US leg per rules of the around-the-world ticket. The four of us began the day with an early trip to Trunk Bay and leftover baked goods from Havensight Bakery. Trunk Bay, along with Magen's on St. Thomas are routinely rated in the top 10 beaches in the world. Most of St. John is a national park, donated about 50 years ago by [View Full Entry]

---

---