klhall
Kristin Gaddis Joined: August 10th 2007
Logged in: August 3rd 2011
Logged in: August 3rd 2011
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page" -St. Augustine
Travel Blog Posts
Tulum
Andrew could only have 5 days away from work and school, so we took off for a short tour around the Yucatan. When we arrived in Cancun, getting the rental car and finding our way to our cabana was no problem at all. Pretty much everyone spoke some English, so getting around was easy. We were actually staying on Tankah Bay which was just north of Tulum, and a private ex-pat community. There were 2 hotels there, but mostly it was large beach homes. The cabana was right on the prettiest beach I've ever seen. We could snorkel right off the beach, and we had the whole beach to ourselves. Not a single person crossed or even came near the section of beach we were staying on. The cabana was basically a bed and breakfast. Our ... read more
Fuego Erupting
After a relaxing couple of days, it is time to head to the beach for my last few days in Guatemala. We took a nice 2 hour shuttle ride(no sickness!) to the beach in Monterrico. Along the way, we saw a volcano erupt, which was pretty neat as well as loofahs growing. I had no idea they were plants. We stayed at Johnny's, which is a cute little resort on the beach. The biggest decision of our days was whether to lounge in a hammock or on the beach. Lex did attempt to go swimming and almost drowned. The waves there were the largest that I have ever seen, and a local guy told us that it is off season for the big waves. I can't even imagine how large they get. It was basically just ... read more
013
When we arrived back in Antigua from Copan, lex had remembered that Handel's Messiah was playing that night at a convent ruin turned hotel, so we rushed home to get ready and quickly headed there. It was so so so amazing!!!! Thurs. morning, we got up and headed in to the market to buy things to cook for dinner. It was amazing, in the end we ended up with enough food to last probably 3 days for about $2. All fresh and amazing! We did have to pick up some things from the grocery store though, so that was about another $15 more, but still, not bad at all! Thursday was a day of relaxing, just running "errands" if you can call them that. Making reservations for lex and jose, scoping out hotels for them for ... read more
Ruins
Its just one thing after another down here,and my brain cannot remember it all. So, where I left off... going to copan. We had a lazy morning, and our shuttle arrived at 1pm for a 5 hr trip to copan, honduras. Well, it arrived at our house at 1, but then we drove all around town picking up what ended up being 14 other tourists-all piled in to what was basically a minivan. It was a little tight, but not too bad. After a stop for gas, i think we finally left antigua around 2 or 2:30. The beginning of the trip was relatively uneventful, minus feeling like I was at the carnival on the scrambler the whole time. Again, I was soooo car sick. We stopped about 4 hrs into the trip for a dinner ... read more
Cahli
Oh my, my, what a day! I guess it was just typical of the interesting things I get myself into. Well, Alexis's roommate Gg is a mayan priestess(not what you would think-white ex-dancer lesbian photographer from NYC) and invited us to go to Chichicastenango with her and another Mayan priestess friend of hers, Cahlixta. Cahli was performing a ceremony, and we thought it would be really interesting to go. We had to be ready to go at 7am, but what a surprise, we were late! When we left the house, it was probably going to be a 15 minute walk to the market to catch the chicken bus. Since we were late, Gg flagged down a pick up truck, and they gave us a ride in the bed. The chicken bus wasn't too exciting to Chemaltenango, ... read more
Arch in Antigua
Alexis is living in Guatemala for a few months studing spanish, so of course I had to go visit. What kind of a friend would I be if I didn't go? Anyway, on my layover in Miami, I noticed that no one waiting in my departure lounge was speaking English-no one, and we were still in the states! I soon realized that my old high school and college spanish was not coming back as quickly as I would have liked. On the plane, I think I was the only American, or at least the only English speaker. All of the flight attendants immediately spoke Spanish to everyone. On most of my other flights, they kind of break you in to the language change, but not on this one. It was good practice for me though. I ... read more
Me at Plaza de Torros
Amy and I had a 24 hour layover in Madrid, so we tried to make the most of the little time that we had. From the airport, we took the Metro downtown. The metro in Madrid was such a nice change of pace from Italy. It was clean and efficient and very easy to navigate. Our hostel was easy to find and absolutely beautiful inside. The room wasn't the greatest because we were in a 16 person co-ed dorm, but it worked for the night. We went to La Plaza del Torros de Las Ventas first. I just had to see it before dark. It was very similar to a baseball stadium in the states, right before a game. The metro was packed, and everyone flooded out at this stop. Outside the building, there were vendors ... read more
DSC01761
Amy and I arrived in Florence after the longest trip ever. We took Amtrak to Chicago, then a flight from Chicago to Naples with a layover in Madrid, followed by a train ride from Naples to Florence. All together we traveled for 29 hours straight. EXHAUSTING!! The first night we saw some sights, had dinner, and got lost on the way back to the hostel. Nothing too crazy though. The next day we walked all over the city. My keen sense of direction landed us about a half hour walk outside of the city center. After a couple of hours of guesses on how to get back, we finally asked for directions. The man we talked to laughed at us and said that we weren't even on the map of the city that we had. Oh ... read more
Bridesmaids at the Rehearsal Dinner
I made the trip down for Ashley and Joey's wedding. The first night started out fine. We had dinner with the family and bridal party at a great Mexican resturant. After dinner, we picked up some beer(I chose fours because I am a moron), and the younger crowd all went back to Chris and Meagin's . By about midnight almost everyone had gone to sleep, but Ashley and I decided that it was time for shots of Patron. We stayed up until(from what I have heard)6am or so doing shots and drinking beer. That night just set off the rest of the week. Each day seemed to follow the same pattern. It all starts out innocent, and by the end of the night I am fall down drunk. I guess I decided it was my time ... read more
Ashl looks so happy
On Thursday, Meagin, Anne, Ashley and I boarded the Carnival Sensation for our 3 day Bachelorette Extravaganza. The first day was kind of cold outside, so we spent our day exploring the ship, drinking, and then hitting up the clubs onboard that evening. The ship was quite interesting. Meagin was the only one of us that had cruised before(and it had been several years ago), so we didn't really know what to expect. I am pretty sure we walked into a 1970s roller rink with all of the flashing purple neon. It was a far cry from the elegant ship I had seen on "Titanic" and in my Cunard mailers. I guess thats what we get for deciding on a ship which was reviewed as "a floating trailer park". It was cheap, and we had fun, ... read more
