Olivia Starling

starlingonthemove

Olivia Starling

My name is Olivia. I am born and raised in Tallahassee, FL (USA).

Tallahassee is a great place to raise children and there are is plenty to do here. From backyard parties to swimming in a natural spring. You never know what the weekend will hold with two very active boys.

Over the summer we traveled to Europe and I started a blog called www.mtb/org/starlingsacrossthepond. I really enjoyed writing the blog and see how many people read it. It was kind of addicting.

I am not the best writer and we really aren't world travelers. We mainly travel in Florida, Georgia and Alabama (USA). We mostly camp or go to the beach. Occasionally we will take a cruise. We even have stay-cations in Tallahassee from time to time.

We started camping in a pop-up camper about 5 or 6 years ago. After about 2 or 3 years of camping in the pop-up we upgraded to a 33ft travel traveler. We camp all over North Florida and South Georgia.

Looking forward to having you guys on our travels.
O.



North America June 18th 2023

Whitewater Express: White Water Rafting Georgia & Alabama - Whitewater Express My sister had the idea of going white water rafting in Columbus, GA. We’ve heard people talking about the fun time they have had and it’s less than 3 hours from Tallahassee. We packed a few snacks and headed down the road around 9:30am. It really is an easy drive (or ride in my case). When we arrived we were able to find parking very easily. There is a free parking garage less than half a block from the Whitewater Express outfit. We later found out there is also a parking lot just to the left of the shop. They are located on the campus of Columbus State University. As a side note, that is a beautiful campus and is surrounded by a nice looking ... read more
into the rapid
water logged
back up


For this excursion we actually went directly through Carnival. Some of us decided on cave tubing and others chose snorkeling so the group will be split up today. We went through Carnival this time because on all the excursions you have to travel away from the port and if you book from Carnival and the tour is late the ship will have to wait for you. This is a tendered port but since we booked directly through Carnival we did not have to get a ticket to get off. Our time to report to the auditorium was 7:30am. That was an early wake up time! We all ate breakfast and arrived on time. Can’t say we were all in the best moods but we made it and we were ready for an adventure. Roatan and Belize ... read more
Getting gear on
Headlamp check
Ready to tube


In hindsight I should have realized that the way the morning started was probably a precursor of how the day was going to end up. We were supposed to be able to get off the boat at 10am but the boat was 30 minutes late into docking which was fine because we were not scheduled to get off the boat until 10:45am ship time. We were supposed to return to the ship at 5:30pm but they moved it to 6pm because of the delay. Ship time, I never really noticed this term until this cruise and we’ve been on several. Most of us figured out how to change the settings on our phone so that our phones would not change as we cross time zones. Some people couldn’t change their phone setting though. If you look ... read more
Private bus ride
Bird holding
Monkey petting


This little boy about 7 years old walked by with great determination, he clinched his fists, gritted his teeth and says with all the fire in his belly…THIS. IS. GOING. TO. BE. THE. BEST. DAY. OF. MY. ENTIRE. LIFE! Preach my boy!!! I was very excited about Grand Cayman because we hired a private driver I found at https://caymanfriendlytours.com. Captain D had emailed me and we spoke on WhatsApp. He assured me that he was going to take care of us and I had no doubt he wouldn’t. The night before while we were eating midnight pizza, Tori brought me a letter from her room that talked about boat time verses Grand Cayman time and getting a ticket to get on the tender boat. So apparently Grand Cayman does not participate in daylight savings time. Who ... read more
Tender ride to Grand Cayman
Meeting Captain D
Private bus tour

North America » United States » Florida » Tampa March 14th 2023

Today we are at sea. Not set plans today except sunscreen! I will say this again if I haven’t already, traveling with this group is so chill. Everyone kind of does their own thing. If we meet up, we meet up and if we don’t we will see you at dinner. Jeff and I started our day around 8:30am. We decided to go to the restaurant for breakfast. When you eat in the restaurant for breakfast they sit you in a manner that I think is called family style. Meaning you get a chair at a table and you might be sitting with another guest. We got to the restaurant and we did not know we needed to check in on our Carnival Hub app so we did that. We only waiting a couple of minutes ... read more
New table #1
Dinner shots - tonight was a Scooby snack
Dinner and dessert espresso martini

North America » United States » Florida » Tampa March 13th 2023

Oh man, I’m a brat because all I can think about is an ice cold Diet Coke! I remember years ago when Carnival announced that they were changing to Pepsi. Jeff and I both agreed we would have to find a different cruise line for that one reason alone. Well, here we sit on Carnival and here I am wanting a Diet Coke. I should probably address this addiction but I just really like Diet Coke. Ok, we move on… Getting to the port and the parking lot wasn’t that hard. We did miss the entrance to the parking garage and had to circle the block but we eventually got there and walked right to the terminal. For some reason the boys were leading the pack and walking ahead of us like they knew what they ... read more
The fellas
The Starling’s
Twinning

North America » United States » Florida » Tampa » Ybor City March 12th 2023

Welcome to Spring Break 2023! Last year we took the kids down to the kids down to 30A. It is a very beautiful area in the Florida Panhandle and this was not our first time vacationing there. For the last 3 years we have taken the boys and their friends to the 30A area. Well, our experience in 2022 was very different than past years. Timmy and his friends wanted to venture to the Seaside area. In the past years we had eaten in the area during the day and shopped around. Didn’t think this Spring Break would be any different. Ha, we were so wrong! We have never felt so unwelcome in an area. It was just a bad experience and we vowed we will never go back to 30A for Spring Break. It was ... read more
Timmy selfie
Activate vacay mode
Vacay Jeff

North America » United States » Georgia » Helen January 18th 2021

Surprise, surprise, we woke up and we were not sore. Today we decided to hang around Helen, GA and check out Tallulah Falls. I did find out about a place called Brasstown Bald. It is the highest point in Georgia and it is about 19 miles from Helen. You can drive up there but the information center is closed. We had not made plans to go here today but I thought I'd pass the information along. Website: url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/cs/recarea?ss=110803&navtype=BROWSEBYSUBJECT&cid=FSE_003738&navid=110240000000000&pnavid=110000000000000&recid=10542&ttype=recarea&pname=Brasstown%20Bald%20Visitor%20Information%20CenterBrasstown Bald Visitor Information Center (usda.gov) Breakfast Cheryl had read all the reviews of all the breakfast spots on the way up to Helen and she landed on Village Crepe Haus. The reviews boosted of awesome crepes and the website... read more
Lock on the bridge in Helen
This is a Belgian waffle
Getting ready for the Alpine coaster

North America » United States » North Carolina » Sapphire January 18th 2021

This long weekend Cheryl and I decided to run away to Helen, GA for the weekend. For those that do not know, Cheryl is my twin sister and we have a habit of impromptu road trips from time to time. We decided on Helen, Georgia because we have beach plans for Spring Break and we have fun memories of Helen in our college years. For about 3 years we would go with our college girlfriends and brother to tent camp in Helen during Octoberfest. I will have to share those pictures when we get back. We had some super fun times at the Sleepy Hollow campground way back when. Getting ready for the trip was a little bitter sweet. It felt very awkward that me and Timmy would be traveling with Cheryl and her girls. Not ... read more
Sky Valley Overlook
Sapphire Valley ski ready
Sapphire Valley Ski School

North America » United States » Nevada » Las Vegas July 11th 2020

Las Vegas - Day 1 Getting there Our first day in Vegas was awesome. The plane rides were easy. This is the first time we had flown in First Class. In Starling tradition since there is a global pandemic there is no service in First Class unless you ask. We were up at 4am to catch our 7am flight out of Tallahassee so all we wanted to do was get comfy on the plane so we weren’t worried about drinks or snacks on the plane ride. I did want a water and I thought that was kind of extreme to have to ask for that but oh well. Tallahassee to Dallas our flight was almost full. This caught Jeff and I off guard because we haven’t traveled since March. We just assumed people weren’t flying. Oh ... read more
Welcome to Dallas
Mimosas ??
2nd leg - masks on




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