The night before we departed for South America we visited Zach and Jane’s house for our last sauna. It had warmed up 30 degrees…so now it was only zero outside, but the wind had started to blow so it did not feel any warmer, in fact, I think it was worse. We were delayed on our flight out of Anchorage because the water had frozen onboard the airplane. (It seems as though Samantha and I can’t get away from frozen pipes even after leaving the cabin. The scary thing is that we brought the curse to Alaska Airlines.) They had to [View Full Entry]

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ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh im a little stressed out! there is so so so much to do before I leave! i decided to visit friends in Miami for New Years... which was wonderful... but i should have been prepping for this trip! now i am at the ft meyers airport, i just got done visiting my grandmother. im waiting on my flight back to dallas where i will have to knock out a list of lengthy errands and do my damn expense reports which i totally forgot about! hopefully i will have time for one last night with the dallas friends... and then im [View Full Entry]

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Our remaining three days on the ship were mostly spent swapping pictures and just hanging out, but there was also the Ambassadors Ball. Everybody dressed up real nice (I wore my suit that I bought in Vietnam) and we were served a real nice three course dinner along with a crazy dessert buffet. In addition to this, we also transitted through the Panama Canal which was a cool experience. We went through several locks to get out of the Pacific Ocean and up to the big man made lake, and then we went down through a couple more locks to get [View Full Entry]

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I'm lying in bed thinking how great it is that my arm fits perfectly across my eye socket to block out the light that has interrupted my sleep when I am made to realise that unfortunately my arm does not also cover my ears to block out noise when Lou calls from the bathroom 'Time to get up d'. Lou boots up the laptop to check our flight confirmation from Miami to New Orleans and sees that everything is fine. She then checks the New Years Eve flight from New Orleans and sees that the flight date has changed from December [View Full Entry]

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We arrive at the Cadet hotel in Miami it is just around the corner from Ocean Drive which unfortunately puts that dreadfully bland song by the Light House Family into my head every time I see a sign. The Hotel is a modern boutique style, clean lines, Egyptian cotton bedding, white walled, fresh and stylish. The staff cannot do enough to help us during our stay from sorting out my wireless connection to unblocking the toilet, a job no one should have to do on Christmas day. One block up and two blocks across from our hotel was Lincoln Road a [View Full Entry]

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New Orleans - Miami Saturday 4th October (Day 40) We got up in the morning and had one last stroll past the restaurants and tourists shops. I bought a few items for people back home and Vaughan bought a white t-shirt, as he was finding it too hot with all the black-coloured shirts he had brought with him. New Orleans was so sunny and really vibrant - it was full of bright colours and action and music. We didn’t want to go, but unfortunately it was time to get sorted out to make it to the airport. Miami was calling, and [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at the Four Seasons Miami on Brickell Avenue, and quickly learned that Brickell rhymes not with Cornell but with pickle. This is one of the many satisfactions of travel, the chance to learn little things that you probably would never have learned any other way. It's the same way I learned that in New Hampshire, Berlin rhymes with Merlin, and that in South Dakota, Pierre rhymes with cheer. The Four Seasons lies in the business district, which is decidedly un-busy during the weekend. But that suited us fine. It made the weekend more like a getaway for just the [View Full Entry]

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Oh I was ready for some warm weather after Chicago and six hours and two flights later I got it when I arrived in Miami! It was a balmy 26 degrees! I met up with Colin as soon as I arrived, with the promise of a cold beer. Instead it was a huge bottle of wine, but that was even better! We were all sitting at the hostel down the street as it was in full party mode and since Colin had already been in Miami for a few days, he had made some friends at the hostel, so it was [View Full Entry]

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We weren't overly impressed with the whole South Beach Miami culture, everything is extremely overpriced and the locals are a bit pretentious . Because of this we didn't hang out at the clubs and instead enjoyed the relaxation of doing absolutely nothing but eating, drinking and chilling out on the beach. This was just what we needed after a hectic trip around California. We also managed to organise our 5 day cruise in the Caribbean... I would definitely recommend cruising to anyone as you get such a good deal with all the food, entertainment and soft drinks for free. On our [View Full Entry]

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I knew the Royal Caribbean Freedom of the Seas was large, but I was not expecting it to be so big. Travel With Me After a wonderful night at the Intercontinental Hotel - Miami I was more excited about our cruise. My husband , mom, dad, MIL, step-FIL, aunts, uncle, and cousin were able to check in at the front desk pretty quickly. We made sure we had all of our documents in hand, which made the process smoother. With our room keys in hand (floor 6) and our new iteniarary we had to change ports to avoid the t [View Full Entry]

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