It was our 6th day of 7 on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas when we reached Dominica. This lush, green island reminded me alot of Belize in appearance and poverty. I had been looking forward to our excursion here the most. There had been a ton to choose from and I would gladly return in the future: sulfer springs, many different waterfalls, Layou Gorge (Pirates of the Caribbean filmed here!), etc. We decided on a tubing and emerald pool excursion. 23 of us boarded the van that took us around the island. The driver was older, but our guide was a girl who seemed to be in her late teens. We learned there were no speed limits on the island and that accidents were rare. Surprising of you saw some of the narrow roads we ... read more

After a day at sea, we reached our first destination on our 7 day cruise on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas. We didn't book an excursion so we set out to explore the city. Like nearby Aruba (which we'd see the next day), Curacao is a Dutch country, but we heard mostly Spanish and English due to tourism. Near to the cruise port, there is a fort that has been turned into a shopping area. Like all destinations, prices are incredible. We were thankful that Jason found a cheap pair of flip flops in Puerto Rico, otherwise he would have had to pay upwards of $30-50 for 'designer' flipflops at the ports of call! We crossed the Queen Charlotte floating pedestrian bridge and wandered around the city. The forecast called for a 30% chance of ... read more

After counting down the days for our upcoming cruise, Jason and myself boarded our Airtran flight from Atlanta for San Juan Puerto Rico. The plane made it to the runway and then turned around to go back to the gate. They’d forgotten to load some of the luggage onto the plane… including ours. I know this because we watched it then be loaded from our seats inside the plane! Wide eyed, we looked at each other. Both of us wondering how that would have played out if we’d missed our bags and hadn’t gotten them by the time we left for the cruise! Outside of that minor detail, the flight, landing, and drive to the hotel in San Juan were uneventful. After some heavy traffic in Old San Juan, we arrived at the Howard Johnson in ... read more

I was promoted to a new department and position with my company and was sent to New York for the week by myself for training at home office. I have never spent a week alone traveling like this, but I enjoyed the experience. I worked/trained during the day and had the evenings to myself to explore. I would recommend the experience to other solo female travelers. I had no problems. I was in NYC several years ago when what was left of the WTC was a hole in the ground. It was strange to see that now it is only ground level after all this time. I revisited areas I saw last time and also a few new places. I even found a West Coast Swing dance group that meets on Tuesdays and danced away one ... read more

I mentioned in a previous entry that I also sometimes travel for country western dance events. This particular one was in Mobile and I wanted to share a few pictures from the area and the competition. (I got 1st/Overall Champion - Female Open Newcomer; 1st - JnJ West Coast Swing, and 1st Intermediate Strictly Swing!)... read more