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Published: March 20th 2008
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So I decided to start a travel blog because I want to keep you all updated about my travels this summer, and I figured I might as well start now to record the AMAZING CRUISE that I just went on for spring break! Obviously if you do not wish to get my blog entries, please just let me know and I will take you off the list.
After finally making it through a terrible week of midterms and a particularly brutal fluid mechanics test, the idea of the spending a week in the warm Caribbean sun with my boyfriend and 12 of my best friends was almost too good to imagine. The adventure started out with a 12 hour drive down the east coast from Durham to Miami, which we did in practically one sitting. We did stop briefly for dinner at a diner called Shoney's in South Carolina (the food was terrible but the waiter was cute and surprisingly friendly) and we also got out and danced around and took some artistic pictures at the Georgia border... but we more or less just drove all the way there, after a full day of classes, in the
rain and in the dark, for 12 hours straight. Go us 😊
When we arrived in Miami it was still raining and Miami looked SO UGLY. Fortunately, we were able to get on our beautiful cruise ship, the Norwegian Sun, relatively quickly. We were welcomed aboard by the enthusiastic crew, which wasted no time in trying to sell us $8 tropical drinks in brightly colored souvenir glasses. But then.... we pulled up some lounge chairs, got a bucket of beers, and life was WONDERFUL. We spent that night and the whole next day lounging around, eating, and relaxing. It was wonderful.
The second day we stopped at Roatan, Honduras. Roatan is a small island off the Honduras coast, which was absolutely beautiful. Kevin and I got up earlier than the rest of our friends and got a local to drive us to the other side of the island where the best beaches were. When we got there I offered to pay the guy half of the agreed price (because he promised us a round trip) and HE REFUSED TO TAKE MY MONEY. Instead, he asked us
what time we wanted to go back and left. And then, at 3 pm, he came back to the beach to find us and drove us back. It was just amazing how trusting he was because we could have easily gone back with another driver and not paid him at all. And that was not the only surprising thing about the day: the rest of our friends randomly showed up at the same beach! We spent the afternoon swimming and reading and enjoying CHEAP drinks from the local bar (it felt weird being legal). Even the cab ride to and from the beach was amazing because the island is very long and skinny with it's main road winding along the center ridge of the island the whole way, meaning that we were on the top of a lush jungle island and could see the ocean on all sides. It was a great day.
The next day we stopped at Belize City. The dock area was fenced off from the rest of the city, and there were literally locals reaching their hands through the fences, waving their brochures at
us and telling us that they wanted to give us tours. It was actually a little scary. We spent a few hours walking around the town, and accidentally crossed a bridge and found ourselves in the non-tourist part of the city. It was interesting to see how different the locals behaved just on the other side of the river. We also had a good time wandering around the tourist part of town, just looking at all of the jewelery, local art, and random other goods they were trying to sell. I ended up getting a really cute set of shot glasses and a t-shirt ($5!) and Kevin got a Hawaiian shirt and a t-shirt that says "What part of NO don't you understand? No, I do not want a tour. No, I do not want a taxi. No, I do not want my hair braided. No, I do not want any weed." We thought this was particularly funny because a lady had come up to Kevin and asked him if he wanted his hair braided or if he wanted to buy any weed just a few minutes earlier. Oh Belize, you are so sketchy...
On board the ship, there was much excitement to be had. Dave and I worked out; Kevin and I were constantly moving from restaurant to restaurant eating food; we spent the nights at the ship's club dancing or singing karaoke, and of course we spent many hours by the pool reading and listening to music. One afternoon I even got Kevin to participate in one of the silly poolside competitions. It was hilarious and I have it all on video 😊 We even spent several nights in the ship's casino. This was the first time that I have ever gambled, and I have to admit I can see why people do it. It was so fun and exciting- the atmosphere, the sounds of the slot machines, the rustle of cards being dealt, the rush of having so much on the line... Haha, I sound like an addict. Overall I came out $20 up, but that was probably only because they were having a promotion that helped the odds for the newcomers 😊 There was also a chocolate buffet which looked absolutely AMAZING (look at the pictures) but the chocolate didn't actually taste that great. It was a feast
for the eyes, so to speak...
After another thoroughly relaxing day at sea, we stopped at Cozumel, Mexico. This was only day that Kevin and I decided to do an excursion with my friends: we all went on a Catamaran snorkel trip. Our Mexican guide had a great sense of humor and there was an open bar on the boat (open only AFTER the snorkeling). The water was amazingly clear and there were some very pretty fish. There were also tiny jellyfish in the water that kept biting all the girls (the men were either too tough to feel them or too macho to admit it). After the snorkeling the catamaran dropped us off at a really cute beach where we all played volleyball and listened to music.
We spent the last day of our cruise hanging out on the beach of Norwegian's private island in the Bahamas. The island had volleyball courts, hammocks, a really cute little cove where we all swam (and saw stingrays!). It was the perfect end to a perfect week.
The drive home was more pleasant than the drive there
because the weather was nice and we were all relaxed and happy. We stopped for the night at Jackson's farm in South Carolina and made a campfire. The passengers in the other car had been telling stories, so we ended up planning out a murder mystery in which we were all killed by Dave. It was amusing, and some of the girls were really scared (not me though, I'm tough 😉 And then... back to Duke and back to work. I leave for Germany on May 8th, and I will definitely post another entry about my travels in Germany and Greece this summer 😊
-Lyss 😊
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