The “A” of the ABC Islands is Aruba. Boutiques, upscale chain stores and street vendors, as wells as casinos and a wide range of restaurants, dance clubs and bars, make the capital Oranjestad a popular destination in Aruba. Our ship arrived on New Year’s Eve, so many shops […]
Stop 2 of the ABC Islands: Bonaire Kralendijk is the chief town, known for the beaches, and diving sports like snorkeling and skin diving. It’s the sleepiest of the ABC Islands, and the main area is tiny with a few shops and restaurants. If you’re not into water […]
Following Cartagena, our next 3 stops were the “ABC” Islands… Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, but in the opposite order, starting with “C”, Curaçao, pronounced cure-a-sao. The Islands are in the Dutch Caribbean, part of the Netherlands, but are not part of the European Union. When we docked at […]
Happy 50th anniversary to my mom and dad!
After a day at sea, our port following Havana was Cartagena, Colombia. I knew very little about Cartagena, except from the 1980’s movie “Romancing the Stone” where Kathleen Turner played a novelist who had to rescue her sister from a drug cartel. Apparently, things have gotten better in […]
Merry Christmas from somewhere between Havana and Cartagena, Colombia. We spent our day just relaxing, reading, napping, and of course eating and drinking. For dinner, my sister made reservations at one of the specialty restaurants, which cost an additional $30 more per person. Tomorrow, we visit Cartagena.
Day 2 in Havana. We met up with Jimmy in front of the Museum of Rum to kick off our 2nd part of our tour. No classic cars for us to ride in today, but a taxi mini van. Fortunately this car also had air conditioning. The goal […]
Following the Hotel Nacional, Jimmy took us around the city, and then stopped at the Old Havana for lunch. We went to a touristy spot, and had lunch at the rooftop of the restaurant, before continuing a walking tour of the old part of the city. The walking […]
We made it to Havana, Cuba!! The cruise line took care of our Visa (cost $75, which was billed to our room). The “catch” in visiting Cuba was it had to be a cultural or educational visit, and there had to be a person to person interaction. My […]
Our first port was Key West, Florida. Stephen and I wandered with my parents along the Main Street, while my sister and brother in law went snorkeling or some water activity. There were two goals we had: 1) visit the Southmost point of the United States, and 2) […]
For the next 15 days, the Azamara Journey will be our home. Our ship is small compared to the typical cruise ships floating out there. Instead of housing 3000 passengers, the Journey had about 600 passengers. Our room was #7083 and we were located in the middle of […]
When I was younger, we usually went on a family vacation during Christmas. As I got older, it got harder to take the time off but this year we all went on cruise to Cuba, Colombia and the ABC islands in the Caribbean. We arrived Miami at 7:00 […]
This is a late post, but back in September, Karen and I went to see Barry Manilow in concert. He’s playing at the Westgate Las Vegas through June 2019, and Karen’s brother was given free tickets (which he gave to us). Considering the post before this one was […]
I use the Total Rewards “loyalty” cards from the Caesar’s Entertainment properties, where you earn points for free food, rooms, shows, and for any of their casinos throughout the world. I was in Las Vegas to see Barry Manilow and was able to get a comp’d room at […]
Metallica was playing in Las Vegas the Monday after Thanksgiving. I was able to get seats through Citibank, in section 19, Row H. On the night of the event, we arrived at 5:45pm so we could get in line early for merchandise. Apparently, hundreds of other fans thought […]
It’s Labor Day, and that the official kick off for Apple Season!! Located about an hour and a half from Orange County is Oak Glen, a small community of orchards which grows apples, as well as berries and pumpkin. It was our first time going to Oak Glen, […]
Karen and I collect Funko toys and the new headquarters is located about 40 minutes north of Seattle in the city of Everett, Washington… just a stones throw away from Boeing. After we left the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, we made our way north, stopping halfway in the city of Edmonds for breakfast at […]
