Hello, everyone! I've been back from vacation for a bit now, and I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. I must say, it felt very strange taking a vacation during the busiest time of the year, only a few weeks before Christmas. But I had one of the best weeks of my life! I'm making this post to share some photos from my cruise to the Caribbean and talk about my experience. I first wanted to say that I cut my hair before the trip! I didn't go as short as Amelie, but I did cut off 18 inches of hair! I had this whole before/after post planned out, but I still haven't gotten the before photos off my boyfriend's camera, so in these pictures you'll see the new haircut. 
Russ and I flew to Tampa, Florida to meet up with Russ' family the night before we departed for the cruise. In total, we had a party of 22 people!! Many were Russ' relatives that I was meeting for the first time, and ones that Russ hasn't seen in a long time. This photo is of us at the airport in Tampa, waiting for his parents to pick us up. Since half of our (almost) 4-year relationship has been a long distance relationship, we have flown over and over again to see each other. Finally, we had the chance to fly together for the first time.
DAY 1
The next day, we took a shuttle from the hotel to the port so we could board the cruise ship. We were able to get on around noon and had a chance to explore the ship and eat our first big buffet meal before the ship set sail at 4:00pm.
The boat was extravagant. The bedrooms were...quaint :) But I soon realized that spending time in the bedroom was not necessary, because all the excitement was out on the deck or in the entertainment theaters.
DAY 2
The second day, we were traveling out at sea the whole day on our way to the Cayman Islands. The rocking of the boat really picked up overnight and this morning, there were several members of our group experiencing nausea. Including me. After eating, the sickness seemed to subside. But the boat was definitely rocking.
In the center of the boat was a giant atrium where you could see several stories high, and up into the sky through the glass ceiling. It was really pretty, and often a pianist was playing on the white grand piano. All the decor was a bit dated - 90s is my guess. But it all made for a unique unforgettable experience.
The best part was being outside! The views were phenomenal. Let me tell ya, it's a weird feeling being out in the middle of the ocean with no sight of land ANYWHERE. You look up into the puffy blue skies, and down into the cobalt seas, and out into the endless horizon and start to think, "what am I doing here?" Such a freaky, beautiful feeling.
DAY 3
The next morning, we woke up and ate breakfast as the ship approached the Cayman Islands.
As you can see above, the cruise ship had to anchor itself out in the middle of the ocean instead of docking to a port. We then took shuttle boats from the ship to the land. There wasn't much instruction on what were suppose to do in on the Island. You could purchase excursions that would take you on planned adventures, but we already had an excursion purchased for the next day in Cozumel, so we just explored on our own terms.
Russ and I began walking, trying to find our way to the beach. We came across beautiful flowers and terrain, lizards, wild chickens running about, cars driving on the wrong side of the road, and a slew of vacationing Americans occupying lounge chairs in front of private-beach condos.
We walked and walked and walked, trying to find a public beach. It was hot, and we walked at least 2 miles trying to find the rest of the cruise goers who smartly took the shuttle to the beach. We never found them, but finally decided that if we wanted to enjoy the beach, we just needed to get in the water.
THE WATER. It was sooooooo beautiful. You know how you see all those pictures of dreamy beaches with crystal clear water and ultra fine sand, and then you go to the coasts of North America and don't really see that? I mean, the ocean's always nice but what about the water that you can be neck deep in, and look down and clearly see your toes at the sandy bottom? Right here. At the Cayman Islands. It was so wonderful. And it really was like 7 shades of blues. We only had about an hour to swim and I received one of the worst sunburns ever (that I'm still recovering from), but it was so so worth it! We took a taxi back to the port so we didn't have to walk again. Smart move. Because if you miss the boat... well, you miss the boat. And if you get left on the island...good luck. Really! They didn't even give an "All Aboard", whistle blow, head count, nothing. You really had to pay attention to the time because being late wasn't an option!
DAY 4
Day 4 was the most eventful day. We traveled overnight from the Cayman Islands to Cozumel, Mexico and got off the ship around 10:30am.
As soon as you step off the cruise ship, there are tons of decorated people wanting to take a picture with you. Of course later, all the photos are displayed in the ship and available for purchase.
We immediately board another boat to begin our Mayan Ruins excursion that we had planned for the day. This time, with most of Russ' family along. The boat ride was about 45 minutes long. Again, we didn't really know where it was taking us, we just trusted that we were going to the right place. Now this boat was very rocky and they passed out barf bags just in case. I had to catch this photo of Mexican "Dramine"....uh, no thanks!! :)
We arrived to the shore of Tulum, Mexico. Where we arrived was a tourist spot that is owned by the Carnival Cruise line. It was
insanely beautiful. You instantly got this feeling like, "I want to live here, stat!". But we didn't get to hang around here. We walked directly to a tour bus and got on it. Again, where are we going? We had an hour long bus ride from that point to the Mayan Ruins. Once we began driving away from the resorty area, we really got a true glimpse of what Mexico was like. (This was my first experience outside of America, by the way). It was trying to be nice, with electronic stores and clothing stores, etc. but everything looked run down at the same time. Some of it reminded me of inner city L.A. It was a crazy contrast from a few blocks back where it looked like Beverly Hills!
Once we finally reached our destination, we had very minimal time to shop around before the excursion. There were all these little vendor booths set around, trying to cater to tourists. They had some beautiful goods (like these hammocks! *swoon*) but man, were they pushy! Everyone kept offering Russ weed and said, "Ahhh, Bob Marley!". I guess that's what stereotypes do to you. I did walk away with a beautiful flowy blouse and some earrings. But the money exchange was confusing and we had to pay $8 US to use the ATM machine. Oh, it's all in the experience!
Honestly, the best part of the whole day was our tour guide, Angel. He had such a passion for his land and the history of his people. He spoke fluent English and knew a lot about the American culture which allowed him to share information in a way we could easily relate with. It was interesting to hear how other people interpret life and death and the meaning thereof. He was quick to share that all the hoopla centered around the Mayans predicting the end of the world on December 21st was just a big marketing scheme. He explained that the Mayan calendar was a yearly calendar made up of moon phases and cycles. They put an emphasis on the summer and winter solstice (December 21st), but the calender never ends, but rather restarts every year. He even said that the "Mayan calendar" that we see in the media is actually the Aztec calendar. The true Mayan calendar is the one pictured above. It saddened him to see his culture misinterpreted to the masses. I learned so much from him that day.
The Mayans built their dwellings on the most beautiful beachy shores. They were obviously intelligent.
They were a very short people. You can see us standing at their doorways, and we're definitely too tall to walk through.
In Tulum, Mexico iguanas are as popular as squirrels. They rule the ruins.
DAY 5
Ah, a relaxing day at sea as we make our way back to Florida. Although a bit of dread was creeping in as we knew our adventure would soon come to an end.
They made it "snow" in the atrium. It was pretty.
This is a panoramic view of our favorite lounge on the ship, "The Queen Mary Lounge". It was here that Russ and I got suckered into trying karaoke for the first time ever! I'm usually too shy for something like this, but I did it somehow. We became fascinated with the confidence that people had to get up behind the mic whether they were good at singing or not. I sang "Unbreak My Heart" by Toni Braxton (hahaha) and Russ sang "Space Oddity" by Davide Bowie. Then we did a duet to "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard, and that was special.
The next morning when we woke, the boat was already docked at the Port in Tampa. Back to life, back to reality. It was a hard adjustment. Have you ever been somewhere that was so much different than your normal life and after awhile it began to feel like it was becoming your new life? That was us. We started to get to know people on the ship and looked forward to seeing the same crowd everyday. It was kind of like our new traveling family, of sorts. After a few hours of being off the boat, we were suffering from severe shiplag(?). It felt like we were still rocking even though we were on land. It was dizzy and nauseating and lasted for a few days. It was a weird feeling.
On a sour note, about a week after we've been back, we noticed that our debit card had been charged with ridiculous amounts of money (in the thousands!), and the charges linked back to the ATM machine we used in Tulum! We even think the vendor that was helping us withdraw some cash was the one who saw us enter our PIN number and use it to steal money from us. And we were his customer! Thankfully, that has all been resolved now and we have our money back. But be careful when using your card in Mexico! In hindsight, we should have brought American dollars with us and just exchanged them for pesos. Now we know.
Is Christmas really 3 days away?? My mind is everywhere. I am really loving this time of year though and enjoyed our first snow of the season this week!
I'll leave you with some sandy toes in case this cold weather really ain't your thang!
Talk to you soon.
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