Wednesday, May 13, 2015

$69 Baja Cruise

We went on a $69 Baja Cruise in November...yep, you read that right! $69 DOLLARS! It was on Carnival, it left out of Long Beach California, and went to Catalina Island and then onto Ensendada Mexico. I have to say...this cruise was made by the people that we met on the ship. We went with a big group of people and they were some of the coolest people Rodrigo and I have ever met on a cruise! We are still friends with everyone that sat at our table! The first night we sailed over to Catalina Island...I don't use the term "sailed" lightly. It typically takes about an hour on a ferry from Long beach to Catalina Island. But, it took us more than nine hours to get from the port to the island. It was hilarious! I think we were pacing like 1mph no joke! We went to a late night comedian show that night. This guy was HE-larious! He was joking about how we were headed to Ensendada that night...and everyone in the crowd was yelling, "no, no, we're going to Catalina tomorrow!"  He was all..."Catalina?!, What? Is the captain doing donuts or something out here to pass time?!" What was funny though, is that, at dinner it literally felt as if the boat was doing donuts! I guess we had to turn around and head back to Long Beach because of some medical emergency...and what took us around 4 hours going "snail speed" only took about 30 minutes going regular speed. Anyway, the next morning we ported at Catalina and had to take a Tinder boat to shore. One suggestion, if you take this cruise or any cruise, make sure you're up bright and early if you have to take a Tinder boat! If you've never been on a cruise, how it works is they pass out numbers based upon a first come first serve basis. If you get there late to pick up a number for a tinder boat time, you're going to miss out on a lot of exploring!



 We lucked out and got on pretty early, and went straight to the Golf Cart rental. **Another tip about Catalina Island** If you want to rent a Golf cart and take it around the whole island, which we would highly recommend, get there early...because they run out pretty quick! The ones that we rented were about $80 for 4 hours! They sat four people, so we just split the cost with another couple and we were on our way. Let me tell you, if you have the time and the money, rent the golf cart and go to the botanical garden in the middle of Catalina! You will not be disappointed! It was soooo beautiful! From the views to the wildlife it is breathtaking! After we dropped off the golf cart. We were able to walk around the little town of Catalina right by the water and it's gorgeous! I honestly wish we could've stayed there longer! I loved that little place!





The next morning we went to Ensenada, Mexico! To be perfectly honest....Ensenada is like a step up from Tijuana...So, don't expect something magical. It is fun, and cool to see all the fun little souvenir shops and be in a different country. But, for me, it was not my favorite place I've ever been. Now, some of you may disagree with me...but, that's just my opinion. We walked around quite a bit, and Rodrigo bought me some really cute bracelets and a really beautiful piece of art...which I still need to get framed. 



That night we had a ball on the ship with the friends that we made with our group that we went with, we danced, and ate, and laughed and laughed. We even split a bottle of champagne our friend won up on stage for doing some things that I would never have had the courage to do! Overall this cruise was a definite must go if you can get it for a good deal! We had a ball, and ate a TON of food! Here's some pictures of our fun times on the ship. 




 Thanks for reading!!!
Until next time. Happy & Safe travels! 

To see the vlog from this trip >>>>>>>Click Here!!! <<<<<<<<<

Friday, November 7, 2014

Orlando, Florida

Orlando, Florida....Who could not like you? We enjoyed every second we spent in this beautiful city! Right after we arrived we drove to the beach of course. [being landlocked here in Utah, it's one of our number one priorities whenever we land somewhere that has a beach] We drove a beautiful hour and a half drive over to a town called Daytona Beach. You may have heard of it before. It's home of the Daytona 500. The first thing we saw when we drove into the city was this huge racetrack, and guess what? You can go in the international speedway for free!! We walked into the raceway where all of the seats are and it's huge!!! They offer packages that you can buy for just under $200 where you can drive a race car around the track three times with a certified race car driver. We didn't do it, because that kind of stuff scares the crap out of me. lol. But, we did see the cars going around the track at 180mph. It was insane!! I can't imagine what it's like to see the actual Daytona 500. I bet it's awesome! From there, we drove to the beach, and let me tell you, this beach is one of the most picturesque beaches I've been to in a long time. The sand was so soft, and the beach goes on and on for miles. We enjoyed the sunshine and the sand for a while, and even got in the water to play in the waves. It was really fun. After that we decided to drive some more to a lighthouse we heard about. On the way we found the cutest little miniature golf place where you can feed alligators!!!  It was an experience we will never forget. Then we made our way over to the light house and it was nearly sunset so it was really pretty lighting and an awesome sight to see. My favorite part of the whole night was after we saw the lighthouse, we decided to go back to the beach and watch the sunset. You guys, you know those moments when you just look around and realize your life is perfect at that moment? This was one of those moments for me. Rodrigo was playing in the water with the GoPro and I was sitting on the beach watching him jump wave after wave. While watching the clouds turn the most beautiful shade of pink. I don't really know how to put it into words. But, it was magical.



























The next day we attended a really great event for the travel club we are in, it was really inspiring! We meet people from all over the world who inspire us so much to travel and become better people and I just love it!

The next day we went into the city of Orlando and went to the cutest park called Eola Park where we rented paddle boats that were shaped like swans and paddled around this lake that was surrounded by a beautiful foot path. After we got off the paddle boat we went to a farmers market. Unfortunately, from there we had to head back to the airport and head back home. But, we will always remember the fun times we shared in Orlando.






Thanks for reading, and following us around the world :)
#clubwanderlust

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

CORFU, Greece

I am going to make this post short and sweet, because that's how our day in Corfu was. I have to preface this day with a little story that still makes me sad. We decided early on, on this cruise that we were not going to do any of the excursions that the cruise had to offer. Because, they were all upwards of $100 per person, and we figured we could just do our own thing for much cheaper(that worked for every other city except this one). We regretted that we didn't do the excursion at this city. The problem with this port was....the cruise ship didn't dock at a pier like they normally do, where you can just walk off with no problem. At this city they had to "park" in the water and use the emergency boats to take everyone to shore. As you can probably imagine trying to get nearly 3000 people off the ship in boats that hold only 30 people max was quite a time consuming procedure. On top of that they give you a number for when you can get on your tender boat and ours was like number 45 or something crazy like that. We had about 8 hours in that city, I think we docked around 8am and then had to be back to the boat by 4pm or something. Anyway, around eleven they were just barely calling number 23, and by this time we were pretty confident we were not going to get the chance to even get off the boat, for it to be worth it to even see the city. Side note: They allowed the people who bought the excursion packages to get off very first because they had buses they had to catch at a certain time. So we were just chilling on the boat by the pool and we saw one of our friends, and we were telling her how we were kinda disappointed we weren't going to get to see the city, and she happened to have two express passes to get on a tender boat whenever she wanted, and she offered them to us!! So, we gladly accepted and went to the express lane and were escorted past the long line to get off the ship! It was really awesome! So we got off the ship and at this point we only had a few hours to explore this huge island. I'm not gonna lie, the road next to the port is pretty ghetto, and not very pretty. We decided we would take a boat off of the island to another island called Vido, it was really beautiful, there were wild turkeys, and bunnies and the beach was really nice! We swam there for about an hour or so and then it was time to head back to the island of Corfu and get back on the cruise boat.
If anything this port taught what not to do on our next cruise. We were happy that we were able to even get off the boat and see a little bit of the island. But, we know people who took the excursions and they were able to see a completely different part of the island that we never got to experience. I'm not trying to make this a sob story. So, sorry if it comes across that way. I just want to let whoever is reading this, if you ever go to Corfu, you should definitely do the excursion! Overall, we had fun of course and we were happy to visit Corfu, maybe someday we will go back there and really experience it :) Here are some pictures from our short stay in Corfu. Enjoy!
















Thanks for reading!