A Little Mind Trip to Key West to Warm Us Up!

Okay, I know this weather is supposed to improve for the remainder of the week.  But for now I can't take it.  Warm weather people should never be made to endure a long winter.  Somebody needs to shoot that damn groundhog the next time he comes out of his hole.  So, with that said, we're going on a mind trip.  It's going to be a short one and we aren't even leaving the US so no virtual passports required!

So, here's the deal, I typed that paragraph and then I went into my system and created an itinerary to get to Key West arriving 2 weeks from today and staying through that Saturday and guess what.... Not a single hotel room available within 60 miles of the Conch Republic.  I guess we aren't the only ones who are fed up with the weather.  So, I re-ran it and our little mind trip will start 3 weeks from tomorrow.  We'll fly into Key West on Delta with a 2 hour stop in Atlanta.  Just long enough to get a quick breakfast and arrive in Key West at 2:09 PM.

Now, you can go one of three ways as far as transportation goes in Key West and I think all three work just fine depending on what your plans are during your trip.  You can either rent a car, but this is Key West so it pretty much has to be a convertible, you can take a cab or a shuttle to your hotel and spend the weekend walking or riding bikes to your destinations or you can rent scooters after you check in to your hotel.  

Key West is small and the tourist area is very compact.  So depending on the location of your hotel, you can easily get to anything you are interested in by foot or bicycle as long as you don't plan to drive up the Keys during your visit.  We're staying at the Westin Key West which is located on Front St just one block from Duval and right next to Mallory Square.  We'll only be here for 3 nights so there's really not time for driving the Keys and I've done it before anyway.  So I've decided to forego a car.  There was not much of a selection of rooms available so we're just going to have to rough it in an oceanfront room at the Westin... heheh... (There went the budget!) The view is spectacular.  But we won't be spending too much time in the room because after all, we'll only be here for 3 days and the sun is shining! So we'll take a cab from the airport to the hotel.  But be aware!  Even though it's only a 2 mile cab ride, it'll cost about $25.  Taxis in Key West are not cheap!

So as soon as we drop our things off at the hotel, we head out to make the most of our time here.  Now, I've only been here once before and on the previous visit although we hit a lot of the highlights, there were a few things we missed and I don't want to miss them again.  So our first order of business is to walk up Duval St. and stop into mecca (Margaritaville) for a Cheeseburger in Paradise with an ice cold Landshark and then we'll be heading to Ernest Hemingway's house.  On my previous visit, we walked by and took pictures from outside the gate but decided not to go in.  We were a little pressed for time and still had a lot to do on that trip. So today we'll do the full tour taking pictures of plenty of the 6 toed cats around the place. The light house is right across the street but I've visited it before and have taken pictures of and from every location in and around the light house.  So, we'll just pass by and maybe snap a few shots as we go.

 After all of that sight seeing, we'll probably be starting to get a little thirsty, so it's time to head back down toward Mallory Square walking down Whitehead St. but first we'll need to stop and wet our whistles and I know just the place for an afternoon cocktail.... We're stopping at The Green Parrot Bar which boasts itself as A Sunny Place for Shady People.  Sounds like my kind of place. After a drink there, we are ready to set out on our journey again.  By the time we get back to Mallory Square the Sunset Celebration is already in full swing so we join in stopping off to watch the nightly performance of Dominique the Cat Man and his amazing flying cats.  After getting our fill of flying cats, we'll stop off for Will Soto's nightly high wire act and then head over to Sunset Pier for dinner.

Hope you have enjoyed this first day in Key West and you are nice and warm after a day of walking around in the Key West humidity. I know I feel better. Tomorrow we'll do some exploring and maybe rent scooters!  Have a great Hump Day!

Photo Organization Might Not Be For Amateurs!

I have a travel page on Pinterest.  In case you are interested in checking it out, here's a link.  I'll try to place it strategically throughout this post so that you won't have to move that mouse around too much.  I know how troublesome that can become.... (Insert eye roll here.)  The reason I bring it up is because a few weeks ago I started a board called Beaches but then I never added any photos or anything to it.  I knew in my mind that I wanted boards on this Pinterest page called Boats, Beaches, Bars and Ballads (in addition to many others) because you know that's the name of the Jimmy Buffett boxed set from many years ago and I think it sort of relates to my travel style. Ballads hasn't been set up yet.  But Boats and Bars have been going for a while, because let's face it, a girl's got to know her priorities and have them in line.

So anyway, I had this Beaches board but I had no photos on it.  Then yesterday, during a lull in the travel business (ok, I admit it, I only talked to two clients yesterday) I decided to start posting some beach photos from my travels.  But here's the deal, I put one of those new Pinterest maps on this board which I haven't done in the past. But it seemed like the right thing to do with the board being travel related and all.  But, I guess when you have the map there, you have to choose a location first.  Then you can choose your pin. Normally, I just browse through pictures I've taken and find one that has good memories or that I like the composition of or something and then I Pin it.  I don't plan ahead like that.  I've never been that much of a planner (which I'm sure would make the people at the former employer who shall not be named twitch a little since Planner was in my job title for about the last 7 years I was there) and I'm not sure that I can change that at my age for the sake of Pinterest.  I mean, we all know, you can't teach an old dog new tricks, right?

So anyway, yesterday after about 30 minutes of consideration and contemplation, I finally got one "Beach" photo Pinned.  And here's the thing....  I really don't even know if I consider it a Beach photo.  I really consider it a Sunset photo.  It should be limited to spending space on my Sunset board, which if I'm not mistaken it already does!  Take a look at the photo in question and you be the judge.

Sunset in Sitges, Spain

Sure, if you try you can see just a little bit of beach off to the right there.  But beach is not the subject of the photo, the sunset is.  The sailboats in the harbor are a much larger part of the picture than the beach.  This wasn't even the picture that I had in mind when I typed Sitges, Spain into the field on Pinterest.  I was thinking of a photo that my travel buddy, Jenny took of me on the beach in Sitges.  You see it was cold. It was November and although it was the greatest trip ever, there were a few moments during the trip when we both wished we could be there during the height of the Mediterraneans tourist season so that we could spend time on the beautiful beaches along the Mediterranean.  So on this particular evening in Sitges, we ran down to the beach right after this photo was taken from the steps of the church and took our shoes off and walked around in the sand so that we could say we had.  The temperature was in the 50's and all the people who were on the tour with us thought we were crazy. I know they did, because they kept talking about us.  While we were on the beach we could hear them off in the distance saying something like "Is that the Texas girls??!?!?!  They have their shoes off!!!!"  But it was something that we had to do and I'm glad we did.

The problem that I face when it comes to finding specific photos that I have in mind is that I have 11 flashdrives of photos (probably 60 or 70 gigs) not to mention all the photos I have just randomly filed on my computer and backed up on CD's (God only knows where) that I didn't plan out too well when I saved them. (Once again that planning issue comes into play.)  The ones on the computer are filed by date.  So it is fairly easy to find them. But the ones I don't have saved on the computer and only have on flashdrives are a little bit of a challenge. There is absolutely no organization to that madness.  Here's the other issue.  When Jenny and I travel together, sometimes she gets a photo and I take a photo of something else.  We both know that the other has a photo that we will need a copy of but it isn't necessary for each of us to go photograph what the other already got.  So, at the end of the trip, we exchange photos.  Those photos are all stored on flashdrives for me.  Then I just piggy back onto those flashdrives.  So, I might have a flashdrive that has photos Jenny took in Europe along with photos I took three years later in Hawaii.  These are those little memory sticks.  There is no room for labeling the 32 subjects that are contained on that 8 gig stick so, I just try to remember that the cute little flowered stick has Key West on it and the tiny little blue one has Seattle and so on.  If I'm looking for one individual picture taken by Jenny 5 years ago, it could take me a week to find it because although it was taken in Europe, it is on the flashdrive that my RCI cruise from last January pictures are on.  See my problem?

I know that I could sit down with several empty memory sticks and totally get this mess organized if I had the patience and 2 or 3 months of complete solitude.  But I have neither.  So, today rather than making file labels for new clients and copying travel documents to mail all day, maybe I'll take a few hours this afternoon and go through memory sticks noting the locations of photos that I want to post so that I can just hit this thing from a different angle.  Yep, I think that's the ticket!

Have a great Tuesday!  I have a very exciting Globus webinar today, then I just might spend a little bit of time looking for beach photos.  Don't forget to take a look at my Pinterest Boards and Follow me if you are so inclined.

Isla Contoy and Isla Mujeres - Wanna go?

Who knew that if I made MUST READ part of the title for a blog posting on a regular run of the meal day in February that I would get more readers than I have ever gotten?  I must say that it is making me feel pretty powerful!  It kinda makes me wonder what other phrases I could put in my titles to get readers....  Here's one....  I'M GIVING AWAY GOLD BARS!  Catchy?  I know some people for sure who would open that blog posting.  My parents to name just a few would open it.  You know, to see where the hell I got the gold bars and why they hadn't heard about it yet.  But other people would open it as well.  Of course, I'LL GIVE YOU A REFRIGERATOR apparently wouldn't get the attention of my nephews or niece.  At least not unless the subtitle is AND I'LL DELIVER IT TO YOUR HOUSE FREE OF CHARGE...  But you didn't open this blog today to read about that.  Nope you are here to learn about some travel topic that I chose at random this morning.  So I hope this satisfies your need for travel knowledge today.  If it doesn't and it will make you feel better, there's a free refrigerator sitting in my garage that you can have if you'll just come and get it.

So today let's talk about Isla Contoy and Isla Muejeres.  I've never been to either of these islands.  But I have a lot of clients who are slated to go to Cancun in the coming months and I am going to make it my personal mission to get some of them to visit one or both of these places while they are there. Isla Contoy is a small island a little over an hour away from Cancun by boat.  It's a national park.  People don't live on the island.  It is a wildlife reserve at the very northern point of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef and home or a nesting place to more than 150 species of birds and more than 500 species of fish.  So if you are into bird watching or you like snorkeling this is your kind of place.

The island is only 4 miles long and 1/2 a mile wide. So it is a tiny little spot that birds literally flock to. Since it's a protected area you really have to plan ahead.  They limit visits to only 200 tourists a day to help preserve the area. But the website says that they actually only get about 100 people a day.  So, it's not going to be one of those over crowded touristy places. Tour boats leave from both Isla Mujeres and Cancun to visit Isla Contoy.  They do allow private boats to visit, but they require a pass that must be applied for in advance.  So the best way to visit is on one of those tour boats.  The tours run anywhere from $55 to $95 per person US for adults and it's pretty much an all day trip.  Some pick you up from various Cancun hotels or Isla Mujeres hotels in the morning while others require that you meet them at a designated place.  The boats can range from a small fishing boat with an outboard motor to a replica of a pirate ship.  On many of  the boat rides over to the island, they will stop on the reef for a short snorkel if the weather permits.  Then once you arrive on the island there are informative lectures that you can attend given by the resident biologists or you can just enjoy the beaches, the walking paths, the water, the snorkeling and the birds.  Here are a few things you might see during your visit.

Now I mentioned stopping on the reef for a snorkel earlier.  I suppose I should explain, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef is the second largest barrier reef in the world. It begins at about Isla Contoy which is the confluence of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean and goes south for several hundred miles all the way down to Honduras. With a barrier reef you get a great variety of fish to see. In fact, very near Isla Mujeres (30 kilometers south of Isla Contoy) is a feeding ground for whale sharks. So, while there are no guarantees, Isla Mujeres is one of the few places in the world where you get a pretty good chance of swimming with the biggest fish in the world.  But we'll get back to that shortly.

Isla Contoy is also a nesting area for sea turtles.  So, if you love these little cuties like the one in the picture above, it's a pretty good place to go. Sting rays some with 5 foot wingspans regularly come up to the beach area to be hand fed by the tourists.  I've learned that rays are apparently moochers.  It would seem that they are worse than my cats when I open the bag of treats.  They know how to beg for food and they have no shame.

I love taking pictures of birds.  So, I think I might like the bird aspect of the island almost as much as the sea life that I could see.  While I've seen flamingos many times on the Texas gulf coast, I don't think I could ever get tired of seeing them.  They are just so darn pretty especially against the unbelievably blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. I know they smell bad.  But the trick is not to be downwind when you are taking photos of them. The photo below is a little hazy but what can I say, I didn't take it.... :-)

Getting back to the whale sharks, these fish amaze me!  How can a creature that big live off of plankton??? Seriously!!!!  They are apparently gulping massive amounts of plankton. So as I said earlier, Isla Mujeres is a feeding ground for whale sharks.  Whale shark season goes from June to September and they usually have about 400 of the endangered sharks there at any given time during those months. So the chances of seeing one or more are really great.  There are lots of different tours and companies that you can go with.  Many tours originate from Cancun and will only take 6 hours or so while others require that you stay in Isla Mujeres with your whale shark group.  (These are the more serious whale shark tours which are apparently designed for professional underwater photographers and videographers.) Prices on whale shark tours can range anywhere from $100 to $350 a day if you go with the pros.  If you go with the cheaper groups, they only allow 2 people in the water at a time with the sharks and the time that you are out is very limited to about 10 minutes per person. Once everybody has had a turn in the water, they are done.  The $350 a day group is a package and with them you do 5 days.  Which means your price for going out on the boat each day turns out to be $1,750.  In addition, you pay for your hotel with the group, meals, transfers, ferries, tips etc.  So this package is going to run you around $3k without airfare. But you go out in the mornings very early before the other tour boats coming from Cancun get there.  This allows more people to get in the water with nobody else around and more shifts of people to get in the water.  So you do rotations and get a lot more time with the fish.

Here's another consideration.....  If you don't have a wide angle lens for your underwater camera rig, then don't waste the time going.  Whale sharks are BIG!  The ocean is dark and no strobes are allowed.  After all, you don't want to frighten a 30 foot long, 20,000 pound fish so that he feels the need to escape and inadvertently swishes you with his tail.  So, I'm thinking the no strobe light rule is a good one.  With all that in mind, you aren't going to get any pictures in which you can tell anything without a good wide angle lens.  The shark will have to be very close for a good shot with visibility underwater being what it is and once it gets close, without a wide angle lens, all you are going to see is a few dots on something dark in the water.  With a wide angle lens, you might see something like this.

And now you see why I want to go to Isla Mujeres.  So there you have it.  Two places that you really kind of need to visit during your next trip to Playa or Cancun.  Call me so that we can plan your trip!

Not in Sochi

It's Friday!  If you could be heading anywhere else in the world today, where would it be?  I think about this a lot.  I think it would be so cool to be one of those people who just picks up the phone and says something like "Get me on a flight to Tahiti this afternoon....  I'll buy new clothes when I land."  Do those people even exist?  If they do, I want to be one of them in my next life.

Maybe you're thinking you'd like to be on a flight headed to Sochi right now.  I can honestly tell you that Sochi is the last place in the world I would like to be headed right now.  Have you seen the photos of the water????!?!  And apparently hotel guests are being told not to get it close to their FACE!!!  I personally don't want to know what is wrong with the water if you not only can't consume it, but you are told not to even come close to consuming it.  Somebody said it was being piped in from Chernobyl... Nice..... Radioactive water.....

I have a friend who every time I mention wanting to visit anyplace in the far East she starts talking about no toilets and just holes in the ground that are used for toilets.  I always have to clarify that I don't travel that way and when I consider visiting the far East, I imagine myself staying in places like this.... Hotel Intercontinental in Danang....  Yeah, check out that website. Now that's my kind of accommodations.

I could be wrong but I'm thinking this bathroom probably has running water....

I'm thinking I could probably tough it out in this Vietnam hotel room.  I mean realistically, where are they going to put a hole in the floor for one to use as a toilet in a place like this?  Right?

But I'm thinking that in Sochi side by side toilets are just barely a step up from holes in the floor.  Have you seen the photos of that?  Talk about awkward!!!  Yep, I'm thinking Vietnam is looking a LOT better than Russia.  Plus, the weather is way better!  If I want snow and ice I can stay in Dallas for crying out loud. I'm way more into what the weather is like in Vietnam. Now this is what I call vacation weather.  Take a look and then tell me you'd rather go to the Olympics.You'd have to be nuts!

Other places I'd rather be than Sochi consist of but are not limited to Hawaii, Key West, anywhere in Europe except Russia (even the really cold parts), anywhere in the Caribbean (because there are no cold parts), Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and in fact, anyplace in South America, anyplace in the US except Oklahoma (I have standards), and on any island in the South Pacific.  So, I'm not really all that picky about where I would go this weekend if I had the money to just pick up a phone and demand a flight.  But you know where I wouldn't go.

Have a terrific weekend.  Enjoy the opening ceremonies tonight!

June Royal Caribbean Cruise -MUST READ!

Hmmmmm....  It's snowing in Dallas this morning.  Maybe if we had known a few years ago what this winter was going to be like, we could have gotten the Winter Olympics here rather than in Russia....  With a little more snow they could shut down LBJ and Central Expressway and use the High 5 for downhill skiing.  That would work, right.... you know, until tomorrow when it melts?

But if you are cold right now and your thoughts are turning to the Caribbean where it's warm and sunny, it might be the perfect time to plan your summer vacation. And for the next 24 hours, I have got a terrific deal for you!  I have 4 remaining rooms blocked on Navigator of the Seas sailing out of Galveston on June 8th, that's the Sunday after Texas schools get out.  This is a 7 night cruise with the following itinerary:

Date	Ports of Call	Arrive	Depart	Activity
Sun 08 Jun 2014	Galveston, Texas		4:30 PM	Boarding
Mon 09 Jun 2014	Cruising			Cruising
Tue 10 Jun 2014	Cozumel, Mexico	8:00 AM	4:00 PM	Docked
Wed 11 Jun 2014	George Town, Grand Cayman	10:30 AM	6:00 PM	Tendered
Thu 12 Jun 2014	Falmouth, Jamaica	8:00 AM	5:00 PM	Docked
Fri 13 Jun 2014	Cruising			Cruising
Sat 14 Jun 2014	Cruising			Cruising
Sun 15 Jun 2014	Galveston, Texas	7:00 AM		Departure

I have the following cabins available:

Category	Description	Qty	Price
E1	Deluxe Balcony	1	$1219.16 per person / double occupancy
J	Inside Virtual Balcony	2	$849.16 per person / double occupancy
N	Inside	1	$789.16 per person / double occupancy

But here's the significant thing.  If you wanted to book these cabins yourself today, the prices are as follows:

Category	Description	Qty	Price
E1	Deluxe Balcony	1	$1450 per person / double occupancy
J	Inside Virtual Balcony	2	SOLD OUT!
N	Inside	1	$1232 per person / double occupancy

You see as ships fill up, the prices go up.  I reserved these cabins last year right after the cruise schedule for 2014 was announced and locked in these prices.  So, I am able to sell these cabins at a price that you can't get anywhere else.  But the catch is, that on February 8th.... TOMORROW, Royal Caribbean will take these four cabins back from me and raise the price to their current prices.  So, if this cruise sounds the least bit interesting to you - you MUST call me today!  The deposit required at booking is only $250 per person and final payment isn't due until March 25th!

In addition to the huge savings you will get if you book through me within the next 24 hours, I will get you $50 on board spending credit per cabin for booking through me.  You can't get that from Royal Caribbean because they aren't offering this.  You can only get that from your personal travel agent at Places You'll Go Travel.  That's right.... you've happened upon my crazy SNOW DAY CRUISE BLOW OUT!!!!!

I, myself will be on this cruise.  You see the prices are so good, I couldn't resist.  Additionally, my mom, 2 cousins, 3 aunts and 1 sister-in-law will be with me.  We're doing a little girls cruise and you could tag along. But if you aren't a girl or just don't relish the idea of traveling with me and my family, don't worry!  Your reservation won't be connected to ours in anyway.  In fact, with over 3,000 passengers on board, you may not even see us during the cruise.  

Now, you may be asking yourself, What the heck is an inside virtual balcony and why have they sold out?!?!??!!!!!  Well, let me tell you.  It's an inside cabin with no windows.  But one wall in the cabin has been turned into a video screen which will display a live feed from fixed cameras mounted on the outside of the ship that will give you a video feed of the sea as it goes by.  While you are in port, you will be able to see a view of whatever is going on outside there as well.  If you don't want to see what is going on outside, you are free to turn it off whenever you like.  But it gives you the illusion of having a window without the hefty price tag.  

Some other things you should know about the ship is that it is just coming out of dry dock where it has undergone an extensive revitalization in which they added these virtual balconies in addition to a Flow Rider. Now, I don't know if you have ever seen a Flow Rider, but let me show you what that is....

The Flow Rider on Freedom of the Seas

It's an  onboard surfing simulator.  The water in the Flow Rider moves so fast, they say, (I've never seen this happen) that it can actually rip a guys swim trunks right off if the drawstring isn't tied. I will admit, that I have spent a number of hours watching the Flow Rider with my camera in hand just in case such a thing occurred. It's a blast to watch.  I don't think I'm brave enough to ever try it although I know a number of people who have.  During the dry dock they also added some new dining options and updated a lot of areas of the ship to make it fresher and more modern.  

This itinerary is significant too.  Let me tell you about it.  First of all Grand Cayman is one of my favorite places in the Caribbean.  It is one of those British islands in the Caribbean where the cars drive on the wrong side of the road and everybody is always happy.  They are famous for their sting rays. I've told you about them before. But just to recap, there is an area a mile or two off shore where there is a sandbar.  Back in the day the fishermen would clean their catch on the sandbar and throw the scraps overboard before coming in for the evening.  The sting rays would come around and eat the scraps each day and they became so used to this that when a boat stopped near the sandbar, sting rays came from all over in expectation of being fed. Now boats take passengers out to the sandbar which is now known as Sting Ray City and you get in the water with the rays and feed them squid by hand. It's a truly amazing thing to experience at least once in life. 

A ray swimming through our legs looking for a squid handout.

In addition to feeding the sting rays at Grand Cayman, they have an amazing turtle farm that I just love to visit and a rum cake factory.  Plus if you are so inclined, you can go to Hell....  That's the name of a little town on Grand Cayman where you can mail a post card from and the post mark actually reads "Hell".  It's a pretty cool little place with a coral rock formation above ground that is so freakish that the founder declared it to look just like Hell and the name stuck.

One of the other stops is Falmouth, Jamaica.  Falmouth is the newest port in Jamaica.  The new cruise terminal there is really nice and clean and there are about a million shops and restaurants.  Additionally, it is very close to Dunn's River Falls, so you can climb the falls without spending half a day on a bus to get there. 

The picture below was taken at Falmouth as we were leaving there last January on board Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas.  Do you want to see a sunset like this?  All you have to do is call me today. Don't miss out on this terrific opportunity, they don't come around that often. 

Have a great Thursday and stay warm!

www.placesuwillgo.com

smeyers@placesuwillgo.com

469-828-0254

Shopping Abroad

Sometimes, I wake up with 2 or 3 topics running through my mind that I just can't wait to share with someone.  Since I live alone and the cats, while good listeners just don't have the same travel interests that I do, I share them with you, the 12 or 13 people inclined to read my blog on a semi regular basis.  I've been super busy lately since returning from a 7 night cruise and working two bridal shows in the last month.  So I haven't had much time to share my travel thoughts with you.

This morning I knew that I had two clients who needed to be taken care of very early so that we could try to get their friends booked before prices to Punta Cana go up further.  So, I began that bright and early.  Now that I've done all I can do on that until I hear back from my clients, I find myself with a little bit of time on my hands and suddenly I can't remember a single topic that I have been putting off writing about.  Weird....

So, I think I'll just tell you about one of the purchases I made during my recent cruise.  On the day that we were in Roatan, I told you all about the great shopping area and beach at Mahogany Bay.  I probably bought more there than in any port I have been to in the last 5 years.  I don't generally like shopping on vacation.  It seems like a waste of time.  However, if I am going to shop, I like shopping in places that we don't have at home.  And I am a total sucker for those little markets in foreign places where it seems like everything is one of a kind and the person showing it to you is probably the daughter of the craftsman.  Then you walk 3 stalls down and they are selling the same "one of a kind" item for $3 less.  That's when I turn the artistic piece of Honduran woodwork over to see if it has a Made in Indonesia sticker on the bottom.  This place had a little bit of that.  But for the most part, it actually seemed pretty authentic which put me, Mom and Doris into a shopping frenzy.

I bought a really nice set of wooden dominoes since my dominoes were the ones that come in a tin and are the multi-colored train dominoes.  I always get embarrassed when family comes to my house and I have to whip out the childish train dominoes.  We're big game players and you would think that by now I would have invested more than $8 in a set of dominoes.  But I digress.  Mom and I each got Roatan polo shirts, because you can never have too many of those.  While I was paying for my dominoes I noticed that Mom was talking to a man at the booth next to the one I was in and I couldn't believe that she was about to make a purchase without me.  So, I quickly finished my transaction and rushed over to see what she was buying without me.  I'm not sure it would have mattered what it was, I just blurted out "I want the same thing she's getting!"  It turned out to be Honduran coffee and coffee flavored jelly.  I'm thinking that he probably was a little surprised to have made the sell to Mom and then was totally shocked when I tagged on.  I'll admit to you now that the coffee is still unopened and is sitting in my freezer.  The jelly is unopened as well and in the pantry.  I'll get around to using both eventually.

As the morning went on, and we made our way around to each stall in the little market the stalls became more sparse as you headed to the western side of the market.  Surprisingly there isn't a huge market for authentic Honduran handbags made from recycled beer tabs.  Shocking, I know!  But on that side of the market there was one stall that was doing a booming business.  In fact you had to get in line and as we got closer to the front, we found out that they were passing out samples of flavored Honduran rums.  Yep that's right....  Mom and I hit the jackpot.  They had 3 flavors, chocolate, coffee and something....  I honestly can't remember since they had me at chocolate and coffee.  I didn't even taste the third one.  It was probably some sort of fruit flavor.  You can never trick me with fruit when there is coffee or chocolate to be had even it it's only flavoring.

So Mom and I each tasted the chocolate and coffee flavored rums.  I have to tell you that the chocolate rum was really bad.  It just seemed wrong on so many levels once I had it in my mouth.  But the coffee was a grand slam!  Oh my!!!!  As I sipped it I thought about all the amazing drinks I could make with it and before I knew it I had a bottle of the 33% alcohol rum wrapped up and ready to take back to the ship.  So, here is my rum. As you can see there is a little bit missing from the bottle and I know what you're thinking..... Oh dear... Susan must have bought a bottle with a leak!!!!  Well, no.... You see the problem is that since I have returned from the cruise the weather here in Dallas has been pretty darn cold and you all know how much I hate cold weather so the other night I decided to test the coffee flavored rum in a little cup of Hot Buttered Rum.  Folks, I only have one word of advise.  Never use plain rum in your Hot Buttered Rum again.  The coffee flavor made this the best hot toddy I have every tasted and I'm a little bit of a hot toddy aficionado. Now the challenge is going to be making this bottle last until my next trip to Honduras or finding a way to get the same thing here.  Hmmmmm.... I think I am up to the challenge.

Have a good Thursday and if you have a similar item that you have purchased during your travels, drop me a note and tell me about it.  The world needs to learn about these amazing finds that we come across.

You Can Get It at the ABC Store

Guess where it's warm today.....  Hawaii!  Yep that's right, if you were in our 50th state today you wouldn't need a coat and ear muffs.  I find one of the nicest things about traveling to Hawaii is all of the stuff you don't need.

Pretty much the things you do need are sunscreen, a couple pairs of sunglasses in case something happens to one of them, a couple of swimsuits, a couple of cover ups, a few pairs of shorts and tops, a sundress and lots of flip flops.  Anything else you carry would just be frou-frou.  And who needs frou-frou in Hawaii?  I really think it would be possible to pack for two weeks in Hawaii with just a single rolling carry on.

One of the things I learned early on when I began researching Hawaii several years ago before I went was that people there take the concept of island time and attitude to a whole new level.  The other thing I learned is that anything you need in Hawaii can be obtained at an ABC Store.  If they don't carry it, you don't need it.  If you get on Trip Advisor and ask something like, I'll be spending the next 6 weeks in Hawaii and I only have a backpack to bring all my stuff in, what do I need to bring?  The responses would be something like this....

Answer 1:  6 weeks?  Bring 2 swimsuits so you can wash one each night in your hotel sink and hang it out to dry.  2 pairs of shorts, 4 tees, wear flip flops and bring another pair and you can go to the ABC Store for sunscreen, laundry detergent and toothpaste when you arrive.
Answer 2:  Don't listen to Answer 1, he doesn't know what he's talking about.  You need to wear hiking shoes on the plane so that you'll have them and pack 2 pairs of flip flops. Oh! Don't forget to bring a rain poncho!
Answer 3:  Aloha!  You're going to love living in Hawaii for 6 weeks with nothing but a backpack.  Forget the rain poncho.  Those things are $2 at the ABC Store.  All you need to bring with you is your favorite board shorts and your Aloha Spirit.  Anything else you bring is just stuff.
Answer 4:  They're all wrong.  You need to bring your drivers license and a credit card so you can rent a car.  You don't want to be in Hawaii for 6 weeks without a car!
Answer 1 Again:  No, no, no.....  Bring everything I told you and ignore Answer 4 completely.  You don't need a  rental car, parking on Oahu costs a fortune.  Just take The Bus!  It can get you anywhere efficiently.
Answer 4 Again:  HA!!!!  The Bus?!?!?!?  Are you kidding me?  Answer 1 must work for the mass transit system.  You would need a day and a half to get to Pearl City on The Bus.  Bring the following and don't read any other responses....

• Drivers license
• Credit card
• 2 pairs of flip flops
• 3 swim suits
• 2 pairs of shorts
• 3 tee shirts
• something to sleep in
• a cap

Then once you get here, stop at the first ABC store you pass AFTER RENTING YOUR CAR and get sunscreen, sunglasses, a bottle of water, a chair for the beach, snorkel gear, a power bar, a new cell phone, and a months supply of Advil, allergy medication, lip balm, and a beach towel.
Answer 2 Again:  Okay, Answer 4 has a pretty good list, but don't forget to wear the hiking shoes and buy a rain poncho at the ABC Store.
Answer 5:  Did anyone mention underwear?  You'll want that....
Answer 4 Again:  Hey Answer 5, we all assume that people on the mainland know to bring underwear.  But if they don't they can get it at the ABC Store.
Answer 6:  When you are at the ABC Store be sure and pick up one of those styrofoam ice chests to keep in your hotel room and get a 6 pack of beer or Cokes to keep at your hotel.  Don't buy ice.  You can get that for free at your hotel.  Aloha!!!!!
Answer 7:  You can also pick up a hibachi at the ABC Store and a can of Spam so you can cook dinner on your hotel's balcony each night.

Basically, I found out that the answer to just about every question asked on Trip Advisor was, "You can get that at the ABC Store once you arrive."  It's like the residents of Hawaii all are ABC Store stockholders and this is their strategy for continued growth in the business.  The big controversy on TA is always whether visitors should rent a car or rely on The Bus.  There are very clearly two camps on this argument and both have very strong opinions.

Before we went, we decided that both had valid arguments and we were trying to travel on a tight budget, so we decided to rely on The Bus for most of our getting around, but to rent a car for 2 days so that we could drive up to the North Shore and see a few of the places that weren't as easy to get to without a private car. After my experience, I can tell you that the people in Hawaii who say The Bus is the way to get around are either insane, employed by The Bus, or have never in their lives needed to arrive anywhere in a timely manner.

Oahu is 44 miles long and 30 miles across.  It shouldn't take more than an hour or two depending on traffic and red lights to get anywhere, right?  I once spent what felt like 3 days on The Bus driving from Waikiki to Pearl Harbor.  According to Google, it's a 27 minute drive.  But literally we were on The Bus for close to 2 hours after waiting more than an hour for The Bus to arrive so that we could get on.  If you go to Hawaii, RENT A CAR!  It's worth whatever you have to pay to do so just so that you don't spend half of your vacation angry over long bus rides that stop at every single corner in Honolulu.

Beyond that, sit back, relax, pack lightly and don't worry.  If you forget something you can always pick it up at the ABC Store.