Voyage to the Caribbean – Part 3 (2 Days, 1.5 Islands, 0 Plans, 0 Disappointments)

Voyage to the Caribbean – Part 3 (2 Days, 1.5 Islands, 0 Plans, 0 Disappointments)

So as we left off last time I had finely made it to the ship with my luggage and we were on our way. I spent the first night expiring the ship and visiting every nook and cranny that I could. It was a very interesting group of people who I was seated with in the dining room. Then I went to the Ivan Hoe Theatre for the welcome show which was amazing and caught the end of the sail away party on the Lido deck. On the second day it was a stop in St. Thomas on the US Virgin Islands. Let’s just say that I enjoyed myself greatly the previous night and on my list was to get some Advil as I had not packed any. I started wandering around the cruise terminal area and did not find anything overly interesting so I started to walk further down the street until I seen the sign for a K-Mart. It must have been 20 years since I last seen one of those places. I proceeded to the K-Mart and it was a 2 story shop and was air-conditioned so I browsed every isle for about a half and hour…

Voyage to the Caribbean Part 2 (Fatty should lose some weight)

While we left off on the last post I had arrived to San Juan but had no luggage as at this point it was still in Toronto. I got up later about 8am showered and went to the free continental breakfast buffet at the San Juan Airport Hotel. It was not the greatest of breakfasts but it was typical of other hotels I have previously stayed at. Before leaving the hotel I made a call to American Airlines to see if my bag was on its way on the flight I was explained last night. I was assured it was scanned and was in the air on its way to Miami. Since the bag was going to be delivered to the ship there was no point in waiting around the airport on a beautiful sunny winter’s day. I decided to go catch the bus but when I got to the bus stop I seen some people walking so I decided to as well. I was not sure which way I was headed from the airport as many of the signs were in a language I would later learn was Spanish. I had a map on a brochure that had only…

2014 Academy Award Predictions

Best Picture (Predicted) Prediction and Winner: 12 Years a Slave Best Actor in a Leading Role (Miss) Prediction: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) Winner: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) Best Actress in a Leading Role (Miss) Prediction: Judi Dench (Philomena) Winner: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Miss) Prediction: Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) Winner: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Miss) Prediction: Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine) Winner: Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) Best Animated Feature (Predicted) Prediction and Winner: Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho) Best Cinematography (Predicted) Prediction and Winner: Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki) Best Costume Design (Miss) Prediction: 12 Years a Slave (Patricia Norris) Winner: The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin) Best Directing (Miss) Prediction: The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese) Winner: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón) Best Documentary Feature (Miss) Prediction: The Square (Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer) Winner: 20 Feet from Stardom (Nominees to be determined) Best Documentary Short (Predicted) Prediction and Winner: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed) Best Film Editing (Predicted) Prediction and Winner: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger) Best Foreign Language Film (Predicted) Prediction and…

Voyage to the Caribbean (Getting to San Juan)

I decided fairly last-minute to try out taking a cruise. So I booked the Carnival Valor to add five new countries to my list. I went into the trip with very few expectations as the trip was strictly to add countries to my list. I booked the trip with a travel agent for a change as I was finding it difficult to find a flight to San Juan, and I wanted to get insurance since the weather van be uncertain this time of year. I booked the trip with Maritime Travel since they seemed decent with their travel show the week before. I got up early that morning to take an uneventful flight to Toronto and then experience the pain it was to go through pre-clearance to enter the USA. The flight with American Airlines was a different experience I had a good view of the wings and the screw heads all had cracked paint on them and it freaked me out. I had to transfer flights in Miami so I checked out the airport. I had dinner at the Clover Irish Pub and watched some Olympic coverage. I had the Sheppard Pie and it was to die for. In…

2013 the Year of Firsts!

2013 the Year of Firsts!

After the mess of a year 2012 was my New Year’s resolution was that 2013 was going to be a year of firsts. This year also seemed to acquire a slogan as well due to my Contiki trip, and that was #noregrets. Now I know that I have ignored updating here as often as I should in favour of quick tweets, Facebook posts, and Instagrams. For the year-end post I thought I would take a moment to list my firsts for the year (in no particular order). 1. Had a real birthday celebration. 2. First time in Monaco and Liechtenstein (small enough to be a single first). 3. Went to an adult costume party for Hallowe’en. 4. Exceeded my custom’s limit. 5. First major out-of-town music festival. (Osheaga) 6. My first “snowboard”. 7. Tried out a few new restaurants. (Decimal 81, Britt’s, Lemongrass) 8. Volunteered for my first theatre event. (Fundy Fringe Festival) I have also included below a gallery of some of this years best moments that I have photos of.