Our first fishing trip since returning :)

Me and luke have just finished our second week back at work and have the weekend off together so we have decided to go fishing at chiddingstone castle :) we fished here a few times before we left & really enjoyed it. Its very calm and peaceful and nobody ever fishes here which always seems odd to us as its a really beautiful place to fish :) 

We decided not to get up at the crack of dawn as we had been everyday this week so we got to the castle around 10 and found a spot in the corner near the bridge. Its was a warm day but the clouds and breeze made it a little chilly for me ! So luke set up the bivy and bed chair for me! I love it ! Fishing is so relaxing, i love sitting in the bivy with my magazines or the ipad just chilling and after a couple of hours i get up and have a fish :) i love it.

....perfect relaxation for me 

Lukes hobbie has always been fishing he loves it and is very good at it, and i love that he has taught me and we can do it together :) so as luke sets up we spot loads of carp, more then we have seen here before! Theres at least 10 swimming around together and we saw a few lunking out of the water ! Pretty much as soon as luke had set up the rod was going! And he had his first carp! There not a bad size in here either ! Luke was catching fish all day and i even caught a couple! It was great fun :)

We spent the whole day here and luke caught over 20 fish! I love watching him fish its very therapeutic! The fish he caught here were also very pretty and some looked like they hadnt been caught much! We had a lovely picnic and chatted about our trip......reminissing! It was just what we needed after a long week ....a day fishing! 

Celebrating my birthday :)

We decided to spend my birthday at mum & dads we loved it there, and there was a lot to do, we had planned to go on the thursday and come back on the sunday afternoon, my birthday was on the friday!  I was turning 27 and felt very old! So decided i would be 21 again!! When we got there mum was at work so me, luke and dad took a walk into town, there were a few bits we needed and it was a lovely day so decided to go for a walk through town and back along the quay.

Luke cooked everyone dinner this evening...chilli con carne! And it was delicious he makes it very well :) we then went for a walk around poole park which is just behind mum and dads apartment it was a lovely evening and we wanted to feed the ducks! There is also gym equipment at this park which we all had a go on! 

The next day i turned "21" again! Mum was working so me, luke and dad decided to go out for the day so we went to "the blue pool" it was a lovely lake that had a unique turquoise blue colour to it, it was really pretty we had a lovely walk around it, dad had let me use one of his good cameras today so i was taking some great pics, we had a hot drink and some jaffa cakes and then went and had a look at the wearham bears collection :) it was a great afternoon....

We went back and all got ready for going out for a birthday meal, dad had found a lovely restaurant down on the quay and it was also classic car night so we had a walk down the quay to look at all the cars and a wonder around all the lovely seaside shops, and then had some dinner it was a lovely evening and it was so nice walking back along the quay.....

We finished the night off with a cup of tea and mum had made me a lovely birthday "cake" it was her specialty lemon and lime ginger nut cheesecake it was bloody gorgeous.....

We couldnt decide what the weather was going to do on the saturday so we had a lazy morning, me and mum went into town and then in the afternoon we all went to corfe castle :) i hadnt been there for years and luke had never been there! The rain held off the whole afternoon :) we love looking around castles and looking at history and the village of corfe is so lovely and pretty it was a great afternoon :)

That evening we decided to go fishing down on sandbanks beach! We had bought our little telescopic rods with us and luke and dad were going to fish off the rocks :) we got there and found a great spot at the end of sandbanks beach on the rocks, luke set it all up, and then put both the rods out and when the rods went luke told dad to pick the rod up and reel it in! Dad was a bit rusty as he hadnt been fishing for a while, but they caught a few fish....plaice....

It was a really great evening, i had a go at spinner fishing but didnt catch anything, and mum went for a swim! It was a great couple of hours and something we will definately be doing again! 

We had such a great time at mum and dads we loved there apartment it was so lovely and very close to everything it was a great place to get away for a break :) we were off home now as we both started work this week and needed to prepare! But what a great end to our year off.

Back to reality !!!!

We have both returned to work now, our long break has come to an end we are now back to reality! I started work on monday the 21st july and luke started on the tuesday, the first thing i will say is that the commute was a shock to the system!! I work in north london and luke is also working back in london at moorgate near the ghurkin! So its quite a commute! We was both excited about returning to work one reason was because we both enjoyed our jobs and was looking forward to getting back to it and the routine and the second reason was because we wanted to start earning money to save for a mortgage the sooner we start saving the sooner we can have a place of our own a place to call our home. 

My first day back at work was all a bit of a blur i just floated around helping the others and catching up on all the new bits and pieces, i met the new deputy sisters and new patients. I didnt have any patients for the whole of the first week which was nice because i had so much to catch up on i needed that week just to get up to date! And the second week i had my own patients and did 4 long days so was pretty bloody tired! But although being very tired i was loving being back at work and soon realised how much i loved my job and had missed it! I of course missed all of my amazing colleagues and it was great seeing them all again :) all in all a good start.

Luke started back on the tuesday and he also found the commuting very tiring! He was working monday to friday and wasnt getting home until 18.45 and he was leaving around 06.30! He felt a bit like i did at first like he had forgotton things and was slower then he was before and thats exactly how i felt! But we had been out of the work place for almost a year and it would take a couple of weeks for us to get used to it again and actually after 2 weeks it was like we had never left! 

Because we both work long hours its so important that when we have days off together we really enjoy the day and relax and do something we want to do, it is so tiring commutng to london and unless you do it its hard to really appreciate how tiring it is, we choose to work there so its our choice but thats because its giving us the best of our careers at this point in our lives! I think we appreciate the concept of a early night now! So we dont feel to tired at work! God we are old!! 

Although its been tiring getting back to reality its also been a very happy and exciting time for us, as this means the saving can now begin again for our next chapter.

Visiting mum and dads new home in poole :)

So whilst we were away my parents moved from our lovely childhood home to an apartment in poole, and while i was very happy for them it was quite sad not to come home to that house that was my home for so many years and as odd as it seems i never said goodbye to it! I was so busy and stressed before we left that it didnt even enter my head! However my parents dream has always been to live by the sea and after a long long search they have found there dream home by the sea. And we were on our way to see it for the first time and we couldnt wait.

We had left tonbridge very late due to some unforscene stressful circumstances and so that ment we didnt get there until gone 11pm, and we were so bloody tired we had only been back 2 days and it had been Very full on 2 days and the latter part very stressful :( we just couldnt wait to get there and relax, and of course i was very excited as we hadnt seen my mum and dad since last year! When we arrived we were so relieved It was so great seeing them we had a big group hug, and walked into there lovely apartment building and there was a welcome home sign on the door! And as we walked in there was more banners and loads of chocolate and biscuits! Dad and mum had made us a huge hamper of all the things we missed while away it was so so nice and just what we needed! The apartment was lovely and although we had seen it very briefly once when mum and dad went to take some measurements before we left we had never seen it with them in it! And as soon as we walked in we loved it ! It was so homely, spacious and very very nice, we immediately thought we could live here!! We all had a cup of tea and had a brief conversation and then went to bed, the jet lag was so tiring and we couldnt wait to just lie down.

We tried to get up at a reasonable time the next day to try to get back to the time zone, we had a chilled out morning and then took a walk into town which was so close! It was such a great town lots of little shops, cafes and a lovely cafe type shop that made homemade pasties! And they were so delicious! And cheap! Everything was cheap down here! We wondered back through town taking and along the quay taking in the views it really was a lovely place to live :) that evening dad cooked us toad in the hole! This was one of lukes fave dishes that my dad makes ! He does make it pretty bloody well! It was so scrummy! 

We stayed with my mum and dad for just under a week and a lot of the time we were sorting things out that needed to be sorted out, catching up and putting our holidays video onto dvds! We did that every morning there was over 10 hours worth so it was going to take a long time! We visited many places....sandbanks (which was just down the road!), christchurch, old harrys rocks, the new forrest there were also a few local places we went to....poole park etc, we really wanted to see as much as we could but we were so tired! Coming back to so much stress really took it out of us and we felt well and truly knackared.

We also enjoyed some gorgeous home cooked food while we were there, dad always cooks lovely food and we werent dissappointed he made us some lovely meals including some vegi stuff which was so tasty :) 

We also found time to see my uncle rodders and auntie chris on a trip to southampton apple store to get lukes phone fixed it was great to catch up and show them our photo books....

We absolutely loved seeing where mum and dad lived it is such a lovely place to live, so much to see and do so close by, the town is lovely and "hotel avenel" as we now call there home is perfect and i am so pleased that they are now where they want to be and they are so happy, they work so hard they deserve it, and we will be enjoying many weekends away there :) what a lovely relaxing week with mum and dad :) we were now on our way home with a car full of stuff! Including a doublebed mum and dad had given us! We was not looking forward to putting that together ! But was looking forward to getting in our own bed :)

Surprising a few of the most important people in our life :)

When we walked through arrivals at heathrow i saw my auntie alison and gary standing there holding a welcome home banner....waving at us with great big smiles :) i was immediately emotional and just cried! I think all the stress if the last few days, plus the fact our flight was delayed and i thought i might miss the chance to pick chester up from school! Was a bit emotional ! And i think we were both glad to be home :)

We had planned to come home a month early but had told only a few people as we wanted to surprise a few people :) we hadnt told my nanny o, chester, millie or luke best friend matt. The first port of call was going to be my sisters house where we would greet our little millie poppins....when we arrived there was a banner on the door saying welcome home :) we hadnt expected that so it was lovely :) we arrived at sams house and she had shut the curtain so millie wouldnt see us....i knocked on the door and got down on the floor so i was her level....sam opened the door and there millie was....i think she was a little shocked because she stood there for a good few seconds and just stared at me! And then she came in for a hug and I squeezed her.....

....i was so happy :) i finally got to give my millie poppins a hug, she was a bit shy at first but that only lasted about 5 mins and then she came in for another hug and patted me on the back! She also hugged luke and patted him, we was over the moon that she was so comfortable with us she had only been 18 months old when we left and although we had facetimed them at least once a week she was still very young and we wasnt sure how she would react but this just goes to show that we have a great relationship with our niece :)

Next stop was surprising chester. We were going to pick him up at school and he had no idea that me and luke would be greeting him! I could not bloody wait! His teacher came out and noticed my sister standing there so called chester and i bent down to be at his level and as he came out and got closer to us i called his name and he smiled and came in for a hug :) and as he hugged me he squeezed me so tight and i shed a little tear.....

It was a beautiful moment with my nephew i was so touched at his reaction he obviously missed his auntie sarah, after hugging me he ran over to luke and jumped on him! He really loved his uncle luke and was very pleased he was home after there hug chester punched luke! Which was standard protocol between chester and luke! 

When we got back to my sisters we all had a cuppa and luke was straight on the trampoline with the kids, we were both knackared but knew we had to stay up, my sister cooked us a lovely meal which we really appreciated we had missed our english food! She also made the most amazing chrunchie cheesecake ! God it was so tasty! She had put up banners for us and we had a balloon saying welcome home it was lovely we took a few pics for the album.

The next day sam was going to take us to nanny o's she had no idea we were coming home and we had decided sam would go in first with millie and then she would come out saying she had forgotten something and bring us back in! And when sam went into the living room she told nan she had bought some visiters! And in we walked! Nan was so surprised she shed a tear and that made me shed a little tear! I was so happy we managed to surprize her and she was very surprised and very happy to see us it was lovely we had a lovely cup of tea and a catch up before we had to leave, but I was over the moon that i had got to see my nan.....my world....the queen bee.

After a long day fixing lukes car and getting our room ready we didnt have time to do what we wanted next which was to surprise matt! Although we did surprise him it wasnt how we wanted it to be! But it was nice and he was surprised! 

I really wanted to surprise my cousin becky we are close and i was gutted that we just completely run out of time :( so i sent her a message on route to mum and dads and then announced to the world we were home! Everything went as we wanted it to regarding the surprises which was lovely it was great seeing those special people after all this time :) 

We are now enroute to mum and dads for a week of relaxation....hopefully!!

Parting thoughts....

Our lives could have been so completely different if we hadnt become a couple, but eventually our paths met and we followed our hearts :) ....and its because we did this we have experienced this wonderful trip together and made some amazing memories to last a lifetime. We have overcome many obstacles together before and during our trip that have really tested us as a couple, and things that have tested us on our own and have come out stronger for getting through it together. Nothing stays perfect and we are not perfect but together we are a good strong team and thats very important. 

I have learnt a lot whilst travelling and i am sure luke has to. A lot of things that have happened in my past (with boyfriends, car accident, family feuds etc) used to bother me and stress me out and its not until we have come travelling that i have truly realised that all of that doesnt matter and it is not worth all the horrible feelings that go with the stress. You live once and once only dont spend it being angry with yourself or others if something bothers me i will confront it, my life will not be affected by what others say and do, I will be putting myself first as i always should have done and as luke always tells me to do. Sometimes it takes something massive to happen in your life to give you a kick up the arse that you should of had a long time ago. I am so lucky to have a wonderful family around me which alot of people dont have and i have a great group of friends who i am bless to have. 

Unfortunately me and my sister havnt always seen eye to eye but i am hoping this will change now that we have had some time apart. I missed her and her family whilst away, i am proud of what my sister has achieved so far.....a mortgage, marriage and two absolutely amazing kids she really has been blessed with the best kids ever i love them so much :) we are two different people with two different personalities and i am the best auntie i can be to my niece and nephew they are my world. We are two very lucky girls with the best parents anyone could wish for who support us in everything we want to do and we had a Great childhood and were very lucky. Its time to forget what bothers us as lifes to short. Lets enjoy our future as sisters. Your my only sister and i love you to bits.

We want to give a massive thanks to my mum and dad, without your support, guidance, love and encouragement we would have struggled to go on this trip it was always a dream of ours to go but havng you both there has really helped give us the extra confidence we needed to go on this trip, your constant advice and support througout our travels was also a huge help. I feel so bloody lucky to have the parents i have what a inspiration they are, they have always helped, encouraged and supported me and my sister in everything we have always wanted to do, never been negative and bought us up so well that we both will always enjoy a happy life. People say there is no perfect parent but our parents are perfect and i feel extremely lucky to have them. So thank you mum and dad for being the best of the best.

Travelling has really made me think and feel differently about life in a good way! and whilst travelling i sat with my thoughts and this is what i was thinking.....Everybody has bad things, bad experiences they have had to live through in their life which is why you should never judge someone by there cover everyone is fighting a battle that you dont know about just be kind to everyone. No body is perfect as everybody finds faults in everyone else but believe your life is as perfect as it can be as if you are happy you life will be perfect in your eyes, and isnt that all that matters? 

Things happen in life and they often present you with a choice you may make the wrong choice at the time and wish you hadnt but there will be a time that you can make another choice and make a right turn instead of a wrong one, these choices will appear regularly and its down to you to eventually choose the right path for you and follow your heart as when you do you will be rewarded with a fun, happy and relaxed life. Getting to the good times through the hard is a challlenge but when you get there....god its worth it. There was a time in my life where i just wasnt happy and didnt know what to do i thought i was going know where and i am sure my family and friends thought that to! But i am so glad i am now on this path which is by far the best path and right one for me! Follow your heart and your dreams will come true :) whilst travelling i really was thinking very deeply and it made me just reflect on certain things that have happened in my life already and the paths i took, but one things for sure i am so glad my path finially took me to luke and we have experienced travelling together.

I have found my prince after kissing far to many frogs ! and am so happy and am looking forward to our future together, finding someone to spend your life with isnt about finding someone you can live with its finding someone you cant live without and finding someone that you can have fun with, travelling as a Couple is a make or break thing and i am glad we have become stronger, we appreciate each other much more now and have had such a laugh finding each other and finding ourselves its been a great journey! And one we will never forget! Would we do it again.......no! Once was enough! Well.....maybe but very differently. The memories we have made together will last a life time and we have talked about the things we have done many times since being back, we really tested our limits whilst away and really pushed ourselves to do different things and having the support of each other really made a difference, what a epic 10 months and trip of a life times one we will never forget. Now to get excited for the next big chapter....saving for a mortgage & buying a place of our own. We cannot wait.

Our conclusion to our world adventure....

Wow.....what a amazing 10 months we have just had :) we have experienced so much in that relatively short time and seen a lot of different culture & countrys. Luke has always wanted to travel and its also been my dream since i was little to travel so it has been a dream come true 10 months and i feel so privileged and happy to have created these wonderful memories with my best friend.... my boyfriend luke. 

We have had a absolute blast together and seen many different countries and cultures. Lukes fave country was fiji followed by new zealand and then america. He absolutely loved fiji, it was calm, peaceful and the fijians were so friendly it was very him. My faves were new zealand, fiji & america were next on a par! Everyone knows that america is and always has been my fave country of all, but new zealand was just gorgeous. We both really loved asia but we didnt realise just quite how much until we left asia and moved on. When we look back now and when i eventually read through some of my earlier blogging i am sure we have moaned about asia but as we reflect on our time there we realised we loved it more then we first thought & we had a pretty good time there, sometimes it takes time to realise what you really did enjoy and what you hated!!

Unfortunately we didnt like australia and even when we reflect now we still hate it :( it doesnt make us as angry now but we do feel a bit bitter about it, however it was our choice to be there that long, we really thought we would enjoy it but it turned out to be everything we hated :( others parts of oz may be different and we certainly enjoyed sydney and new south wales but in general it is not somewhere we would really go back to.

We learnt some very valuable lessons travelling some useful lessons other lessons we learnt the hard way. It took a lot of planning for this trip, the best part of 18 months and a lot of saving and although we were very very organised there were still things we missed out, mistakes were made and there was also still a lot of things we had to sort out and book whilst we were travelling, a lot of the time this proved difficult as wifi was either very expensive or crap! We often wondered how other travellers coped with the amount of things you had to organise for travellng in advance! However it didnt take us long to realised most other travellers didnt organise bugger all and just drifted from place to place! It really mythed us ! We just couldnt do that! I suppose everyone is different we like to know where we are going next and where we are staying! 

Living out of a bag for 10 months was undoubtedly one of the more difficult things we had to cope with, and it was one thing we didnt even think about before we left!! Never underestimate how stressful it is living out of a bag for a long amount of time!!

When i read through my blog at some point i am probably going to think "god i moaned alot!!" But the fact is travelling for a long amount of time, making sure we always have somewhere to Stay, budgeting for different countrys and trying to do as much as you can on a small budget is bloody hard work and very tiring! Yes we were so lucky to do what we have done and i feel bloody proud we did it, but would we do it again.....no!!

Travelling has made us appreciate all the lovely things we have at home and all the lovely people we have supporting us and encouraging us, without all the constant love and support of our fam and friends this journey could have been very different so we couldnt thank them all enough :)

We want to explore more of the world but would never leave again for that amount of time, it was a bloody good experience and we loved it but i am a home girl at heart, luke couldnt really care and would leave again with no problems! But if we ever did do a smaller travelling trip we would save a lot more money and do things how we like.....in luxuary!! Travelling certainly is a experience you will never forget and pretty much a once in a lifetime oppourtunity and despite our moans and groans at certain points we really enjoyed it.

So are we sad its all over?....yes we are, but we also feel slightly relieved! We are excited to get back to normality and work actually!! We both really enjoy our work and cannot wait to get back and start saving for the next chapter in our lives :) 

Before and after our travels !!!!

Cant believe its home time....

So here we are at miami international airport awaiting boarding our flight home and we just cannot believe its time to fly home! We are having mixed emotions! We are so pleased we got to the airport checked in our bags with no problems and are now just waiting patiently to board ! I feel like the stress of our journey is over and we can now relax and get excited to see everyone at home :) 

We havnt told many we are coming home as we are hoping to surprise a few ! The first candidates being chester and millie! And we just cannot wait to see there little faces! We are surprising chester by picking him up at school! He will be very surprised, next we hope to surprise lukes best friend matt, then my nan and hopefully my cousin becky if we have enough time before going to my parents! 

Its a very exciting time and been a long time coming! We are missing so many small things that most people do not even think about.....hanging your washing on the line and having nice aired clothes to wear, having a oven! And having a bath! All small things but things we cannot wait for! Whilst we are sad our adventure is coming to an end we are so ready to come home. This last 10 months have gone so quickly we just cant believe its home time !

The first person/people we will see will be my auntie alison and uncle garry they are very kindly collecting us from the airport and we cannot wait to see them, a great start to our return home :) we have kept in contact but neither of them have facebook so it will be nice to have a catch up before we get really busy with sorting things out on our return.

We had a minor drama at the airport, whilst boarding security came and evacuated everyone as there was a security breech which was a little scary but it worked out ok in the end apart from the 1hr and a half delay ! I was so worried we wouldnt get to my sisters in time to collect chester and surprise him.

Before we knew it we were nearly home, the flight had been ok although it was a rather small plane with limited leg room, which we were shocked about as it was virgin atlantic and they were usually pretty good. 

We couldnt believe this was it! We have lived a dream for ten months and now we were going home, we were very ready to see our friends & family and go back to a "normal" life. We were actually looking forward the next chapter.

Last minute worries....

We all no that going on holiday can be stressful! The holiday is relaxing its just all the prep, this trip has had its ups and downs and for some reason a lot of stress and panic was at the end! The first thing i will talk about is packing!

I am soooooo fed up of packing and unpacking, packing and unpacking! Its really grating on me! And packing to come home is no better! Obviously we had to much and the cases were over weight! AGAIN! And the handluggage bags were 10kg + each! It took a lot of rearranging of heavy things and some hard decisions to leave things behind to get the weight down and they are still 1 kg overweight! But theres sod all i can do about it i really have given up! I cannot wait to go on a normal holiday where i just take my handbag to the airport instead of breaking my back with a 10kg+ backpack and handbag and a jumper to carry! Its not glamourous and its not me! 

Next there was Lukes car :(..... Now most people with a "older" car will more then likely have a Few repairs a year to do, due to wear and tear etc, it feels like it never ends amd they always think "why does this always happen to me!" We think that sometimes! But it cant be helped cars break and thats that really! Lukes car needed a repair due to corrosion and it was just sods law it has happened a few days before we come home and we have no money until we start work in a couple of weeks! After feeling stressed about this for a while we chatted to both parents and felt better :) its so hard when things happen and they are completely out of your hands, and its hard not being there when something like that happens ! Because you are helpless! However hopefully things will be ok when we return.

The next and quite serious worry was a electrical fire in our room the evening before our departure! We had just finished chatting to lukes mum luke went to the toilet i Was sitting on the bed, he came out of the bathroom and said there was smoke coming out of one of the plug sockets....i thought he ment the smoke was coming from a socket with something plugged into it, but there was nothing plugged into it but there was thick black smoke pouring out of the socket, i quickly jumped up and said we need to get out, i grabbed our phones, lukes wallet, the ipad and video camera! All the important things!! Luke grabbed our shoes! And We went outside to our balcony, i was in my pjammas! Luke ran down to reception and informed them and they said they would send someone!! Well time ticked by and nobody came, meanwhile this most awful smell was seeping out to the balcony, luke ran back in to grab our passports ! We really did think the worst and just thought we needed to get our passports! Luke was very concerned about our luggage ! I really wasnt even thinking about it! I was so concerned about the electrical fire that was happening! Still no one came. So i bolted down there in my pjs and spoke to someone on the tickets desk as she was the first person i saw, they were really concerned and said i had to speak to someone on the front desk which luke had already done! I just bardged into the que and litrally said we have a fire upstairs and no one has come and to make it worse the smoke alarm had not gone off! They assured me someone was coming i went back to luke who was still waiting and eventually the security guard and maintanence man turned up! They walked in and it stank! And then the maintanence man proceded to do something so dangerous i cant really believe it! He plugged in the hairdryer to the plug socket that was smoking and turned it on! I couldnt believe it, he was crazy he could of been electricuted ! He tried two plug sockets with the hairdryer for what reason i dont no! Because the fact of the matter is the smoke had poured out, the room stank and it was pointless and dangerous! He then unscrewed the plug with a normal screw driver not even a special electricians screw driver! And thats when he saw inside the plug and saw there was water running down the electric colum in the wall! When he saw that he said you will need to be moved rooms....which we already new ! We were not going to stay in there it was dangerous and it stunk, he said someone would come up to help us with our luggage and help us to another room, well we quickly got our stuff out of the room luckily i had nearly finished the packing so there was only a few loose bits to pick up, then we waited on our balcony and waited and waited, it was getting dark i was still in my pjs and no one came! We was both so so angry and i went down to reception again in my pjs and was fuming i litrally told them how angry i was and what had happened and that i wanted a room sorted out now and then i want to speak to a manager about a refund. They gave me the key for the new room and the manager was busy so said he would ring me, i just wanted to get our stuff to the new room, finish the packing and have a bath ! It was gone 9pm now and we had a long journey tomorrow, we got all our stuff to our room on our own no one came to help us, and as soon as we got there luke went to get us a pizza and i rang the manager fuming! I explain i wanted a refund and he said he would be contacting virgin as we booked through them i took his full name and assured him i would be in contact and i would be contacting virgin myself, he gave us free breakfast and a fruit basket! But we was un happy, this was not what we needed or wanted before travelling and besides that it was so dangerous, we went back the next morning to take so pics of the room etc to support our letter of complaint! And to our horror nothing had been done or touched, the room was how we left it, all lights on no body had enusred the room or the enviroment was safe, and it still stunk, what a evening! 

The last thing that stressed us out was our journey and luggage restrictions, it wasnt the flight tho! Our flight was departing from miami international. We had to get a public bus to the lynx central station in downtown orlando and then walk to the megabus stop to catch our bus to miami, we was worried about relying on public transport and also the megabus had really strict guidelines on size of luggage and weight and people had been refused! So i was really worried about being refused onto the bus and then panicking about how we would get to the airport that was 4 hours away!! However we got the public bus fine, then walked to the megabus stop fine and then got on the bus fine! No problems! Worrying over nothing!! And then we got to miami airport fine and we decided there to take stuff out of   Our cases and put them into another bag to prevent all the worry and stress of the case being over weight! 

So theres it is the things that we most worried and stressed about just before our return! What a looooong 24 hours it was and of course we didnt sleep as we never do before we travel! So that was a stressful 24 hours and now we were going into the next 24 hours which would be very tiring! We had a hour journey to the lynx central station a 4 hour journey to miami airport and then a 6 hour wait for our flight then a 9 hour flight and 2 hour journey to my sisters ! Its going to be tiring but oh so worth it when i see my little chester and millie! And the rest of the fam ! Cannot wait its all a surprize and they are going to be super excited!

Much needed items of travel.....dont leave home without them!

So as we are nearing the end of our travels i have decided to write a blog on the absolute essential things that we packed that we could not have travelled without! (Well we could of ....but it would have been disastrous!) I could write a blog on the things we packed and didnt need and either threw away or sent home but that would take all day!! All the things mentioned in this post have been so important to us and really a vital piece of kit! More then Half of the things mentioned were gifts so thank you to everyone that bought us these wonderful very useful things :)

I will start with a small collection of things....

Starting on the left we have paracetamol! OMG this was litrally a lifesaver on many occasions! As many of you know i suffer with headaches and some pretty awful migraines and while paracetamol do pretty much f**k all for my migraines they do help with the "after" headaches and any small headaches we may get, these were also useful when i hurt my ankle surfing at byron bay! And also when luke hurt his back in asia (well the masseuse hurt his back!) the savlon is next...we had normal savlon and savlon that soothed insect bites! Both were used multiple times. We then have the 50% deet insect repellent! My sister was the first person to buy us this and what a life saver it was! We ended buying around 5 or 6 before we left and we have used every single one and they are the best insect repellent we have ever used! We highly recommend it. Tiger balm...we actually bought this in singapore but this to has been a lifesaver for my migraines. Plasters.....well everyone needs a plaster in there bag! And these had savlon in them to! Used many times! And the last thing is ear plugs! These have been the reason i have slept a few times! Especially during our mekong river experience when we stayed at a hill tribe and i just couldnt bare the sound of all the sounds of the animals, insects and everything else that moves in the night! These are the reason i slept for a short while! All of the above is a absolute essential part of kit for any traveller! Do not leave home without them.

Next we move onto shoes......water shoes....

We bought these in sport and soccer before we left for around £6 each! What a bargain and they lastest nearly the whole time we just threw them away after the cruise as they had holes in! And mine never really became clean again after our elephant sprayed me from head to toe in dirt! If you are going to water parks, beaches you will need and use them! And they are so light and easy to carry so you can squeeze them in your backpack pretty much anywhere! 

Next we move onto a gift my sister bought us....something so simple....yet essential...torches with whistles!....

These torches are also light and relatively small so you can put them anywhere in you bag :) we had one blue and one green and at the bottom of the torch there was a whistle which would have been great and very useful for a emergency, we didnt have to use the whistle but it was great knowing it was there! The torches themselves had a light at the top which shone your usually light colour and then the clear tube you can see flashed (either blue or green!) light or you could change it to still light, these were very handy in all aspects of our travel. Do not leave your home without a torch you will regret it!

Next on the list is something we have taken out with us most days since we left last year....a umbrella and water proof clothing!....

On the left is the umbrella it is tiny and small enough to fit into a small day bag i think i need to thank my mum for that i am sure it was hers! And next to it it lukes water proof jacket! We did have water proof trousers also but sent them home! The umbrella goes without saying....you need to pack a small one! No need for a explanantion! The water proofs we packed because we were spending a lot of time in asia in rainy season and they were small and light so didnt take up much room! And we are so glad we packed them we have used the jackets multiple times and are still using them now and the trousers we used also just not us much! I remember one day in vietnam not taking them out and we regretted it! We got absolutely drench in your average asian afternoon "shower" and we just couldnt get our clothes and shoes dry so take it from me you should at least pack a light weight jacket. It can get quite hot in the humidity but at least your clothes and you will be dry! We have also used them throughout our trip a lot so have to thank my nanny o for those they were a xmas present. 

The next thing was a gift from my cousin kim and it has turned into a real personnal item and keepsake...

This was a leaving gift for us and what a lovely gift it was :) so thank you so much a keepsake for a lifetime. Inside this lovely book is a whole host of different chapters that you fill out before, during and after your travels ! And it is like a miny diary, there is places to stick stuff, write stuff and put your souvenirs in!...it is very very me and i have been filling this out throughout our journey and i love looking through it now so thank you so much for this lovely gift, a gift that will last a lifetime.

The next on the list is something so simple....a mini sewing kit and pack of tissues!....

The sewing kit was my mums idea....obviously my mum has all the good ideas and best advice! Thats what mums are for :) i didnt sew before we left i just took it to my mum and she would work miracles! But since we left i have had to sew any buttons, holes and anything else thats needed sewing! I believe our case at one point! And although my sewing did not look pretty i definately needed this sewing kit! And the tissues....well....who leaves the house without a pack of tissues?!.....so why would you leave the country without them! Case closed!!

The next thing we found many travellers did not have which was extremely odd to us....a camera!! Well we had a few.....a water proof one, a normal one, a video camera and our phones! A little extreme maybe but we didnt want to miss a moment ! We also had a mini tripod, and a connecter that our memory card fits in and then we can upload our pics to the ipad!....

So on the left is the connecter...this was a present from my mum and dad, and it was something we knew nothing about until my dad mentioned it! So thank you dad :) we loved uploading our pics throughout our adventure and being able to put them on facebook for "safety" incase the ipad broke or we lost the pics we still had them on facebook, it really added a piece of mind for us, the next thing we bought in rotorua in new zealand...it was a mini tripod! We had bought a small kodak tripod with us but this one was even smaller and would fit in my handbag or in lukes pocket it was perfect, i also bought my dad one and sent it to him i thought this is defo something he would use! And we have used it everywhere we have been, mostly to do self timers, it quickly screws onto our camera and then we quickly take self timers :) perfect bit of equipment! And then we have our water proof camera! We have had this for a while but this has proved to be the best camera ! We have a canon ixus aswell but unfortunately i dropped that in a lake when luke took me fishing before our trip :( so that had some water damage on the screen which ment our pics would have dark spots on if we zoomed in at all ! I was so annoyed as I wish i had taken the water proof camera that day fishing ! Typical me! The water proof camera has been so great during our travels but unfortunately we forgot to lock it when we went snorkelling in fiji so it is now well and truely dead ! But we are planning on getting the up to date version of this water proof camera when we return :) a water proof camera is such a great thing to taketravelling  and if you only take one camera you must take a water proof one :)

The next thing we bought in the 99p store!....water bladders....

We bought 3 before we left and the princess one is one of the them and the blue one is one we bought in oz as the other two broke, these are a great thing, these are just small 500ml ones but you can get massive ones you keep in your backpack and have a straw coming out! We loved that when we had drunk all the water we could roll it away and we also loved that we could hang it off anybag we were carrying.....much more effective then your average water bottle, and only 99p! Get yourselves a water bladder!

The next thing...our collapsable lunchbox....

We bought this at a kathmandu in queens town new zealand and we have used it nearly everyday since! We made our own lunch when we went out for a day in oz and kept it in this box, we also used it here in disney most days, either for wraps or sandwiches we made or for snacks it was such a valuable piece of kit for us and we will defo used it at home.

The next thing....water proof bag....

We bought this bag in laos and have used it everywhere! It is a water proof "sack" and has been very useful when going to the beach or down to the pool, it keeps everything dry when it rains and is very good at protecting things from the sand :) it also rolls small when you need to pack it :) 

The last thing is our dry sacks....

We bought many of these before we left and used them for our clothes, swimming stuff and our chargers and adapters. They are sacks that you roll shut that keep everything dry! We have many different sizes and we put all our clothes in two of the red ones and thats where they stayed for our whole trip! We obviously took them out to wear but when we travelled we kept them in these dry sacks and they worked perfectly for us, we also used one for our plugs just incase. You save so much room with these as they are airtight and roll really small so they are very useful.

I have mentioned just a selection of things we found the most useful here, there are many things we have used but these are the things we could not have been without, so thank you to everyone that bought us these great gifts and to everyone that bought us other things, everything came in handy and thank you to my mum and dad who bought us various things for xmas and birthdays and extra things we needed before we left, the biggest thank you is for our ipad mini! We could not have been without it, thanks mum and dad :) 

Packing for a long trip is so difficult especially if you have never done anything like it before as you think you need everything and the kitchen sink! But how many of you over pack when you go on holiday!?....everyone! Can you imagine how hard it was for us to pack so lightly for a year! It was so so hard i hated not taking all my home comforts and struggled with taking so little clothes but it turns out i didnt need them! And sent a lot of them home! We have learnt many lessons while travelling and learnt some very valuable lessons about packing lightly! And sadly most of these lessons you will only learn when you have made the mistakes! 

So there it is.....a different kind of post....an easy read! Thank you again to all that bought us these amazing gifts.

 

 

Walt disney world....take 2

So after getting off the ship with a pretty bad headache i am pleased to say that all of our shuttles back to lake buena vista went smoothly.... thank god and before we knew it we were checking into our florida hotel...."clarion inn" at Lake buena vista. I had stayed here before ten years ago and it was a nice hotel and when we got to our room we wasnt dissapointed ! The beds were a little smaller then what we were used to but the room was big, there was a tv and a bath! Perfect! We spent that sunday afternoon chatting to family and telling them about our wonderful cruise :) and then we decided to go to downtown disney, my headache wasn't much better but i wanted some fresh air. As soon as we got on the bus to downtown it started to rain really hard! Typical! So we litrally darted from shop to shop and then after a really nice sandwich in earl of sandwich we headed back, i was really starting to feel rough and definately had the beginings of a migraine, paracetamol, nurofen and tiger balm were doing nothing amd they had been working for most of the trip but not this time, i just settled in bed, luke made me a tea and we went to sleep i hoped it would be gone tomorrow.

We decided today to take the lynx bus to a super target store, we badly needed another case and a few other bits we knew would be cheapest in target, we had to get a bus from outside the hotel to magic transportation center and then change to another bus to take us to target, it was only around 6 miles from our hotel but it took us nearly two hours on the bus as we had to wait for the second bus for ages! And i still had a bad headache so really could of done without all the waiting around :( Anyway once there we had a lovely look around and i even found millie some frozen socks for $1! And we got some bits for lunch we decided we were going to make tortilla wraps for our lunches! With avocado :) we looked at the cases and they were just crap so we decided we would have to go back to walmart and look there. When we walked back to the bus stop we came across a sketchers shop that had a sale :) i had been looking for some work shoes for a while as i had none at home and the main thing was comfort! I had to have comfortable shoes, being on your feet for more then half of the day running around a ward like your feet are on fire is no fun in uncomfortable shoes! So i was hoping to find a cheap pair of sketchers! And i did, well luke found them! They were 70% off! So i got a pair of really good and comfortable shoes for around £23! And he also found me a pair of running trainers for $19 which is about £11! Something else i wanted as i am going to start jogging!! Hahahahaha when i get back! So a good pair of running shoes was a bonus! I was super pleased :) we then heard some almighty thunder and knew there was a storm coming we wanted to get on the bus before it absolutely poured down! But as we came out of the sketchers shop we walked past another shop that was like a department store and there was a sale in there aswell and they had luggage, we decided to have a quick look and we found a case! They had many on sale but most were crap material but i found a sketchers (ironically!) blue one, that was really strong material and had protection on the sides and was a decent size, and expandable :) we were pleased :) and it was $50 knocked down from $320! Bargain! We were very very pleased :) we caught the bus just in time before the rain started,the journey back wasnt so long on the way back but i just couldnt wait to get to the hotel i still had this stupid headache i had had since yesterday morning :( and it was horrible i needed to lay down and try to get rid of it. A good day all in all! 

Today we decided to visit magic kingdom we wanted to go late afternoon evening to see the wishes show as we didnt see the fireworks very well last time, we had a few fast passes and rode quite a few rides as in the evening it is less busy and then got a great spot in main street for the fireworks ! It was so good we just love magic kingdom shows they are just amazing. They really take your breath away we stayed in the park until close then stopped at dennys on the way home for some takeaway food :) it was scrummy :) 

After being super tired from getting back from magic mingdom at gone 2am we had a massive lay in until lunch time and then decided to slowly get up to venture to hollywood studios :) we had some fast passes for the afternoon. We left late afternoon and got to MGM at around 18.30, we didnt really have a plan today other then to see the fantasmic show and go on the toy story ride. When we first went in we decided to go to the muppets 3d show and then we met lightening mcqueen and tow mater! Luke took a few pics in this area of the park and then we sat down to eat the tortilla wraps i had made us! It was overcast today with a few light showers and it was actually a nice temp, we then went to toy story mania 3D shooting ride which we hadnt been on before as the que is always stupidly long! And omg it was a epic ride the best shooting ride we have ever been on! We cannot wait to go on it again! We then went over to art of animation where we learnt to draw dopey :) it was really good :) and because we went to that we missed the first showing of fantasmic! But we didnt mind we just sat and had a hot chocolate and planned the rest of our time in disney. 

We went in to the "hollywood hills amphitheatre" and the show began! And it was so amazing one of our faves and lukes says it one of the best shows in disney :) we just loved it, micky was the host and he was amazing, we loved the combination of water, lights, fireworks, the characters and boats its just a show like no other! And we just love it, something you will never get bored of seeing. We got our bus back to downtown hotel and then walked to our hotel, got back around half past midnight not to bad! 

Over the last couple of days we have been experiencing epcot and animal kingdom, epcot we did test track and living with the lands and then we wondered into the shop "mouse gears" purely for the aircon  and i stumbled across elsa doll! One of the dolls i have been looking for for millie for two months! And there it was infront of my eyes! I snapped it up and so did many others! They were flying off the shelves in front of me! We saw the epcot illuminations show that night and i remember last time we were here two years ago we werent so impressed with the show! But this time we found a good seat and sat and waited for an hour so we had front row seats! But unfortunately we still thought the show was not so good, it was ok but disney has some epic shows much better then this one so i dont think we will see it again when we return! We then spent the day at animal kingdom where we did all the things we wanted to do as we knew we wouldnt be coming back here again this trip :( we did everest, dinosaur ride, and went over to rafikis planet watch! And met chip and dale and rafiki, i also met daisy duck at animal kingdom :) when at rafikis island we went and cuddled some goats and cows i loved it :) we went straight to downtown disney from here and obviously on the way there it started to absolutely piss down your average florida heavy rain! You couldnt barely see in front of you for rain! But it got lighter when we arrived to downtown so we just took a lovely stroll and took some great pics of all the things they have there....

....the bikes in the harley shop

It was a good day and on the way back we ate at sweet tomato the best buffet i have ever eaten! So so good! 

We spent the weekend just chilling and recooperating, packing, getting things sorted for coming home, the parks were so busy on the weekends, we were going back to magic kingdom tomorrow and i couldnt wait i missed it already ! We are enjoyong our last few days here in florida, we simply cannot believe we will be home by the end of the week! 

Monday we decided on magic kingdom in the late afternoon evening, it really was getting hotter and hotter by the day! And quite honestly we could not cope with the heat in the day time plus the late evenings were less busy, we wanted to video the night show as when we last recorded it you couldnt hear the music and this was also the evening we had fast passes for the new seven dwarf mine train! 

We got a great spot for the show right in front of the castle and it was just amazing this was the third time we had seen it and it never fails to amaze us. We then went to meet rapunzel and cindarella! And over to the mine train which was closed and had been closed all day! We were so gutted i booked this fast pass three weeks ago and it was the only slot they had 23.35-00.35! I was hoping it would open ! We went on a few other things....little mermaid ride, met ariel, and then went back and they were testing it so we got in the que that started to form and waited around 15minutes and then decided to go to space mountain as it said the que was ten minutes, it was 23.45 and we didnt want to wait in this que for to long as we would miss out on other rides! And obviously as soon as we left the que and walked around the corner for space mountain the ride opened ! Typical! We had a fast pass for it but was hoping to get on it twice but when we got back to it the que was already 90minutes! Crazy! We went on it and we enjoyed it but thought it could have been better, not worth a two hour wait that people wait ! We then went to big thinder mountain and then we got to go on peter pans flight! Its a kids ride really! But the que is always over an hour! However it was only ten minutes so we went on it ! One more time on space mountain before the Park closed and then we went back to the hotel got in about 2.30! A excellent night!

Its now tuesday and our last day in florida and last day of the trip which makes us happy and sad! More on that later! Today we are going to magic to see the festival of fantasy parade in magic which somehow we hadnt seen ! Its defo because we cannot stand the midday heat. We found out this morning that lukes car needs repairing :( its been look after but its just wear and tear and because its been sitting there, couldnt have been avoided it just came at the wrong time! So that really stressed luke out! And we couldnt speak to anyone about it all day it was so frustrating :( Hopefully it will all be sorted and wont be to much stress theres nothing we can physically do which i think is more frustrating, but anyway i am sure it will all work out ok. So we had the stress of the car and it was absolute blazing hot sun and stupid humidity! It was also so busy there and we had sweat just dripping off us probly lost a stone just standing there! We went on space mointain again and then found a spot in the shade to wait for the parade, and when it came i walked to the front to record it and just in that twenty minutes i thought i was going to pass out from the heat! Before we got to disney my sister asked us to get this mickeys kitchen sink for her so Yesterday when we were here we got it....

....it was so full of ice cream and very sickly! And when we got it luke said he would really like one, they were really nice actually and we hadnt really bought anything for ourselves so today we bought one, but asked for less ice cream and no cream! It was just to much! We had that and went back to the hotel to finish packing, eat dinner and have a bath and just relax ready for our long journey tomorrow.

We thought the evening would be a relaxing one.....we were wrong....we had a electrical fire in our room that evening it was very scary and caused a lot of stress, more on that next

We really enjoyed this last part of our long adventure around the world and was very pleased to be finishing in walt disney world it was somewhere we have made some great memories together and have had a lot of fun here, we are already planning the next visit. 

In other news....OUR JOURNEY HOME STARTS TOMORROW! Cannot wait!

Cruising the carribean....on royal carribean's freedom of the seas

Today we are off on a carribean cruise with royal carribean. We have been waiting for this cruise since we booked it last year! We were nearing the end of our travels and were very much looking forward to this week of luxuary. We got shuttles to the cruise port of port canaveral and as we approached it there were 3 ships docked in....ours, a carnival one and a disney cruise ship. The disney ship was huge and look amazing, we defo needed to go on that! And it had a great water slide on it! We handed our luggage over to the guys at the port and then began the check in process which was quite a lengthy process! But eventually we were on board this lovely ship. 

By the time we got on our room was ready and we went and dropped our bags in and then went off to the windjammer for a buffet lunch! There was so much to choose from! We had a lovely lunch and then went back to our cabin to await our luggage and plan our evening. We had the emergency drill at 4pm where we are shown where we go in a emergency and all about the life jackets etc. we then went up on deck to see the ship leave dock! Carnival went first, then us and disney last. 

On the way out of port there were a few fishing boats coming back, one with a lady holding her catch of the day! We waved to all of them! We saw many sting rays, we saw a whole family very close to the ship! We saw fish and loads of birds flying into the water to catch the smaller fish! And then we were very lucky to see a mum and baby dolphin! We couldnt believe our luck ! It was so cute! I thought it was a big fish at first and then they came out of the water! We were pleased with all our sitings leaving port. Just as we left the port into the big blue ocean we passed a beach and in the shallow part of the  water we saw a manatay! We could not believe our eyes! We were so lucky to have spotted all of these wonderful creatures what a great sailaway.

There was a welcome aboad show at 7pm so we got ready and went to that, it was just a short show giving us a taster of what to expect with the ships entertainment it was great :) we then decided to go for dinner, we had picked my time dining so just went along to our restaurant galileos. It was a lovely dining room. We sat and looked at the menu....so many things to choose from! And all sounded lovely, i had a aubergine and spinach tart to start and luke had a seafood cocktail, and then i had vegatable wraps and luke had steak! It was all lovely. And for pudding i had orange sorbet and luke had BBB creme brulee, it was a baileys, bannana and creme brulee pudding! Which he said was lovely! After dinner we decided to go back to our cabin we felt quite tired and wanted to have a early one.

The next day we had a lay in, got up at around 9.30 and went for breaky in the windjammer stopping on route to get 2 tickets for the ice show on day 4 as todays tickets had sold out! When we got to the buffet there was so much to choose from! The site of it all was making me feel a bit sick! The amount of food people put on there plates really is ridiculous! Also there is this dish that americans seem to have for breaky called "biscuits & gravy" it look vile! And there gravy is white and really not nice! I fail to see how this is a breakfast food! I just had half a breakfast muffin with a spoonful of scrambled egg and a yogurt! Luke had a full english! We then found a lovely spot on top deck facing the sea to relax in.

We went for lunch a few hours later and it was then i realised i had got burnt :( quite badly burnt :( i had put sun screen on but only about 1.5 hours after getting there and i had clearly forgotten how bad the sun, sea and wind in combination can burn you! I dont think i have been on one carribean cruise that i havnt got burnt on! I was so annoyed! Luke had got a bit burnt to. So when we had eaten our lunch we decided not to go back to sunbathing but to go to the hot tubs that hang over the edge of the ship :) it was really nice but so bloody hot! We then went back to our cabin to have a shower and aftersun ourselves! We had a little rest before we dressed up for our formal night :)

There was a show on tonight and a speech with the captain at 7pm and we got there just in time to grab some champagne and grab a seat :) the captains toast was good but the show really wasnt :( we watched most of it but left before the end because it was awful! There was just no meaning, story or point to the show it was all over the place, not the cruise standards i am used to! Or that luke is! We decided to head for dinner at galileos we were quite hungry but once there we had to wait 20minites for our table so we wondered the royal promanade having our pics taken with the photographers! It was great i cant wait to see them.

We then went to galileos for dinner and we had two great waiters "ARUN" our main waiter and "DENNIS" the assistant waiter, they were great and chatted to us a lot. For dinner this evening we had a chicken salad with walnuts, i didnt have the chicken! And for main luke had steak and i had vegatable stir fry and potato grattin it was so srummy and we had strawberry cheesecake for pudding :) we loved eating out at this great restaurant as at home we wouldnt get the chance to eat at such a nice formal restaurant very often ! We decided to have a walk on the top deck after this let our food go down, and then decided on a swim and a relax in the hot tub it was the perect end to a great day on board freedom.

Today we docked in to labadee in haiti, we got up early to see the ship dock, and then went for breakfast. It was a hot day already and the temp today would reach in the 90's with the humidity being high. This part of haiti royal carribean owned so everything was very westernized. The up side of this part being owned by the ships company was the fact we got sunloungers free and a buffet lunch! We hadnt booked a excursion as we practically walked straight onto a beach! We was going to do the dragons breath flight line which was the longest zip line over water in the world, it was $99 each tho, and we just didnt want to spend that much on it and i dont think it was really worth that much, we were pleased with our decision and when we saw the zip line we realised it would of defo been a waste of money, i mean it was high and looked fast but was over so quickly and we had experienced so much of the world and done some amazing things that this infact didn't look so exciting now!

 

When we got off the ship there were two things that stood out to us....the heat and humidity and the lovely clear blue colour of the sea. We couldnt wait to get in that sea and do some snorkelling. Due to us both getting burnt yesterday we found sun loungers in the shade, the staff offered to put the chair somewhere for us for a tip!! But we only needed to lift them off the pile and place them down! Why would we tip someone to do that!?the first beach we sat at was very rocky and the water wasnt as clear as it was when we got off the ship which was odd! Bit then We found a lovely beach that was nicer and the waters were clearer and when you swam out a bit you could see the ship..

We decided to go for a snorkel, we had already bought a snorkel from walmart before we came on the cruise, which was good as the snorkels here were $50 each! You couldnt snorkel out very far as it was roped off! But we just went under the rope! Luke had got some bread rolls and he began to feed the fish! And loads of lovely tropicals came out the coral! I got the water proof camera (which i mentioned in fiji had broke!) well it now seemed to turn on and off when it felt like it! So i thought i would take it out and give it a go it was already broke and we were already planning on getting another one so why not!? We both had a snorkel and fed the fish and then luke stood on some of the coral to just sort of hand feed them and when i tried to join him i grabbed on to some coral for support without thinking and unfortunately as coral is live it stung me and left some of itself in me :( it didnt sting at first and then i realised that there were actual pieces of coral in my wrist and hand and i could not get them out. I began to swim back, luke closely behind me and now it was begining to really sting me :( and it was getting red and angry we quickly dumped our stuff and then went to the first aid, they werent to worried and said it wasnt poisonous but it will sting, they sprayed my hand with vinegar and told me to soak it in vinegar & hot water twice a day and that the coral would eventually disintagrate! If i didnt do that or if i tryed to pick them out it would get infected. I couldnt believe it! Typical me! Very accident prone! I couldnt believe how much this was stinging i hoped it would go away soon. We went to get buffet lunch and then headed back to the ship to relax by the pool. 

We found a couple of sunloungers by the adult pool in a shaded area and just relaxed there with a ice cream and ended up falling asleep for a couple of hours! We had to drag ourselves up to have showers otherwise we would have stayed there all evening! After showering we were going to do some ice skating! Luke had never been before so i was super excited for him! We put our skates on, our knee and elbow pads and helmets and off we went, after luke had a wobbly start he was really good at it and was soon flying round the ice rink! We had a great time ice skating and will defo be going when we get home..

We saw a show that night called "the vegas tenor" it was a group of three guys who had there own show in vegas and who sang together! And they were really good. We then went to our restaurant for dinner and we had requested the same waiters and same table as we loved the service we had the night before and tonight didnt disappoint the waiters were just great and chatted away to us! Tonight we had a spinach and cheese dip with tortilas for starter and luke had lamb with parsnip mash and i had a spinich pasta and they cooked me a potato gratin! It was great they were so accommodating with my vegatarian needs :) for pud luke had a warm chocolate cake and i had a praline finger :) the whole dinner was so scrummy.

We was tired after this so went back to our room to relax and ended up staying there and not going out again! Believe it or not a cruise is tiring! Which i think is mostly down to the amount of food you consume! We started to go through our video footage to edit it and do some of the blog, i also needed to soak my hand and wrist. We dock into jamaica tomoz and couldnt wait.

So the next morning was a disaster! We thought we would have a lay in so didnt set our alarms but woke up at 9am, had a drink, brushed pur teeth etc and decided we didnt want to get up yet we would have a late breaky and then go off the ship to explore the shops and get back early afternoon for a swim. Well apparently the time went forward an hour! And we had no idea this happened so we competely missed breaky and the plan just went out of the window! I called reception who told me the time hadnt gone forward an hour! Which was odd as my phone was saying one hour behind what the time actually was! It was so annoying and just disorientated our day! 

So we went for a early lunch and then out to take some pics of the port and where we were! The port in falmouth jamaica was gated off from the public so was "safe" and we werent going to venture outside the gates as we had read many disturbing reviews about it and it just wasnt safe. We got off the ship and at the port were many many shops all over priced for us tourists! So we didnt buy a lot just a few cheapy bits that we wanted. And while we was out our bag that luke was carrying got opened! It was only the front pocket which had nothing in it but it just goes to show that it wasnt as safe as we thought! Although we didnt leave the port luke was dissapointed at how westernised it was, he likes to see a country as it is not how its been westernised for us ! However it was our choice not to leave port so we cant complain! When we go on holiday we like to get a feel for the country and see there culture and unfortunately we didnt get this. We was going to do a excursion here to the dunns river falls but we looked at it over and over again and it just didn't look to special to us, the problem is we have been to so many places and seen some really wonderful things that spending nearly £100 to see a waterfall and climb up it wasnt really something we looked for anymore we would not rule it out in the future but on this trip it just didnt appeal to us, we did however book ourselves on a excursion in mexico which we were looking froward to :)

We got back on the ship grabbed some pizza from sorrentos and cookies from the cafe and found a shady spot on top deck to relax in. We had a dip in the hot tub and listen to some reggae :) 

We hadnt booked to have dinner in the main dining room tonight as we were booked to see the ice show at 9, so we decided to have a buffet dinner in windjammers :) it was really tasty and relaxing. We then had a lovely wonder around top deck in the lovely breezy air before going down to see the ice show. We got there only a few minutes before it started as we were looking at all the sale stalls! But we got really good seats :) the ice show wasnt really lukes thing but i thought it was really good, much better then the theatre show we had seen. We was pretty tired after this but wanted to see the game show "love and marriage" so stayed up for that and it was really funny! Especialy the older couple who had been married 58 years! They were so cute. There was also a dancing under the stars party on deck which we went up to be nosey at ! But wasnt really our thing so we went back to our room with the intention of going to bed but ended up staying up until gone 2am! Freddie kruger came on the tv and i had never seen one of his films! So we stayed up and watched that!

The next morning we was so tired ! We aimed to get up at 8am but could not drag ourselves out of bed ! So we got up at 8.40! And went up for breaky :) today we were going to grand cayman, you couldnt get off the ship until 10am anyway so there was no rush. We hadnt booked a excursion here so was just going to get off and explore on our own. We decided to not take our swimmers as we didnt know what we were going to do and didnt get to the land until around 11.30 and the last tender was coming back at 3.15 so it wasnt really a lot of time. 

The first thing we noticed about grand cayman was when we were being tendered over to the mainland....it was the turquoise blue sea! It was so so beautiful probly one of the most beautiful colours we had seen the sea ! And it was so clear...on the way over we saw some tropical fish and also some huge fish ! We were begining to wonder if we should have bought our snorkels! We got to the port and got off to explore......we walked to this small platform so we could look into the water and to our amazment we looked in and saw a family of huge tarpon! They were litrally at our feet and we just couldnt believe the size of them right there in front of us ! We wanted to snorkel but realised that this wouldnt be possible ....number one as we hadnt bought our stuff! And also because there was local tour boats coming in and out of that area and it wasnt safe so we continued on and walked further up the road we stopped at various points to look at the fish. At one point we stopped on some rocks and we saw two huge lizards walking around on the rocks they looked like bearded dragons! And one had a stripey red and black tail.....

....it was quite a sight! We was going to walk further but it was so humid we were both sweating so bad! There was actual drips of sweat on our heads! So we walked back and had a browse in the shops, luke found a lovely xmas ornamant he wanted so we got that and then headed back to the ship, it was over cast and started spitting but so bloody humid! We didnt book a excursion here because they were all water based and very over priced, we enjoyed a little stroll around and have many tips for next time we come, you can easily get a taxi to the beach and snorkel yourself we didnt know that before we went but feel happy thats what we would do next time. 

We got back on the ship and had some lunch and then went on deck to swim and sun bathe, we originally sat in the sun but soon realised it was to bloody hot! so we found a very secluded spot in thr shade on top deck looking back at grand cayman :) we was here when the ship left, it left a little late as the last tender came back at 15.45 instead of 15.15! I found myself thinking theres always one! The people that were late were very lucky as the ship normally doesnt wait for you! After we left me and luke fell asleep ! And then decided that we would go back to the room....chill and go through our video camera before getting ready for dinner :) what a great day.

It was formal night tonight so me and luke dressed up as much as we could with the clothes we had! And then went to see a show it was "ralph harris"! In the main atrium theatre! And us being us (well me being me!) thought it was ralph harris the artist! we did laugh at ourselfs (well luke laughed at me!) as obviously it wasnt him it was a commedian! Who was bloody funny! We walked through the royal promanade after this and headed for dinner, we had reserved a table in galileos and had our fave waiters again :) they were so accomodating and everynight the head chef would come and show me the menus for the following day so i could order what i wanted and they offered me other things as a substitute :) today we had a mushroom pastry for starter and i had 3 cheese tortolini and luke had beef steak we also had vegatable stir fry. We could not eat it all! As when we came back from swimming/sleeping! We had gotton a snack a small sandwich from the promanade cafe and now we were realising that we simply could not eat that much food ! And we were full! We went for a walk after this on top deck for some fresh air and to help our food go down! Luke then watched the NBA finals....miami heat vs san antonio spurs, and i soaked my hand in my white vinagar concoction for my coral ridden hand and wrist! There was one piece of coral that would not disintagrate and everytime i knocked it or accidently lent on it, it would bloody hurt like it was releasing more poison, i couldnt wait for it to heal. We wanted an early one but as i am writing this it is 23.00! Tomorrow we are going to cozumel in mexico and we had booked an excursion here to the myan ruins so we were very excited about that :) we had also been invited to our second event for crown and anchor society members only ...a seminar about future cruises and destinations, news ships etc, so we were wanting to go to that :) another day ahead we couldnt wait for the adventure.

Today we are off to cozumel in mexico we woke up nice and early ....07.30 and headed to the buffet for breaky, we didnt have to meet for our tour until 9.40 but we had been invited to another crown and anchor seminar at 9am so wanted to go to that, we were in the middle of trying to decide what cruise to take next ! Luke loved cruising so i was so pleased that he really wants to book more! Top of the list is europe....venice, pisa, florence etc etc and this seminar spoke about european cruises so we wanted to go! It was good and very informative. We then went down to studio B to meet for our tour. The ship hasnt docked yet so it was a lot of waiting around infact it was very unorganised and i found it the worst time ever getting off the ship for a excursion ! There were hundreds of people and after waiting for 50minutes we were then led down the staff staircase which was quite steep and then taken off the ship! The rationale was that we were priority to get off first as we all had excursions, however when we got off the rest of the ship was aswell! And had i not been so hot and bothered i would of taken a pic! The crowds on the port were ridiulous! The line we were once in was now a mass of people! And no one knew where to go! There was no one with those boards they hold up to tell you where to go! It was not what we expected! However we eventually got on the coach and then were off to the myan ruins. These ruins were smaller then the ones you picture in your head when you think of mexico, but where very nice none the less, we had been warned that there would be mosquitos and i had read on reviews there was loads so we took our insect repellent but nothing could prepare us for the amount of mozzies we would encounter! We got there and we had the usual "lets take you picture so we can sell it to you later!" And the little shops wanting you to buy stuff, we were quite use to this now so it didnt really bother us, the people that hadnt bought insect repellent ....which was everyone but us then had to buy insect repellent there and spent god knows what buying some really cheap and nasty insect repellent! That we just think attracted them! And then we began our tour....our guide was really good, but we failed to hear anything he was telling us due to the amount of mosquitos! This was the most mozzies we had seen in the whole of our travels, one girl in particular had sprayed herself 3 times and was getting eaten alive litrally, at one point she had about 6 mozzies on each foot and ankle! You could litrally see 5-10 mozzies on each person it was horrible, we sprayed ourselves silly with our really good repellent so we didnt get bitten...luckily....but they did follow luke and we kept having to keep moving and shoo them away it was a joke! However we got some good pics....

We noticed as we got back onto the bus that the entry price was £2 ! So we had paid around £24 each just for the coach which really irratated us! However had we not done the tour we would of forever been thinking what if! We started the scenic journey around this small island, and once we got to the coast line it was beautiful the sea was so blue, but it was rough this side of the island, the side we docked it was calm as the main land was very close and protected the island but the other side had no protection so was quite rough, it was still so beautiful tho....

After this we started heading back to ship and me and luke fell asleep! And when we arrived back to port we felt so dissorientated from napping and it was so hot ...we had a little browse in shops but just went back to ship to have some lunch, luke had a headache and we were both sweating like crazy.

We were pleased we had done a excursion but annoyed at the same time at how much they over charge you when you get to these ports it is so easy to do tours yourself, we could have just rented a moped and done it ourselves for cheaper but the bottom line is we didnt know but we will for next time, its all experience and we enjoyed the ruins despite the mozzies, so all in all a good day :) after lunch we went back to our cabin, luke watched a game in the world cup and i wrote the blog and went through some pics. 

Luke had a headache during the day and it got much worse as the afternoon went on, i think it was a combination of the heat and breathing in the mosquito repellent! It was defo the worse headache i have ever seen luke have, it could have been a migraine, so i spent the rest of the evening looking after my poor lukee. I left him to sleep for a bit whilst i went to see the evening show, i got him water and hot drinks and massaged his head, we cancelled our reservation for dinner and much later we went up to the buffet, he started to feel better by the late evening, and we just chilled out and watched a film.

The next day was our last day and it was spent at sea, we had a lovely lay in and didnt leave the cabin until 12! We walked through the royal promanade and there was a "fest" going on! Demonstrations by the staff of how to fold the table cloth, making animals out of big fruits etc etc and there was lots of different foods :) we went up to windjammer for a early lunch and then chilled up on deck, it was super windy! Just trying to get the towel on the sun lounger was very difficult but we eventually did it! We relaxed here for a couple of hours then moved down to the adult pool where they had comfy chairs and it was less windy! I went to get us a drink in windjammers as they did some really nice juices and whilst here i witnessed some serious platefuls of food that people were shoverling down there gullets! Seriously the amount of food people eat on these cruises is ridiculous! I went back with our drinks and stopped at sprinkles to get a ice cream :) 

Tonight was our last night and we were sad we loved cruising and all the luxuary :) next year we will defo be going on another one :) we are just trying to plan which one and where! We had our last dinner in the dining room and said our sad goodbyes to our waiters :( they really were amazing :) we then went to deck 13 to play some crazy golf! It was pretty hard with the wind ! But I won by one point! We then went back to our room to finish packing, we had decided to carry our own luggage off the ship to make things easier and quicker and also seeing the way they treat your luggage when we arrived was awful so we was keen not to have that experience repeated!

 

We slept well and got up the next day at 7.30 i had woken up with quite a awful headache but there was sod all i could do about it as we had to get up and leave! We had a quick breaky and then started to get off the ship, a process that took longer then it should of! But before we knew it we were on our shuttle back to orlando :) the headache just got worse as the journey went on i just couldnt wait to Get to our hotel.

We had such a amazing time on this cruise and just loved the luxuary! We had forgotten what that felt like! We love royal Carribean and will defo be cruising With them again :) the food was amazing, the cookies and cakes scrummy and all the staff were great, what a great week for us during our travels and a good choice to go on a cruise near the ending of our travels it was very needed. What a great week :))

Heres a few pics of some of the lovely food we ate....