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Showing posts from July, 2013

Carnival Paradise and Cozumel

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Kristen and I had a couple days off for the 4th of July so what better way to celebrate than leave the country!  She had never been on a cruise so a short one was a great way to get her feet wet.  I'm not sure we will be going on another cruise in the near future unless it is in the Mediterranean, but we did have a wonderful time. The first day and a half were at sea.  We spent most of this time eating, playing ping pong, eating more, exploring the ship, eating dessert and relaxing.  The next day we were in Cozumel and we went snorkeling, wandered around the city and ate more food.  I was surprised how good the snorkeling was.  My past experiences in Mexico (on the Pacific coast), have not been all that great, but I would definitely go back to Cozumel to dive.  The water was blue, clear and warm.  They have this area called Cielo and I'm pretty sure it was the brightest blue I have ever seen before.  The snorkel tour we did was great.  They made us fresh guacamole and made u

Surfing the Maldives (and visiting Qatar)

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What an amazing trip!  The water, sea life and culture were all great experiences.  Plus having world class surf in our backyard was superb.  And I'm glad it was amazing since it took about 29 hours to get there and 35 to get back (including layovers).  I appreciated the long layovers because it gave us a chance to experience Qatar.  We had 6 hours on the way over and a whole night on the way back. Our first experience in Qatar consisted of going to the Souq Wagif.  This is a local market where you can buy fabric(lots of it), random touristy stuff and grab food/coffee/hooka!  We did it all, I bought a dress for Daria, ate at a local vendor and had coffee at a hooka bar.  The culture was very different.  Everyone was all dressed up in their 'garb'.  I didn't realize it wasn't proper to ask a lady (covered to her eyes) to take a picture until she basically ran the other way when I asked.  Walking down the little alleys reminded me of playing the Aladdin video game.