travelguru_tara

No, you're not seeing things--for a wonderful food and wine experience, look no further than Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida!

From late September through early November every year, Walt Disney World holds their annual Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. On top of the 11 countries normally housed in the World Showcase, Disney brings in food and wine from up to a dozen other countries, as well as highlighting one US state--for instance, when I experienced the Food and Wine Festival in 2004, they highlighted Florida, and this year, it was Oklahoma.

The great thing about the Food and Wine Festival is that you can purchase samples of the different wines to drink, or samples of the food to eat. The wines run from $3-$8 a glass, depending on the type, and the food samples are all snack-sized portions that cost $3-8, depending on what you are ordering. There isn't just wine, either--this year they highlighted some great beers (my favorites were a Turkish beer that I do not recall the name of and Brahma, a Brazilian beer) as well as some mixed drinks (such as frozen Irish coffees that were to die for!). The wines I have tried over the years have ranged from sweet Australian and German Reislings to American Rose champagne to Norwegian Cherry Wine, Polish Honey Wine, Chinese Plum Wine, and Floridian Mango Wine. The food highlights this year for me were the Canadian Cheese, Bacon, & Potato soup and the seared buffalo steak strips over creamed onions at the Oklahoma booth.

If you are on the Disney Dining Plan, the food samples at the Food and Wine Festival count as snacks on the Plan, and what a great way to use your snack vouchers!

At the end of the day, you can head over the Food and Wine Center to purchase special Food & Wine Festival glasses, pins, t-shirts, and other memorabilia--or even bottles of the wines that you sampled that day! The wine bottle prices are actually very reasonable for Disney.

I would also like to mention that unless you are going over a Fall Break weekend in October, the fall season is a great time to go to Disney. The crowds are not as large as they are over major holidays and in the summer, and the weather tends to average 85-90 degrees and mostly sunny--much preferable to the 95-100+ degrees of the summer or the unpredictable cold snaps of December through February!

However, if you cannot make it to the Food & Wine Festival, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy food and wine at Disney. Having worked in the restaurant industry for some years, and having traveled extensively, in my opinion Walt Disney World still offers some of the best culinary experiences out there. For example, there are two amazing steakhouses on property--Shula's at the Dolphin Hotel and Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Although both a bit pricey, you will likely never have a better steak than the Shula's filet or the Jiko filet with macaroni & cheese and red wine sauce. Shula's souffle dessert is world-famous and you will rarely find a better selection of different appetizers than what Jiko offers.

For those on a lighter budget, there are plenty of other restaurants to choose from at Walt Disney World that still offer amazing food. One of my favorites is the 'Ohana dinner at the Polynesian Resort, where the food is plentiful and served family style and you will never have a better light salad, sweet and sour shrimp, or bread pudding! For another great experience, try the Coral Reef restaurant at Epcot--if you have a small party (4 or less) you may get lucky and sit right next to the aquarium window. My husband and I got to do so on our recent trip and not only was the food amazing, but it was so much fun watching the sharks, stingrays, giant sea turtles and other fish swim by while we ate! You can also experience food from around the world at the restaurants of the World Showcase--namely the San Angel Inn in Mexico, the Biergarten restaurant in Germany, Nine Dragons in China, Teppanyaki Dining Room in Japan, and Le Cellier in Canada.

Most of Disney's restaurants offer differing and wide wine selections, and for the more adventurous, the bars of the World Showcase offer a wide array of drinks to choose from--amazing Margaritas in Mexico, great beer choices in Germany, champagne in France, tangerine daquiries in Morocco, and sake in Japan, just to name a few.

So the next time you think that Disney is only for families with children, or that you won't be able to find any great culinary experiences there, think again!

 Well, I just got back from a weekend getaway to Charleston, and I had a wonderful time! As I have only lived in South Carolina since March of this year, this was my first time ever seeing Charleston and let me just say that I definitely want to go back!

My mother and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Historic District, and I cannot say enough wonderful things about it! This was by far the best Holiday Inn I have ever stayed in. Although the decor wasn't quite my taste, everything was spotless and the entire hotel--rooms and public areas--were beautiful and well-kept. The staff was helpful and friendly, especially the concierge Kevin McQuade. He is definitely a gem and if anyone ever stays at this hotel I would highly recommend utilizing his vast knowledge of the city.

Although the Holiday Inn was not quite as close to the Battery and the old market as many of the other historic district hotels, the price was right and the walk was not a bad one. The one thing I would suggest is avoiding their "Best 4 Breakfast" rate. This just adds $20 per person onto their regular hotel rates and (a) it is very diffucult to rack up $20 per person on their breakfast menu, and (b) you will not get back any monies that you do not use. Plus, I was not overly impressed with the breakfast itself or the service in the restaurant.

Friday night we walked down Meeting Street and ate dinner at Poogan's Porch. This has been touted as one of the best restaurants in Charleston, and has been visited by many famous people, and I now know why! The prices are reasonable and the food is delicious. Plus, they bring biscuits and special butter to your table before your meal and I could not decide which was better, the biscuits or the butter!

After dinner we did the holiday candlelight tour of the Edmonston-Alston house. It was neat seeing the house all decorated for Christmas with period appropriate decorations, and we also got to see the slave quarters and the Carriage house, which are not open for tourists on the usual day tours. Still, it was really neat to see what one of those Battery houses would have looked like pre-Civil War, furniture and all, and the tour for this house is short, sweet, and to the point, so even if you cannot do the holiday candlelight tour, I recommend it.

Saturday we rose early, as we wanted to see as much as possible during our one full day in Charleston. After breakfast, the first thing we did was talk to the concierge, Kevin, and I am so glad that we took advantage of his services! He took the time to figure out what we were looking for (we wanted to see as much as the city as possible, experience a good guide, and not have to do a ridiculous amount of walking), and paired us with the perfect tour--with Jane Thornhill, a true Charleston "society doyenne". Although the tour was twice the price of a walking tour--$40 per person, to be precise--Mrs Thornhill had access to all sorts of places that most tours do not have access to, she thoroughly impressed me with her knowledge, and I cannot express how great it was to ride around in her van and see everything versus having to walk miles and miles and still not see as much as we experienced.

We also went to the Farmer's Market in Marion Square, which operates every Saturday morning. There were a lot of wonderful crafts and food, although I was a little disappointed that there weren't more booths/tents. We also spent quite a bit of time (and I could have spent more!) at the Old City Market between East Bay and Meeting Streets. Although there was plenty of junk to be had, we also found plenty of treasures, including the art of an elderly woman who made Santa Clause statues out of Cypress knees--I fell in love with these!

The last thing we experienced in Charleston was the Holiday Progressive Dinner, and I am sad to say that I was thoroughly disappointed. The cost was $90 per person, and although the evening carriage rides between the three venues (King's Courtyard Inn, Circa 1886 Restaurant, and the John Rutledge House Inn) was neat, the food left something to be desired and I really do not feel that this dinner was worth the price we paid. I truly believe that we would have been better off talking to Kevin and getting suggestions from him on where to eat dinner!

All in all, the Christmas season is a beautiful time to experience Charleston (especially if you want to find some really neat and different gifts for friends and family), and I would certainly recommend the Holiday Inn Historic District to anyone looking for a quick getaway, a romantic weekend, a family experience, etc.!

Is it possible to see everything Vegas has to offer in just one weekend?

No, but I sure tried!

I was lucky enough to get on one of the last direct flights that Allegiant ran out of Greenville/Spartanburg. They have now canceled these flights for the foreseeable future, but I was told that anyone is welcome to complain on their website if you want to possibly see them come back. I for one do not think they gave these flights enough of a chance to catch on.

That said, I flew out of Greenville early on a Friday morning and caught a red-eye back on Sunday night, which was nice because with the time change it gave me most of the day Friday, all day Saturday, and most of the day Sunday to explore "Sin City". And I only had to take a day and a half off work!

I stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, which is at the far end of The Strip, near the airport. If you don't think you would enjoy the casino atmosphere of some of the other top Vegas hotels (i.e. Caesar's, Paris, Venetian, Mirage) then this hotel may be for you! The decor is very mellow and the atmosphere is upscale. The whole place is also quiet, even in the lobby area, which is something you just can't say for those other Vegas hotels. But you will sacrifice that Vegas feel and the opportunity to be right smack in the middle of The Strip.

Friday was spent at the pool, even though Mandalay Bay's main pool, "The Beach", was closed for the season. This was disappointing because it was in the mid-70s, and after the cold weather we had been having here in Greenville that certainly felt like pool weather to me! Later, I tried to go to the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet at the Rio, which I had heard great things about--but that was closed as well, for renovations! We ended up having to eat at the regular buffet. The disappointments were adding up, but the rest of the night made up for them. I was able to see the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino as well as the Wynn that night, and some friends and I danced the night away at Tryst at the Wynn. The nightclub was beautiful (especially the huge waterfall in it!) but the admission was steep ($20 for women, $30 for men) and the drinks were even more ridiculous ($10 for a Miller Lite, $17 for a Mojito). So if you're going to Vegas for night life...plan on spending. A lot.

Saturday we ate lunch at FatBurger, which is supposedly the home of the best burger in Las Vegas--personally, I like Five Guys Burgers and Fries better, but this was probably the least expensive place to eat in Vegas, besides McDonald's. And they did have awesome Cookies & Cream milkshakes!

After lunch we rode the rollercoaster at New York New York, which was interesting to say the least. $14 per person to ride and although it was a fun thing to do, it definitely wasn't my favorite thing in Vegas. We then walked from the New York New York to Caesar's, and stopped along the way to watch the Bellagio fountains, which give a show every hour on the hour. I definitely suggest watching the fountains once during the day and once at night, because both are great experiences, and very different from each other!

Caesar's was huge and beautiful--I could have spent the whole weekend just exploring this one hotel and casino! But we had other things to do, namely--see downtown Las Vegas, a.k.a. the Fremont Experience! This area was really interesting to see, and about $20 each way for a cab ride from the strip--not bad if you're splitting it with a couple other people. The drinks were much cheaper (huge frozen drinks with way too much alcohol for $14 a piece) and the $5 blackjack at Binions was a blast. We even stayed for the light show, but I was a bit disappointed as the whole thing seemed to be just an advertisement for LG.

That night we ate at another buffet, this time at the Mandalay Bay, simply because it would have cost almost as much to eat a sitdown meal with just a salad and sandwich, once you thought about leaving a tip for the waiter or waitress. Later that night we ended up at Pure at Caesar's, which was nice because we had free admission with our VIP cards (definitely pay attention to any business cards or booklets that they have in the cabs, because we got our VIP cards for Pure from a cabbie!) when it normally costs the same as Tryst to get in. It was also a little cheaper to drink (only $8 for a beer--it's sad when one gets excited about that). Pure also has a huge outside patio a few floors up with a great view of The Strip at night!

Sundays are surprisingly fun in Vegas, mainly because of the champagne brunches! We had ours at Mandalay Bay, and it was all you can eat with plenty of breakfast and lunch foods, and of course all you can drink champagne! After the brunch I decided to explore what I had not yet seen of The Strip before heading to the airport for my 11 PM flight. That afternoon, I got to see the Venetian, the Mirage, and Treasure Island, as well as catch the Mirage volcano going off and see the Bellagio fountains at night before going to the airport. It was a great way to end an exciting and interesting weekend.

So as you can see, although you may not get to see all that Vegas has to offer in just one weekend, it is possible to get to do a lot of different things...and I can't wait to go back!

 Well, we didn't leave Nice *really* early on Saturday the 14th, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing...we were stuck in traffic off and on all day long, and ended up being on the bus for something like 8 and a half hours, maybe. I was just glad it was the last time we had a bus ride like that! When we arrived in Barcelona it took us forever to find our hotel, too, which didn't help--apparently the street name was spelled wrong on our tour manager's list of hotel addresses, and even when we found out the actual street name we couldn't find it and no one could tell us where it was! Once we got there, though, it was worth it--the hotel was practically brand-new, the rooms were huge, and it had a pool!

We had an included dinner in the hotel that evening, and while not as good as the included dinner in Chamonix, it was still one of the better ones we had during our tour. After that Kristy took us by public bus to La Ramblas, where we went into this little hole-in-the-wall sangria bar. Drinks were cheap--a big pitcher of Sangria was only 10 euro--but the bar itself was in this dodgy little alley, and apparently they're really wary of tourists, so the people who worked there were a little, well, rude. Not exactly my type of place. They had music playing, but you could barely hear it, and when a bunch of us started playing drinking games, trying to liven things up, we got yelled at! Needless to say, between the atmosphere (quiet and hot) and the Sangria, I was practically falling asleep, so Christy, Natalie, Gordana and I decided to leave around 11. We grabbed Burger King and then took a taxi back to the hotel--thankfully it only cost us about 15 euro, which isn't so bad.

The next morning the bus took us into the city--we saw the Sagrada Famiglia (sp?), the church that Gaudi started but died before finishing, and then got dropped off at Placa del Catalunya. We went into the Gothic Quarter, walked around, got Gelato and did some shopping, then walked back to La Ramblas to see the little tents where locals sell jewelry and what not and to walk down to the Columbus monument. Most of the stores were closed, because it was Sunday, so after lunch at a tapas place (which was pretty good!) we took a taxi back to the hotel and lazed by the pool for the rest of the afternoon.

That night, our last night, we went to a Flamenco show, which was interesting. Not quite as fun as the cabaret in Paris, but the food was pretty good...they had Sangria there, but I could only stomach 2 glasses of it--then I ordered a beer. Estrella Damm, for anyone who has heard of it, and it wasn't very good...but Natalie also ordered a couple sodas, and when we asked how much we owed they told us not to worry about it, which was cool. I love being a girl ;o) After the show, we went to this fountain, which was huge and changed with music...it reminded me of something at Disney. They sold beer, sangria, wine, and mixed drinks at these little stands there, which was neat, so we were at the fountain for maybe a half hour, and then the bus took us to Port Olympia and Kristy brought us to this club called Baja, which was a blast. It was so funny being at a club on a Sunday night and it actually having a decent amount of people there! The only other time I've been to a club on a Sunday was HOB in Orlando and even though it was crowded there, it sucked, and Baja was fun! By the way, I have come to the conclusion that it is amusing that I cringe at paying $4.25 for a beer at Disney, but when a beer in Europe was only 5 euro, I got excited!

I was all about staying at the club until closing, but no one else I was hanging out with felt the same, so we all headed back to the hotel around 2:30 or so. We had to wait in line for a taxi (which cost us around 19 euro or so), and then some of us hung out once we got back to the hotel (skinny dipping was in the cards, but we couldn't get out to the pool, ah well haha), so I didn't crawl into bed until 5 AM. Not that it mattered, when I had plenty of time to sleep on the plane the next day! The cab ride to the airport cost a ridiculous amount of money (like 30 euro, he apparently showed up ten minutes earlier than we had told him to be there and yet still had the meter running) and he dropped us off in the wrong place...the airport itself sucked, it was hot and I was tired and hungover...they changed gates on us, then we had to go to this basement area and wait forever to take a bus out to our plane, which was weird...thankfully, though, I was able to sleep for about 5 of the 8 and a half hours that we were on the plane, and of course we got home safely or I wouldn't be writing this right now ;o)

All in all...I had the time of my life on this tour. I will go back to Amsterdam, because it was awesome; I will also go back to Paris, simply so I can see more; I probably won't go back anywhere else. I would definitely do a Contiki again, as well ;o) And by the way...I miss so many of the people I met!

The drive from Chamonix to Nice was certainly another fairly easy one (compared to Paris-Lucerne and Nice-Barcelona)...especially at the end when we were looking down at the Mediterannean and it was just absolutely beautiful. We stopped at the Fragonard Perfumery on the way in...it was a bit interesting to hear exactly how much goes in to making one little bottle of perfume, but as I'm more of an "eau de toilette" person (perfume is just too concentrated for me), and as a tiny little bottle of their perfume was something like 22 euro, I was ready to leave right after the little tour/demonstration thing.

From there we checked right into our hotel, which was...interesting, to say the least. It was another Kyriad, and I will say this--the staff was certainly much more friendly than the staff at the Kyriad in Paris! The hotel itself was clean but our room was so small we could barely move around in it--I had to step over my suitcase every time I had to go to the bathroom, and the shower was so tiny (it was shaped like a triangle with a curved base) I could hardly even bend over to shave my legs. Hope that's not too much info ;o)

We had an included dinner that night...not as good as the one in Chamonix, but edible at least! After dinner Kristy took us to the old town area, to this bar called Wayne's...we had to get there early for happy hour, so it was kind of boring at first...once the band started playing, they were pretty good, but it just wasn't my kind of place--way too small, way too many people, way too much smoke--to the point where I started getting nauseated and eventually left with Gordana and my sister around 11-ish. We met up with Sheridan and Lucas on the way back to the hotel, but then Lucas wandered off to go to the bathroom and we lost him! It was a bit nerve-wracking, Sheridan handled it much better than I would have, but needless to say we had to take our time getting back to the hotel...thankfully, he showed up there not long after we did! There were a lot of dark little alleyways and bums around, so I think we were all pretty worried about him for a bit there.

That night was probably the first time that I really started feeling homesick...of course, it didn't help that I didn't feel well. I felt a little better the next day after 6-7 hours sleep, but I have a feeling that it was the tap water that was making me slightly nauseated...

We went to the beach all morning for our full day in Nice. We got there around 9 AM and the chair rental place wasn't open yet, but I'm still glad we got there early because when it did open we got prime choice ;o) We took some chairs in the second row that had these mats on them, and I swear that was the best 12 euro I spent all trip! With the mat things, those chairs were more comfortable than any bed we had the entire trip, and I spent the entire morning sleeping in the sun.

Around 1 we walked over to the shopping area for lunch. We chose this little cafe and sat outside, but it was not one of the better lunches we had during the trip. After that, my sister and some of the other girls went shopping while a few of us went back to the hotel to laze around and shower. It was definitely nice having this day to do absolutely nothing...and to spend all the time in the world getting ready for the Monaco dinner that night, which was definitely one of the best dinners we had all trip (the asparagus and goat cheese pastry...yum!) The Grand Casino was NOT worth the 10 euro, though, and drinks were expensive everywhere in Monaco, so I was ready to go back to Nice and go out.

Not that many people wanted to go out that night, which was disappointing, but a group of us went back to Wayne's. I didn't bother changing out of my "little black dress", but that turned out to be a good thing, because when we got there there was a line. There were a bunch of guys and even a few girls in front of us (and the girls were definitely cute!), yet for some reason the bouncer picked myself and Ashley, the other girl from our tour who was out with us, to cut the line and go inside. Can't complain about that! Anyway, we had a few drinks and I was feeling pretty good, but we left early anyway (around 2 AM) because we knew we had to get up really early for the drive to Barcelona, and because it was still just a little too hot and crowded.

And that was Nice...the people were a little nicer than they were in Paris, but the city itself was not impressive. I heard that a bunch of the people in our group almost got pick-pocketed, and it just bothered me that there were bums EVERYWHERE...so probably not a place I will ever go back. Monaco, on the other hand, was beautiful...but WAY to expensive ;o)

On Tuesday, July 10th, we boarded the bus at an unGodly hour to head to Lucerne. It's probably a good thing that I was still drunk from the night before and was able to sleep through most of the bus ride...because what normally would have been a 7-8 hour trip turned into 10 when our bus broke down just shy of the Swiss border. The bus was fairly new but supposedly it was just a cable that had come loose...I think everyone in our group handled it really well, no one whined and complained, and we were back on the road in less than two hours. Shit happens, you know?

Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy in Lucerne, which of course didn't help my impression of the city. it was certainly clean and pretty, but a combination of bad weather and the weirdest hotel I have ever stayed in worked against its favor. The hotel was actually an old jail--they kept telling us that it had been a minimum-security women's prison, but after seeing the rooms, I am inclined to believe it was a psychiatric hospital and that they just didn't want to admit that to us. The rooms were fairly small, the shower was in a cubicle thing, and they did not have phones or TVs--and the doors were so thick, the windows had bars on them...I didn't sleep very well that night. The food was also absolutely disgusting (for dinner we had a very large sausage and some things that were sort of like tater tots with creamy insides? and for breakfast, literally just bread and cold cereal). Also, the plug in the room was awkward and no one could get their converters/adaptors to fit in it. Good thing I had already planned to just wear my hair curly ;o)

We did the optional lake cruise excursion...had the weather been better and had I not been so exhausted from the night before (and okay, maybe a little hungover) it would have been fun, because it included one free drink and then you could get beer and wine for 2 euro a drink...not bad at all! It was still nice to see more of the lake and the scenery considering we wouldn't have been there long enough to see much of it otherwise. After the lake cruise Christy, Natalie, Gordana and I went to MACKERS (that would be Australian for McDonald's). It was ridiculously expensive, tasted good but not quite the same, and they charge you for extra ketchup! Then we got a bit lost on the way home and that was when the term "serial" was born...because it was raining everyone was walking around with dark jackets on and the hoods pulled over their heads...someone made a comment about them looking like serial killers...it was shortened to "serials"...and there you go. I guess you had to be there.

The next morning we did a bit of shopping. I got Jason a kickass Swiss Army knife for really cheap, and I even had his name engraved on the back. He tried to pretend he wasn't impressed until he realized that he couldn't even figure out some of the features ;o) We left Lucerne for Chamonix around 11 AM and thankfully the drive that day was only 4-ish hours (maybe closer to 5, I can't quite remember) because it was all windy and through the mountains...I still have no idea how that bus didn't topple over the edge of some of those curves! When we arrived in Chamonix we had just enough time to bring our bags up to our rooms before the Aguille de Midi cable car excursion...which was unfortunately a waste of money because (a) it was so cloudy/foggy at the top of the mountain that we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of our faces, and (b) I, who have been to the tops of mountains in the Rockies, which is fairly high, I think, got extremely lightheaded. We were only up there for ten minutes--ish--before most of us decided to go back down.

The hotel in Chamonix was the second nicest hotel we stayed in our entire trip. Our room had a balcony with a view of the glacier, it was fairly big for a European hotel room, and we even had a third bed in our room, which was interesting. There was also a heated towel rack in the bathroom--can't complain about that! The included dinner that night was probably the best included dinner of the trip, and after dinner (and a couple drinks at the hotel bar), we all went to a bar down the street, where we played drinking games and generally just had fun, until finally ending up in the bar across the street from the first bar, which had a pretty good live band. There are large patches of memory missing from this night and I have a feeling that's a good thing ;o) I once again woke up still drunk for the trip to Nice on Thursday, July 12th...and I will continue the saga of my Eurotrip at a later time!

 On July 8th we left Amsterdam early in the morning (okay, it was sometime after 8 AM, but when you don't even know what time you went to bed the night before...) for Paris. It was about a six hour drive through the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, but certainly one of the better drives of the trip as Christy and I wake-and-baked and slept for basically the entire bus ride.

Thankfully, we arrived in Paris early enough to get the Eiffel Tower out of the way that afternoon. Because we got to go in the group line, the wait to get up the tower wasn't that bad. The highest observation deck was closed because of the weather, but I didn't much care...and then we waited forever to get back down to the bottom, walked a little ways to take some pictures, and then it started raining...and it was cold...so we waited miserably under some trees for the bus to finally come get us. Christy and I were really tired that night, so after our included dinner at the hotel (which was better than the one in Amsterdam, but still nothing to brag about) and driving around the city at night (of which the highlight was driving around the traffic circle at the Arc de Triomphe) we decided to call it an early one and go to bed. Two nights in a row of partying in Amsterdam had left this old girl just plain exhausted ;o)

The next morning the bus took us all into the city for our group picture in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was a very good thing that we had gotten that out of the way the afternoon before, because we still didn't have enough time to see everything we wanted! After the group picture they dropped us off at the Arc de Triomphe, and from there a group of us walked down the Champs-Elysees to the Place de la Concorde to see the obelisk where Marie Antoinette was beheaded. We had crepes there and then walked over to the Opera district for a little bit of shopping, and we also had lunch at this cafe across from the opera house. I think it was called something like L'Entracte d'Opera, but I had the most amazing Croque Monsieur and the prices weren't bad at all.

From the Opera district we took the Avenue de l'Opera down to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. There was a Vermeer painting that I wanted to see as well but we got lost twice trying to find it and finally decided to leave so that we could go to the Ile de la Cite to see Notre Dame. We got a little lost on the way there, but not too bad--we were basically going in the right direction, we just weren't on the little island. No big deal, we found it but unfortunately didn't have time to go inside, because it was already 4 PM and we had to catch the metro back to our hotel in order to get ready for the cabaret dinner that night. Let's just say that if we had been at a metro station where we could have taken one train straight to our hotel, we would have been fine, but as it was, we were not, and we had to make two changes, and although we never got on the wrong train, we had to ask way too many people how to get to each next train we had to catch, which got very, very annoying. Still, we finally made it back to the hotel safely, and after touching up hair and makeup and changing, made our way to Montmartre for the Nouvelle Eve cabaret dinner and show.

The cabaret was a lot of fun, and the food was good--plus we, being sweet pretty American and Aussie girls, were able to get at least two extra free bottles of wine for our table ;o) From there we headed over to this bar next to the Moulin Rouge, where we had an absolute BLAST. Most of the music they played was older stuff (to me, anyway), and it was expensive (6 euros for a beer!), but it was more than worth it. One of the kids in our group literally ripped his shirt off and eventually got kicked out of the club, and then somehow five of us crammed into a cab to go back to the hotel. The cab cost about 17 euro, but between the four of us that actually paid it wasn't that bad.

I went up to the room at a decent hour--maybe a little before 2 AM?--but who knows what time I went to bed. All I know is that we had an early morning the next day for our drive to Switzerland, and I was absolutely still drunk when I woke up. We were supposed to pack an overnight bag, because we weren't going to be able to lug our suitcases to our hotel in Lucerne, and let's just say that I packed all my toiletries, and my pajamas, but forgot clothes for the next day. Smart one, huh?

As for Paris as a whole...in my opinion...it was beautiful in a classic sort of way, but that's not really my thing. The people were nowhere near as friendly as those in Amsterdam, either. The staff at our hotel was absolutely ridiculously rude! Our first night I had to go down to the front desk and ask for another towel because for some reason they had only left one in our room, and the guy at the desk had to get the manager, and then she played twenty questions with me ("how many people are in your room?" "what's your room number?" "are you sure there is only one towel?")! It's a FREAKING TOWEL. She finally gave me one, but the point is, I shouldn't have had to go through all that trouble, right? Then, on our final morning, Christy was running late and wanted me to bring her ONE croissant and a glass of water. I asked the girl at the front desk if I could do so, and she said it was okay...but when I went to bring it back up to the room, the morning manager stopped me and started harangueing me in French! I caught that I wasn't allowed to bring food up to the room, and I said, "that's fine, but the girl at the front desk told me I could, which is why I was doing so". The manager then went and started yelling at the girl at the desk, who then looked right at me and said "I didn't tell you you could bring a croissant up, just a glass of water". WHAT? Whatever, that's what. Needless to say, I was ready to leave Paris at that point, and whereas I would love to go back to Amsterdam someday, I will only go back to Paris if I can have the chance to go to Disneyland Paris...and that's that.

My sister and I arrived in Amsterdam around 8 AM the morning of July 5, 2007. Our flight from Newark (on Continental Airlines) was actually pretty good, minus the ridiculous number of babies surrounding us. The plane was really nice, we all had our own little TV's, which was nice, and the flight was under 7 hours--shorter than I had expected. We caught the free shuttle to our hotel--the Ibis Schipol right near the airport--and they were nice enough to check us in and send us right to our room! We immediately went to bed and slept the morning away, got up and ate lunch at the hotel (in the little diner--the food wasn't that great but at least it wasn't overly expensive), then went right back to bed. We woke up one more time later that day, went outside for some fresh air, and ended up going back to bed in hopes that we could get up early the next morning and simply head right into the city for some sightseeing.

Although I feel as if maybe we did waste our first day/night in Amsterdam, it was nice getting up the next morning and not being exhausted--I think we were probably two of the few people who were caught up on sleep and ready to do whatever when the tour met up later that day! Anyway, we had to take the shuttle bus to the airport, and the train into the city, which took us nearly an hour, but once we got into the city we went directly to the Rijksmuseum. Although it was a bit smaller than I expected, I was excited to go there because it has a higher concentration of Vermeer paintings than any other museum in the world, and he is my favorite artist. The museum also had a huge Rembrandt painting, The Night Watch, as well as a really neat collection of antique dollhouses and the like. After talking with some of the other people on our tour who saw The Van Gogh Museum, I got the impression that that museum was very small and that a lot of people didn't think it was worth the money, whereas I really liked the Rijksmuseum. My opinion? If you're going to be in Amsterdam for a short time and have to be selective about what you see, my vote is for the Rijksmuseum!

After the Rijksmuseum, we went for lunch at a little cafe. It was only a couple blocks from the museum and was called the Hansel and Gretel cafe (or something like that, the names were in Dutch so it was at least a little different). I was actually impressed with the prices and the food (great sandwiches and french fries!). After that we headed over to the Heineken Experience, which was probably one of the top things we saw in Amsterdam! Although we only spent about an hour in the Rijksmuseum, we spent about three hours at the Heineken Experience! Besides telling the history of Heineken and how it is made, the Experience had a lot of cool interactive activities, and there were three beers included in your admission (plus a free gift). If I were you, I definitely would not miss the Heineken Experience!

We were feeling pretty good after the Heineken Experience, and it was nearing 4 PM, so we made our way back to the hotel. It actually didn't take us quite as long to get back as it did to get into the city that morning, but that was probably partly because we knew what we were doing the second time around ;o) We freshened up and met up with our tour group. The meeting was short and sweet, we all had dinner together (included dinner at the hotel, it was a buffet and it was nasty), then some of us had a few drinks in the bar before heading out for our (unofficial) optional excursion to a sex show! The sex show itself was weird (the people in it weren't very attractive, and the sex was, well, without any sort of feeling or passion at all), but my sister got pulled up on stage to strip a stripper, which was hilarious, and I think it was an interesting sort of bonding experience for all the people on our tour, and hell, there were two drinks included! After the show a bunch of us went to The Grasshopper, which I wasn't too impressed with. It was definitely a tourist trap--the waitresses in the basement (read: smoking) area were bitches and everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING) was really expensive there. My sister and I hung around until almost midnight, at which point we rushed back to Centraal Station to catch the train back to the airport (because that late at night, they only run every hour). Once at the airport, we waited a ridiculously long time for Burger King, but in hindsight I'm not too annoyed about the wait because I think it kept me from having a hangover the next morning ;o) We then caught the last shuttle back to the hotel and somehow made it into bed by 2:30 AM.

The next morning we met up with our tour group to go to a cheese and clog factory, where we stood through a short but sweet presentation and then boarded the bus to go to Edam, this beautiful little town out in the country. We took a bike ride through the village, which was actually a lot more fun than I had expected, and saw a beautiful windmill among other things. After the bike ride, we headed back into Amsterdam, and a bunch of us visited the Anne Frank House, which was extremely moving and another Amsterdam must-see! After the Anne Frank House, we ate lunch at one of the many pancake houses (it was okay, nothing to brag about) and then did some shopping! I found that Amsterdam actually has a lot of cool Amsterdam souvenirs, and even some good deals on things like purses and jewelry. After shopping, we visited a coffee shop, because who can pass up a pre-rolled joint of White Widow for 6.50 euro? It was just after our coffee shop sojourn that we discovered the Sex Museum, which is nestled amongst other stores and the Victoria hotel not far from Centraal Station. For only 3 euro, this is another must-see, simply because it's cheap and absolutely hilarious. I also heard, from some other people on the tour, that there is a Pot Museum! Sadly, we missed this, as well as the Amsterdam Historical Museum, but I heard both were cool and plan on checking them out on my next trip.

We then went to this restaurant right under the Victoria Hotel (I don't think it was part of the hotel, though). I can't remember the name, but it's right there and you can't miss it. The food was excellent, especially for the price, but I will warn that I was feeling pretty good at that point and that might have affected my opinion ;o) After dinner, we met up with the other people from our tour for our canal cruise--another must! With unlimited drinks and the ability to see a little more of the city then we might have otherwise, I definitely recommend doing a canal cruise if you visit Amsterdam!

Even though I partied hard that night, I actually did it back at the hotel rather than worry about having to catch the train back later or pay over 40 euro for a cab. I still had fun that night, stayed up until who knows when, and saved a little bit of cannabis for a wake and bake so that I could sleep on our five-hour bus ride to Paris the next day!

All in all, I was impressed with how clean the city was, and how friendly the people were. I had heard some not-so-great things about the cleanliness from a friend who traveled there some years ago, but having seen how dirty Rome was, and having been to numerous icky Caribbean islands (i.e. St Maarten), I didn't see anything to really complain about.

So that was my short but amazing trip to Amsterdam--although I'm not sure it is the type of place I would spend a full week at, I have to admit that I would have loved to stay at least another day, maybe two, and I will probably go back!

Well, the old adage "you get what you pay for" has been proved time and again, has it not?

But I truly believe that with Contiki, you get at least a little more than what you pay for :o)

The hotels themselves were clean, and only one was so far out of the city as to be inconvenient, that one being the Ibis Schiphol in Amsterdam. I will admit that the Hotel Lowengraben in Lucerne (it's an old jail) was creepy and that it was annoying to have to pack an overnight bag for it, though.

The bus was a newer one and very clean as well, and our bus driver, Henk, was pretty cool. I wouldn't have to navigate that bus through the Alps, that's for sure! The only bad thing was that the seats were really small. As a fairly tall woman (5'8"), when the person in front of me put their seat all the way back I had to sit with my legs spread in order to fit, which got a little old on some of the longer bus rides.

The included meals were what is to be expected. The breakfasts in Amsterdam and Barcelona were pretty darn good, and Paris and Chamonix were okay as well. Nice and Lucerne were questionable. For the dinners, most of them were at least edible, except for the one in Lucerne, which I won't even get into.

The optionals were mostly really great. The canal cruise in Amsterdam was awesome because it included unlimited drinks and gave you a neat view of the city...the Sea Palace dinner actually got canceled because hardly anyone signed up for it...the Nouvelle Eve cabaret show in Paris was fun, had great food, and if you were sweet about it they even gave you a little more free wine than they were supposed to ;o)...the lake cruise in Lucerne was okay--really cheap drinks, and it was cool to see more of the lake than we would have seen had we not gone on it, but it was rainy and cold there so that kind of sucked...the Aguille de Midi cable car would have been cool had it not been so foggy at the top (we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us, so it turned out to be kind of a waste of money), but had it not been foggy it would have been amazing (I will warn that even I, who has been up fairly high in the Rockies here in the States, got really lightheaded at the top)...the Monaco dinner was just that, a dinner, but the food was really, really good, so I recommend that as well...and finally, the Flamenco show in Barcelona was a lot of fun (neither the show nor the food was as good as the cabaret in Paris, but it was still worth the money).

The "informal" optionals were basically just the tour guide taking us out places that aren't technically Contiki sanctioned, the first being the "cultural show" (read: sex show) in Amsterdam. That show itself was, well, weird--basically just a bunch of not really attractive people having completely dispassionate sex on stage, but it's one of those things that it's cool to say you saw ;o) Our tour guide also took us to bars in different places--this Irish bar/club sort of place next to the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre in Paris was tons of fun, but expensive...the "pub crawl" in Chamonix was lots of fun because the places we went were less touristy...Wayne's in Nice was interesting, but a little too crowded for my taste (and also still expensive)...the sangria bar just off La Ramblas in Barcelona was cheap but a little dodgy, and pretty boring (no music, and we got shushed when we tried to play drinking games)...and last but not least, Baja on the beach in Barcelona was a blast, even on a Sunday night!

Our tour guide, Kristy, was absolutely wonderful. She was nice, and approachable, and I feel like she really went out of her way to do many different things so that everyone could have a good time at one point or another. She was also great at getting us to do and see as much as possible in the very limited time we had in most of the cities.

The people on the tour were...well...interesting. We had a lot of couples, somewhere between 8 and 10, but most of them were lots of fun. We had three women that were a bit older and kind of separated themselves from the group, whereas most of the couples were friendly and open and went out with us almost every night. I would say that 70% of the people on our tour were from Australia...there was only something like 8-10 Americans and maybe 7 Canadians! No problem with that, though--it was awesome to meet people from all over the world!

As a whole, I had the time of my life on my Amsterdam to Barcelona tour, and I would do a Contiki again in a heartbeat. I would definitely recommend it for younger people who are outgoing and want to have a lot of fun, but if you get easily frustrated with loud and crazy Australians it might not be for you ;o)

Well, I finally figured that if I waited to tell everything about my Contiki experience until after I got back, it would be one hell of a long entry! So I figured I'd write a few shorter ones...but as I haven't yet gone, this one will simply be about my experience booking with Contiki, along with some basic information about booking with them. I will probably edit this in a couple of weeks when I receive my documents...but for now...

I originally booked a trip with Contiki in the summer of 2006. My tour was supposed to leave toward the end of September, but I ended up not being able to go for personal reasons. Normally, you lose your $200 deposit, but because I had bought the premium insurance for $130, I received a $200 voucher from Contiki, to be used within one year of my original travel date. I still lost the $130 insurance; however, as I planned on traveling with Contiki eventually anyway, I didn't mind losing that and getting that $200 voucher.

The dates for the 2007 trips did not come out until October 2006. I was originally going to choose a non-guaranteed departure, but at the last minute decided against that and chose a guaranteed one. Contiki still reserves the right to cancel a guaranteed departure (which I find a little unfair), but it's much safer to go with one of those than to go with a non-guaranteed departure. If you're traveling during the summer (June, July, August), it is less likely that your tour will be canceled, whether it's guaranteed or not, but the original date I was going to choose, the non-guaranteed one, was July 12th and actually was canceled. Thankfully, I'm good to go with my final choice--July 5th--and from what I can tell, this tour sold out a couple of weeks ago. (It was "call for availability" in early March.)

I booked my trip in mid-February. When I asked the Contiki rep about the chances of my tour selling out that soon, she said that it would be safest if I booked it right then...so I did. My verdict on this? You can probably wait until March to book a trip for July. I wouldn't push it as late as April, but I also wouldn't let them force you into booking early if you aren't ready to do so. Most likely, they get commission on whatever they book, so of course they want you to book it right then, with them, and not call back in a month and possibly get another rep. Of course, I was already 100% sure of which trip I wanted, and the date, so it wasn't a big deal for me to book it that soon, and if you're in the same boat, you might as well book it sooner rather than later, anyway.

As for airfare--I always suggest checking with the tour company first. Especially with Contiki, because sometimes they offer transfers if you purchase your airfare with them. However, I would also check with a travel agent before you book your trip--for instance, in my case Contiki wanted to charge $1530 for me to fly with them, and that was out of an airport that is an hour and forty five minutes from where I live. I booked my airfare with a travel agent, and for only $1223 I'm flying out of the airport that is 25 minutes from my house. Can't beat that! I will admit that sometimes it is a little cheaper to book through Orbitz or similar website; however, I personally do not suggest doing this for an overseas trip. There are just too many things that can go wrong with airplane tickets booked online, and then you have nobody there to advocate for you like you do if you book through a travel agent.

One great "before you book" suggestion--if you have a Facebook or MySpace account (especially Facebook), HAUNT the Contiki groups on those sites. Post what tours you're interested in, make yourself seen...by doing this, I met a girl who was a Contiki intern, and she "referred" me to Contiki. I got a $100 voucher to use on Contiki optionals, and she gets $100 once I return from my Contiki trip. You can't lose with that!

I would also like to mention that I have called Contiki numerous times, asking questions about trip payments and how I will receive my $100 optionals voucher etc. etc...and they have always been friendly and knowledgeable. I don't think I've ever been on hold for more than a couple of minutes, and this has certainly made my booking experience a more pleasant one. The one complaint I have is that they're terrible about emailing me my invoices. At first they had my email wrong, but then once I corrected it I made another payment before my final payment, and they promised to send me an invoice--but never did. I called back and they ensured me that my trip was paid in full, once I had made that payment and sent my $200 voucher in, but it still would have been nice to receive an invoice.

And that's all for now, but here's hoping that I have many more nice things to say about Contiki when I get BACK from my trip!

EDIT, 6/15/07: I received my documents from Contiki exactly one day shy of three weeks before my departure date. Of course the little Contiki doc wallet is gay, but whatever, I won't be using it anyway. Basically the documents consisted of the following:
-a luggage tag
-a card telling you how to join the Contiki community to use the message boards and what not
-a card describint the 2007 "Why Contiki?" video contest
-an eKit phone card and information on how to charge it with $$$
-a little piece of paper reminding you to confirm your flights, with the 800-numbers of most of the major airlines listed on it
-another little piece of paper about how to get a global mobile phone or global premium sim with a discount if you mention the code Contiki put on the paper
-your optional activities vouchers if you qualified for them
-your itinerary, which is basically a big fold-out pamphlet with the same exact material that is listed online in the Itinerary and Optional Activities pages of your tour information
-a pamphlet describing the Contiki travel protection plan if you chose to pay for it
-a little booklet called "Contiki Europe Travellers Guide 2007" which just lists "best buys" and "must sees" for the places Contiki visits in Europe
-your travel documents, which are all pamphlet-size pieces of paper stapled together
And that's it! I leave in just under nineteen days and I promise to add more Contiki and Europe information when I return, while it's still fresh in my mind! :o)

This is another review that I had already written for www.cruisemates.com, hence the fact that it is different from my first few reviews. I actually went on this cruise YEARS ago (as in, August of 2000!), so not as many of the things were fresh in my mind like they were for my review of the Carnival Valor. I was also only 17 when I cruised with Royal Caribbean, so I know more about the teen program than I do about the bars and shows :o) Anyway, here it is, without further adieu...

As a first-time cruiser, I had a great time with Royal Caribbean on Monarch of the Seas. We sailed out of Puerto Rico, whish wasn't really my cup of tea--the flight was long and the airport in San Juan was dirty and hot. Also, although we did not have to wait in a line to board the ship, we did have to wait a couple of hours, which isn't the most fun thing in the world when you're already hot and tired and hungry.

Monarch of the Seas was clean but a little old. From what I hear, however, they have since refurbished it. The service was great--especially the waitstaff--and the food was my favorite part. The marble cheesecake, the lobster, and the baked Alaska were amazing, as was their breakfast selection. The "free" ice cream wasn't exactly the best, and the buffets were not up to par, but all of my experiences in the main dining room were amazing! Our rooms were much smaller than the oceanview rooms on the Carnival Valor, and had little portholes instead of big picture windows--hence the fact that when I went on the Valor, five years after going on this cruise, I was really surprised at how nice the room was!

We stopped in St. Thomas, St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados. This left us only one day at sea, and I must say, having so many ports that many days in a row was very tiring. St. Thomas was beautiful--we just went shopping, and it was great! The areas of the island that we saw were clean, and the people were friendly. It struck me as seeming much safer than I had heard Caribbean islands were. St. Maarten, on the other hand, was very disappointing. I have only heard good things about it both before and after my cruise, so maybe it was just the excursion we took. It just seemed like we paid a lot of money for a really crappy excursion. We had booked it through Royal Caribbean, and when we tendered at St. Maarten we were told to meet the tour at a certain spot in the little village on the Dutch side of the island. When we got there, we were herded into a hot and dirty bus and taken to a disgusting little harbor maybe fifteen minutes away. And when I say disgusting, I mean broken-down boats everywhere, rusty metal sticking out of the water...you name it, if it was gross, it was probably there! We then boarded this double-decker party boat--also not the cleanest boat I've ever been on--and were taken to the French side of the island for shopping. Of course, as our luck would have it, everything was closed for some French holiday. Personally, I think we should have been warned that this was the case, or they shouldn't have even offered the tour on that day, considering the shopping was one of the two main activities listed in the excursion description. After a little while wandering around the completely deserted French town, we got back on the party boat to go "snorkeling on a private island". This "private island" was a strip of sand with a few palm trees located in the middle of the same bay that housed the nasty harbor we had left from. The water was brown and smelled strongly of dead fish. After a litle while there, we got back on the party boat, went back to the disgusting little harbor, got back on the hot and dirty bus (although of course, now that we were wet, the air conditioning was on/working!) and were dropped off back in the Dutch village. To top it all off, while riding on the bus, we seemed to see only the worst parts of the island.

On Antigua, we did a catamaran sail/snorkel excursion to Bird Island. It was by far the best excursion we did on the cruise! It was expensive, but tons of fun and worth every penny! The catamaran was spotless, the crew was friendly, and the snorkeling was absolutely amazing! In St. Lucia, we took a taxi around the island. It was nice and relaxing, which was good, because we were very tired. We got to see banana groves, the twin peaks, and the volcano, plus do a little shopping. I would recommend this rather than taking a tour through the cruise line. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain the entire time we were in Barbados, so not only did we not get to see much of the island, but the excursion we took--the Atlantis submarine--was kind of a waste of money. The water was so cloudy that we couldn't see a thing, and even if it hadn't been cloudy, I'm not sure it would have been worth it. There wasn't exactly any "false advertising" involved, but let's just say that they exaggerated some of what we would see. I know that this Atlantis submarine company has these excursions all over the Caribbean--they were advertised when I was in Jamaica as well as at a couple of the ports on my Western Caribbean crusie--and I would say that most likely they're all the same, so don't waste your money.

The teen program on Monarch of the Seas was great. They had a lot of interesting activities which many teens participated in. The one issue was that if you had the later dinner seating, teens would miss some of the earlier activities, many of which looked really fun.

The disembarkation was actually very easy compared to boarding the ship. We ran into a problem with our flight back--we had booked it through RCCL, and although I realize this is not the cruise line's fault, the flight was overbooked and they almost made us wait for another one. We were able to "convince" the airline that, since there were empty seats in first class, they should sit four of the five of us there, and the fifth person got a seat in coach.

Although I'm not sure if I personally would suggest the Monarch of the Seas, Royal Caribbean was obviously a great cruise line and I would certainly cruise with them again...just probably not to the same islands we went to ;o)

I recently joined trip advisor and reviewed nearly every hotel I have stayed in since June 2003. The link to my profile, which lists my reviews, is:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/members/1AvidTraveler

Check them out when you get a chance!

As I had already written this review for www.cruisemates.com (a great website to check out if you're considering any type of cruise!), it is going to be pretty different from the handful of reviews I have previously posted. Hopefully it will still give y'all a good idea of the Carnival Valor and the islands I visited in the Western Caribbean!

All in all, my trip on the Valor was a good one. I was 22, and I traveled with my husband (25), my parents (late 40s), and my sisters (20 and 17). We all had a wonderful time.

SUNDAY:

Thankfully, our flights and everything went smoothly, and we arrived in Miami with ourselves, and ALL of our luggage, intact. It took them forever to load everyone's stuff onto the bus (they really should have had someone helping the bus driver), but at least it was air conditioned. Once we got to the port, it took about one hour and fifteen minutes to check in...basically, our flight landed at 11:45 AM and we were on the ship by 2:30 PM. My suggestion at this point would definitely be to fly into your port city the day before your cruise, that way, if your luggage IS misplaced, you have more of a chance of recieving it before embarkation; and also because, we were exhausted the whole day on Sunday from having to get up so early (I got up at 4:45 AM, because our flight was at 7:20 AM).

My first impression of the room was that it was much bigger than the room I had on Royal Caribbean's Monarch of the Seas in 2000. Granted, the Valor is a much newer ship, but the room was very nice...not too small, tastefully decorated, and the picture window was literally big enough to sit in (which I did many a-morning before actually getting up and doing stuff). The one complaint I have about the room...no clock! It was really frustrating having to locate my husband's watch or turn on the TV every time I wanted to know what time it was...especially since the time on the TV didn't change when the ship's time did.

As for our luggage...my family had three cabins, and the luggage came piece by piece...three of us had it before dinner, two had it right after dinner, and I didn't get mine until about 7:30-8:00 PM. Thankfully, we were all smart enough to pack a nice (as in, not shorts and a t-shirt) change of clothes in our carry-ons, so we all had clean, decent clothes for dinner. I would definitely suggest packing such a change of clothes to anyone :o)

We all atea quick lunch on the Lido deck...we had burgers and fries...the fries were really good and the burger was one of the best I have EVER had, and I'm not exaggerating...for the rest of the week, we were always hoping that the burger place was open.

Dinner (we had the 5:45 seating in the lower Washington Dining Room) was pretty good...my husband had the steak, and I had the lamb, both of which were good, but nothing special. The sweet and sour shrimp, however (which my sister had, and I tried), were VERY good. I had the apple mousse cake for dessert, which was very light but almost tasteless...once again, not bad, but nothing to brag about. My parents really loved the carmelized lemon custard. After dinner, my only complaint about our waiter, Louie, was that he seemed to be very rushed toward the end of dinner and really wasn't paying much attention to what we might want or need...thankfully, this really did turn out to just be a first-night fluke, and by the end of the trip, I had absolutely no complaints about him...he was great!

We went to the show at 8:45 that night...it was okay...nothing to brag about, but the comedian who was on right after the Valor Dancers was pretty funny...unfortunately, I lost my Carnival Capers paper for this day and can't remember his name. He was a pretty big, tall, guy from Florida, and he had a shaved head...that's all I remember. After the show, we went to karaoke in the Paris Hot Lounge. We got there just before 9:30 and it didn't really get crowded until almost 10...it was tons of fun, especially after a few drinks! My parents actually stayed up until 12:30 AM (I have NEVER seen them up that late), and I sang a lot, because after singing by myself, my sister wanted to sing with me, and then I sang a [very sad] rendition of "Summer Nights" with a very drunk newlywed...his new wife didn't mind, because she knew I was married, and the whole thing was just very fun.

MONDAY

Surprisingly, we were up and at 'em by 9 AM (and thankfully, we didn't have hangovers), and had breakfast at Rosie's. The line actually wasn't that bad, and the food (I just had eggs, bacon, and some fruit) was pretty good. We were at the pool between 9:15 and 9:30, and there was still a decent amount of chairs available. As always, there was a lot of chair-saving, but even after the Lido deck got crowded, there were plenty of chairs on the higher decks. My sisters and I went on the slide, which was a lot of fun, and the drink waiters were more than attentive all day long :o) (which rendered my husband in need of a nap before dinner that night). The announcements did get kind of annoying when sitting outside by the pool for so long, but I suppose there isn't much one can do about that. The hairy chest contest was a lot of fun...I was actually one of the judges, so if you were on the ship, I was the tall one with blonde hair in a ponytail, and I was wearing a pink flowered bikini. The little old man that won was SO cute, and he actually ended up being on my color-building team--the BLUE team!

I also did a bit of shopping, and was surprised at the selection in the shops. There were plenty of Carnival souvenirs, and even some shot glasses from the different ports of call...the alcohol selection wasn't the best, which is why I chose to buy my alcohol on Cozumel, but that's another story for later in this review ;o) My husband bought the bingo cards (three for $20), and he said it was very worth the money to buy them earlier in the week, because you can play all week on that $20. If you don't buy them then, you can buy them mid-week at "El Cheapo" Bingo for $10 for a strip of three.

This night was the first formal dinner...the hubby and I went to the Captain's Cocktail party in the Eagles Lounge prior to dinner, and sat with a very nice older couple from New York. After that, we headed straight down to our seating, and this dinner turned out to be the best of the week, in my opinion. The pumpkin soup was great, the ceasar salad was good (the dressing wasn't quite thick enough for my taste, but that's just me), the lobster was amaing, and the Reisling wine that they had on the dessert wine list was a very good Reisling. I had the tiramisu for dessert, and although it was served very differently from any other tiramisu I've ever had (sort of like a custard with the lady finger on the side), it was delicious.

Unfortunately, we missed the show this night, but my parents (who are not exactly the easiest people to please) saw it and said that it was very good. We wandered over to karaoke around ten, and the place was packed, so we just sang a couple songs, and then went to the One Small Step dance club. The club had a great setup (the lighted dance floor was really cool), but the music they were playing wasn't that great, and there were not many people there at all. There was a small midnight buffet this night, but it was just that--small--so my sister and I just got some cheeseburgers (it was just before midnight when we got up there, but this was the only night I saw the burger place open that late) and went to bed.

TUESDAY

Welcome to Belize! We ate breakfast in the Washington Dining Room this morning...I had waffles, which were a bit dry, and when I ordered them with strawberries, I didn't expect the strawberries to be stewed (they tasted more like jam or jelly), which was disappointing. I kind of liked having the selection in front of me, at Rosie's, better.

I would suggest to any and everyone that they book a tour through Carnival for Belize. It is a tender port, and they have to tender pretty far out...about five miles, actually. I definitely would not have enjoyed having to get up and wait in line at about 8 AM for a tender sticker...thankfully, we did the Goff's Caye Snorkeling Tour, and they picked us up right at the boat, not to mention that we didn't even have to meet until just before noon, which made for a fairly relaxing morning. The tour was about $62 per person, and it was worth every penny. The "island", which was maybe the size of 2/3 of a football field, was very clean, and the water was beautiful. My husband went out on the boat and snorkeled on the reef, and said it was the best snorkeling he had ever done. I stayed on the island and snorkeled off the beach with my sisters, who had never really been before and so were a bit frightened. The water wasn't very deep and the snorkeling was pretty good, although I'm sure not as good as it was off the boat. There were a few vendors there, but they weren't TOO pushy, and we all had shrimp kebabs with homemade barbeque sauce and tortillas, which was really good and only $6 a piece.

By the time we got back to the boat, we were still a bit hungry, so I shared a tuna salad sandwich from the Deli with my sister. It was very good! Within a couple hours, we had to go to dinner. For a starter, I had lobster bisque, which was good, but not the best I've ever had. I had the penne pasta with shrimp and scallops for dinner, and that was very good, and the cherry cheesecake was great (if you like the light, fluffy kind of cheesecake, which I do). The raspberry lemone creme brulee was also amazing.

For the shows that night, they had a different comedian, and a juggler. The comedian was pretty good, and the juggler was awesome...and funny ;o) It was also announced that on Monday, our day at sea, the guests on our ship ate more than the guests on any other Carnival ship in the past year...that, I would think, is somethign to be proud of...haha.

WEDNESDAY

Time for Roatan Island (or Isla Roatan), which is off the coast of Honduras! We had room service for breakfast this morning--just bagels and fruit, but it was good, and it came right on time...however, they did forget my danish, which was a bit upsetting, because their danish are VERY good.

We were originally just going to take a taxi to West End Beach, but my mother overruled us, and in the end, I'm glad she did...we ended up doing the Tabayana Beach Break for $33 per person (just having reliable transportation was worth it). We did the 9:45 AM one, but if you want choice seats on the beach, and if you want to snorkel, I would suggest doing the earlier one. Snorkeling gear was $10 per set, but they were out of masks by the time we got there, so we had to wait about a half hour, and then we literally had to chase down people who were returning their equipment so that we could rent it. As for the beach, both it and the water were clean and beautiful. The changing rooms were also clean, and it was nice that they had freshwater showers. Lemonade, ice tea, and water were included, and they had a bar, burgers and hot dogs for sale, and a pretty decent live band. There were a few vendors--one of which was an amazing painter (I bought a medium-sized painting of a town scene from the island, framed and everything, for only $50)--but none of them were pushy. They also had hair braiding and massages for $25. As for the snorkeling--it was AMAZING, the best of the whole trip, in my opinion. There were huge cliffs of coral, and tons of fish large and small. My only complaint was that the beach was pretty crowded. Also, my dad and sister went parasailing, and the prices for that were pretty good--$50 per person or $75 total if you go tandem with someone else.

Back on the ship, I made my way to the Deli again and had a hot turkey sandwich for lunch, and it was really good. When dinner came around, I ordered the Alaskan King Crab meat for a starter...it was okay, but more of a creab meat salad than anything. For my meal, I had the shrimp with the cream sauce and pastry, which was amazing, and for dessert, I had the seasonal berries desert with the orange-cream-filled pastries. It was good, but VERY fruity...I also tasted the Bitter & Blanc, which in my opinion was MUCH better.

The show that night was a tribute to Frank Sinatra and Sammie Davis Jr...the singer and the band sounded good, but if you're not a big fan of Sinatra and Sammie Davis, this show probably isn't for you...I'm not a big fan; hence, I didn't stay for the whole thing.

We had decided to go to karaoke again that night...thankfully, we got there early (9 PM) and were the second people in line. If we had arrived any later, we probably wouldn't have gotten seats for all six of us...so if you plan on going to karaoke any night besides the first night, get there before 9:15!

THURSDAY

For breakfast, we went to the Washington Dining Room again. The service was a bit slow, and although the French toast was good, half of my pieces (I had a double order, which is four halves) were not cooked al the way through.

Today was Grand Cayman, and we tendered again. I have never seen water so amazingly blue! We were doing the Stingray Sandbar, Hell, and Turtle Farm tour, which cost $59 per person. Once again, it was nice that we had booked a tour through Carnival and didn't have to bother with getting a tender number or anything like that. The tour itself seemed worth the money to me...we got to see a decent amount of the island, including Seven Mile Beach and the Old Homestead (the oldest house on the island and one of the few that survived Hurricane Ivan last year). The island was about 95% destroyed by Hurricane Ivan last September, and they're only about half done with fixing everything, which is kind of sad. Anyway, Hell wasn't much to see, but it's cool to say you've been there ;o). The turtle farm was really neat--they had some turtles as big as kitchen tables, and then they had medium-sized and small ones which you could hold if you wanted to. The stingray sandbar was also really cool, but I wouldn't swim with them if you get easily freaked out--they won't hurt you, but if you start jumping up and down and stirring things up and frightening them, it's not good.

We got back in time to do a little shopping, but I opted to go back to the ship so that I wouldn't be rushing to get ready for dinner that night, because it was the second formal night. For a starter that night, the crab cakes were AMAZING, and the broccoli soup was pretty good too (a little too chunky for my taste, though). The tiger shrimp dish for the main course was good, and for dessert I had this chocolate thing with a French-sounding name, which was also good--and the caramel ice cream that came with it was REALLY good.

Later that night, we went to the show, which was called "Far From Over". It was an 80s tribute, and it was absolutely amazing!!! I don't want to give anything away, so I won't say any more, but I will say that it is a must-see! From 10-11 PM we went to 80s hour in the dance club, and that was also a lot of fun. There were more people there than there had been Monday night, but it was still obvious that it wasn't "the" place to be. After a few drinks, we went to check out the Gala Midnight Buffet. The first part of it wasn't that impressive, but at the end they had some really cool stuff. I didn't try any of the food (to me, it looked a little too fancy for midnight drunk munchies); instead, I went and grabbed some pizza. The pizza is actually more similar to the actual Italian style of pizza (for instance, their cheese pizza is called "Margarhita", which is the name of real Italian cheese pizza)...not the best I've ever had, but pretty good nonetheless!

FRIDAY

We ordered breakfast in our room again this morning (we're lazy, what can I say?). We had put on the room service card that we would like it between 9:20 and 9:40 AM, and it came about 9:30 AM. Just bagels and fruit again, but it was good--they did, however, forget the honey for my hot tea.

We didn't do a tour through the ship on this day, because I had heard enough about Cozumel to know that we would be plenty safe doing something on our own. Therefore, we took a taxi to Chankanaab ($10 for a one-way taxi ride, and it was $12 per person for admission into the park). The botanical gardens were okay (nothing to brag about), and the snorkeling was nowhere near as good as Roatan or even Belize, but it only cost $8 for a set of snorkeling gear, which wasn't too bad. There were lots of huge lizards, which was neat to see, and the beach was nice, but the entrance to the water WAS rocky. I didn't mind that, but it probably wouldn't be the best beach to bring small children to. It was also nice that you could walk over and see the dolphins that they used for the dolphin encounter. The whole park was very clean, and I even got my hair braided there ($25 for half of the head, and I got mine done with a design, not just straight back).

We got back from Chankanaab just before a rainstorm, so we did some shopping and ate at a Mexican (obviously) restaurant right at the port. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was in this old warehouse and was closer to the taxi area than to the pier. The nachos were good, if a bit dry, and the quesadillas were VERY good. My sister and I shared a Mango Margarita, which was not only good, but strong. After lunch, the rainstorm was over, so we did some more shopping. The shopping here is pretty good; the vendors are pretty willing to bargain, and only a few of them were fairly pushy, but none of them were anywhere near as bad as some other islands I've been to (such as St. Lucia and Jamaica).

Although we had planned on doing a sit-down dinner, we decided that we would rather do something quick, so that we could get back out and party at Fat Tuesdays. So we ate dinner at Rosie's...the selection wasn't the best, but the fried chicken was good, and the soft serve ice cream was also really good, which surprised me (the ice cream on my previous cruise, which was a Royal Caribbean Cruise, was really grainy and not good at all). After dinner, we headed right out to Fat Tuesday's...the daiquiries were expensive ($11 for a yard glass and $9 for a tube glass...and just to let you know, they hold about the same amount of alcohol, so the tube glass is the better deal). The bar was really crazy, and REALLY fun...my sisters and I even ended up dancing on the little stage with the pole :o) If you are going to go here for the evening, I would suggest getting there by 7, because by 8 PM it was insanely crowded and you never would have found a table close to the bar.

Once back on the ship, we went to the party on the Lido deck, which was also a lot of fun. We got there just before 10:30, but if we had gotten there any later, we wouldn't have gotten a seat at the bar. It was still hoppin' when we headed to bed around 12:30 (at least, I think it was 12:30). We actually got room service that night, because the lines were so long for the buffets and everything--both the roast beef and brie sandwich and the shrimp salad sandwich were delicious!

SATURDAY

It's hard to believe a week can pass so fast! We had breakfast in Rosie's this morning, and as always, the bacon and eggs and fresh fruit were good. We arrived at the pool about 10:00-10:15 AM and there were still plenty of chairs available; however, all the "good ones" were filled by 11 AM. It was a nice, lazy day. For lunch, I finally got to try to fish and chips upstairs in Rosie's, and all the reviews I have read were right--they were some of the best fish and chips I have ever had (and that's a lot to say from someone who grew up going to Cape Cod and Maine every summer). The chocolate buffet was amazing--I have never seen so much chocolate in one place! I tried the banana fritters, the chocolate cheesecake, and the chocolate-covered doughnuts, all of which were very good.

When it came time for dinner, I wasn't sure how I was going to eat any more, but I did. The chicken quesadillas were good (if you like black beans and don't mind the severe lack of sour cream, you would really love them); the Newburgh seafood plate was good (but not great--the sauce was a little strong for a seafood plate, in my opinion). I also tried my husband's prime rib, and it was delicious--very tender! For dessert, the Grand Marnier souffle was devine. And after a week with our waiter, Louie (I think he was from the Philippines), I must say that he was great--very fun and very attentive.

That night, we spend some money in the casino (not a bad selection of slot machines, I must say, although my husband was very disappointed that they didn't have Texas Hold 'em as one of their card games). I also have to wonder if Carnival, or at least, the people who designed the theme of the casino, know what a geisha is...Anyway, we also stopped by the Lindy Hop, which was pretty fun and not too crowded (we got there around 10:30, I have a feeling it might have gotten a little more crowded as the night went on). The piano man was not the best singer, but he was better than some of the piano men I've seen play in the past.

Our attempt to order room service this night completely backfired. If I were you, I would just plan on making y our way up to the buffet on the Lido deck--we should have just gone there, but I suppose this is what you get for being lazy, because we waited over an hour and a half for the food we ordered from room service, and when it finally did arrive, it was cold.

Now, for some things we learned over the week--"Laws", the pool band, sounded good, but seriously only seemed to know about ten songs. If you drink a decent amount, here is some good-to-know info--it's cheaper to buy wine and champagne by the bottle if you want more than one glass; it is cheaper to buy buckets of beer if you are going to have four or more, and buckets of domestic beer (i.e. Miller Lite) cost $11.50, buckets of imported beer (i.e. Corona) are $13.50; also, it is a good deal to buy the daily special in the refill cup on your first day (it costs, I think, $6.25 the first time, and after that you get refills of the daily specials for only $4.50 all week long, whereas if you just bought cups of the daily specials one by one, they cost $2.95 and they're about half the size). Also, I found it weird that many of the bartenders did not know how to make a Rum Runner on the rocks...

SUNDAY

For breakfast, we once again went to the Washington Dining Room, where I learned that either baked apples are served cold, or the baked apple I had was just a really bad one ;o). I had the buttermilk pancakes, and those were very good.

For debarkation, we did the "relaxation debarkation". This meant we had to have our baggage (except for our carry-ons) outside of our cabin by midnight on Saturday. We had to be out of the room by 9 AM, but after that, we were able to just laze around on the couches near the Java coffee place for about an hour or so. We got in line to disembark around 10:20 AM and eventually got to the airport at about 12:15 PM. Just FYI, the Port of Miami has no airconditioning, and most of the time we were waiting in line to go through customs was pretty hot and miserable, although once we got down into the main area, the line was almost constantly moving. Thankfully, we had a late flight and were able to check in, get through security, eat a sit-down lunch, and still have time leftover. In conclusion, the debarkation was long and hot--when I went on my Royal Caribbean cruise, they did it by flight number and it was much easier, so in my opinion, Carnival really should work on their debarkation process. Due to weather issues and the incompetency of US Air, we didn't get home until about 4:30 AM Monday morning, but that is not Carnival's fault, so it is a different story for a different time, I suppose.

Now for my major complaint--I bought a bottle of tequila (a brand that is not sold in the U.S.) and a bottle of Cruzan banana rum (which I have never seen at any liquor store I've been to in the U.S.) in Cozumel. I had to hand it over to Carnival when I boarded the ship Friday afternoon, as did everyone else who bought alcohol in the ports. They said it would be delivered to my room by noon the next day (Saturday). Well, when it wasn't there by 3 PM on Saturday, I called the front desk. They told me that they still had a lot of alcohol to deliver, and that I would get it by 8 PM that night. When it still wasn't there by about 9 PM, I went to the purser's desk. The person I spoke to told me it would be there by midnight, but when I went to bed at 1 AM, it still wasn't there, and when I got up at 7 AM the next morning, guess what, STILL no alcohol. At this pint, when I called front board services, they said I had to go to the purser's desk. At this point, the purser's desk tried to tell me that they had no record of me ever handing over my alcohol to them, and then said they would reimburse me the $25 I had spent. Needless to say, you can't buy two bottles of decent liquor for $25 in the U.S., so I asked if they could replace it with liquor from their store. Apparently, all they had left was Absolut Vodka (of which my husband had already bought a bottle), Crown Royal, and Cruzan Vanilla Rum. I took a bottle of the Vanilla rum and a bottle of Crown in exchange, but I made it very clear that I was not happy with the situation. If they had not confiscated my liquor in the first place, this whole situation never would have happened. The woman kept saying "I don't know what happened, I don't know what happened"...I replied, "I'll tell you what happened--either one of your crew members stole it, or you delivered it to the wrong room and the people who received it didn't have the morals to return it". Needless to say, I still plan on writing a letter to Carnival about this, as you can't REALLY replace something that cannot even be FOUND in the United States.

All in all, my first Carnival cruise, and my first trip to the Western Caribbean, was very enjoyable. On a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the worst, 5 being the best)...
Value for your money: 4
Food: 3.5
Stateroom: 4.5
Ship Decor: 5
Itinerary: 5
Activities (including bars, shows, casino, etc.): 4
Service: 4
Embarkation: 3.5
Debarkation: 2.5

Due to my recent sojourn to Myrtle Beach, I decided to make that my next review. I will admit that I have actually not experienced a lot of what Myrtle Beach has to offer. However, I know people that have experienced a few of the things I haven't, and I'm trusting their opinions on this.

The beach itself at Myrtle Beach is clean. Although the Ocean Boulevard area of it is not quite as pristine and beautiful as the stae park, I have no complaints about the beach itself. The Pavilion area (the old amusement park, which is now torn down) and the boardwalk leave something to be desired, but the city of Myrtle Beach is trying to fix that area up, slowly but surely. (For example, they closed down one of my old haunts, the Freaky Tiki, because they didn't like the crowd that it was drawing.) The couple of times that I haven't stayed with my sister (who lives in Conway, which is about 20 minutes from Myrtle Beach), I have always stayed at the Poindexter Resort. It's a beachfront hotel that tends to draw young people and young families. It's an economy-priced hotel, but even the most basic rooms come with a mini fridge and a microwave, and the rooms are clean, so in my opinion, it's a good buy for the price.

One thing that there is plenty of in Myrtle Beach is SHOPPING. Between Broadway at the Beach, which has many specialty shops, Barefoot Landing, which is in North Myrtle Beach, the huge Coastal Grande Mall, and all the outlet centers (i.e. Tanger Outlets), you can definitely shop 'til you drop. For future reference, the outlet center on 501 North in Conway is probably best, at least better than the one located on 17 on the way to North Myrtle.

There are also plenty of shows to choose from, but to be truthful, I haven't seen any of them. Some of the best are the Cirque du Soleil show at the Palace Theater. If you have never seen a Cirque show, you might as well check this one out. Although I have never seen it, I have never heard of a bad Cirque show, and this one is moderately priced--plus, if you book it a month and a half to two months in advance, you can get great seats. Other top shows in the area (according to all the travel guides) are the one show at the Alabama theater between Myrtle and North Myrtle, the Legends show located on 501 north between Myrtle Beach and Conway, and the many dinner shows--including Dixie Stampede and Medieval Times (both corny but always fun, especially if you've never been). Also noteworthy is the Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues, which is located near Barefoot Landing. The food is good (especially if you're hungover)--the two downsides are, I'm not sure if it is worth $19.99 per person, and also, this HOB does not take reservations for its Gospel Brunch, so you might end up with a lengthy wait time.

As for food...for some reason I never seemed to have time to eat much when in Myrtle Beach. Hooters is always a fun time...other restaurants I have been told about are Dick's Last Resort in North Myrtle and The Melting Pot (a fondue places) on route 17/Kings Highway right in the heart of Downtown Myrtle Beach. If you want to travel a little bit, there is a great little Italian place called Bella's on route 544 in Conway, but if you want to stick to touristy stuff, Hard Rock Cafe has pretty good food, even though the prices are a little high. Oh, and for God's sake, stay away from any of the Calabash seafood buffet places! Just trust me on that one.

Another great Myrtle Beach pasttime is minigolf. There are about a million mini golf places in Myrtle Beach. The best ones, as polled by my friends and I, are Hook's on 17 in downtown Myrtle Beach, Cancun Lagoon on 17 just south of Downtown Myrtle Beach, and  Dragon's Lair at Broadway at the Beach. Or, if you don't mind a bit of a drive, you can go see the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial in Wilmington, NC (about 40 minutes north of Myrtle Beach).

Now comes my favorite part...what do you do when you need to wind down from a long day in the sun, a sticky warm evening playing minigolf, and a hefty meal at one of those dinner shows or any other place besides a Calabash seafood buffet (I am more serious than you will ever know about avoiding those places)? Well, there are plenty of places to party in Myrtle Beach, even if they closed down most of the ones in the Pavilion area. There is Club Kryptonite near Broadway at the Beach--sometimes their music selection includes a little too much techno, and the smoke machines can get a little old, but during the spring break and early summer times, it is one of THE places to be. Beyond that, Broadway at the Beach is always a good place to party, because there is something for everyone--alcohol-loaded slushy drinks at Fat Tuesday's (21 and up), dueling pianos at Crocodile Rock's (21 and up), a wee bit o' blarney (yes, I just said that) at Blarney Stone's, and on Saturday nights, the hippest of the hip (yes, I just said that too) go to Senor Frog's. Club Boca and Froggy Bottomz do not rank high on my list, so you might want to avoid those. Myrtle Beach also ranks up there in the "most strip clubs per square mile" category, in my opinion. I'm 99% sure you have to be 21 to get into most, if not all of them, with the classiest and the "cleanest" (meaning dirt-wise) being Crazy Horse in North Myrtle. If that's your thing, of course, and in this category (unlike the food category), I am speaking from experience.

If you live within driving distance of Myrtle Beach and have never been, why not? Other than that, if the "I was a top vacation destination in the 1980's and 1990's" isn't your idea of a great vacation, or if you have seen everything places like Daytona and Cocoa Beach have to offer, you probably aren't missing much. Still, Myrtle Beach definitely holds a special place in my heart ;o)

I just wanted to let y'all know that I haven't abandoned this journal ;o) My husband and I moved from Virginia to South Carolina last week, thus the extended absence. I'm hoping to have a chance to pick up where I left off with my reviews by next week at the latest!

I chose to review Virginia third because it is where I am currently living...until next week, anyway ;o) (Thank God). Having lived here off and on for four and a half years, I have seen many places--but I have unfortunately also missed many places. I'm going to make a note here that I am not going to be reviewing any part of Northern Virginia, or NoVa as we refer to it--I will be mentioning that in the future when I review Washington, D.C.--because NoVa is so much more D.C. than Virginia. At least, that's what everyone who lives in the Southwest/Piedmont regions of Virginia thinks!

The first time I ever came to Virginia, it was to the Virginia Beach/Williamsburg area, and I enjoyed myself immensely. As a history buff, I enjoyed Colonial Williamsburg, although when we went it was an off time (early May) and there wasn't much going on. We stayed right on Virginia Beach (don't ask me the name of the hotel, I don't remember) and the beach, from my memory, was clean and enjoyable. Not somewhere I would fly to for a vacation, but if you're within driving distance, this area is definitely worth checking out. Busch Gardens Williamsburg was definitely impressive--the park was clean, the theming was decent (although it was no Disney World), and the rollercoasters were exceptional.

My next stop in Virginia was years later, and took me to Charlottesville and Farmville (where I ended up going to college). Charlottesville was a neat little down--the University of Virginia campus was beautiful (a must see if you're in the area, and if you can finagle a tour, that's also worth it), there was a lot of great shopping, and we also went to see Monticello. The tour of the house and grounds was a little longer than I would have liked (and that means a lot, coming from me), but it was still impressive. We ate at the Michie Tavern, which is apparently pretty famous--the food was great but I think it was a little overpriced. Hey, that's a tourist trap for ya ;o).

Farmville has grown exponentially since the first time I visited there. The town now has a few chain restaurants, but it's "local" places are still the best--Macado's for sandwiches and drinks (if you've never been to a Macado's, you won't believe the selection), Pino's for pizza, and Charley's Waterfront Cafe for a slightly more "fancy" meal (the crab cake sandwich is to die for, and I won't even get into their awesome "Flower Pot" dessert). Longwood University (which claims to be the oldest college in Virginia) has a beautiful campus as well, although not quite as historic as UVa. If you find yourself in "Farmvegas", as we Longwood students are apt to call it, one must-see is the Moton School/Robert R. Moton Museum. This was one of the last segregated schools in the U.S. and is therefore an important stop on the civil rights history trail. In 1951 the students led a strike protesting segregation, which caused the school to shut down for years and was eventually a part of 1954's Brown vs. Board of Education case.

Appomattox, halfway between Farmville and Lynchburg, has its share of history--and if you don't know what, you might need to go back to high school. While the town itself is nothing to write home about--and I wouldn't plan on staying here if you are in the area checking out the historic sites--for me the highlights are Appomattox Court House National Historic Park and Fred's Car Museum. Appomattox Court House is technically free, but if you've never been you might as well pay the $3 for the informational tour and to enter the McLean House. Fred's Car Museum is just neat because it's a total hick town attraction while at the same time offering an array of antique cars to view. And hey, if you're in Appomattox, you might as well stop by the Redneck Gift Shop on route 460...it's certainly...amusing.

The Lynchburg area offers a few more attractions, as it is a city (although not much of one). If you come here, you absolutely must eat a cheesy western at the "T Room" (actually named The Texas Tavern, and you probably don't want to know what a cheesy western consists of). In downtown Lynchburg you can catch Monument Terrace and Amazement Square, and outside of that area, must-sees include Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest (which, despite living here off and on for two and a half years, I have never seen), and the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford (located here because Bedford County lost more men per population than any other county in the United States on D-Day). For a random memorial in southwest Virginia, it is actually pretty neat. Other great things to do in the area are cliff-diving at Panther Falls, climbing Sharp Top Mountain or Crabtree Falls, driving along the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway, and attending the Garlic Festival (a definite must-see if you're a wine person, happens in October in Amherst, VA at Rebec Vineyards). Roanoke is about an hour west of Lynchburg, and is much bigger, but having only been there a couple of times, the only thing I know to suggest is the Hotel Roanoke, which is a beautiful hotel and apparently very historic.

I have also taken a day trip up to the battlefields in the Fredericksburg area--a must if you're a Civil War buff, but all they really are is battlefields, not even as developed as Appomattox Court House is.

And that's Virginia--at least what I've seen of it--in a nutshell!

Well, I grew up in good ol' Connecticut, so of course this will be my second review :o) Surprisingly enough, there are a lot of things that I have not done in my homestate, but I will say this--it's not really an amazing vacation place. The beaches leave a lot to be desired, in my opinion--let's just say that I can't remember the names of most of the ones I've been to, and most of the time my friends and I would go to the Rhode Island beaches anyway. I did, however, enjoy Rocky Neck State Park.

One interesting Connecticut-type thing is the Mark Twain House, one of those places I have never been but always wanted to go to. You'd think that growing up in Connecticut I would have made time for these things, instead of wasting time complaining that there was nothing to do, but I suppose the past is the past. I also never graced Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun, the two biggest casinos in the U.S. (yes, bigger than any of the casinos in Vegas or Atlantic City), with my presence, but that's not to say I never wanted to. I have seen both of them from afar, and have had friends and family go there not only to gamble but for concerts as well, and have never heard anything bad about them.

My favorite touristy thing to do in Connecticut had to have been Mystic Seaport. The quaint shops and great local restaurants, and the old-town feel of the place, make it one of few "must-sees" in my homestate. The aquarium there, if you are an aquarium fan, is pretty good. Not one of the best I've seen, but another one of those "hey, if you're in the area, you might as well check it out" things. Also along the shoreline is Gillette Castle State Park, home of, yes, a castle--designed by William Gillette of Sherlock Holmes fame.

The Wadsworth Atheneaum is the nation's oldest public art museum. I've been there a couple of times, it's no Metropolitan Museum of Art or Uffizzi Gallery or Smithsonian, but if you're in the Hartford area, you might as well check it out.

And hey, if for some reason you find yourself in my old "neck of the woods"--check out the castle on route 83 in Ellington (near the 83-140 intersection). It's a private home, so you can't go in, but it is a real castle, turret and everything, and was actually a speakeasy back in the Prohibition Era. Also in Ellington is the Nelly McNight Museum. She was an important woman in Ellington's history, but I won't lie, if you're not from there you really won't get it. The museum is on Main Street, and also along Main Street (and its parallel street, Maple) is Ellington's "historical district", which is kind of a joke because it's just private houses with little plaques on them that say the year they were built. Finally, there is a marker on route 83, across from Lee's Auto Ranch (well, ind of diagonally across) that marks the spot of the first recorded death in Ellington. Funny thing, my parents used to own that land and the guy didn't die right there on that spot, but back in the woods somewhere--they just put the marker near the road so people could see it, like anyone cares.

Another neat little thing in the area is the Connecticut Trolley Museum in South Windsor, but they keep weird hours, so do some research if for some strange reason you want to check that out.

Well, considering I worked at Disney for five years, I felt it only right that it be the first place I reviewed. Now, I'm not going to go into details of every hotel I've stayed in, every restaurant I've eaten in, every attraction I've ridden or show I've seen (that would take days and days)--if anyone has questions about those things, feel free to post them. 

I am of the belief that every person should go to Walt Disney World at least twice in their lifetime--once as a child, to be amazed by it, and once as an adult, to truly appreciate it. Even beyond working there, I have been on vacation there seven times between the ages of 9 and 24. I would go more often if I could afford it.

Anyway, on to my review...I will start with listing the parks in order from my most favorite to least favorite:

1) EPCOT: Many people don't like this park, but I can't see how it can't at least be appreciated. I can give or take FutureWorld, but the World Showcase is to this day one of my favorite places ever. Besides, the park is the last dream of Walt Disney that was actually realized, even if it wasn't realized in exactly the way he wanted or planned. And now that they have some better attractions (i.e. Soarin'), I think more people are coming to appreciate it.
2) Disney's Animal Kingdom: Okay, so now that it has a roller coaster, it is becoming more popular. But having worked there, knowing about its attempts at conservation education, and wandering around the park, finding all the little quiet nooks that make it so different, caused me to fall in love.
3) Magic Kingdom: Who doesn't like Magic Kingdom--especially with the "new and improved" Pirates? (I was fine with the old one, but we won't go there.) Personally, it's not one of my favorites because it's always crowded and parents don't know how to keep their children in check (especially in Fantasyland), but I still get that silly little happy feeling in the pit of my stomach when I walk up Main Street and see the castle.
4) Disney's MGM-Studios: Yes, it has Rock 'n' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, both great attractions, but come on, the rest of the park just sucks. If they add one more stunt show as a way to "attract guests", I'm going to scream. Put in another roller coaster, then we'll talk. And if you're like me, one of those dreamers who really believes in the idea of the Disney "magic"--well, this park doesn't have any of that.

Hotels I have stayed in:
Disney Inn (now Shades of Green for military personnel)
Polynesian (deluxe resort)
Grand Floridian (deluxe)
Boardwalk (deluxe)
The Disney Institute (was a home away from home resort, now it's Saratoga Springs)
Coronado Springs (moderate resort)
Animal Kingdom Resort (deluxe resort)
All Star Music (value resort)
Port Orleans Riverside (moderate)
Pop Century (value)
Saratoga Springs (home away from home)

Out of these, my favorite by far was the Port Orleans Riverside, but I also loved the Boardwalk for its theme and its close proximity to EPCOT. Out of the value resorts, I liked Pop Century much better than the All Star because it was much closer to everything. The Grand Floridian was overrated.

I can't even begin to list every place I've eaten at on Disney property, so I'll just go with my favorite restaurants, and list them by park/resort...

EPCOT:
Full Service--The Beirgarten restaurant in the Germany pavilion has an amazing lunch buffet and a cool little German music show. The dinner selection, however, was nowhere near as good. Le Cellier in the Canada pavilion also has awesome food but is a good deal more expensive.
Quick Service--There is a little fish and chips place in the England pavilion (on the right-hand side, just before the pub, if you're coming from the France pavilion) that is awesome.

Disney's Animal Kingdom:
Quick Service--Pizzafari in the Discovery Island area has great deli sandwiches and breadsticks.

Magic Kingdom:
Full Service--The only one worth eating at is The Liberty Tree Tavern, which serves Thanksgiving-type food "family style", and is all-you-can-eat.
Quick Service--Cosmic Ray's has the best selection. Don't pass up the dole whips at Aloha Isle, they're to die for.

Disney's MGM-Studios:
Full Service--Mama Melrose serves California Italian style food that in my opinion is the best you'll find in MGM. The restaurant's decor (it looks like a vineyard) is also really neat. If you are looking for a more "themed" restaurant, Prime Time Cafe is a lot of fun and has great meatloaf, fried chicken, and s'mores for dessert.
Quick Service--I'm partial to ABC Commissary, which has great burgers and Cuban sandwiches.

Downtown Disney Area:
Quick Service--The Earl of Sandwich in the marketplace area has awesome hot sandwiches and tomato soup, plus a variety of salads and desserts. Also, don't miss the mini doughnut cart, also in the marketplace area.

Resort Restaurants:
Full Service--O'hanas at the Polynesian is just amazing. Great food selection and lots of fun. I also enjoy The Grand Floridian Cafe (location self-explanatory), which has a great pasta dish, a quieter atmosphere, slightly better prices, good meatloaf, and an amazing chocolate fondue for dessert. Boma's at the Animal Kingdom Lodge is a very different buffet, lots of selection and always good quality food.
Quick Service--The food courts at the All Star resorts and at the Pop Century offer great selection, and I've had a lot of different sandwiches and the like there, all very good. The pizza place at the Caribbean Beach Resort food court is awesome as well. Finally, The Artist's Palette at Saratoga Springs offers great flatbreads.

Other fun Disney activities:
As I'm an adult and have no children, these are mostly adult related, but I'm always willing to give advice to families as well ;o)
Tops on my list--"Drinking Around the World" at EPCOT (only if you're a party-loving person). Eleven countries in the World Showcase--one drink in each country. The last time I did it, it cost about $75 per person, and was worth every penny and more.
Typhoon Lagoon--In my opinion, the better of the two water parks. Shark reef snorkel, wave pool, and waterslide "rollercoasters" can't be beat!
Pleasure Island Comedy Club--Definitely hit up one of the later shows (after 10 PM) for a little more raucous crowd. Unfortunately, how funny the show is depends on the suggestions given by the audience, so some nights are better than others.
Fantasia Miniature Golf--One of the more interesting mini golf courses I've ever been to, and I'm not a big mini golf person.

And I think that's about it for now! I might think of a few more things to add to this as I go on, but please feel free to post any comments on my reviews (disagreeing with me is OK), and as always, questions are welcome as well!

My name, in case you don't know me, is Tara. I am 24 years old, from Connecticut, currently living in Virginia but moving to South Carolina in less than two weeks. I fell in love with traveling at a very young age--probably the first time I went to Disney World, when I was nine. It was all downhill from there ;o) 

Some of the favorite places I have been are:

~ Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL
~ Arizona (especially Lake Powell)
~ California
~ Ireland (especially Dublin)
~ Roatan Island (off the coast of Honduras)
~ Maine (the Kittery/Ogunquit/Kennebunkport areas)
~ Kentucky (Louisville)

Places I would not bother going back to:

~ Rome, Italy
~ St. Maarten
~ Anywhere in New Jersey

I dream of seeing:

~ Israel
~ Egypt
~ Australia
~ Costa Rica
~ Cancun
~ Turks & Caicos in the Bahamas
~ Las Vegas
~ New Orleans 
~ Paris, France
~ London, England
~ Thailand
~ Switzerland
~ Germany (although not really Berlin)
~ Sweden 
~ Alaska (preferably on a Princess Cruise Tour--the Inside Passage and then Denali National Park, something like that)

Stay tuned for reviews of my past trips...and if you have any questions about any of the places I review, or most especially, if you ave any questions about Orlando, Florida or Disney, please comment!