TravelStream™ news feed for member tll-tina on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/tll-tina en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:20:02 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1236976440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1236976440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1236976440/tpod.html Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:20:02 -0400 Grace & Chris's Wedding in Mexico

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Cancun, Mexico

Friday March 13, 2009

OHhhhhhhhh, what a beautiful day! Breakfast with the ladies, hanging out by the pool, good food, sun, sand, waves, good friends and frosty slushy drinks! Who could ask for more! We had another amazing day. Mia and Kaylie spent some BRIEF time in the pool, they weren't fans of it to say the least....could be the cold water?? Oh well, lots of days here for them to warm up to the fun in the pool! Spent lots of time hanging out under our grass umbrellas in lounge chairs by the pool. Took turns checking out all the stuff in the resort, swimming and playing in the waves while the ladies were napping. TL went out with the crowd here to the Steak House restaurant while I hung out in the room with the sleeping bebe's (tomorrow I get to go to the Japanese restaurant). Was a great day overall and tomorrow should be another great one!




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1236888060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1236888060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1236888060/tpod.html Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:19:17 -0400 Grace & Chris's Wedding in Mexico

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Cancun, Mexico

Thursday March 12, 2009

HEL-LO HUMIDITY! Ah, we have arrived in Mexico! We left Edmonton at 10am and after a quick 5hr flight we arrived in Cancun. Our flight was very good, it was a Signature Vacation flight since we have gone all gourmet for this trip and are staying in a fancy-pants resort. The girls were super great flyers yet again! TL & I found it quite funny that the flight staff actually warned us when we were landing about the "time-share hall" that we would have to walk through to get to the real resort staff who would take us in a bus to the resort. Either we are getting used to locals trying to hussle us (seasoned travellers) or they are getting less aggressive, I'm going to guess number one.



Anyway, we had a great air conditioned bus ride to our hotel. Took about 45 minutes since we had to stop at 3 other resorts first to let other people off. When we arrived at our hotel our first words were WOW! Seriously beautiful place that Grace & Chris chose to get married at. Ok, enough chat, we had to find food immediately for all of us.



After a great supper we headed back to our room and settled the little ladies in for the night. Little did we know we'd be settling in for the night as well....we lay down to wait for the ladies to fall asleep and we woke up 45 min later! We did some quick housekeeping and then decided to crash for the night!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1237341060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1237341060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1237341060/tpod.html Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:17:46 -0400 Grace & Chris's Wedding in Mexico

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Cancun, Mexico

Tuesday March 17, 2009

What an amazing day for Grace and Chris to get married! Their wedding was on the beach at 2pm (hello HEAT!) and it was a beautiful set up that the hotel had arranged. They had champagne, a little Mexican band playing their music and a beautiful area set up for the ceremony. It was quite a quick ceremony which was great considering the heat. We were fortunate enough to be asked to participate in their ceremony as well! There were four Philipino traditions for a wedding ceremony and we were asked to do the "Rope" ceremony where we drape a silk rope tied in a figure eight over Grace and Chris's heads to symbolize their unity...was very cool and we both felt honored to be asked to participate. Grace looked UNBELIEVABLE, just beautiful, seriously just stunning. Her dress was gorgeous and she just looked amazing. We had the supper at the Steakhouse and then drinks and speeches by the poolside bar, was a great day!





We also did go parasailing on Tuesday morning, Marth was nice enough to watch the girls again while they were napping so off we went for a tandem sail. We were both amazed at how quiet it was once we got into the air! Beautiful views of the ocean and the resort and we also saw a small pod of about 8 dolphins! Great experience for sure!





More stories to come in a couple days!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1237164480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1237164480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/15/1237164480/tpod.html Wed, 18 Mar 2009 18:04:23 -0400 Grace & Chris's Wedding in Mexico

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Cancun, Mexico

Sunday March 15, 2009

The last two days have been absolutely beautiful! Sunny, scorching hot with a nice breeze, great food and good fun! Spent a fair bit of time out and about....spent time down at the beach getting thrown around by the waves (hillarious!!), more time at the pool and the swim-up bar, relaxing out on our balcony and enjoying the great weather. We are probably going to go into Playa Del Carmen for a couple hours tomorrow and do some browsing and shopping. Martha and Meredith went parasailing today and said it was phenomenal! I think TL and I are going to go too before we leave. We have made some early reservations at a few of the "Al La Carte" restaurants on the resort so that we can bring the girls and both go so we are looking forward to that! Otherwise....not much to report from here....we are now tanned and have found a new frozen drink that has become our favorite, a "Speedy Gonzales". It is red, white and blue and looks a lot like a rocket popsicle and tastes just like one - YUM!




]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231813680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231813680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231813680/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:27:58 -0500 Defrosting in the Caribbean!

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Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada

January 12, 2009 *Re-freeze and final thoughts*

Back to YK and not sad at this point. Although we did manage to get ourselves onto a lovely Caribbean cruise in the middle of January, it's been good but exhausting. Traveling with sick mini-we's has certainly changed our travel style (which we were more then aware of before we left), but we're still learning that's for sure! So, how did the day go? Again, quite like the rest... here goes!
- got to the airport using the complimentary shuttle which was GREAT. Even had a continental breakfast, so we felt like gold this morning. Kicker? It's snowing and snowing hard!
- Airplane boards on time, we lolly-gag on and settle in for our 3 hour flight. Remember yesterday... happy about 3 hours not 4? Well, we had to wait in line (the airplane) in order to get de-iced, which was literally over an hour on the runway! Yes... 1 hour sittin' on the plane and we are still in Denver! Uncool.
- We're off... fly fly fly and we're in Canada! Yip-freekin'-pyyyy! We are in Edmonton and had looked for a car rental last night to spend the day drivin' around as we have the late flight home. (Arrived at 11:20 AM; flyin' to YK at 7:20 PM). Tina went and searched the rental places herself in person and just like the internet, just way too expensive for 5 hours. So we needed to wait to check in again.
- We notice on the "arrivals" screen that the Air Canada flight that was supposed to land this afternoon was "Cancelled". Not late, but cancelled. Here we go again!
- Tina goes to Air Canada, and they outright said our flight WILL be cancelled too, so they gave us flights up to Yellowknife on First Air, and holy-hell... it's an EARLIER flight. We're thinkin': "First GOOD thing to happen to us yet".
- Kicker? Cut to two hours later and that flight is now delayed until 10:30 PM, getting into YK at midnight. We knew Canadian North was full, and we were then contemplating stayin' in Edmonton that night and just flying home the next day. Toooooo much airport time! I decided to go to Canadian North and ask, and low and behold, they upped their airplane to a bigger plane, so it opened up 24 more seats. WE GOT ON!!!! (Left at 7:20 like our original)
- We made it home... with... TWO missing pieces of luggage!! Our broken stroller is apparently still sitting in Miami. Our big huge bag that got lost on the way down, is now lost again. Did we mention that it's a Hockey Canada Hockey bag? Not small people... not small. Thankfully Dennis mustered through all of our flight changes and was a GREAT help to get us home. We're home, minus 2 pieces of luggage, but we're home! Not so major! (*side note: this showed up 2 days later)

There is actually more detail, with a few more things, but ta daaaaaa... we're home!

For our own future reference and for anyone that maybe doing a similar trip, here's a quick list of things we'd do differently, etc:
- bring walky-talkie's! (nap times one parent can go and other can watch, vice versa)
- bring our own pedialite (if in a location where there's no or limited shopping)
- bring a LOT more clothes for the girls as laundry is crazy priced on these ships ($1.95 per small piece of laundry - onesie, underwear, etc)
- get a bigger room even if it is a bit more expensive, preferably one with a balcony so again, nap time doesn't mean stuck inside!
- never book a room above a dance bar (actually look above and below the room you're in)
- make your luggage very identifiable so that no one thinks your bag is theirs (this is what we thought happened to our big bag the second time; at customs)
- distribute all NECESSARY items in all bags so that if one bag gets lost, at least you have some in other bags (ie. Baby clothes)
- bring plenty of Tylenol/ibuprofen (we actually did this, so yippee)

Done and done! WE DID IT! Bring on Mexico we says!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231723200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231723200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231723200/tpod.html Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:26:59 -0500 Defrosting in the Caribbean!

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Denver, Colorado, United States

January 11, 2009 *Slumber in Denver*

So we weren't going to put an entry for this little stop-over! I mean really, we WERE just disembarking from the ship, heading to the airport, and then getting ourselves on our one flight to Denver where we'll sleep. Like our pre-cruise air travels luck, this little trip wasn't much different! Somewhat quickly, here's how our day went:

- we selected the 9:30 AM disembarkment time (this all has to do where your luggage will be when you get out - finally)
- at 9:30 AM they were a time slot behind, but because we had to check-out of our room, we headed to the line and decided that if anyone gave us heck, our time was 9:30.
- Get to the front of the line (to literally get off the ship and into customs) at around 10 or so? Like we said... kinda scammed, but not really.
- Head down to another checkpoint where we had to wait to be let into the customs line. Not a good sign. Get let into the area where custom is, and there are literally close to 500 people in line. So in a line we get. (*side note: why are these people so angry? Why yell when there's no need? It just breeds nervousness and anxiety; perhaps that's their point?)
- Cut to 45 mintues later (or more, it's all foggy now already), we get our "you're good" and we're out into the line to get our luggage. Some guy asks us if we want help (we're aware there'll be a cost, but our luggage is HUGE, so it's worth it). Apparently this is a eat or be eaten little area, as some OTHER guy came to help, and then we had to hear the two of them fight over helping us. This is in Miami people... not some 3rd world country. We were kinda laughin' actually.
- Got luggage; off to "shuttle" (huge bus) for the airport! It's probably noon now! We are the first on the shuttle (they rotate), so we had to wait a good 45 minutes until we left. It's a ½ hour ride to the airport.
- THE AIRPORT! Yippee! Boooooo... we're way too early and can't even check in our luggage (our flight is 5:20 PM). So we hung out next to the departures area for just over an hour, and then checked out HUGE luggage (3 pieces).
- Tina heads off to the United Airlines to get our fixed stroller that they ran over and left us with zero handles. Guess what? They decided they don't fix stuff and it wasn't their fault! So from sky check to sky check, it's our fault? Tina's answer? "Then I'll keep this one" to which they replied "I guess we can't make you take your baby out?!" which she then replied "No, and I'll take back our broken one too". She got her way, no more said! We now have 3 strollers, one of which we check (broken one obviously).
- Girls are grossly overtired. AND, they just can't seem to sleep... we walk about 10 miles today tryin' to "stroll" them into slumber! Not greatly successful, but a few cat naps here and there.
- The flight leaves on time! Yippeee! But I (TL) miscalculated the flight time; I thought it was just around 3 hours, but it was 4! One more hour used to mean nothing, but with little ladies that don't leave your lap... it's LONG! Movin' on!
- Got in relatively early and got our luggage! Guess what? No broken stroller! We check our luggage tags with this automated thing, and it tells us it's gone to our "destination", which technically with them is Edmonton. We say "who cares" and went to the hotel. GREAT hotel! Well, great BIG room! They had two pack-n-plays for the girls, and to sleep we all went. Fewf... up at 5:30 AM tomorrow to get to the airport and get us back in Canada, and then FINALLY home!

Good nite!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231596000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231596000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231596000/tpod.html Sat, 10 Jan 2009 21:19:06 -0500 Defrosting in the Caribbean!

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Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

January 10, 2009 *Supper in the Bahamas*

Yipppppeeee!! Hello Bahamas, how are you? Oh you're lookin' mighty fine today! Would you like to go on a date? Sure? Great! You're buyin' cause I paid too much to get here already! Lobster please! *Oh dear, I think we need more sleep*

So our day at sea yesterday was pretty good. Quite windy outside, but still quite warm! We took another quick visit to the medical clinic just to get some pedialite for the ladies as they still are peeing from their bums, so we thought a good sugar and calorie booster would be a good idea. So we're juggling feeding, diaper changing and resting, but they really are doing great. Still lots of smiles, but LOTS of dirty diapers to go along with it! Shaaaa-ish!!

So we decided to not do the little trip to the small island. Why? It was indeed a short little boat ride, but it was also a tiny island with a beach, and really, as mentioned loads before, we just can't be sun sitters with the girls. AND, Tina and I both agree that sitting in the sun gets quite boring quickly, so a boat day when most are off is a better choice today. I (TL) could sit in the sun all day it seems, but when I look at the time, only a half hour has gone and it feels like an eternity! Yep, boat it is! We need to pack tonight as they actually take our luggage tonight, so that'll be an interesting task. Tina will do some power packing as I take the girls out to play somewhere. It'll work. We're both looking forward to stepping into our own place again believe it or not. 2 more days of travel and another vacation bites the dust. Here's to not getting pooped on on the plane, and safe safe travels. One more ta go when we return to YK to cap the travelpod off with some do's and don't's! 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231423200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231423200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231423200/tpod.html Fri, 09 Jan 2009 09:03:08 -0500 Defrosting in the Caribbean!

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Cozumel, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

January 8, 2009 *Snack in Mexico*

So last night... not so great! Not sure if it's just the travel itself and it's craziness that's messin' the girls up, or if they're still fighting off something. OR, last night we could actually feel the ship move quite a bit, so perhaps that aided in their lack of sleep! We still didn't get them up, but was a LOT of patting of backs. And they're still in pretty good moods, but ours is starting to show today!  It sure is easier to just stay Yellowknife that's for sure, but I don't think we could do that!  And on that note; today we're in Cozumel, Mexico. We've stayed here before, so we weren't all about it, but certainly got off the boat and checked out what was new. We were here just after a hurricane hit, so a LOT was different. We shopped again, but this time came back with only more wipes for the ladies bums (who do still have a bit'o run). Another hot day, but it was a bit cloudy and even a bit of rain. It's hilarious actually. So many people have themselves burnt to a CRISP here, and it's just painful to even see. Tina and I obviously can't be out in the sun like that with Mia and Kaylie, but seriously... it's the Caribbean people; apply sunscreen. Some old mens poor bald heads are fallin' off before our eyes. It's gross.

K! A short one today. We've already hit the seas again and will have another "sea day" tomorrow as it'll take us that long to get to the Bahamas on Saturday! Fingers crossed that we don't attempt to jump ship before then. HA!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231336800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231336800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231336800/tpod.html Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:29:47 -0500 Defrosting in the Caribbean!

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Belize City, Belize District, Belize

January 7, 2009 *Lunch in Belize*

Another great night! Little ladies are still a little off, but hopefully their fevers are done with. They slept great and this morning they feel a lot less like a stove burner!  Today is Belize City baaay-be! Tina and I kicked off the day with a great-good spa treatment though! Oh it was niiiice! Complete body exfoliation, neck and scalp massage, then a foot and leg massage to end it off. We smell quite like the Sears perfume section, but I'm sure it's done a body good. We feel GREAT! Also just found out Tina got a bonus freebie since she just had a baby, so they let her steam herself in some super duper steam tube bath thing. Hmmmm... perks! 

Today was another milestone for the ladies. Although we did TRY to get the little ladies in a boat while we were out at Yellow Dog Lodge, it was a no go; today we got them in a boat in order to get to shore today. No docking port, so we all had to cattle up in boats and get taxied in, which wasn't so bad. It was HOT today. Even the little ladies were stuck to us, and we were only out for 45 mintues (keeping in mind they're still not 100%, but certainly a world better then day 1). I have no idea what the actual temperature was, but I'd venture to guess 30 or so! I shall not complain. LOVE IT! Did some more venturing around and chattin' with the locals. Seriously, it's to the point now though that we're almost annoyed at how often we get approached by so many people about the girls. Kid you not!! There are times when we're sitting at a dinner table, and we'll have 3 people around us a lot of time... asking the same questions! "They twins?" "Girls, boys?" "Who's the mommy?"! Without exaggeration, I'd guess we get this about 25-30 times daily here! But... they're a hit we suppose! 

More pictures to come tomorrow morning....we have figured out that our internet minutes are 2 for 1 between 8-10am, and since we are up anyway might as well save some $$. :o)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231250400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231250400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tll-tina/14/1231250400/tpod.html Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:11:58 -0500 Defrosting in the Caribbean!

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Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

January 6, 2009 *Breakfast in Honduras*

Well, two nights complete on the ship and it's been interesting. We are having a great time, but there's been a few more bumps! HA! Oh dear! So yesterday we wake up and the girls slept GREAT for their first night. We managed to pack two pack-n-plays in our room, which is honestly amazing! These rooms are quite small, so now we can basically walk in our room and throw the little ladies on our bed and that's their play area. That's why we're not in our room much aside from naps/sleep/etc! So we did notice yesterday afternoon that both Mia and Kaylie were starting to get runny poops, and then by supper time (after a full day of fun and no odd acting at all), they had full fledged diarrhea and vomiting. So we knew we smart enough about food and water, so the whole "prevent the surprise" thing couldn't be it! But the vomiting did concern us as it was vomiting we haven't seen from them since ohhhh... 2 months old? A lot, and like a fountain! Drained them immediately. We noticed Mia getting quite exhausted and had just napped, so safety first, we called the medic! They both had (have) a fever and are just fighting a bug of some sort, but it's not viral, so we're not quarantined to our room. FEWF! Their first fever yet! And they're troopers. Just acting a little off, but still chuggin' along and smiling lots, so we just need to be extra, EXTRA careful now.

AND... we're in Roatan, Honduras! It's HOT here, and we LOVE it! We're not gettin' out in the sun that much, which is a good thing, but I still predict we'll be a shade darker when we return. Sun is just too much at times for our "northern" skin!  We shopped a little and we've compared it so far to Mexico... the not so touristy parts. Little girls selling bracelets for $1 and malnourished dogs, but it's beautiful here, and the people have been great! Not too in your face, and just smiles and seems genuine to see new faces and chat. On that same note, the crew here is quite the same. We've had so many chats so far with so many crew. I think it's the fact that we do have twin infants with us! Many of the crew (including women) have infants at home that they're trying to care for financially, and they all seem to get attached to the girls. Even men! We came across one guy who has 1.5 year old twins at home and he seemed so home sick. We also found out that the crew works for 10 months straight, gets 2 off, and that includes 10 hours a day; 7 days a week! INSANE!

K... off to Belize tomorrow! Saaa-weeeeeeeeeet!
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