The sun finally decided to make a strong appearance today! Sadly the wind was still too strong in the morning and all water sports were canceled. We ate a hearty breakfast at the buffet and then visited the resort’s gift shop which is pleasantly not part of the lobby, but it’s own separate building tucked away amongst the trees at the front of the resort. I had foolishly forgotten to pack a beach bag! Big Mistake! Luckily, we found a reasonably priced and adorable bag! We donned our swimsuits, packed the beach bag, and headed down to one of the…
Jamaica Day 2
The 12 mph wind continued to howl through the halls of our resort yesterday. That combined with the intense cloud coverage and it proved to be a rather chilly day. After receiving our continental breakfast in bed at 8:00 we took a stroll around the grounds of the resort to try and familiarize ourselves with the area. We visited the reservations desk where we made reservations for dinner at the two high-end restaurants that require advanced notice and we booked two seats on the Catamaran cruise for Saturday (Although if the wind continues we probably won’t be able to…
Jamaica Day 1
After getting up at 3:00 a.m. to catch our departing flight at 6:05, spending four hours of the day in the Miami airport on a layover, and then traveling from the Montego Bay Airport to our resort via a two hour van ride with five other adults, we were ready for some relaxation… We arrived at Couples Tower Isle Resort just before 7:00 p.m. (and surprised that it was already dark out!) and were greeted at the door by two men, one carrying a tray of iced towels (a relief after the hot and stuffy van ride) while the other…
Winter Vacation is Booked!
It’s been seven weeks since we got back from our two week trip in France and Bobby and I both started to get the itch to plan our next trip. We have agreed that each year we should take two vacations: one in the summer (a two week adventure) and one in the winter (a one week winter getaway)! While our goal for the summer vacation is to immerse ourselves in another culture and step completely outside our comfort zones, the goal of our winter vacation is vastly different… We have decided that the winter vacation should be a fun in…
France: What to Pack?
When planning the trip to France I was struck with a serious dilemma in terms of packing. All guidebooks strongly suggest that you pack as little as possible when traveling abroad. However, this wasn’t going to be easy for us considering that we were bringing along all of our climbing equipment, clothes appropriate to Paris, and clothes that were appropriate for hiking in the Alps where temperatures vary. In the end we had a large rolling suitcase, a backpacking backpack, a daypack, and I had my oversized handbag. My packing lists ended up being several pages long. We did, however,…
Chamonix, France: Days 4, 5, and 6
Once again we awoke to the sound of rain pattering against the skylight above us. It was our last day in Chamonix and we had a huge adventure planned of hiking a couple of kilometers to try out another crag that had some bomber looking multipitch climbs we wanted to try out. Sadly, the weather had other ideas in mind… Once again we settled in for a day stuck in the apartment watching movies. However, we couldn’t stay cooped up. The weather seemed to be clearing around the valley so we altered our plans. We both agreed that hiking a…
Chamonix, France: Day 3
This morning we woke up to the same sound we fell asleep listening to, the rain pattering against the skylight above us. We checked the forecast and were disappointed to see that it was supposed to rain all day. Our plans of hiking an hour to a sweet climbing spot would have to be put on the back burner. We went out to buy a few more final souvenirs and snacks and then stopped at the office of our rental company to pick up a game/DVD pack they rent out for 10 Euros. The pack contains several dozen DVDs and…
Chamonix, France: Day 2
This morning I was awoken by a blazing sun shining through the skylight over our bed. It was only 7:00 a.m. and yet the sun seemed more powerful than it ever has. It was enough to get me out of bed and when I looked out the window I saw something I haven’t seen since the day we got here, clear skies! There were almost no clouds to be found and I hollered at Bobby to get out of bed! Why was this so exciting you might ask? Well, if we could get on the first ride of the gondola…
Chamonix, France: Day 1
Well today I write about the antics of both today and yesterday. Yesterday didn’t really deserve it’s own post considering we basically did nothing. Bobby came down with the flu in the morning and spent the majority of the day in bed. He did his best to put on a happy face and even managed to convince me that he was up to a short hike. I told him I would be okay with it as long as he chose an easy valley hike. He assured me he would and off we went. As we started along the trail it…
Paris to Chamonix, France: Travel Day
Travel Day! Our time in Paris was over and it was time for the adventure portion of our vacation to begin! We met with Phillipe, the owner of the apartment, for checkout at 10:00 a.m. He cleared us to leave, returned our security deposit, and pointed us in the direction of the Metro station (although we already knew… Geesh, does he think we’re newbies to Paris or something?). We used our last Metro ticket to board train #1 and headed to Gare de Lyon train station where we would catch a high speed train that would take us to Geneva.…