11/11/16 - Back to the Caribbean!
Time to get warm again, this time in a bit more style, cruising around the Caribbean!
[Pirate] Itinerary: departing San Juan, Puerto Rico; off to Bridgetown, Barbados; Fort-de-France, Martinique; Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis; Maho Beach, Sint Maarten; Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands;... and back to San Juan.
FYI - if starting/finishing a cruise in San Juan, make sure you know which terminal your cruise ship is leaving from!! There is a terminal in the old town, next to the main bus station; and another across the canal beside the convention centre (you'll need a taxi to reach this one).
[Pirate] Itinerary: departing San Juan, Puerto Rico; off to Bridgetown, Barbados; Fort-de-France, Martinique; Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis; Maho Beach, Sint Maarten; Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands;... and back to San Juan.
FYI - if starting/finishing a cruise in San Juan, make sure you know which terminal your cruise ship is leaving from!! There is a terminal in the old town, next to the main bus station; and another across the canal beside the convention centre (you'll need a taxi to reach this one).
Would I cruise again? Yes I would! It's definitely a different style of holiday to backpacking, and much more structured, but if you do our research beforehand you can figure out how to do most of the ship excursions much cheaper yourself. And it's nice to be able to drop your bag in one place for a week, but still travel around so many different places!
Highlights!
1) I upgraded to a cabin with a balcony and would DEFINITELY do this for any future cruises (damn the cost!!) as it was lovely sitting on the balcony in the evening watching the lights as we cruised from island to island; also it was hot, so it was nice to have a door with a breeze coming in. (Added bonus - a dinosaur!)
2) So much fooooooood
3) So many coladas (guavaberry was my favourite)
4) Lots of lovely Caribbean building colours - the limes, the oranges, the bright blues. They make me happy to be around :) Also the lovely clear, warm water!
5) Maho Beach at Sint Maarten! This is the famous beach built right next to an airport, that the planes come in low over. You could do an excursion from the ship for around US$50 that would take you various places around the island, finishing with an hour at the beach plane-spotting - but I am cheap (!) so I spent $2 and caught the public bus to the beach, and had 4 hours there. I got there around 11am, just in time for the big jumbo jets taking off in the morning - I wasn't brave enough to hold the fence directly behind the plane turbines (where people get blown back towards the sea), but from about 20m to the side it was still quite gusty! And hung around for the big planes arriving in the afternoon from around 2pm (which is also when the ship tour buses started arriving - they stayed for around 30 mins max). Very cool if you're a bit of a plane nerd :) This video gives a good idea what it looks like when you are there - unfortunately my videos got deleted :( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE6sRS2-N5Q
1) I upgraded to a cabin with a balcony and would DEFINITELY do this for any future cruises (damn the cost!!) as it was lovely sitting on the balcony in the evening watching the lights as we cruised from island to island; also it was hot, so it was nice to have a door with a breeze coming in. (Added bonus - a dinosaur!)
2) So much fooooooood
3) So many coladas (guavaberry was my favourite)
4) Lots of lovely Caribbean building colours - the limes, the oranges, the bright blues. They make me happy to be around :) Also the lovely clear, warm water!
5) Maho Beach at Sint Maarten! This is the famous beach built right next to an airport, that the planes come in low over. You could do an excursion from the ship for around US$50 that would take you various places around the island, finishing with an hour at the beach plane-spotting - but I am cheap (!) so I spent $2 and caught the public bus to the beach, and had 4 hours there. I got there around 11am, just in time for the big jumbo jets taking off in the morning - I wasn't brave enough to hold the fence directly behind the plane turbines (where people get blown back towards the sea), but from about 20m to the side it was still quite gusty! And hung around for the big planes arriving in the afternoon from around 2pm (which is also when the ship tour buses started arriving - they stayed for around 30 mins max). Very cool if you're a bit of a plane nerd :) This video gives a good idea what it looks like when you are there - unfortunately my videos got deleted :( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tE6sRS2-N5Q
15/11/16 Puerto Rico life
Seeing as I've come so far, I stayed a few extra days in Puerto Rico afterwards. I did plan to get out and about around the island, but there was so much to do in San Juan I ended up staying here the whole time.
Puerto Rico is a US territory, so many people there have spent time in the US, and if you don't speak any Spanish it's not difficult to find someone to help translate - though obviously, it's better to learn a little bit of Spanish before you go there. I stayed outside the old town at The Dreamcatcher which was lovely - surrounded by gardens and chill, a street from the beach and eateries, and every room has a hammock (I do love a good hammock!). Condado, the main tourist area, was a couple of km's up the road - I did walk up there one day, but it was so commercial I was pretty happy I was staying where I was.
The old town is lovely - the old Spanish style buildings that I love, plus lots of really cool street art - so I easily spent a few days just wandering around here. Super nice, super friendly people :)
Puerto Rico is a US territory, so many people there have spent time in the US, and if you don't speak any Spanish it's not difficult to find someone to help translate - though obviously, it's better to learn a little bit of Spanish before you go there. I stayed outside the old town at The Dreamcatcher which was lovely - surrounded by gardens and chill, a street from the beach and eateries, and every room has a hammock (I do love a good hammock!). Condado, the main tourist area, was a couple of km's up the road - I did walk up there one day, but it was so commercial I was pretty happy I was staying where I was.
The old town is lovely - the old Spanish style buildings that I love, plus lots of really cool street art - so I easily spent a few days just wandering around here. Super nice, super friendly people :)
The BIG draw for most tourists though, is the Bacardi factory! You can catch a water taxi from the old town over the harbour, then hail a hire car to drive you to the factory (don't walk like I did - it took an hour!). You'll get a great tour, some great sample tastings, some unique Bacardi flavours to purchase (I bought mango, and apple), plus, a free pina colada at the end! A fabulous way to spend an afternoon :)
18/11/16 - Geeking out in Los Angeles
So I have a night and a day in Los Angeles on the way home, and today I'm VERY excited because... I WENT TO THE LA BREA TAR PITS!!! Which I have wanted to go to ever since I read about them in my dinosaur books when I was in my primary school dinosaur phase (ok, ok, I never quite grew out of it...).
Did it live up to my expectations? Did it ever!! From the woolly mammoths in the tar when you first enter, to the tour around the site where you SEE THEM EXCAVATING BONES IN ACTUAL DIGS! To the really cool museum, where you can also see the archaeologists at work AND SABRETOOTH CAT SKELETONS I was happy happy happy Lisa today :)
And then I caught the bus up to In-N-Out Burger (Sunset Boulevard) which I had heard great things about, and also did not disappoint! The photos don't do it justice... 1) check the secret menu before you go - they talk about a couple of 'not-so-secret' options on their website, but google also, as I've seen up to 25 items offered at different times! and 2) the sauce was sooo good that I took loads of sauce sachets to use later, without noticing the small print that said must be refrigerated, dammit.
Then I walked round the corner to Grauman's Chinese Theatre (free), the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, and the Hollywood Wax Museum - both super kitsch but super fun! - and acted like a big touristy dork all afternoon. Get a combo ticket at either place, they are straight across the street from each other. Then caught a bus back to my hostel (Banana Bungalow on Fairfax Ave, just up from The Grove shopping centre) and it was time to head off to the airport for the trip home. Fabulous!
Did it live up to my expectations? Did it ever!! From the woolly mammoths in the tar when you first enter, to the tour around the site where you SEE THEM EXCAVATING BONES IN ACTUAL DIGS! To the really cool museum, where you can also see the archaeologists at work AND SABRETOOTH CAT SKELETONS I was happy happy happy Lisa today :)
And then I caught the bus up to In-N-Out Burger (Sunset Boulevard) which I had heard great things about, and also did not disappoint! The photos don't do it justice... 1) check the secret menu before you go - they talk about a couple of 'not-so-secret' options on their website, but google also, as I've seen up to 25 items offered at different times! and 2) the sauce was sooo good that I took loads of sauce sachets to use later, without noticing the small print that said must be refrigerated, dammit.
Then I walked round the corner to Grauman's Chinese Theatre (free), the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, and the Hollywood Wax Museum - both super kitsch but super fun! - and acted like a big touristy dork all afternoon. Get a combo ticket at either place, they are straight across the street from each other. Then caught a bus back to my hostel (Banana Bungalow on Fairfax Ave, just up from The Grove shopping centre) and it was time to head off to the airport for the trip home. Fabulous!