LOVE YOUR CITY - SAN DIEGO HARBOR FEATURING WITHOUT WALLS

{our tour ship}

 {an old pirate ship and submarine museum}

{beautiful skyscrapers along the harbor}

 {san diego skyline}

 {protected sea lions basking in the sun}

 {view of hotel del coronado}

 {naval work ship}

{cornado bridge}

 Jacket ℅: Without Walls Hat ℅: Proof 

Activity: Flagship Cruises and Events  Location: San Diego Harbor

It's funny how sometimes we as humans tend to get caught up in having to do something drastic to have a little fun. Because lets face the facts, it's not always easy to book a ticket and leave for a month. Although we don't let life get in the way as an excuse, we do constantly seek to find adventure right outside our front door.

This past weekend my husband and I decided to take a little cruise of San Diego Harbor just for fun. It was primarily exploring the military and naval base which was very interesting to learn about, but we also got to see some of San Diego's most well known landmarks besides the naval base, including Hotel Del Coronado, Point Loma, a few hidden away resorts and the Coronado Bridge. We enjoyed the two hour boat ride and relaxed in the sun, breathing in the salty air! 

The great thing about Flagship cruises is that afterwards you're in the heart of downtown! Chase and I enjoyed a delicious salmon sandwich right there at a cute cafe on the bay. It was beautiful watching the sunset and enjoying the change of scenery. And let's not forget, it's about a 10-15 minute walk from Little Italy. SCORE! 

FYI: Pop on over to Without Walls and read our feature on how to plan a trip with your friends! Spring break is right around the corner, so now is the time people :)

MEXICO CRUISE - OVERVIEW VIDEO

Remember when I went on a cruise to Mexico? Here's a quick rundown on everything you can do on a cruise from live music performances and lounging at the pool to ridiculous hairy chest contests and reading or playing games at the library, a cruise ship tends to have a bit of everything to keep everyone entertained.  *All filmed on iPhone 4S

WEEKEND CRUISE

This Thanksgiving weekend I took a quick cruise to Ensenada, Mexico on Carnival Inspiration to shoot a mobile series of videos for a travel company reviewing all that this cruiseline entails. I will be sharing them with you shortly, but in the meantime all I have to say is I had some of the best salsa ever known to man. With a fresh squeeze of lime, I could have eaten three bowls of it. Mexico does it best.

CRUISES 2013

Where Could a Cruise Take You in 2013?

Lisa in the Bahamas 2011

If you've got 2013 cruises in mind, you've certainly got a world of choice at your feet. Pick a place that takes your fancy and travel there in style, surrounded by onboard luxuries and fabulous entertainment, where you can wake up to a new destination almost every morning and decide how much or little you want to do, by day or by night. Talk about luxury!

One of the best ways to explore the range of cruise itineraries on offer this year is to use a tour operator, such as Cruise Thomas Cook, as this provides itineraries from all the major cruise operators and gives you a much broader choice of itinerary. Let's take a look at some of the 2013 cruises on offer through the Thomas Cook website.

Mini Cruises

In 2013, you could take a two-night mini cruise from Southampton to Zeebrugge in Belgium, offering a day in the lovely city of Bruges, or a two-night trip to St Peter Port in Guernsey. Both itineraries are run by P&O Cruises so you'll have plenty of onboard fun and entertainment at your disposal.

European Cruises

Take an 8-night tour of Europe with the luxury Celebrity Cruises line, visiting various ports in Norway including Molde, Alesund, Flam, Bergen and Stavanger. Or enjoy a fabulous 14-night cruise around Western Europe with Regent Seven Seas, exploring the likes of Lisbon in Portugal, the coastline of Spain and France, and the lovely city of Palma in Majorca.

Megan in Puerto Rico 2012

Caribbean Cruises

Ramp up the luxury factor with a fabulous Caribbean cruise in 2013. Take a week's holiday with Royal Caribbean International and explore the beautiful islands of the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands and St Maarten. Or take a month-long voyage from the UK with Cunard Cruises, and discover New York before soaking up the beautiful sights and sounds of Antigua, St Kitts and the British Virgin Islands.

With so many 2013 cruises to choose from, you've certainly got the world at your feet...

CURACAO

Curacao is an island in the in the Caribbean right off the coast of Venezuela. It is geographically considered a part of South America and the West Indies. Most people there speak Papiamentu, but if you speak English or Spanish you can get by just fine.

Curacao is known for its stunning coral reefs that are perfect for scuba diving. We didn't do any of that, but we did spend part of our visit at Mambo Beach. It was perfect for swimming and even snorkeling. We walked around downtown and admired the cute and colorful buildings. I wish cities looked like this in the US. It makes me happy and I think everyone would be happier looking at colors rather than earth tones all the time.

Anyway, a few landmarks that make Curacao special are the floating bridge and the floating market. The bridge swivels across the harbor to let pedestrians pass. It gets really crowded! The floating market is also a unique tourist attraction where Venezuelan farmers come to sell their fresh fruits and vegetables to the Curacao community.

Have you ever been to Curacao? What did you do there? Share your stories, we'd love to hear!

ARUBA IS AWESOME

Destination: Aruba / Activity: Parasailing / Price: $80

ST. KITTS

Saint Kitts is an island located in the West Indies. The majority of people are of African decent and they speak English, but I found it very hard to understand their lingo. It was a beautiful sunny day when we visited St. Kitts and we weren't sure what to do. There was no beach we knew of nearby so we walked for miles exploring the island by foot.

The highlights of St. Kitts were the cute baby monkeys in diapers and getting a hair wrap. I held a monkey for $4 and it was worth every penny. I love little animals and they hold your finger just like a baby, except they're fuzzy and weigh like a pound. At the end of the day I got a cool hair wrap. Remember our obsession with hair wraps? Well, this one cost me $9 and the lady made it with yarn wrapped around my hair. She ended it with some plastic beads and it's a total coincidence it matched that boat.

Our day in St. Kitts was an easy going one. It was neat to be among the people and get a small taste of what life is like in the Caribbean. If you have ever been to St. Kitts or are planning to go, share with us what you did!

ST. THOMAS

Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands was our first stop on the cruise. We took a $7 (each) windy bus ride across the island to spend the day at Magen's Bay- like my name! The cruise line offers activities you can sign up for on the boat, but we found them expensive. Instead, at each stop we walked passed the annoying touristy traps and searched for something cheaper and simple to do. Usually we ended up exploring the island by foot and finding a beach somewhere to spend the day.

Magen's Bay costs about $4 each to visit. The water was warm and clear, the weather was perfect, and the sand was white! As you can see, it was a very crowded beach. We walked further down the beach and almost to the end we found it much quieter and open. We laid out our towels and fell asleep under the sun. Every hour or so we would be woken up by the pitter patter of rain that quickly turned into a downpour. Some found shelter in the jungle, but I just jumped in the ocean where it was warm.

After a long winter eager for sun we all ended up boarding the ship with a nice sunburn. Stupidly enough, nobody remembered sunscreen that day. Needless to say that never happened again. My husband's business partner got burnt the worse, and for the rest of the trip you could only find him under a palm tree or in the shade.

Aside from the obvious sunscreen and sunblock, what do you do to avoid sunburn on a trip? Does tanning before help? Skin cancer is all too common these days, and after a bad burn myself in Hawaii I am never rubbing tanning lotion on my skin again. I want to have fun but also be safe from the sun. Any suggestions or tips are welcome. Nobody wants to ruin their vacation with a bad sunburn!

CRUISIN'

We went on a Caribbean Cruise with Royal Caribbean for 8 days. Cruises are great for honeymoons, business retreats, and special occasions, but it isn't our first pick for traveling. Yes, everything is included and it's nice to have a warm shower every night, but only a few hours in each country is not enough. Plus, i hate being treated like one of those "ship people." Aside from that there are many perks to going on a cruise. 

 Ships provide lots of things to do when you are at sea between destinations. Ours had swimming pools, hot tubs, a rock climbing wall, roller skate rink, ice rink, mini golf, track, gym, ping pong, game room, and several activities and shows to attend throughout the day. We were kept very entertained on the ship!

 This was our favorite game on board. It is called shuffle board. You slide the puck with the fork looking thing and aim for getting it in the space with the highest number to gain points. We might have lost a couple pucks in the ocean, but it was fun to play before dinner.

 Of course there is formal night where you dress all fancy and show off your new sun burn. The formal night meals were always amazing. Often times our servers brought us more than one entree and desserts to share!

 The ice-cream was one of my personal favorites on board and you can eat as much as you want!

 Just being on deck in the sun is the best feeling. Grab a book and lay out, or fall asleep happy.

 It's always fun to come back to your room with a towel friend waiting for you in your sunglasses!

By the end of our cruise we were practically best friends with our servers. They were from India and were so awesome! I don't know how they stay so friendly after all the hard work they do.

What form of traveling do you prefer? Would you rather cruise or go freestyle?