As I type this, I’m sitting on our balcony at the Westin Dawn Beach listening to the roar of the ocean. This is such a peaceful island and our view couldn’t be any better. Thanks SPG for the oceanview upgrade.
There was quite storm last night but everything’s good now. You’ll notice in the photo above one of the cabanas fell down. The winds were pretty strong last night, but everyone here was unfazed so we weren’t either. Continue reading “It’s My Birthday! Greetings from Sint Maarten.”
This summer has seriously flown by. After Cuba, I thought I’d be fine not doing anything else until my next trip to Italy/Hungary with my Aunt in September but hey things change.
As a child, I spent each birthday in a different part of the country attending annual attorney conventions with my parents that always fell around my birthday. Since I’ve been an adult for some reason I’ve remained close to home and usually just do an intimate dinner with friends to celebrate. This year I’ve decided to spend my birthday with my amazing husband on the island of Saint Maarten. We’re going for 5 days/4 nights and I couldn’t be more excited.
Typically, I like to plan every last detail on trips because I have a serious fear of missing out, but this time I’m going to do what normal people do and actually vacation. Of course, being who I am I couldn’t have absolutely no plans so I booked a catamaran day trip to the island of Anguilla and a couples massage for my birthday. Other than that, we’ve booked a car and I’m looking forward to exploring the French and Dutch sides of the island at our leisure. Nine days and counting…
Today’s my last day in Mexico after a much awaited trip to Cuba. Planning for our trip began last December.
After reading countless reviews, we decided that flying to Cuba from Mexico would make the most sense and would definitely be more economical than taking a chartered flight from Miami or New York. From what I heard those flights tend to cost $700-1000, plus you’d have to find a way to get to Miami or NY.
We first got a great deal from Baltimore to Cancun. In January, we purchased the second leg our flight from Cancun to Havana on Aeromexico. All together we paid about $440 for both flights, it would have been $100 cheaper but we paid to have a carry-on and assigned seats on Spirit. Yes, we flew Spirit and it actually wasn’t bad. Continue reading “Viva Cuba”
I’ve now been in Colombia for two full days, yesterday a day trip to Guatapé and El Peñol and today was spent doing a walking tour of Medellin.
When looking for tours of Medellin, I came across Real Tours Medellin as the number one tour in the city. So not only was it listed in the top, it was also a free tour meaning you simply make a reservation, show up, and give a tip to the guide at the end, if you feel so inclined. They offer tours twice daily Monday through Friday.
I opted for a Friday morning tour and had to book my tour on Wednesday after 6pm ET since reservations open 1.5 days before. Continue reading “Exploring Colombia – Guatapé & Medellin”
Last fall, I booked a flight for my husband and I to go to Medellin, Colombia (yeah, yeah I know its history, but that was a long time ago) because Delta Airlines was having an amazing sale only $275 round trip. I’d been intrigued by Colombia for sometime and when the opportunity arose I pounced on it.
Fast forward to last week, my hubby tells me he’s no longer joining m
e on this long awaited journey due to unforeseen circumstances. At first I began to panic that all of this anticipation would be the biggest let down of my life. Okay I’m being a little dramatic but I’ve literally been looking forward to this trip for over 6 months so not going would have crushed my spirit.
Anyway, I had a decision to make, either cancel a trip I’ve been looking forward to for months or go on my own. Continue reading “An Unexpected Solo Trip”
Over the past few years, I’ve notice a number of people making comments, mostly on social media, stating that people who travel are only doing so to show off.
The debates often go back and forth with many condemning those who enjoy being frequent travelers. What’s so wrong with taking full advantage of your vacation time? Americans are known for a lot of things and not using all of their vacation time is one of them.
Continue reading “When Did Traveling Become Elitist?”
So let’s talk about Guatemala. Shortly after the holidays, it was the Tuesday after in fact, I came across an amazing deal. It was a flight to Guatemala City from Dulles (VA), for only $124 roundtrip, inclusive of fees. Yes, I said $124. I can’t even fly to New York for that, so who would have ever thought I could fly to another country that’s almost 2,000 miles away for that much.
After doing some research and connecting with others who purchased the same great deal, I decided staying in Antigua would make the most sense. Antigua is a city about 45 minutes from the Guatemala City airport and has a fairly significant expat population, didn’t learn that its population is about 40% expat until we were there. Since a few of us were going for the same long weekend, we decided to rent a house through AirBnB. We decided on Casa Colibri, a home in a gated area about a 10 minute walk to Parque Central or the central area of town.
We did so much during our short time there so I’ve listed everything below. Continue reading “Let’s Talk Guatemala”
Every time I tell someone I’m traveling internationally, their first question is always “Are you traveling for work?” I work in nonprofit, so no I don’t travel internationally for work. Not that it’s impossible, but it would be highly unlikely.
When people ask me where I’m going and I say, Turkey, Guatemala, Morocco, etc., 9 times out of 10 I’m met with a why? It’s usually a why are you going there? And to those people I answer back, why not?
Even when I go out of the country, I get the same thing from strangers. Is it so hard to imagine someone wanting to go some place, where they have never been, just to go? Is it so wrong to want to see the world in my 30s before kids comes into the picture and traveling becomes a more arduous task? Continue reading “I don’t travel for work, I work to travel”
Let’s talk about Panama. I’d been thinking about taking a trip to Central America and narrowed it down to Panama, Costa Rica, and Honduras. I’d heard great things about all three but was undecided on which to choose. Literally no more than the day after having a conversation about the three countries, a deal popped up for Baltimore to Panama. I accepted that as my sign and booked my ticket.
Fast forward a month, and we arrived in Panama on a Friday evening severely delayed due to plane issues. We went to our hotel the American Trade Hotel which is centrally located in the Casco Viejo area of Panama City. The hotel offered old world charm with all of the modern conveniences. Continue reading “A Long Weekend in Panama”
EXPLORE SAVVY 