A Blast From My Traveling Past: Puerto Morelos Edition

You know how they say the past is a good indicator of the future? When it comes to travel I think you can throw that rule out. I say (well technically write) this because of our trip to Puerto Morelos and an all-inclusive resort and our subsequent decision to do another all-inclusive in a different country (Jamaica) and a different resort (The Jewel Dunn's River Falls). More on that trip another day. Spoiler alert: it didn't come close to the experience we had at Dreams. 

The resort at night

We stayed at Dreams Riviera Cancun in Puerto Morelos, Mexico in March of 2010 for nine days. And we were happy to get out of the snow and freezing weather and into some sunshine and heat. Mexico delivered. We arrived on a Sunday to warm weather (in the 70s if I recall correctly), cool drinks and mega relaxation, and not a day too soon. The next day Bangor, Maine (where I'm from and a few miles from Orono where we both went to grad school at the time) was voted the worst weather in the country. Like I said, not a moment too soon.

Birds birds everywhere

The weather cooperated the whole time we were there and hung out in the 70s and sunny region all nine days. The water was a beautiful blue that I'm certainly not used to having grown up in Maine. We got to hang out on the beach and by the pool all day, then shift into even gear and have drinks and delicious food at night. Once again that pesky vegetarian thing came up, but I ate really well while we were at Dreams. For an all-inclusive, the food was pretty incredible.

The cactus dish  

We went to the Mexican restaurant and I got cactus. Yup, cactus. That prickly green thing you're supposed to avoid. I ate it. And it wasn't half bad. Definitely unlike anything I had ever had before, but I'm all about trying new foods as long as they're vegetarian. After years of eating the same stir fry since I didn't know what else to make, I love trying new foods any chance I get. Back to Dreams. They also had a Japanese restaurant complete with sushi and hibachi. There was also an Italian restaurant that had some amazing options. And since it's an all-inclusive we never felt limited in what we should order and how much ended up on the table. For me, the food never got boring or monotonous, which is a definite possibility at an all-inclusive (and how it felt at The Jewel). 

On our third or fourth day there, we decided to take a long walk down the beach to the town center. We took off around 11 am and didn't end up getting back to the resort until 2 o'clock. It was a loooooooong walk and while it provided us with some of our best pictures from the vacation, it also wound up giving Dan a pretty terrible sunburn that lasted well after we got back home. Note to self: wear sunscreen like crazy the closer you get to the equator. Thanks to the all-inclusive and the free drinks that came with it, every night from that day on we would hit up the lobby bar for pre-dinner drinks and snacks, while Dan would have the same order for our server, "Dos shots of 1800 por favor." It seemed to do the trick and numb his back long enough to get though dinner. Who needs pain reliever when you've got unlimited tequila at your disposal?

So, after this trip went some swimmingly minus the sunburn, we decided to do another all-inclusive this March. I was wiped out from school and didn't want to do much but be warm, relax and lay out in the sun. While that was mission accomplished, the resort left something to be desired. If you really want to know the dirty details, check out my review on Trip Advisor. I used Trip Advisor for both trips, had one great one and one that left a lot to be desired. So take every review with a grain of salt, but also make sure you read every class of review (from excellent to terrible).

After this last trip we both decided we wanted a very different type of vacation for our next trip. Something a bit more culturally stimulating and definitely not an all-inclusive. We want to go explore and try new places (restaurants and otherwise). I'm taking suggestions, but keep in mind that I hate the cold. 

A Blast From My Traveling Past: Disney Edition

I think I have traveled more in the past two years than I have in the past ten. Once I hit high school family vacations came to a halt since I played sports year round and we could never seem to get the time to go anywhere. That all changed about two years ago when I joined my boyfriend in Orlando for his birthday and the final day of InfoComm, the convention we're heading back to the day after I get back from France. We stayed for ten days in late June (possibly the worst time to travel to Disney World) and started our first vacation together at the so-called happiest place on earth. 

Our savanna view from the room

We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge with a view of the savanna that only belongs in Africa. It was pretty surreal to wake up every morning and have the kind of view you only get on an African safari. We actually saw a giraffe fight, which was as odd at it sounds. I highly recommend googling a video of it. They basically just swing their entire necks and whack each other with them. 

The food at Jiko was incredible. It being Disney, they even had a completely separate vegetarian menu that had some delicious choices on it. I'm always surprised to go to a restaurant and have options. We had some crazy good food there and ended up going back again for another dinner, which is saying something since we like to switch things up a lot night after night. 

Here are some pictures from our visits to the Animal Kingdom Park, Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  

The obligatory picture of Cinderella's castle.

My favorite ride at Magic Kingdom: Splash Mountain

Tower of Terror: I loved, love and will continue to love this ride. Dan, not so much... 

At Epcot's Around the World: China

A black swan, a few years before Black Swan, the award winning film. These birds are vicious by the way!

The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom Park

T-minus 17 days until France

As the final component of my MBA Program with the University of Maine I have to go on an international trip. I was originally supposed to travel to Japan, but the tragic tsunami changed my plans. Since this is the last part of my MBA, I was given the option to join another international trip just in case the trip to Japan was cancelled. Not wanting to drag my graduation date out even further after some twenty years of schooling, I opted to join the University of Southern Maine's MBA trip to France from June 4-12. I am hoping I won't have to brush off my French skills from high school since they are beginner at best at this point. 

Here is a quick preview of what my week in France will look like:

Saturday - June 4th

Fly from Boston to Paris

Sunday -  June 5th

Train from Paris to Brest

Monday - June 6th

Conference at UBO

This is the Univeristy where I believe we are staying for our time in Brest. Try as I might, I can't find any information on the residence halls there. While I know they won't be 5 star accommodations, I have no idea what French residence halls are like. My only experience with dorms are the ones I lived in while studying at Emory University. Suffice it to say, it's not an experience I ever want to repeat for an extended period.

Visit to Roscoff

ALGO PLUS

This place looks....interesting. From what I understand from their website, they harvest and process food algae. I won't be surprised if there is some taste testing. However, I will be surprised if I end up taking a bottle home with me. My idea of algae is green, slimy and inedible. I'll make sure to have some strongly flavored mints or gum at the ready just in case.

Tuesday - June 7th

SCARMOR
No website for this company, which always surprises me in this day in age. From our trusty trip itinerary, I know that it is a logistics facility for E.Leclerc, a hypermarket chain in France and that we will be visiting the logistics platform.

SAVEOL
An agricultural cooperative specializing in high-quality tomatoes and other vegetables. So this day seems to have a theme: food. Given that both lunch and dinner consists heavily of vegetables everyday for me, I won't mind some afternoon samples from Saveol. We are going to the Packaging Station of Saveol, which should be interesting. Having watched a lot of How It's Made courtesy of my engineer boyfriend, I've got a whole new appreciation for how packaging plants work. It amazes me what kinds of machines have been designed and built just to package a product that I buy on a pretty regular basis.

Wednesday - June 8th
Visit to Quimper

MANOIR DU KINKIZ

This is a cider house, where we will be doing some taste testing. They've got apple cider, water, brandy, and some other apple based alcohols. Nothing like liquor in the morning, or whatever time it is back home. Oh it's 5 o'clock somewhere. When in Rome, right? 

ARMOR LUX
As anyone who knows me knows I am a clotheshorse. I have too many and it is still not enough. So I'm sure I'll be coming home with some souvenirs from Armor Lux, which sells on asos, a favorite online shopping destination of mine based in the UK. I'm kind of digging this dress...the stripes are so French.

Thursday - June 9th

OCEANOPOLIS

This is by far what I'm most excited about. I haven't been to an aquarium since I was a child. And given that working with sea creatures was one of the many careers I proclaimed would be mine while growing up, a dolphin trainer at SeaWorld to be precise, I can't wait to visit Oceanopolis. They are going to do a 30 minute presentation on marketing at Oceanopolis and then we get a 3 hour tour of the pavilions. 

Friday - June 10th

Train from Brest to Paris

Visit the US Embassy in Paris

My knowledge of what goes on at a US Embassy abroad is sadly limited and mostly comes from action movies and television shows. Screaming "I'm an American citizen"  as you bang on the impenetrable gate with the enemies hot on your trail. I've got a sneaking suspicion it will be absolutely nothing like that and far less exciting. All I know is I am going to hang onto my Visa like nobody's business so this visit is pleasure, not business. 

Saturday - June 11th

Free day in Paris

Given that this is my first trip to Europe, I want to try and soak in as much of Paris as possible. The Eiffel Tower or La Tour Eiffel as I should call it, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and of course, I've got to find some good shopping spots. 

Sunday - June 12th

Fly back to Boston

This is the day I'm both dreading and simultaneously looking forward to. It will be nice to get home, but the following day I'm off to Orlando for InfoComm, an audio/visual convention. With the time change and hours on a plane, followed by even more hours on a plane, I'm anticipating major exhaustion. All in a day's work I suppose.