We took the Eurostar high-speed train from London to Paris. The train ride was smooth, but we arrived at rush hour in Paris, which caused a bit of a rough start. A little bit of a fiasco with the apartment we were supposed to be staying in, but it all got straightened out.
Finally! Off to Europe – we started planning this trip in 2019 before Covid! A couple reschedules later, and we’re finally here. After a brief layover in Lisbon, our first stop is London.
We stopped in San Juan, Puerto Rico as part of our 2022 Caribbean Cruise. Puerto Rico, nicknamed “The Island of Enchantment” is a territory of the United States. Along with the main island, it is made up of several smaller islands, including Vieques, Culebra, and Mona.
We stayed within the Old San Juan historic area and used a self-guided audio tour created by local sixth-graders as part of a school project. We enjoyed the stories told by the children as they took on the personas of historical buildings. The app is called VoiceMap, and the tour is named “Talking Buildings of Old San Juan” – we highly recommend. It took us to about 20 different sites, including the Castillo San Cristobal and Castillo San Felipe del Morro forts.
We visited Saint Maarten on our 2022 Caribbean Cruise. The island is interesting in that it is split between 2 different countries. France controls the northern half and refers to it as Saint Martin, while the Netherlands claim the southern half, calling it Sint Maarten.
We had previously visited Sint Maarten in November of 2013, so we decided to rent a car at the docks and revisit a few of our favorite places and try to explore some of the beaches that we didn’t get a chance to see previously.
We visited Castries, St. Lucia on our 2022 Caribbean Cruise. We did an excursion that took us hiking up the Petons and for a dip in a waterfall pool. The drive out and back was a couple hours each way, up and down winding mountain roads, stopping for pictures along the way.
Our second port of call on our 2022 Caribbean Cruise was St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda. To get a taste of the various attractions on Antigua Island, we decided to take a guided “Let’s Take a Selfie” tour. The tour took us to the top photographic locations.
Our first port of call on our 2022 Caribbean Cruise was Charlotte Amalia, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. We took a converted pickup/mini-bus for a quick drive up steep, curving roads to Drake’s Seat – an overlook to Magen’s Bay, then down to Magen’s Bay Beach for a few hours in the sun. A walk into town and back rounded off the day.
We originally booked our cruise for the end of September, but it was canceled due to Hurricane Ian. We were able to rebook a similar cruise for November.
In 2011, we spent a week on Grand Bahama island at Taino Beach Resort. Beautiful weather all week long. Lots of rum, fun, and sun!
We were so bummed about leaving, we missed our connecting flight and ended up staying an extra day in Miami. Oops!
