Jamaica 2014

We had 7 days, and were long over due for a vacation. We chose Jamaica for 2 main reasons; the weather and the food. We wanted to relax and an all-inclusive vacation is just that. We stayed at the Iberostar Rose Hall Suites on the outskirts of Montego Bay. The resort is beautiful and well cared for. The staff are incredibly hard workers and were a pleasure with everyone. The Iberostar brand is very consistent across its properties, the look and feel all have a Spanish vibe. The Iberostar Rose Hall Suites is part of a 3-tier resort. There are 3 resorts on the property, the Grand, Suites and Beach. The Grand is Adult only, large rooms and nicest section of beach. The Suites is very luxurious and has the most rooms. There is a small Casino (very small) and a Spa among other shops and boutiques. There are large banquet halls in this section of the hotel. It also houses the Lazy River. We didn’t really go to the Beach, so I can’t really comment, but when we walked by it looked nice and had a large pool.

Lazy river.

A quiet spot around the pool.

The Star Pirate.

Festive trees for the holidays.

Lazy river.

The beach.

We spent the week soaking in the sun and enjoying the heat, as we knew the cold was waiting for us back home. If you’re looking for a nice resort with all the amenities, you can’t go wrong with the Iberostar Role Hall Suites.

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Germany 2013

Last year around this time, I traveled to Europe. We visited Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Munich. Here is a glimpse into our amazing time in Germany.

Hotel lobby in Frankfurt. Grandhotel Hessischer Hof.

The best beer.

Surfin’, surfin’ Eisbach river.

Getting wild in the beer tent.

Who can drink a litre of beer in under 20 seconds?

Park in Munich near Marienplatz.

Rides at Oktoberfest Muchen.

Our rental car.

Dachau concentration camp.

Amsterdam 2013

Red lights, camera, action!

Rental stroller.

Great location!

Visit with the team at Joli Originals – one of my favourite @Shopify shops!

Hanging with the Joli Orignals team was amazing!

Jamaica 2013

Hotel grounds and pool.

Love my Blackmilk Clothing Galaxy swimsuit.

The view from the lunch BBQ spot.

Flying over islands home.

Location: Grand Bahia Principe Runaway Bay Jamaica

Dates: February 2013

Purpose: R & R!

Eurotrip 2012

 

This was my first adventure in Europe and boy, it was quite the adventure!

We only had 9 days and wanted to do as much as possible. We landed in Amsterdam on September 18th, and we had to get to Prague for September 27th to fly back to Ottawa. All we had booked ahead of time was a hotel in Amsterdam for 2 nights. From there, we would figure out where to go/stay and how we would get there! It turned out we could make it to Munich for the opening weekend of Oktoberfest, so we knew we had to get there! And then from there, we would get to Prague.

Day 1-3 | Amsterdam

Amsterdam was a place I’ve always wanted to visit. I had friends who were just there, and suggested we only take a few days there since it’s quite touristy. I was surprised to find myself fall in love with this city. The parks, canals, bikes and waffles, I loved it all. We stayed at the Vondel Hotel near Vondelpark. It was clean, stylish and perfectly located! I’m a fan of night life, and Amsterdam certainly has a lot of that to offer. However, I think one of the highlights was the food. It was delicious, reasonably priced and endless options! We spent our time walking around the city enjoying the sites and even hopped on a canal tour, which was a great way to see the city when you’re feet need a break! The only thing I would change would have been to spend more time to visit more of the city. But this gives me a reason to go back.

Arriving at the airport

Having a few pints at the Bulldog Pub.

The street our hotel was on. Great spot!

Breakfast at a pub after a night out.

Houses along the water.

I need this bike!

Entrance

Day 3-6 | Munich

After breakfast in Amsterdam, we hopped on a train and made our way to München. The train ride was far from short, but we slept and watched movies on the ipad. Finally, 8 hours later, we made it! The only setback was that it was pooring rain. We had recently booked an AirBnB and took a taxi to the location. It was a great deal and a great experience, and I recommend anyone travelling to give AirBnB a try. Here is the link to the place we stayed! We chose Munich for Oktoberfest, so our host had left us tons of information in the apartment. We followed their instructions, and had a great time. I can’t even say how many beers were consumed, but I can tell you, the train ride to Prague was mostly spent sleeping. We spent our time pub crawling, walking around and enjoying the Oktoberfest fairgrounds. It poured rain our first day and we still had a great time! We spent day 2 (Sunday) in a few of the larger tents, they hold anywhere from 5000-8000 people, not including the beer gardens surrounding the tent, which hold anywhere from 1000-3000 people.  It was a blast, we met a lot of really amazing people and we drank many litres of beer! I would certainly go back but would spend more time in Germany seeing other parts of the country.

In a sea of people.

Slowly the room fills up.

Hofbrau

It doesn’t stop. You make friends with your neighbours fast since you get so close!

The servers could carry 6-8 at once!

 

Day 6-9 | Prague

We got up early and caught a train to Prague and 7 hours later we arrived. This was a very slow train with lots of stops. We had limited options, so we took the most direct route. We were tired and hungover so didn’t feel like having to think. Got on the train, we slept and got off the train. Prague is somewhere I will certainly return to. It was a beautiful place and was much bigger than I could have imagined. We did some sight seeing and walking, but that could only get us so far. We stayed in another awesome AirBnB apartment, but due to some circumstances out of anyones control, we had to leave early and stayed at a hotel at the airport for a night. I would still 100% recommend this apartment, it was well priced and in a great location. The building itself is old, but the apartment is very nice. Here is the link to the apartment listing! I would definitely go back to Praha, but would plan to spend more time there.

 

Charles Bridge

View from the bell tower of St. Wenceslas Chapel – only 287 stairs!

View on our way back down from the castle

Art Installation we stumbled upon!

This was my first time in Europe, but I can gladly say, it will not be my last. It was a whirlwind, but we had a lot of fun. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to only do 2 countries in 9 days. That would have given us a little more time in two cities, which would have been nice. I would also recommend and use AirBnB, it was such a great option for accommodations. Until next time Europe!

Ohhhh, sometimes. I get a good feeling, yeah!

It was the time of year where most Canadians are sick of winter and are looking for that sunny getaway!

And we found the perfect place. It was slightly last minute and we had our reservations about Mexico, but we thought, we only have 7 days, let’s make the most of it!

We stayed in the tourist popular hotel zone of Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico at the ME Cancun (by Melia). It was the most beautiful, luxurious resort I’ve ever been to. The food was amazing and the drinks were plentiful. If you read reviews about this hotel on Trip Advisor (as I did), I was a little worried, but the “complaints” I read about were far from reality.

The staff were kind and ready to help at every opportunity. I can’t say enough great things about the food! And the party was exactly what I wanted!

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The nightlife in Cancun was on another level. I’ve partied the nights away in Bangkok, New York City, Montreal & Toronto – but this was different. You spend the day as you do at an all inclusive resort. Break for power nap/shower and dinner. Then party at the clubs on the strip until the wee hours of the morning. Repeat until you can’t! We met great people at the hotel bar and pool and just decided it would be easier to go out in groups to the clubs. We went to a different place every night, even though we wanted to go back to Mandala. Mandala was by far the best, but we had good nights at The City beach club, Dady O’s, Senor Frogs. We were lucky to have a hotel that hosted parties as well. Never a dull moment.

Based on this vacation, I would go back to Mexico in a heart beat! The ME knows how to make you feel like a million bucks and I only hope that I do win the lottery so that I can rent out the ME Suite and fly my friends and I down for an amazing time!

 

The land of smiles.

I still feel like it was just yesterday that I was getting off the plane after hours and hours of flying and feeling the Bangkok air on my skin. The heat just hit me, as my fellow passengers and I were filing out of the airconditioned bus into the airport.

I decided to do a post on Thailand because for the better part of 2011, Thailand had been experiencing some of the worst flooding in years due to a heavy monsoon season. Many regions in South East Asia have been affected this season, but since I was in Thailand in November 2009, I wanted share it’s beauty and awesomeness with you in my first flashback post!

The words that best describe Thailand are; hot, busy and amazing! For my short trip, I stayed mostly in and around Bangkok & Koh Phi Phi with one night in Phuket.

The following slide show has some pictures from my trip:

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Thailand is one of my favourite places in the entire world and I encourage everyone to visit and enjoy the people, food, sights and even the traffic!

If you’d like to help by donating to the flood victims, check out the Canadian Red Cross.

Seven days in Aruba

A week anywhere in the Caribbean is amazing, but Aruba was very different form anywhere I’ve been before. It was a land of pure relaxation, eating and drinking.

We spent 7 days at the Westin Resort & Casion Aruba. And thanks to the power of Twitter and SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) we got an upgrade to a partial ocean view room on the 17th floor. Room 1727 would be our home. The hotel is in an area called Palm Beach, a very tourist rich area with bars, restaurants, shops, clubs, and anything else you can imagine. The Westin is within walking distance of all of this stuff but is also just a short drive or very inexpensive bus ride into Orangestad, the Capital & largest city on the island.

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Although the hotel did have an all inclusive option, we went without it. We bought booze at Duty free and picked up mix and snacks at the grocery store!

It was economical that we did this, and we weren’t committed to eating the hotel food and only drinking there. If you left the hotel with an all inclusive bracelet it didn’t matter as you’d have to pay for food and drinks, so it worked out very well.

Having been to many beautiful beaches in the past, I was excited to see what Aruba’s beaches were like. I had heard nothing but great things, and it did not disappoint. The water was beautiful and crystal clear and the sand was soft and white.

The purpose of this trip was to get away and relax. And Aruba was perfect!! It isn’t one of the most culturally rich countries I’ve been too, but it was very beautiful, and if you have the money to shop, you won’t have to look hard to find shops! Since many cruise ships stop in, there is no lack of high end boutiques! Food was excellent and had an amazing variety. Lots of Dutch, American and South American cuisine but there was lots of fast food too! I would certainly recommend Aruba as a destination but I would caution young adult travels who are looking for adventure to stay here for long. It is an island of relaxation and indulgence, beautiful beaches and friendly people.

If you’d like to see more pictures, please click here!

Aruba ariba!!

The journey has begun. October 8, 2011, I boarded AC1294 and headed to Aruba. A carribean island that sits on the northern coast of Venesuela.

The flight was about 5 hours from Toronto and normally I have nothing bad to say about Air Canada but wow, this flight sucked! The flight itself was fine but our TVs didn’t work. As everyone else’s around us started to work, ours didn’t and when the flight attendant said they would tell us our options after they still weren’t working; all we got was a ripped up Globe & Mail.

We finally arrived safely, even though the turbulence was some of the worst I’ve ever experienced! And the sun was still out. We taxied to the Westin Hotel & Resort and then, darkness. The power had gone out. We thought maybe we were in for a rough week here, but it turns out some construction hit a power line and the power was out on the whole block! It came back a few hours later and we haven’t had issues since 🙂 Free wifi is working like a charm now but can only be used on one device at a time (which no one mentions!!)

Westin Aruba Room

Here we go!