Lauren Travels

So our last port of the trip was Corfu, Greece. I was excited about this port because something I had researched going into our planning meeting months before was the tour we decided to do. As you can see from my posts I am a foodie at heart. I love history, I love art, Museums, architecture, but above all else I love seeing how people eat. Food brings people together and I don't think I realized how much food effected my traveling experience until I was in Mexico for dia de los muertos in 2019. It brought people together and was offered to relatives and friends who had passed, placed on families ofrendas. I really can't pinpoint why that had such an impact on me but it did. Now when we plan a trip we always try plan some kind of food tour or cooking class in our itinerary.

So our tour was booked through Blue tours and we booked the Private Tour: Corfu Town Food Walking Tour. It was very affordable and they reached out shortly after booking to see what we had and special requests or if we had picky eaters.

So we met our lovely guide who pointed out a few historical monuments or buildings on out way to out first stop. We ate pies which our guide said is a common breakfast item, think of spanakopita, she never referred to the pies with this word but that's what it immediately reminded me of. They had savory and sweet ones and we has them with a drink that reminded us of ginger beer without the carbonation.

Our next stop was a store that specialized in Kumquat fruit. Kumquat in every form, from candied, to chocolate dipped, lotions, even liquor! We actually took a bottle of Kumquat liquor home and it is still in my fridge today!

After a drink or two we set off to our next stop which was a little Cheese and Meat store. They had a charcuterie spread with Cheese, crackers, sausages, jams, and fruit. We would have definitely taken some cheese home but I didn't want to risk it with customs.

Poor cheese, why is it in prison??

Our next stop was a restaurant where we had an assortment of Greek dishes. Obviously the iconic Greek salad, moussaka, Sofrito- made with beef or veal, cooked in a wine sauce with lots of garlic and lots of parsley served with fries.

oooof my mouth is watering looking back on these pictures.

It had been a few hours. We walked a lot from place to place and every time we sat down we talked about our lives and culture comparisons. My sister being in the travel industry had talked a lot with each of our guides (except the tour guide from Split) about how the housing industry had been taken over by short term rentals. I don't like to tell people how to travel. There are definitely times I think that renting a house makes perfect sense whether its a large traveling group or if you're staying in one place for a long time. Back in 2014 we went to Germany and we loved the in-law Airbnb we stayed at near Munich we had six people with us and the In-law was attached to this mans home who lived alone and gave us great recommendations for things to do. Unfortunately, now what was supposed to be a way for people to rent out a spare room or a second/ vacation home has turned into people buying up lots of properties in bustling cities just to turn them into short term rentals. Each tour guide told us the impact the tourist industry has put on the housing market but obviously they know fighting back has impact on their tourist industry as well. Its a tough thing that a lot of these beautiful places are dealing with. We didn't only talk about negative things though we talked about raising families, other tourists, other ports we had been to on our trip and have an overall wonderful time.

After our meal we were really stuffed but we had one more stop to make before the tour was over. We stopped by a Gelato shop, but not just any gelato shop, Papagiorgis Patiserie-Gelateria. Our guide said that it ws rated as one of the top gelaterias in the world. There is a plaque outside that either states the shops ranking or why it qualifies as one of the top. There were so many incredible flavors but since we were in Corfu I went with the kumquat gelato featuring a candied kumquat on top.

It was truly an amazing bite after amazing bite. Afterwards we couldn't eat another bite. We chatted with our tour guide for a few more minutes before she offered to bring us back to the meeting spot or leave us to go explore. We said our goodbyes and headed to a cafe to grab a round of beers before deciding what to do next.

My sister and bro in law went off to take pictures while my mom, brother and I decided to stop at a few souvenir shops before heading back to the bus and onto the ship.

The highlight of Virgin Voyages cruise is their scarlet night where there is a huge party on the pool deck with dancers and music but because of the weather ours was moved inside into the club. My sister was so bummed because she said every cruise she had been on the scarlet night was moved inside and was not as much fun as she had hoped. Still we dressed in our Scarlet outfits and went to dinner and walked around the ship as they had different parties in different areas of the ship and all the DJs were situated in different areas so it was a unique night.

The last day of our cruise was a sea day, we watched the finale of the seahorse race. Each contestant had decorated their seahorse and it was a fun game to watch.

My fiancé and I had purchased the splash of romance package during our sailing there were three days that we were surprised with "sultry" treats in our room that came with a card that explained what they were and why they were sultry. Our first treat was "Rose Gold and Aleppo Pepper Macarons. These were fruity with a hot pepper kick in the back. The next surprise were 3 pairs of truffles that were Passion fruit with cocoa nibs. Maca, white chocolate and pomegranate, and lastly Saffron Ginger gummies the card pointed out that spices are a sensual energizer. I don't know about that but I was a big fan, the gummies were so soft. We had a third treat that were chocolate truffles with something inside unfortunately the card we got was for the macrons again so we didn't know exactly what was in them.

So on our last night we saved one of the best perks for last which was "Shake for Champagne" you go onto Virgin Voyages app and literally shake your phone, It vibrates making sure you know you triggered shake for champagne and they deliver a bottle of Moet wherever you are on the ship. So my Fiancé and I decide to make a small date of it by jumping in the hot tub on the top deck and shaking our phone. We waited maybe ten minutes before my partner got up and asked the bartender nearby if we had performed the ritual correctly. He assured us that they will find us but that the Champagne comes from the champagne room so it will need to travel a bit. The bartender was cleaning up the bar and came over to us about thirty minutes later when he realized we were still in the hot tub. We love hot tubs but they are only recommended for 15 minutes. He came over and asked if we were still waiting. He called someone and about another ten minutes later our champagne arrived. They apologized a lot. Since it was the last night everyone was using their bar tabs up but they also blamed it on the location device because apparently it was reading that we were one floor below where we were. The waiter and bartender said that if this had happened on an earlier night they probably would of given us an extra bar tab or something and that we should complain to sailor services. We decided not to, as they left we had a few sips of champagne and got our pruned bodies out of there. We walked around for a little bit and ended back in our room. Sitting in the hot tub for so long was not a great idea, we both had a rough night and maybe had three glasses of champagne out of the whole bottle.

Before going to bed I noticed that I didn't have my engagement ring on. I had taken it off on Corfu as walking in the heat made my fingers swell. I started to freak out that I had lost my ring tearing the room apart. We decided to go to sailor services where they wrote down my information and said our room attendant would do a fine sweep of the room after we left.

The following morning we met our family on the dock where we had a few hours to do a private tour of some sites in Athens before flying home. I told everyone about the shake for champagne fiasco and that I had lost my ring. My family was too stunned to speak.

We got into the van and saw the site of the first Olympics, a perch where you could see a beautiful view of the city and sea with all the fisherman, Parliament buildings and a few more historical sites.

I am happy to say that a few weeks after our trip I was doing my laundry and heard a *clink* off the walls of the washer machine and found my ring! I screamed so loud the whole house asked me what was wrong.

I will definitely go on another Virgin Voyages trip again and will purchase the Splash or Romance perk as me and my Husband found it very valuable. This trip was unforgettable and if your thinking of cruising in the area I couldn't recommend Virgin Voyage more!

The next morning we arrived at our first port of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Or as our tour guide said "Since 2010 - Kings Landing" popularized by the HBO series Game of Thrones: fun fact my husband and I never saw Game of Thrones until years after it ended, we binge watched it over two months and we really enjoyed the show till the very end although many people we have talked to did not like the last few seasons. oh well.

My sister had booked us a private tour with just my party of six. Anytime people hear "private" they automatically assume its going to be crazy expensive but when comparing prices to tours the cruise sponsors we have found Private tours typically cheaper per person and more personalized. The risk with booking something privately is that if there are any hiccups with timing the ship will not wait for you. Luckily for us this was a walking tour around the old town inside the walls of Dubrovnik and planned it early enough that we were not at risk of missing the ship. We chose THIS tour. Our guide told us about the war in the 1990's and would point out the thousands of holes in the walls sharing that it wasn't any type of erosion but bullet holes from when the city was attacked. This tour interested us because it included a stop in a 16th century palace that is privately owned. When we were there they explained to us that the tours to the palace help fund the restoration the family was doing to the palace. It was beautiful and we tried Rakija which is a fruit brandy made with plums, we ate candied orange peels and other light snacks. The tour took us up the stairs where the famous "shame" scene from Game of Thrones was filmed. This was one of the few non Game of Thrones themed tours but you really could not escape seeing areas where the show was filmed since the city is not very large and it filmed for so long. After the tour we asked our guide for food recommendations. She recommended Kopun which is up those famous stairs and directly on the left. Kopun is Croatia's national dish with the main ingredient being a castrated rooster. It was delicious! Deep in flavor and tender!

Our next stop was Spit, Croatia. We chose a tour that was available from Virgin Voyages and as someone who has travelled as much as I have this had to be the worst tour guide I had ever had. Our first stop was this very old archaeological site. My family loves history and culture. reading the description of the tour we unanimously voted for this tour and it wouldn't have been so bad except we just had a very boring tour guide. We were split up into two groups and the first group was at the park map for maybe five minutes and then they moved on to the next stop. No joke our tour guide had us stand at this park map for no less than 20 minutes as she overloaded the group with a history lesson that sounded word for word like a history book. The whole group had tuned out by the time she was done, we went over to the actual site where we stood in one spot for another 20-25 minutes. We could see the other group ahead of us spread out, pointing at interesting spots and moving on but we were planted. My mom pointed out small sarcophagus' all over the place and when she asked the guide she said "oh they must be for children" and my mom said "really? Because there are only small ones, no large ones and their must be 50 or so of these" and the Guide responded "yeah children die a lot."

Don't get me wrong. The site was beautiful, my sister even snuck a photo of me and my Fiancé that she would later use for my bridal party invite picture. We learned a lot but most of what we learned we had read from the little diagrams all over the area.

Our next stop on the tour was to Trogir, Croatia. Now, we were right on the water and we were guided into a Cathedral but not before we stopped in the doorway with our guide describing every inch of the hand carved doorway called Radovan's portal. It was impressive. It deserved to be pointed out. What I am complaining about is the fact that we stood there for so long going over the doorway of this cathedral that security came by and said we had to keep moving to let people through, remember this was a very large group split into two and the second group had already exited the church and were enjoying their free time. We made it into the church where the tour continued. After reading a few of the plaques and taking photos my family made the executive decision to leave the tour since we had about two hours to explore before having to be back on the bus. We knew we were not the only disappointed people when we had gotten out of the church, took a picture of the clock tower and turned around to see that about half of the group had followed us out.

We enjoyed those two hours walking around Trogir more than we had enjoyed the last two hours on our tour getting lost in the hallway width alleys of Trogir.

For the rest of the trip we made comments about the tour guide popping up at our next stops as the next day we would be in Montenegro and were on another tour recommended by Virgin Voyages.

So last we left off we had just finished a Magic show that my brother participated in before going to dinner at Test Kitchen.

Test Kitchen is an experimental dining experience that I think everyone should try at least once.

Test kitchen experiments with flavor combinations, textures and smells over their 5 course meal. They do have vegetarian options that my mom took advantage of and you can elevate your meal with wine or cocktail pairings.

Typically each sailing has two menus that they switch halfway through the voyage. Our visit had Menu B, the menus are unique where they only list the main ingredient in each dish with no other detail. (When you plan your trip they ask if anyone has food allergies or sensitivities so when you sit down the wait staff confirm the parties allergy list and talk about the adjustments made to their menu.)

Our menu had the following courses listed:

Mushroom

Egg

Scallop

Venison/Beef

Blue Cheese

Chocolate

For the fourth course we chose between Venison or Beef. I went for the Beef and my partner chose the Venison.

So my dad and I get off in Philly and book an Uber to take us to Angelo's Pizzaria. We are not big fans of Barstool but my dad pointed out that this place had Dave's highest rating in Philly. We weren't even planning to get the pizza we wanted a Philly Cheesesteak that was also highly rated by visitors and locals alike.

We were mesmerized by the narrow streets and rows and rows of apartments and houses. We have been to many major cities but this was very different from neighboring major cities like New York or Boston.

Should also mention that we were there the Thursday and Friday before Superbowl where the Eagles were going against the Chiefs. Police were setting up barricades and taping off areas. Our uber driver said it was just typical for the city because they really like to party.

We were dropped off at Angelo's and placed our order. A philly Cheesesteak with onions, peppers and sliced cooper cheese (not cheese whiz) and a Trenton Pizza- Mozzerella, EVOO, oregano, pecorino romano, and dolloped w/ fresh ground tomatoes.

We hung out for about ten minutes before we got a text that our pizza was ready. It was take out only so we picked up our food and waited for an uber. Since it was cold out and the pizza was thin crust we decided to grab a bite while standing outside- great idea because by the time we got to the hotel and had a second slice the cheese pull was gone.

The pizza was amazing and I have had a lot of pizza. Crispy, gooey and with all the right flavors. We finished our slice as the Uber pulled up to Courtyard by Marriott Philadelphia South at The Navy Yard.

If you are going to s sport event or a concert at any of Phillies sport complexes this hotel is as good as it gets. we could see all 3 stadiums from our hotel window.

We quickly dropped our bags praying that the cheesesteak had not gotten cold. luckily they wrapped it in foil and then I had placed it in my backpack for safe keeping.

We opened it as I warned my dad not to take a bite before I got a picture. Low and behold!

This guys was an amazing sandwich. Weeks later I still think about this place. I scarfed my half of the sub down in about four minutes. Everything, the bread- crispy, never got soggy with all that cheese and grease. The cheese- Sharp cheddar that melted beautifully between layers of steak and onions and pepper and obviously the steak- it was so tender and not chewy at all. OOOF i loved this thing I would go back to Philly for this place alone.

It was a chilly raining morning when I woke up on February 6th. I got dressed and booked an Uber to pick me up. All week the weather report had said a clear day but Rhode Island was now planning for a rain and snow wintery mix. I get into the Uber as the first few rain drops fell. My dad lived about 20 minutes away and I hoped to get to the train station, about 15 minutes further away from my Dad's place before the snow started.

So, if you have read my previous blog posts or even my bio you know that no trip ever goes as planned. For great examples read about that time I went to California and lost my wallet or the time I went to Greece without my suitcase. Well, this trip was no different except for the fact that I had messed up before getting into the Uber that morning.

The night before while packing for my overnight stay in Philly. I just had a feeling- Double check the hotel reservation, double check the train tickets are all there on your App, Double check the Game tickets. I look at the hotel reservation, its there, one night, February 6-7th, 2 queen size beds. Train tickets- they are there, Leaving Providence at 9am and arriving at 3:30pm and going back..... wait that cant be right.

Leaving Philly at 12:15am arriving in Providence at 5:30 am.

"no no no what the fuck!"

I had remembered that months earlier when planning this trip my dad had asked me if there was anyway he would be able to get back in time to go to work on Friday, I told him if we took the train then we would have to take a very early train. I cant imagine myself putting that train ticket selection in the cart but there it was. When I went back to my cart to make the purchase probably days later I can only imagine I thought it was for 12- noon, not midnight. Thing was with the game ending at 9:30 it was possible for us to take that train but obviously that was not the plan. Trying to save some money I went for the un-rescheduling choice as well.

So I called my dad who is already a nervous traveler under ideal conditions to come up with a plan and see what he wanted to do. Thing was, we could book a train for later in the day but if you did not know, if you book a train months in advance, this Amtrak ticket was about $30 each for coach now we are looking at north of $150 each for the same seats. I was kicking myself the whole conversation but we did decide to book new tickets.

So the Uber drops me off at my Dad's house. I double check that he has everything as he is older and has medications that he needs to take throughout the day. We lock up everything and go out to wait for the next Uber. The snow is sticking to the road, I am a little nervous that the train will be delayed or cancelled since its not the most reliable form of transportation. Luckily we were just a short ride to the train station. Once inside we found a seat and talked about how the day was going to go. The train before us was delayed 3 times before it was cancelled. While we were waiting for our train I found out that the bid I had put in for business class was excepted. My dad and I hadn't been on a trip together in over a decade so I was trying to find ways to make it a little better here and there.

Our train was delayed about an hour and then we went to the platform to board. We were in business class and over the next 3 or 4 stops we noticed a few people that had coach tickets were sitting in business class. The conductor had announced that our train was the one that picked up the passengers from the cancelled train because it was stranded so people with coach tickets could sit in Business class as long as there was availability, but as soon as someone came in that has a Business class ticket they would be booted from their seat. Luckily after Penn Station in New York most of the train cleared out and there were plenty of seats for everyone. The train ride wasn't too exciting I took a few naps and we had talked about going to the dining car but hearing about people standing in the aisles we decided to opt out of exploring the train. We did make the decision that instead of going to the hotel and out to eat afterwards that we were going to eat first.

Then the conductor gets on the intercom:

25 posts!

Sea Day part 2

So fiancé and I headed to our Spa booking included with our Splash of Romance Package. We were given robes, slippers and a cup of mud for the mud room. People on Youtube were right that sea days really do book up. even though we were the second or third couple to sign up for this time slot it was busy, I wouldn't say it was "packed" as we didn't really have to wait for anything. People were spread out on the heated marble slabs, some of the thermal rooms had 1-2 people in it. Fiancé and I headed for the hot tub as it was empty. We are not skinny by any means and we fit in the tub just fine but would be very uncomfortable if another person joined in. We left the Hot tub after five minutes and headed into the sauna, fiancé got queasy (we have never been to a spa before) so we didn't realize how hot and humid the room would get. the air was so thick we were probably only in there for 2-3 minutes before adventuring to the salt room. We both agreed this was our favorite room, it was hot like the other rooms but the salt cut through the humidity and I liked how the salt made the room smell and...taste? lol. We headed back to the main room to try to find some room in the room temp pool or lay on the marble slabs. We went in the pool for 15-20 minutes before I went to take a nap on the marble loungers.

Up until this point my fiancé and I were having a lovely time. People were really respectful of personal space, keeping voices low, very tranquil. Then there was a group of four British people. I know they were British because they must of exclaimed it 4 or 5 times in a ten minute span. They were talking so loudly about world politics I almost got up to ask them to quit it. Why bring that energy into a spa? While on VACATION no less!! Seriously? I tried to doze off like the other 4 people in the loungers before fiancé asked if I wanted to go back into the salt room. "Yes, please."

We were in the salt room for a while talking about how much we were enjoying each others company. We are getting married in August so we talked a little about that as well since it is only two months away.

Finally, we grabbed our cup of mud and headed to the mud room. The mud was very fine like sand and smelled like eucalyptus. It was very exfoliating and just smelled really nice. We showered the mud off and headed back to lockers to change back to our clothes to meet up with the rest of our group. Overall We spent just over 90 minutes in the Spa which for us was fine. Next time I would bring a book to enjoy on the marble slabs or the large round windows.

We met up for the Seahorse Auction. My sister said it was quite entertaining on her previous voyages. We were not planning on bidding but wanted to see how high the price would go.

So the Seahorse Race Auction happens on the first sea day. Foot tall wooden seahorses get auctioned off with real money and you get to decorate them at an exclusive party with the Happenings team member and unlimited champagne. On the last Sea Day they will have a race and the person who wins will get all the money from the auction minus a House Fee. My sister said she saw a horse go for 8k Which is crazy and according to The Gamer its very rare I believe the horses started at $150 and they auction them one at a time. We did throw our paddle up until one of the horses go to $250 and we stopped. Not big gamblers in my family. The lowest went for $200 and the highest went for $400. The team was very entertaining, making up a fictional story for each of the sea horses.

After the Auction we had another "Splash of Romance" Perk (honestly by this time with the early boarding, Daily juice and Spa package we thought this was 100% worth the cost which when we purchased it was $250 a room but a month before sailing we noticed they raised the price so lucky us!! AND there is still more to come!!)

This time it was a private Happy Hour towards the back of the ship in an area called "The Perch" for "Splash of Romance" guests there were maybe 60 of us, I'm sure they sell more than 60 passes but I just assumed either people didn't want to go or went before or after we went. Even though it was a happy hour I believe it was two hours long. They had an entertainer playing the acoustic guitar and singing love songs and unlimited drinks with the choices of Strawberry Champagne or Sangria. Fiancé and I were there for 20 minutes and served three drinks before I started feeling it and we headed back down to see what the rest of the family was up to. If we were on a cruise by myself we may have stayed longer but I was worried about climbing the stairs after three drinks so I think we made the right call.

Sailing Day!

Fiancé and I woke up to the beautiful deep blue Adriatic Sea outside our ships room. I had a wonderful nights sleep but my fiancé who has lives in Rhode Island and has been on countless boats was not aware that he gets sea sickness. Truthfully, we are not sure if it was seasickness as over the last 72 hours he had gone through a lot to get where we were. He took the longest flight he had ever taken, followed by running (we are not in shape) through the Copenhagen airport to barely make our connecting flight due to our first flights delay. Eating airline and airport food along the way. Landing in Greece and adjusting to the time difference. It really could of been a number of things leading up to my fiancé not feeling his best. We went to "sailor services" basically the customer service on board where they offered him some sea sickness pills as we headed to breakfast to meet up with the rest of my family.

We didn't plan to have every single meal together but my sister thought it would be important to meet up the first morning to get a feel for what people were interested in doing and to check in on everyone. So we booked a breakfast a The Wake. The Wake is Virgin Voyages Steak House that also does brunch. The Wake refers to the wave a boat creates as it passes through water so the restaurant is located at the back of the ship overlooking... The Wake (wow).

We were seated and handed menus and water when fiancé let me know he was not really hungry. We sat for a couple of minutes when the waitress came by and took our orders. I ordered the clam chowder based on my sisters recommendation and Steak and Eggs. After we ordered I noticed fiancés forehead was dripping sweat. Since the restaurant is on the back of the ship the vibrations for the boats thrusters was making him more ill. He excused himself from the table and returned back to the room. He insisted I stay with my family and check in with him after breakfast. As we ate we talked about some of the activities we wanted to do on the ship for that day. The clam chowder was so good, we are going here for dinner later on the trip and I will definitely order that again! After Brunch my mom gave me brand name Dramamine since the ships sea sickness medicine was off brand stuff according to fiancé. So when I went back to the room Fiancé said he instantly felt better after getting away from the rear of the ship. He was peckish so we went to the pool deck to get our free juice included with our Splash of Romance package. They had a Tangerine juice, "Got the Beet" with beet, apple and lime, and "I Can See Clearly Now" with Orange, Carrot and Ginger. I got the Beet juice and fiancé got I can see clearly now. I was actually surprised how much fiancé liked the juice I would of bet that he would of picked the tangerine juice since he was having tummy issues but he really enjoyed it and we tried each others but he forgot that mine had beet in it which he really hates.

At 11am we met up with the rest of the group to do a speed puzzle race. It sounds silly but it was loads of fun if your into light competition. We were each given a 300 piece puzzle and competed with other groups to finish our puzzle with an hour limit. my sister had told me that they always come in second but they also are typically in a group of two with herself and her husband so we were hoping with six people we would be much better at this.

Welp, we ended up in second place literally like four pieces away from first it was fun working together with two of us building the frame and the others working on parts of the puzzle. this one was a world map and each continent had landmarks and animals so at one point my sister throws like 6 pieces that are all dolphins like "figure out where these damn dolphins go!!" We really had a blast and my sister said they would probably do another one while we were on the ship later in the week.

So we headed to the pool deck to attend the Sail Away party where we were supposed to meet up with the rest of my family who I haven't seen since we left Athens city center hours before. Our phones were having a hard time sending out texts even though it showed that we were on the ships Wifi. Unfortunately, after looking around for our family with no luck, we wanted to make sure we secured some (free) champagne and a seat for the show. We found a poolside lounger and were handed a glass of champagne. Dancers started pouring into the pool deck area as the music started getting louder. We finished our champagne and were promptly handed another glass. We are not big drinkers but we are on vacation and it was included in the sail away party so we cheered our glasses and waited for our "Happenings" team to arrive.

On other cruise lines you will run into one person called the cruise director, in charge of running everything entertainment for the ship, but with Virgin Voyages they have the "Happenings team" a group of people each assigned to a Category of events on the ship. Our Happenings team included; The Diva, she is the resident Drag Queen on the ship. For our cruise we had a British Drag Queen named Titti Caca. She was fabulous and extremely entertaining. The Charmer is the resident magician. The Artist, The Foodie, The Gamer, The Balancer, The Flare, The Hype, The Spark, The Glow, and The Bounce. A lot of their names are self-explanatory. They all have descriptions on Virgin Voyages website but basically the Gamer was in charge of any of the Casino game events, The Foodie hosted the cooking and mixology classes. Some of these folks were DJs, Dancers, Stylists, etc. and the last member being the Hostess. She was stunning in a gown of scarlet sequins matching Virgins color scheme. So one by one the Hostess introduced everyone, we raised our glasses as the ship started to move! Everyone started dancing and after finishing our drinks we went up to the deck above to see if we could find our family while looking out as Athens coastline disappeared over the horizon.

We continued to explore the ship and just settled on the fact that we probably won't see the rest of our family until dinner as our phones were not sending out or receiving messages. Part of our Splash of Romance Package is that we get a 3 hour block for the Spas thermal rooms. My sister recommended as soon as those doors opened we should try to get in on a sailing day since those days book up really fast. We headed to the Spa and were excited to see how much availability was available on our first sailing day (tomorrow) we booked from 2-5p and the spa attendant gave us a tour of the thermal rooms. I saw them on youtube but I really enjoyed the amount of space, it wasn't claustrophobic at all. there was a hot tub (big enough for 1 maybe 2 people) a cold plunge tub (same size) a much large room temperature pool that could fit 8-10 people comfortably, surrounded by heated marble slabs to lay on. There were sauna, steam and salt rooms and lastly a room where you grabbed a cup of mud and lathered it on the skin in this humid room. letting the mud sit on the skin for 5-10 minutes and rinse it off in the hot shower. We are so excited to be getting this perk for tomorrow. Cannot wait!!

Luckily, because we planned months in advance we were all on the same page for dinner. We started the first night with Pink Agave, the Mexican restaurant onboard. The vibe was trendy and intimate with dim lighting competing with the large round windows looking out over the water. We had a group of six so we got a nice corner booth.

What they say about cruises is 100% true. You will never go hungry and instead leave every meal feeling like you gained a few pounds. Our waitress came over and told us about the menu and drinks. Offering to get us basically one of everything so we could share since they offered a lot of "small plates" like tapas and we had a large size group. We selected some Chicken Enchiladas, Esquites, and a shrimp dish called Camaron Amarillo for starters. Everything was delicious. For my main course I chose the Cochinita Pibil described as "achiote- marinated smoked pork & sour orange habanero Pico de Gallo" served with tortillas this pork was the most tender pork I had ever had it fell apart with a push of my fork. It was the perfect main dish to start our cruise off on. For dessert I got the Chocolate tacos it was a chocolate wafer filled with dulce de leche piped cream. The waitress kept asking if we wanted more food but all of us were stuffed as we waddled out of the dinner.

Over dinner we had talked about how easy the boarding process was. My sister and brother in law were in a Rockstar suite so they told us about all the extras they get with the Rockstar status. We talked and tried to troubleshoot our internet issues and my Fiancé told my sister and brother in law about his phone purchase that they were not aware of until dinner. My mom and Brother in law were really tired so they decided to turn in for the night after dinner. My sister asked if my brother, fiancé and I were interested in the Drag show "Around the World in 80 Minutes with The Diva". So we decided to stay up for that.

I posted recently that I was going on a surprise trip to Philadelphia to see my Flyers vs my Dads Washington Capitals in February. Even though its just and overnight trip from Providence, RI I plan it the same way as I plan most of my vacations.

I started by "Creating a Trip" using Trip Advisor's trip tab along with a google maps tab. I opened an additional tab for Google Flights and looked up plane tickets from PVD to PHL.

As I scrolled through available flights I got a notification on google flights site that trains would also be an option for this route. I have really only taken the commuter rail from Providence to Boston so when I saw that Tickets from Providence to Philadelphia started at $35 I called up my dad to see if he was interested. My dad has taken us to Yankee games throughout my childhood by Peter Pan bus so I was not surprised when he said he was interested in taking the train.

For the Hotel I looked at ones between the train station and the Wells Fargo stadium. I don't go to a lot of sporting events so my dad said I should prioritize being closer to the stadium than the station which make sense with the crowd and the sport event being late at night vs a baseball game which are typically held in daylight hours.

So with that I was quick to pick up a room at courtyard by Marriot Philadelphia south at the navy yard.

My Dad loved touristy things almost to a fault for example: My dad went to London with my sister to see the Yankees play the Red Sox in 2019 and when I asked him what he was most excited to see or eat he said Fish and Chips. My sister had to drag him to the market to try pork rolls, pudding, and everything else that's unique to England besides fish and chips. He goes to nearly every Yankee home game and will tell us he gets the pizza as soon as he gets off the bus but he hates New York style pizza he only likes Sicilian/Detroit style with a THICK crust, but he eats it because "its New York and New York is known for their pizza". So no surprise when we talked about things to do in Philly, Dad said "we have to get a cheesesteak, Phillies know for cheesesteak" he also sent me some videos of Dave Portnoy eating pizza around Philadelphia but said Cheesesteak was a must. For this I decided to go to Reddit to look for recommendations along with a few Youtube videos. I like Reddit for local resident recommendations and I like Youtube videos for fun or unique recommendations.

Reading threads and watching a few videos we decided to go to Angelo's for our Cheesesteak. probably a slice of Pizza too.

As a huge breakfast person I found this cute Breakfast spot that I want to take my Dad to called Ants Pants Cafe but I don't know if we will be hungry for a full breakfast so I also chose Beiler's Bakery for doughnuts in case we just want something small instead. I found a few bars in the area for after the game if my dad is up for it.

Typically I would book a walking tour or something historical especially in a History rich city like Philadelphia but since we are visiting in February where the average temp in Philly runs 36F I'll save the historic sights for another visit.

I'm hoping that this becomes a tradition for me and my dad to go down to Philly to see these teams play each other once a year since I don't travel with my Dad as much as I used to growing up. I don't know if there will be another part to this trip to post about until I am actually there this trip and a few of my other trips are available to view on my TripAdvisor trip page if you want to see what I am looking forward to.

Sunday May 26th 2024

We went to the Athens port (Piraeus) . There is no waiting room at this port so they offer a shuttle to the city center to hang out, window shop and eat.

Husboy's phone fell into the pool this morning. Mom, Brother and I grabbed breakfast in the hotel lobby. Husboy could not wait to go swimming and had an upset stomach so he said we should go get breakfast and he would take a quick dip in the pool (it was a rooftop pool so I really couldn't blame him) During breakfast I got a call from Husboy but when I answered I could not hear anything. Figured the signal was bad. We finished our wonderful Breakfast and headed back to the room. Husboy was pacing in the hallway pissed. He explained that he dropped and immediately kicked his phone into the pool dove in to get it. The phone turned on but when he tried to call me it I could not hear him. This was his first international trip so things as a whole were not going well.

So we get off the shuttle and start wondering around Athens city center. It was a warm morning so we looked for a place to grab some drinks- soda, water, juice. We see a roadside stand with magazines, snacks, and drinks. We grab some sodas when Husboy asks the shopkeeper "is there anywhere close by that sells phones?" the shop keeper lit up "oh there is a place down the road for new phones.... or.... I have Used phones".

As a seasoned traveler I get asked more times then I care to count if I have every been offered anything explicit as a tourist, drugs mostly. Maybe its my innocent demeanor and general obliviousness but I have never been offered or even harassed by scammers, dealers etc to the best of my knowledge. I came back from Mexico and my coworkers are like "Oh you can buy drugs anywhere any time there" I don't know, no ones offered me any. Same when I came back from Germany or France. So you're telling me My Fiancé (at the time husband now) whose never left our home country until now. Talks to the first shopkeeper we meet and minutes later buys a "used" totally not lost or stolen phone?!? Insane!

After Husboy finished the transaction we continued walking around a plaza and grabbed some baklava before getting back on the shuttle to head to the port for our loading time.

Husboy and I purchased the add-on "Splash of Romance" package with our cruise. It was completely worth every penny just for the priority boarding alone. We had our own line and were constantly moving through the boarding process. We got checked in with our red bracelets and headed onboard. We got to our room 8266Z and as we opened the door the curtains to the deck opened up. It was so pretty, the room has a tablet that controls everything from the TV to the curtains, Room lights, room service. Our deck had an "obstructed View which for us meant we could see the top of the life boats/ tenders from our balcony. Virgin Voyages ships balconies have red hammocks which we wasted zero time climbing into. This was my first cruise in over a decade so my sister reminded us later that most cruise lines don't have rooms available as soon as you board the ship. This was really nice to be able to find our room and explore right away instead of lugging our backpacks around.

So once we examined the room and watched the muster drill video (its virgin cruise line so the video was hilarious) We decided to explore the ship. We headed up to the top floor, my sister and bro in law were already on the ship and my Mom and brother had a little while longer for their boarding time but we planned on meeting together for the sail away party. We stopped by Gym and Tonic. A bar near the gym that also serves juice and protein shakes. Another one of the Splash of Romance perks was a daily juice from this bar every morning. I love unique juices so I wonder if Hubby will be as adventurous.

We headed down to the pool deck as we heard that our muster drill was starting. Basically we just had to check into the area that we were told to meet in case of an emergency for us that was The Manor, one of several event spaces on the ship. Afterwards we got our first of many scoops of ice cream at "Lick me till Ice Cream". Every day they have a special flavor so I cannot wait to see what interesting flavors they have throughout our Cruise.

If you have not read the previous 2 parts i highly recommend it. Just because its pretty funny and you get the background story for how I forgot my luggage for this trip. This is Part 3 this entry and going forward are copied directly from my journal that I hand wrote in before planning on making a public internet travel journal (omitting names). For the backstory on that you'll find that on my first post.

Saturday, May 25th 2024 9:35pm Athens, Greece with Husboy, Mom, and Brother. My sister and her husband are in another hotel. Tomorrow we set sail on Virgin Voyages Resilient Lady's tour of the Adriatic Sea and Greek Gems. I can't believe the days already here. this trip has been anything but smooth so far. Since forgetting my luggage my clothes, meds, electronics, under garments, and my original travel journal GONE. I had my purse with our passport, wallet digital camera along with Crocs i happened to add to my moms suitcase last minute along with our liquids.

We got to Boston Logan on time and our flight was delayed 30 minutes. After just over seven hours we almost missed out connection flight in Copenhagen. We ran through the airport to our gate which had just called the last group to board. Another three hours later we landed in Athens and took a cab to the Marriott Athens. Once settled we decided to look at malls in the area to get clothes. Luckily H&M had everything I needed minus some toiletries which I was able to secure from local drugstore.

I planned to use any bit of paper to keep record of my travels but we ended up in at a cute store that had this journal and one of my favorite pens I have ever felt.

This was our last full day of vacation before flying back to Rhode Island. When we were driving back from the hot air balloon the day befor we ran into a mother and son from Rhode Island as well. Small world! They asked us what we had been doing and they shared with us what they had been doing on their trip. When we told them about the Animal Conservation place we went to on our first day they recommended The Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary. I saw it when on Trip Advisor as a recommendation as well but I was not sure if my husband wanted to do another animal tour as we had been thinking of going to the Pheonix Zoo but did not make any concrete plans.

That night He brought it up and I saw that they had one tour all day so we booked it for noon.

But first, Breakfast!

We headed back to the Down Town area to eat at Jojos Coffeehouse. This place caught my eye with the coffee flights pictured below. The reviews were really good and the menu looked amazing!

We both got coffee flights I got the traditional one and my husband got the seasonal one which had a Gingerbread Latte and a Peppermint Mocha but everything else was the same. He was not a fan of the peppermint one so we swapped ours because I thought it was really good.

I had the cinamon roll pancakes. Dont they look delicous? Even thought the food came out fast I noticed the eggs were already cold. I ate them anyways and overall the food was really good when we left husboy said both his bacon and eggs were cold. When we got back tothe hotel that night i wrote my review on Trip Advisor and noticed that other recent reviews stated that food was cold as well. It was a super cute restaurant and they even have love music sometimes but how can a breakfast place serve cold eggs!

We left full and ready for our drive to The Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary.

We got to the sanctuary about 30 minutes before our tour, since it was the only tour of the day we waited around the gate to to allowed in. from the parking area we saw this huge pen full of turtles! After ten minutes one of the guides said we could check in and hang around the turtle pens.

We met our tour guide Sammy who brought our a huge bin of grapes and raspberry and gave us tongs to feed the turtles. She let us know that unfortunately they are the most common surrendered animal at the sanctuary. They had the turtles in all different sizes in different pens. We fed the turtles till the other guests arrived and we started our tour.

First we went inside to a reptilian room of non venomous animals where were shown and allowed to hold some of the species they had. Then we were bought outside to the Alligator area where they have all but one species of alligators in the world and they told us they will be getting the species they are missing from India where they will do an exchange. Our guide explained the difference between the Conservation we visited where they try to rehabilitate the animals and release them back into the wild unless they are not releasable and the Sanctuary that we were at where all the animals they had are not releasable since they are confiscated pets, an invasive species, or injured to the point that they cannot survive on their own. The tour was super informative. After the alligator pens we went through another building that housed their venomous and poisonous species. So many snakes we could of spent hours in these buildings. Finally, we were led outside to the Capybara area. They were really cute, giant, rodents. We pet the Capybaras and the large turtles that coexisted in the same pen before finishing up our tour.

If we didn't go to The Phoenix Herpetological Sanctuary we were going to go to the mountains to take pictures and bar hope. I was especially excited about going to a brewery that only made Ciders. After this tour we got back to the resort and realized we really were not going to have time to go the the mountains. Its really insane that we went to Arizona and did not go to one park. This point of the trip we were also having some major issues with our rental car and we we did not want to take the risk of going out the middle of the desert and break down. Honestly we should of brought the car back 20 minutes after we picked it up and the tire pressure light came on but I just played it off that the tpms was broken.

So we got back to the hotel, started packing for our flight the next day and looked for something to do that night that was not too far away. The breakfast was really filling so we just shared a wrap by the pool one last time when I found a brewery ten minutes from where we were staying and they were having trivia night which is one for my favorite things to do at a brewery!

Pinnacle was a very nice brewery, they had a food truck so we got some street tacos that were delicious and had a few beers before the trivia rounds started. We didn't do great but we were not in last place!

After closing the tab we went back to the resort, finished packing, watched the second to last episode of What we do in the Shadows and went to bed.

We had an amazing trip, the only true downside was the car rental but we really tried to not let that ruin all of our plans for the trip. We will definitely go back as we missed so many must do things its almost embarrassing! Then again it was our honeymoon so people don't expect full schedules. We relaxed, and had a very romantic trip.

Our fourth day of our honey moon was an exciting one! As soon as we had determined we were going to Arizona I told my Husband that we were going up in a Hot Air Balloon. He was thrilled as he loves amusment parks so we booked tickets with Rainbow Ryders. I was surprised about how much the cost fluctuated between brands but after watching a few youtube videos we had a handful of names to look up. We likes Rainbow Ryders pricing and office location compared to our resort.

Since it was a sunrise flying we had to be at the Rainbow Ryders office at 4:30 AM. Husboy and I are not early risers so we made sure to get plenty of sleep the night before.

We found the office with no problems, Checked in to our flight and loaded up in a van to the lift off area. The drive was entertaining as our driver was explaining to us how they know where they are going to fly with a small balloon. They let it go up and up and determine if thats a good spot or if we need to move to another location.

Husboy and I were amazed at how fast they got the basket and balloon rolled out and inflated I hurried to take as many pictures as i could during the process.

Once the Balloon was inflated and over the basket we climbed in. As someone just over 5 feet this must of been funny to watch as I was struggling to move my legs over the rim. There was another group getting into a basket nearby and all the women were wearing dresses so in comparison it wasn't too bad.

Again the execution and smoothness of getting loaded in and up in the air was so smooth and seamless I really was shocked how fast we were up in the air!

Honestly, I don't do great with heights, I love Airplanes but they have landing gear and radio towers. Hot air balloons don't have landing gear, seat belts, snacks, nothing. So it wasn't terrible as long as I looked straight out whereas Husboy wanted me to look straight down and see that nothing was underneath us which i find interesting since years ago when we were in St. John USVI we were swimming in the Ocean and I told him that nothing was below us as we were floating in the water and he said that it made him nervous.

Anyways, he took the camera and pointed it straight down from the basket where my pictures are more scenic.

We reached an altitude of 5k when we started lowering, our pilot did not tell us why and honestly I thought we were just nearing the end of our ride. We started climbing up again and our pilot told us we had to lower because an F15 was going overhead, not that they come near hot air balloons but they are very loud so they just lower the balloon to avoid discomfort.

Our pilot said we were very lucky because the sky was so clear, he said he could count on one hand how many times it had been that clear especially in the early morning. He pointed out some mountains and updated us on the altitude and what direction north was in.

After about an hour we started heading down for real this time. As mentioned before, this basket has no landing gear. Mid height on inside of the basket they had loops you could hold onto. Before we landed he told us to brace ourselves by bending our knees holding onto the hand loops and leaning into the side that was going to be impacted first. I had watched a few videos where a basket dragged 5-10 feet before coming to a stop but our landing was really smooth with the ground crew waiting for us below.

They shut off the fuel, moved the balloon to one side and let us out of the basket. As the ground crew rolled up the balloon and basket as fast as it had been inflated we gathered around and enjoyed some mimosas! Our pilot told us why they celebrate hot air balloons with a bottle of champagne and it was a really good story.

We loaded back into the van and headed back to the office to pay and headed out to have breakfast. Who knew flying around all morning would make us sooo hungry.

For breakfast we went to Hash Kitchen, It was very Instagram worthy and reminded me of Sugar Factory but for breakfast. They had a huuuge Build Your Own Bloody Mary bar where you could put so many toppings on the cocktail. I don't like bloody marys but i really wished i did because that buffet looked amazing. I got chocolate milk served in a shot glass made of cereal. It was Really good and only $5 so I said why not. For our breakfast I got Coconut French Toast and husboy got a scramble. The portions were CRAZY huge, I never saw a slice of bread so thick and they gave husboy a whole skillet, I finished my French toast but he did not make a dent in the skillet.

After such a long morning you guessed it, we headed bat to the resort for some Pool and Hot tub time. The breakfast was so big we were not hungry for lunch and save our appetite because we were heading back to downtown for our reservation to The Frybread Lounge, a Restaurant owned and serving Native American Cuisine!

We got to The Frybread Lounge and realized we probably did not need a reservation. It was just that the day before when we walked by the place was packed but it was a weekend and surprise Monday night it was not so busy!

I started with the Painted Desert Cocktail made with Flagstaff Desert Rain Gin, Prickly Pear, Lime Juice, Tres Agave Nectar. It was so good I had two!

We started with a fry bread flight, Fry Bread is a fried dough, crispy on the outside and pillowy soft texture on the inside. They served it with powdered sugar, a white bean spread, Honey, and prickly pear spread. They were all delicious! When going out to eat we try to order different things to sample each dish especially when traveling. The Frybread taco with Bison chili and all the topping sounded so good we ended up ordering the same thing.

If I could go back I would of ordered the mini version, which was available I just didn't know what to expect) when the "taco" came out the frybread which is about 1 1/2 inch thick was the size of a dinner plate with all the filling mounded in the middle. it more resembled a pizza than a taco, there really was no way to pick it up and fold it like a taco so we both tried eating it like a pizza with forks and knives but it was easier to eat it by just ripping the fry bread and piling the topping on the piece we had ripped off. It was delicious! so damn flavorful, just difficult to eat. Would definitely go back!