Spring Break Part Deux!!

Ok so some time has passed so I thought that I would post part two of my spring break adventure's . Now let me see where was I?......... Ah yes here we go. After our lovely stop in Naples we took the short boat ride over to Palermo also known as Sicily. Now in Sicily we decided to do our own thing and not book a tour. We had no idea where we were going but by chance we encountered one of those hop on and hop off buses, where it does a loop of the city stopping at famous land marks and you jump off take a few pictures then hop on the bus again. It's really cool since we buses come every 7 minutes. So we did that around Sicily seeing all these beautiful places. Here are some pictures from the different stops.

At the end of the tour before hopping back on the bus we had the most amazing watermelon gelato ever!!! It was divine. We then went and had lunch... I know we did it backwards dessert before lunch. Then found an awesome little bakery where we got the most fragrant, and delicious canoli's. We then headed back to the boat for our Jaunt over to Tunis, Tunisia.

Now I knew going to Tunis is was going to be similar to the middle east, but let me just say I was not impressed. We took the shuttle bus over to the Souk or Market as we call them in the U.S. We had a tour guide with us, and take us around this big huge souk. I have seem many souk's in Kuwait so I was not impressed. At one point we had some free time so me and my friends looked for a bathroom, which seemed like an impossible task. Well we ran into a gentleman who said he would show us the way. He was ducking, weaving, and going in and out of all these alleys. So we go into this store and climb to the roof where we use the bathrooms and take pictures of the market. The man then proceeds to tell us we owe him 10 euros for taking us and letting us use the toilet. I was so angry but what can you do? So we payed and he showed us the way back, which we almost got lost twice.  Here are a couple pictures from Tunisia.

Our last day on the cruise was the day at sea. We had intended to sleep in and enjoy a nice leisurely morning.... Um hold the phone I don't think so. We had a mandatory disembarkation meeting at 9am which means we had to have breakfast earlier which means no extra sleepy time for Eric. So after the boring and somewhat informative meeting we decided to just lay on the deck and relax and enjoy the sun. We took a break for lunch and then we spent the afternoon playing Rummy and lounging. We did go to the talent show which was awesome and the people performing were great.

That night we had our formal captain's dinner where everyone was dressed up and formal. It was nice to get dressed up one night. I have to say that overall I was not impressed with the food selection on the ship. Now look who this is coming from Mr.Selective when it comes to food, but I just would of liked more options. Friday morning we arrived back in port in Barcelona and getting off the ship was super easy and pain free. We hopped in a cab and sped off for our hotel. We had decided to spend a day in Barcelona before heading back to Kuwait. We arrived and checked into our hotel had a quick change and then headed off for the day in Barcelona.

Again we decided to do the hop on hop off bus as we enjoyed it in Italy. We first stopped at a chocolate museum which was neat. We stayed on the bus in Barcelona all day and only got off once or twice since it was a long route. One stop we did make was the Sagrada Familia. It was stunning and they have been working on this church for over 100 years and it's still not done so cool. We capped our day with a beautiful dinner in Barcelona close to our hotel.

Our flight home on Saturday was at 6:30am. Which meant we had to be up at 3am to be at the airport but 3:45ish. Well we stood in a line at the airport for like 45 minutes while the check in clerks milled around and got things "ready." After checking in we grabbed a little breakfast and we were off. The trip home was much less eventful, as we made all of our connections no problem. We arrived in Kuwait at... wait for it...... 9:30pm Yes you heard me right we traveled for over 12 hours to get home, and yes I had school the next day. So 4 exhausted Americans dragged ourselves through baggage claim and customs and back to our apartments in Kuwait.

Overall it was an amazing trip. I especially enjoyed being able to see all the different places. It makes me want to go back to Europe so bad and I am already planning trips in my head. So I hope you enjoyed part deux of the spring break adventure.

Spring Break Part one.....

So I recently had spring break. Now normally that would consist on sitting around the house doing nothing and relaxing so to speak but not this spring break. This year I had the amazing opportunity to go on an amazing 7 day Mediterranean cruise. Now since I saw so much stuff I am going to break this post into two parts so I can adequately describe the vacation and add pictures. So Part One.......

If you have been reading my blog than you know that when I travel nothing is every easy. So I decided to only check one bag so If they lost my bags then I will still have some clothes. So the adventure started in Kuwait where we were taking three planes and 12 hours to get to Barcelona where our cruise was leaving from. Our first leg from Kuwait to Abu Dhabi was 90 minutes late leaving. We only have a 90 minute layover in Abu Dhabi, but thankfully since there was so many people on our flight to Rome they held the plane for us which was great. So since our first flight was late it caused our second flight to be late. So once we arrived in Rome we had to sprint through the massive Rome airport to barely make our last connection to Barcelona, but we made it.

Once arriving in Barcelona you will be shocked as I was when my one checked piece of luggage actually made it Barcelona. After a series of confusing trains we make it to the ship and board, which didn't take too long. First order of business after 12 hours of travel was FOOD!!!!!!!!! We settle into our rooms and relax before exploring the ship and dinner. Our first night on board was good, we went to a show which was less than impressive. Our first stop on the Journey was Marsaille. France. Instead of booking an excursion we decided to take a shuttle into town and just explore ourselves. We ended up going on a little train ride which took us too Notre Dame de le Garde which was beautiful check it out.

Then we had lunch at this charming little restaurant. You would think since I was in France I would eat french food but nope, I had Gnocchi which was to die for. After a long day of exploring we headed back to the ship for dinner. We were seated with a couple from Alabama which was great and ended being so much fun to sit with.

Our next stop of the tour was Savona, Italy. Instead of staying in Italy my friends and I decided to take an excursion and go back into France and go to Monaco and Monte Carlo. It was a 2 hour bus ride each way, but it was well worth it. Monaco and Monte Carlo was amazing!!!! We got to visit the famous Hairpin turn from formula one racing, which is the sharpest turn in the world for racing. We also got to visit the Monte Carlo casino which was beautiful. My friend Laurie who was traveling with us was unforunately horrible sick. She didn't know she would get sick and was throwing up sick all day, and was miserable sorry Laurie. Here are some pictures from the day.

That night we decided after dinner go to the chocolate bar on the ship. This beautiful italian man named Luca was performing on Guitar. He was amazing and we ended up spending the next 5 nights going to listen to him perform. It was one of the highlights of the cruise. I was even lucky enough to get a copy of his CD which is AMAZING!!!!!

The last part of this post will include our next stop on the adventure which is the amazing city of Naples. Italy. Now this is the highlight of all the cities for me. We booked an excursion to Pompeii. I know what your thinking Pompeii?!?! Yes I got to see the ancient roman city that was covered in ash by Vesuvius . It was completely and utterly stunning. We took a 2 hour tour of the city and then got to eat amazing Pizza. It was by far the best pizza I have ever had. Here are some pictures from the day.

So thus completes part one of the adventure. Part two coming to a theater near you real soon!!!