M@ Around The World

After an amazing week at sea cruising around the Caribbean with Princess, I had an eight-hour layover in Fort Lauderdale. Now, vacation is great, but when it's done, have you ever noticed that you just can't wait to get home? Due to the timing and circumstances that I booked my flights under, I not only couldn't get an early flight out, but I had to spend the night in Atlanta (not so bad all in all). Needless to say my yearning to get back to my own home and my own bed was burning a hole through my very relaxed being. Lucky for me, my brother and his fiance were in the same boat (so to speak) and also had a very long layover. While pondering what we could make of our time there, Frankie had the excellent idea to get a car and enjoy our remaining time in the tropics close to the beach. 500 Hertz points and $7 later, we were rocking around Fort Lauderdale Beach with the bronze-bodied, eccentric car driving south Floridians. We popped into a restaurant (Oasis  Cafe) right up...

I do a lot of traveling, but almost all of it lately is for work. Today, though, I'm writing from my comfy first class seat on a spacious Delta Boeing 757 jet heading to rendez-vous with my family in Fort Lauderdale, FL. We haven't done a group vacation in almost five years and although it's unfortunate that my little brother Dave and his lovely fiance, Colleen couldn't make it, I've been looking forward to this trip for MONTHS! Tomorrow our eight-person group departs from the Fort Lauderdale cruise port for seven days of fun and sun aboard the Ruby Princess. Our ports-of-call are the Bahamas, St Thomas, St Marten, and Grand Turk islands. I've taken an eastern Caribbean adventure with Princess and Carnival before, but neither time have we stopped at Grand Turk. Site seeing and learning more about its history is one of my two main highlights for the trip. The other highlight is FINALLY swimming with dolphins off the coast of St Thomas! I've wanted to splash ...

I 'm not sure I like driving early in the morning better than I enjoy flying early in the morning, but either way, it's nice to see a gorgeous sunrise! Now before you judge me for taking pictures while driving, which isn't easy by the way!, I couldn't let this one go by. Now that I'm home from my month-long stay in the automotive capital of the world (is Detroit still considered that these days?), I'm back to commuting between my soon-to-be home in Fairfield, CT and my currently-on-the-market home in Albany, NY. These drives, which I usually start at 6a on Mondays, are lovely, but considering the Great White Northeast has been greater and whiter than normal this year, I'm really looking forward to the big move. In the meantime, though, I'll try to limit the number of photos I take while operating a large configuration of metal at sub-warp speeds down one of the nations few coast-to-coast super highways...but if I see another moment like this one, all ...

I've done more traveling in my life than I imagined I would when I was a kid, but every time I go, no matter what the destination, I get a thrill from seeing my home city up on the board at the flight gate. After a month in lovely Detroit, with a pit stop in Orlando and Atlanta, I'm finally returning to the great, very white, northeast. My time there may be short, but for now, all I can think of is, "there's no place like home!"