The Best Laid Plans…

We’ve been home about, what, 2 1/2 weeks? And our last trip included enough harrowing experiences to settle us down, right? Yet the itch is there. Where can we go? It’s SOOO COLD everywhere!

That got me to thinking…”where have we been in January before?” Oh yeah, I remember…The Planning Cruise!

First, Ditch the Kids!

It’s been right at two years since we headed out from Tampa on the Carnival Sensation headed to Key West and Cozumel, Mexico. Now, we’re all about family travel, and we rarely leave the boys behind, but this cruise had a purpose! We were on a mission to get serious about life and make some plans for the new year. You know, a “take the bull by the horns!” kind of thing. So we left the boys with Grandma and we were off.

We were on fire for organization at the time. I mean it was for real! We had files for everything, and each one was labeled, and not by hand, uh uh, these were printed out with a label maker. Yup.

Getting Things Done!

It was all brought on by the book you see in the picture here. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity, by David Allenis a great book on how to organize your life.

The more you have going on, the more you’ll love this book. It promises early on that it IS possible to have amazing, incredible (enough for fifty people, I want to jump off a bridge!) amounts of work to do and still feel great, and calm, and soothed. (as I calmly relieve the force on the keyboard buttons). Shhhhhh…it’s okay.

Anyway, the book is a great book and I would recommend it.

So we were off to plan out 2007. We were going to figure it all out ahead of time. This way it would flow perfectly. Right? What are you laughing at?

Needless to say, things didn’t go as planned. Not a thing. In fact, not much of anything has gone as planned ever since that cruise! Maybe it was something in the food. Or the tequila…

One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor!!!

That’s what the funny T-Shirt in Cozumel Mexico said on it. Still Cracks me up! We had a great time, and we didn’t partake in too much of the local flavor. But, like I said, it was a really fun time and we took time off from the planning while we were in port.

We started off having breakfast in a great little restaurant right in the center of town. I wish I could remember the name of it, but at least I know how to find it when we return.

One of my favorite parts of breakfast was the building itself! If you look closely in the picture to the right, you’ll see the huge glass shutters/doors/windows. Awesome! I had to have a picture so I can make some…soon too; I had forgotten! I love the tone of Mexican woodworking. Really very detailed, but not too perfect. You can tell it was made by hand. Love it.

Rent a Mexican Moped, Dude!

We rented a scooter first thing when we got off the boat. So when we were done looking around a little after breakfast we had to hit the road. Where to? The road less traveled of course!

The downtown area near the ships is packed. It’s fun but after being stuck on that ship, we wanted to get away from the crowds for awhile. We headed directly across the island toward the beaches on the opposite coast. I’d read about a little watering hole over there called Mescalito’s. It sounded interesting so we decided to check it out.

While a little more horsepower on the moped might have helped, we did eventually make it, but not before stopping and buying an awesome tropical colored Mexican blanket. It was supposed to be Kim’s, but I’ve since confiscated it. I love that thing!

The Path Less Traveled!

Here is what we found when we got off the beaten path:

The beach was beautiful! The water was perfect! Kim scoured the sands and found a mother load of incredible sea glass. She can walk on a beach for hours and I’m happy to watch her.

We took the long coast road back, narrowly escaping certain death when I had to pull some moves out of my boyhood days. I know the guys know, but I wonder how many of you ladies know what a “bunny-hop” is?

Anyway, I had to do one with a scooter carrying two people at 40mph! We were just cruising and wouldn’t you know it, right as a big truck was coming the other way, a huge pothole appeared out of nowhere! I swear, I wasn’t looking at the ocean and the scenery! Really! Anyway, we flew over that thing and I still don’t know how. It was the size of…hmmm (in terms the readers could understand?) a fire pit from Target! Same size! I bet you can picture that!

Be the Last People On-Board!

Having made it safely back to town we spent the rest of the day exploring the area near the port. It was a blast!

Kim found this beautiful bright yellow dress and had to have it. She wore it right out of the store! I think it’s the only time I’ve ever seen her do that! She was raised to know how to have a good time in a tropical island port-of-call. I lucked out big time!

She let me talk her into getting one of those temporary tattoos. It was fun. Really fun!

The Plans?

Like I said, no joy on the plans we made. So much has changed! But our love for foreign places (especially in the Tropics) will never change. So we’ll be heading somewhere soon. Maybe a little closer to home this time…

But you know, I have a job right next to where that cruise ship docks in Tampa. Every few weeks I’ll happen to be there on the day the ship is in and I’ll stand out on the 17th floor balcony and look down at that ship and think…”it would be fun to go again!” Just not in January…water is too rough!

Forever…Wherever!!!