Cruising the Bahamas

Wow, once again, it has been a long time since I have updated this, I'm not too good at keeping diaries!! Well, this post is about our cruise.

Cruise was amazing!!!! We set sail at about 5pm on Monday afternoon, it was smooth sailing which was good :) So much food though, we went for a bit of a walk around the ship and everywhere there was a restaurant. Our room was pretty small. There was a double bed then 2 fold down beds. We each had a night in the double bed then drew straws for the last night (I won) The first night was pretty rough - I only managed about 3 hours sleep all up. The first port was called Freeport - it was raining. We got off the ship and went for a bit of a wander. We went down to the local market - goodness knows how many times I was asked if I wanted my hair braided!! They had some nice things, all locally and handmade, a lot of straw type items - what would I do with them!! We got back on the ship and headed to get some food. Found a casino (lost about $5 all up, maybe $10), had a look at a few shops, they have a nightclub on board. We went there on Tuesday night. They had a Dancing with the Stars type competition. My roommate thought it would be cool for her to enter (coz she is a dancer), she got chosen and ended up winning the competition which was awesome!! She was kind of a celebrity for the rest of the trip.

The next day we went to Great Stirrup Cay which is a small island owned by Norweigan Cruise line. There is no dock so the ship dropped the anchor in the middle of the ocean and ferries had to come and pick us up. It was cool though, because there was another little island owned by Carnival cruises and in front of it were 2 ships, standing on the beach looking back, there were 3 cruise ships in the ocean. It was a cool sight. So we lay on the beach for a bit. I was trying to get some colour on my legs and did, but on half of them haha. The way I was sitting only got colour on half my body, my upper arm is a bit pink, the other one is white haha!!! I promised the girls that Id have a drink, so I bought a magherita! I didn't drink all of it though, it went warm so I tipped it out. After all the drinking, we went back to the ship and got ready to do some things at night. We went to a broadway show, a quiz show and dinner I think. I went back to the room to lie down though, the movement of the ship was intense and making me feel sick!! I needed a lie down but I felt better later on.

The next day we arrived in Nassau which is kind of the main island (yesterday). Another ship docked beside us, it was a pretty cool sight! We had breakfast then disembarked! The first thing we all wanted to do was of course go to Atlantis!! We did and it was amazing!!!!!! It is on its own little island and its so luxurious. Walking into it, there was a Gucci, Cartier, Selvatore Feragamo shops (I went inside the Gucci shop just because) everything was very up market. It must cost a fortune to stay there, but of course, in the Bahamas, you don't pay any tax on anything! We even went into the Atlantis casino and gambled $2 each and got a receipt to prove we had been there. After walking thru this palace, we headed back to the main shopping street to well, shop!!! At the end of the street was a "straw market". It was very tempting to me coz they had a lot of chanel, gucci, LV, coach bags and stuff!!!! I did buy a LV wallet but was tempted to buy a lot more than that!! Up the main street were diamond stores and so many T shirt stores, like, discount t shirt stores. I bought a Nassau tee for $10. The room key is also the charge key. When we checked in, we were required to link it to a credit card. I was lucky though, I think I spent about $60 all up on drinks, photos and some other stuff on board (not including the $48 gratuity) it was a compulsory $12 a day tip!!!! So it was pretty cheap, all things considered.

We got off the ship this morning and we all still felt like we were on it - like, we were all swaying and stuff. Then we had a 7 hour train ride back home. We caught a train from Miami (which is 4 hours away) but it went via Tampa then back down, then up to Orlando. So all that swaying we still feel like we are on the ship!!! So much fu though, I would definitely do it again :) If you want to see the ship, look up Norweigan Sky on google!!!

Till next time....maybe :) x

The last few weeks

Well, I haven't updated this for a while. t is now November, goodness me, the time is flying by. Alot has happened in 3 or so weeks. Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party, Hollywood Studios, shopping, Boys 2 Men and a supposed Shuttle launch!!!

So Halloween falls on October 31st in most places. Here in America, they start selling Halloween merchandise in late September. At Disney, they have a Halloween party, according to Mickey, it's not so scary, but there is a lot of candy :) We went in October, it was a lot of fun. I dressed up as an All Black, Kate went as Michael Jackson and Emily went as Pumpy the Pumpkin - it was so much fun. It was located at the Magic Kingdom, it was hugely decorated with everything orange, the castle was lit, the cast members had different costumes, even Mickey and his friends were dressed up - I saw Donald dressed as a pumpkin!! We followed a trail in Mickeys toon town and did some trick or treating and were given hand fulls of candy then headed down to tomorrowland to have some food and ride space mountain. After that,, we watched the villians show in front of the castle then went off to find some more candy. We found lots of candy and did a few rides along the way. We rode Pirates of the Caribean, and the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. At about 9.30pm, we had to find a place too sit in front of the castle so we could watch "Hallowishes" which is the fireworks show. Then at 10.30 was the Halloween parade, we did some more trick or treating then met a few of the characters (Aladdin, Rafiki, King Louie?! and others) then by midnight it was all over, we headed home with huge bags of candy :) even now, 3 weeks after the party, I still have some left!!

One Monday when the 3 of us all had the same day off, we decided to head to Hollywood Studios. I promised them that next time I go there, I'm going on the Tower of Terror!! I swear, it is the scariest thing I've ever done! You sit in an elevator (strapped in of course) and it takes you up for a little bit then out into the elevator shaft. You sit still for about 5 seconds, then BAM!! You go up super fast, then down, the doors open so you can see the view then you go way down (like you are free falling) then down again, then up, then way down, then it's over....or is it?? I was the entertainment for everyone around me coz I was so scared, I was screaming like, the whole time. The photo at the end was hilarious. My mouth is wide open from screaming LoL.

Once we got Tower out of the way, we did some relaxing stuff. Saw a couple of shows and looked at a few shops, met a few characters and had lunch. We stayed there til closing so we saw all of the park, it was good. Lights Motor Action was one of my favourite shows from there, it's like they are filming an action scene froma movie, all of the stunts are cool, the driving is amazing and they even get a volunteer from the audience to help out. One thing we really wanted to do though was the backstage tour ride, unfortunately by the time we went to do it, it had closed for the day :( next time I guess.

I was so excited for Monday November 1st. Why you ask? Space Shuttle Discovery was supposed to launch for it's final ever mission to the International Space Station. It was my day off anyway so I was keen to go. I had met up with a friend of mine, Josh, we had a rental car booked and were looking forward to it. I get a text from him 2 days before, saying it had been delayed til Tuesday coz there was a helium leak, I thought, that's fine coz I have Tuesday off too, no problem. Then it gets delayed until Wednesday. So I gave away my Wednesday shift, book and almost pay for the rental car, get super duper excited, check the NASA website just before I go to bed and yep, it's been delayed again!!! Til Thursday. Im not going to bother seeing it. For one thing, I can't afford to take the time off for it! Yes it would be a once in a lifetime thing, but oh well. I believe there is another launch in February so I might go and see that one. For those who don't already know, I will be here in February, I was offered to extend my contract so I am staying here until July 2011 :)

The highlight of my day yesterday though, was seeing Boyz 2 Men in concert at Epcot!! It was only a short concert but it was good :)

Excited to see Hanson next week :)

til next time :) xx

Miami and Ft Lauderdale

Ok so, my room mate Emily had her mum and her mums friend over from NZ for the week. We went to Magic Kingdom on Tuesday and had heaps of fun. We saw the castle - Magic Kingdom is a place where I can sit all day and look at the castle - it really is a magical place :)

The next few days were fun - I just went to work. Thursday night came and I could not be more excited - why? I was going to Fort Lauderdale and Miami with the girls for the weekend. Yay.

Just got back from a great weekend away

It started on Friday morning, we had to get up at about 4 am to get a shuttle for 5am. He pulled up outside our apartment complex in a mini van (seating 8) and we thought he was going to take us to the coach but no!! We drove for 3.5hours in a tiny little van - very uncomfortable for sleeping might I add. There were only 4 people in the van but we were expecting something bigger.

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale. We got dropped off at a hotel and had to walk to our hotel - they offered door service for an extra $15 but it was only around the corner so no point in paying extra. We checked into the hotel and waited for Emily and her mum to arrive. When they arrived we set our plan for the day - we walked up to the bridge then caught a water taxi around the rivers. On the water taxi we were able to see some mega houses. Multi million dollar houses with massive launches out the front. Our first stop off the water taxi took us to a little street with boutiques and cafes - very nice but very expensive. We had lunch at a nice crepe place then had a look at a few shops. Then it was time to head back to the water taxi and head to the next stop which was the beach - yes, the beach!!!!!! It was so nice down there, honestly!!

After spending about 2 hours down near the beach and shops, we headed back to the water taxi and our hotel - we got a running commentary of all the houses and the captain told us that there will be a boat show coming up with about $3 BILLION worth of yachts and launches! Can u imagine?? Some of them were pretty impressive - 150ft plus....

The saturday was the most exciting day. We got up nice and early and headed for the train station to go down to MIAMI!!! We arrived in Miami and had something to eat and a look around a few shops, Kate and Emilys mums friend wanted to do a cruise around and look at all the houses in the area so the rest of us went shopping. Apparently on the cruise you could see the Rocks house and it was pretty big!!!!!!! After their cruise got back, we jumped on a bus and headed to South Beach. Driving towards south beach, we drove past a cruise ship terminal with 3 ships lined up. One of them was the Norweign Epic ship - it has waterslides on the top deck - it looks kinda ugly, but it is HUGE!!! Anyway, we got to South Beach and had to ask for directions on how to get to the main street, I thought the main street was on the water, but it wasnt. We found Washington Ave and kept walking and walking until we came across MIAMI INK!!!!! I took photos outside then I actually went in and had a look around haha. I met Chris Garver and Darren Brass from the show and had a photo with them, the others werent there. That was the highlight of my day. Then we walked down the street further and came across Dash, the store from the Kardashians!! We all went in. I actually bought something - a reusable bag haha. The cheapest thing in there was a water bottle and it was $10 only because it had their photo on it.

After those 2 exciting stores, we had a look at some other stores then headed to South Beach beach and had a paddle in the water. It was so nice down there and what made it even cooler, in the background, the ships that were in port earlier were leaving one by one.

We headed back to Washington Ave and had Mexican food for dinner. Our waiter was from Argentina but supported the All Blacks!!!!!!!! Yay!!

We then headed back to the train station and caught the train back to Ft Lauderdale and headed home.

Today was an early start to - there is a train system here called AmTrack - it runs from Miami all the way up to New York - we caught it from Ft Lauderdale up to Orlando - it took about 4-5 hours but it was nice. Nice and smooth ride, good view, comfy-ish seating haha. When it got to Orlando, we finally headed home.

Opened the door to our apartment and it is boiling hot - our air con filter had blown or something so the guy has just fixed it.

Till next time....xx :)

Short and sweet

Hiya

It hasn't been a very productive week to tell you the truth. I was deployed last week which meant that I was at a new workplace just for the week. It was interesting. All of my shifts were morning shifts so that sucked for a start - I hate the mornings haha. The first day was at a small store just outside Epcot - not much foot traffic so it was a pretty quiet couple of days. Then I was working at strollers which was better. It was just giving people strollers or wheelchairs when they entered the park.

It was a cool location though, where I was based at strollers, I was able to see Stitch and Daisy Duck - they were awesome to watch - talk about staying in character :) it was great!!!

I was able to download Skype - took me long enough. I told my parents to download it as well. We set up a time and Skyped. We ended up talking for over an hour - I email them everyday but it was great to see their faces and to see my dog and cats :)

Gonna keep this post short and sweet. Til next time....

xx

2 week update

Wow, it has been a while since I updated this. Im not going to tell you about work, coz there is not much to tell haha. On my last days off, I went to the parks with some friends. We went to Hollywood Studios first, then Epcot. At studios, we wanted to do some of the things that we didn't do last time. When we arrived, they had a block party - which was pretty much a parade through the park, it was called a block party coz there were toys and characters from Toy Story in it. It was fun though :) After that, we headed to the Indiana Jones show. That was great, it was like a stunt show and it was as if they were shooting scenes for a movie. They even picked some people from the audience to be extras. It was full of actions and explosions, very cool. After that, we headed down to the Star Wars section. There, they had Jedi training but you had to be 12yrs or younger, my friend Tim was disappointed hahaha!!! Anyway, they have a ride there called "star tours" and it is pretty much a simulator ride that takes you through wherever Star Wars is set (Im not really a star wars fan). It was fun though, I really like the simulator rides. After that, we headed back to Rock n' Roller. I didn't really want to do it again, so I sat and waited for Emily and Tim to come back. Whilst waiting for them, I was watching the Tower of Terror ride...I think next time I go to Studios, Im going to do that. Before we left Studios for the day, we had one more stop - the American Idol experience. It's like A.I, and the winner gets a 'golden ticket' which lets them go to the front of the line for the real auditions. It was pretty cool...it was like being there. The judges were similar, the woman was the nice one, the english guy was the mean one and the other one was like Randy Jackson haha!!!

We then headed to Epcot for dinner. The world showcase is at Epcot, so we had a choice of 11 countries to eat at. It was difficult though coz 1 person wanted to eat at France, 1 person wanted Morroco.....we made a decision: 2 of us went to China and the other 2 went to Japan!! At 9pm was Illuminations - the fireworks show. I had seen them as part of my training but had never seen them as a guest. They were amazing!! My friends loved them too....it was great.

Back to work for a few days then had Tuesday and Wednesday off. On Tuesday, a friend of mine left the program :( so I said good bye to him in the morning, then went out with the girls that night. We went and saw a chick flick....it was so funny.

On the Wednesday, after 7 weeks, I finally made it to Animal Kingdom. What a cool place that is!! I went with my friend Stacey, we started off with the safari and were able to see some animals up close. I saw a live elephant and a hippo for the first time ever!! Id only ever seen them on tv haha. Saw tigers, rhinos, cheetahs, ostriches, and heaps of others. After the safari, we went to get something to eat before going on a ride. We went on a dinosaur ride. It is supposed to transport you back in time to go and get some lizard/dragon thing. It is pitch black inside and dinosaurs are coming out left right and centre, it was so much fun though, I really enjoyed it. Scary, yes, but fun :) After the ride, Stacey and I headed back to see the Nemo show coz I have a friend that works there, but we got there too late and it was full so we went to see the Lion King show instead. That was amazing!! The Lion King is my fave movie anyway but the show was amazing. When that finished, we didn't have time to go back to Nemo, we went to Rafikis planet watch instead, and I pat a snake!!!! Scary!!!! I hate snakes!!!

We then came home and I had a lazy evening haha.....got out a dvd and a book then went to bed pretty much. Walking around a park all day tires you out.

Till next time.....x

Princess lunch and Pin

Ok so I think at the end of the last post I said that I was heading to lunch with the princesses for my friends birthday. It was so much fun. It was at the Norway pavillion at Epcot. We arrived about 15 minutes early so were able to ride the Maelstrom ride inside the pavillion. One of only a few rides in the entire world showcase. After that, we went back to our reservation. There were about 10 of us all together. We were greeted by Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She was doing the greetings at the front door because she couldnt manoevre through the tables coz of the size of her dress.

We sat down at the table and ordered drinks then got some salad and stuff from the buffet. When our meals arrived, the princesses started coming out one by one. First was Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), then Cinderella, then Snow White and finally Ariel. It was cool. They each came up to the table and birthday boy (Danual) had a photo with each f them. They were really cool - they stayed in character - Ariel was amazed that we swam so far to get here ;) I told her we ran into a few sharks on the way but it was no big deal. LoL.

After the lunch was over, we went for a walk around the show case - past all the countries - then headed to the Seas to see finding Nemo. It was a ride perfect for children that went through the Australian current and followed Marlin in his search for Nemo. Then we headed to Turtle Talk with Crush - which was entertaining.

Then we headed home and about 30mins later went to the outlet mall. The outlet mall was amazing - they have everything there - Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klien, Nike, Adidas, Hilfeger etc. All I spent was $15 on a t-shirt - I was quite proud of myself really.

After a long day with the princesses and shopping, we then headed home and I went to bed coz I had to get up for work at 5.30 the next morning.

I was working at a pin convention for 2 days. At Disney, there are little pins that guests can collect. As a cast member, I get a lanyard with 12 pins on it and guests can trade with me. At the convention, it was completely different. I wasnt allowed to wear my lanyard coz the pins that I had people were not interested in. These people are hard core collectors. I met one lady who had about 11,000 pins. People came with suitcases full of them. I was working at the pin board. The guest gets one minute to look at the board and trade 2 pins. The lines were about 40 people long the entire day. I saw the same guests in my line about 4-5 times. It was crazy but it was fun. It made the day go really quickly.

Well, thats all for now. Heading to Epcot tomorrow so I will keep you updated on that. Maybe going to Animal Kingdom sometime this week too. VEry exciting.

x

Epcot as a guest

Ok, so last week I told you that I was heading to Epcot as a guest and I did. It was fun. It went with my room mate Fran, and friends Kevin and Danual :) We got there about 10am and straight away got a fast pass for test track (one ride Ive been wanting to do for ages). We had to come back for that between 1-2pm. Se then we went and queued for Mission Space. That was awesome. It is a simulator that actually feels like you are being launched and flying through space. There were 4 of us and we each had a different task. I was navigator, Fran was commander, Kevin was engineer and Danual was the pilot. Like I said, we each had a different task to do, all that involved was pushing a button when we were told to haha. The journey only lasted a few minutes. Then we arrived on Mars....mission accomplished.

After Mission Space we headed to a place called Innoventions. In my opinion, it was more for kids...the activities that they had were kind of educational, but it was fun. We learnt how to ride a segway. It was quite hard at first...I got on and started rolling backwards which isnt what you are supposed to do....it's all about the balance.

We then met up with Kevin and Frans work mate Kelly, she joined us just in time for test track.

We then went back to Test Track coz we had our fast pass. So you walk through a testing lab pretty much. What it is, they are creating a new car and we are the testers. So we go through a series of test before actually driving it. Brake tests, bumps in the road, handling and finally a crash test. Then hit the track. I was a bit disappointed at the end, I was kind of expecting it to go faster, I think the top speed was about 65 miles which I think is just over 100km.

Test Track was all over then we headed to Norway to eat. Getting fruit and a soda....not really very norweigien!! Then Kevin drove me home coz we both had work later on.....so my day involved going to Epcot, going home to get ready, then going to Epcot.

Till next time x