Ocean Roads

I learned during this seven day cruise experience with my extended family that there is a difference between "vacations", "family vacations" and "traveling".  I prefer the last.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of service on the boat.  All the little services and amenities added up to a pretty nice experience.  I wasn't expecting much from the staff on the boat, but it wasn't bad.  It wasn't 5 star, but it was more than i expected.   Other more experienced cruisers, they like to call themselves "cruisers", said that this particular cruise wasn't that great in terms of food or service or activities.  My feelings about it is that you're not really paying to stay on the boat to watch shows, swim in the pool and eat buffetts, you're there to go on shore and see the islands.

This is one of those vacations where I'm going to need a vacation to recover from it.  It was very fun, but tiring.

I learned many things about family, life, health, patience, kids,  etc...

 I learned it takes about 30 minutes to get kids ready to go somewhere in a car.

Not that there was any doubt before, but i would reiterate that i'm definitely not having kids. Nope.

The morning that I left I packed my things into my old backpacking backpack, the one i've used on my previous two trips.  the moment I swung the straps over my shoulders and the familiar weight settled against my back, it felt so right.  It felt so good.  I asked myself why I was wasting my life away in an 8:30am to 6:30pm desk job.  I should be traveling the world.  You should have seen the grin on my face as I walked out my front door to my seven day cruise adventure.  You should have felt my contentment at that moment in time.