Future Trip

Las Vegas in January

Mexico Cruise November 24 - 27, 2013

I just returned from a short cruise to Mexico.  The three day Princess cruise included a day in Ensenada and a relaxing day at sea.  It was a quick but fun trip with a group of friends just before Thanksgiving.  The trip started with a short drive to catch the Golden Princess in San Pedro.  The highlights of the first day included a tour of the ship, a sail away party and so much food!  After a great dinner and some drinks we returned to our cabin for some sleep.  

The next morning we were in Mexico!  We took a tour of the city that included a stop for wine tasting! After a great Mexican lunch we did some shopping and headed back to our ship.  Dinner, drinks and a show brought the night to a close.  

Our sea day began with breakfast in the cabin.  Next up was a walk around the ship, some napping, an English pub lunch and wine tasting to end the afternoon.  Pre dinner drinks, a spin in the casino, dinner at the ship's steakhouse and a British invasion musical rounded out the last night on the cruise.  

Our final morning of the trip included breakfast, customs and a short drive home.  This cruise was a perfect quick trip, short but sweet!

Golden Princess Cabin

Golden Princess

San Francisco October 24 - 27, 2013

I took a  trip to San Francisco with a friend in October.  I signed up to attend an economics teacher workshop at the Federal Reserve Bank and decided to stay in the city by the bay for the weekend. We flew into SFO on Thursday evening.  After our flight from Long Beach we took BART into the city.  My conference was downtown on Friday so we stayed at the newish Intercontinental hotel south of Market.   We had dinner and drinks on Friday evening at a great pub not far from our hotel. 

On Saturday morning we set out in the city to eat and wonder the streets.  We had breakfast and walked to the Castro.  We did some window shopping and I almost adopted a very cute puppy!  We ended the day by the bay.  We had dinner by the ferry building at the Clubhouse.  

On Sunday morning it was BART time again taking us back to the airport for our fast flight back to southern California.  I always love SF and I cannot wait to go back!

Future Trip

San Francisco in October

Future Trip

Mexico Cruise in November

Asia Trip & Cruise - March 29 - April 7, 2013

 

Asia Trip Itinerary: Friday, March 29 – Sunday, April 7, 2013

Outbound Flights:

China Southern Flight 328 Depart LAX to CAN at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, March 29, 2013

China Southern Flight 353 Depart CAN to SIN at 8:30 a.m.  Arrive in SIN 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 31, 2013

Hotel in Singapore on Arrival:

Hotel in Singapore on Sunday, March 31, 2013

V  Hotel Lavender Singapore

Cruise:

Royal Caribbean Cruise Departing Singapore on April 1, 2013

Ship: Legend of the Seas

01-Apr Singapore    5:00 PM 02-Apr Kuala Lumpur (Port Klang), Malaysia  8:00 AM  4:30 PM Docked 03-Apr Phuket, Thailand  1:00 PM  10:00 PM Tendered 04-Apr Cruising     Cruising 05-Apr Singapore  7:00 AM

Hotel in Singapore on return:

Hotel in Singapore on Friday, April 5, 2013 thru Sunday, April 7, 2013

Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen

Return Flights:

China Southern Flight 354 Depart SIN to CAN at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 7, 2013

China Southern Flight 327 Depart CAN to LAX at 9:30 p.m. Arrive at LAX 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 7, 2013.

A friend and I had a great time on our first trip to Asia!  Our quick trip (10 days total) is outlined above.  We left LAX for the LONG flight to China.  We flew on one of China Southern's super jumbo A380's.  What a HUGE jet!  We landed in China to catch a connecting flight to Singapore.  By the time our flight landed in Singapore we were TIRED.  We took the metro to our hotel and got some dinner and were off to dream land.
The next day we set off to see the city before our cruise departed in the afternoon.  We took a cab to the port and the floating part of our trip began!  The Legend of the Seas is a beautiful ship!  She was fresh from a makeover and she looked great!  As always the crew and service on Royal Caribbean was outstanding.  Our first port of call was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  We had a tour of the city and visited the Batu Caves.  Be ready to climb some steps at the caves!  The next day we pulled into Beautiful Phuket, Thailand.  We spent the day sunning on the beach, eating our way through the streets and shopping until we dropped.  We also did a little ladyboy watching!  Back on the ship we spent the last sea day by the pool and in the spa.  Awhaa, I had the hot stones...so relaxing.  The next day we were back in Singapore.
We spent the next two days exploring this great multicultural city!  We saw it from the ground, water and air!  We were everywhere, downtown, China town, little India and the Marina; so much to see and eat in this foodie city!  On departure day we took the metro to the airport and boarded our short flight to China followed by the LONG flight back to LAX and home.  It was a quick trip but a great trip!  It was my first time in Asia and I LOVED every minute of it!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Legend of the Seas

Phuket, Thailand

Singapore

 

Las Vegas & the Grand Canyon January 9 - 11, 2013

A friend and I took a quick trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.  We left from Long Beach,  flew to vegas, saw Celine Dion in concert had a great dinner all on day one!  The next day we boarded a bus to view the awesome Grand Canyon.  We returned to Vegas had a bite to eat and flew back to LGB.  It was a very quick trip but we had a blast!

Grand Canyon

New Orleans & Caribbean Cruise December 28 - January 6, 2013

Some friends and I took a warm weather winter getaway cruise to the Western Caribbean on the Carnival Conquest.  The Conquest left from the great city of New Orleans.  Before leaving on the cruise we spent three days in N.O.  Both the city and the cruise were tons of fun! 

In New Orleans we visited the French Quarter, the river, down town and the garden district.  During our time in NOLA we ate too much, drank too much and had way too much fun! 

Our seven- day Western Caribbean cruise visited Roatan, Belize and Cozumel.  In Roatan we spent the day on a beautiful beach and snorkeled off a coral reef.  During our time in Belize we had fun cave tubing and hiking in the jungle.  In Cozumel we spent the day exploring Mayan ruins and swimming in the bluest water I have ever seen. 

Our ship, the Carnival Conquest was fresh out of dry-dock and it was loaded with tons of fun!  The staff was wonderful and we had a great time!

Mayan Ruins

Conquest in Roatan