If you live anywhere near where I live in Canada, you know that Mother Nature has not been kind to us during this winter season. Right now she has us sitting at -14 degrees Celsius ( 7 degrees Fahrenheit ) and this is one of our warmer days!! EEEK! ( insert side eye and eye roll here)

Anyone who knows me well, knows I love to travel. Unfortunately, ( or fortunately) there are so many events happening ( weddings, big birthday celebrations etc..) that I have to stay put for most of the year. So with the exception of a quick NYC trip or two, exotic trips are off the grid until much later in the year! ( stay tuned..)

So I decided to do a quick blog of some of the warm places I’ve had an opportunity to visit. So sit back, grab a fruity drink and travel  to some amazing places with me!

Let’s start in a not so exotic place: Florida! I’ve had the opportunity to visit Miami, ( South Beach ) and Orlando! My previous visit to Miami, i stayed with friends but on my most recent trip we stayed in a little “hotel” ( more like a motel) on South Beach. It was clean, walking distance to the beach, food and shopping!) I travelled with 3 girlfriends and it was certainly a trip to remember! When we went in August of 2014, there was a lot of construction happening  on the main road in front of our hotel so it proved to be a bit tricky to get out of in the day but other than that it was the perfect little spot. Close enough to the life of South Beach but far enough away that if you wanted some peace and quiet you could have that! Next, the four of us travelled to Orlando to attend a church conference and we stayed at the BEAUTIFUL Rosen Shingle Creek Resort. This place was perfect Heated pools, hot tubs, on site affordable dining and close to the Premium Outlets and Walmart! ( Yes Walmart) We stayed 5 days and enjoyed every minute of it. 🙂 I would love to return and stay at Rosen Shingle again.

I’ve also had the opportunity to visit California many times from childhood on.Shout outs to my amazing Aunt ( Pastor Hope Harris) and Uncle( Pastor Neville Harris) for giving me a place to stay in beautiful LA! ( and special mention to my beautiful cousin Michelle Harris-Collins and her hubby Restee Collins and family for making each experience so awesome!)

Let’s get the most obvious place for me out-of-the-way: beautiful sunny Jamaica. It’s where most of my family resides, so this was a childhood vacation spot. From the hills of Manchester to the beautiful seaside of Ocho Rios, Jamaica is truly one of the most enchanting places on earth. I’ve also visited Montego Bay ( where i stayed at the RIU with a large group of friends) Negril, St Mary,May Pen, St Elizabeth and so on… 🙂

I’ve had the opportunity to visit Cuba twice. My first trip I stayed at the Sirenis La Salina Resort ( now known as Memories Varadero) and had a wonderful time! They say the food in Cuba is not the greatest and they are right, but at least at Memories I could find something pretty delicious to eat everyday. However on my next trip to Cuba, I stayed at Barcelo Arenas Blancas. STAY FAR AWAY! If this place was my first trip to Cuba,i would have never returned. The food: 😦  I lost weight in the week I was there lol) Pool was under construction. This hotel is a two for one hotel ( stay at one ,play at two) and I asked my travel agent to book us on the quiet side… sigh… she did not….  maybe I’ll blog about that experience in another blog… lol

I Then had the opportunity to go on a couple of carnival cruises. Let me start off by saying that i absolutely love cruises so my opinions may be biased!

On my first cruise, I boarded the Carnival Glory Eastern Caribbean Cruise: The ship set sail from Miami and sailed to the following Islands:

Half Cay-Bahamas: Went horseback riding,met a whole crew of Jamaicans! It was pretty cool

St Thomas: Still probably one of my favorite islands that I’ve ever visited. Magans Bay and Coki Beach, truly takes your breath away. Really good food too!

Puerto Rico: Visited the Bacardi Rum factory and some monumental sites.

Turks and Caicos Islands: Did some beautiful snorkeling here.

The next Carnival Cruise I took was the Carnival Valour Southern Caribbean cruise which left from Puerto Rico and stopped in:

St. Maarten: I can honestly say I truly saw a piece of Gods handiwork on this island. One of the most beautiful places I have been in my entire life. I visited the dutch side. The beach was literally crystal clear warm water and the whitest sand you have ever seen. I literally left a piece of my heart in St Maarten! Oh and we found a COGOP ( Church of God of Prophecy) on our way back to the ship! so cool!

 

St Lucia: Truly a gorgeous Island. Even though it was a gray day, we still managed to enjoy some water sports and great company!

St Kitts: I had the opportunity to celebrate my birthday on this island. It was not my favorite Island but we met some really nice people here and still had a wonderful day.

Barbados: I wish I had more time on this island, but we totally got rained out! Thank goodness for the free wi-fi at Cockleshell Beach 🙂

I also visited beautiful St Thomas again. ( I really do love St Thomas! Second to Jamaica of course! lol )

Well that’s the end of my island experiences! Next up on the list of islands to visit are Mexico( 2015 🙂 ) Dominican Republic, Haiti, Trinidad and I’d love see Aruba and Dominica 🙂  I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to travel and I don’t take that privilege for granted! #blessed

Where are you guys travelling in 2015? Let me know!

xoxo