Here are the 30 countries I made it to before I turned 30!
1. The USA (duh, I will do my road trip one day)
2. Austria
3. Belgium
4. Czech Republic
5. England
6. France
7. Germany
8. Greece
9. Ireland
10. Italy
11. Scotland
12. Spain
13. The Netherlands
14. Vatican City
15. China
16. Japan
17. Belize
18. Costa Rica
19. Mexico
20. Argentina
21. Brazil
22. Peru
23. Ecuador
24. Australia
25. New Zealand
26. Rwanda
27. South Africa
28. Zimbabwe
29. Tanzania
30. The Bahamas
31. Egypt
32. Jordan
I have officially made it to my 30th country! Yay! And I still have more than a month before I turn 30!
Over Fall Break, I went on a Carnival Cruise to the Bahamas with my grandmother, and we just had a wonderful time. I have been on one cruise before, but it was all the way the back in 2015. Both have been Carnival Cruises, and I only have the nicest things to say about the staff of both cruises. Even with the pandemic, every person working on the ship was awesome.
In particular, there are couple things I really like about cruises, if you're curious.
1. Cruises can be a good mixture of adventure and relaxation. On the cruise to the Bahamas, my cruise was a lot of relaxation since I was traveling with my grandmother. We went to the spa, we took naps, and we had calm, guided tours of Freeport and Nassau. But I also got my dose of adventure snorkeling in Bimini at the Sapona Shipwreck. It was super cool, and I made friends with a turtle. Other people we spoke to did jeep tours, dolphin adventures, and other activities that were more high energy. And this diversity of activities leads me to the second thing I really like about cruises.
2. Cruises really are the have it your way vacation. You want to book an excursion? Book an excursion. You want to play in the pool all day? Play in the pool all day. And there are a million things to choose from. There's trivia, shows, games, the gym, the spa, the library, the casino, art auctions, and so much more. Or you can just nap! It's whatever you want it to be.
3. There's also a million food choices. That's amazing. I ATE ALL THE FOOD. Also, you want two entrees at dinner? Order two entrees at dinner. You do you.
4. Finally, what I think I like most about cruises is you have all these different people from different places who are just there to have a good time. This means pretty much everyone gets along, you have some great conversations, and people embrace the fun. The dance, they sing, they laugh. That's my experience at least. The only drama we had was someone cheating at trivia. This lady was winning like every trivia game and finally another lady came up saying she had VIDEO EVIDENCE that there was cheating involved. DRAMA ON THE CRUISE SHIP. I found it quite trivial.
But anyway, we had an excellent time. 10/10 would recommend. And of course, here are some pictures.
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| Turtle friend in Bimini! |
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| Duck friend in Freeport! |
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| Nassau Tour! |
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| Country #30! |
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| We had a great time! |
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| The Sapona Shipwreck |
It is the end of another one of my challenges. Except this time, instead of 30 days, I only did 15 days. Fall Break is next week and I don't want to eat healthy on Fall Break. I'm going on a cruise; it's just not done.
But during my 15-day challenge I still read a book and played Memphis tourist again. This time I read Sarah Dessen's The Rest of the Story and visited the Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Sarah Dessen is one of my favorite writers, and I love every single one of her books, even if I already know the ending. Also, I think I liked the Dixon better than the Brooks Museum. There was less art, but it was more focused. For example, most of the gallery space was taken up by a temporary exhibition showing the works of Wayne Thiebaud. He did a lot of pictures of food, and had quite literal names for his pieces so I thoroughly enjoyed his work. The gardens were also very nice.
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| The garden part of the Dixon. |
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| "Jolly Cones" by Wayne Thiebaud |