Our time in Dubai was very limited. We had about a 24 hour layover on the way home from the Maldives, so we checked out of the airport for the afternoon and night to see a little of the city. Our hotel was in Bur Dubai, the historic district, but we thought we'd go see some of the more touted tourist attractions in the city, like the indoor ski slopes at the Mall of the Emirates and the Burj Al Arab hotel. So we headed over to that part of the city by taxi, passing the Burj Dubai (tallest building in the world) on the way, and saw what we could. (Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us inside the Burj Al Arab - I guess next time we'll just have to stay there, ha!)
We headed back to Bur Dubai for dinner, which we had at a nice little restaurant overlooking the river, and turned in early for our early morning flight back to the States. It was a very quick trip, just enough to sate the appetite. We'll definitely have to make a return trip in the future!
To be honest, 40 hours is a long way to travel for anything, even a honeymoon. (Our route: Austin to Houston, Houston to Dubai, Dubai to Male, seaplane from Male to Velidhu.) And I was seriously having second thoughts about it all as we sat in the Dubai airport for 8 hours following a 14 hour flight (did you know they announce every flight in the entire terminal over the loudspeaker in several languages? NOT particularly enjoyable at 2 am).
But, after 40 hours, we finally made it to our destination, Velidhu Island Resort in the Maldives. Granted, we immediately hit the sack upon arrival, but after a little catching up on sleep, we realized... we were in paradise!!
Unreal turquoise waters; overwater bungalow with gorgeous views of sunrises, sunsets, and colorful coral; pure white sand beaches; secluded sunbathing spots; bathwater warm ocean; snorkeling with sharks, mantas, and countless brightly colored fish; yummy all-you-can-eat meals; tons of privacy: all on one lovely little island (it literally took about 20 minutes to walk the perimeter of the entire thing). Heaven!!
Jake and I decided to take a quick mini-vacation to someplace warm and sunny, and we ended up choosing the Los Cabos area, where we stayed at an all-inclusive resort just outside of San Jose del Cabo. We arrived late afternoon on a Thursday; although it was too late in the day to catch any rays, we spent some time down at the beach, watched a beautiful sunset, and enjoyed a particularly amusing buffet dinner.
Friday was entirely spent enjoying the sun, sand, food and alcohol at our resort. On Saturday, we took a 4-hour boating excursion from the marina in Cabo San Lucas (the more touristy town of Los Cabos), about a 30 minute drive from our resort. The "Jungle Cruise," really a booze cruise, was a nice change of pace - we boated out see the famous Arch at Land's End, to a cove to do a little snorkeling, and we even stopped on the way back to the marina to do some whale-watching (several surfaced not far from our boat!).
After the cruise, Jake and I headed back to our resort; the sun had done us in - we ended up passing out very early! On Sunday morning, we enjoyed the resort pools and took one last stroll down to the ocean before heading back to the airport to catch our flight back to the States. It was a quick trip, but a good one!
I visited Boston for the first time in August of 2007. Jake and I traveled there for the wedding of his friend Craig. We arrived a few days before the wedding in order to spend some time with my good friend Misty, who lives about an hour outside of Boston. With Misty, we hit some of the area clubs to do some dancing, and the next day we walked part of the Freedom Trail. Boston is really beautiful, and it was fascinating to see all of the sites along the walk (lots of really old cemeteries, churches, houses, etc.). It was so crowded when we went, though, and since we were so tired from the night before, we only made it through about half of the trail. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped by the Cheers bar and restaurant to refuel with burgers and beer.
The rest of our time in Boston was spent celebrating the wedding of Craig and Jenna, which was a beautiful black tie affair at the historic Fairmont Copley Plaza.
My first, and so far, only, trip to Vegas was in May of 2007, when Jake and I went for a long weekend to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. We stayed at the MGM Grand, and on our first night in town, we went to see Cirque de Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio. It was an amazing show, and we had great seats thanks to Jake's friend Jeff. Our mornings in Vegas were rather lazy, spent catching sun at the pool, but in the afternoons and evenings we explored the strip, visited the many other casinos, and tried out our luck at various places. I did pretty well on the slots at the Mirage, but I lost all of my luck later at the Luxor. Part of the time while there, we hung out with Jake's friend Mike, who is currently living in Vegas. And of course, we also took time to do the touristy things, like watch the fountain displays at the Bellagio, see the outdoor show at Treasure Island, and check out the lions at our own hotel. There really is no other place like Vegas, and the city truly does not sleep! I can't wait to go back!
Our trip to
Fredericksburg was during our spring break in March of 2007. We needed a little vacation from school and work, so we hopped in the car and headed west. On the way, we stopped at several wineries along the Texas Wine Trail, so by the time we reached our bed & breakfast in Fredericksburg, we were feeling pretty good! Our b&b was awesome, a few miles outside of town and nice and secluded. It was decorated beautifully, and it had a great hot tub outside that we could enjoy and watch the stars while sipping glasses of wine. We headed back into town during the days to check out the various shops and a few of the biergartens, but we always ended up heading back to the b&b to enjoy the wonderful hot tub! The trip was a great relaxing break from everything - just what we needed!
Kalutara was our last stop in Sri Lanka. After being on the move and exploring so much, we needed a few relaxing days on the beach before heading back to the States. Kalutara is pretty well known for sustaining serious damage by the tsunami of 2004 - you can see before and after pics here. Our visit was about 2 years following the disaster, and honestly our resort looked pretty good. I think the area has recovered rather well, and tourists are starting to visit once again (apparently Kalutara is very popular with the Germans!).
Our time in Kalutara was nice - on our first night we enjoyed a spectacular sunset on the beach. We really didn't do a whole lot during our time there other than relax on the beach, sip cool drinks, eat delicious food, and play with a baby monkey(!). One night we had a fresh lobster dinner that was incredible! We also endulged in Ayurvedic oil massages on the hotel roof - which felt pretty good but left us smelling like food for days! All in all, it was a good way to spend our last days in Asia!
