Christmas Cruise

So, the cruise turned out to be a lot of fun. I met some really interesting people to hang out with - Courtney, Shana, Sean, Peter, and Danielle. I didn't really know what to expect, but I kind of thought I would get bored and not meet any other young folks that I could spend time with. And I think I was lucky to meet the people I did. There actually were not many single 20-somethings out of the 2500 on the ship. And actually, 3 of the 5 perviously mentioned people are in their 30's but felt like about my age. The cruise was filled with lots and lots of teenagers with their parents, and the ethnic diversity was a lot greater than I would have thought for a cruise to the Bahamas. I guess all that is largely due to the time of year that is attracive for more families and minorities who may not celebrate Christmas.

In our day at the Bahamas, we didn't do much. I made my parents walk from the harbor in Nassau all the way to Atlantis - probably 3 miles. There were only a couple other groups that did that - most took a guided tour or guided activity or a taxi to the casino/resort area on Paradise Island/Atlantis. I was rather unimpressed with the parts of the Bahamas we saw. The city streets in Nassau reminded me of the Philippines a little bit and Atlantis is just another resort, not unlike many places in Florida. The cruise itself was extremely well run, designed to keep everyone full and occupied, if that's what you want, but it's also easy to just relax and rest. I was kind of restless, always going out and exploring some other part of the ship.

Holiday Vacation Planning

Despite having only 13 vacation days plus 11 federal holidays off each year, I am not lacking in vacations. I take more than my share. But they're all short trips - usually just 1 day off from work. I've been assigned the task of organizing the holiday trips. First, a trip with friends, supposedly to go skiing the week before Christmas. I've had 2 others interested and excited to go since the planning process began 2 months ago but I really want more people to go. This is strange since I don't generally like big groups. Several others have shown some mild interest but for various reasons can't go. I guess we'll go ahead with the trip anyway, but I'm not too excited about it at the moment.

For Christmas, I want to go see my cousins Ron and Charles and their kids in Blacksburg but they haven't contacted us and my parents don't fancy asking them about us coming up there. So my parents want to go on a Caribbean cruise. My 2nd option is actually to go to NYC. I guess my parents have a recent fascination with cruises since their 8 day cruise on the Danube River last month, and I have a renewed fascination with theater so I want to see a Broadway show, probably Mama Mia. My guess is that I'll give in to the cruise, which is Dec 24-27, so I won't have to take any time off work. It could be fun. I would be all for it if I someone I like that's my age would come along or if I had some guarantee that I'd meet someone I like hanging out with. I'm just afraid that I'll be bored, even with the massive amounts of entertainment they have on ships these days.

For New Year's, I assume I'm going with my parents to Myrtle Beach for the bridge tournament but I don't know. We haven't talked about it. And I'm thinking about going to the Orange Bowl to see Tech vs. Iowa, but that's on a Tuesday which sucks because it means I'll have to take at least a day off work.