Belize it or not....

So I have this good friend of mine who also enjoys to travel just as much as I do. Out of the blue one day I receive an email from her, addressed to a few people, asking if they wanted to go to Belize. She has a friend who has a house that we could stay at. As much as I would want to go, we just got back from the Virgin Islands on May 2nd.... And this is May 28th... surely I wouldn't be able to commit...

I'm sitting on the couch one evening, thinking about how bad I need a vacation... and yes yes before you say it, I did just get back from one... but if you know me, you know how quickly I can get overwhelmed and stressed, and a little beach never hurt anyone...let me take a look real quick on how many flyer points we have....Oh lookie there! I have more than enough for a ticket!

I make a quick call to my girlfriend and start with "guess what!?! I can go to Belize!! WOOHOO!!"  Keep in mind this was a WEEK before we are supposed to leave... last minute vacations are the best, especially when I don't have to plan them! :)

I met Courtney at the aiport, had a mimosa and we ran to our gate...yes, RAN... because in typical female fashion, we were late because you know... we had a full mimosa waiting to be drank.

We arrived in Belize and waited in the long airport lines, headed to another entrance, where we were escorted to another gate to get on our puddle jumper. Now I have never been on one, and the idea of a small unsteardy plane scares the living crap out of me, I already don't enjoy flying all that much... So what does Courtney do? She tells our captain to put me up there in the front seat with him! Um WHAT!?! I guess there are no rules here...

We fly over some beautiful, turquoise waters before arriving at a very small airport in Ambergris Cay. It's a little quaint town, full of culture, music playing in the streets, people riding bicyles and laying the horn on their little golf carts.

We rent our golf cart and take the long, very bumpy road to the house... I immediately think this is in the middle of nowhere! HA! we make our way in and out of little roads until we arrive at our destination... the only thing I could keep thinking and saying was Oh My Goodness... this is out of this world!

The house is beyond beautiful. It's owned by a Dr. and his wife, and it didn't rent out for the week and this is how we lucked out. To say it's impressive is an understatement, it's beyond beautiful. The pool, the steps, the balconies, the landscaping...is this real?!? AAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

We bring our stuff in, turn the AC on, get changed and we head out to grab a bite to eat, after all it was lunch time and we were starving. We find this little restuarant on a patio with some gorgeous views, we take a seat, and the waiter tells us the specials... Conch season ends today he says! So I proceed to order Coconut Conch with Rice...I can't wait...

We ate our meals and headed out to Pallappa Bar, a 2 story bar situated at the end of a dock, where you can hang out in tubes and they will lower you buckets of beer... awesome!

I ordered some fruity tropical drink... and something wasn't sitting right in my stomach... I wasn't able to finish my drink, something was off... We decided to leave and head back to the house. It must have been around 5 pm by this time. Let me tell you about that bumpy road... when you feel like you are about to hurl... the last thing you need is for the road to be bumpy. Multiple times I told Courtney that she may have to pull over... and to hurry and go as fast as she could...well, as fast as the golf cart can go.

We made it home, and so began my almost 14 hour adventure of not being able to keep anything down, not even water. I was curled up on the bathroom floor and all I could think about was that I didn't have any insurance cards, papers, anything! What would happen if I have to go to the hospital!?! This wasn't a far fetched statement because I could barely move, barely stand up. I came to the conclusion that I had food poisoning, on our first day of the trip! Noooooo.....

When I finally was able to make it back to bed, I turned off the AC, put on multiple layers of clothes and blankets, and I sweated, all night... until I woke up in the morning, feeling slightly better. Courtney went to the store and got me some medication and some bananas and crackers...what a life savor. I stayed all day on the porch and on the beach chairs, we didn't leave the house, and it was all I needed. We headed to town a bit later that afternoon and went to a restaurant that is known for their jerk chicken, ate, and even got some to go for dinner, headed back to the house, hung out by the pool, ate, and called it a night.

My Morning Coffee tasted so much better with this view... 

Our doggie friend we made while we were at the house, she came by every day and even lounged with us at the beach. This is one of my favorite pics I took while I was on this trip.

We spend the next morning on the beach, and Courtney teaching me how to paddle board and kayak, 2 things I've always wanted to do and never had the chance to do them! We even say a stingray and a HUGE Starfish! Such a cool experience. Later that afternoon, Courtney's friend arrived, and we hung out for a bit at the house, before heading out to dinner, and to a local bar afterwards and chatted with some locals.

The next day we woke up to a rainy view. We made some coffee and hung out on the porch and watched the rain clouds pour some rain over this beautiful view... relaxation at it's best.

I got my stuff ready as I was leaving the next day, a few days before Courtney so I didn't have to take vacation days. So long Belize, it's been real, it's been fun, minus the food poisoning.

Island Time with Friends

It was about November when John and I decided to head back to the Islands for our 1 year anniversary. Who needs materialistic gifts when we have a full world out there to still see. We decided to ask a few friends if they would be interested in joining us, and low and behold, and after much research and communications, we had a group of 12 ready to join us. None had been to the Virgin Islands before and we were beyond happy to show them our little slice of heaven.

We arrived on the Island on Friday, April 24th around 3 pm. We left St. Thomas airport and took a cab to Red Hook where we awaited our ferry to head to St. John. The ferry took a little longer than expected and by that time the couple that we were waiting on had arrived and we all ended up on the same ferry over. We arrive at St. John, meet our greeter, and headed to the house.

The House is a beautiful 2 story open concept and a good size wrap around porch, patio and pool. There are 2 bedrooms downstairs, and 3 upstairs. We set our luggage down, everyone picked rooms, settled in for a bit, then we headed out to the Beach Bar to await our last straggler. we spend the evening drinking and playing corn hole, and some more drinking of course.

Saturday we spend the day driving around and showing everyone around the Islands, different beaches to go to, ate lunch, and found a beach to hang out at, and drink some more.

Sunday we did Ram's head Hike, we went a little late in the morning and the sun was a little scorching, but we did it, and everyone enjoyed the views, and we took lots and lots of pictures before we headed out to lunch.

A few people were suffering a bit on this hike ;) 

Monday we did a group excursion, all 12 of us headed out to the BVI's to enjoy lots of sun, fun, and as many painkillers as we could handle. We chartered teh same boat ans John and I did on our Honeymoon and we went to The Baths in Virgin Gorda, Lunch at Cooper Islands, then made a quick little drive by Sandy Spit - a place that I missed while we were on our Honeymoon and didn't get the picture I wanted, then headed to Jost Van Dyke, finally some painkillers!!!!

Entering the "Cathedral Room"

Sandy Spit in the Background! 

Tuesday was fishing time! We chartered 2 boats, boys vs. girls - because we're competitive like that! Our charters were for 4 hours in the bays of St. John. We all caught at least 2 fish each, some small, some big, and as we headed back to the dock - the boys awaited us only to find out that they were the losers of the challenge... oh how I love some good, fun competitions! We left, ate lunch and headed to Trunk bay for some cold ones and to relax.

Wednesday we had 2 couples leave us and head back home. The 6 of us decided that it's been such a busy vacation since we've arrived that we were going to simply relax, we headed to one of the beaches and hung out ALL day, with not a thing to do, but make sure we had a cold one always in our hand.

The rest of the trip included us being lazy, lounging around the different beaches, eating lots and lots of good food, and drinking, we enjoyed not having an agenda, and just hanging out. Most of the nights were spent in the pool, drinking, and playing heads up - which is a blast if you haven't played that game!

Friday - John and I decided to head back to Jost for one last time, the rest of the group decided to stay behind and relax. We hopped on a passenger ferry and headed to our favorite little spot, Jost Van Dyke. We arrived in time for breakfast, and there was a handful of people on the whole beach strand. We enjoyed breakfast at Soggy Dollar, got some bloody mary's, and we sat in some beach chairs, with out butts and toes int he sand, looking out at the beautiful turquoise waters ... ahhh this IS the good life! We spend the rest of the day sipping on some painkillers, lounging in hammocks, more painkillers, reading books, some bushwackers, eating lobster enchiladas on the beach, then relaxing in the waters, and some more painkillers....did I say painkillers?

We left John's Texans Hat at One Love Bar, we will see you again soon!

Enjoying a Nilla Killa

Where else would you find ducks on the beach?!?

We left our Stamp...

Now THIS is the Life... :)

We headed back and met the rest of the group at Maho Beach, we hung out for a little bit then headed back to the house to get ready for dinner... Tonight we ate at ZoZo's, lots and lots of good food!

We got back to the house, cleaned up, packed and rested as we leave tomorrow. Such bittersweet feeling when we have to leave but everyone was ready to head back to their normal lives. We got up that morning and headed to Curz Bay landing for breakfast...along with our luggage. We ate, and John and I headed to the Bar right next to our dock, High Tide, for one last drink, while the rest of the group was checking out the nearby shops.

It was a long flight back, but we made it home, with lots of fun and beautiful memories that we shared with friends.

I saw this shirt on IG one day and I had to have one! And I did :)

And like we said a year ago....Until next time St. John! (Which will be December 2015!)