Sometimes a little island time is just what the soul needs. That was certainly true for us last week. We flew out of Austin and into Fort Lauderdale after grabbing a pulled pork taco ($6) from Salt Lick. Gotta love a city that has a Salt Lick in the airport. We landed by 3:30 after a pretty eventful flight flying over the storm system which we later found out included a tornado. JetBlue was easy, no frills, we read or watched TV and the flight round trip was $169 without bidding. We exited the airport and grabbled the rain to the Cypress Creek Station. Savings tip #1 never pay for a cab if there are buses or trains available! We grabbed the tri-rail for $7, cab fare would have been $45. It was a quick and easy trip and we walked less than a mile from the station to our hotel. We stayed at the Hampton Inn on Cypress Creek because it was accessible and cheap. Had we known then how simple it was to get to Miami, we would have skipped this stop altogether. My review of that hotel stops here; it was clean, basic, the staff was friendly, and the rate included breakfast (which is a plus if you are into that kind of thing). We have become very spoiled to getting a lot for our money in terms of hotels. We had planned to go to Bitchy Bingo At Lips in Fort Lauderdale, but Donnie was starving so we opted to grab dinner at Duffy’s Diner near the hotel. We were pleasantly surprised, it was good, owners were friendly, and $19 tip included we were satisfied. We did not see much of Fort Lauderdale on this trip. I have been before and it does not stand out in my mind, but if we are there again, we will re-blog. I will say they have the widest array of energy drinks I have ever seen, and if I had been there longer I would have tried them all, but that is another blog for another time.

For those of you wondering why we flew into Ft L to take a cruise out of the Miami, here is your answer: flights to Miami were $86 more per person, but the cruises were $124 more per person out of Fort Lauderdale. The destination was the Bahamas, getting there is just filler. Nomadic instincts prevail and money is saved allowing us to add a night in South Beach.

The next morning we decided we would rather have more time in Miami, so we left earlier than planned. I use the term planned here loosely. Our plan is essentially booking a flight or hotel and winging it from there.  To be perfectly honest, we wanted Cuban food ASAP! We spent $5 on Monsters (this is our coffee, since neither of us can stand the stuff) and boarded the tri-rail once again. These are NOT East Coast trains, they are near empty, clean, spacious, but folks can and do take up several seats (would not suggest that in Philly or NYC) For $5 each we arrived at the Miami airport where we then took the free shuttle to the bus stop and grabbed the 103 for $4 and landed right at our hotel in South Beach. It was before check in time, but when you travel Nomad style, know this: Hotels will not usually let you check in early, but they WILL take your bags.

Once we were free of our luggage, we on a recommendation from a friend and former Miami resident, headed for David’s Caféwww.davidscafe.com/ It is a very unassuming blue building and there are two locations in South Beach. We opted for the one on Collins Ave because it was a block from our hotel. They have a nice selection on their menu, but I went for a Cubano and that is what I had. For those of you that have never met a Cubano, it is a yummy combination sandwich of roast pork and ham, with mustard and pickles served on Cuban bread.  If you have sweet bread instead you then have a Media Noche, both are delicious! Donnie was not in the mood to wait, and was (as normal) sold on the “all you can eat” buffet. He enjoyed everything immensely, and at $7.95 definitely got his money’s worth.  Our lunch was $20 tip included and we will without any doubt return to David’s. A nomadic tip for David’s Café….If you do not feel like a restaurant experience or want to stretch your funds, order a “Beach Box” at the outside window. For $6.95 you will leave with a yum-o Cubano Sandwich, chips and drink that you can take the Beach which is just steps away.

Too many calories consumed meant we walked South Beach and worked them off. I think we ended up walking about seven miles just checking things out. We later went to the Beach for some sun for Donnie and swimming for me. My whiny hubby though the water was way too cold, but in truth it felt GREAT and I was rejuvenated immediately. The people watching is good. We watched an interesting technique tried by two families to shed their swim wear and get back in dry clothes while another member held a towel to shield the views of beachgoers. Suffice it to say twice tried and twice failed. We saw a bit more on that beach than we bargained for. I will add the water was VERY cold, and these men obviously were vacationing from climates that prevent much tanning! Remember, we promised to blog the good, the bad, the ugly, and with special enthusiasm: the weird! After Swim, tan, and the “show” we did something we NEVER do. We grabbed burgers from a fast food chain*gasp ugh* In all fairness the Whopper Bar produced decent jalapeno burgers and for $12 we had our dinner and were ready to settle in for the night. Our hotel was off Washington. Wyndham Garden Inn http://www.wyndham.com/hotels/MIASB/main.wnt  The hotel was colorful, spacious, cute, and very “South Beach” and after enjoying the hammocks we slept beautifully. We would happily stay there again and likely will.

Nomad travel tip: When checking into a hotel, we suggest leave a cash deposit for incidentals as opposed to a credit card. This will encourage you to spend less in the mini bar and on room service. More importantly it will prevent charges that be incorrect from showing up on your statement later. That being said, we are pretty anti-credit card!

We were up and headed to the Port of Miami http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Miami earlier than necessary but we decided why chance it. We grabbed the bus from our hotel in South Beach and headed into Miami. The bus ride in was quick, cheap, and uneventful. It dropped us off in front of the arena and we  could have waited for the shuttle, but we chose not to and walked the mile over the bridge to our cruise ship terminal. I say it was an easy walk, but Donnie was carrying all the bags, so this may not be a walk for everyone. Cabs were plentiful and shuttles run to the terminals during rush hour, so no worries. We dropped our bags, literally walked without stopping to the boarding area. We boarded the ship quicker than you can imagine (much easier than in New Orleans) and were lounging on the Serenity Deck of the Carnival Imagination http://www.carnival.com/cruise-ships/carnival-imagination.aspx by noon! The Serenity Decks are adults only, there are more staff to cruisers, the chairs and towels are more plush, and there are more whirlpools available. This was a much improved deck, and we are sad that the ship we will be on in August does not have one! Donnie was indulging in the limitless chocolate milk, and I in the rum drink special of the day. We left the Port of Miami by 4pm, right on schedule, and were headed to the Bahamas! It was a VERY windy afternoon, but warm and beautiful. After soaking up some sun were had dinner in the dining room. The food on this ship was actually really good. We were not super impressed with the food on our last cruise, but very satisfied this time! We were seated between a couple from Miami and a mother/daughter pair from God knows where. We had a very enjoyable chat with the Miami couple, who readily swapped travel stories and their escapades of smuggling booze onto every ship they have sailed on! The mother/daughter pair represents the downside to cruising in my opinion! They had already consumed too much wine before they were seated at dinner, and oy vey, ordered another. Oh yes, these “ladies” had reached the point in their alcohol indulging where everything they said was super loud and super smart *insert sarcasm*! You will find folks on cruises that are not very kind to the staff, as if the artificial floating, all inclusive environment makes them royalty. I do not have much tolerance for that kind of behavior, so I did my best to tune them out, and handed Donnie my knife for safe keeping J (I joke, kinda) the last statement I heard from them was “eww, I cannot eat this I am a vegetarian”. Not sure what she expected when she ordered DUCK?! I swear I wanted to quack at her. I later found out she spit her food out and my sweet hubby thanked God above I did not see it, lucky her!

Nomad travel tip: When on a cruise ask for seating for two if you do not want to be placed at a large table with people you do not know. There are pros and cons to doing it either way. When we travel with the kids we prefer assigned dining table and time. This means at a pre-selected time the entire family meets at an assigned table, the same table every evening. We do this so that we can all have dinner and talk about the day. If you cruise with teenage kids, be prepared not to see them much on days at sea! Donnie and I chose not to take that option cruising alone so we had the freedom to have dinner whenever the mood struck us.

Saturday morning at 7am we were docking in Nassau, Bahamas! Donnie talked me into splurging on the Dolphin Encounter excursion I had really wanted to do, justifying it as a birthday gift. This is why we work so hard to save on the little things, so that when something comes up that we REALLY want to do, we are able! We had breakfast in the dining room and disembarked to explore Nassau for about an hour before our boat left for Blue Lagoon Island http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lagoon_Island. The water taxi to the island took approximately 45 minutes and is absolutely relaxing! Your pulse will slow, your mind will ease, and your skin will tan along the way. We entered a little cove and inside that were lovely white sand beaches. The front of the island has water sports and swim beaches. There is a limit to the number of visitors allowed per day, so there is never a crowd. You can have lunch on the island if you choose, and there is a small gift shop there, but nothing else. This is remote, isolated, and perfect! The opposite side of the beach is swim/snorkel at your own risk. There was literally no one on that side of the island, and I LOVED exploring the coves, rocks, and tide pools. I made the statement to Donnie that I was “open minded about how we spent the day as long as we did not just sit on the beach” I took that statement back pretty quickly! I could easily have enjoyed a day on that beach simply swimming and snorkeling. They offer snorkeling tours for $15 but we had a dolphin encounter booked! http://www.dolphinencounters.com/  

Oh the Dolphins! Before we were scheduled for our actual swim, we sat along the water and watched them. We were amazed at how close we were able to get to them. On one side there is no fence, no walkway, just Dolphins swimming very close to the shore. I could have watched for hours. We did the same with the sea lions, and when we return, we will opt for the Sea Lion encounter! My hubby is NOT a fan of the water. He does not like to swim, and has a pretty serious shark phobia, but he was a trooper. He jokes it takes an act of God or military to get him into the water, so he must have REALLY wanted me to fulfill my wish swim with the dolphins. The water is cold in the Caribbean, it is even colder in the cove on Blue Lagoon Island, and he did a fair about of whining about it, but into the water we went! First things first, we had our photo opp with “Andy”, our dolphin friend. I got a kiss on the cheek and was totally in love! We later had the chance to dance, pet, hug, kiss, and feed this amazing creature! I also got Donnie’s kiss when Andy snubbed him, kissed me, and then stuck his tongue out and Donnie! I simply cannot say enough about this excursion, but I highly recommend it for anyone that loves animals. I would and will do it again…..with one condition, Donnie is wearing a wetsuit! The kids will be doing the Dolphin Excursion in Cozumel this Summer. We cannot wait to share it with them! That being said, if you do cruise, skip the excursion through the cruise line and book it directly. You will save at least 30%! Dolphin encounter booked directly is $90.

We headed back to Nassau a very happy couple, had a Bahama Mama on the way and were in an island state of mind for the evening. We chose to have dinner on the ship as opposed to in Nassau, but went back out to afterwards. We wandered the streets of Nassau, checked out the Straw Market http://www.viator.com/Nassau-attractions/Straw-Market/d420-a481, and were offered every drug imaginable. We spent some time looking at the Government House http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_House,_The_Bahamas and Junkanoo Beach http://www.10best.com/destinations/bahamas/nassau/paradise-island/attractions/junkanoo-beach/. Nassau is a very safe port, so feel free to roam around!

The following morning we left the Bahamas for a day at Sea before heading back to Miami. When we returned to the Port of Miami, we disembarked the ship, and this time took a taxi to the Hialeah http://www.tri-rail.com/rider_info/station_location.htm#HIALEAH%20MARKET. We did not want to risk missing our flight so we spent the $27 on cab fare this time. In hindsight we had ample time and in the future we will take the bus and have a better exit strategy! At the station we had two Monsters (again, this is our “coffee”) and split a Cubano Sandwich, paid our $5 train fair and were at the Fort Lauderdale airport in time for our flight. We purchased some post cards, and two rum cakes $22 for my Dad and our friend Susan both helped with the kids (human, canine, and feline) while we were away! We normally pack snacks to avoid the budget drain food at the airports, but Donnie was starving at did buy a BBQ sandwich $7.50 Our return flight on JetBlue was smooth and we were home without incident, another nomadic excursion fully enjoyed by both of us.

We have booked a trip for the family to the Yucatan Peninsula for August. We are Philly and Washington DC bound again in July. Our March trip has not yet been determined, but there will no doubt be a Spring trip! October we hope to be in Rome, Italy. Stay tuned for restaurant reviews, local road trips, and wherever else we roam to in the meantime!

                      Alexandria

Our trip to Alexandria and Arlington was, as is our norm, an unplanned and happy accident!

For my birthday last year, Donnie and I booked a crazy good deal on flights into Washington, DC, and since it is our favorite city and future home, we were THRILLED to be going for the third time together! This was the first time we had flown into DC, having chosen to fly into Philadelphia previously and hop our beloved Chinatown bus! This time we flew into Reagan National Airport http://airport-dca.com/.

It was icy in Austin when we left, so the roads were abandoned and the airport a ghost town. We were not sure our flight would even take off, but if it did, we were determined to be on it. It was my birthday and I wanted to travel! We will probably never again make such good time getting to the airport. The flight was on schedule, and we were on our way to Washington, DC! Flying over DC is something to see. It is absolutely beautiful. It was warmer in Washington, DC when we landed than it was in Austin, TX when we left….again, something we may never experience again.

We stayed downtown at the Residence Inn http://www.hotelsavings.com/booking/1039183 which was a little different from our normal hotel experience, but what the hell. The price was right and for the next couple days our efficiency style apartment/hotel room served the purpose and was in a great location, too! Skip the breakfast buffet, seriously, even Donnie would not eat it! Day one we spent in DC at the National Cathedral, museums, etc….all of which you can read about in the DC blog, but this blog is about Virginia…..and day 3 and 4 that is where we were. A happy accident.

As will happen when you travel nomad style, you have to improvise! We wanted to squeeze more time out of our budget, so we booked the second two nights in Alexandria, VA and I enlisted some help from a friend living in the area for tips. We are forever grateful we did. The only and I mean the ONLY negative experience we had while there was having to walk in the COLD, along the Potomac for far too long to get a MONSTER. We really should have given up and had coffee, but hey we like what we live. We have few vices and that is one of them. I love the Potomac, who knows why, but we have the best talks walking along that river. It has special meaning for us, and we just FEEL good when we are there.  As romantic as that is, we are Texans, and it was COLD, so our walk was a bit short that first evening. We have been outside all day discovering Alexandria.

I loved the quaint little streets and all the red brick buildings.  You can truly feel the history there. It was clean, friendly, and all around lovely. We visited the George 

   Washington Masonic Memorial upon recommendation from my friend and we ended up being there far longer than “planned”. This is one of the few places we took a tour, at no cost to us but our time for the first two floors, and $5 each for the observation deck. We had the opportunity to tour the building and hear the history from a very knowledgeable guide. We are not usually into guided, well, anything, but I am glad we put on our patience pants and stuck it out. http://www.gwmemorial.org/ This memorial is right off King Street in Alexandria, and although it is impressive from outside, you simply must go in! We did not expect there to be a view from the top, but there was and we had a bird’s eye view of downtown. I should preface our awe by admitting,  we have a “thing” for being on top of buildings. Maybe it started on our honeymoon, from City Hall, Washington Monument, Empire State building 102^nd floor, who has time to analyze these things…..simply put, if there is a way to get on the very top of a building, Donnie and I are there, leaning over the side, taking photos, making jokes, and speculating about life below.  The grounds are under construction with many new trees having recently been planted. Most things on the East Coast appeal to us because they are old, here was something new, and we cannot wait to go back and watch these “new” trees grow. We could have stayed up there longer, but we wanted to explore the rooms below, so we begrudgingly went back down. I should note, we were never rushed by our guide! In keeping with our promise to tell the good, bad, ugly, and (with special enthusiasm) the weird. I must tell you, we saw more dog poop on the sidewalk to the memorial that we had ever seen in our lives. It was impossible to miss, especially given the rather large sign stating NO DOGS ALLOWED. Still, we remember that, and hey, travel is about making memories; good, bad, ugly, weird, and at times: poopy!

We had dinner at Chadwick’s in Old Town on the strand http://www.chadwicksrestaurants.com/location.php?location=3  by recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed it. Buttermilk Fried Chicken and mac and cheese on a cold, damp day is comforting to say the least, but that is not what stayed with us about this place. The server was fun, but the Cokes were FABULOUS. Yea. Yea, odd enough we know but we both confessed the best fountain coke we had ever had. That is saying something for me especially, cause I am a Dr. Pepper girl! If you are there try this place!

While in Virginia we made time to go to the Arlington National Cemetery http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/. I had been before, but it did not have near the impact on me that it did on this visit. Maybe because I did not get out and walk around, maybe it was during a trip that was too planned, maybe the difference was Donnie’s reaction and us having a shared love of history and a mutual fascination of patriotism. The cold did not deter us. Honestly despite being under prepared for the snow (again, we are Texans, it seems destined to happen) we never noticed it and we were there for hours. Do not take the tour! Take the metro, take the hilly hike, and TAKE YOUR TIME. Spend some time in the visitor’s center and look at the amazing photos there. The eternal flamehttp://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/eternalflame.htm was a popular spot for folks, and this is the only place in the cemetery that was even close to crowded. The view of Washington, DC from the Kennedy memorial is breathtaking!

Our favorite part of that excursion though, was the Tomb of The Unknowns http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/tombofun.htm . First we saw the Memorial Amphitheater and learned about the 3^rd Untied States infantry Regiment “The Old Guard”http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/thirdinf.htm. Do some research, and spend some time becoming informed about the intense dedication these men show to this tomb24 hours a day 365 days a year, regardless of weather. We were not prepared for the emotional impact the changing of the guard http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/VisitorInformation/ChangingofTheGuard.aspx but we were very moved. Donnie videotaped the entire thing, and even today if I listen to it, with the precise, determined steps taken by the soldier, I can FEEL the energy, the sanctity, the dedication to “an American Soldier known but to God”. It was a difficult thing to walk away from. We shared quiet steps and quieter thoughts back to the metro rail stop, both a little less tolerant of the tourists groups, happy, peaceful, sad, and dare I say proud.

We had little time left in Alexandria the last day, but we decided to have dinner at Gatsby’s Tavernhttp://alexandriava.gov/GadsbysTavern  it was built in 1785 as a tavern an hotel and early patrons included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. The original bar is still there. We had carving board sandwiches and peanut soup http://www.gadsbystavernrestaurant.com/ which was great, but the ambiance and our chat with the management staff were the golden memories of our time there. We were preparing for a Department of Defense Dinner that very night, and were (no joke) looking for chairs with the least noticeable “butt marks”. They apologized for the disruption, but these are the stories and moments we live for! From our view from that quaint, charming little window we had a great last day in Alexandria, and know we will be back to Gatsby’s. We cannot explain that even to ourselves now, but someday we know it will make sense. We wandered the streets of Alexandria, grabbed some candy at the candy shop, and eventually made our way back to Washington, DC for our returning flight.

Virginia had been an afterthought, a side note, but next time it will not be. Next time it will be a conscious decision to return to a place that we enjoyed so much. That is the secret to wandering aimlessly wannabenomads style. We could have racked up taxi expenses determined to stay in DC where we KNEW we would enjoy ourselves. Instead, we made work where we landed, on the resources we planned, and we discovered a whole new place. We are always sad to leave, but we smile knowing we will be back.