Café Con Monica

Trave Days: Carribean Cruise: Miami + Day at Sea

A couple weeks ago I decided to finally start sharing our Caribbean Cruise from this past June. In that post I talked about how we decided on the cruise and tried to book it while saving ourselves some money! You can see that post at Travel Days: Caribbean Cruise Pt. 1!

We decided to fly into Miami a day early to avoid rushing from Airport to the port on the same day of the cruise which was Sunday-Sunday! the added benefit was the flights were about $200 cheaper overall because we didn’t fly in the day of.

We booked a room at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami and we are very happy we did. The hotel is literally across the bridge from the port and across the street from a cute little shopping/market area Bayside Marketplace. So we got to walk around and explore a bit there when we arrived and before we headed to the port Sunday.

We had some lunch at La Camaronera and then dinner at CVI.CHE 105 because we wanted to try a place walking distance with drinks!

Then we got some rest and the next day we headed to the port and hopped on a big boat! We got settled into our room, got some dinner and relaxed.

Our first day was at Sea so we spent the morning at the pool getting sun and drinking frozen drinks…then we went to play Bingo and tried a beer and whiskey pairing class. We explored the boat and then got dressed up and had dinner and more drinks!

I loved coming back to our room to find the animal towels!
So that is the the beginning our cruise!

Oh Monday….

This past week was nuts guys! Nuts! I was home Friday-Friday…but let me tell you about how I was supposed to be in Chicago Friday (11/16)-Saturday (11/24)

I booked my flight super last minute because I have been so busy I just let it get away from me…which now reminds me I need to book my Christmas trip flight! AHhh So I booked the ticket probably 2 weeks before and on Hopper while at work because I got an alert. I also completely forgot that I had done a few different combos of days for my alerts. Friday-Friday, Friday-Saturday, Friday-Sunday, Saturday-Friday…that kind of thing. So I booked it.

A few days before I leave I decide I would really like to stay in an Airbnb so I can have a bed and space to myself and not have to sleep on my cousin’s airmattress or stay all the way in the burbs the whole week. So I booked it. Turns out I booked the airbnb for 2 night…not 4! NOT 4. Didn’t realize until I am sitting in the bed at 2 am looking at emails and I see an email about check out.

Then the best part….I am sitting at my sisters house nice and full and happy to be with my family on Thankgiving evening about 9:00 pm. I’m thinking about what shopping I might do the next day (Friday) before Friendsgiving dinner….and I see an email from American Airlines “Time to Check in for your Flight”

WHAT?? My flight is Saturday at 10:50 am….right?

Open the email and there it is….Fly in Friday….Fly out Friday at 10:50 am.

So I started to freak out. I have a rental car until Saturday, I have plans for Friday, I have to be at the airport at 8 am the next day. I’m not packed. I start searching flights to change my flight and nothing…NOTHING is under $500. I am not spending $500 to stay one extra day. That is nuts. Spend an Hour & 1/2 on the phone with American…nope nothing we can do. So now I am going home a day early.

SO here is the thing that is crazy to me……
– I booked seats on all my flights (i had a layover both ways)
– I booked a rental car based on my flights (I booked the rental car till Saturday)
– The rental car guy asked me to see my return flight information and he didn’t even see that I was coming home a day early.

How did this happen? Anyway I made it home, I was sad I missed another day with my family and friends but I am still grateful I got the week. All of this to tell you to PLEASE CHECK YOUR FLIGHTS because clearly that was a series of errors from not paying attention.

Now that I have said all of that…here are some photos from my trip. 
We celebrated my nephew Axel’s 1st Birthday! 

 I got to see my best friend G’s team play

I got to go to my friend Daniela’s engagement party because she FINALLY got engaged and I am sooooo happy for her!

I got to see the Macy’s Santa with my family and then freeze our asses at the Christkindlmarket!

And I got to wake up at my mothers and make my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies while I watched the NY Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade…a tradition my grandmother passed on that helps me feel like she is part of my day every year. 

Show Us Your Books!

 
**Reading Challenge Update as of 11/13/18: 118 of 120 books read for the year!**  
October was a super busy month so I don’t feel like I read a lot. 

 City of Fallen Angels (****) I actually started to re-read The Mortal Instruments series back in September and realized that I hadn’t gotten past the 3rd book. So in October I read City of Glass and then City of Fallen Angels. I decided to take a pause and decide if I want to continue to the next book. This one was good but I also feel like it could have ended there and been good so I am not sure I want to drag it out more. 

Crazy House (****) I happened on this book because of one of the 8th graders was reading it and I asked what it was about and voila…I read it. I liked it and was excited to see it has a 2nd book so I will probably read that soon. It is definitely a YA book. I forgot that James Patterson has a few series that are geared toward YA.

A Kiss of Shadows (****) You all know how much I love the Anita Blake series and her 26?28? books and since I read Serpentine in October too I decided to check out the Merry Gentry series. I read this one and then Caress of Twilight and decided I might not be sure i want to continue. It didn’t click for me the way the anita blake series did. 
When Life Gives You Lululemons (****)  I am so behind sometimes. I know everyone read this book over the summer but that is ok. I definitely liked it. I definitely did not realize before going in that this has characters from Devil Wears Prada so I was surprised but that made it more fun because I did love that book too. 
A Recipe for Disaster (***) Ok so this was one of those books i got free from the kindle emails that I love. I didn’t not like it. I am not a huge fan of the reconnecting romances just because I didn’t get to see the initial falling in love period. 
The Woman in the Window (****) I really liked this book. It surprised me which is always nice, I like when I don’t know who exactly is the bad guy or if I think I know something and I am wrong. I saw a lot of reviews that said they knew but maybe I just don’t read enough books like this to get things right away?

There were a few more that I won’t mention..mostly because they were dirty ass romance novels and you guys don’t need to know that much about me!

What did you read in October? 

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