After getting back from ten days in the Caribbean, reality has well and truly set back in again. The usual things, annoying news stories, gas and leccy bill waiting for us and only today our water bill. Add to that the wife’s car needs a service, the spring in my step I had from my holiday has well and truly gone.

The weather is ‘apparently’ getting better but I am yet to see that, I just think the weather men /women plain out lie just to try an appease the masses. Anyway it’s not freezing cold anymore so the heating hasn’t been on, so saving some energy there, I also think it’s time to get rid of the wife’s car, once it’s had its service, it really is a waste to have two cars when we could manage with one. I think whilst I was away I had some sort of epiphany or that I just want to save as much money as possible to go on holiday!

Anyway Barbados was fantastic, gorgeous sunshine every day, no rain and barely any wind. Although our hotel wasn’t the Sandy Lane hotel, for me it was pretty luxurious and we didn’t want for anything. We could get up leisurely on a morning head down for a satisfying buffet breakfast before wandering the short distance to the beach and the beautiful turquoise warm ocean. It was magical and I know I’m sounding totally gay but I loved it.

I’m made for relaxing and taking it easy and defiantly pre-programmed for sunshine and hot temperatures. The staff at the hotel completed our stay, they couldn’t do enough for you, nothing was any trouble and they were so friendly, such a nice experience. We will defiantly go back to the Caribbean again, maybe Mexico or Dominican Republic, but not for a couple of years as it can be pretty pricy.

Benidorm not Barbados

Anyway for a short beak this summer, my dad is heading to Benidorm (his budget for holidays isn’t as big as mine) for a week so as he doesn’t live here, I thought it would be nice to join him for a few days. I have got a flight and booked into the same hotel as him the Cabana Hotel. I will be there four days over the weekend and will be able to relax with him there. To be fair it’s probably better than him spending money to come to the UK, it will feel like a proper holiday and it will be more affordable. Benidorm is pretty cheap, although it’s not really my kind of holiday place, not comparing it to Barbados, but one thing for sure I will be able to enjoy my beer and it’s always fun getting my dad drunk!

Image courtesy of neatonjr

After enjoying a Caribbean cruise holiday this year, both the wife and I seem to have caught the cruising bug (no not novo virus). We won’t do another Caribbean one, not for a while anyway, but the wife seems quite insistent on taking a transatlantic cruise for her birthday next year.

Sailing from Southampton to New York on a luxury Cunard cruise liner does seem quite tempting. The shopping in New York part after does not! It would be an occasion to push the boat out (sorry about the pun) and if you’re going to do luxury then, well you really have to go all out! Luckily there are some really good cruise offers for next year for a transatlantic cruise, so you never know it may not be too expensive (well the cruise part). I know my credit card will get a blasting once the wife hits the shops in New York. At least I’d get to sample the street food and visit the sites.

Although a Med cruise was also an option, the wife also wants to go on another girl’s holiday with her mates, so perhaps she can do that and the guys and I could get organised for a piss up somewhere. Actually come to think of it we haven’t been to Amsterdam for a while???? The Med cruise can then be left for another year, perhaps I can persuader my dad to join us on one.

Anyway now the magic of Christmas seems to be well and truly over, it’s time for me to hop back on the old exercise bike. I seem to have put on rather a lot of weight since I first started exercising. I blame the cruise, cold weather and my family visiting this Christmas. In the past when it has just be me and the wife I haven’t really eaten much, however the wife seems to have been cooking non-stop and there is always some kind of unhealthy snack in. Add to that eating out a few nights and excessive drinking my weight and waist line has ballooned.

Still can’t get Will Smith singing Miami out of my head, damn it! But on the plus side were having loads of fun. I must point out though that I am feeling old and fat wish I had put more effort in on the exercise bike before I came, my wife was right (just don’t tell her that).

Yesterday we went to the Art Deco Historic District and got lots of photos, which I can’t wait to check out when I got home. This was one spot I really wanted to visit. There is a concentration of art deco buildings here and as we joined a walking tour I learnt so much not just about the buildings but also what went inside them with mobsters and celebs which had the wife enthralled.

Today I have promised to take her shopping; she wants some new clothes and something fancy to wear tonight because ‘apparently’ she doesn’t have anything. One spot we are hitting is Lincoln Road which has lots of highstreet type shops and places to eat (my main thing is food). We also have to visit Bal Harbour which isn’t too far from our hotel which is all designer shops.

The wife keeps banging on about how much money she will save getting her designer clothes in the US. Of course she will be saving money because she won’t be buying it, muggings here will be paying for it! Oh and her friends teenage kids have begged her to go to the Dash Miami store. For those males uninformed (all men on planet) this is the Kardashian clothing store and they are supposed to be currently filming here (yippee). So that’s also on the schedule and information regarding them stuck in my brain.

Tonight we are going to some fancy restaurant, forgotten name, it’s a bit like tantric but not because that’s the sex thing anyway the wife picked it. It serves fancy food lots of fish and stuff I’m not sure I will like it. However the wife thinks I have been eating too much typical American food (fried), so I have to give this a go!

So first thing this morning we were ushered off the Oasis of the seas and then bussed to our hotel in Miami during which I couldn’t seem to get that damn Will Smith song out of my head. It was only a short journey to our hotel which is situated on Miami Beach, we have views out into the Atlantic Ocean and the wife can’t wait to get some sunbathing in.

We could have hired a car to get around, but because we are only here a few days, I couldn’t be bothered. It does seem though that everyone drives here, however there are plenty of buses around and we will probably tend to follow the droves of tourists so we don’t get lost.

After just under a week on a cruise ship I am glad to be back on dry land. Although we did stop off in ports the few hours weren’t enough to stop me missing the safety feeling of land. Anyway it wasn’t too bad; apparently it does take you a couple of times to get used to cruising. I did feel by the end of the cruise we were starting to get into a rhythm on the ship and finding our sea feet as it were.

On the days we were at sea we spent time milling around the ship and believe me it can take a day to get around the Oasis of the seas. A gentle walk in the morning after breakfast, then a light lunch and maybe playing some bingo games in the afternoon, before getting ready for the evening fun and games was a typical day.

Time did go really fast on board, I mean I know holidays tend to, but it was like time went super-fast, one minute you were enjoying breakfast, next thing you know it was time to find somewhere to eat for lunch. And when we were at the ports and off on our excursions, it seemed like no soon as we had set foot on land it was time to board the cruise ship again.

Anyway it was just a quick post whilst the wife gets herself sorted for some sunbathing, today she just needs a rest before we get out and about, plus she said I look like I need some sun, otherwise people will think we didn’t go away.