I hope its been a great year for you all. I have not posted much in this block since I have several I have been in one place so I kept making videos on you tube. You can see my updates for the recent van dwelling experience HERE.
Now this post is about my 7 day FREE Bermuda Cruise. I could just call it right place right time. It was totally unexpected and random in a good way. I found out only two weeks before we were leaving, luckily I had a passcard.
This trip came after I began to get deeper into the law of attraction thinking of abundance is all around us we just need to be open to receive it. I do believe it and if you watch some of the above videos you will see me chatting about in the more recent ones.
As far as the cruise itself my favorite parts were watching the water and eating the endless supply of food. I still miss those late nights roaming around the food bar. My favorite treats were the variety of omelets, the ice creams that I could mix and match and choices daily that were different. Yummy for sure.
Something else that was cool was the Broadway style musicals we had for entertainment plus comedians. I do love amusing people especially those who don’t believe you have to curse every five minutes to be funny.
Never let anyone tell you it’s not special to have someone put a chocolate on your pillow and clean your room twice a day. I am totally ready for that to happen all the time. :} Don’t worry I will pay them well to pamper me, but back to the trip.
There is something extra special about seeing people just relax, you can tell those who are not used to as they get stressed at the slightest little thing. we didn’t observe many of those thankfully. We did have someone who was confined to the quarters for something but I never really understood exactly.
I did also enjoy the casino the various restaurants that were in our cruise package and at some moments just being happy to have been involved in the abundance of it all.
In Bermuda, it was hard to breathe in the way that it took a few hours for me to really understand I finally was on an island. YEAH. Most people save months for this privilege and mine came in an instant, without a price tag, I as truly grateful. The beautiful waters the local shops and again the awareness of a chance to see more of the world was a bit overwhelming.
The first day we visited St. Georges at the far end of the island. We roamed and wandered down toward the opposite end passing the shops and the unfinished church on the way to Blackbeards restaurant. It had a lovely alcove not too far from St. Catherine’s fort. It was a cloudy day though lucky for us since the sun burning down on us as we walked would have been a nightmare.
We ended up waiting for a while as someone went off sightseeing but we didn’t mind. By the way, I was with some relatives who do this type of excursion from time to time. As what we say is what we get we were able to get a ride back down to the town from a local hotel shuttle. You can imagine at first we were not sure he would take us but he was a friendly sort, very amiable.
What I found odd about this day was that we went right back down to the dock to get back on the ferry after that short time it couldn’t have been more than two hours or so. This is the one down side of being with a group. I had no time to roam the shops to get that feel of exploring which was a bummer for me. This is not a complaint anyone who had ventured out with friends has experienced this.
It had been agreed that we would work from the farthest end of the island than wander the Wharf area nearest the ship on the final day in Bermuda.
My favorite times were a bit of a mix. I enjoyed being alone to roam around the ship, at times just watching people or dozing in the sun or day dreaming while ocean watching. A couple of times I had my own excursions.
Once I went to an art auction, actually it ended up being twice. The first time for the champagne I admit it sounded so fun. Believe me it was, I realized while I was there that the auction part was also fascinating. I returned on another day to see if I could win some art to take back. I had received 18 free entries. At this point I am not sure how that happened but I was excited. I was so excited I ended up on the first row. I didn’t win but I thoroughly enjoyed the process. There was a beautiful Tiger painting that made me cry it just touched my heart. I decided in the end it was too different in style from the painting I already have to be worth it, it was still touching.
Another outing involved looking at how John Hardy makes his jewelry in Bali. They showed us on a presentation plus they had examples but he was not aboard, sadly. Oh yes Bali is on my bucket list, I have been hearing great things. There were only four of us at this small gathering but I learned about craftmanship. I also looked at the displayed jewelry and found it quite unique. I enjoy unique, I am not a buy what everyone else has kinda girl at all.
Now this is a warning and something I had no idea about even while I was there it didn’t quite make sense but a cruise is like a glorified shopping experience. I had no idea. All the little events and demonstrations are someone trying to get you to buy something. There are decks of things for sale, in all price ranges from a few dollars to millions I imagine. Just thinking of it now gives me a strange since of “I had no clue.” Part of me really thought it was sheer convenience and fun but no its really not. Its how they make their real money from those willing to shop aboard the high seas. I know it’s all about the EXPERIENCE, right?
Nevertheless, it was still good fun.
On friday we went to Hamilton on the ferry and ended up in the middle of a parade. According to a sign they have it each week where people can share their homemade items on the street downtown. It was quite busy and festive especially when the parade strolled through right during the rain. We had homemade lemonade squeezed right there on the street, very tasty. We also ended up inside a cool shop with sculptures that were hand created by African artisans. I fell in love with a lion called “The KING”. Yes its mine in the near future. It is beautiful and made of a pale green jade stone, I love it.
On our return trip the ferry was so full we ended up in the cabin with the captain. This was interesting. One of our group is in a delicate situation and one of the crew suggested we ask, it was agreed upon and we basically had the best seats inside out of the rain too. You never know till you ask.
There is a bit of contrast between the days at sea and the days on shore. I suppose it’s just logic on the ship we were looking for things to occupy us. On land we occupied ourselves with various places to visit.
On one of the days we visited the Crystal caves. They had a fantasy crystal cave with more yellow crystals hanging from the ceilings while the other cave had more white crystals. The Fantasy cave was quite smaller than the other cave also. The larger cave was full of water which meant they had created a makeshift bridge. I cannot say that was real comforting but when in a group I believe we tend to take on that mentality. It didn’t seem as if anyone else was concerned and we all survived it. The crystals were fascinating. The story of their discovered is mentioned in the link in the beginning of this paragraph.
Here are some videos from the ship below:
I didn’t post all the videos some of them were to close up and the goal was to show you what was happening on the ship not to show me so much.
another person in a town called Bellingham to offer me an exchange position the next day. She met me in the town and took me to her house. She was the sweetest lady, taking me in the home giving me the key. I ended up staying close to four months all together and now call Bellingham my home at heart.
Rene's Travels 