And so the vacations begins ..... this particular one will take us to places we have only dreamt of going. Venice, Florence, Pompeii, Rome, Sorrento, Positano, Capri, Giglio. One week of backpacks and trains. One week of the elegant brass and mahogany of the most luxurious tall ships on the planet ..... The Royal Clipper ...... with one of our favorite bands, the amazingly talented and unpretentious Big Head Todd and the Monsters .... and 150+ of the most awes...

The weeks leading up to a big vacation are always such chaos. By the time you hit the airport, you feel like you need a vacation, which is what your doing, yet deep in the recesses of your mind .... Cmon .... We all know how stressful vacations can be. Especially when you have to fly. Even more so when that flight is an overnight international flight. Well, this trip wasn't like that at all. My buddy Tim ... You'll meet him here in a few. He flies ... Like all th...

The Big Head Todd, Big Caribbean Cruise III is officially over today. :-( This morning, we are back in St. Maarten. 12.5 nautical miles were covered to bring us back to port last night, bringing us to a grand total of 269.9 nautical miles sailed over the past week. After breakfast, we squared up our bill, and turned our keys in. We shook hands with and give big meaningful hugs to all our new friends. We've all promised to keep in touch and with the closed Face...

Woke up a little fuzzy from the night before. Heather and I took a stroll along the "Boardwalk". No boards involved here. Found an awesome little beach side restaurant called the Pasanggrahan for breakfast. Heather had the French Toast and I the Denver Omelette. Typically I don't feel the need to list everything I eat on vacation .... Mainly because all I'd be doing is writing about what I eat. But this breakfast was outstanding, and the coffee here? Outstanding!...

I've been waiting for this moment ... for over a year ..... Stayed at Karla and Duo's place last night. Woke up at 3:30 and left at 4:00. Had to catch the 4:30 shuttle ... So I thought. It was actually 4:45. That's why I was a little antsy when we were routed through Carnegie due to the Parkway being closed. Poor little Frankie, our Jack Russell\Dachshund, was noticeably distressed when we left. The flights down were pretty uneventful. Met numerous couples wit...