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We arrived at the Bahamas on our second day of the cruise. And we had one full day to explore the paradise. After much reviewing and contemplating, Vanessa and I decided that we had to visit Atlantis, the fancy resort we all saw on television as a child. We took a cheap ferry ride over and we purchase an all day Beach and Aquarium pass. We had access to two beaches and multiple aquarium exhibits. With the water so blue and the sand so white, my eyes were squinted even smaller. We laid in the given beach chairs as Bahamians frequently stroll by to sell us fresh coconuts, drinks, and toy turtles (that's right, toy turtles). The guy who sold those had a weird, yet hilarious sales pitch, "The sun is out, it's hot as hell, let's get some turtles."
We eventually left and took a cab back to the port where we explored the straw market, a place where you can find both neat souvenirs and hecklers. And with time being our enemy, we had our last stop at the bar for a few drinks and we headed back to our ship before it got dark. With one day remaining left on the cruise, we spent it sleeping and eating, sighing on the fact that our vacation is nearly over. Time to save up again for our next trip, because this one was perfect.
We left our hotel early on Friday and took a 4 hour bus ride to Miami. We arrived at the port a few hours early and we weren't sure what to do until then. But we got lucky and there was early check in available and we boarded the Carnival Ecstasy by noon. Thus began our weight gain regiment as we cross the seas to our destination, the Bahamas.
I was never a major Harry Potter fan prior to this vacation, but I think this has changed. We visited Islands of Adventure, Universal's second park, where they had the infamous Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Vanessa is a huge fan and has been wanting to visit this place, and to be honest, I was excited as well. I was blown away at how immersive the environment was and how the workers didn't break character. Vanessa got chosen in the wand shop by a wizard to partake in trying a series of wands, with one ultimately choosing her. This theme park was overall more dominant than its counterpart, with them having a variety of themes, prettier decor, and better rides.
The left wand is hers, the right is mine :)
Vanessa and I took our first big vacation last week together. Life has been spiraling down ever since we got back. I joke, not really. It was planned nine months in advanced, and we got a relatively good deal on most of the major expenses. This seven day escape brought us to the lands of themeparks, wizards, and tropical beaches.
We arrived in Orlando at 4PM on Tuesday and we immediately spotted Carrot Top, haha. We proceeded to check in at the Hilton Parc Soleil resort. We stayed here for the next three days due to a fabulous deal of us attending a timeshare meeting, where we met a very flamboyantly rude and talkative salesman, Andres. We were so sleepy and lazy on the first night we decided to just have pizza, wings, and wine to dine in our outrageously spacious room. We needed to save our energy for the next two days since we would exploring Universal's Studios two theme parks!
This will be my annual recap of the year Two Thousand and Thirteen.
Compared to all the other years, this one takes the cake I think. Although I have blogged significantly less, I have done exponentially more. There were a lot of "firsts" this year. Thanks to websites like Groupon/Livingsocial/Scorebig, we were able to explore places and activities that never caught our attention. I went to my first soccer game (Galaxy), and my first hockey game (Ducks). Vanessa and I attended a hot air balloon festival and took a ride in a gondola together. The best discovery from all of these was archery. We got hooked with shooting and Vanessa finally got her own recurve bow!
There were plenty of mini-vacations. There were three Vegas trips; one for the threesome birthdays, one for the couples retreat at the lake, and one for just Vanessa and I. We also made one night visits to Palm Springs and Crystal Lake, as well as an all day excursion around Malibu and Santa Monica. Big Bear was a cozy experience with a cabin of our own, and Havasupai was a gorgeous wonder that took both my breath and knees away. I went on my first Metro ride to San Clemente and my first Amtrak ride to San Diego.
I left California Psychcare and joined Proof Positive in which I have no comment about for the moment. For the first time, I was the subject alongside Vanessa in a photo shoot. I have also fallen back into photographing, thanks to Vanessa's gift. I had my first Valentine's date with a picnic and received my first Easter's basket. I was White Rabbit and she was Alice. We saw Ed Sheeran, Gregory Allan Isakov, and Vampire Weekend perform, as well as Cirque Du Soleil's "KA." We tested our stamina in Mud factor and the Electric run, and we tested our age at the L.A. Fair. From multiple Disneyland visits, I've picked up a hobby and started collecting Disney pins. Participated in my first Secret Santa with the group and fell back into the world of Pokemon.
Heisenberg was a badass, L was defeated by Kira, and the walkers have finally broken the prison. Lawrence helped with defeating Handsome Jack in Borderlands 2, Vanessa helped with escaping the cursed island in Tomb Raider, and Tuanolyn helped the three of us in defeating the Ender Dragon in Minecraft. Vanessa and I relived and beat old classics such as Donkey Kong/Yoshi/Super Mario while diving into the new-aged classics such as Isaac/Spelunky.
It was our one year anniversary, as well as the 5th annual Wongsgiving. Travis Wong came into my life as I am an uncle of five now. Two Thousand and Thirteen will be hard to beat, but I'm willing to bet on the underdog here, :).
I turned 26 last week. Time is flying by, and I need to definitely blog more. Giancarlo was gracious enough to let me use his house to host a party. And so, with the help of Vanessa and Marty, we had ourselves a successful night of celebration. Thank you all for gifts, food, drinks, and showing up. The following pictures will do a better job illustrating the night.
Apparently, I took mugshots of people at one point.
