Category: Best Beaches

In the News: Five Nights in Costa del Sol, starting at $729 with Air

Published on by Cheryl LockLeave a comment
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There comes a time in your life, my friends, when you realize that you cannot possibly afford to take every single fantastic trip offer that finds its way into your dreams.

This is, unfortunately, one of those times. With all the trips for this year over, I’m looking forward to next year, but at the same time starting to think—at what point should I be putting this travel money towards something else? Something important. Something like a house. Or a new computer. Or any of the other myriad of grown-up ways that I could spend that money.

It’s not that I ever think travel is a waste of money (not even if the trip doesn’t turn out quite the way you thought it would)—it’s just something I’ve been considering, as of late.

Anyway, I digress. I can’t afford to take this trip, even if it seems like a great offer, but maybe you could. Thank you Frommer’s newsletter for sharing this interesting deal with me:

Gate 1 Travel is offering a five-night trip to Costa del Sol, including round-trip airfare from NYC, for a starting price of $729 (if you depart on Dec. 28 your price will be $729, other dates include mark-up fees). The fee also includes the choice of two tourist/budget-class hotels, daily breakfast and airline fuel surcharges.

If you’re still looking for New Years Eve plans, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Bis bald, friends!

Diary of a Traveling Friend: A Photo Essay to Envy

Published on by Cheryl Lock2 Comments

Courtesy of my amazing traveling friend, take in the gorgeousness that is New Zealand and Thailand, seen through her eyes:

From New Zealand:

Auckland City
Tongariro Alpine Crossing

New Zealand sunset
Bay of Islands in Northland
A funky New Zealand bathroom
Ta Mahuta Kauri trees

Mauri Temple
Hot Pools Rotorua

And on to Thailand: Locations include Baan Dada, Erawan Falls, Koh Phangan, Ton Sai

View from Bungalows

Ton Sai beach
Deep water soloing = climbing on rocks without ropes (also = my nightmare)

As an aside, my traveling friend and her traveling companion also happen to be volunteering at orphanages and clinics along the way which, as you can imagine, also allow for some amazingly adorable photos of kids. However, for the sake of the kiddies privacy, I have refrained from posting those particular photos. It was hard. They’re adorable.

Bis bald, friends!


Memories of a Sunny Florida

Published on by Cheryl Lock3 Comments
In St. Augustine land, my gorgeous one-bedroom was situated in a gated community about 1 mile from the beach. Bliss.

When I saw this article in the paper today, I was instantly transported to another time in my life. This was a time when I was just graduating from college, and the world was my oyster. I could go anywhere, do anything, be anything.

To make a long story short— where I ended up going was to St. Augustine, Florida, and what I ended up doing was freelancing for a newspaper. Then becoming a staff writer for another one. Then becoming a paginator for another one.

Clearly I was still searching for that perfect job—and my search continued for the two years that I lived there…..

I digress. The point is, much to my own sadness, it was only really after I left St. Augustine, a city so rich in history and culture, that I truly missed it and realized how awesome it was to spend the time there that I did. After the jump, a few of my fave photos, and some of my suggestions for hang outs should you ever find yourself in St. Augustine’s neck of the woods.

From the Archives: A Throwback to Valentines Days Past

Published on by Cheryl Lock5 Comments

This year I spent Valentines day at my mom’s house, planning an upcoming trip to Europe with my sister. Last year, however, Chris and I were on a boat heading out to snorkel in the Bahamas.

There’s a lot to be said about this. For our first Valentines day when we were actually physically together (the first year we were dating he was in Banff), it was pretty great to be in the Bahamas. On the other hand, we learned a pretty valuable lesson on that trip—if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Continue reading “From the Archives: A Throwback to Valentines Days Past” →

From the Archives: There’s no place like…

Published on by Cheryl Lock1 Comment

Hawaii with a friend.

While I await the upcoming adventures of Chris in Japan from this weekend (snowboarding with his best friend at the resort where he works -tough life!), I’ll pull some trips from my archives to post.

When a high school friend of mine decided to move to Hawaii after she graduated from college, sure, I knew I’d miss her, but also, I was friggin’ excited! Since Chris was away in Banff, Canada, at the time, I decided I’d treat myself to my own little Valentines day treat and I booked my flight to coincide with the ‘holiday of love.’

And I was in love. From the second I stepped off the plane and got “leid,” until the time I had to (unfortunately) board to go back home, I fell more and more in love with the island. We stayed on Honolulu and made a couple of treks out to Waikiki and some other touristy spots, but for the most part, the greatest thing was seeing Hawaii through the eyes of a person who lived there. Faye took me to local bars and her favorite restaurants. We went to a fancy hotel bar and saw David Beckham (not planned, just fate, I swear!), and we went on hikes and jumped off of waterfalls. Here are a few of the highlights:

Everywhere you go in Hawaii you want to take photos, but it’s so frustrating, because no photo ever turns out as beautiful as the scenery actually is. Since it’s now been a full two years since I was there (sob!!!), it’s hard for me to remember all of the tiny details of the trip, other than to look through my photos (another good reason to blog!). I think nobody really needs convincing to go to a place like Hawaii, but I have to admit, it was never really on my ‘must visit’ list until I knew I had someone to go there and visit with. Having gone now, though, I’d go back in a heartbeat. My trip with Faye was more on the adventurous side, which I loved. Next time I might spend more time on the beach, mixed in with the hiking and the waterfall jumping. Still, I love a vacation that has some sort of mix of the two.

Hopefully I’ll have an update next week or the week after from Chris’s trip to Japan. He’ll be there right during the Japanese New Year (it’s actually the night he arrives), so it should be really fun.

Until next time…bis bald…and see you soon!