Thus begins our final adventure before nature s squeezes a baby out of my wife. I can’t wait.
The first leg of the trip was a flight to Sin City for some fun. We had a 55 minute layover. We spent 42 of the 55 minutes desperately searching for anything edible. After searching the whole D terminal, we settled on Pizza Hut. Knowing that we spent the past week eating 1,296 square inches of pizza we had left over, makes that choice even more difficult. I had also had pizza for first dinner.
Then we began a 4 hour 20 minute red-eye flight to Miami. Awesome flight. The guy next to me watched footloose in Spanish, super loud, and Beth glared at me for two hours that I remember, and probably more. Beth, like gremlins should never be disturbed after midnight, and definitely don’t pour any water on her back…I tried that 18 weeks ago.
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| Espanola Street right outside our hotel |
Landing in Miami at 6 am, 3 am our time, and spending an hour renting a car is just awful.
Fortunately, we were able to squeeze in an hour and a half nap at the Clay Hotel. A delightful old-timey hotel over hopping Española Street. Española Street features many authentic Español food items at American prices.
We then jumped on an Everglades tour, where we toured the Everglades on an airboat. They provide ear plugs to you because the airboat is really freaking loud. I kept mine, and they will get more use tomorrow morning on our 3 hour drive to Port Canaveral.
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| Airboat in the Everglades |
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| Everglades |
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| Baby Alligator! |
After the Everglades tour, we wandered the streets of Miami Beach, planning a night full of salsa dancing and sultry looks. We rented bikes and rode along the boardwalk and beach. Miami Beach’s boardwalk features way fewer homeless people than Venice, which is nice. Parts of the beach are so solid that you can actually ride a bike on it.
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| Riding bikes in South Beach |
After that we went home, changed, and hit the town!
We wandered through the main strip on the beach, Lincoln Road, with its restaurants and shops, and we finally settled in a Cuban diner. We tried some plantains, and sweet potatoes (in honor of Babygirl Schulman). I had an authentic mojito, and Beth enjoyed the traditional Cuban drink Agua Fria. A good time was had by all.
After sleeping 11 hours, we made the drive north to Del Rey beach Florida. Beth’s grandfather, Phil, lives in Kingspoint, an active adult community, which the census department reports has a median age of 76. Phil took us through the amazing club house and grounds. Soon it became 4:30pm and time to leave to go to dinner. I was surprised at the time. Grandma Anna Schulman would have been halfway through dinner by now!
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| Beth and her Grandfather outside his place |
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| Dinner with the family! |
We met up with Phil’s two brothers, Joe and Izzy. Joe is the youngster at 85, so these are some pretty amazing guys. I am pitching a new tv show idea, where three octo/nonogenerian brothers sit around a table and yell at each other from 2 feet away, saying “What,” every third word, while their wives/girlfriends tell them that the whole restaurant doesn’t want to hear them. Quite an enjoyable time. Note: The Olive Garden here has a 1 hour wait at 5:45 pm.
Tomorrow, we are off to Port Canaveral for our cruise. Next time you hear from us BG Schulman will be a different fruit!
Good morning from the Norwegian Sun. As we entered our deluxe luxury, executive suite (known informally as Interior Cabin/Economy) I heard the roar of a familiar sound…a giant fan was furiously trying to dry out our room. As frequent viewers of the travel blog might remember we had a similar previous experience with Carnival cruise lines. Fortunately, Norwegian took great care of us, and gave us 2 free drinks and a bottle of wine and offered to upgrade us to a room with a “window.” There aren’t many benefits of having a child growing in your wife, but not having to share drink tickets was definitely a big plus. (Side note, obviously, the child birth part and child is exciting, but short term, there isn’t a lot of upside.)
Our cruise featured a sampling of identical islands. First we stopped in Cozumel for snorkeling and a beach club. The snorkel boat left at 9am, and the open bar opened at 10am. Since we had paid for two open bar tickets, I definitely did my part. Then, they dropped us at a beach club with an….open bar. Blab blah, beach, sun, swimming, water igloo, water bike rental, fun in the sun.
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| Snorkeling in the beautiful clear blue water of Cozumel |
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| On the boat. Beth at 19 weeks! |
Our next stop was in Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman is a former British Colony full of tax evaders and tour operators. We opted for an amazing tour where you take a boat into the ocean to a shallow sand bar and are repeatedly assaulted by Sting Rays. This area is referred to as Stingray City. These giant, ugly beasts, swim at you and jump on you looking for food. They are harmless, which our tour guide demonstrated by putting the stinger in his mouth. The guides let you hold the stingrays, touch them, and feed them.
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| More beautiful water on the boat on the way to Stingray City |
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| Stingrays! |
Following that, we stopped in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We looked at booking tours off the dock, and when a raft ride down a river was suggested, my lovely wife said: “That’s too romantic for us.” We toured the Dunn’s River Falls, which is a waterfall system with a walking path. Non pregnant people can walk through the system of water falls and lakes, while the elderly and us can walk on a dry path along the river. We then went to the beautiful beaches there, where someone tried to sell me a Red Stripe for $4. After spending some time on the beach, we got a giant fresh coconut, and went shopping.
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| What we didn't do this time (climbing up the waterfall) |
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| Dunn's River Falls |
All of the good shopping in Ocho Rios is controlled by a large clan of Indians who moved here, use the word “mon” incessantly, and have totally fixed the price on all Jamaican tourist items. Quite a brilliant strategy. One of their shopping malls is called the Taj Mahal, and has a replica Taj in it. We purchased some souvenirs, and adhering to my dislike of doing nice things for others, purchased no presents for any of you. That’s not entirely true. I have one Red Stripe and one Tecate in my luggage. You can come over Wednesday night and have some.
After Jamaica, we went to the private island for Norwegian, Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. Formerly a hide out for pirates, and an oil rig outpost, it is now a day-time zoo for the nations obese tourists. As we landed there, the weather turned, and we spent the first hour of our expedition huddled under cover due to rain and cold. The weather eventually improved and we enjoyed a lovely day at the beach.
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| Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas |
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| Super clear water! |
I was initially skeptical over private islands, but actually they won me over. Here is a brief Pro/Con:
Pros:
1. No cost for tour or excursion if you bring your own snorkel
2. No time wasted in transit…full day at the beach.
3. Awesome free snorkeling
4. Able to get some alone time by leaving Beth in a chaise lounge.
Cons:
1. Kids every where. OMG they are so noisy and annoying. And they probably pee in the water.
2. Ocean water not temperature controlled like in Iceland.
3. Band played the same 3 reggae songs for 5 hours.
4. Lots of questions like: “Do I look pregnant or fat?”
a. (Side note, still have not found the right answer. If answer = fat, then Beth angry. If answer = pregnant, then Beth assumes that I have indicated she is fat. Wrong answer: “You’re supposed to get fat, when you’re pregnant.”)
b. (Side, side note: Beth looks exactly how she is supposed to.)
c. (3rd Side note: Beth still the smallest girl on the boat by at least 100lbs. Attention America – stop eating and exercise. Also, stop smoking, forearm tattoos are a bad idea, hair braiding is not for white people, drinking 6 bud lights is not a low calorie drink and walking into the gym, then immediately out does not count as exercise.)
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| Great Stirrup Cay |
After the island, we sadly sailed back to Port Canaveral, back to a life of no buffets, no dessert after every meal and no turndown service. We rented a car in Port Canaveral and drove to Orlando. Note: Florida has a toll both every 6 feet. We checked into our hotel for the KW Family Reunion, which is Keller William’s international convention.
The first night we drove to Downtown Disney. Orlando is known for warm weather, so neither of us packed for the ice age that hit central Florida this week. The weather went from a low of 35 to a high of 79 today. Downtown Disney was pretty exciting…it’s like the Grove, but 10 times the size.
The convention features a vendor fair, where we met some of the people who sell us advertising, and web functionality. Of course, our favorite vendor is the gift basket people. Hello chocolate covered popcorn! Lowes had an oven and made fresh baked cookies. My daughter had several cookies each day. (Don’t even ask how many her mom had)
Beth initially was not that excited about going to class from 7:30am-6pm, followed by evening events, but she left actually excited about going next year. Correction: “super excited.”
Other things Beth is “super excited by:”
1. Talking about babies.
2. Worrying about babies.
3. Talking about worrying about babies.
4. Diet coke.
5. Her first glass of wine, coming 7/3/12
The convention was really motivational…over 9,000 agents were there – that’s 1% of all REALTORs in the U.S. Christopher Gardner (The guy from The Pursuit of Happyness) gave a great speech, we got two free lunches (great salad dressing both times), lots of interesting classes and panels. I had some good meetings, met a lot of people, and even learned some things! I come back with a renewed vision and goal for my real estate business, which is good, because I am about to have a little girl, and as we all know, that ain’t cheap. Click here to donate to her 529 plan and Wedding Fund. (Note: we are accepting applications for suitors. No children over 3. Strong family pedigree, potty trained, reads a first grade level or higher. No long hair.)
Anyway…that’s the travel blog! The next vacation we have planned is a late June trip to Cedars-Sinai Hospital! We have already pre-reserved the entire floor.
Richard, Beth and *********
Video Summary of our Trip!
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