Bahamas, London, South Sudan, Nairobi, Jordan and Lebanon.: Family Cruise

iMovie from Cruise:

or if you want to watch on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IQTibhUgPU&feature=context&playnext=1&list=FLi0NM0XScjhg8N6JFgKL8TQ&context=C3fd067cFDOEgsToPDskLMjTGItE22PvEeM9SOEuaW

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Ok, so this blog is something i've never had the pleasure to do. But...since this month and a half i'm embarking on is going to be pretty interesting and different, I decided to give it a go in case people care to check in on how it's going and/or how it went down.

The adventure will go down something like this:

Feb 4th-10th: LAX to Orlando, Caribbean Cruise with the fam, hangin' with my niece :)
Feb 10th-14th: Orlando to London, to meet project team and prep for Africa trip
Feb 15th: London to Nairobi, Kenya, then to Juba, South Sudan
Feb 16th-22nd: South Sudan, mostly in Juba, with a trip out west to a project site location, hopefully won't get kidnapped
Feb 23rd-24th: Back to Nairobi for a couple days for meetings with suppliers
Feb 25th-30th: London, wrapping up South Sudan project in the Arup office there. Hopefully will get to have some fun too, maybe even see a Premier League game
Mar 1st-7th: Jordan for 1day of travel (going to Petra), and then several days of work work work, for that Aqaba Star Trek project
Mar 8th-12th: fly to Lebanon for a few days, personal visit to see a good friend of mine I used to work with
Mar 13th (ish): long flight from Beirut back to LA!!

so i suppose i should start with the vaccinations. I had to get 9 of them, in 7 shots:

hep A, hep B, meningitis, polio, influenza, tetanus, pertussis, typhoid fever, and yellow fever.

and then i had to get malaria pills too.

The shots wrecked me for a couple days and I definitely got some serious flu-like symptoms; I guess my body was a bit freaked out!

After a couple extremely busy weeks getting all the loose ends tied up, working weekends and late into the nights, a few friends were kind enough to meet me at Cha Cha Chicken to see me off.

Afterwards, i went home and packed for the next 6 weeks, with climates all over the map (did not take the guitar!).

And we're off! The next day, flew to Orlando for what I'll call DAY 1.

DAY 1 (LAX to Orlando)

Flight bright and early, slept most the time. leaving LA...

Uncle Randall picked me up in his new Cayenne, sexy...

cruised to Randall's, got to catch up with my awesome cousins! (from left: Kirby, Hailey, Brittney, and Rachel)

DAY 2 (Orlando): On the Lakes

we cruised over to Rick's house in Windermere, loaded up his boat with beer and dropped it into the lake. All the lakes over there are in very close proximity and they all interconnect either naturally or through an awesome network of man-made canals. So you can just cruise from one lake to the next all day long. Really, really cool. Gorgeous day, too. And of course what really made it a great day was the company!

DAY 3 (Cruise day 1):

After a relaxing morning we bounced to Port Canaveral and jumped on the boat! Royal Carribean's Monarch of the Seas boat. pretty schweeeet...

Erika and David checking out dusk, Port Canaveral on the horizon.

the crew, dinner number one.

partied a bit that night...so did this old guy we found passed out. we had to poke fun. the best part was that after taking this shot, we left, but then came back to get another one with becky in it (she was photographer here), and found another group doing the same awful thing to the guy! lol

night 1 accomodation:

DAY 4 (Cruise day 2): Cococay

We dropped anchor off a tiny island call Cococay and took a smaller boat to the dock. Beautiful beaches, lots of sun, beach volleyball, and even got Tim on a stand-up paddle board. Good times.

Got back to the ship, and had some fun -- the fun definitely included fruity drinks, extra umbrellas.

DAY 5 (Cruise day 4): Nassau, Bahamas

woke up next to another cruise ship...and see what's in the background!? recognize that?

we rented scooters all day. 'twas scary, exciting, and a great way to see the whole island. just remember to drive on the left side of the road!

atlantis

beckles and tim

erika and david

big bro and lil' sis

grandpa with aspen :)

watching another cruise ship slowly back out and motor away...

part-ay

ok, this one needs a bit of explaining. turns out that everyone on the ship was pretty much in one of two categories of people: 65 and above, OR, one of the 300 argentinian girls celebrating their quinceneras. too funny.

DAY 6 (Cruise day 4): On sea headed back to Florida

woke up and achieved my proudest moment ever: 2nd place on the Monarch of the Seas ping pong tournament. (crowd roars)

G'ma w/ momma

Uncle Rick at the head, Aunt Teri to his left, Randall to her left.

Elmer and Yudy with Aspen -- our awesome wait staff for all the meals. great people.

Erika and David showing their respective glee and shame at their very public performances at the "name that lyric" game show. very funny

DAY 7 (Cruise day 5): back in Orlando, evening flight to London

early wake up, back in port! took one last walk up top and snapped this pic of a very empty ship.