Week 15: The Vacationing (Pt 1)

It’s long, but I’ll just split this into two weeks like normal blogs.  Each day has the weight because I logged it, and I figured it may be interesting – not because I was neurotic about it.  I actually highly suggest a travel scale IF AND ONLY IF you can treat it like it should be treated – a reminder not too go too overboard, but really and truly just a metric.  It did not make me crazy at all and I actually got a kick out of seeing the numbers and helped me actually lose 3 lbs on a two week vacation without feeling at all deprived.  So, here’s week 1 of how I spent my vacay. 🙂

Monday: flight and Ft. Lauderdale (182.0)

After riding high on an awesome race, 2.5 hour bike, and pretty fast brick mile at the end, we drink copious amounts of champagne and didn’t do a goddman thing towards packing.  So, we both were up pretty early (and felt amazingly decent) getting the last minute things together.  We finished packing, picked up some Rudy’s breakfast tacos (1 chopped beef, 1 bean and cheese for me), and then we were off to the airport in our cab!

At the airport, our metabolisms were screaming for more food, so I picked up a beef taco salad (beef, guac, sour cream, salsa, cheese, lettuce, tomato, ditched the shell) and nom nom nommmed it real hard, plus a few of Zliten’s fries.  My parents were looking at us like “omg why didn’t you eat before” and we had to explain that we DID eat before, but you just don’t understand a day-after-long-long-long-workout metabolism until you experience it, so oh well.  Also, note to self – ALWAYS start vacations off with a 4.5 hour kick ass workout the day before – your metabolism will be chewing through all that vacation food efficiently for DAYZZZ.

The flight was uneventful, and we landed in Ft. Lauderdale, got a shuttle to the hotel, met my Aunt and we had planned to go to Sweet Tomatoes, which was close, but they got really lost getting to (and since there were 6 of us and it was pouring, they had to shuttle us in two trips).  I had a fabulous salad bar salad with all the veggies, whole grain bread, turkey chili, and tasted some veggie soup and leek soup.  We stayed and chatted for a while, and then since the rain cleared up, Zliten and I walked the mile back to stretch out our legs and scope out part of the morning’s run route.  After we got home, we dorked on the internet and watched some TV and then zonked, still tired from the day before.

Tuesday: We’re all on a boat (and quickly)! (183.0)

We woke up around 7am and got out to run around 8am.  Joel got us some snackies from the breakfast buffet – I had half an english muffin and cream cheese and the little airplane packet of peanuts.  I had mapped out our running route ahead of time to get in about 4-5 miles that morning, and though we got a little lost trying to find the first turn, it was a nice morning run.  Florida is freaking flat.  It may be hot and humid, but it’s also very flat, so there’s that.  We ran through an area that looked pretty nice, but we were DEFINITELY the only ones with our skin coloring.  But it wasn’t uncomfortable, lots of kids and families out and people playing cards on the porch and they were quite friendly.  We finished up 4.5 miles in about 52 mins – nice slow recovery run, our legs were SORE!  Notably, no other fitness enthusiasts (not counting kids obviously on the way to school).  I don’t think that’s POSSIBLE in Austin, I always see at least someone out running/biking/walking/etc.

Came back, grabbed some stuff we forgot at the vitamin shoppe across the street (yeah, we felt like THOSE people in our workout gear hitting the vitamin store as they opened….), and refueled with a quarter waffle and some yogurt.  Then, it was time to hit the pool!  It was super nice and I spent time with the fam in the pool, ducking out to do laps every so often, I got in about 1000m, so no complaints about workout times that morning!

F0r any of you that have cruised – we got on the shuttle at the hotel at 11-ish, got to the port at noon, and then was on the ship by 12:45!!!  Usually its a lot of waiting in line for hours, but either we got really lucky or Princess really has it down.  I was STAAAAAARVED (hi there overactive metabolism still alive and kicking) and got lunch – consisting of as many veggies I could find and a giant salad, a curry, some turkey, mashed potatoes, a bite of tiramasu, and 2 welcome-to-the-ship beers.

Then, we went and attempted to reserve our diving trips and BOOOOO, the two we wanted to do were full (Aruba and Dominica).  We signed up for one that was still open (Bonaire) and got on the wait list for Aruba and Dominica if Aruba didn’t come up.  Then, we got unpacked and organized, did the boat drill, and found the pools were open (another ship first, usually they are closed until you’re at sea).  We wriggled into swimsuits right away and sailed away from shore in the pool, soaking up sun.  Total bliss!  Best getting on the cruise ever, especially compared to THIS first day.

When the sun got lower, I got dragged out of the pool and we got ready for dinner at the sit down dining room.  I feasted on shrimp cocktail, tortellini soup, filet of beef medallion, and honeydew sorbet (and a few bites of everyone else’s deserts to try).  After dinner, we wandered, bought cards to play, went to the variety show, ate a little post-dinner-snack (I had more shrimp, and some veggies and broth so it wasn’t crazy).  The girls SMOKED the guys on the first card game of the cruise, and then we retired to bed where I watched a weird Christopher Walken movie called Undertaking Betty and fell asleep, wouldn’t you know it, to some duathlon coverage I found on one of the ship’s channels.  Awesomely surreal first day on board!

Wednesday: Still on a Boat (178.4!!! Hello new low weight for 2013)

Slept until we felt like getting up, did weights and an easy 45 min spin on the bikes in the gym (ugh, how did I EVER use a seat like that, felt like a pillow between my legs…).  Then we checked out the uber ship sale, and nothing was super cool so we passed by.  We showered and then were supposed to meet my parents for lunch, but they took a while so we had a pre-lunch margarita (there really, really should be more opportunities to have pre-lunch margaritas ;D).  I pretty much had a plate of veggies and salad for lunch again (look for this to be a theme for lunch), with some veggie bean soup, fried shrimp, mashed potatoes, a few bites of chips and guac, and a few bites of beef stew and chocolate mousse.

We then tried playing Mah-jong which I find to be the most frustrating game in the world.  If you’ve ever learned it… it feels like fucking Calvin- ball.  So many arbitrary rules and they feel like they’re being made up all the time and just there to be a pain in the ass.  Anyway, Zliten won one game and we had two wall games (no one won).  That drove me to eat more, just some fruit and a bite of cheese though. Then, we retired back to the cabin and took a long naaaaaaap (I love vacation naps).  While naps are great, so is the pool, so we took a late dip and chatted with some folks we met in the hot tub about crazy Texans and California liberals and rednecks.

We got ready for dinner and then headed there and then OMG DINNER DRAMA.  We took the “anytime” dining option, which my dad took to mean he would get sat for dinner “anytime”.  However, at 6:30, when everyone else wanted to eat, there was a 30 minute wait.  He got all huffy and puffy and I felt bad for the poor staff and after that, we made sure to get a reservation later so we wouldn’t have to wait again.  They were getting all stressed out so I got myself a glass of wine (hey, vacation).  Dinner was great – lychee and watermelon for an appetizer, black bean soup, greens with balsamic, giant prawns with fried rice and veggies, and butter pecan ice cream (having bites of some toffee cake and pineapple sorbet around the table).

The show was a comedy/music show with Steve Moris of the beach boys, which was actually kind of hilarious, and then played a round of cards (boys won) and then we bid my parents adieu and decided to seek out the disco.  We ended up making friends with the bartender who was also named… err.. Zliten (names changed to protect the innocent), and a young dude from Colorado also here with his family also escaping 😀  (love my parents and all, but we do best with a little space in between every moment together).  We closed out the bar with some absolute citron, soda, and lemon, and a few crazy shots, and then hit the casino – I ended up a few bucks up, but Zliten lost quite a bit more than I gained, so boo.  We went for some drunk munchies at around 3:30am, and I just got a greek salad and then we hit the bed and sleeeeeeept.

Thursday: Almost There (181.6)

Woke up around 10:30, was a little hungover (bar drinks do not = the kind of drinks I pour at home, forgot about that).  Had a very small breakfast of some melon and two mouthfuls of cereal, and then hit up the shops again and bought two pashminas for 9 bucks!  Woo!

The day was mostly spent by the pool – we grabbed lunch (another tray of veggies and salad + albonigos soup) and then sunned, read, swam, lost sunglasses, found sunglasses, played water volleyball and lost terribly (to be fair, I’m short and couldn’t touch bottom and we were playing with a real VOLLEYBALL, not a beach ball).  I had a half-a-slice-of-pizza snack and four of Zliten’s fries, and then got motivated to run even though I didn’t wanna at all – but got through 3.7 miles in 43 mins of a nice easy ship-swaying run and walked a bit more to round out 50 mins.

Then, we got fancy for formal night, watched the champagne fountain flow – got our glass, and headed to dinner.  It was my Dad’s birthday, but he asked that we not make a big fuss (the whole cruise was to celebrate), so we just enjoyed crab and cheese quiche (I actually didn’t hate it, even though I am anti-egg – the fact that it was CRAB helped I’m sure), cream of asparagus soup,  salad with italian, shrimp with broccoli in garlic sauce, and some amazing chocolate pb oreo pie.  OMG, I’m dreaming of it now.

However, let me assure you that SPANX are not really good for eating occasions.  I swear, I almost popped a rib trying to hold that dinner in and I went without it for the rest of the night and said screw it.  We regrouped for the disco show and then Zliten and I hit the bed, as there was an early wake up call to go DIVING in ARUBA!!!!

Friday: Aruuuuuuba (184.4)

Let’s just say this – 6 lbs gained in 2 days was not making me happy – but there was an easy explanation – I hadn’t had any “moving experiences” pretty much since I got on board.  However, I didn’t want to take anything for it because #1 – I’ve never had this problem this bad before and I didn’t know how it would affect me since I had never taken anything, and #2 – I had two days of scuba to come, so I figured it would be a bad idea.  So we picked up some happy chocolates and I saved them until after the next day’s dive.  Honestly, I usually have the opposite problem on cruises, so it was super weird, but ummm, yeah.

Since we were having a morning of diving we got up and actually ate breakfast – an english muffin with cream cheese and bacon, melon, papaya, a turkey sausage, and a hashbrown.  I even had a few sips of coffee!  Decadent!

Diving was so fun – we got picked up right by the ship dock, the boat had all the tanks and gear ready for us, and it sped us around the island on a gorgeous tour before we got suited up and in the water.  We dove the Antilles wreck first (50-60 feet down) and then the Perdinalis (15-20 feet down – basically the longest safety stop ever as you’re supposed to stop to decompress at 15 feet :D).  I just don’t know how to put words to this besides AWESOME.  So much visibility, so many fishes, was cool to see the wrecks and know that they had crews and were functioning ships.  Also, fish really like wrecks to there was a lot to see – we saw a morey eel, what we called a “straw” fish but ended up being a trumpet fish, watched a fish poo (and was kinda jealous considering my problem above), and wow – I just LOVE diving.  I had no issues and didn’t feel like a n00b at all!

We got back on board and had lunch.  Wouldn’t you know it, ANOTHER PLATE OF VEGGIES AND SALAD + veggie soup, seafood balls, few bites of chicken, and some sausage, cheese, and pickle salad (sound GROSS but it was really stupid good), a little pasta, and some sugar free key lime mousse (diving makes me need SUGAR in a weird way).  We went back out shopping and I found the pashmina (a red one) I was actually looking for, an Aruba shirt for both of us, poo chocolates, and an Aruba patch for Zliten (he wants to put them on our dive bags).

For dinner – we went to the buffet since it was curry night and I love me some curry.  My plate was full of various curries, tandori chicken, dal, garlic soup, stir fry veggies, sourdough roll, and some caramel walnut cheesecake.  We played a round of cards and the ladies won again!  Woo!

We pumpkined early since the wakeup call for Bonaire was in the 6am-hour and read and watched TV and drifted off thinking about another awesome day of diving to come…

Saturday: Bonaire Friendly Diving (185.8)

Still no pooing and I felt WAY gross, but not so gross that it wasn’t time to go DIVING!!!! Wooohoo!

We were up early enough to watch the boat dock.  We got another big breakfast to fuel the diving – half an english muffin, cream cheese, bacon, corned beef hash (my cruise splurge, I love it), baked beans, fruit.  We were some of the first people off the boat, and they took us on a ferry over to the dive shop, and then geared us up, and we got on the actual dive boat (the first one, I was curious where all the stuff was) and got out to the first dive site.

On one hand, I had a major N00B moment and it took me forever to get my ears equalized and it was frustrating.  On the other hand, the descent of the first dive will be forever etched in my memory – we descended through gorgeous dark blue clear water down to a cliff wall of coral and living things and so, so, so, so many types of fish and it was just breathtaking.  This first one was my favorite, and I was giddy the whole time.  THIS is what we’d been certified for – it was just amazing.  I owe you a video once Zliten finishes them but… omgosh.

We barely had time to get back, and Zliten got a shirt from the dive shop and I got a hat, and we had a local beer and then walked back.  I wanted to go look for a girl shirt there in the shops because it was the “diver’s paradise” but we didn’t really have time.  We got on board and found that my parents had found the PERFECT shirt for Zliten – it had an iguana with a mask, fins, regulator, tank, and it said “Iguana Dive Bonaire”.  Best. Shirt. Ever.

Lunch, after we got back, was, you guessed it – a plate of veggies, some fried fish, and a few bites of orange cake and half a cream puff (diving + sugar = like peas and carrots), and then we hung out on the deck watching the boat sail away.  Then, we were exhauuuuuusted so we napped most of the afternoon.  Before dinner, I woke up, put on clothes, and we grabbed a glass of wine (or 2…) and read.  Then, we had wine with dinner with my parents, while also enjoying lamb and barley soup, half a roll, salad with blue cheese, pesto pasta, and some cafe au lait ice cream.

Then, we bid adieu to the fam and hit the casino and had a few more drinks.  I kept playing with the same money and was up a dollar when we left, Zliten, not so lucky.  After Zliten convinced me it was NOT his lucky day, we went back to the nightclub, and closed it out again – hangin’ with our Colorado friend and the bartender with Zliten’s name.  More drinks, more shots, more fun (we showed off all our awesome diving footage).  Then, we hung out with the DJ and some older guy that I think was celebrating his birthday if I remember correctly.

Then, things get a little hazy – somehow we convinced him to give us his shirt (so we have a souvenir polo shirt LOL), and things get MORE hazy and the night ends sometime.

Sunday: Grenada Out My Window (182.0)

The good news, I POOOOOED and digestively, I feel a million times better.

The terrible news is I can’t move my knee and I have NO RECOLLECTION of falling or doing anything evil to it.  I figured I must have been so drunk I didn’t remember smacking my knee.  I spent most of the morning and afternoon in bed icing it, on painkillers, and reading my book.  Zliten brought me breakfast (some random bites from the buffet, I wasn’t that hungry), he ordered us room service (I got a club sandwich on wheat and some fries – totally yummy) and was feeling better.  He decided to get off the boat and check out Grenada with my parents and I stayed in the room.  He came back, said it was pretty lame and sketchy, and brought me pizza.  I had one bite and it didn’t set well, so I ignored it and just kept reading and hoping my knee would feel better.

Finally, I willed myself to get up and put on some clothes and limped up to the deck so we could play some games.  The girls won one and the guys won one, and then we got ready for dinner (we sat in the smelling range of the pizza place and it went from completely nauseating to actually smelling decent, so I was hungry again! :D).  Dinner was something called Cock o Leekie Soup (chicken broth and leeks and rice), salad w/ranch, surf and turf – prawns and a filet, and red currant sorbet.  Though I was in pain and not very happy, dinner definitely made me feel better, it was yummy.  After dinner I begged off to go back to the room and just read and played mario and watched TV and iced ice baby on the knee.

Needless to say, I was bummed and was kind of upset that a stupid injury was messing up my vacation.

What does the next week hold?  Stay tuned! 🙂