Caribbean Cruise

This year, Chase had a whole week and a half off from school for winter break, so we decided to plan a more serious vacation. Chase has really been into flags for a few years now so his request was to go on a vacation where he could visit the largest number of countries with different and cool flags. We decided the Caribbean would be a good way to accomplish that goal. He was particularly set on going to St. Lucia so that narrowed down our options to a few possible cruises within our time frame. We decided to go on a Celebrity cruise from and back to Puerto Rico that visited 5 different islands. We saw St. Maarten/Martin, Antigua, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Dominica. Chase not only loved visiting each of the islands and doing specific shore excursions (snorkling, zip lining, tubing, going to caves, and the beach) but also getting flag souvenirs and a few local coins from each country. 

In Puerto Rico, before and after the cruise, checking out the castles

In St. Martin, on the french side (Marigot) which we took a bus to. We then went for a boat ride in the lagoon. These two countries were still rebuilding from Hurricanes Irma and Maria about 7 years back. 

On the beach in Antigua after snorkling; by the waterfall in Dominica before tubing

We took a boat around St. Lucia down to the south (Soufriere) near the dormant volcanoes to do some zip lining

In Barbados, drinking coconut water out of a coconut and down in the caves

Visiting My Grandparents Again

[Previous trips to Barcelona: 2024, 2023, 2017]

My grandparents ended up staying outside Barcelona since we saw them last in the summer. I decided to go visit them for a few days to keep them company and see the sights of their apartment by the sea. We had a great time walking around their town, eating yummy food, and spending time together.