This was a last minute decision but with hubby starting a new job and still having vacation time from his former job, we booked a quick getaway cruise to spend time together in 34 days! I realized this was a much needed trip since we haven’t been on a vacation just the two of us in quite some time. The past 2 years have been group trips with family and friends. While I enjoy having those trips, especially since it helps with taking those rare photos of us together, I also really miss just spending time alone with him.

And for him, he’s more of a relaxing type of vacationer as opposed to me, where I always have 21093821 things on the itinerary to do. Which is also another reason why we booked a cruise. Everything since the pandemic started in 2020 has been Disney and all rope drop to park close schedules. He enjoys freestyle cruising because you can do whatever you want at your leisure. We did the Norwegian Breakaway, Royal Caribbean Majesty of the Seas, and the Disney Magic in our past cruises and it’s always been a relaxing time. We learned that we preferred newer ships with balcony style rooms over the older ships that only have portholes. We are also not interior room people. After experiencing balcony rooms on our honeymoon, we can never go back even if it’s to save a little money. The balcony rooms are definitely worth the upgrade.

We wanted to try a different ship this time around and got lucky the Norwegian Joy was sailing out of New York this spring instead of the Breakaway ship that’s always in New York. The ship is supposed to be newer than the Breakaway and similar in terms of style and class, which is nice since the Breakaway was definitely a great cruise. We enjoyed the food and amenities onboard in the past and this ship is supposed to be even better. I’m excited for Norwegian Joy Speedway where you can drive around in go-karts on the ship!

Also in the past, the cruises we sailed on were all to the Bahamas because that’s the most common cruise on the Northeast. This one is going to be our first time sailing to Bermuda! I’m very excited because I really wanted to see crystal blue waters again and this time it’s not just for a night! We dock in Bermuda and stay for 3 days/2 nights, which is really nice. I hate when we do Bahamas and we barely get a day because we dock in the afternoon and leave the next, barely giving much time to enjoy the island and beautiful blue waters. It’s one of the parts I actually hate about cruising, you’re never in one place long enough to enjoy the beautiful beaches and water. I need more than just a few hours! I love to watch sunsets on the beach. It’s always been a thing since high school with the boy since we go to the beach at sunset to enjoy less crowds and less harsh sun melting us.

I’m excited about this trip too because it was a great deal. Cruises aren’t exactly selling out because yes, duh, we’re still in a pandemic so people are wary about traveling. I admit, I still am too and that’s why I haven’t done any international trips especially since I don’t want to deal with wasted time having to quarantine before being able to explore the city I’m in (since I don’t have that many vacation days to spare to waste on that since I wasted them on runDisney trips😅). But between the price of this cruise and the low occupancy of the ship, I felt a little better. It’s going to be much less crowded than it usually is pre-pandemic, especially from what I’ve been hearing across the board from various people cruising so far, so the service will actually be better as well as less waits for the lines for activities. I understand it’s a risk I’m taking traveling but I’ve also been putting myself at risk running races since that’s pretty much a petri dish for covid, but so far I’ve been safe and smart every time I travel and masked up when I felt uncomfortable. I still mask up at the gym and when I’m inside public spaces like the mall, supermarket, etc. I mean, I work in healthcare. I’ve been at the frontline of the virus since day 1. Everything is constantly changing as we learn more about the virus and how it evolves and new strains emerge and we adapt to learning new treatments. I use my common sense, have stayed pretty healthy for the past 4 years since I got my shit together on my fitness journey and so far, I’ve been safe from the virus, despite the situations I've found myself in and being exposed many times due to sick family members, coworkers, friends, etc. At this point, the main thing is, I know what the risks are and I take all accountability for my actions going into each situation. I feel comfortable going on a cruise at this time and slowly getting back into traveling beyond the world of Disney. And I do. I do want to start going more places than Disney, despite what my friends and family think that it’s the only place I go to, lol. Justifiably, it’s where I went these past few years since borders have been closed and there weren’t exactly a lot of options out there anyway when it came to travel and vacations. I just didn’t feel safe going to other states especially with the political climate so the bubble was the safest place, I felt. I do hope one day when it all dies down, I can finally make my way back to Paris, Japan, Vietnam, as well as finish my Disney bucket list of the Hong Kong Disney, and get to finally go to London, Italy and Santorini. There’s a bunch of other places I’d love to go if we ever get back to normal.

Also throwback to past cruises. I remember loving these pics from past vacations but I also remember thinking back then that I still needed to lose more weight. Now looking back, I hate myself because when will it ever be enough? I really hate my body dysmorphia because now I think I look fine in these photos and that my mindset back then was insane. Hindsight is 20/20. And yet I still have these thoughts about my current body as I sit here and type this. I know a year from now I'll look at today’s pics of my body and again think “what was wrong with you?” I really wish I could get out off this toxic cycle of thinking my body is never good enough for me in the actual moment. I really need to work on gratitude and appreciating my body in all its forms and stages and be grateful for my health. It’s a constant journey trying to find a healthy balance with food, fitness and body image. I know a lot of it is mental and I really wish I could break out of my terrible ways of thinking. Society’s beauty standards really do a number on you and I’m truly working towards unlearning a lot of this. I’ve met a few girls this year from the runDisney Princess race and along with my amazing follower-turned-friends on IG, it’s really helped me to have amazing people hype me up when I’m feeling shitty to remind me that these thoughts in my head are not true. Thank you guys truly for keeping me in check when the demons try to rear their ugly heads.

Until then, I’m really looking forward to having this time with my husband next month. Especially since he started his new job and we don’t share any more days off together for the time being, so no adventures for now until he gets assigned a better schedule. With his old job, I saw him at least twice a month and we could go on dates. But with this new schedule, all the days he works, I’m off and all the days he’s off, I’m working. But it’s just temporary for now to get his foot in the door so hopefully it’ll pay off for the future and we’ll have more time off together in the end. For now, I’m happy both jobs are cooperating to allow us to take this vacation together.

34 days!