The Best Trip of my Life

When Casey posted the prompt for her new Fresh Face Friday link-up, I thought it would be the easiest post in the world.  The best trip of my life ... the first thing that came to mind was Europe - then Costa Rica - then California.  All of these trips were amazing and can each be considered the best trip of my life for different reasons.  However, when I really thought about it, I chose one that definitely wasn't the first to come to mind. 

There were a lot of things that could have went better on this trip and there were a lot of mishaps, but it ended up being great!  First, the obvious reason this could be considered the best trip ever is because Josh and I got engaged in the Bahamas.  He proposed at our first port, Half Moon Cay which is Carnivals private island.  While that is a huge part of what made this trip great, it isn't the main reason.

The main reason this trip was so amazing was because we learned a lot about each other on this trip.  This was the first big trip we took together, this was the first cruise both of us have been on, and it was Josh's first trip out of the country since he moved here from Germany where he was born.  We also discovered how much we love cruising and now have two cruises booked!

Josh and I have very different travel styles and because I didn't really know this before we went, I planned based on my style.  I like to go, go, go and do as much as possible while he likes to do a few things, then just chill on the beach.  He ended up being very frustrated on the first day when I had so much planned.  Now for this next cruise I was able to plan accordingly and book only one excursion per port and leave time to relax on the beach.  We also discovered that for us, it's best to have a plan.  We like being spontaneous but it doesn't seem to work well for us. We laugh about it now but our mishaps were extremely frustrating for us in the moment.

We also discovered how amazing cruising is!  We loved it so much we decided to book one for our honeymoon, we're going on one with friends in September of 2015, and we are also looking to cruise in Europe in 2016.  Before this trip I was always very against cruising and now I can't believe I waited so long to take my first cruise.  Josh pretty much begged me to give it a try and I'm so glad he did.

Another reason this trip was so great??  We drove from MD to FL, so we were able to make stops on the way back including to a place that has been on the top of my bucket list forever, Savannah. My friend Heather was living there and hosted us.  I fell in love with the city and will hopefully be going back sometime this winter.

Half Moon Cay, The Bahamas

One of the stops on our Cruise in 2012 was to Carnivals Island, Half Moon Cay.  Josh and I loved our day here and would definitely love to go back :).  It's also where we got engaged, so maybe we're a bit biased ;)

The Island was absolutely beautiful!  It is also where we did both of our excursions. We went Horseback Riding on the beach, something that I've always wanted to do and it definitely lived up to my expectations!  We even got to ride in the water!  Our second excursion was Kayaking.  We enjoyed it but our guide was pretty much useless. 

We used a disposable waterproof camera for the excursions so the photos are pretty bad, but that's OK.  For our next cruise we're buying a digital waterproof camera.

It was actually really cloudy and a bit rainy when we got there.  Luckily it cleared up about 10 minutes before our first excursion and ended up being a beautiful day! :)

Josh and I rode in the water separately so we could take pictures of each other.  Josh is in the back in the red shorts.

I am on the white horse in this photo. 

After our excursions we spent the rest of the time relaxing at the beach and playing in the beautiful water :)

We loved Half Moon Cay and would definitely like to return!  The other plus was that all food was free because it's Carnivals Island, so the price is included in your cruise price!  If you ever find yourself here, definitely do the Horseback riding excursion!  The guides were great and it was so much fun!