I definitely forgot how to blog

Alright, so I definitely did not ever get back to writing this blog I said I was going to write. Annnnnnd now its two years later. WIN!!!!

BUT my excuse is that my time in Bermuda was a crazy whirlwind of fun stuff and not so fun stuff. From January 2014 to May 2014, there was:

1. Beautiful water
2. Awesome food
3. Amazing people
4. Dolphins
5. A stinky cat
6. Swizzle
7. Cockroaches
8. Kind and generous strangers
9. Spelunking (sort of)
10. My monofin
11. Medical issues
12. Sand, dirt, wind, and rain
13. The best friends in the world
14. Crying
15. Scuba diving
16. Fighting
17. Cliff jumping
18. Lots of bonfires
19. Dancing
20. Disney movies
21. Boating
22. Trivia (won $90)
23. Bar hopping
24. The biggest fish sandwich ever
25. Expensive cab rides
26. The Beatles
27. Sheep poop
28. Deviled eggs
29. Failure
30. No regrets

So maybe I'll get around to actually describing my time in Bermuda, but it would take a lot to convey every emotion I had there, everything I learned, what I might do differently, and how it changed my life. I'll work on it.

Additional Adventures!

Now that I’ve been here a few days, and met a few insiders, I need to add to my list of places I want to go. Let’s talk about it.

1.       BIOS

 

The man who sat next to me on the plane knew I had an interest in marine science and offered BIOS (Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences) as a point of interest I might want to check out. It’s on the far side of the island near the airport, and we actually saw it out the window as we were landing. Apparently you can volunteer, study, and be part of the research there – but I’m not positive it’s open to the public. Maybe I can make friends with someone who works there?

2.       Ice Queen

 

 

The father of my favorite Bermuda family knew I was trying to save money, so he told me about Ice Queen. It’s just outside Hamilton and offers a large menu with lots of relatively inexpensive fast food options. I’ve now more recently heard from someone at work that it’s very low quality fast food. But I’m American – so that may not be a problem for me.

3.       Swizzle (South Shore)

 

After our first day at work, the other girls and I wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate being in Bermuda. Since one of the girls has been living here a while, she suggested a great place we would all like. A place called Swizzle. So we got ourselves all dressed for dinner, braved the cold, windy, and muddy walk down to the bus stop, scrambled for exact change for the fare, and headed out to Swizzle, about 25-30min away. We hopped off the bus, excited and hungry, and some guys driving by shouted something out the window. We looked at each other – what was that about? Then we realized: they had shouted ‘it’s closed’. CLOSED. SWIZZLE WAS CLOSED. Why, we still have yet to find out – apparently they were not usually closed at that time on that day. Briefly disappointed, but never discouraged, we huddled at the nearest bus stop and had a dance party courtesy of one of the girls’ iPhones and waited for a bus home. UPDATE: recently heard Swizzle is temporarily closed due to some kind of maintenance.

4.       Blue Hole

 

Along with the beaches I want to go to, there is the Blue Hole. I had heard vague bits about it, and the man on the plane told me how to get there without having to pay admission to the Crystal Caves. Sounds like an awesome place to snorkel/free dive. We’ve only had two sunny days in the week I’ve been here, but they were very promising. I may not have to wait ‘til summer to get in the water.

5.       Smallest Drawbridge

 

The grandmother of my favorite Bermuda family, and our ride out to Dockyard from the airport, pointed out the Somerset Bridge as we drove over it. Apparently it’s the smallest working drawbridge in the world. The actual bridge that comes up is just a piece of wood. Sailboats that want to pass through have to wait for a passerby to remove the wooden plank. If that’s not small town charm, I don’t know what is.

I'm In Bermuda!

Just getting to Bermuda was an adventure, so let’s talk about it.

 

On my first flight, after we got on the plane, we were told we’d been delayed because of a questionable story about a mysterious fire at the Philly airport. Then we were told it was actually a plane stuck on one of the Philly runways which had a fire. We probably waited almost an hour to actually take off, but I sat next to a very nice lady on the plane and soon we were flying over a snow covered east coast and heading up the Delaware River.

Unfortunately, that plane delay made me miss my flight to Bermuda!!! BUT I met a lovely family from Bermuda who had missed the same flight, and they helped me figure out what to do next. I couldn’t get another flight until the next day, but a wonderful woman at customer services gave me hotel voucher for the night. On the shuttle to the hotel, I met a girl who was on her way to Ohio. She, originally from Spain, had been visiting her family back home and was on her way back to school here in the States.  Her ordeal was far worse – she hadn’t been able to get home for days! We had a lovely chat over dinner at the hotel restaurant’s bar, and wished each other luck.

The next day, I made it back to the airport, and my appropriate gate, and ran into the same family I had met the day before. I got to chat with the kids (one very near my age), who had lots of great stories and helpful hints about Bermuda for me. They were on standby, but luckily got seats on the plane! The man who sat next to me on the plane to Bermuda was very nice as well. He’s originally from the UK, but he lives in Bermuda, so he gave me all sorts of tips and chatted with me about his kids (two of them about my age, and one of them studies marine biology!). He even helped me find where to go for customs and immigration, and gave me his business card. Connections!!!

I had made plans with another girl who would be staying at my hostel and was arriving the same day to meet up outside the airport so we could share a cab. It would be about an $80 fare, so sharing would save lots! However, the same family from Bermuda, who had been so kind and helpful already, offered to give us both a ride all the way out to our hostel! That’s the other side of the island, almost an hour drive! We even got a bit of a tour out of it! Connections!!!!!! They literally saved me $80, and were so welcoming and kind – I hope I get the chance to repay them. They said we’d meet again, and I hope we do!

Now that I’ve been in Bermuda for a couple days, I’m finally settling in. The hostel is in a VERY old building inside the fort, so it has its quirks, but the other girls here are super cool and it’s going to be so fun getting to know them. We made a trip to the nearest grocery store (maybe 20min away by bus) and I successfully bought enough food for the week/longer(?) for only $26! Not very exciting, unless you know we’ve all been told it would be more like $100!!!! We’ve all got bus/ferry passes now, and we plan on visiting Hamilton, famous beaches, and checking out lots of cool restaurants. Stoked!

I'm A Kayak, Hear Me Roar

Tomorrow is my last day before I leave for Bermuda. Let’s talk about it.

My first flight is early in the morning the next day, so everything has to be done by tomorrow evening. I’m taking two suitcases, and one of them is brand new as of yesterday, so it’s not quite packed. It has seahorse details on it, and it’s just wide enough to fit my monofin inside J That, and finishing the complete series of Gilmore Girls for the zillionth time, will fortify me for the task. I’ve compiled copies of important documents, printed instructions for getting through customs and immigration and to the hostel where I’ll be staying. I’ve talked to some of the other girls who will be staying there, and I’m so excited to meet them. I’ve said goodbye to my friends here and promised them lots of pictures. I’ve been drinking sparkling white grape juice and eating Ferrero Rocher like it’s my job.

I can’t believe it’s really happening and that this is my life. I’m always so envious of my friends who run off to some fabulous place, far away, to meet new people, see amazing places, and generally have an awesome time and make awesome memories.  I’ve traveled, of course, on family vacations. This will be different. This is an adventure.

Adventures Part 2: Things 3, 4, and 5

*See my previous post for things 1 and 2 (The Royal Naval Dockyard and Tobacco Bay!)
 

3.      Hamilton

The capital of Bermuda has tons of attractions. I want to see the architecture, memorials, the shopping. I’d also like to visit the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI), because I love scuba diving, history, and a good underwater treasure hunting movie (Fool’s Gold, Into The Blue, The Deep, anyone?). Mostly, I’d love to see the buildings, the colors, what everyone’s wearing, and definitely grab some food. Hopefully, I’ll have made some friends in Bermuda and we can go out on the town. Going out at night for dinner and drinks can be the best way to meet people. That’s one of the things I’m excited for as a traveler – meeting people from around the world. I’m dying to meet people who live there and people who are visiting. One of my geography courses emphasized how geography affects our identity and connects us with people who’ve been where we’ve been, or been where we’d like to go.

4.     Snorkeling/freediving/scuba diving

As I previously mentioned, I’m all about getting in the water. Growing up in south Florida, I learned to swim before I could walk. Water has always been exciting, comforting, and freeing. I’ve been scuba diving since 2009, and with any luck maybe I’ll scrape together enough money for a cheap dive trip – but that could be a very long shot. Snorkeling (or as I like to call it: Amateur freediving = snorkeling – the snorkel + diving deep) is probably all I will be able to afford. No problem there, I’m bringing my monofin and my best mask so I can flip my fins to my heart’s content.

5.     The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo

Located in Flatts Village on Harrington Sound, this AZA accredited facility boasts a natural history museum, several animal exhibits, and my favorite, an aquarium. Their 140,000 gallon coral reef aquarium with an array of colorful reef species sounds pretty cool, and I’d like to see their harbor seals. Having worked with harbor seals this past year, it’ll be exciting to see some again – and I’ll actually have intelligent questions to ask about their exhibit!

These are just a few things I’ve heard of and would like to see. Hopefully I can review these places later on, elaborate on them, and count them alongside the many places I’ve been in Bermuda. Off to watch some more YouTube videos on snorkeling, tours, and food!

Adventures Abound! (Thing 1 and Thing 2)

Every day I get more and more excited! Sure, there’s going to be a packing crisis at the last minute, and my phone bill will be insane, and I’ll probably make several klutzy, bumbling first impressions, but that’s okay! I’ll be in BERMUDA!

Bermuda may be relatively small, but there’s so much I want to explore there! Island life, the culture, the history, meeting new people, wildlife, nature, and get me to the ocean STAT! There are a few things in particular I’m looking forward to, so let’s talk about it.

1.      The Royal Naval Dockyards

 

I’ll be living in this area, and I feel so lucky because of the history and attractions nearby. Inside the fort there’s the Bermuda Maritime Museum, and the view from that hill is awesome. Just outside is the Clocktower Mall, a movie theater, lots of shopping and dining, and the King’s Wharf, where all the cruise ships come in. The nearby Royal Naval Cemetery, also known as ‘The Glade’, should be an interesting site as well. My mom loves cemeteries, and it’s easy to see why when you think about all the history in them and their peaceful air. There’s also a couple of beaches close by, and hopefully some good snorkeling. Sometimes in order to let off steam or relax all I need is to get in the water and out of my head.

2.     Tobacco Bay

 

 

I’ll want to visit every beach, but this is probably the most unique beach I’ve seen whilst researching, because of the rock formations. It’s very popular and appears to have some interesting reef fish (thanks YouTube!). In St. George’s, on the East End, it’s also very near the Unfinished Church, a structure originally intended to replace St. Peter’s Church after it was damaged by a storm, but due to lack of funds and focus was abandoned and left to serve as attractive ruins open to the public.

*I intended this to be one post, but it’s a little long so I changed it to two. Yippee!

Packing is hard.

Packing is hard. Let’s talk about it.

It’s not that I have all these great clothes and I want to take them all to Bermuda. It’s just that my closet is such a confusing mix of things I’ve had since high school (a generous portion of my closet), things I thought were cool in college, things I still think are cool this year, and things that might actually be good for Bermuda (a sliver in the pie chart of my closet). So I’m not keen on most of my options.

At this point, I’ve packed khakis for work, swimsuits, wetsuit, diving gear, and a bunch of dresses that I will probably never wear because it will be too cold to wear them straight away in January (50-60 degrees) and I will be too broke to go anywhere that requires a dress. When am I wearing these dresses? When my bon vivant alter ego goes traipsing around Bermuda visiting places and eating food I can’t afford?

P.S. I will have access to a washing machine, but no dryer, so everything needs to be compatible with a line dry situation. Get ready to have wave shaped clothespin marks, shoulder seams. Get ready to stretch to the ground, long sleeves. Get ready to be permanently wrinkled, favorite dress. Maybe I just won’t wash anything until I get obvious food stains on them. That should last a week. Unless there’s barbecue in Bermuda. Or buffalo wings. Who am I kidding – I can’t afford either of those things!

My packing style is a combo of every one of these: http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/2013/12/01/what-your-packing-style-says-about-you/?cmp=SMC|blgomd|OMDDecember|FB|Packing-Disney|InHouse|120913|||esocialmedia|||

Eventually I will find some appropriate items in my closet to go with The Hundred Dresses (I’m even working on making a dress for Bermuda, that’s how serious it is) and I will get over my pretend packing crisis. At least I have clothes to wear. I should go simple and pack a select few staple items that can be combined for a number of perfectly respectable outfits. Then my suitcase won’t be so heavy, and I’ll simply fill any empty space with creamy chicken ramen.