8 days on St Lucia

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Our trip to St Lucia was a last minute decision since my husband found out that he had an extra week off before starting his new job. So we thought we could make this a very relaxed vacation. But that’s never how it turns out to be, haha.

The flight was delayed and when we finally got to our hotel resort, St James’s Club Morgan Bay, it was almost dark. We got to eat, walk on the beach and then it was night. We decided to make Friday, our first full day there, a relaxed hotel day. The weather was hot, drinks where full of sugar and food was great. We spent most of our hotel time up on the hill by the grownup pool. Quieter, no kids allowed, barely anybody else and perfect view. In the evening we booked a table at the Bambou restaurant which had great food.

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On Saturday we started out trying the famous St Lucia Cocoa Tea in the hotel cafe. By lunchtime we decided to take a taxi to Rodney Bay, a community north of our hotel. They had shopping malls and a casino, that was basically it, so we went for a walk more north to a gorgeous beach with clear blue water. We didn’t stay there for long, cause we had a reservation to get back to, but it was very nice.

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Our hotel had one fancier restaurant, Le Jardin, that wasn’t included in the all-inclusive that we had heard had great food, so of course we made a reservation there for Saturday night. The food was indeed really good and I ate way too much, haha.

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We got up early on Sunday morning to have time to eat a little breakfast and pack our bags before our taxi that we booked via Real St Lucia Tours (same company that we booked to pick us up at the airport) came. It took us about 1.5 hour to drive down to the Piton mountains. There, we met Stanley, a Rastafarian skinny man, who was our guide for hiking/climbing Gros Piton. A separate blog post about this day: HERE.
Sunday was a holiday on the island. A Creole Festival to celebrate the history and their language. On our way to the mountain we drove by locals that sold food along the roads and we had decided to get some food after our hike. But in the end of the hike it started pouring down on us and our entire drive back to the hotel was a wet mess. Not a chance to sit outside to enjoy some creole food and most people had packed up their things. So we were hoping that the hotel would have some good creole food, but nope, it was French or Italian night or something. A little disappointing, but oh well.

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Monday started early as well. My husband and I, together with 6 other hotel guests jumped on a speedboat and went on a fun adventure. Beautiful view, bat cave, mud bath, waterfall, snorkeling and lunch at the guys house to mention some of it. Separate blog post about this will pop up soon too.

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After two very active days we decided to hang out by the pool and do nothing all of Tuesday. We borrowed a double kayak and went out for a little bit, but it was kinda wavy so we didn’t stay out for long. The Bambou restaurant was our only option for dinner that night. They had a new menu and the food was great just as the time before. All through dinner we watched the lightnings out on the ocean which was kinda cool. A light show that continued on til the next morning.

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It was raining on the first half of Wednesday which was kinda boring, but at least it was warm:) After breakfast, we ran over to the gym and stayed there for 1.5 hour. After that we just hung out in the pool, in the cafe or at the bar. So, we had another full day at our hotel. We wanted to go paddle board in the afternoon when the rain had stopped, but they only allowed us to go kayak. So we got a single kayak each and I noticed how much I liked it and how fun it is to paddle fast:)
On Wednesday nights they have a “beach party” where they serve the food on the beach and perform, which we had heard was fun. But since it rained earlier in the day they had to serve the food in the normal area and the performances where in the hotel theater. We stayed up quite late sitting at the theater bar.

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Thursday was disappointing. We booked an excursion through the hotel to go zip lining. Both me and my husband were excited since neither of us has done that before. 12 zip lines in the rain forest sounded awesome. It started to rain halfway there, but it didn’t bother us, because wet zip lines means that they go faster. They had told us it was a 15 minute drive, but it took over an hour. When we got there we saw that the road was about to get flooded. We could maybe get to the lines, but not be able to leave, so, we had to turn back. Another hour driving, 7 disappointed tourists and one extremely happy tourist who didn’t like rain (?!). We spent the rest of the day reading books, playing beer pong and eating food at the hotel. The rain stopped at night which was nice since we had a table at the Morgan’s Pier restaurant. The night ended sitting by the bar talking to people we had got to know. Not a bad day, but disappointing. 

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I got out of bed when the sun was up on Friday. I had already kinda packed the night before so I just put my bikini on and went to the pool up on the hill. Seemed silly to be by the pool so early, haha. Perfect sunny morning and I could enjoy getting a tan. I had been so careful all week covering myself up, so on my last day I just put sunscreen on and sat on the chair hoping to get some color in my face.

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The taxi picked us up at 10am, which turned out to be waaayyy too early. I asked J if we could sit outside at the airport for an hour or so to enjoy the view and the sun before we check ourselves in, but he insisted on that we could find an outdoor area once we checked in. Little does he know that those doesn’t exist (which I knew, but he doesn’t listen). Oh well. What would one more hour do really. 

This spontaneous vacation was awesome!!! I loved every second of it, even if it rained for two days and we didn’t get to zip line. A perfect getaway before Jim stared his new job. Now, we are done traveling for a while. Or, at least til Christmas when we most likely will fly to Chicago.
St Lucia is beautiful and I can really recommend it!

We’re on St Lucia island

We are having an awesome time here on St Lucia! It’s so beautiful! We are enjoying every second of this island and so far the food has been really good, people are nice and of course the views are outstanding! Right now we’re having Irish coffee in the hotel cafe reading books. Very relaxed which is perfect after our busy day with hiking:) Perfect vacation so far! 

Vi har en fantastisk tid har pa St Lucia! Det ar sa vackert! Vi njuter av varje sekund av den har on och an sa lange har maten varit riktigt god, manniskor ar trevliga och sjalvklart ar utsikerna helt otroliga! Just nu sitter vi med Irish coffee pa hotellets cafe och laser bok. Valdigt avslappnande vilket ar perfekt efter var dag med hiking:) Perfekt semester hittils!

We’re back from Florida

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I am so happy that we came back to New York on Tuesday. Hurricane Matthew is about to hit and evacuation is in full speed down there. We had some thunderstorms almost every day there, but they didn’t last very long and it seems to be normal there. But I definitely do not want to be there now. Guess if we feel lucky?

Anyway… Our trip to Orlando and Disney World was awesome! My dream came true! I had so much fun and I can’t describe how happy I am that I got to go there. Americans doesn’t seem to think this is a big deal cause some families go there every year, but for me who grew up in a small town in Sweden, this was a dream that I, as a kid, didn’t think would be possible. I was excited about everything! 

Sunset, Skrea Strand

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dinner at the beach hotel restaurant and the sunset was gorgeous

Hey, yay, Friday! This week has gone by fast. It barely started and now it’s weekend again. 
Earlier today I went up to Midtown to have lunch with my husband at some bar on 57th near his office. After that, I walked to Fika on 59th, bought a cup of coffee and walked to the west side to take the train home. This turned in to what I think is fever so I have basically only been on the couch watching TV all afternoon. Oh well. My husband has been feeling crappy all week as well so maybe we should just rest tonight before our somewhat busy weekend. 

Parents in Chicago

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jazzfestival-dance-chicago-sept2016They all did the choreography they do in the movie Slumdog Millionaire 
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My husband and I took my parents to downtown Chicago. Finding a parking space on a early Saturday morning was actually not that hard. We parked on Columbus Drive and walked up along the park and the lake and turned on Jackson Drive, which btw was the beginning of Route 66. The weather was perfect for strolling around in Millennium park, go past The Bean and continue over DuSable Bridge. We tried to find the Marylin Monroe statue but my husband and father had clearly not done their research, cause the statue was moved twice since it’s place in Chicago. 
After a failed mission but other fun tourism, we went to Billy Goat Tavern to cool off. With more energy, we sent my parents off to the Willis Tower (former Sears Tower). After 40 minutes, I got a text from my dad that they had just entered the building and it was two hours of waiting to even go up to the top. We were nearby and we saw the long line outside, so we told them to skip it and we went for a late lunch instead. The city had now started to fill up on big tourist groups and with the Jazz Festival in Millenium park going on, it was now hard to get by anywhere.
We spent almost six hours in the city which was a perfect amount of time. I love Chicago. It has a mini New York feeling to it. There are taller buildings, but not as spread out as in NYC and the streets are wide. I always enjoy going there, and I’m glad my parents finally got to see it.