I Guess I’m Really a Travel Writer Now

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Jan Ross

I haven’t even taken the clothespins and plastic bags out of my suitcase. Clothespins to hold the curtains closed in a hotel room or hang up a wet bathing suit. Plastic bags for that wet bathing suit or stolen extra cookies off the buffet.

I’m learning.

There’s no point in taking that stuff out because I’m packing for another trip two weeks after the first one. Just in time for my sunburn from the Caribbean to peel off, I’m heading to Las Vegas to get sunburned again, on the first leg of a two week journey.

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Categories: Beach | Tags: , , , | 12 Comments

It’s called SoBe But Only If You Are In The Know

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Jan Ross

The Big Island. That’s what you call Hawaii if you are in the know. We were not in the know before we went there but we are now. When people say “Hawaii”, we turn up our noses and laugh disdainfully. How banal! So un-cosmopolitan, don’t you know, my dear.

Mentally, of course. Because we were them just a very short time ago.

Same thing with South Beach in Miami Beach. Before I went, it was South Beach. After. It was SoBe. Because now I’m in the know. Or at least I like to think I am. As much as someone who has just spent a sum total of one day in SoBe can be considered in the know.

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Categories: Beach, Florida | Tags: , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Snorkeling at St. Thomas

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Jan Ross

I float silently on the bright turquoise water, arms and legs spread like a gawky starfish. Quiet envelops me and the cool water swishes against my legs as I gently paddle my flippers through the water, propelling me through this gorgeous yet alien landscape.

The clean, white, sandy bottom, scattered with rocks and coral, looks close enough to touch although it’s actually 30 feet below. A school of dark, topaz blue fish congregates there, darting and weaving through the rocks scattered on the bottom. I see movement from the corner of my eye and turn my head lazily, lazily…there’s no hurry here…to see a bright green sea turtle calmly swimming along above the shipwreck. He is oblivious to our presence, we snorkelers, we intruders, we air breathers.

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Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Food, Glorious Food!

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Jan Ross

 

20110406-030214.jpgFor some, cruising is all about the destinations. Exotic, glorious, beautiful destinations. For others, it’s about the ship. Relaxing, gambling, shopping, playing Bingo, going to shows. But for all us foodophiles? It’s all about the food.

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Categories: Caribbean, Carnival Cruise | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Carnival Stateroom – WHAT A Surprise!

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Jan Ross

20110404-043958.jpg I’m going to be honest and tell you that I did not have high expectations for my stateroom on the Carnival Liberty. Heading to the Eastern Caribbean with a group of girlfriends, we intended to spend our money on fun pursuits, so we selected the most inexpensive staterooms possible. We would be shopping, swimming, snorkeling, beaching – what difference did it make where we slept? Still, I always like a comfortable stateroom as I do spend some time there reading, working on the computer, and just relaxing so I was just a teensy bit concerned about what I was getting into.

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Categories: Caribbean, Carnival Cruise | Tags: , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Caribbean Cruise is the real Big Easy

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Jan Ross

Sun. Sand. Shopping. These are the three most fabulous words in the English language.

Oh, wait. I forgot icy frozen drink with an exotic name. More than three words but equally fabulous. Especially when consumed on the deck of a cruise ship heading to warm and exotic, palm tree covered islands.

In about a week I will fly to lovely Miami for two days, then board the Carnival Liberty for a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. The best thing about this cruise – although it is difficult to find a best thing when you are talking about a Caribbean cruise because, obviously, it’s a Caribbean cruise – is that I am going with a bunch of girlfriends. My husband is by far my favorite travel companion but he is not a fan of the beaching or the shopping.

These happen to be two of my favorite things in the universe and I will get to experience them every single day. Well. You may have to substitute “pool” for “beach” when we are at sea but that’s OK. I love lounging by the pool also. And no sand in your icy tropical drink or bathing suit.

It’s totally a win-win situation.

Read more at The Travel Blog Exchange HERE.

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Five Tips to Packing for a Multi-Climate Trip

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Jan Ross

The hardest trip I have ever taken was when we spent a few days in San Francisco in the spring and then flew to Hawaii. San Francisco was very cold, especially at Fisherman’s Wharf where we were staying, and Hawaii, of course, was very warm. I had to plan everything from a very, very cold ferry trip to Alcatraz in San Francisco to a very, very warm trip to the Pearl Harbor Memorial in Oahu. What to take? What to wear? How to keep up my fabulous fashionable image but not pay a fee for an overpacked suitcase? Here’s how.

Read the rest of my article at TheSavvyGal.com.

Categories: San Francisco | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

It’s All About A Fabulous Hat

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Jan Ross

I am not a hat person. I have tried. Over the years, I have bought darling straw hats in a variety of colors and designs and beautifully made knit hats with matching scarves and baseball caps and it’s all to no avail.

I’m just not a hat person. I want to be. I love the idea of hats. Especially when I travel. I have hat visions when I travel. Visions that I am going to become a completely different person than I am at home.

A hat person.

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Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Can you hear me now?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Jan Ross
Black Sand Beach, Hawaii, May 2010

Welcome to my new travel blog – I am so glad you are here!

After two years of blogging for a travel company, I have decided to set up my own personal travel blog to write about my travels and share my other professional writing. I hope you will be patient as I figure out wordpress (any suggestions and words of encouragement are appreciated) and get the blog up and running.

In the next couple of months, I’m heading to Nassau; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Grand Turk; St. Thomas; Las Vegas; San Francisco; Victoria, B.C.; and Vancouver, B.C. I’ll be flying, cruising, helicoptering, walking, biking, staying in fabulous hotels and eating fabulous food and I’ll be writing about it all.

Stay tuned. And thanks so much for your support.

 

Categories: Uncategorized | 1 Comment