Cruising into the New Year 🎊

We arrived in Tampa, a beautiful bay city along Florida’s Gulf Coast with a laid-back vibe. It’s all about Christmas decoration & flipflops. Chilling. Reading. Friendly Americans chatting to us and dreaming of a life in Europe. Great food. Swimming in the pool listening to Christmas songs interrupted by the acceleration of V8 engines (love). Soaking in that sun. 

We were in that strange bit of time between Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve where none of us really knew what day it was and every day seemed the same. We happily spent those days in Tampa. 

Not everything worked out. I arrived with a stomach bug (Christmas gift from Germany). Our shuttle bus at the airport for our rental car reservation never arrived and therefore no rental car. And a new rental car confirmation two days later turned out into “sorry, no cars are available, we couldn’t reach you” followed by a 10-minute walk on the pavement to a diner at 8am: mamas kitchen breakfast. A good old style breakfast and new plans for the day: shopping via uber. 

Best dessert in the world: key lime 🍋‍🟩 pie!

Yes it is!

Dinners are also fantastic.

December 27th: enjoying the pool at 27C degrees and Christmas songs in the background 🎄Life is good!

Here should have been a photo of the Kennedy Space Center… but thanks to no availability of rental cars… we missed it. Or we just have to come back another time. 

Ready for hopping on our Western Caribbean cruise to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula. Cruising into the New Year 🎊

Bye, bye, Florida 👋

New Year’s Eve: sleeping in, sun bathing, a little swim, dressing, fancy dinner and New York style ball drop down followed by greeting the new year at the pool.

Happy new year! 🎆 

Hello new year, hola Mexico! 

First day of the new year: refreshing rain in paradise! 

Day 2 in the new year: Cozumel in Mexico 🇲🇽

Swimming in crystal clear waters. Soaking in the Mexican sun. In love with this little beach paradise.

This is a happy face with salt in the hair, sand everywhere and far too many margaritas. A fun day! 

Amazing sunsets, getting better night by night. 

Daily margaritas followed by siestas. Soaking in the sun. Swimming in the turquoise crystal clear water. Snorkeling. Tequila tasting. Our learning from being on a cruise: don’t shower before the ship is moving… we (I mean hubby) flooded the whole room. Ups. We also killed the room A/C, like 10 years ago in SC… nothing to add. Lol. We had a fabulous time on the cruise, especially with our dining buddies from Atlanta & Cuba.

Back in Tampa, Florida. Finally the rental car reservation worked out, we were hitting the road.

We are still in love with this country 🇺🇸 Despite plastic cups and big televisions showing sports games everywhere… we love the country which starts counting on floor “1” and not on “zero” like most other countries. Charlie’s Heimat. The country we got married. Wi-Fi everywhere for free (truly enjoyed the internet-free days on the cruise). Free tap water. Indoor rooms cooled down, it feels like winter in Germany (something we’ll probably never get used to). Stiff necks included. Lol. Friendly people. Smiles everywhere. Cuban Uber drivers. The delicious food (burger, steak, fresh seafood, key lime pie…). Coke refill. Shopping, of course. Cities at its extreme when preparing for a sports game. Surrounded by the beautiful sound of V8 engines (yeah, those muscle cars) and finally driving one ourselves. And gasoline prices like nowhere else (3.09$/Gallon). 

We had an absolutely fantastic time! Thanks and hope to be back soon 🇺🇸

Bye for now 🌞