My Cruise Into Romance - My Family Travels

When my dad told us that he was going to take us on a cruise through the Mexican Riviera my entire family leapt with joy. I was especially excited because I was just getting over a bad case of unrequited love, and a cruise seemed like the perfect way to get my mind off of my broken heart.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, we finally boarded the fabulous Carnival Splendor. After watching the Oscars at the Seaside Theatre and eating an unhealthy amount of ice-cream, my brother and I decided to humor our parents and attend Club O2; Carnival’s club exclusively designed for 15-17 year olds. I went in with extremely low expectations because I assumed that the kids at Club O2 would consist of over-eager 15 year olds and sullen 17 year olds.

Quarter Finalist 2011 Teen Travel Writing Scholarship

When I arrived I was pleasantly surprised to a cute young man from Canada! He was funny, goofy, and slightly scandalous. Coming from a small farm town and extremely conservative family, I was fascinated to hear about his wild going away party where, “Everyone got topless real fast.” I had thought that those types of parties only happened in teenage coming of age movies, or Katy Perry music videos! Through our mutual love for Ke$ha and late night pizza, we became fast friends.    

Now, Mr. Canada was not the only eligible boy I met that first night. I also met a nice boy from Utah. Now, my first impression of him was that he was shy and kind of dorky. However, by the end of the night I realized that Mr. Utah was funny, slightly sarcastic, and an amazing dancer! I didn’t even know that white boys could dance like that!

Throughout the entire week I spent practically all of my time with my friends at Club O2. We mini golfed together, danced together, ate our feelings together, and partied as hard as any 17 year old legally can.  Mr. Canada and I would eat soft serve ice cream and talk about kittens, fairies, butterflies, and how we both live on pumpkin patches!

As Mr. Canada and I were becoming BFF’s, I was beginning to develop a crush on Mr. Utah. My first impression of him had been totally off! He wasn’t shy at all; in fact he was extremely outgoing and likeable. Every single game or competition that occurred, whether Apples to Apples, poker, or ultimate spoons, he completely dominated. His natural charisma caused me to act silly and smitten around him. At home I wouldn’t have ever dreamed of being so forward with a boy, but being on vacation there was nothing to lose!

It was finally the last day of the cruise and I had become slightly disappointed because I was worried that all my flirting had gone to waste. After all, Mr. Utah still seemed to think of me as just a nice girl who was good at mini golf. I told Mr. Canada of the teenage angst I was feeling and he just laughed and told me that I needn’t worry about Mr. Utah because he was sure to come around.

Mr. Canada ended up being completely right. That night Mr. Utah took my hand on the way back from hot chocolate and I’m sure he would have kissed me good night if I had been more responsive. After having such an innocent and exciting vacation fling I realized that I no longer needed to worry about unrequited love in my small town, because there really are other fish in the sea. 

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0 Replies to “My Cruise Into Romance”

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  • Tom

    Have you ever actually traveled with kids? It doesn’t seem like it by the tone of this article.

  • todobigo

    Hello Dr Ramesh,
    If both legal guardians or birth parents of the child are traveling with the child, you will not need any other documentation, except everyone’s visas and passports. Check with your employer about medical insurance. If they will not provide medical coverage overseas, you can inquire with your U.S. based insurance company about what they provide. Some travel insurance companies sell one-year policies to cover students studying overseas and that might be another option. Safe Travels!

  • Dr Ramesh

    Sir, we both are going Europe with work visa on base of permit. Taking our 3year old child with us. Any letter or medical form/ paper we need to carry with us?

  • A Great Family Activity and one that will bring the family back together in the future when they all grow up!!
    Take a look at our adventures. https://www.youtube.com/user/00Shaddow00 . We just started doing this to bring the family together and stop wasting our time setting in front of the television. We are filming our trips to document our adventures to remember and to share with family and friends. Maybe to motivate others to get out there with there family.

  • Kavleen Kaur

    good article..

  • Jina

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  • Dubai is such a nice place to stay and famous for its wonderful sightseeing’s attractions. The best trip is Dubai sightseeing’s tour and desert safari in Dubai. We had great time couple of years ago.

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  • Shira Barnett

    YAY THAT’S MY TWIN! So proud of you Tali!

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  • Tom

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  • This sounds like so much fun! From the haunted houses to the different drinks offered. I didn’t know HHN was such a major part for Universal Orlando. Good to know! Thanks for the article!

  • MFT Admin

    Hello Annetta,
    Yes, one Permission to Travel or Consent Letter can list more than one child on it, if the contact information for the legal guardians/birth parents is the same.
    Safe travels!

  • Annetta greaves

    Can I use one concept form to apply for two sibling from the same father

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  • Thanks for all of these suggestions.
    Chicago is a wonderful place to visit.

  • Excellent very nice! No doubt Dubai is very famous for more activities but desert safari is very unique activity.i love this one…

  • jennifer S

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  • Aladeyelu oluwaseun

    Our family of 3 adults booked a tour with Kalka Travels in April 2018. Our tour included transportation and accommodation in Delhi, Pushkar, Udaipur, Bundi, Jaipur and Agra. We then caught an overnight train to Varanasi where we met up with a third party contracted by Kalka Travel. Overall we were very happy with the tour company as they delivered on what we had pre-arranged with them. We upgraded our vehicle to a SUV rather than just a sedan, and added an elephant ride to Agra Fort, tickets to traditional dance show in Udaipur, a movie at the Raj Mandir theatre in Jaipur as well as water was supplied each day to us. All breakfasts were included. Our driver Ravinder was exceptional in that he was always on time and patient with us sometimes being late; the vehicle was always cleaned that morning and comfortable. He was highly attentive to our needs, very reliable, polite, and humorous, and told us what to expect at each stop. We always felt very safe with him as he was an excellent driver. His English was good in that we were able to ask many questions of him. Kalka Travels was flexible with our itinerary and our driver stopped at a few places that were not on our list of stops, unlike the other company we had considered booking who told us the drivers could not be flexible.Our wonderful driver, Ravinder, made our trip very special. Kalka Travels also only asked for a $100 deposit in advance and the remainder when we arrived in India, which put us at ease. Bobby Thakur was very quick to respond to any concerns we had. All in all, a wonderful vacation and experience with Kalka Travels.

  • Ted Jones

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  • Great article & very practical. Thanks for all the tips – I’ll be thinking about them for a while as we work on our website redesign.

  • There are many famous forts and palaces along with wildlife sanctuaries and other monuments which has attracted thousands of visitors and some of them have become a part of UNESCO World Heritage Site as well.

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