Monthly Musings- Warm weather destinations

Linking up for Monthly Musings- Warm weather destinations. Once again Holly and Patty have come up with some fun questions to think about and answer.

1.  Several years in a row, when the kids were younger, we went to various locations in the Caribbean. Two of these vacations were family favorites but two of them were marked by uncharacteristic bad weather. To spend all that money for not great weather was frustrating especially when you factor in the extra travel time of going through customs and the low grade stress of being in a different country (stress may not be the right word- more like awareness that you're not in your own country and should something dire happen, you're far away from home).

Boy, when the sun was shining... we had a great time and nothing compares to the colors of the Caribbean.

When Frontier Airlines began operating out of Cincinnati, it offered many non stop flights to Florida. No layovers, cheaper flights, no custom lines- YES! We began viewing Florida as our sunny destination spot and have ever since. Another low cost airline is in the mix now, Allegiant, that flies out of Dayton and Cincinnati and we've taken advantage of its low(er) fares to fly to Florida. Within Florida, we aren't picky as long as long as we're on a beach. We like to try new beaches and areas of the state. 

Holly has me wanting to go to Aruba ever since she wrote about it and I'd also like to see Turks and Caicos so I'm not ruling the Caribbean out as a future sunny destination;). But our default sunny destination is Florida.

2. Packing cubes- No. If I were more of a jet setter, I'd consider them or possibly if I were younger. But, I've lived this long without them and don't go on many long trips so I don't feel like I need them.  I've considered gifting some to my kids and nieces. Since they're so young, they have a lot of trips in their future and could get a lot of use out of them. 

3. Favorite Carry On- I use just a basic black carry one when I use one. Most of the discount airlines charge for a carry on and often it's the same price as for a checked bag. Since a checked bag can be much large in size than a carry-on, it makes sense to check a bag so that's what I usually do.

4. Essential Items- 1. Sunscreen- I don't want to buy it at the resort because it will cost more plus I will likely use it up or use a lot of it thereby making the suitcase just a tad bit lighter for the trip home. 2. Overpacking if it's physically possible- I like to pack extra socks and underwear at a minimum. Ideally, I overpack outfits as well since I like to have options. 3. A straw hat for the beach. This is something that I can buy at the beach but since I already own one, I like to use the one that I have rather than buy another one.

5. I associate excursions more with cruises and we never cruise. But we did do one excursion when staying at Atlantis in the Bahamas. The girls and I swam with dolphins. Alyssa and I were both a little icked out at the photographer's instructions to kiss a dolphin. We didn't sign up to kiss a dolphin, lol. We both air kissed the dolphin.

Getting ready to get real up close and personal with the dolphins. I'm not sure where the pictures are that depict our close encounter with the dolphins.

Altantis had a lot of cool features. In this spot, you could go down a slide where sharks were swimming outside of your tube. Freaky! Here are Donnie and Alyssa- Donnie is pointing out a shark. 

Not an excursion, rather taking advantage of a resort's services, we've arranged for professional picture taking through our resort. Such good pictures from fun trips:

6. Most random thing that I pack- I can't think of anything random. I feel like I pack the normal things that I use at home that are packable.

7. We used a travel agent once for our very first family vacation. Our travel agent was a friendly acquaintance of ours prior to using her service. She did exactly what we asked her to do and we were pleased with the service. She never followed up with us, though, which I was a little disappointed in. Honestly, I probably would have utilized her services more if she'd gotten in touch with us after our trip to see how it went. I have a new friendly acquaintance, someone I volunteer with, whose family owns a travel agency. I'm considering using her travel agency. I do love the concept of having someone else do a lot of the work associated with travel that I don't enjoy. (Which is to say just about everything...)

8. Favorite sunscreen- whatever high SPF is on sale! I am not picky on brands. Sunscreen is a utility to me; not something to splurge on or to vanity purchase.  

9. Favorite flip flops or sandals- Around a resort's pool or to the beach, I wear basic flip flops- no name brand; like sunscreen, these are utilitarian to me. I like to wear cute sandals when we're out. In the regular summer (not on vacay but at home), for casual footwear, I wear Birkenstocks.

10. Favorite swimsuit- I have a variety of pieces of Land's End two pieces some of which I can mix and match.