kelly's blog

As you might have noticed, my recent trip to Aruba was sponsored by the Aruba Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino. As such, I thought it only fitting to give you my thoughts and experiences on the resort itself. When I travel, I don't discriminate against any kind of establishment (although admittedly, cost is usually my deciding factor.) Sometimes I stay in a "mom and pop" B&B and sometimes it's the chain hotel. It all depends on my travel needs and desires for the trip. Price might be my deciding vote, but there are many other factors that come into play when choosing a hotel, and as such, I've chosen a few things to discuss about the Aruba Marriott. I'll break it down, as follows: the room (cause you're sleeping there), the amenities (they can often rationalize the added cost), check-in (it's a good barometer for how your stay will be), and problems (problems, always give you insight, on the hotel or the traveler).

“How was Aruba? Is it truly one happy island like they say?” This question kept presenting itself to me in a variety of forms when I arrived back stateside a few weeks ago. This notion of the happy “other” makes me uncomfortable. Why do we, and by we I mean Americans, insist on stereotyping the “other” as happy? Is it because happiness is a tricky emotion and one that eludes many an American? When someone returns from a trip and tells me “the people in Mexico, or the Italians, or the Mississipians, they were SOOOOO nice,” I immediately wonder what’s going in in their own lives to make them say that. (I should mention here that I’m equating niceness with happiness, because really, you can’t have one without the other.) What is it that they see in these other cultures that they find lacking in themselves or in their own culture? Why do we call the “other’ happy?

So it was really bothering me when it was ME having these happy thoughts when I was in Aruba. I kept feeling like every person that I came into contact with seemed just so darn happy. I have the scribbled text in my notebook to prove it “People are SUPER nice, what is with that?” My cynical side quickly silenced my awe with a “yeah, yeah, they work in a resort, they’re getting paid to be nice to you.” At first the pleasantries, hellos, and would you like a cold drink? could be dismissed as hospitality. But after the first day I couldn’t ignore the contentedness and ease of the people I came into contact with. I started to wonder why everyone in Aruba appeared so charming and happy to me, what was going in in my own head?

Wow, I'm kinda embarrassed to admit this, but I'm totally in the dog house here in the Travellious house. I just got my T-Mobile phone bill covering the few days that I was in Aruba last month and it was a jaw dropper. I'll admit that I didn't do my research before hand, nor study up on the costs associated with using my phone abroad. I knew it was expensive (been there, done that) and thought I kept it to a minimum.

I didn’t expect Aruba to be so arid, let alone see ginormous cacti. A jeep tour with De Palm Tours gave us a peek at the terrain of the island, a tour of local landmarks, a dip in a natural pool and a bit of a roller coaster ride when some fellow travel bloggers took the wheel.

Normally I detest all things performance and food, but this fun little video made me smile. Not only because the vendor relentlessly teased the tourist, but had some superb theatrical skills, to boot. And who doesn't love ice cream?

It's travel month over on the home design blog, Apartment Therapy. (In a former life, I helped launch their technology blog and wrote about all things techie in the home.) This month they've dished out packing tips, provided hotels to lust after and discussed travel logistics. Here's a sampling of some of my favorite travel-inspired posts this month.

So, you're heading to New York and you've made the difficult decision of what airport to fly into and you're starting to get excited about all the eating, shopping, and sightseeing to be had. The only detail left to figure out is deciding where to stay. I know you're tempted to stay in Midtown, it's just so convenient, you say. Don't get me wrong, Midtown makes sense for a lot of people. At least if you plan on spending your entire trip on Broadway, gawking in Times Square, taking a carriage ride through Central Park or on top of the Empire State Building. But, that's just not New York to me, that's the rest of the world's vision of New York.

Austin and I have talked about this before, we LOVE staying in neighborhoods. (See here or here.) Places where people want to live, eat, and exist. Our usual New York haunt is somewhere between the East Village and Gramercy. We have our favorite breakfast spot, streets to window shop on, and even a favorite late night deli. However, on my latest trip to NYC, I got to try out living in the West Village for a few days while attending the Travel Blog Exchange (or TBEX) and stayed in a sponsored apartment rental from HomeAway.

Apartments are my favorite option when traveling and having the comforts of home always makes for a more pleasant stay. I love having a full kitchen, a communal space to relax in and a closet; those are ALL wonderful things to have when traveling. Our rental from HomeAway was an absolutely lovely apartment, huge by New York standards with two bedrooms, TWO bathrooms and we even had a garden patio, where my roommates and I spent countless hours people watching, relaxing and swapping stories about the day over a glass of wine or a cheese plate from Murray's Cheese. This kind of luxury can come with a high price tag, our West Village digs ran around $600 per night. However, the West Village isn't exactly known for being cheap, and if that's out of your price range, you could easily find an equally vibrant neighborhood to fit any budget. Another point to be made is that said apartment slept up to six people and if you've got a crowd, it's not so far offbase from New York hotel price standards. (Although, pick a crowd you like, cause this apartment was New York City big, but not THAT big.) But, perhaps what I liked best about staying in the apartment was not the apartment and the amenities it offered, but, the ability to stay in an awesome neighborhood and not a Midtown hotel. Getting a taste of living in New York made me fall in love with New York all over again.

First, let me reintroduce you to the idea of travellious (or read more about it on our about page.) When we're traveling we usually forgo the usual tourist experience in favor of wandering around grocery stores, going to less visited art museums, or just spending an afternoon in a cafe. When I got off the plane in Aruba, I quickly realized that those standards weren't going to hold up. Instead, I decided to question my own travel biases and throw myself head first into what an island had to offer. I was completely shocked by my feelings when I got back on a plane a few days later. I actually had a GREAT time doing things that a normal tourist does. I also realized that I needed to break down my elitist definition of travel. In fact, I realized that having a definition of travel at all does nothing for you, except allowing you to miss out on valuable life experiences. I also discovered a few travellious tips for the next time you visit Aruba (or any tropical island.)

A rainy day in Shanghai allowed for this great shot and a lesson in how the random can make a photograph. As jrodmanjr describes:

Walking out in Shanghai's heavy rain, I saw this bicyclist donning a bright red bike-adapted poncho. When he turned the corner and headed right towards me, I knew I could position myself to get a good shot. Little did I know that the just when I opened the shutter, another cyclist crossed the frame heading the other direction, with a yellow poncho!

Love how the yellow poncho creates the illusion of a flash of light and captures to movement of Shanghai. Thanks for sharing!

I was recently invited to attend a press trip sponsored by the Aruba Marriott and I'll admit, my first thought was I'm totally going to lose my street cred heading to some resort. I'm normally not a beach chair-lounging, daqueri sipping, island resort kind of girl. I do love the beach, but when I think of travel (at least how I've done it in the last decade) I think of walking until I can't possibly walk anymore, finding offbeat art venues or sampling the latest food vendor craze. But after a crazy weekend with travel bloggers (or aka TBEX) in New York City, I knew that the beach might be the perfect antidote. So, I silenced my inner critic, hopped on a plane with a bunch of travel bloggers and went down to check out what the Aruba had to offer.