Winter Narrative

My Christmas experience could easily be considered the vacation of a lifetime. Many people dream of doing the many things I did over Christmas break. I took a cruise to Cozumel, Belize, Costa Maya, and The Bahamas. I had always dreamed of what it would be like to be on a ship and sail across the ocean to different places and different countries. Little did I know that I was about to experience this.
It was very early on the morning of December thirteenth when my family and I left for DIA. We were all very excited to fly to Orlando and set sail on a new adventure aboard the Carnival ship Glory. We arrived in Florida and took a shuttle from the Orlando International Airport to Port Canaveral where we would get on board the Glory. As we approached the port, we could begin to see our ship. My family and I couldn’t believe how big a cruise ship really was! It easily seemed over a mile long and almost just as wide and stood very tall. My family and I checked in at the port and began to make our way towards our cruise ship. As we got inside we all stopped with our mouths wide open in amazement at how beautiful yet enormous the inside of this ship was. It was simply breathtaking! We made our way to our cabin, checked in there, and then began to explore the ship. The ship had so many places and things to do on it. It had a pool, a basketball court, a put-put golf course, an arcade, a theatre to perform on, and it even had its own mall. My brother Derek and I spent most of the first two days playing basketball and swimming and meeting new kids from all around the US.
As we arrived in our destinations, I began to find out that each country was uniquely different and yet the same. As we entered each country, we discovered that we take for granted what opportunities and how well taken care of we are in the US. We also learned that the people of each country were nice and some enjoyed the tourism and the opportunity to learn about other cultures. My brother and I practiced our Spanish a lot and quickly learned the art of bartering in the shops. We also had the opportunity to enjoy the second largest living coral in the world in Belize. It was a very beautiful reef and I had a mana ray swim right underneath me!
Our trip was overall eight days long but I was very blessed to experience as well as learn so much about other countries and cultures. After experiencing these things at a young age, I look forward to more trips to other countries after I graduate from college.