Clever Nomad

We recently went on a family cruise on the Freedom of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship based out of Port Canaveral. Our party consisted of me, Mr. Nomad, the two Wee Nomads (16 mos and 3) and my mother. My husband's parents also joined us, but they stayed in a separate cabin. We chose a Western Caribbean itinerary, which visited Labadee, Haiti (private beach), Falmouth, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel, Mexico. The only port I'd visited prior was Jamaica way back in 2000. We have focused our island traveling on the Eastern and Southern Caribbean. I was pleasantly surprised by two of our ports, underwhelmed by two others. But you'll just have to wait for that detail!

This will mostly be a picture based review, due to heavy work schedule and small boys that requires lots of attention. We originally booked a regular aft balcony and an inside for our group of five (our family of four plus my mom). Nine days before sailing Royal Caribbean called and asked if we'd like to upgrade to a Royal Family Suite. Yes please! It was Room 8714 on the back (aft) of the ship, and it was nice and big for five of us:

 Master bedroom with porthole. Looked out onto balcony. The door led to the hallway and living area.

 Master bath with tub. What gives with the skimpy shower curtains, RCI?

 Inside bedroom, on the left as you enter the suite hallway. There are two pullman "bunk" beds in the ceiling that can be pulled down for more people.

Living Room.

 Another shot of master.

The balcony!

 More.


The view looking up. Not very private but we never noticed all that many people, unless we were coming into or leaving port.

This was a free upgrade, so I really have no complaints. Had I paid for this suite, there are a handful of things I would have liked to see done differently:

1. There is a lack of drawers in this cabin. One less refrigerator (there were 3!) and one more dresser would have been nice.

2. The shower curtain was way narrow for the opening in the master. I mean, it's an extra five inches for plastic! Some people pay $10K for these cabins and to have water all over the floor is unacceptable when the solution is so simple.

Overall I liked the cabin and would book it again. I do think I prefer the side balcony to the aft (this is my second aft, the other was on the Celebrity Summit in 2011).

More pictures of ports to come later!

I wonder if the 15 people who read this blog missed me last week? We spent a family week on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It was great fun. I'll definitely post more later, but here are a few shots of our beautiful week.

Back to reality today!

This will be my temporary home:


My days will be spent riding bikes, playing on the beach, yoga-ing, and frolicking with the young 'uns.

It's going to be great.

On my way to the car this morning, I saw that our cat vomited in the stroller. The $750 Baby Jogger City Select stroller. Penance for such extravagance?

Nevertheless, a cat may die today.

And, the other night? I sat in pee. My child's pee, which he had carelessly spilled on the seat and floor as he attempted to empty his child's potty into the big toilet. Mr. Nomad saw the spillage, but in his words, "it was chaos" as the baby was attempting to crawl through said pee. Mr. Nomad conveniently forgot to clean it up, and I ended up with pee on my legs.

We live in the suburbs on Atlanta. We ended up here, not by choice, but by circumstances. Right after Mr. Nomad and I got married, I started law school. Like, six weeks later. I went to UGA in Athens, which is way east of Atlanta, and the Mr. worked on far west side of Atlanta. This meant we had to live kind of in-between. So commenced three years of horrible commutes for both of us. Where I found that kind of energy and drive still baffles me.

We purchased a townhome in 2004 while I was in law school. Then, we rented it out when we purchased our home in 2006. Yes, THAT 2006, the one with the highest home prices ever record. The bubble of all bubble years.

So, like many 35-year olds that I know, I am now the proud owner of two homes - our starter and our second. We never planned to keep either of the houses this long, especially the one we're living in now. The house itself is fine, it's the location that's the issue. It's a nice neighborhood, but many of our neighbors don't speak English. We live in a heavily Korean area, and those that are friendly simply don't speak our language well enough to forge anything beyond pleasantries. Many aren't friendly at all - I've learned that, despite efforts, some cultures are very closed. It makes it tough for our toddler to have playdates and make friends. We've got a couple of friends in the immediate area, but that's it.

Though I want to move abroad, I do have to be a bit practical (dammit!). We've got kids to educate and student loans to pay. We've been considering different areas of Atlanta for years and have settled on where we want to buy. Problem is, we've got to wait a bit to sell our house, if we can sell it at all. Still underwater, don't you know? We're going to take a huge loss on the house, but I want it behind me. Plus, we have to save some for the NEW house, so yeah. It sucks.

We're looking at the Decatur/Oakhurst neighborhood. Decatur is not Atlanta, it's a separate city with its own taxes and schools. Good schools, too. Lots of parks, festivals and family-oriented activities. All within walking distance if you buy in the right area. It's going to be tough to find a house within our desired budget that is large enough for our needs, but I'm ready. It's going to be "the" house. The one to stay in for a long time. The family home.

I just want to get started. Waiting is very frustrating. Oakhurst even has its own flag - see?

One of my next adventures is going to be a girl's weekend in the North Georgia mountains. This area is really popular for Atlantans because (i) it's within a 3 hour drive, and (ii) the temperature drops, like, 5 or 10 degrees, which matters to us. It's the difference between tank tops and tank tops with cardigans. So, yeah.

The area around Dahlonega, Georgia, is a little micro wine country. There are lots of nice vineyards with tasting "rooms," many of them outdoors. Examples: Frogtown, Three Sisters, and Wolf Mountain.

The main town, Dahlonega, is home to a small public university and a busy downtown area. Like you would expect from a college town, there are a number of coffee shops, vegetarian and/or vegan inspired cafes, and a bookstore. Of course, it's a tourist town, so the obligatory chocolate shop and art galleries also populate the square.


I went with two attorney friends last year; this year we will add one more. It's becoming a yearly tradition, and I like it. It's inexpensive, it's quaint, and I don't have to go through a TSA checkpoint. Score.

A view like this close to home? I'll take it!