Hello! I apologize for the late post; I promised myself I’d get it done first thing in the morning, then BAM! Overslept, worked late, went to a trivia night with family, and now I’m trying to get it online before midnight. Timelines, am I right?

Yes! Which is why I’m working to save up posts starting this weekend. Hopefully I’ll have a few backed up so that they can post on time even when I’m running behind.

Today I thought I’d talk about the first-ever cruise I’ve taken in 2025. Yes, last year. I’m in my late thirties and just took a cruise for the first time. I’m sure there are plenty who still haven’t.

It was a wonderful opportunity. And not just for the food! My buddy and I took a Virgin cruise, which we were told had way better food and included a lot of food for no additional fees. This was true. Alcoholic drinks were almost always a separate fee, but not too extravagant. Honestly, the cruise itself was quite nice. Other than the first night, I didn’t have any worrisome sea-sickness. We ate, schmoozed, tried various events, and slept! I napped so much on that cruise that my buddy felt like I was sleeping our trip away. I took so many wonderful pictures of the sea, to be honest. I almost felt annoyed that we made stops on land as often as we did. But landward trips we took! We stopped off in Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and docked off in London!

I will say, there was one thing I learned for the next time I visit the UK:

Plan your trips! We wanted to see the Vincent Van Gogh museum, but missed that you needed to pre-order tickets. We arrived maybe an hour after the museum opened, but all tickets were gone for the day. Since we were only on land for part of that one day, we had to mark it down as a “next time” opportunity. There were other circumstances where we didn’t see just how far apart certain locations or attractions were, which resulted in lost time and missed experiences. We still had a blast, but I’m definitely looking into the wait times and possible purchase of advance tickets for any future trips.

As for photos, I’m still having trouble uploading them. It may have to do with the parameters of the site. It’s something on my to-do list. My apologies; hopefully I’ll figure out why this site hates my photos soon. Until next time!