Growing up, my sister and I were the bickering types. It was always who could tattle first, who had to take out the trash and who had the best grades. It wasn’t until I left for college, when I had my first taste of the “real world,” that Caroline became my rock and support. While she lived in Boston, it was easy to plan the monthly visit. However, in September she left the East Coast behind and headed to the flat and tan land of Dallas, Texas. My first visit was planned for late November, to spend Thanksgiving and her early December birthday together. We were going to wing the Thanksgiving dinner, roam the local malls and outlets on Black Friday, and spend a calm and restful week together. Or so I thought.

Our trip began with an overnight in Mexico. I had my passport in hand, and I assumed my duty of navigator in the passenger seat. But first, a selfie. My sister snapped the pic and uploaded it to Facebook.  When I checked the photo a half hour later, I couldn’t believe it. The caption? “She’s smiling and she doesn’t even know yet we’re actually headed to a seven day Caribbean cruise. Surprise.”  Goodbye Dallas! Hello to the Norwegian Jade, Mexico, Belize and Honduras. (Caroline, you win all the brownie points for our entire lives. I will never be able to repay you!)

Caroline and I left from Houston and boarded the Jade. The ship was beautiful. It had everything you could want from a cruise ship. We attended two shows, multiple Bingo games, sit down dinners, buffets, raffles we didn’t win, one extremely hard trivia game and tried our hand at the slot machines in the casino.We went into Cozumel, Mexico and Belize City, Belize. Our final port was Roatan, Honduras.

In Cozumel we took the advice of a casino worker and found the Hotel Barracuda. There we snorkeled, swam, read, and enjoyed the beautiful day. We saw beautiful fish and a wrecked plane underwater. Caroline, the queen of preparation, brought an underwater camera for us.

In Belize we bought souvenirs for our friends and family. Unless we took a taxi, we were limited in where we could walk to. No matter, it was still a lovely day. When Caroline travels, she looks to buy canvas art pieces as souvenirs for herself. We found art in Belize and Roatan Bay.

Caroline planned one excursion, zip-lining in Roatan. We took a short van ride through Roatan to find ourselves at the South Shore Zip-line. After a small wait and safety instructions, we hooked onto the lines and sailed through the forest. Our guide was kind enough to take pictures of us zip-lining. The views of the ocean were breathtaking. Caroline had zip-lined in Costa Rica, but it was my first time.

After the adventure, we headed back to base to collect our belongings. Caroline got a quick picture with a monkey, one of her personal dreams.

Neither of us had motion-sickness, thankfully. We spent our at sea days reading and attending the cruise activities and shows. I didn’t know how much I needed that vacation until I was lounging by the pool in the sun.

After a restful seven days, it was back to Houston and then Grapevine, where my sister resides. We tried to cram as much as possible into the next three days, including taking a somber visit to the 6th Floor Museum, where Harvey Lee Oswald fired the fatal shots toward JFK, chowing down at In-N-Out Burger, attending my first movie theater with dining services, catching up with my mom’s old family friends, and”drag racing” at the Go-Cart Speedzone.

It was a vacation like no other. Thank you again Caroline.