Bekah's Bits: Travel Thursday: Cruising the Caribbean

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Travel Thursday: Cruising the Caribbean

For the last few weeks, I’ve been merrily skipping down memory lane on Thursdays, looking back at some of my favorite memories from our annual birthday trips. I am so glad we created this tradition, sort of by accident, our first year of marriage, and that we have made it a priority each year since. Some years the trips have been super short – single overnighters, even. Other times they’ve lasted up to a couple of weeks. Different seasons have allowed for different adventures.

This week I’m looking back at Ryan’s 40^th birthday bash (in 2019), which was one of our longest trips, both in days off work and certainly in miles traveled. We went almost to the equator! (WHAT?!)

Here are some of my favorite memories from his birthday cruise!

· First of all, one thing I love about scrapbooking is the way it reminds me of everyday things that aren’t everyday anymore, and this vacation started with one! We were living in Kokomo at the time, and we lived three houses down from Ryan’s workplace. In an unprecedented move, he took two full weeks off work, so when he left work to start his vacation, I marched right out to the sidewalk and captured him walking home. Oh, how often I met him on that sidewalk after work, and I hadn’t thought about that in so long. Sweetness.

· We never fly anywhere because we’re too cheap, and I am also terrible with flying. These two pictures still live on my phone as my explanation to people of the differences between us when we sit on an airplane. Anxiety married calm, right?

· Ryan’s mom died six weeks before this trip. We had it booked months in advance, and as our departure date drew near, Nita began to panic about us leaving. She would sob anytime anyone mentioned our vacation. We began to talk about canceling it because it upset her so much, but she ended up passing away in March before our trip in April. As we left port in Florida, we stood on the balcony and noticed this boat on the dock. The Miss Juanita. How fitting.

· We had pretty stormy seas the first three days, and we were both exhausted from the last six months of our lives, helping to care for Nita. There were so many naps in those days, and they were just what we needed. We were thankful for time and space to truly rest.

· We still tell this story ALL THE TIME. We happened to be gone over Easter Sunday (something we had not realized would be the case until long after we booked the cruise). The ship offered an Easter church service, marking the first and only time we’ve ever gone to church in a comedy club. We appreciated the offering of the service but found it interesting that most of the people in charge of the service didn’t seem super familiar with Jesus. The assistant cruise director gave the message, where she talked about Jesus on trial before “Pu-lott-tee” (like Pilates without the s) and the traditional symbols of Easter: the bunny, lamb, egg, butterfly and lily.

· Our first port was Aruba, where Ryan agreed to the “Granny Tour” (bus tour), which I loved. My favorite part? The lighthouse! My least favorite part? The “Griswold” family that threw every kind of fit on the bus the entire time we were traveling the island.

· Our second port was Curacao, where we rented a car and toured the island ourselves. I was extremely nervous about our safety, especially once we got away from the port area and saw bars on the windows of all the houses, but Ryan felt we would be okay – and we were! The water sure was gorgeous there.

· On this trip, Ryan had his first (and only) trip to the spa. He had a birthday package through the cruise line, and it included a gift card to the spa. The only thing on the service list that the card would (mostly) cover was a shave and facial, so he did that. I had the best time document it (and giggling).

· I tried ox tongue. It was not for me.

· Ryan did the ship’s ropes course on his birthday and encountered a young boy who was alone up there and terrified. He was too far in to quit, but too scared to keep going. Ryan abandoned the course he planned to take to stay with the boy and help him complete it. The boy’s mom was beside me, watching, and she told me over and over how thankful she was that Ryan was up there and was being so kind. He’s ALWAYS helpful, even during his birthday adventures.