2024 In Review

It seems the older we get; the faster December arrives. I joke with my residents often saying that “live is like a role of toilet paper; the closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.” As I sit here writing this review, that phrase hits a little closer to home than I would like.

2024 saw a lot of changes for Christina and me. In April, we were promoted at work and moved to a larger community. This brought us from the west coast of Florida, closer to mid central Florida. While this was obviously a great opportunity for us, it had the side benefit of putting us a little more central and giving us easier access to many of the things we have been wanting to do.

April also saw our first cruise of the year. With our schedule, it’s hard to get away for any real length of time. So Margaritaville Cruises afforded us an opportunity to get on a short cruise for a weekend getaway to the Bahamas. It also afforded us a way to catch up on some much-needed rest.

May saw our first concert together. Kane Brown at the Kia Center in Orlando. While it was a great show and we both enjoyed it, we both agreed that these kinds of events are most definitely not something we will enjoy on a regular basis. We didn’t get home till after midnight, which is way past our bedtime.

June saw what would arguably become one of our favorite trips of the year. We drove down to Naples, Florida and worked our way back up through Venice and then home. Naples is officially one of our favorite cities in Florida. It’s so beautiful and it was so much fun to just enjoy its beauty together. Whether it was walking through one of the many towns squares or enjoying an evening of live music on the waterfront. We both left a little piece of ourselves in Naples.

June also brought some family for a visit. And oh what a magical visit it was. I was officially dubbed “PopPop.” We treated the grandkids to their first visit to Disney and just enjoyed having the kids around.

We spent our anniversary in Clearwater/St. Pete. We visited Ft. Desoto and treated ourselves to a balcony view of the bay.

August found us exploring several different beaches. We spent some time in Cocoa Beach and Dunedin. We learned the hard way that some Florida beaches have bugs that bite. Bug repellant sun block was recommended and purchased shortly after our Dunedin trip.

September/October saw travel plans postponed, several times. We had plans to visit the panhandle of Florida. Hurricane Helene hit Florida the same weekend we were supposed to go away. We postponed for two weeks later. Hurricane Milton hit Florida two weeks later. Forcing us to once again postpone our panhandle trip. Because we were leaving for vacation at the end of October, and would be going to Las Vegas in November, we postponed our panhandle trip to December.

October brought our long-awaited vacation to the Southern Caribbean. We started our vacation by driving down to Key West. We spent 5 days in the Florida Keys before boarding the Celebrity Eclipse for our 10-night Southern Caribbean cruise. We visited Tortola, BVI; St. Johns, Antiqua; Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia and Basseterre, St. Kitts/Nevis. We vacationed for 17 Days, drove 1,000 miles, flew 140 miles on 1 seaplane, dove 139 feet in a submarine, swam with four dolphins, sailed 2,768 nautical miles on 1 sea & 1 ocean, walked 126,189 steps, cycled 3.5 miles, and stayed in 4 hotels while visiting 10 cities in 6 countries. It was an amazing adventure.

A few days after returning from our vacation, we were treated to a weekend getaway to Las Vegas, Nevada. A reward from our company for meeting certain requirements during the summer months. Now, Las Vegas is one of those cities that we have both already been to, and neither of us are fond of. However, being there together definitely made it a great trip.

December saw yet another postponement of our panhandle trip. The last time we moved it, we had forgotten that we had scheduled our staff Christmas Party on the weekend we moved our trip to. So, we had to move it once again. However, we were finally able to make it to the panhandle and enjoyed visiting movie sites, seeing Christmas lights, and touring a military aircraft museum in Pensacola. And while it took us a while to get there, we both agreed that it was worth the wait.

2024 has been an amazing chapter for our “empty nesting” years. It was filled with professional successes and wonderful travel experiences. As we look toward 2025, we are excited for the possibilities that await us. And we look forward to sharing them with you as they happen.