About a lifetime ago (read: January) I cashed in some saved up Karma and won an 11-day trip courtesy of the Travel Channel. I wish I could give more insight as to why my boyfriend and I were chosen, but I have no idea. To date my best guess is that they were intimidated by our height and feared the wrath of an army of giants if we weren’t chosen (I’m 5’10’’, my boyfriend’s 6’6’’).
Obviously – that must be it.
Going into the trip, we knew next to nothing about what we would be doing. What we did know was that we were going to be filmed for an episode of Trip Flip. We knew the host was a crazy, funny, fun-loving guy named Bert Kreischer (fun fact! The movie Van Wilder was based on his life story). And finally we knew we were going to be starting in Miami.
Needless to say, packing was a nightmare – especially for a compulsive over-packer like me. I mean, HOW DO YOU PACK WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING OR WHERE YOU MIGHT BE GOING?
But two weeks after we won the vacation, we were on a plane en route to Miami. I kept a journal on the trip and it was almost filled cover-to-cover with the things that we got to see and do. I’ll spare you the long version and simply say that it was an amazing, jam-packed 11 days.
First in Miami and then on a 7-day Carnival Cruise to Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. Throughout the trip we got to play Jai Alai, hang out with Grammy winner Emilio Estefan (you may be more acquainted with his wife – Gloria), go power snorkeling with a barracuda named Ashley, and get pampered like fancy-pants McGoos on the cruise. And eat and drink. Oh my god did we eat and drink.
About four months have passed since the trip and we STILL can’t believe it’s happened. (But – I’ve pinched myself MULTIPLE times and unless I’m in some crazy Matrix-like coma in another reality – the trip really did happen.) And finally, we’ll get to see our trip through the eyes of the camera and the magic of TV editing. If you want to tune in, it airs at 7 PM CST on the Travel Channel this Sunday, May 5th. (That’s Cinco de Mayo – so be sure to have your margaritas handy!)
