After our cruise, my Mom and Dad made their way back to Madrid with us to see the city and what life was like for us living here. It was tight quarters in our small studio apartment for four of us, but we had lots of fun. It was hard for them to imagine how Jay and I could live together in one room for so long without getting in each [...]

Sunday, October 10 - Sinop, Turkey: Our day in Sinop was another low-key day, but it was one of the most enjoyable to me. The weather was absolutely perfect and sunny. We walked all around town and along their long sea front. It offered pretty views of our cruise ship, which was docked alone and dominated the town's [...]

Friday, October 8 - Sochi, Russia: We spent the day in the 2014 Winter Olympics city - Sochi, Russia. Usually tourists need visas to visit Russia, but on a one-day cruise stop, you just need to be part of a Russian-authorized tour group. The cruise companies like to scare people and tell them they can't get off unless they are [...]

Tuesday, October 5 - Istanbul, Turkey: Istanbul became my favorite port before we even docked. We didn't dock until noon so it gave us plenty of time to sleep in and watch us sail through Bosphorus, the Istanbul Strait that connects the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea with the Black Sea. It is the world's narrowest [...]

Our first port off the Holland America Westerdam was Kusadasi, Turkey. We headed to Ephesus, the best-preserved ancient classical city in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was founded in the 10th century B.C. and during Roman times was the second largest Roman city, ranking just behind Rome. There were [...]

Each of the last few years Jay and I have been lucky enough to take a big family vacation with my family. We are spread out across the world and all busy with our jobs, so it feels like a small miracle we've been able to make it happen. This year we met up in Athens, Greece for a cruise across the Black Sea visiting cities in Greece, Turkey, Ukraine, and Russia. For Jay and I, the vacation started a day [...]