Category: travel

  • UAE Trip – Day 3

    My first full day in the UAE was a Friday. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the weekend in the UAE is Friday and Saturday, not Saturday and Sunday. The CIEE seminar didn’t begin until 2:00 pm. Having sat around on planes for the last day and a half, I wanted to get…

  • UAE Trip – Day 2

    My first flight took me to Newark. There I boarded a flight for Zurich, Switzerland. In examining my itinerary I realized I had a four hour layover. Ever up for adventure, I figured I could slip out of the airport real quick to see Zurich, especially since the downtown is only 15 minutes away by…

  • UAE Trip – Day 1

    A little background may be in order for blog readers… As part of building the case for the accreditation for the University of Tampa, those developing the most recent application materials included an international component (it was before I arrived, so I wasn’t involved). From what I’ve been told, the basic idea is that we will…

  • Jacksonville trip day 2

    We got up somewhat early on our second full day in Jacksonville and headed to the pool, but it was short-lived as Toren was still tired and needed a nap.  He and Debi napped all morning while I read the news.  We then went for lunch where Toren showed off his new spell-casting abilities: Toren…

  • Jacksonville weekend getaway

    With Debi taking classes most of the summer and me trying to get some research done, we decided to not take any big vacations and instead do a couple of weekend getaways.  We had previously used Priceline.com to book nice hotels in Miami for cheap, so we figured we’d try the same website with different…

  • Morgans et al in Florida

    I finally found the time to post summaries of the Morgan Family’s trip to Florida in late May.  Here are the relevant links: Morgans et al in Florida – Day 1 Morgans et al in Florida – Day 2 – Animal Kingdom Morgans et al in Florida – Day 3 – Magic Kingdom Morgans et…

  • Morgans et al in Florida – Day 8 – beach, pool and photos

    This was the last day of the vacation.  The rest of the family had early evening flights out of Orlando.  That meant we had time in the morning to go the pool and beach for a short time then pack up, take some family photos, and hit the road.  The pool and beach were fun,…

  • Morgans et al in Florida – Day 7 – Busch Gardens

    I can’t really speak for everyone else on the trip, but I think it’s probably safe to say that most of us had relatively low expectations of Busch Gardens in Tampa.  We had just visited four of the world’s most famous amusement parks – Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, and Sea World…

  • Morgans et al in Florida – Day 6 – Treasure Island Beach

    We drove to Treasure Island, which is a barrier island right next to St. Petersburg, and checked into some very nice condos right on the beach.  We then all went out to the beach and played, then transitioned to the resort’s swimming pools, before heading in for dinner and a relatively relaxing evening.  I ended…

  • Morgans et al in Florida – Day 5 – Sea World

    Day 5 took us to Sea World.  Debi and I went to Sea World in, I think, 2003, over the winter break, so we remembered some of the attractions.  But they have changed the shows substantially since then so there was plenty new to see. Also, we have a kid now, which changes the way…