I turned 30 earlier this month. Big milestone. A bit scary. Felt like I had to live up to it.
Mark had been travelling all around South America and we’d talked about meeting up around the day of the birth somewhere cool. The somewhere cool we decided on was Cuba.
I needed to renew my visa, so that required a stop in a "gateway country’. Weirdly, the US doesn’t have any Consulates in Havana, so we spent a couple of days in the Bahamas.
Our trip didn’t get off to the most auspicious of starts. The ground staff at Houston Airport conspired against Mark, and he didn’t make our flight. We actually stood on either side of a closed plane door and bitched on our phones at volume about Continental staff. Hey Google, CONTINENTAL SUCKS.
I was actually a little nervous about hitting an unknown country on my own. Visions of Port Moresby, I suppose. But Nassau was all very friendly and cool. Apart from, well, not exactly "losing" my bag – more "choosing not to put it and many of its friends on my flight because they ran out of room". My bag ended up arriving only a few hours before Mark, and he had to overnight in Newark.
Bahamian delicacies include conch chowder (similar to minestrone with added rubber bands), rice and peas (just what it sounds like) and macaroni and cheese. It’s scary to think that the Bahamas was actually the culinary highpoint of the trip.
The Bahamas is lovely; the water is blue, the sand is yellow, the drinks have rum. I think it has an affect on everyone – for the first time I’ve ever encountered, the US Consulate and Customs staff weren’t complete assholes.
We went to the Pirate Museum ’cause, you know, the Bahamas were totally their stomping ground. Very cool and piratey. Also went to the Atlantis Resort and Casino, which, if possible, may even be larger than anything in Vegas. Mammoth, but also with fish. It had a rather large aquarium thingy.
ToDo: Invent Brilliant Title 
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