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Noms - Magnolia Bakery (Manhattan, New York City)

          I feel like whenever I write about somewhere to eat... they have something that's hand down the BEST. Hands down... best red velvet cupcakes I've ever experienced. 

This place became famous after an episode of Sex & the City... and it was PACKED with tourists when I went. A pretty tiny bakery in SoHo, but there's a park right across the street. Pretty cute for a date. 

Everything is made fresh and you even see them icing the cakes on the side. One cupcake will cost you abut $3.. but it's definitely worth it. 

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Empire State of Mind

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Wife's 20th at Tattoo Rock Parlour

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Stay - The Crane Residential Resort (Saint Philip, Barbados)

The Crane in Saint Philip, Barbados is ranked as one of the best places to stay in Barbados. It's not a resort in the sense that it's all-inclusive, but it definitely gives you that exclusive atmosphere.

        Flights/Travel

Flight from somewhere in North America would probably be at least four hours. I was traveling from within the Caribbean already, so flight was only about an hour. I can say Caribbean Airlines is much better than other airlines.... won't say names. 

        Of course there are people who only stay on the resort during their vacation, but my family really likes exploring. Again, the Crane is really exclusive and secluded so we rented a car (10 minutes from the airport) and touristy things are at least 30 minutes away by driving. 

The Resort Itself

The Crane is absolutely amazing - and you really do get what you pay for. I would definitely recommend this place for families and couples on a honeymoon... or even just to get away. If you're looking for a 5-star, this is the place to go. If you wanted to just stay on the resort, there are a number of 5 star restaurants, movies to rent, a couple of bars and nightly entertainment I believe at the Crane. The service is great, and everyone there is really friendly. If you want to chill out and be alone with whoever you're vacationing with you can, if you want to meet new people... you can do that too. I wouldn't call this a "party" resort for young people, since it is pretty pricey - I really think it's more of a place to go to relax. Also you have the option of getting a suite at Crane as a timeshare..... if you're into that....

Rooms/Penthouse 

We stayed in the oceanfront penthouse suite and it was unreal - at least 4000 square ft. You have the master suite that has the bedroom and bathroom (with spa) - this room can actually be booked separately for people who aren't staying in the penthouse. You have the other master bedroom that also has a spa. And you also have the guest room with two twin beds. All rooms equipped with TVs, closets, private bathrooms, and extra drawers. Both these rooms (excluding the MASTER suite) connect to the oceanfront balcony. The weather is pretty much amazing all year round and you can sleep with the wooden panel doors open in the night. Each room really secludes everyone off, so you feel like you're in your own world and rooms are sound proof .. if you care about that...

The living room connects to the full kitchen, balcony, extra bathroom, laundry room, and stairs to the upper deck. The sofas in the living room can turn into beds, and I believe the penthouse can fit up to eight people (totally more, but this is the "recommended" amount). There's the giant flatscreen TV (IF YOU DECIDE TO WATCH TV WHILE ON VACATION FOR SOME ODD REASON...), large dining room table, and a number of side tables and chairs. 

         Moving onto the lower balcony and upper deck. There are a bunch of beach chairs on the lower balcony for you to hang out on along with a patio table. Certain suites have a 4 foot mini pool located on the tower of the suites for you to swim/chill in. Really decent size and awesome to hang out in at night. The upper deck is my favourite. You have the spiral staircase that resembles one you find in a lighthouse. You have the bar/BBQ deck (that has a covered roof). Then you have the actual deck at the very top of the resort that gives you an awesome view of Saint Philip. There's also a mini jacuzzi and a bunch of beach chairs. 

           Crane Beach/Pools

I didn't actually get a chance to hang out on Crane beach because we were so busy in the day, and by the time we got back to the resort, it was already night - not recommended to go in during the evening or late because the water is really rough. But I hear the water is amazing. It's a private beach, so you can privately enjoy it. We actually did manage to go down to take a walk on the beach in the evening though. After walking towards the cliff, you can take the stairs or an elevator to the beach. Yup, that far down - doesn't look like it though. One thing I didn't like was that there were CRABS everywhere. White crabs that would jump around in the sand and at you. I don't know if they only come out in the night..... but not kewl. Even though I didn't go swimming in Crane beach, I experienced the view which is good enough. Always request an oceanfront view (even though it's way more) it'll make your trip that much better - as opposed to staring at a parking lot...

         There were a number of pools throughout the resort. You have the private pools - also if you choose a smaller suite, you have the benefit of having a full sized pool. If not you, have the ginormous open pool that has bridges, waterfalls and so much more. 

Food

Food is definitely subjective, and again - you get what you pay for. My favourite was D'Onofrio's Pizzeria - which tastes like LEGIT authentic Italian, something hard to find when you're traveling overseas. We also tried The Carriage House and L'Azure. Food is contemporary, and I really didn't enjoy it as much because choices were so limited. There was Zen (which is ranked at the best restaurant in Barbados I believe) but we never made reservations and never got a chance to go.. 

Staff/Service

Amazing. From the time you drive into the resort, the gatekeeper is loving his life and you'll probably befriend him by the end of your week. When you arrive, your bags are taken upstairs and delivered to each individual room for you. They also give you complimentary rum punch drinks to start your night. We ran into a bunch of problems with internet (which is included) and the grill - and they immediately send someone to service your issues. Whenever you're walking around the resort and you pass by staff, they'll stop what they're doing and greet you. Say whaaat. 

       Tips

Always book an oceanfront room

Try D'Onofrios for some authentic Italian

Make reservations for Zen!

Check out Crane beach earlier in the day

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So far I haven't posted any content that isn't mine.. but this is just too much to handle. Here are some of my favourite Beyonce tourist shots from her newly launched website. I respect her so much because she keeps her personal life personal - and only let's people in when she's ready. Queen B y'all. 

I hope my summer turns out to look and be this amazing..

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TARA Awards 2012 (Radio & Television Arts Awards)

Dress - Silence & Noise

L>R Group Shot - Ali/Amanda/Ilene/Me/Chloe/Karoline

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Airport Attire - Cold><Hot Transition Weather

Took these before I left for Pearson. I've been meaning to post this for a while after I got back from Cuba... late, but here it is. There is absolutely no way I would ever rock a winter jacket when traveling in the winter, knowing I'll end up in a hot destination. A) it's extra luggage B) completely useless. RATHER.. you should just dress in a way that's transitional. This is what I wore from Toronto > Cuba. 

Silence & Noise Long Black Cardigan - you really only need it while going to the airport slash on the plane if it's easy breezy

F21 Sleeveless Studded Chiffon Button-Up - wear a light material top so when you land you don't have hot flashes from the 180 weather change

UO Shiny Leggings - leggings.... ALWAYS good for any weather. 

Espadrille Wedges - it's one thing to wear stilettos to the airport and delay the security line, but low-heeled wedges are essentially the same as flats (security doesn't make you take it off) but these, actually complete your outfit. If you can't walk in them without looking like your in physical pain... don't wear anything with a heel while traveling. You look SILLY. Throw some Keds on. But if you can walk in them, rock dat. 

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Old-school Niagara Falls tourist shot by my sister

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To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world." -Freya Stark ________________________________________ Never been so excited to get out of Toronto. I'll be traveling to familiar and new. If not the weather, food, culture and scenery... THE PEOPLE I encounter is always the best part. Looking forward to seeing all my familia and friends.. and any other stranger I just happen to encounter on this adventure.. YYZ > NYC NYC > YYZ YYZ > MIA MIA > POS POS > CCS CCS > POS POS > YYZ boom. and there is my summer 2012.

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When I'm sick, I turn into Betty Crocker.

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I miss New York. I still love how people talk to you on the street - just assault you and tell you what they think of your jacket.” -Madonna ________________________________________ Haven’t been to NYC in a while. I used to spend my entire summer there at my grandma’s place. I ❤ New York for a few reasons: the familia, the pizza & chinese, the grimey state of the city, clothes upon clothes upon clothes, and how it’s exactly like Toronto except it’s not filled with a friend of a friend of a friend who knows and judges you.

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Rome, Italy.

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Stay - Gran Caribe Club Villa Cojimar (Cayo Guillermo, Cuba)

         I just want to start off by saying that I'm probably going to be even more depressed after I finished writing this.. but this review is definitely necessary. I stayed at Villa Cojimar for Reading Week 2012 with my friends from February 21-25. Let me give you the run down. This will be a HEFTY review. 

Flights/Travel/Tour Operator

We travelled with Sunwing Airlines and they were awesome. Flight was about three hours and they gave you a lot during that short time. Flight was dubbed 'champagne flights'... so we started off with champagne, poppin' bottles on the flight once we were in the air. We then got full out meals (pasta, chicken, banana bread, brownies, crackers... and LAUGHING COW CHEESE), wine, and tea & coffee. I've been on international flights longer than 5 hours and only got a complimentary soda (cough...... American Airlines). Once we cleared customs at the airport, there's a man who has your name card and directs you to which tour bus to take to get to your resort. He was hilarious and offered dirt cheap beer on the bus while blasting Cuban music and giving us a little history about Cayo Cayo and Cayo Guillermo. Cojimar is the first resort the tour bus stops at, and it was about 45- an hour away (not bad at all). When we were at the resort, we had an orientation with a rep, #Carlos (who thinks he can wheel you by shouting out SUNWING at the bar) and provides you with all the excursion information you need. I went on one of the excursions with them.. which I'll talk about after. Overall I'd definitely book with Sunwing Tours again.

          The Resort Itself

Cojimar is not your typical resort, where you have a hotel-like room space. Everyone had their own individual bungalows that were spread around the resort. I don't think the resort was HUGE which was fine, but I also really had no sense of perspective in the area I was in, so who knows. There's the main resort space that has the lobby, reception, the lobby bar (Hemingway's), loaft space, the buffet, gift shops, bathrooms, and the bank right around the corner. Again, the rooms (bungalows) were spread around the resort. They have two restaurants that are located on the resort as well. I really like the atmosphere, because it wasn't TOO BIG. 

Rooms/Bungalows 

Bungalows. They have the new wooden ones (more shafted, apparently walls are REALLY thin), but luckily we had the older ones. My group had two separate rooms (one bungalow - divided like a townhouse?). The great thing about the bungalows was that you really had a LOT of space for yourself: surrounded by your own lawn, balcony that had a view of the ocean (1 minute away) - and there rooms were pretty spacious. We would blast music in our ghetto makeshift speaker system (a bowl - it works) and no one ever said anything. Everyone has their own balcony space with chairs, so you can chiiiiilll and watch the ocean from your room. Thankfully Cojimar actually permitted 3 guests per room (my case), and they had two double beds and one single in ours. And two doubles in the other room. They have a TV with basically all the channels they do in Canada, and Spanish. There's a safe in the room, which is really handy, and everyone should put all their isht in there. Always. Warning for the showers... hot water. You're sharing a pipe system with the people next to you (thank god our friends), so the hot water is pretty much lukewarm after 30 minutes. The plumbing system was pretty shitty (lolz)... but really, you would need to flush like 3 times for it work. Also, DO NOT FORGET YOUR ADAPTORS/CONVERTERS! Cuba uses the European style outlet system. Even though they have outlets that look like the ones in Canada, it's meant for a different voltage, so unless you're using a converter, don't use it... you'll fry your stuff. 

         The Beach/Pool

Let me start off by saying I didn't use the pool once. If I'm in Cuba, I'll be on the beach... not by a pool...... Anyways. From what I saw, there were a lot of pool chairs around and they also had small huts surrounding it, if you wanted shade. There pool bar is right beside it, as well a chill space with ping pong tables. 

The beach was awesome. The water is shallow though. Water never went higher than my waist (and that was when the tide was high). In the evening especially, the tide comes in and you can walk for YEARS and never reach water higher than your knees. Clear water though, some patches of seaweed here and there. There's a lot of beach chairs so you don't have to worry about needing to be there early. There's an awesome boardwalk on the beach (with a hut where you can get massages) that has a cool view. Another cool thing is that you can walk down the beach where you can have access to the other resorts located around you. 

       Food

Let's remember were in Cuba. No matter if you're in a 5-6 star resort, you can't compare it to food standards from where you're from because it won't be same, regardless. Actually saw some people bring their own stuff like Nutella (I brought Chef Boyardee...) The food wasn't bad. This is coming from the pickiest person you've ever met. Everyone usually gets food from the buffet. Open for breakfast-dinner. Lunch is best - most variety. For breakfast they have the regulars like bread, bacon (GREASZZZZZY), some weird kind of egg creation, fruits, and vegetables. The best part of the buffet... is always the chef who is preparing hot food. There's an omelette station at the buffet during breakfast. Highly recommended, except one person is making the food so you might wait up to 20 minutes sometimes for something. Lunch has fries, pizza, pasta, chicken, salad... blah blah blah... basically everything you could think of. Dinner is fine. Again, go to the pasta station, shish kabob station, and my friends loved the fried banana one (but you might have to wait). They also have two restaurants. Italian and Cuban. Italian was not good. The food was just really bland and not good... I ordered the lasagna and there was no tomato sauce, just the lasagna and meat with a hard cheese. Cuban is significantly better, where you can get different meats, rice and traditional Cuban food. I will tell you now, the only way me and my friends survived were because of the sandwich paninis at the pool bar. Literally our life source. There's a chef during the day and after 11:30 pm making food. It's like Subway.... Cuban style. You tell him what you want on it and he grills it on the panini maker. When you're drunk at night, this is where you need to be. 

         Drink

The alcohol is literally never-ending.... no complaints. I've heard of resorts in places like the Dominican where drinks are REALLY watered down. The only thing watered down ironically was not the alcohol.. but the juice. Probably because juice is imported, and alcohol is made right down the street. Anyways. There are two bars you can head to. Hemingway's is the lobby bar, and is open 24-7. The drinks they make here are significantly more strong, and they won't stop pouring the rum in your mixed drink until you say stop. It's always good to tip your bartender, because they DEFINITELY give you preference, as I experienced with my friend Abielo (who actually remembers who drink choice...). They also have the pool bar, pretty hip with the younger crowd at night. I would say the drinks are less strong here, but STILL PRETTY STRONG. #nocomplaints. You can find Orlando in the day who will make you an awesome daiquiri slush. As for water, bring your own. It's just general knowledge to drink bottled water over tap water (even if it's sanitary, but their tap water is just fine). You can buy water at the corner shop and refill it anytime you want. 

         Staff

The front desk is SASSY. The people who actually work on the resort - bartenders, maids, yada yada are VERY nice and have great customer service. Remember to always TIP!!!!!! Does not matter if it's all inclusive.... it's common courtesy, because their pay is definitely nothing special. They go out of their way to make your stay awesome, you can at least give them some pesos everyday to say gracias. For the maids, even hit up the dollar store.... they will LOVE whatever you give them. Our maid Marisol was the sweetest and wrote us notes everyday to say thanks. 

Entertainment/Nightlife

Right off the bat, there isn't a disco. I wouldn't exactly call this resort a place for young people to go if they want a slopshow time. Obviously they had younger people there, but people definitely did their own thing with their friends, which was so fine. They have nightly shows which are awesome. The dancing and music is honestly just TOO MUCH (in a good way). In the end they make the audience go up and dance to Danza Kuduro and it's hilarious. There is always music at Hemingway's or the Pool Bar.. usually Spanish (NO COMPLAINTS). And I mean if you REALLY wanted to dance... there's an open space by the pool bar that some hammered people enjoyed. On most nights people just found a place to sit and loaft with their drinks and cigars. There is a disco... apparently it's the place to be. Other young people that were there said it's amazing. It's literally in A CAVE (not like Dance Cave, Toronto) - too bad we had no time to go. I heard there's also one in Varadero. 

        Excursions

Sunwing offered some awesome excursions that weren't too pricey. Me and my friends chose Morón Plus. We paid 45 pesos and everything was included - definitely worth it. You get picked up at 7:30AM from Cojimar and pick other people up from other resorts on the tour bus. Our tour guide was awesome and gave us the DL about Cuba on the way to our first spot. We first stopped at a crocodile farm and you got to SUPER close to Cuban and American crocodiles. They also let you hold baby crocodiles (3 years old), SUPER TINY crocs, and iguanas.

        After that, you head to the city called Morón (closest city to Cayo Coco). The tour bus drops you at a hotel first, then you hop onto horse carriages who take you for a 20-25 minute travel in to the heart of the city. You look like the biggest tourists in the world, but it's hilarious. Even more hilarious are the amount of WHEELS you will encounter in the city. They drop you off at a Cuban restaurant/bar, where you get free drinks and have live Cuban music just for the group. After that you have time to shop and go about. The sell some pretty interesting stuff, and since everyone there is local - you can actually haggle your prices. Unlike the resorts where they would jack up the prices, because they can. The scenery is pretty amazing. A lot of the buildings are colonial looking with pastel colours.

        After, you head to another restaurant where you get more drinks and get to go on a speedboat. It passes through the lake right into a mangrove jungle type thing, which was by far the coolest part of the trip. You get a traditional Cuban dinner after that, and even more live music. Trip was definitely worth it.. because you REALLY get to see what that part of Cuba is really like. 

        Overall Cojimar is an awesome place to go if you want to loaft in the sun with some friends. Amazing weather, and a really chill atmosphere. Not too boring, not too rowdy. 

Tips

E-mail resort/travel agent and request a bungalow on the beach (older ones)

Check your plumbing system/AC before you settle in

Beach>pool

Hot food bar is worth the wait

Avoid lasagna at the Italian restaurant - just avoid it in general

Sandwiches at the pool bar will be your life source

Tip your maids/bartenders/sandwich makers

STOCK UP ON ALCOHOL AND CIGARS!!!!! - mickeys are less than 2 Canadian! A 26er is less than 5! 

Go to the city/market for Cuban-made souvenirs (really cheap)

Buy shot glasses blah blah blah... at the airport (more selection and cheaper)

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Westin Harbour & Wetbar - P's 20th. 

L>R Group Shot - Lucy/Me/Liv/Maryam

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Live Cuban music, Morón city - Cuba