Visit CheapOAir and enter to win $500 in free travel! Leave your 200 words or less in the comments section. All answers will be accepted, but special consideration will be given to meaningful, interesting, or humorous stories. Be creative and inventive! Where would you go? Why would you go there? Who would you take with you? And why should they give you $500 to make that happen?

Come on people I want to see one of my readers win this! Then I want a guest post about what you did!

Contest begins at 9:00 a.m. EST, January 26, 2009 and runs until 11:59 p.m. February 14, 2009. Winners will be announced on February 16, 2009 on the cheapoair.wordpress.com blog. Winner will receive a $500 travel gift certificate from CheapOair.com.

While many of us are excited that we will now be able to get Wi-Fi on some of our favorite airlines (Delta and American), others groan. Why the long face? Apparantly people are upset that  the one place where we were able to tell our bosses and co-workers you will be unreachable for the next three hours- you will actually indeed be reachable (read article here).

Personally I’m ecstatic about the thought of being able to blog while actually traveling at 500 knots. Although it is an extra cost (averages about $10 an hour for three hour flights and more for longer) and that does not make me too happy- remember I’m a cheapo traveler! I also think it could be handy to be able to work on the flight and get things out of the way before I land. But that’s just me- I’m all about maximizing my time. Hey- at least we can’t talk on phones during flights. But you will never please everyone- so I applaud the airlines for finding new revenue streams and making advances in thier industry. You can always just choose not to buy access.

1) Worked out: I seriously gained eight pounds from my cruise, and it was only a three day cruise! But in all fairness I think some of those pounds were holiday pounds so it would have been nice to have lost those before I went so I would have looked my best

2) Gone tanning: I was whiter than snow on my cruise so instead of tanning, I was focused on not burning and getting my foundation tan. It would have been nice to have the base tan out of the way and been able to come back to show off a sweet dark complexion in January in Utah

3) Bought a cute sundress to wear on the ports: I forgot to do that and so I was stuck wearing capri pants and shirts while other women looked so comfortable in their flowing dresses

4) Bought sunscreen: I bought it on the cruise ship and it cost three times as much had I bought it at a grocery store

5) Remembered my sunglasses: It hurt to squint the whole time and I never found any cute enough to buy

Cruising is for everyone. Those looking for a budget vacation will have a great time on a cruise. Those looking for an extravagant posh vacation will have a great time on a cruise. Cruising is really for every kind of budget and lifestyle.

This was my first ever cruise- and I promise you that it will in no way be my last. We loved our cruise so much we put down a deposit for our next. It’s human nature to be wary of the unknown and so that is why I wonder why a lot of people who have never been on cruises don’t go while most cruisers have been multiple times. Look for a post by early next week on tips for first time cruisers where I give a healthy mix of my own tips and tips from a seasoned professional: Norwegian Sky Hotel Director Fillipo Bertuzzi.

For now here is a picture recap of my cruise. I hope you enjoy the pictures and know that I had the best time of my life. Cruising is the best way to truly relax on a vacation because you don’t worry about meals, traveling or money. You just kick back and enjoy the experience. I loved the freestyle experience of Norwegian Cruise Line and don’t think I’ll be able to do it any other way.

The pool on our cruise ship

 

View of Miami from the ship

 

Cruise ship in Nassau

 

Bahemian bus in Nassau

 

Taken at Christ Church Cathedral in Nassau

 

Christ Church Cathedral in Nassau

 

The Atlantis Resort in Nassau

 

The Norwegian Sky (our cruise ship)

 

*as always photo credit goes to the lovely Reid Fuller