Return from the Abyss

I have returned from vacation only to fall ill with a fairly serious virus that left me bedridden for several days. Because of this, I haven’t been able to update this blog at all.

However, I hope to rectify this today, now that I feel well enough to go back to my studies!

My adventures in the Caribbean gave me ideas that left me wondering what the characters of my fiction world do in their spare time. Is tourism a steady source of income for my world? I’ve thought about this before and decided that humanity can’t help but be tourists. There’s this need for exploration within the human soul, this desire to see things first hand, but how it’s seen depends on the person. Some prefer to see beauty from the safety and comfort of cruise ships or tours or other pre-planned and rigid expeditions that take care of their needs. Other may prefer to wing it and just walk into the unknown with only a few necessities, relying on their wits to help them through any troubling moments. So tourism of all sorts will no doubt exist to some capacity in the future, so this left me wondering, what trips have my characters gone on in their lives?

This also made me wonder at what stage in the evolution of human society and technology will tourism be able to grow to a level where it’s considered one of the highest commodities in the market?

Also, just for the fun of it, here is some pictures of the trip:

Leaving Fort Lauderdale Florida.

In the distance, you can see the two Carnival Cruise Ships. The one I was on was called Carnival Freedom. This was taken in Nassau, Bahamas.

Leaving Nassau, Bahamas.

I’m at the forward part of the ship, watching it dock at the La Romana Port in the Dominique Republic.

Taken in Central Square in La Romana, Dominque Republic. Yes, those are stalls in the square, where locals tried hard to get tourists to buy their wares. There was a lot of stray, but friendly dogs roaming the busy streets as well.

The old stone fort behind these modern hotels is from the 1700s, kept in relatively good shape. This was taken in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Coca Falls in the National Rainforest in Puerto Rico.

A Lizard on part of the walkway in the Rainforest.

View of the coast from a lookout on the Rainforest trail.

Sunset on the Ocean as we were leaving San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Taken on Grand Turk, this is the northern side of the island, where my friend and I kayaked in the small saltwater inlet there. Saw jellyfish, conch, sea cucumbers, and sea urchins as well as the three types of mangrove trees that grew all over the island.

Sunset as we were leaving Grand Turk for the journey back to Fort Lauderdale.