Originally published on 8 January 2008. This Throwback post is all about a graduation trip I took with a friend after we both graduated from Tennessee Tech University in December 2007.

Hello everyone! I hope y’all are all doing well and have enjoyed your pretty weather. Terri and I are having a blast here in sunny, beautiful, beachy Freeport, Bahamas! I’m thinking this is going to be an adventure in relaxation… before Terri starts work and before I hopefully begin interviewing (keep up the prayers, please!).

When we landed in Ft. Lauderdale, we caught a ride on the Ramada shuttle to the hotel, unloaded our stuff, and decided to do our January “Polar Bear Swim!” So yes… we went swimming in January!  We called our “real polar bear swim” friends Bob and Keith later that night to tell them, and they said it didn’t count! We then informed that it is, in fact, winter in Florida, too!

After our little swim, we watched Devil Wears Prada and got ready for dinner at the hotel (and paid way too much for it, but that was our best option). We went to bed around 10, woke up about 5 this morning, and started making our way to Freeport!

After breakfast on the boat, Terri and I stood at on the top deck at the front of the boat to watch as we sailed away from the port! The 5-hour cruise was a lot of fun—we explored the ship a little then pretty much laid around on the top deck in a couple of chairs just reading and enjoying being on the water—it was an adventure in relaxation!

Lunch was also served on the boat as we docked, so we hurried through that and ran up to the top deck one last time. After we got off the ship, claimed our luggage, and went through customs, we hopped the shuttle to the Island Palm Hotel. We unloaded our stuff yet again, discussed our activity options, and decided to go to the beach!

The next shuttle to the beach wasn’t scheduled to leave for about an hour, so Terri and I made the short walk to downtown Freeport to check out the shops. We ended up at the grocery and bought some fruit, bread, and mango jam to make PB and J sandwiches for supper. Because when you just got out of college and haven’t started working yet, you still eat like a college kid!

When we finally made it to the beach, we stood open-mouthed for a moment—Bahamas beaches are as beautiful as every picture makes them out to be! And there was hardly a soul on the beach—maybe 10 people for a mile. January is definitely the time to go to the Bahamas! The forecast is sunny and in the 70s every day of our trip. We walked on the beach a while and got some incredible pictures.

I’d have to say, however, that one of the most memorable moments of the day happened as I was walking in the surf, enjoying the feel of the sand between my toes and the water on my legs as I watched a bird fly above me—and poop right beside me in the water! I’m just glad the little guy had bad aim! We also got a little (or a lot of) sun. Hopefully not too much–we’ll see how it feels in the morning.

After a couple of hours out there, we caught the shuttle back to our hotel, got ready for bed, and dug into our Bahamian PJ and J! We decided it’s Bahamian because we used mango jam and a plantain instead of a banana, which was not the best idea, but maybe we just didn’t have a ripe enough one. At any rate, it looked like an over-sized, slightly misshapen banana, but was much harder to peel. And it wasn’t mushy; cutting it felt more like cutting a raw potato. It was drier than a banana and not sweet—I thought it actually tasted more like a vegetable. Like I said, maybe it just wasn’t ripe enough. Oh well. I only put it on half my sandwich, and I guess it was worth it for the experience—now we can say we’ve eaten a plantain!

So now we’re just hanging out in the room (it’s 9:20PM here). We decided we don’t want to be out and about after dark, since we’re two girls in our early 20s alone in the Bahamas. We told our parents we’d stay in well-lit areas with lots of old people around—and we’ve done well in staying true to our word so far! Tomorrow we plan to look cute and shop till we drop—or until the last shuttle runs at 5:45 tomorrow evening. Hopefully I’ll have more exciting adventures to write about, but if not, I’m ok with more adventures in relaxation!

Have a wonderful week everyone! More to come.