Becking Family News

Hello again!!

Well, I guess it's back to reality! I tried to keep up a computer journal on our trip so that when we got to an internet connection it would be fairly simple to update our blog. Of course it has still taken like 2 hours with all of the pictures. For those who aren't used to blogging, I have put too much for you to see it all on the first scroll down, so you will need to click on the date on the right to see some of my entries. Hope to hear from everyone soon! Love you all!!!

March 11

We slept until 12:15 and checked out at 1:30. We walked across the street to Wendy’s and got lunch. We caught the airport shuttle at 2:00 and sat at the airport drinking Starbuck’s until our flight to Atlanta. When we got to Atlanta, we walked straight to our connecting gate to get seats on the plane to New York that were next to each other. While standing in line, Sandy and Candice walked up behind us – they were waiting for their plane to Orlando (they were supposed to leave that morning and did not leave until the next morning). Once we got to New York, we took a cab (driver was an idiot!!!) to the Fairfield Inn – JFK Airport.

March 12

We began our day around 9:00 with breakfast at the hotel. The hotel had a shuttle to the subway. We had fun getting to know the subway and how to connect. The $7 unlimited day pass turned out to be wonderful! We started by trying to get to the Statue, but there were no more entry passes, so we decided to wait until tomorrow.

Our first attempt at the statue

We went for a quick look around the National Museum of the American Indian. There was lots of pottery. Next Mark decided that he wanted a clichéd American hot dog, and it just so happened that at the next corner there was a hot dog vendor.

Mark and his clichéd hot dog stand

After another trip on the subway, we got off to walk to the World Trade Center to see Ground Zero.

Ground Zero

After seeing “Night at the Museum” Mark was very keen to see the Museum of Natural History. Unfortunately, Rexy decided not to come to life while we were there. We did enjoy seeing all of the stuffed animal life. Next we caught a subway to Broadway to buy Mark some new shoes (he somehow forgot his at Jose’s house on the VERY calm Saturday morning J ). We got some McDonald’s for a snack. During this time, we saw some horsemen police officers and a very snazzy looking McDonald’s. We got to Time Square and Rockefeller Center before the sun set. On our way back to the subway, we passed by St. Patrick’s Cathedral and decided to go inside to warm up a bit. Then we took the subway back to Jamaica Center where we were able to catch the train to the airport then the shuttle back to the hotel. We ordered some room service and I finished writing our thank you notes.

Us at the Natural History Museum

Mark feels like he fits right in :-)

Us at Rockefeller Center

March 13

We tried to wake up early today, but weren’t quite able to. We started moving around at 9:00 again. We were getting very good at maneuvering the subways to the Statue. We still couldn’t go up into the Statue, but we did go to Liberty Island today. The weather wasn’t quite as clear today, but we still got some pretty pictures of Lady Liberty.

View of New York from Liberty Island

After we got back to shore, we went to a Subway (sandwich shop) for lunch. Our only other “must see” for the day was the Empire State Building. It wasn’t too busy so we got up and down fairly quickly. We had to get to the airport, so we caught the subway to Jamaica again and back to the hotel. The guy driving the shuttle was kind enough to wait for us to grab our bags from the luggage room then take up right back to the airport. We were there early enough that they asked us if we might be willing to give up our seats in return for 2 business class seats on the flight that leaves 1 hour later. We said yes – they didn’t need us in the end, but it was a good possibility. We got some dinner, visited the shops, and got a massage before time to get on the plane. Our plane left at 11:30 that night.

View from the Empire State Building

March 14

We spent this day in the air. We had decent seats on the flight from New York to Dubai. There were 4 seats in the middle and we had 3 of them. The guys at the check in counter did that for us since we offered to give up our seats if needed. In Dubai, we had about 6 hours until our flight to Male. We ate dinner – Mark had Dairy Queen, I had McDonald’s. Then we walked around and got a few things from the duty free shops. Then we went down near to where our gate would be, and Mark sat and read and did some things on the computer. Mark let me lie down on the blanket we brought with us and sleep for almost 3 hours. Our plane did not leave Dubai until 2:20 in the morning.

March 15

Still "smiley"!

We reached Male at 8:00 in the morning. We went through customs and got our bags. Unfortunately one of the items we were given for our honeymoon was confiscated (fuzzy red handcuffs), but we will get them back before our flight out on the 28th.

We were on a sea plane scheduled to leave at 9:50, but it didn’t leave until 10:30. It was quite cool! We saw other islands and stuff from the air that we would have missed if we’d been on a boat. The plane brought us to the island on which we are staying the next 2 weeks – Velidhu. When we arrived (11:30), our water bungalow was not ready yet, so we went to bungalow 142 to relax and freshen up. Within 5 minutes of being in that room, Mark and I were both passed out! The porter came to tell us our room was ready (12:30) we woke up and went to our bungalow. The guy who comes at night to turn the bed down knocked on our door at 7:45 and woke us up. We dressed and went to supper. Our waiter for the duration of our stay is Ali Waheed. He seems nice. After supper, we went back to the water bungalow and went back to sleep.

March 16

This morning we woke up at 6:45 and went to breakfast. We took a walk around the island. It is so beautiful. There is coral all the way around. Around 6 – probably more – black-finned reef sharks spend the day swimming around the dock that goes to the water bungalows. It only takes about 45 minutes to leisurely stroll around the entire island. There are so many pretty fish, and lots of sting rays. They are only babies though, the big ones are out further. Next, we went back to the bungalow and took a nap. We slept until 6:00. Then we got up, walked to reception and signed up for the island hopping excursion. After supper we came back to the room and watched movies. We have obviously slept too much the past 2 days because we couldn’t get to sleep until around 4:00 in the morning. The one movie channel has some strange movies on at that time of night… “Sharkman” and paranormal movies.

Doesn't it look relaxing?!?!