Picture some tourists huddled under a storefront awning trying to keep dry from the rain while inspecting their tourist map. Would you stop and see if they needed help? One young boy did and saved us a lot of angst, time and money. I was so touched by his kindness that to this day I still remember him and try to pass along the kindness he showed to us that day.

We were in Cancun, staying for the first time at a resort off the strip and trying to find our way back.  The trip into the strip was easy enough as we had caught a cab right outside the resort. The way back was another thing all together! We had first tried to take a city bus that we thought would drop us off right in front of the resort but it only looped around the strip. Next, after it started raining we tried to get a cab back but the cabby wanted $70!! We kindly said “no” and decided to find another way back.

That’s when we were huddled under the awning and the boy came up to us and said something in Spanish, which none of us spoke. Seeing a look of confusion on our face he pointed to the map. We pointed to where we needed to go. He said “bus” and pointed to the bus station on our map.

We thanked him and started to head off… in the wrong direction. He came running after us and waved his hand, “follow me!” and led us through the rain for about 5 blocks to the bus station. He even helped us buy our tickets and showed us where the bus was. We were finally on our way home!

This young boy took about 30 minutes of his time to help us out but sometimes all that is needed is a few seconds. So take a few seconds today to do something nice for someone. They may remember it for years!

This is one of my all time favorite photos. We were on a day trip to Yelapa, Mexico and were allowed time to wonder the beach and we came across this pile of rocks. What caught my eye was that someone had stacked up a few on the right. It only took seconds for me to pull out my camera and find the right angle. The boat in the back balances the stack of rocks perfectly.

This photo makes me want to hop on a plane today and head to Vietnam. The markets are full of fresh food, this is one of the may isles of fruits. It just makes my mouth water thinking about the logans (nhan), rambutan (chom chom), green dragon (thanh long), mangosteen (mang cut) and many more! Learn about the different fruit available in Vietnam here.

Vietnam is known to have two seasons – dry and rainy. We just happened to be visiting during rainy season and were amazed at how well everyone got around during downpour! It seems they’re use to it because in a blink of an eye everyone went from not wearing the rain covers to having them on. Lucky for us, that day we were in a taxi!

I love a good sunset. This was taken in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Winter is setting in and what a better way to forget about the cold and snow then looking at pictures of sunny Mexico? In early 2008 Mary and I (and our husbands!) took one last pre-baby trip together. Since none of us had been on a cruise the decision was an easy one to make. The question was where to? We chose to cruise the Mexican Riviera and visited Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta and Cabo.

These are two of my favorites from the trip:

This is from the beach of old Mazatlan. I love the long line of boats.

This is from the ship as we were leaving Cabo. There is a little beach area in the rocks called Lovers beach. What I really like about this photo is how you can see all the boats zipping around the bay.

During my senior year of High School I had the opportunity to take a 3 week trip to France with my classmates and teacher. The experience was unforgettable and I’ve always wanted to return. Unfortunately the closest I’ve been able to get to Paris again is in Las Vegas!