Senior Miranda Reynolds spent her summer focusing more on fun rather than the stress of the future by taking a seven day cruise. On the cruise Reynolds adventurously traveled to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico. The whole trip lasted from June 6 to June 15. Reynolds and her family all stayed in different places for each day of their trip.

The cruise itself was an adventure, with activities inside for younger kids during the day and activities for older kids at night. Sometimes during sea days they had dancing parties. Everyday they would have open buffets, sometimes closing for the next meal, but some stayed open all the time. If passengers did not want to eat at the buffet there was the onboard restaurant called The Crimson.

For Jamaica, Reynolds said “…more lower income than what we have here, it isn’t as ritzy, but it has resorts.”

She said she saw goats and dogs everywhere which caused a cultural shock. Reynolds compares “crazy drivers” in Jamaica that cut out in front of you, to drivers you might expect to find in New York, she was afraid a few times that the driver might hit someone. Reynolds also got the opportunity to visit a Jamaican school that was mostly concrete and if forced to pick which school she would rather attend she says she would choose SHS than go to one in Jamaica.

Unlike in Jamaica, Reynolds did not have anything to complain about in the Cayman Islands, besides a mild sunburn. She says the beaches and people were the best part about that stop. She says that the people on the Islands were more helpful and accommodating than people in Indiana.

Reynolds also really enjoyed the scenic beaches that had pure white sand and clear blue water.

“You could see straight down through the water, you could see the rocks and the fish,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds didn’t really wander Cosmo, Mexico like she did other places, she mainly got to ride around on the coastline where she could stop to buy things along the roads. Reynolds also says the airport looked sketchy, like a dirt road that is driven on, because they’re so economically setback and she would be scared if she had to land at the airport.  

Reynolds also says that Mexico and Jamaica were alike, while the Cayman Islands seems like they had a higher income and were similar to America. When asked to pick where she would ever move she said “Cayman Islands for their white sand”. While the only language barrier that was encountered was in Mexico with people in shops and car rental places, Reynolds says they spoke in broken English so it wasn’t that complicated to communicate.