Wrapping up our Minion Family Trip to the East Coast

It’s time to wrap up our Minion Family trip to the East coast of North America. It revolves around two main elements: New York City and a maritime cruise. But the primary focus is entirely about spending time together as a family. So regardless of the different places visited the memories made are always going to be the “destination” for this trip. If you’ve spent anytime to read through the trip, Thank You! If you haven’t and want to, you can find the whole trip here. Let’s Go!

Top 3 Highlights

Highlight #1: Brooklyn

It’s hard to just pick one or two memories from New York, but I think the afternoon exploring Brooklyn and walking across the Brooklyn Bridge is certainly a highlight. Not only is it a first for me but it also opens up a whole new area in New York that I want to revisit in the future. Add to the fact that I get to explore it with my immediate family and it makes this memory even sweeter.

Highlight #2: Bar Harbour

Because many of the other ports on our cruise are places we’ve visited before. Bar Harbour is an entirely new area to see. Add to the fact that its a very small, walkable and quiet town makes for a very pleasant visit. Throw in some amazing weather and that it is also Mother’s Day and we have the makings of a very memorable visit. We get to celebrate Mama Minion and enjoy a very lovely little part of the world.

Highlight #3: Family Card Time

This isn’t a specific instance, but almost every day on the cruise you could find the Minion family playing cards. If we weren’t eating or out exploring the port, you could find us around a table playing cards. These are memories I’m going to take with me for life! It’s something we’ve done since I’ve been little and it’s something we still enjoy to this day. So whenever there’s down time, we’ll setup at a cozy spot on the ship and spend hours enjoying each other’s company.

Favourite Meal

One of my favourite meals is after our first full day in New York at Update Craft Beer and Oyster Bar. Knowing our family’s affinity for alcohol oysters and happy hours, we were all looking forward to this after a full day of walking the streets of New York. With the promise of cheap oysters, steaks and beer we were all eager and it didn’t disappoint! The food is tasty and being able to reminisce over our day makes this a favourite meal.

If I could change the itinerary…

After quickly passing through Boston and Montreal, I think allotting a little more time in both these cities would have been nice. Though we re time constrained having some flexibility to see these places would have been great. My first and only impression of Boston is very positive and I would very much enjoy checking it out in the future. And given that Papa Minion fell ill when we arrived in Montreal, we didn’t get to explore it as planned

What surprised me?

Cruising! If you would have asked me if I wanted to do a cruise years ago, I likely would have said no. But as I get older and my style of travel changes, I’m warming to the idea. While I’m still not 100% sold on it. The idea of not having to plan all the logistics myself or deal with figuring out where to eat and stay is appealing. There is something to be said about reserving this brain power and effort for the purposes of rest and relaxation which I had more of a chance to do on this trip.

One memorable story from this trip

I’m not entirely sure what happened to the photos, but on our first day of the cruise one of the spa staff approached me. They asked if they could demonstrate a shaving treatment on me for some promotional photos. I was a bit leery at first but I agreed. For the next half hour they sat me in a Barbour chair applying shaving cream, shaving and then removing it while another colleague snapped photos. It was a bit awkward and I did hope for some sort of discount for treatments on the cruise but it didn’t materialize. Nonetheless it was a unique experience.

Did I pack appropriately?

Generally yes. Though whilst in New York I discovered a hole in one of my pants. This meant that I was down a pair of pants for a majority of the trip. Ultimately it didn’t impact me that much, but it did limit my wardrobe choices for the remainder of the trip. Maybe I need to start including a sewing kit when I pack now.

Regrets?

As I write the blog I realize that as the cruise progresses, the amount of photos we take get less and less. I suspect that as the cruise continues the boat becomes more and more familiar, so the need to photograph it is less and less. Add to the fact that a lot of the ports are places we’ve been before, the need to take pictures isn’t as high. But that makes it hard to write blog posts, but also its tough to have memories years later. So, given that this really is intended to be a family trip, I think my regret is that we didn’t take more photos. I would have liked to have more pictures of the family and even more candid shots of different mundane things we did on the boat. Unfortunately, we don’t have them. So the regret is, we didn’t take enough pictures.

Advice for people considering similar trips/destinations?

There’s something to be said about visiting places you’ve already been to. There’s less urgency to “see the sights” or check things off lists because you’ve already done that. Which makes this “type” of trip perfect for the true intention of our trip: Family. Travel has always been a big part of the Minion family and being able to do it together is a treat. Not having the pressures of the “travel” part interfering with the “family” part is really underrated. There isn’t one person stressing about logistics and everyone can simply “enjoy”. I would highly recommend trying this sort of “travel”.

Final thoughts?

As we all get older, finding time to be with the ones you love can be difficult. So for the four of us, this is a trip we all really treasured. We all recognize that time is a limited resource and being able to make the most of it when we can is precious and valuable. So being able to go on this trip and smile, laugh, eat and enjoy with one another like we did is so very memorable.

I’m so very grateful for the opportunity to travel. But also that my Minion family is healthy and able to travel with me. This was a special one because it’s with family and that’s super important. I am very aware that we are very blessed and I am appreciative every day because of it! These are experiences and memories that I will take with me for life! And with that, it wraps up this Minion Family Trip!

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3 thoughts on “Wrapping up our Minion Family Trip to the East Coast

  1. Little moments of this trip and the sweetness of togetherness will always be stored deep in my heart. Let’s do it again – be it cruising or travelling to Montreal / Boston!

  2. Little moments of the trip & the sweetness of being together will always be kept deep in my heart! Let’s do Boston / Montreal together again!

  3. It was an incredible trip and I loved the itinerary, and all the memories we made! I actually forgot about that shaving promo event you were subjected to haha.

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