Say yes to the balcony – Cruise tip

My husband and I decided that the best way to start our marriage was a honeymoon in the Bahamas.

One of the decisions that we had to make when booking our cruise was whether or no to pay extra for the balcony room. We booked the balcony grantee, which meant that we didn’t know exactly where our room would be but we were guaranteed to have a balcony.

It was so romantic to have our own balcony, and we spent a lot of our time at sea there. The price was not much more than the ocean view, but it was worth every penny!

Read more: Pay for windows – Cruise tip
Counterpoint: Get the smallest rooms – Cruise tip

Woman demands refund for vacation spoiled by naked girls

Yesterday, I wrote about the top reasons your vacation can be spoiled – today’s news is something that most certainly was not in that lineup.

A Serbian woman is demanding a full refund of her Greek vacation, not because of bed bugs or a noisy room, but because their room was next to a room occupied by 2 girls enjoying themselves on their balcony (naked).

Apparently, these girls were out on their balcony so often, that her husband suddenly had a similar urge to soak up some sun – and just so happened to do so whenever these girls were outside.

Needless to say, this didn’t go down too well with his wife, and the source claims he even hurt his neck from enjoying the view so much.

No word on whether the couple are still together, or whether the woman will actually get her money back.

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The world’s craziest houses

They say that “home is where the heart is,” but I have to wonder when I look at the at the “Gravity-Defying Homes” gallery over at design site PointClickHome. Perhaps the expression is better written as “home is where the crazy is?” Point Click Home’s gallery features a slideshow of some of the most surreal and interesting houses from around the world, including strange structures in Russia, The Netherlands, Indonesia, the U.S. and Canada, among others.

It’s hard to pick a favorite from this bunch. I think the Russian gangster house wins the award for the poorest planning – it’s probably because the owner was incarcerated before he was able to finish it (no joke). Meanwhile, the Dutch seem to be quite adept at building whimsical houses, offering an assortment of homes in the shape of cacti and cubes. And I have to hand it to the American houses – the “mushroom house” and “pod house” are certainly the most trippy.

While I can’t imagine these bizarre buildings are practical to live in, they certainly make for some great voyeurism. Check out the gallery below to see them all. And if you still haven’t gotten your fill, take a look at Justin’s post last year for some more examples.

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[via Josh Spear]