I'll explain the trip as easily, in as few words yet as in detail as I can. A bit contradicting, but yeah...we'll see, haha!
Well, we left the Bismarck airport at 6:40 a.m. February 11th. All the flights went really well and smoothly. We went from Bismarck to Denver to Miami and finally to Montego Bay, Jamaica. After landing we had to get a shuttle to take us to the resort since Runaway Bay is about 40 miles or so away from Montego Bay. (I don't remember exactly how far away, but around that..) We payed for the shuttle to take us to the resort and come pick us up again on the day we left. The guy said it would be leaving in about 15 minutes. So we truck on out to the shuttle and get in with three other people. 15 minutes my butt. Almost 2 hours later we finally left! I guess they were waiting for another plane to arrive that was late or never showed up or something...anyway. I fell asleep on the bus ride there, but it took us about an hour to get from the airport to the resort so we finally got into our room at about 1:30 a.m. It was a long day to say the least. So we got our bags in the room and pretty much just crashed that first night.
The next day we woke up and went to walk around the resort to check it out and find some food. We didn't even make it a quarter of the way through the resort and some crazy Jamaican came and grabbed Drew and sat him down in a chair in a line of about 7 other guys for a race. They had to start from one end of the pool, swim around back to where the chairs were, do 5 push-ups, chug a beer, grab their chair and go through the pool all the way back to the beginning.....yeah....welcome to Jamaica. Needless to say, Drew wasn't the most excited about this, but played along anyhow. After this we did get food and pretty much just bummed around the resort all day.
The days to follow were pretty much the same...in general we would wake up, go get the breakfast at the buffet if we got up in time for it, bum around the resort, grab a drink and hang out on the beach or in the pool, get lunch, take a nap, get up and get ready for dinner, go have dinner, walk on the boardwalk, go to bed. Rinse and repeat. Some of the things we did do around the resort...
At least 5 of the 6 days we were looking for shells for me on the beaches. We played a few games of chess on the giant chessboard (one of the ones you walk on and such). We walked on the boardwalk at least 3-5 times a day. We sat in the hammocks some. Swam in the pools, played some volleyball and basketball in the pool, and had some drinks at the swim-up bars.
On the first day, we went to go sit in a hammock, Drew let me get in first so it would be easier for me. I fell out. Yes, I fell out of the hammock all by myself....I had battle wounds. It was quite hilarious! Whenever we walked on the boardwalk, if the waves were big enough they would wash little crabs up onto the boardwalk. They would scuttle away off to the side and under the boardwalk when we started to walk towards them, but it was still fun to watch them.
The resort was definitely not what we expected. The website on the resort was a bit deceiving. The website said they had 4 restaurants and you could get snacks 24/7. Well two of the restaurants were only open on certain days and if you wanted to eat at them you had to make a reservation the day before or early in the morning because they filled up right away. By the time we figured out when they were open we were leaving and they weren't open on the last night we were there. I realized when we tried to make the reservation for the last day that there was a small sign on the desk that said what days they were open. So we ended up eating a lot of the same things over and over. Breakfast was always the same, we ate at the Reggae Cafe everyday for lunch because that's what was open and then at night the buffet was never good so we had the pasta instead. So the food wasn't the best and every time we saw a food commercial on tv at night we would change the channel cause we would just get hungry haha! Also, they had a pool table in the pool, cool right? Wrong. The "felt" was the fake plastic grass turf so it was horrible for playing pool, the sides were so high you couldn't even get a good shot, and the pool stick had no tip since it was in the water. Not their best idea ever.
Also something we found out about the resort after we got there, it just changed on October (or maybe September) from being a nudist resort....yeah....so above the bed and above the bathtub were full length mirrors on the ceiling...talk about unexpected...
Of the things they had to do in the water we only did one. We went out on a little kayak for about 15 minutes. It was ok, but I have such fears of touching the ocean floor that it wasn't fun for me. I kept thinking we were going to tip over and I would accidentally touch something under the water and..yeah...eek! I know, I'm really weird, but it's true. We didn't do the snorkeling because one person said it was only sea urchins, so nothing exciting and you could put your feet down. There was one wind surfer but of course again with my fears I didn't want to do it and Drew just wasn't interested in trying it. We did play some pool and ping pong in the game room. (They had ping pong, pool and slot machines in the game room..) The only nightlife was drinking pretty much...they had a piano bar where one guy would play piano and they would do sing-a-longs...no thank you....and they had a nightclub. In the nightclub the music was louder than the bars in Bismarck and the room was small and there was usually only about 5 people in it...so we never went there but once to see what it was like. So the nightlife was very boring there.
The good thing about the resort was the staff. They were all really friendly and willing to help. And yes...they literally always say "Yeah, mon.", "Respect." and "No problem.". So every time we walked up to the bar it was, "Hey baby, what can I get for you?" (Insert heavy Jamaican accent) The bad thing about drinking down there....no bud light and absolutely not clamato. They had vodka, one (maybe two) whiskeys, a couple liquers, red stripe and red stripe light on tap....and rum. Lots and lots and lots of Jamaican rum....nothing that Farren really likes to drink. I ended up leaving a lot of pretty much full drinks because I didn't like them.
The other thing I didn't expect...Jamaica was very....for lack of a better word....ghetto....I expected it to be a bit, but not as bad as it was. On the way back to the airport from the resort I literally saw a woman parked on the side of the road selling munchies and snacks and such out of the back of her van....They will try to sell you almost anything. And we did walk out of the resort once, we got only about 200 feet from the resort and got hit up at least 5 times for pot, even from across the street....yeah...
All in all, I don't really ever want to go back to Jamaica. And I will also never book a trip on my own again. I'm going to a travel agency. It will be well worth the lack of stress!!! It was terrible when I was planning this trip! The weather was amazing the entire time we were there. I'm pretty sure even at night it never fell below 70 degrees. For everything I ended up wearing, I could have packed it all in a carry on...pretty much just work a swimsuit and cover up every day. Put on a skirt and top or simple dress at night, but that was it.
The best thing about this trip is that it taught me a lot and I'll know better for a lot of things for next time! I am glad we went on the vacation. It was some much needed time away from the "real world" and it was nice to soak up some Vitamin D and just relax for a while.
I hope everyone is doing well!!! I know I'm extremely slacking on videos but hopefully I'll catch up quick!!
