# Negril.com Message Board Forums > Negril Message Board >  I've got to find my way back, back to summer paradise - Nov 2011 Trip Report

## CherryNorth49

You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes. 
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
Hello, my name is Cherry and I am pretty sure I am addicted to Negril.  I will tell you for sure in 20 or so days, when I return with my husband for our second trip.

Having enjoyed so many of the reports on the board, I have thought for a while that the right thing to do would be to contribute back with a report of my own.  I thought this back somewhere in April and have continued to think it would be a good idea.  Thinking and actually doing is of course not the same thing.  Now with only three weeks until we head back to Negril, the excitement is starting to drive me to distraction.  Rather than quietly go crazy, I thought I might channel that energy into reliving our first trip with all of you on the board.

I will warn you upfront that if you are a big fan of the short version of a story, this report will not be for you.   Though there will be a certain amount of we ate here and did that to the report, I am hoping that I will be able to successfully share with you moments that helped make our first trip so unforgettable.   I aim to share my opinions and I do not claim them to be fact.  If our opinions differ, please don't take offense.

Cherry is not the name I was born with, though it has been a second name of mine for a long time.  There is no deep meaning to the name, it actually came from an obscure video game character, but over time it stuck.  North49 is really a statement of geography, as I live North of the 49th parallel, in Winnipeg to be more exact. 

The title of this report is from the first line of this song, which has without fail, made me think of Negril each and every time I have heard it since it came out last winter.  The video was actually shot in Barbados, but close enough.





For this report, I am going to name my husband Sunshine, because he really is my sunshine.  Even on the darkest days, I know he is there and will be there again the next day and the day after that.  It is a warm and comfortable feeling. 

Sunshine and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary back in May.  We have no kids and no pets, though I've nothing against either one.  We met in university, Sunshine was in his second year and I was in my first.  Our first meeting was at a fraternity keg party, which I will admit is not the most romantic of venues.  Romance together wasn't the plan though, as we were both there with other love interests.  We soon became good friends and before the school year was done we were an item.  I don't want to make it sound too perfect or easy, because over the last nearly twenty years there have certainly been times of challenge.  

Outside of our jobs, we are one of those couples who tend to do most everything together and I like it that way.  I prefer to think we are cute as opposed to nauseating. If that isn't the case, no one has yet to have the stones to point it out.  We are both known to suffer from the excessive politeness that afflicts many Canadians, especially with people we don't know.   Don't let the polite face fool you, we both have a rather wicked sense of humor that lurks right beneath the surface, but I will have to get to know you before I let it out.

I am an optimist and prefer to seek out the silver lining in life rather than dwell on the bad in things.  I once described myself as laid-back to Sunshine and he actually laughed in my face.  I was a bit put out.  What can I say, I like to be organized and have a plan in place.   I am however easily talked away from my plans and I generally don't let much of anything get in the way of having a good time.

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 1 

  It is our choices, Harry, that show us what we truly are, far more than our abilities. 
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets


  Why Jamaica?  The short answer is because it was there.  But really, that doesn't make much of a story, does it? 

Last fall I came to the conclusion that I needed a vacation rather badly.  I should say that we needed a vacation, since Sunshine was coming along, but the reality is that even if he had been fresh as a daisy ready to take on anything life throws our way, I still really needed a vacation.  He did too, but if I waited for him to lead the way to vacation land, I would die of old age.

Why such a need?  It was really only the usual trials of life.

My parents live in Europe, so for 11 months of the year they are extremely low maintenance.  So where are they for that last month?  They live at our house.  To be fair, they are very good house guests.  They do a multitude of chores without being asked; make sure there is always milk in the fridge and generally aim to make our lives just a little bit easier.  Still, a month is a really long time to have houseguests; I have been led to believe it is especially tedious if they are your in-laws.

My husband's family are local to us.  Do you know people who whenever you see them they just seem to make you feel calmer and better about life in general?  This isn't this family's story and it hadn't been a good year.

So it is mid-October and we are half way through my parent's visit.  We have just celebrated three family birthdays and Canadian thanksgiving in the past ten days, all hosted at our house.  I am the type of person who pretty much always has a countdown going for something.  At this point the best I can come up with is Christmas.  Yes, if you are wondering this blessed event will also be at our house and will include overnight guests.

For my sanity's sake, I need something positive to countdown too, and I needed it fast.  So I beat up on Sunshine until he got a week's vacation at the beginning of December approved and I set off to find us a deal.  I had at Sunshine's request agreed to a couple of criteria that this random vacation would have to meet.

1.  We weren't going to Mexico.  Sunshine has decided that one would require a death wish to go to Mexico, despite the fact that seemingly half our friends return from Mexico tanned, relaxed and happy on an annual basis.  Whatever, I am learning to only fight the battles that really matter to me.

2.  Our chance of being a victim of violent crime couldn't be worse than home.  I have mixed feelings on this criterion, as statistically our home town is one of the most violent places in the entire country.  I would suggest that one should always be a bit suspicious of statistics, as we live in a pretty safe place.   All the same, I thought we might actually want raise the bar a bit on this one.

3.  Jet Lag was to be avoided.  There is nothing like crossing 5, 6, 7 time zones twice in one week to send you back to work feeling like you'd been beaten with a sack of hammers.  This was supposed to be a vacation, not an extreme sport.

4.  Preference would be given to destinations with direct flights.  There is just something really appealing about getting up, going to the airport and only needing one aircraft to get you to your destination, or so I'd heard as I don't know that I have ever actually done it.

So armed with my criteria I starting searching the web for just where in the world our adventure would take us.  It took very little time to start focusing my search on the Caribbean.  I also soon discovered that Westjet was flying direct from Winnipeg to Montego Bay every Saturday.  Better yet, there were packages we could probably actually afford.  

Hmmm, Jamaica eh?  My preconceptions of Jamaica were mixed. 

One of my best friends as a child was Jamaican and her and her family were wonderful.  Big smiles, fluffy hugs and an always genuine welcome were always on offer.  That said they had come to Canada to escape the poverty and violence they faced in Jamaica.  

Very early on in our marriage, I had read an article in Cond Nast Traveler that waxed on poetically about the virtues of Jake's at Treasure Beach, so much so that I had been to the website, priced it out and had a dreamy 'someday' conversation with Sunshine that had us both lost in fantasy land.  He agreed that it sounded like a perfect slice of paradise, but it seemed like a small fortune at the time, especially with the sixty cents to the dollar exchange rate.  There was also a government travel advisory that recommended not traveling by road in Jamaica, at least in some parts of the country.

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## gluecipher

I love the report so far.  Please, go on.

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## rinakim

All I can say already is WOW!!  Can't wait for more Cherry .........

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## Lorax2

Great start!  I'm hooked :-)

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## kaycee

I'm feeling it...loving your style of writing

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## mamade11

Great start - can't wait for more!!!

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## bjritz

CherryNorth +Sunshine, super style, great wit, love it. More Please! No betta place to prepare for a trip to Jamaica than right here.

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## CherryNorth49

Thanks for the comments Gluecipher, Rinakim, Lorax, Kaycee, Mamade and bjritz.  I see some of countdowns that look pretty close to my own.  It won't be long now.  More of the report is on its way.

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## CherryNorth49

I needed more current information, so I started with the government travel site and all looked good.  The country had been stable for a while, still a few places in Kingston that weren't tourist friendly, but otherwise no real concerns.  The only real advice of note was that travel during an election should be done with extreme caution, as Jamaican's were passionate about their politics.  I figured the chances of that were slim, so no worries there.  Not yet satisfied, I went to newspapers and local media websites.  I googled crime rates and all sorts of word strings that might identify a dark underside lurking beside the palm trees.  Was Jamaica without incident?  Of course not.  Did it have a better record that the blocks surrounding my office building?  Probably.

I would like pause at this point to say something that might be starting to seem obvious.  I have been accused of being almost compulsive in my research before we settle on any vacation plan.  I used to try and hide that fact; now I have come to appreciate it is part of what makes a vacation for me.  I might also say that the compulsion doesn't just end when the vacation is booked.  It's in the end how I found Negril.com. 

Now you can't do this kind of research without learning a few other things along the way.  For me, the most positive surprise was the fact that the drinking water pretty much all across the island is perfectly safe to drink.  Not to get TMI on you, but I don't have an iron stomach.  Spending my week worried about where my ice cubes had come from and what my fruit was washed with sounds like a real holiday bummer.  This is especially true since I know it would only take one misstep to end up with my vacation sponsored by Pepto.

So at this point, I have to admit I was totally sold.  Now I just had to get Sunshine on board.  I should say the drinking water wasn't the only tidbit I picked up in my research.  When trying to sell someone on something, it pays to know your audience.  The conversation went something like this.

"So, I think we are going to go to Jamaica the first week of December," I say.

"Jamaica? Isn't that dangerous?" Sunshine replied.

"No, Foreign Affairs has lifted all the travel advisories. Would you believe there is actually a direct flight, it is only one time zone away and they have good drinking water so you probably won't have to deal with me getting sick."

"Ok, sounds interesting."

"Yes, doesn't it?  Another interesting point is they seem to have an awful lot of sandwich joints in Jamaica.  It seems like folks don't really need a special occasion to enjoy a good sub.  Every day is a good day.  In fact, sounds like people are pretty relaxed about chowing down almost everywhere."

"Seriously?" he says.

"Uh, yeah."

"Sold! We're going to Jamaica."

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## Lady Jane

Hey don't stop now my fellow Canuck. I just poured my self a beer!

Great writing, looking forward to reading more

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## Lady Jane

Opps we posted at the same time.  :Stick Out Tongue:  Carry on

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## Lady Jane

LOL, that last selling feature reeled Sunshine right in. LOve it!

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## marley9808

Oh yeah.....I am loving this one already!

Good stuff
Especially loved your disclaimer at the beginning about people who like a short read need not continue...HA! That sounded like someone I know  :Wink: 
LOVE it!

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## Guirigay

Hey Cherry! Please carry on at length, but finish before you leave!  :Smile:

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## TizzyATX

Cherry!!! This is awesome, I love the way you write, and you're funnny! SCORE

Lookin forward to the rest of the story....and the next  :Wink:

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## Mike_D

> "Sold! We're going to Jamaica."


LOL! The subs are like the icing on the cake.

Carry on, please!

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## Luvsdaislands

this is going to be a good one!!!

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## CherryNorth49

> Hey don't stop now my fellow Canuck. I just poured my self a beer!
> 
> Great writing, looking forward to reading more


I hate to waste a fresh beer, I hope my last post caught you in time.




> Oh yeah.....I am loving this one already!
> 
> Good stuff
> Especially loved your disclaimer at the beginning about people who like a short read need not continue...HA! That sounded like someone I know 
> LOVE it!


There are enough folks with mad trip report skills on this board that I can't actually narrow my guess to just one...




> Hey Cherry! Please carry on at length, but finish before you leave!


I don't want to promise, but I am pretty confident that we are going to get there.  Honest!




> Cherry!!! This is awesome, I love the way you write, and you're funnny! SCORE
> 
> Lookin forward to the rest of the story....and the next


Thank you! Speaking of the rest of the story, I can't seem to recall how your last report ended...  :Big Grin: 




> LOL! The subs are like the icing on the cake.
> 
> Carry on, please!


They sure were, more is coming soon!




> this is going to be a good one!!!


Thanks Luvs, it was a great trip, hopefully it will come trough in the report.

Now to finish off Chapter 1.

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## CherryNorth49

Now as far as Sunshine was concerned, our vacation planning was pretty much done.  I know better.  Having narrowed our search down to a single country, I now needed to figure out where on the island we were going and where we would be staying.
The direct flight with Westjet was too good to pass up and we have had good luck with their vacation packages in the past, so I cut the field to the properties and areas they were promoting.

We land in Montego Bay, so I started there.  It's a city, which isn't really a plus for me.  Most of the resorts looked a bit crowded in and not that far from the airport.  I grew up on airbases, so I am pretty good at ignoring aircraft, but I would prefer not to have to.  Not that I think hip excludes me completely, but the idea of a place called the Hip Strip didn't appeal.  I would rather things be a little more chill, so I crossed Montego Bay off the list.

Runaway Bay?  It kind of looks like you are nowhere.  There doesn't seem to be anything to walk to, no Jamaica to really see.

What about Ocho Rios?  There are lots of attractions and activities around there, which is a plus.  It is a big cruise ship port; that is a real minus.  It isn't a natural beach; well I can get over that.  Not ideal, but interesting.  

What's this Negril place? It's a beach, 7-miles-ish of natural sand.  Protected by a reef so the surf is gentle.  Called the 'Capital of Casual.'  Sunshine could have majored in casual in college.  Not much to do but no one seems to mind.

So how to decide?  Despite my ability to make things really complicated, sometimes the decision is simple.

Sunshine and I have only once before vacationed in what you would might call a beach destination.  It had been a miserable, cold rainy summer and with a harsh winter likely on the way, 13 days before our scheduled camping trip to Minnesota, we said screw it and booked a vacation to Maui. It was at the height of the recession in 2009 and we scored a great deal.  We had a fantastic condo right on the water, with floor to ceiling glass facing right into the sunset.  Our activities everyday were planned around being back to enjoy the sunset.  It was soothing, special and to me worth repeating.


 The view from the crazy pad we scored in Maui.

   Alright, so where in Jamaica are the best sunsets?  Interesting, Runaway Bay and Ochi all seem to face north-ish.   Montego Bay might do ok, but almost none of Jamaica actually faces west, but Negril does.  

Decision made.

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## CherryNorth49

I have pretty limited experience with all-inclusive.  I spent a week at one in Turkey with my parents when I was in high school.  It was heavenly.  Unrelated to this trip, I had suggested a couple of times to Sunshine that we ought to do an AI, and he always kind of shrugged his shoulders with a 'whatever' kind of attitude.  Still, most of my impressions come second hand and generally the stories are really good.  Jamaica is the birthplace of the all-inclusive, so if ever there was a time it would be now right?

Westjet had packages to all the big AI resorts in Negril, some of which were more affordable than others.  I pretty much eliminated the fanciest places because I didn't want to spend that kind of cash and I didn't want to have to dress up for dinner.

In the end, I narrowed it down to two options: Sunset at the Palms AI on Bloody Bay or Rooms on the Beach, which included breakfast.  There was a bit more than $1000 in difference between the two, but I figured that our Red Stripe bill on the beach would close that gap in a hurry.  In fact, Rooms would probably end up costing us more.  SATP looked beautiful.  I liked the concept, the pictures and reviews on Trip Advisor were great.  It did seem a bit away from things though.  Rooms on the Beach wasn't as fancy, but it was on the main beach and looked to be walking distance from a tonne of places and not far from the nightlife.  Reviews were good, no red flags.

So it was time to go back to Sunshine to get his impression.  I start off the conversation simply, "So I have been trying to decide between AI and non-AI."

He immediately replies, "Non-AI."

I forge on, "There are a lot of things we should consider."

"Non-AI makes the most sense to me," he replies.

"Ok, so I am just going to spend the next 10 minutes going over pros and cons with you."  I'm paraphrasing a bit here.

"I think non-AI is a good idea," he quite patiently states several more times as I go through my mental list.

"So, considering all that I think I'm leaning towards non-AI.  Should I go ahead and book it?"

"Yes dear."

Fifteen minutes later we were the proud owners of two tickets to Rooms on the Beach.  That was with only 43 days to go.  Let the countdown begin!

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## TizzyATX

Eeeeeeeehehehehe

I'm stoked....let's go!

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## Lady Jane

This is great Cherry. Keep going. Pass the popcorn somebody

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## Schuttzie

I love your style, Cherry!  So enjoying this~

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## wpyogi

Great report!  I love the way you use your mad skills in researching/planning your vacations.  I'm the same way.  I live in a resort town and i'm so surprised by how many people show up with absolutely zero knowledge about their vacation destination!

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 2

  There's nothing worse than waiting and not knowing what'll happen to you. Your own imagination can be crueler than any captor. 
― Richelle Mead, Frostbite

 
So the countdown has begun, that can only spell relief, right?  If only it were that simple.

I feel the need to share that I had some real anxiety around going to Jamaica.  It was going be a really different kind of vacation for us.  It would involve a lot of firsts for both of us.  The unfamiliar makes me a bit anxious and I am the generally the calmer one.  Strange places, strange people and crowds have on occasion proved taxing for the both of us.

I consider myself reasonably well travelled.  I lived in Europe for almost a decade and covered a lot of ground while I was there.  I have visited 38 of the 50 US states and been to 7 of 10 Canadian provinces.  Fundamentally though, this has given me a great experience in the 'western' world.  

Everything I was reading was telling me that Jamaica wasn't going to be like that.  I had never traveled to the Caribbean.  I had never been to a place where there would likely be frequent signs of people living in what I would describe as poverty.  I have never been someplace where the price of almost everything is negotiable and everyone is an entrepreneur.

I was worried for me and I was really worried for my husband.  This was my idea though, so it was time to be a big girl; I will cope.  With some good planning and the right activities lined up, this should all be great.  Once the vacation was booked, Sunshine had one other request.

"Please honey, can we just plan on doing nothing?"

"No problem," I say, "I mean, I am sure we will want to do a couple of things, but not more than one a day."

"No dear, I really mean, can we plan to do nothing?" he repeated.

"You mean like really nothing?  But then we won't really get to see anything of the area.  I am sure there are lots of things that we are going to want to see." I am thinking to myself that he must be crazy or I must have misunderstood.  I mean why would you travel all that way and not see anything?

"But that should be ok, shouldn't it?  We can just sit on the beach and enjoy the hotel?  We are always off and doing things, can't we just try doing nothing for this trip?"

"Well, I mean I guess so.  If it is that important to you," I concede.

"Promise?" he says.

"Well, ok, ummm I guess."

"No seriously, _do you promise_?"

"Yes dear, I promise."

What can I say? I talked him into taking a trip.  I sold him on my destination of choice.  I guess it is fair that he get to contribute some input on the whole thing. 

This puts a real wrinkle in my normal pre-trip anxiety relief program.  Normally, I would burn off my excess energy by compulsively planning an excess of potential activities for us once we arrive at our destination.  I mean you never know when a little planning will come in handy right?  On an average vacation, I swear I have a list of possible 'to-dos' twice as long as our trip will be.  Now what am I going to do?

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## mavmaiden

Oh my gosh. I love the way you think...and, more important, the way you translate your thoughts into words. This is priceless! I'm going to make sure and have a bottle of wine on hand this weekend and hope and pray that you continue this report. And since I'll be visiting Negril for the first time next month, I'm anxious to hear how the story goes... :Smile:

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## mavmaiden

By the way, I, too, am an obsessive planner when I travel to. I've been reading the board for about 6 months and already have reservations in place (for the One Love Bus Crawl, dinner and show at Seastar and dinner at Ivan's). But I have to admit- your hubby's way of thinking is kinda nice, too. I'm hoping to "do nothing" for 80 percent of my trip. Just...can't...help...but...plan...a...little. It's compulsive.

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## groove16

great report cherry....mavmaiden, those are must do's even on a trip of do nothing....

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## Firefly Cottages

Hey Cherry and Sunshine:

Nothing wrong with getting hooked on a good thing!  Plus you have so much more to see and experience in our year long summer paradise.

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## CherryNorth49

> Oh my gosh. I love the way you think...and, more important, the way you translate your thoughts into words. This is priceless! I'm going to make sure and have a bottle of wine on hand this weekend and hope and pray that you continue this report. And since I'll be visiting Negril for the first time next month, I'm anxious to hear how the story goes...


Thank you!  Get that wine ready, I won't leave you hanging over the weekend  :Smile: 




> By the way, I, too, am an obsessive planner when I travel to. I've been reading the board for about 6 months and already have reservations in place (for the One Love Bus Crawl, dinner and show at Seastar and dinner at Ivan's). But I have to admit- your hubby's way of thinking is kinda nice, too. I'm hoping to "do nothing" for 80 percent of my trip. Just...can't...help...but...plan...a...little. It's compulsive.


On this I think we are pretty similar, as you will probably see as the story goes on...

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 3

  Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world. 
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

  
So I have agreed to go on vacation and do nothing.  That shouldn't be much of a challenge.  In fact, it kind of sounds like that is what a lot of people do in Negril.  Something called 'sand gravity' seems to take hold of many visitors.  Not my normal scene, but I am up for giving it a try.  If I am really honest, the thought of doing nothing sounds pretty awesome.

Doing nothing once we get there isn't the problem.  It's the reality of having nothing to plan that is starting to make me feel a little bit crazy.  More accurately, having nothing to occupy the butterflies in my stomach is what is making me crazy, but it pretty much feels like the same thing. 
I need to do something and it is not like there is nothing I can plan.  I mean, we will have to eat.  We will have to drink; I guess one doesn't technically have to drink, but it would be seriously out of character.  We might want to see a show or go dancing.  Surely that doesn't count as doing something, does it?  So I start surfing the net or more accurately, compulsively searching for any and all information I can dredge up on our hotel, the beach and everything surrounding it.

I want to step back for a moment and say that I really enjoy going to new places for the second time.  I guess that technically means I don't really like going to new places, I prefer to go to familiar places.  The first time someplace new, I am a little anxious.  I find I have a fear of not being welcomed, mixed with a good dose of concern over making an idiot of myself that gets my heart rate going a little faster than it should.  It can be exhausting.  The bigger the newness, the greater the fear.  In my mind, Jamaica was freshly minted and I was not sure I would ever be prepared.  Not to jump ahead, but I have heard lots of boardies talk about how good Negril is for the soul.  Negril was like a soothing balm for my jittery self, but that tale should unfold all in its own good time.

So back to my coping strategies.  If I can read enough material, hear enough of other folk's stories and see enough pictures, I can knock just enough of the new off the experience to make it seem bearable.  I sometimes wonder if all the information available on-line is actually a help or a hindrance.  If there wasn't a nearly endless amount of information to search through, would I compulsively research less and get on with doing or would I never leave the house?

It doesn't take long before I have fully exhausted Trip Advisor.  I am not going to embarrass myself further by admitting just how much actual reading that entailed.  I feel like I have been through every tourist site even remotely related to the country.  I was running out of content obvious to me.

I should say that I have never before really been a participant in on-line forums.  I had a facebook page once, but after the first month I pretty much stopped using it.  There was something about posting details of my life on-line that made me really uncomfortable.  I had never spent any amount of time following a forum, and I had certainly never joined one.

Following a long chain off a Google search for Rooms on the Beach, I came across a trip report.  It was from a couple from our part of the country, about the same age as us with seemingly similar attitudes.  It was their first time to Jamaica (though they had been to Mexico), they stayed at Rooms and they'd had a great time.  There were pictures of the rooms and reviews of where they ate.  

I was amazed.  Not only had I never read a trip report, I had no idea they even existed.  This was exactly the kind of thing that might settle my butterflies down.  If this person had done it, surely there must be more such wondrous reports out there.  New Google search string 'trip report Negril.'

No surprise that right near the top of the list was Negril.com.  This wasn't my first visit to the website.  I thought I had pretty much read every scrap of information there was to be found.  I had also been through realnegril.com; I had even logged into to a couple of webcasts (not the chat mind you, that would be very un-lurker-like behaviour).  I had never even clicked on the Forums link.

But now I was into the forums and there was a lot of reading to be done.

If I recall correctly, I found the board about two weeks before we left for our trip.  It was mid-November right around the time Clarity and Hubby-man started reporting on their second trip to Negril.  Tizzy was recounting her first adventure with her less than stellar traveling companion.  Sprat was posting some of the most beautiful and thoughtful photos I had ever seen.  Poolguywindsor was logging miles and reporting live, Red Stripe always in hand.  Sweetness was also reporting in on her adventures, with plenty of pictures to go along.  TicToc was gearing up for her epic December adventure, family in tow.  Patty Sather was packing up all the colors of the rainbow, prepared to match any cocktail that might come her way.

I am not prepared to go back and dig back up some of the comments that helped me along the most.  I know over time, that my mind has a tendency to re-write history a bit to suit its purposes, if only in subtle ways.  I read so much that I may credit the wrong people with the right things.  In the end, I prefer my recollections of how things went down. Please don't feel slighted.

In the end, it wasn't the most current trip reports that had the biggest impact on my state of mind before we left.  Clarity and Hubby-man were really only working their way through Day 1 of their second trip when we actually left for Negril. That was no never mind though, as Clarity had kindly linked to their first trip report.  For those of you who enjoy trip reports for more than just the details of where you stayed and where you ate (which I'm guessing you do, since you are still reading this), this report is a must read.  (Read it here)  

It was such a heartfelt and personal recounting of their trip, it ultimately provided a bit of anchor for me as we started in on our own adventure. Without intending to sound like a lunatic stalker, there were several times before and during our trip when I said to myself, "Clarity made it through better for the experience and so will you.  Get over it and get on with it."

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## TizzyATX

I love this so much LOL  

I've was gonna add to mine today but you're a tough act to follow, lol.  Really fantastic writing Cherry  :Smile: 

Clarity's first report was the first one I read if I remember correctly....sucked me right in

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## Guirigay

You are good! Very, Very good! And no liar either  :Smile:  4 pages of backstory? All slammin'? I can wait a little while for you to get to the island... Love the quotes, please continue!  :Smile:

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## MoFromMonroe

This is a fantastic report. I keep checking in to see if there is more.

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## dash

I think that we have found another Guirigay. I hope that we have!

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 4 

  "When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money." 
 Susan Heller

 
Having only booked our vacation six weeks before we were due to leave, there really wasn't that much time on the countdown clock.  That also meant there wasn't that much time on the get ready clock.

For all you folks who spend 15 minutes the night before packing, I am making a face at you right now.  I dream of being able to pack like that and maybe someday I will.  It won't be this year.

Getting ready for this trip was extra complicated, because we had almost nothing useful to pack.  We discovered neither of us had swimsuits.  When we went to Maui in 2009, Sunshine was sporting a 44" pant waist, now he is in a size 34.  We discovered just how much his old swim trunks weren't going to work with some hilarity during an overnight stop at a Holiday Inn.  Don't be alarmed, no children were traumatized in the incident.  Though not able to brag of nearly as dramatic a change, I was in need of new beach wear as well.

For those of you who live well below the Mason/Dixon line, getting a swimsuit in November is likely of no particular consequence.  When you live in the north, be prepared to spend real $$$.  For all things summer, we were in a total retail void.  The summer stuff was all gone and the 'cruise-wear' wasn't going to be in stores until after Christmas.  That left us with specialty shops.  Without exaggeration, we could have extended our trip 3 days for what swim suits cost us.  Not really part of the budget, but as we weren't booked for c/o, what can you do.

I must admit, shopping before a trip is an activity I generally enjoy.  I have been known to be a bit tight when it comes to spending cash, especially on basics that I deem that I can 'make do' without.  Underwear has a hole, no problem.  Taking underwear with a hole on vacation - I can do better than that.  At least half the socks in my drawer can be tied to a purchase before heading on vacation somewhere.  Strangely enough, they almost become happy souvenirs.  As I pull them on in the morning, I think to myself ah (insert vacation destination here), what a great time that was and it starts the day off right. 

Jumping ahead, I have taken a bit of a different approach preparing for our trip this year.  Since I started this countdown with well over 200 days to go, I needed to spread out the anticipation.  I don't think that there has been a month that has gone by that I haven't bought something that I plan to take to Negril.  New sunhat, won't I look cute in Negril.  Oh, sunscreen is on sale, better stock up for Negril.  Need floaties for the beach, let's by ones we can also take to Negril.  The nice thing is, maybe I will actually be able to pack in something less than a week.  Also, it is nice that this part of the shopping won't be on the vacation bill. 

I get the suitcase out mid-week and start packing.  I've read half a dozen times that the key to success in Negril is to bring half the clothes and twice the money.  Neither is going to happen, but I do my best.

I did leave two items at home which I found quite liberating - no flat-iron and no make-up for me.  They call Negril the capital of casual?  That means to me that I can be fresh faced and frizzy haired and the world can just get over it.

Three or four days before we were due to leave, Sunshine came home from work with the sniffles.  I am sure there are men out there who are capable of maturity when they are sick.  Not so much with Sunshine.  He becomes like a petulant four-year old, railing at the universe for placing this pox upon his head.  What frustrates me is that he doesn't do anything about it.

What happens when a week before we go on vacation and I start to feel the sniffles?  I will take anything and everything that promises to stop the disease in its tracks.  I have had mixed results, but I figure, at least am trying.  Sunshine's approach?  Pour a whiskey and hope it helps.  I decided this trip was too important for this laissez-faire attitude and I read him the riot act.  He had the good sense to look chagrined and headed off for the pharmacy.

In my world the latest in magic cure-all was, at this point in time, Oil of Oregano.  I have half a dozen people at my office that swear by it and claim it works every time.  It was a nasty cold season and the stories of miraculous recoveries were flying around like mad.  So after three days of Cold-Fx and Oil of Oregano, I'm not sure Sunshine had achieved much.  He still has an unpleasant head cold and he is now starting to smell like Mediterranean food and not in a good way.  Ironically, he doesn't feel better, but I actually do.  Not because I was getting sick, but because he actually tried to do something about it.

----------


## CherryNorth49

Chapter 5
  “You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!” 
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

  
We were leaving very early on Saturday morning.  Sunshine is one of these people who needs to be at the airport early.  If the airline says check in 2 hours before, he will want to be there 2.5 hours before, even though we actually checked in the day before on-line.  It is like traveling with my mother, so at least I have had a lifetime to get used to it.

I think our cab picked us up at home at 4:45.  The early start didn't really matter though; I hardly slept a wink the night before.  To be fair, I hadn't really slept the previous three nights.  I was just too excited/anxious/nervous to settle down to sleep.

In case Jamaica was not enough, I had a second reason to be excited to get to the airport.  Only one year behind schedule, the new Winnipeg airport was finally open and it was my first chance to get inside.  Our old terminal was just that - old.  I felt somewhat embarrassed every time I was in there, hoping that first time visitors wouldn't put too much of the airport into forming their impressions of our community.  The new terminal felt like a coming out party to me.  As a city we were all grown up and putting our best face forward, reflecting the vibrant city we are.  I was really impressed.

There was some confusion as people were checking in, since this was a first visit to the new airport for many folks.  There was a small army of Westjet agents manning the 'self-serve' kiosks so it was all rather painless.  At security, we got selected for special screening (the rub your bags and test for residue kind), but it meant we got to go straight to the head of the long security lines.  I wish I could volunteer for that every time.  It was a breeze getting through.

As every good Canadian airport does, they were pouring Tim Horton's coffee as fast as it could be brewed. Timmy's breakfast in hand and our duty free secured, we were ready to board.

I have to say I got quite a charge being in my home airport dressed and ready to get off the plane at the beach.  I don't care if it is a bit silly, but I've always kind of stared at the folks so obviously heading for paradise with a bit of envy.  Now it was my turn!

We get on board and my seating gambit to hopefully get us a row to ourselves has not paid off.  Turns out our companion for the trip was a Negril regular who owned a condo in the area.  Excellent I thought, I can gather a little local knowledge on the way.  I do not have his permission to be in my trip report, so I am going to keep some of the details vague.

I was already wondering just how 'hedonistic' the whole Negril area was going to be.  After all, there was a whole resort dedicated to the theme.  I had read GerryG123's trip report from May 2011, which led me to believe you didn't need to be at Hedo to have a hedo good time.  At the same time, there were reports from folks who I know wouldn't have darkened the doors of many of places GerryG described and they were having a good time too. 

So back to our seat mate.  We chatted a bit; I asked inane questions and he provided good information.  Conversation started trending towards things I wouldn't normally go to with a virtual stranger (of the drugs and eventually sex variety).  Whatever, I think folks should do what makes them feel good and I am not easily offended.  I can smile and nod with the best of them.  Now he's describing his girlfriend, offering to buy drinks and wondering how we are getting to our resort.

Ok, so Sunshine is in the middle seat pretty much ignoring the conversation reading his book as we talk across him.  I mean, if I was on my own, I would be sure this guy had more on his mind that just killing time.  But my husband is right there, so this is just weird.  Wait for it...wait for it...I can be a bit dense.  "Holy crap, this guy is trying to pick us both up!!!!"  Add another to the list of firsts for the day.  I hadn't even thought to put that one on list.  

Sometimes body language can say so much more than words and in so much faster and kinder a way.  As we approached Cuba, Sunshine had to use the toilet.  I had a 'moment' with our seat mate as he pointed something out to me out the window.  He leaned in, I leaned out and just like that everyone knew the score.  Regardless, if I was wondering what kind of place I had signed us up for before, now I am really questioning things.

It was a bit cloudy over Jamaica when got within sight, but as we broke through the clouds and I caught our first glimpse, I was already in love.  I admit I was a bit nervous for our landing.  I had seen pictures of the runway to the ocean and I really hoped we didn't miss.  I had to capture the moment on video (which I will post, but the tech is working against me right now).





Our seat mate's helpful hints continued and though he did pass on his Negril number I never did see fit to call.  As we were negotiating the airport he pointed us towards the right lines and in twenty-minutes we were clear of customs and headed towards our bus transfers.

So we pour out of customs into the hall with all the tour operators.  Our vacation included transfers with JTL.  We found everyone in the hall very helpful at pointing us in the right direction.  There certainly was no shortage of people ready to help and I didn't find people were pushy.

There was a very friendly fellow making sure that only one from each party was in line at JTL, so I headed up with our vouchers and Sunshine cared for our luggage.  I am extremely paranoid about taking my eyes of my bags at the airport and after more than a decade of travelling together, Sunshine has learned to play along.

It took only a few minutes to get through the process and then we were out to the buses.  There was one to Negril just about ready to go, so we were underway only moments after we got on board.

The bus was older, but functional.  The driver kept up a bit of a dialogue of sites as we passed through Montego Bay.  I was having a bit of trouble understanding him, but I was so overwhelmed with the sights and sounds that it didn't much matter to me. Reflecting back on that drive, I can recollect very little of the first half of the trip.  The whole thing was a bit of a blur.

Just outside of MoBay, the bus pulled in somewhere which gave us all a chance to pick up some beverages.  It was time for the first Red Stripes of the trip.


Continuing along, we started the process of dropping off all the AI guests.  First stop, Grand Palladium followed by both RIU and Couples or Sandals or Breezes.  Sunshine was laughing as we pulled away from the last AI, "I didn't know you could do so many variations on the 'tropical' theme.  I am so glad we aren't staying in one of those."

With the AIs done, there are only two other people on the bus and Rooms would be the last stop.

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## CherryNorth49

The bus driver said something that sounded nice as he dropped us off, but I didn't quite catch it.  Security welcomed us and pointed us to the front office.  We head in and we are expected.  The front desk lady pulls out a form, confirms the information is correct and gives us room keys, drink vouchers and towel chits. Inside of three minutes we were done.  I'm thinking to myself this is a bit weird.  I mean, I know we have prepaid, but don't you want to at least get a credit card imprint?  Shouldn't I have to sign something?  Guess they really do things more casually in Jamaica.

We get to our room and it is fine.  It is on the first floor in not a great location, located right near the main office.  Since it is on the main path, the patio is not at all private and it feels like everyone walking by is staring into the room.  But who cares, we are in Jamaica.

Bags dropped in the room, our first order of business is heading down the beach.  At this point is about 4:30 and sunset will be here soon.  My goal was to get to the hotel before sunset, so mission accomplished.  I was nervous heading out to the beach, having heard so much about the hustlers who ply their trade there. I was happy knowing that Rooms had a bit of a wall, so at least there was something to retreat behind.


We had not yet closed the last 10 feet to the beach wall when young fellow calls over to us from the other side, "Hey, you're from Winnipeg, right?"

"Pardon me?" I say.

"You, you're from Winnipeg."

I glance at Sunshine and down at myself.  Nope, no sports gear giveaways or the like on either of us.

This is not cool.  Who is this guy and how does he know where we are from?  If I wasn't freaked by the hustle before, I sure am now.  I'm not proud to say it, but my first visit to the beach lasted less than two minutes and I all but ran away. 

I quickly suggest we head back to the room and pour ourselves a drink.  That accomplished, we again attempt to head for the beach, drinks in hand.  We are here for a week; I am going to have to leave the room sometime.  I also promised Sunshine subs and he anxious to sample the local wares.

This time as we walk towards the wall, an older Rasta wanders over, claiming he thought we were some German friends of his.  We exchange a few pleasantries; he asks us if we need a sandwich.  We express some interest.  He assures us that if a snow cone is more our style, he can help with that or most anything else we might want or need.  We politely declined but did sort some cold cuts out.

I don't know what a sub ought to cost in a place where cold cuts seem to almost spring up in the ditches, but I know we got taken to the cleaners.  I also know that this will the one and only time I ever make that sort of transaction on the beach.  It was an unnerving experience, but neither of us was in jail, so it was time to get on with just enjoying the moment.

We picked a piece of real estate on the wall and watched our first Jamaican sunset.  


As the sunlight faded, our drinks ran low and we headed back to the room for refills.  Sunshine was also anxious to get to a sub.  He has the fine motor skills of a bull moose, so sandwich making falls to me.

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## CherryNorth49

I will finish this chapter today, but I have a family birthday dinner that I have to get through first  :Frown:

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## justchuck

Great report, glad to hear you are enjoying the subs!

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## yetta

Anxiously awaiting more!  I'm almost at the 4 week stage now before we leave, so your reports are helping me cope. Great pictures too!!

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## mamade11

I love your writing - I'm laughing about the packing.  Three weeks to go and I started today.  I know I'll  change things at least 20 more times!  Every trip I say "Next time I won't bring soo much"  but it never works  :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

I realize at this point that I have managed to eat nothing more than a yogurt today.  The drinks were going straight to my head and the sub wasn't helping.  Tim Horton's to the rescue, as I hadn't actually eaten my biscuit that morning.  Eating Tim's in paradise struck me as funny, so I got Sunshine's help to capture the moment.


Somewhat to my dismay, we discovered when we arrived that the restaurant at the hotel was closed because it was low season.  The reviews had all said it wasn't very good, but I have to admit, I was kind of counting on being able to get some food without having to venture away from the hotel that first night.  Having only just finished breakfast and skipped lunch, we do need to find food.  I seriously contemplated just starving.

Instead, we decide to head down to the beach and actually put our feet in the water.  This may sound nuts, but I just felt safer and more comfortable exploring the beach under the cover of a bit of darkness.

So we wander out, another drink in hand.  The sand is soft and still warm from the sun and the water is the perfect temperature.  We share a bit of a smooch and hear a call from not far behind us.  It is the Rasta we dealt with earlier.  He invites us next door to share a sub with him.  We tell him we aren't buying and he says it isn't business, just a sub amongst friends.  Seemed a sure sign we had seriously overpaid.  So a mere hours after arriving I find myself on the beach, sharing a sub with a Rasta man.  

The whole thing felt surreal and at that moment I truly felt how far we had come.  I did eventually figure out he was trying to sell us a farm tour for later in the trip, but it still didn't detract from that moment.  We said our good-byes to our new Rasta friend and wandered back to our beach.

"Sunshine, we aren't in Kansas anymore," I said. He just smiled a contented smile back.

Now I am really hungry.  I am not very good at being hungry.  If fact, if you ever meet me and I seem to be more of a b*tch than you would have guessed, I am probably just hungry.  My father is the same way.  My mother has carried candy in her purse all my life, so when he starts to lose his cool, she can spike is blood sugar to a friendlier level.  I didn't have any candy.

I have put this off as long as possible and probably longer than is actually wise.  I'm several drinks and a couple of subs into the evening.  I haven't slept in three days, and I now I need to find food.

Traveling with all our cash seemed foolish, so we pull out what seems like a fortune in $JA and lock the rest in our room safe.  You know I have done my research, so I decide that we will turn right on the road and stop at the first place whose name I recognize.  We hadn't walked long when I see Sweet Spot across the road.  Perfect, I thought; this was on my list of places serving real Jamaican food and I believe they do take away.  We cross the road and head in.

Every country seems to have their own protocol for the order in which one arrives, greats, sits, orders and pays at restaurants.  As our first stop, I was clueless as to what we might do.  It wasn't that busy, as it was already after eight o'clock.

The women behind the counter says something quickly, I miss it completely.  Third time repeating really slowly, we get that she mostly just asking what we would like.
We order up friend chicken and curried shrimp, both with rice and peas and a couple of red stripes while we wait.  Time to pay.  Since we seem to not be communicating well, she writes the price down.  Think it was $2300JA for the meal.  No problem, we pull out our cash and start counting.

Uh oh, small problem.  We've only $2100 between the two us.  Seriously, when I lived in Europe and before the Euro, I carried four currencies in my wallet pretty much every day.  I could do exchange rates in my sleep.  How have I screwed this up so badly?  I wanted to crawl into a small hole and never emerge.  

She asked where we were staying, to which I replied honestly; it didn't seem a moment for subterfuge.  She paused to consider us. With a roll of her eyes she appeared to come to the conclusion that someone ought to be educating us and today is was going to have to be her.  She proceeded to give us a rather stern and incredibly sarcastic introduction to the Jamaican currency, which started something like this, "See this, this $100JA bill, this is like 1, that is 1 of your dollars.  See this $500JA bill, this is like 5..." She worked her way through a stack of bills and then asked us what we were going to do now.

Well, I didn't see that many options.  If we both walked out, we would have no food and I would never darken the door of the place again.  So I guess the only answer is I will wait here and Sunshine will walk back to the room and get more money.  Sunshine was none too impressed to be heading back to the room on his own, but he sure wasn't going to send me on my own.  So I stood at the bar and tried to become invisible.  After a few minutes I decided I might as well drink my Red Stripe.  I did have enough money to pay for it at least.    It seemed like forever, but Sunshine was back in 10 and our food was ready not long after that.

We took our boxes and booked it back to the hotel.  We head out onto the patio and dive right in.  With my very first bite of Jamaican food, I was in love.  The curried shrimp was delicious.  The shrimp tasted great and were not overcooked (which is a total pet peeve of mine) and the veggies were awesome.  The best surprise though was the rice and peas.  Who know something so simple could be so delicious.  Sunshine shared some of his chicken and I must say it put the Colonel's to shame.

I suspect we went back to the beach that night; we stood with our feet in the surf in the moonlight almost every night we were there.  After the journey of the day, I can't really recall.  I do remember not knowing what animal was making that sound and not being able to believe how loud it was (frogs, of course).  When they first started up I thought it was an alarm going off somewhere.

I do know that I was relieved to be there, excited for what the next day would bring and ready for a good night's sleep.

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## love2travelchic

Love Love Love your report this is so awesome I can definitely relate to alot of your ways..."Packing, Compulsive planning, and not so nice when hungry"!! lol
I too will be staying at Rooms for my first solo trip to JA so your report is helping me with my count down.... 

Oh and by the way great writing as I'm the person that usually skips LONG reports..I'm glued! lol

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## Ktans

Loving your report!

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## poolguywindsor

I will admit I was starting to loose interest with all the prelude, but glad I hung in until the good stuff started,lol

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## nutz4travel

Thanks Cherry - there's been a real shortage of trip reports to read lately and it helps count down the weeks  :Smile:   Can't wait to read more...

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## CherryNorth49

Thanks for the great feedback everyone.  I have been having a lot of fun writing this, so I am glad you are enjoying it.  Now where were we...

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 6

  When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell, leap. 
-Cynthia Heimel, "Lower Manhattan Survival Tactics"
  
The next morning dawned without us.  We were there, but we were sound asleep, asleep in a way that I can only achieve when I am on vacation.

In theory, our rate at Rooms included breakfast.  Reviews on Trip Advisor for the food weren't that good and you had to be there before 9:30.  That isn't in my time zone.  We were there seven nights and the only time I even caught a glimpse of the buffet was on the day we were leaving.

Though we weren't going to partake in breakfast, I was going to see about getting us a different room.  I had read on Trip Advisor that the second floor rooms were nicer.  I hated the way our patio felt like part of the pathway and we discovered that the shower in our room only half worked.

The Reggae Marathon had been the day before and when we arrived, at least half the hotel seemed to be booked by Jamaicans.  I suspected now that it was Sunday better rooms would be opening up.  I went over to the office to enquire.  Using the shower as my complaint, I asked for a second floor room, ideally facing into the hotel grounds.  The women at the front desk seemed not at all surprised at our comment about the shower.  I found that a bit annoying.  If you know it doesn't work, why not fix it?  Now I sound like my father.  Whatever, I brushed it off.

We are in Jamaica, so of course this was request was "No problem."  An hour later we moved our bags over a building to a second floor room.  Even better, we actually have a bit of an ocean view from our Garden view room.  It was a big improvement.

So somewhere around 11, we decide it is time for some breakfast.  Again, we have no options on site so off we go to the road, this time making a left.

I spot Montana's a little ways down the road.  It was on my researched list of good places for breakfast.

The beach road seemed pretty quiet and there was only one other couple at Montana's.  We picked a seat and ordered up juice and pineapple pancakes.  Don't know what that is going to look like, but how can it be bad?

First bite and I am starting to wonder what magic these Jamaican's put in their food.  It just tasted so darn good.  My guess, he put pineapple on the griddle and then poured the batter over top.  The pineapple had started to caramelize.  We drizzled what I assume was cane syrup over it and I was in heaven. 


Montana's is right across from Fun Holiday resort.  There appeared to be some sort of car rental operation going on out of the Fun holiday parking lot.  At least that was the only explanation we came up with as to traffic we were seeing.  There was a perpetual flow of cars coming and going, which I enjoyed watching.  Though not as lush as some other places, I thought Montana's had a nice shady yard and that it was a good place to pass away an hour.


If you are staying on the beach road and don't know it like the back of your hand, print this map and tuck it someplace where you will always have it; for me that was my camera case. (http://www.negrilinfo.com/negril-map.html)  It is not at all to scale, but given how sketchy some of the signs in Negril can be it was really useful to know what else was around our intended destination.

Our afternoon was spent in the clutches of sand gravity.  Part of the time watching life on the beach, some time spent reading, some time spend floating about in the sea.  The Christmas breezes were up, so we really never had super calm seas while we were there.  It was never so much as to interrupt our plans, but it wasn't quite the calm bathtub that I have seen others capture on film.  Maybe if I had ever made it to the beach before 11am, I would say differently.

Sometime mid-afternoon, we decided lunch would be a good idea, so we wandered down the beach to Alfred's.  Neither of us was overly hungry, so we opted to just share an order of fish and chips.  It was good, but I though the batter on the fish was pretty greasy.

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## CherryNorth49

Our bellies full, we headed back to our beach for a sub and a cocktail.  Before I could believe it, the sun was setting and we there catch it in all its glory.


I love being in a place where the only thing I have on my calendar is watching the sun set.

We decided on pizza for dinner that night and turned right down the road and wandered to  the Italian cafe.  The dining room was like a giant screened gazebo and had pretty paper lantern like lights suspended from the ceiling.  It had a really nice vibe to it.

I have been to Italy and have also spent some time leaving in communities with a big Italian presence.  In my experience, pizza at an Italian restaurant is generally an individual sized affair, especially if the pizza only comes one size.  It wasn't expensive, so I assumed that would be the case.  So we each pick our pizza and order up.  When they arrive, each is the size my local dominos would call a large.  It was a thin crust, but still it was huge!  There were going to be leftovers.  It was delicious and though I don't recall how much it was, it felt like great value. 

I am sorry for the lack of photos in this report.  I am only guessing, but I think that I must have 250 pictures of the sun setting and 40 of the rest of the trip.  I think I was too busy trying to figure out what I was doing to think to take a picture.

However, I do have a small problem with intoxication and bathroom photos.  I have bathroom pictures from most everywhere I have been in the world.  In the days of print film, it was more limited, but in the digital age, it is a free-for-all.  You could lay odds after I have had a few beverages and I head to the loo, as to whether I will come back with a photo...or two...or three.  The Italian Cafe was no different.  Pretty sure I was fascinated by the bamboo and thatch construction.  I think we had wine with dinner; I'm going to blame it.


Second day into our trip and walking along the beach road is starting not to feel so intimidating.  We are starting to slow down our pace and just enjoy the sights and sounds.  There are still lot of folks eager to sell their wares, but it is feeling less oppressive.

The one thing I haven't yet figured out is the language.  Now I am not talking about the patois.  I had no expectation of understanding that.  I am talking about the accent to the English.  This isn't at all intended as a knock at all on the Jamaicans; it is my issue not theirs.

The single biggest challenge we both had on our trip was a total inability to understand what people were saying to us.  It might as well have been in Greek.  In fact, if it had been Greek, it would have been easier, as at least I wouldn't have been supposed to understand.  As it was, I was having a heck of a time communicating.  Everyone had to repeat everything and I was feeling like a bit of idiot.

If you recall in various Peanuts/Charlie Brown TV specials, when every an adult spoke, all we heard was "wah wah wah woh wah wah woh."  This is what I was hearing in Jamaica.

A clip to jog your memory.  No one is putting me to sleep, but it wasn't an easy clip to find.




I see Shamrock's on our way back and we pop in to check it out.  I had heard somewhere about Shamrock's magic orange juice and I wanted to give it a try.  Add to that list a few cold Red Stripe for the room and snacks should we find ourselves with the munchies.  We discovered Rough Top Coconut Drops the day before and the first bag is already history.  Sunshine is exploring the cookies; I am all over the chips and cheesy snacks.

I love exploring the snack food aisle in foreign places.  I am always interested in what kinds of things other people see as snack flavors.  The Jamaicans seem to have my number. In this paradise I am also in heaven.

All our goodies selected, it's time to cash out.  I say hello to the fellow behind the till.  "Wah wah wah woh wah" he replies.  Gosh I hope that wasn't important.  I pass over my goods; he rings them in to the till.

"Wah wah woh wah."

Hmmm, he is probably telling me how much this all is, I'll just give him a big bill.  Ok, now he's giving me change that is a good sign.  

"Have a good evening," I say.

"Wah woh wah," he replies

He's turned to the next customer, doesn't seem to be waiting for anything.  I'm outta here.  

I added up the change when we got back to the room, and I was pleasantly surprised.  If you stick to the local fare and skip the American imports, you can stretch you snack dollar a long way.


Bellies full and Red Stripe in hand, we head down to the beach to enjoy a sub.  I can hear the party getting underway at Alfred's.  There was a point in the planning process where I really thought I would want to go, but the beach is so chill and tranquil.  I couldn't imagine anyplace I would want to be other than here with my honey.  I like chilling with him and I don't need to spend the money or go through the hassle.

In my younger days, if there was a party, you could pretty much count on me being there.  A new club opening up, I was there the first week.  As I got a bit older, I really lost interest in doing these things.  I would much rather sit with a smaller group around a table, bar, campfire, etc, enjoying random conversation than get dressed up and go spinning about the clubs. A lot of the time, I would rather pour myself a drink and curl up with Sunshine at home.  I have been rather hard on myself about that change. Rather than taking it as a sign of changing interests, I chalked it up to some character flaw.

Sitting on that beach in Jamaica, enjoying the evening my way, I seemed to find peace with that fact.  I am no less of a person for not wanting to join the party at Alfred's.  I also reserve the right to change my mind.  If next time I want to go, that is ok too.  The important thing is I need to not beat myself up about it.

Now my recollection of this evening is all warm and fuzzy, but Sunshine seems to remember things a bit differently.  Apparently that evening, there was a hustler out on the beach that was well past when he should have been home and much hollering ensued.  I do recall security yelling at some dude, but it really didn't mark my evening.  For Sunshine however, things really clouded over.

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## marley9808

This is like a Guirigay and Clarity trip report rolled into one. I love it!!

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## Tanfastic

Love the report, and I love the comment "I love being in a place where the only thing I have on my calendar is watching the sun set", I plan to steal this to use on my next vacation! Can't wait for more, keep going....

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## Clarity

_"Wah Woh Wah"_ 

LOL!! This had me cracking up so much!! This was exactly what it was like for me on my first trip to Jamaica! I found myself nodding a lot with a confused smile because I just wasn't getting it. Markus and I would just whisper guesses to eachother.

Thanks for your kind words about our TR, Let me tell you I am really really loving your trip report so far. It's incredibly well-written, insightful, funny, and so engaging. I found myself thinking "yes!!" to so many of your observations and sentiments. The pictures are beautiful too. (those bathroom pics! lol! I have a lot of those too - good to know I'm not alone haha!) As soon as I started, I couldn't stop reading and now I'm at the end, I'm sad. I'm waiting eagerly for the next update. Thankfully you update faster than I do. I'm grateful for that. :Embarrassment:  This is really great, please keep it coming! 

Oh and I can so relate to your early posts about the uber-planning before a trip, I'm totally guilty of the same.  :Wink:

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## mavmaiden

Lovin' your report-- it just keeps getting better! And I'm with Clarity-- the "Wah Wah Woh Wah" is hilarious!! My sisters often compare individuals to the Charlie Brown teachers, only it's usually after a really boring meeting at work. For us, it means, blah blah blah. But I really look forward to the Jamaican "Wah Wah Woh Wah." I guess I'd better learn to smile and nod, too! Very carefully, of course. I don't want to agree to something that I might regret!

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## Jenn

I am loving every bit of your report! Can't wait for more!!

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## TizzyATX

Wow I can relate to so many of your thoughts and feelings and I just can't get over how you are so effortlessly weaving them into the story.  i feel like I'm getting to know you  :Smile:  

Specifically, I am laughing at how much I understand your sentiments regarding the party scene and not always wanting to be in the middle of it.  You nailed it.   I have to admit, its more of an issue for me at _home_ than in Negril, but at the same time I know exactly what you mean!!  I finally came to terms with it as well LOL

Wah wah woh wah.....you are too damn much i'm literally LOL at my desk reading this...
GO ON GIRL keep it comin!

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## Lady Jane

This is so great!

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## Smokin Kevan

Great report! I love that you are doing things at your own pace! One question???? Was the older Rasta Man you 1st ran into wearing white dreads and living next to Rooms on the Beach? When we were down in July, we searched for a 60 year old Rasta named Jobby, who lived to the right of Rooms and they told me he'd moved on...

Happy Travels...

SKB

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## CherryNorth49

Love2travelchic – I am sure you will enjoy Rooms.  I will post a few more pictures from around the resort and make a few observations when the trip report is done.  

PGW – I am honored you've stuck it out this far.  I have really enjoyed your trip reports, but we do have a different style.   You photograph Red Stripe the way I do sunsets!

2nutx4travel – I was feeling the same way and decided it was my turn to contribute. 

Marley – Thank you! That is a great compliment.  I am a real fan of both!

Tanfastic – Please do.  I highly recommend it; it is a good way to live.

Clarity – You are so sweet.  I'm glad to hear I am the not the only one who got a bit lost in the language.  I am hoping to have better luck on this next trip.  My goal was to keep this report rolling along with the days of the week.   More is coming.

Tizzy – Girl, you are making me blush.  Thank you  :Embarrassment:  

Kevan – I don't think it was the same fellow.  This Rasta was a bit grizzled, but his dreads weren't white; he normally hung out down towards Bourbon Beach, he just happened to be up our way that day.  I believe his name was Caswell, but I was having language problems with him too.  I saw him in the background of a picture on the board about a month ago, but I can't remember the context to search for it.

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 7

  Adversity is a fact of life. It cant be controlled. What we can control is how we react to it. 
 Unknown
  
Monday dawns and Sunshine is cranky and just plain out of sorts.  Don't let the sun outside our window fool you, he is having a cloudy day.  

Without wanting to make this story any longer than it need be, Sunshine losing his cool somewhere around the third day of a vacation is not a new phenomena.  This has happened before.  There is something about the combination of travel, strange schedules and unfamiliar places that seems to lead towards minor meltdowns.  Sometimes, in the moment they don't seem that minor.  He did once, on day 3 of a 16 day European vacation, declare he was going to the airport and not leaving until someone flew him home.  I made him take a nap.  By the next morning, most of the clouds had past and by day five, it was like the storm had never come.

In Jamaica, this cloudiness felt harder to me, as I was on unfamiliar ground as well.  It is hard to be an anchor when you are already adrift. 

We got up, had our Shamrock's OJ, which is the single greatest orange juice I have ever had the pleasure of consuming.  We had a few snacks to tide us over, but we did need to find food.

This time we venture towards the beach.  I knew from my map that Mama Flo's was not far past Alfred's so we headed on down to check it out.  It was on my 'cheap but good eats' list.  We arrived and were the only customers.

"Hello" I say.

"Wah woh wah wah," I get in reply.  Oh dear, not this again.

"We'd like to have lunch please."  Alright, I know it is our breakfast, but since I want lunch food and it is almost lunch time, I am trying to minimize the confusion/requirement for conversation.

"Wah wah wah wah woh wah," with a gesture that seems to imply pick any seat you'd like.

We settle in and our waiter brings menus.  This guessing what people are saying thing is going ok. He asks what we would like to drink, at least I hope that is what he said because I answered Red Stripe; it seemed to be the right response.   We order off the menu.  Waiter disappears to the kitchen, some muffled conversation takes place.  Saying nothing at all, our waiter wanders back past us, out to the beach and heads for a swim.  Seriously?  I have heard about things getting done on Jamaican time, but did our waiter just leave and go for a swim?

 
I thought it was funny.  Sunshine's clouds got a bit darker. 

Our food arrived, brought out by the cook, since the waiter is still frolicking in the sea.  I had an egg and tomato sandwich, Sunshine had a burger.  Though there wasn't anything exactly wrong with the food, it wasn't that great.  They may have just been having an off day.  Unfortunately, that is just fueling the storm sitting next to me.

We walk back to the hotel and I suggest we settle into the beach.  Sunshine plays along for a bit and then declares he is going back to the room.  Annoyed, I give him a bit of a "Yeah, whatever," response and seethe for awhile on my lounger.

After a bit of time spent muttering to myself, I started to feel the sun shining on me.  It was comforting.   I wandered down to the water and floated on my own in the surf for awhile.  The waves had a certain soothing quality to them.  After a while, I felt my annoyance kind of drifting away.  I came to the conclusion that Sunshine having a cloudy day was ok, we all have them.  More importantly for me though, this wasn't something I needed to fix; in fact, it wasn't something I even could fix.  I was reminded of the serenity prayer.  I think this was a 'wisdom to know the difference' moment.  In that moment, right then, what I needed to do was enjoy the peace and solitude that was right in front of me.

So I sat on my lounger and I picked up my book. I watched the people go by and enjoyed my day.  I wandered back to the room a couple of times, mostly because I needed to pee.  Sunshine had the curtains drawn, the lights out and some random TV on.  That is ok, I remind myself; if sitting in the dark is his thing today, let him be.

I just love sitting under the palms.


I eventually dragged Sunshine down to watch the sunset, partly because it was good for him but mostly because I didn't want to be alone for that moment.  I know I said I would let him be, but I am taking baby steps here. 


After the sun had set, I decided it was time to negotiate how the rest of this day was going to go down.  I may have been starting to settle into this Jamaica thing, but I wasn't ready to hang out by myself after dark.  I also knew that if I don't put a bit of momentum behind Sunshine, he was just as likely to dig himself a deeper hole to wallow in as to snap out of it.  Negotiate might not be the right word for how this conversation went down.

"Sunshine, we need a plan for how this evening is going to go down."

"Huh," was his witty reply.

"Well, we've gotta eat and we've gotta drink, neither of which is going to happen if we don't leave the hotel."

"Well, I guess."

"OK, let me rephrase," I continued, "I have to eat and drink.  I am not going out there by myself, so you are just going to have to come along.

"I am going to make this simple for you. We are going to walk up to Shamrock's and get supplies.  On our way back, we will stop in at Sweet Spot.  I know our last visit was a disaster, but we know the food is good, we will have enough money this time and we can just bring it back to the room.  After that, you can sit in the room all night if you like."

I got kind of a grumpy look that I loosely translated to agreement.

----------


## CherryNorth49

We headed back to the room for a bit.  Sunshine settled under his personal storm cloud, randomly surfing the TV.  I pulled out my book and got comfy.

If you are thinking to yourself that I am getting a raw deal here, let me clarify.  Reading is one of my favorite pastimes.  The only thing that is better than curling up with a good book is curling up someplace awesome with a good book.  The only thing that tops that is Sunshine curled up with me.  Luckily, Sunshine generally feels the same way.  With all the airline weight restrictions, carrying enough books to last us both a week has been a challenge.  We have transitioned to e-readers this year.  I can't wait to get to the Negril with a whole library in my pocket.

I eventually declared that it was time to venture out and Sunshine grumbled along.  Shamrock's OJ, red stripe and snacks for tonight, done.  Different guy behind the till, but I didn't understand what he said either.

We walk into Sweet Spot.  I figure the chances of our not being recognized are slim.  At first glance I confirm that yes, the same lady is serving again tonight.  She sees us and her eyebrows shoot straight up; oh goody, she remembers us.  Now I am pretty sure she didn't expect we would ever darken the door of her establishment again.  For me, that was kind of the point.  I just didn't want have this bad feeling every time a walked past the place.  Its a getting back on the horse after the fall kind of thing.

Luckily, this woman already thinks we are slow, so she is talking to us that way as well.  This of course means I have some concept of what she is staying.

"Hello," I say, "We were kind of hoping we might get a do-over."

She paused, considering, "A do-over?" Still contemplating, she slowly began to nod her head, said yes and gave us both a big smile, "What will it be tonight?"

We ordered off the board, oxtail in brown stew for me, curried shrimp for Sunshine and a couple of red stripes while we wait.

She starts to write up the bill, pauses and points to it and with a sly smiles asks, "We gonna be good here?"

"We're good here," I assure her.

Our bill paid, she points us over to a table and tells us we can sit down; she will bring the food over when it is ready.  We figure we are making progress, as we certainly didn't get offered a seat the last time.

It took a bit of time for our food to be ready.  It was good people watching, as there was a steady stream of folks, mostly Jamaican, coming in to order or pick up.  A few settled into their meals at the brightly colored tables, but mostly they were getting things to go.  Box meals in hand, we headed back to the shelter of Rooms.  The oxtail was really good; if you are not sure, yes it really is a stewed tail, bones and all.  It was my first go and there were some unfamiliar textures, I'm guessing from the bone marrow.  I'd absolutely have it again.

Now I know that breaking Sunshine's funk isn't expressly in my job description, but I do have some experience with them and have developed a few strategies over the years. I was out on the balcony and I could hear the DJ cranking things up practically next door at Roots Bamboo (at least I think that is where it was coming from).  With a night club practically in our backyard, I really wanted to head down to the beach to listen to the music.  I didn't want to go to the party; I wanted to lurk from next door.

So I started running plays at Sunshine and I could feel some of the clouds slipping away.  I almost had him, but I zigged when I should have zagged and the clouds slammed back down into place. Darn. Oh well, I tried.  Tomorrow, I will have to bring out the big guns.

Up next, though some might seek a knight in shining armor charging to the rescue, I just want his castle.

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## rjonsun

We have had some funny things with waiters too.  One time Bentley sat down and ate his meal with us just after he serverd us.  Another time at 3 Dives my wife ordered a chicken breast.  The waitress didn't think she understood how much food it was and as she cupped her own breast in her hand said 'You want a whole breast?"

Regards,

Bob

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## BR Mon

You should have just wondered over to Roots alone...The sun shines very bright over there after dark....

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## love2travelchic

I cant stop laughing at "I zigged when I should have zagged"! too funny! Oh my and the picture of the waiter *tears* in my eyes from laughing! I'm loving this lady keep it going!

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## bjritz

That sunset pic above is outstanding! Wow!

Loving this report, so funny...."our waiter" was one of the best ever. I'm glad you are having fun with this and mellowing in the tropical heat. You are drawing us right into your trip in an intimate, but casual way. Great style. 

I like that you went back to Sweet Spot and gave it another shot, well played. 


> She starts to write up the bill, pauses and points to it and with a sly smiles asks, "We gonna be good here?"
> 
> "We're good here," I assure her.


 Classic!

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## nutz4travel

Love the waiter story Cherry - still laughing  :Smile:   You'll love the ereaders, for some reason I read so much more with mine that I did before.  So much lighter and smaller than a book.  Just don't forget to plug it in at night...

Can't wait for more!

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## yetta

I am so loving this report! Your sense of humor in dealing with "moods"  totally crack me up. My personal "sunshine" also has a tendency to slip into them at a drop of a hat. In Negril, I find that a little harder to negotiate.  Your term, "settled under his personal storm cloud" is one that I have got to remember. But, as we all know, loving involves the entire package.  And learning when to zig and when to zag...LOL  Your writing skills are quite good mi lady!

I can totally relate to having an e-reader. I recently purchased a Kindle Fire so I could have plenty of books at my fingertips and be able to not have to turn on a light late night as to not disturb "sunshine's " snoring.  This will be my first time traveling with it and I am totally psyched....plus, I can check emails, surf the net if needed, etc. I have never brought my laptop to Jamaica but the size of the Kindle is perfection for travel. 

Can't wait to hear more... :Smile:

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## Coco

What great report! I can't tell you how many times I've zigged when I should've zagged ;-)

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## Ktans

I am *so* enjoying your report!

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## groove16

love this report cherry....still not sure about ox tail....

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## Lady Jane

Ate oxtail many times in Grand Cayman, late 1980's. I like your adventurous side, not afraid to enjoy the culture and vibe of Negril. Keep going...and pass the popcorn

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## Smokin Kevan

Cherry, thanks for the heads up on the Rasta...I agree with BR Mon, you shoulda rolled solo to Roots Bamboo,lol... We've stayed at Rooms at least 5 times.... I love coming out about 10p or 11p and hearing the music... We usually just go in the direction of the tunes, along NMB, not the beach at nite... 
Very cool that you are patient and know your honey so well....

Happy Travels,

Skb...

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## gluecipher

I love the waiter picture.

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## CherryNorth49

There is a part of me that is really amazed that you all are still following along.  I know I warned you this would be long, but this is turning into a novel.  Thank you for being encouraging.  If you are going to keep reading, I am going to keep on writing  :Cool: 

I do have to pay the bills though, so I have to split today in two parts.  I will get it all in before day's end.  Darn this working for a living thing.

Bob  I almost snorted coffee out my nose with that 3-dives story.  Thanks for the laugh.

BR Mon and Kevan  this girl was still a lot too 'deer in the headlights' to be venturing out to Roots Bamboo on her own!  There is always this year.  And I am with you Kevan, the music in the air at Rooms in the evenings was awesome.  It gave the place such great energy.

Ktans  Judging by your avatar, I think you will enjoy our first stop of the day today.  Thanks for reading.

Groove  Growing up, my mother would often make Oxtail soup with dumplings.  Sounds fancy, but in truth her oxtail soup came from a package by Knorr and her dumplings were Bisquick.  I will say though, the soup's flavor wasn't far off of what I ate.  Maybe start there

Lady Jane - I never really think of myself as adventurous, but thank you suggesting I might be  :Embarrassment:  

Yetta  Thank you for sharing, it really is about the whole package and I am totally smitten.

Bjritz  'intimate, but casual'  I really like that, thank you!  I think that perfectly captures what I was going for.

Loves2, 2nutz and Coco  I am glad you are getting some laughs in on this.  We aren't quite done bumbling around yet

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 8

  Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.
- James Matthew Barrie 
  
Right or wrong, sometimes I feel that I do know the right answer.  I am generally the sort who wants everyone to agree to the plan before we get underway, but sometimes, I just need to take charge.

Tuesday morning I awoke to sunshine outside and clouds tucked in beside me.  Even on his cloudiest days, things are just better because I get to wake up with my Sunshine.  As you know, I am a girl with a list of lists for every contingency.  It is time to pull out the 'Sunshine is having meltdown' list and see what we can do.

Over coffee and orange juice in the room, I inform Sunshine that we are going to get a cab and head to Blue Cave Castle for breakfast.  This gets a mixed reaction.  We haven't yet taken a cab, so he isn't enthusiastic about that but he has heard the word castle and he is intrigued.

"Castle what?" he says.

"Blue Cave Castle," I reply, "It is up on the west end road, up on the cliffs.  There is a castle there and they have a restaurant; I hear it is pretty good.  It should also be quiet there, no hustlers around those parts."

"Fine, whatever," was the best response he could muster, but I know deep down, he is intrigued.

Down to our hotel parking lot we go to get one of the cabs always lingering there.  I know we could go out to the road and try and get a route taxi, but that was far more adventure than I was looking for.  When chartering a cab, I had pretty much decided from my research that my going rate was $10 to wherever I was going on the beach road or up to the west end.  No one ever disagreed.  I am confident our drivers came out to the good on that deal, as we never went far.  Was I overpaying?  Maybe by Jamaican route taxi standards, but I can't get anywhere for $10 in a cab at home, so I was happy enough with the exchange.  We normally tipped a few dollars, depending on the stops we made along the way.

We take off down the road and start winding up the West End.  Our cab driver pulls up to the doors of Teddy's Hideaway and through the car window starts pounding on the door, which is locked.  Oh no, I thought to myself, please tell me this place isn't going to be closed.  The top half of the door opens up, and a few words are exchanged.  Our cabbie tells us it is all good man and through the blue door we go.

If any of you have ever been back in the actual restaurant part of Teddy's Hideaway, it is fine, but it doesn't have much of a view.  It certainly didn't line up with some of the descriptions I had heard.  There are 3 or 4 people in the space and they were clearly all local workers.

We are greeted by Teddy himself, sporting a big wide smile.  "Wah wah woh wah."

I literally feel like throwing my arms up in the air in frustration.  Why oh why can't I understand a word of the English these friendly people are saying to me.  Everyone seems to understand me just fine, so we must be speaking the same language.  

On his third try saying the same thing, Teddy has taken to talking real slow, explaining again that we can eat anywhere on the grounds and that he will show us around.  He takes us through a narrow, sun soaked passage way, introduces us to his pet crocodile.


We emerge into the main yard of the castle, near the Blue Mountain coffee station.  There is not another person in sight.


I can feel the shift in the atmosphere beside me almost instantly.  It is like someone has released the valve on a pressure cooker and the steam is pouring out.

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## CherryNorth49

Teddy points out the highlights of the grounds and we pick our table.  Being of the fair skinned set, we pick the table in the covered hut near the cave entrance.  


Our waitress arrives and we order up our now habitual breakfast Red Stripe.  We agree to a bit of sharing with breakfast and order Teddy's famous Banana, Rum and Cinnamon pancakes, as well as the egg scramble with shrimp, peppers and tomatoes.

Our food hasn't even arrived and Sunshine is all smiles. The clouds might still be lurking around the edges, but for now it is clear skies ahead.


I must say that I know why Teddy's pancakes are famous, but that egg and shrimp scramble was one of the best plates of eggs I have ever had.  I don't give high marks for eggs very often; I am incredibly picky.  It was all perfectly cooked and beautifully seasoned.  He has some pretty wicked hash browns to go with; they were a mix of white and sweet potatoes and they may have been deep fried.  Heart healthy they may not be, but they were good for the soul. 

It was a windy day and the seas were a bit churned up, enough so that the cave was chained off and the swim ladders were pulled up.  


We sat a spell and had another round of Stripes, enjoying the breeze and the quiet.  At one point, we see a big catamaran sailing slowly by.  We've spent some time around boats and generally we always wave when one goes by.  Folks on board are waving back.  I look a little closer, as something looked different.  Oh gee, they are all naked.  We both burst out laughing.  I'd have captured the moment, but I just wasn't quite quick enough with the camera.  Everyone did seem to be having a good time.

We eventually decide it was time to move on and settled our bill.  We stopped to visit the turtle pond on our way out.


Blue Cave Castle wasn't our only destination on the West End. Up next, our first adventure in a route taxi.

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## iowagirl

Cherry - PLEASE keep writing your novel!  So good, so funny, so true!  And I hope you know - the laughs are truly with you.  Only Speaking for myself, of course, but I can relate to EVERY new thing you are experiencing.  Except the cloudy Sunshine - mine found his happy place in Negril on day one and never looked back.  Cannot wait to hear/read/see the rest!!  Thank you SO much for your perspective and willingness to lay it all out there!!

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## Lovechild

I love this TR....it makes me want to hug you....not only am I looking forward to the rest of this report, but I'm looking forward to reading your soon to be trip report...keep it coming!!!!

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## mavmaiden

Your report gets better and better! Not only are you a tremendous writer, but you have a delightful sense of humor and a great attitude. I'm so enjoying this! Although, you've raised the stakes tremendously on trip reports. I'm feeling a bit a "trip report anxiety" for my upcoming first trip to Negril in December.  :Smile:

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## kaycee

LOL! I would have loved to see the expression on your face when you saw the boat full of naked people! :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

I had at some point made mention to Sunshine that there was a place on the West End quite famous for their brownies.  You could say they were extra special brownies.

As we were leaving BCC, I asked if I should call a cab.  No, no was the reply, it's cheaper out on the road.  We were out the door and on our own before I had processed the statement.  The door was closed and locked before I even turned around.  There was not a soul in sight.

No matter I have my map and the road seems relatively wide here.  I take a deep breath and tell myself that this will be fine.  We will just grab a cab when one goes by.  I know the rules.  Red plates only and negotiate up front.  

Now for those of you who know the area, there is a certain folly to taking a cab from BCC to Jenny's Cakes.  They cannot be in reality more than 250m apart.  We are newbies though; we just don't know what we don't know.

We start walking down the road.  It doesn't take long for us to hear a taxi approaching, sounding its horn to let us know it was available.  We both throw up our arms and he comes to halt and jumps out.  Red plate, yes, so time to negotiate. Another passenger is already on board, must be a route taxi.

"How much to Jenny's cakes?" I ask.

"Wah woh wah woh."

sh*t, Sh*t, SH*T!  This is not getting easier. "Pardon me?" is my more polite reply.

"Wah WOH WAH woh."

The cabbie is obviously a bit annoyed now and I don't blame him, we are in the middle of the road and clearly we are idiots.  You can see on his face he was kind of wishing he hadn't stopped, but he wasn't quite ready to abandon us yet.

Done guessing, I make him an offer.

"Two dollars?"

"Yes, yes, get in."

I will say that after their third try, most Jamaicans seemed find a slow gear in their speech that we could actually understand.

We get in, he puts the car in gear and starts creeping forward, "You know Jenny's is closed?"

Well clearly I did not know that or I wouldn't be asking you to take me there, I think to myself.  Frustrated with myself more than him I ask him rather bluntly where else we can get Jenny's special kind of cakes.

The driver and other passenger exchange a few words and he announces he knows a place.  He hits the accelerator we zoom forward and then come to a screeching halt.

The driver hollers something to a women inside the smallest bar I have yet to see.  She must have answered in the affirmative, as the driver tells us she has what we need.  We pass him our $2, we get out and he is gone.  From when he first stopped to when he dropped us off, it has to have been less than three minutes and we have basically only gone around the bend in the road.

Well, first route taxi out of the way.  It wasn't a long ride, but it got us there.

We walk into this bar and our greeted by a smiling face.  "Welcome to C&Ds, I am Connie or Dawn, or Connie Dawn." Blessed be, I can actually understand this women.  Maybe what the cabbie actually said to her was talk real slow, these people are lost fools.

We introduce ourselves.  Connie declares she has an auntie with the same name as me.  It must be a common Jamaican auntie name, as she was one of three people to say that to me that week.  That almost never happens at home.

We have a nice chat with Connie; she explains the family connection to Jenny's and tells us we can always find her great recipes here too.  We thank her for the brownies and get a piece of lemon cake to sample as well.  It just looked too good to leave behind; it tasted even better.

We walk out and there is another cab there almost right away, this time empty, so we charter it back to Rooms.

I tried conversation again, because I just couldn't help myself. Another round of "Wah woh wah wah," and I conclude that silence is good.

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## CherryNorth49

We arrive back to the shelter of Rooms.  The storm clouds of the previous day disappeared somewhere on the west end and Sunshine is positively giddy with the prospect of brownies for dessert.  I admit I am less enthused as on this front I am a bit more cautious by nature, but he is happy, so I go along.  Tastiest special brownies I have ever had.  I know it is has been said before, but should you find yourself with one, go easy until you know how it's going to go down; they can pack a punch.  We had no misadventures. 

Into our swimsuits and down to the beach; this is becoming a good routine.  We spent a lovely afternoon alternating between swimming, reading and just watching the world go by.  It had been a nice afternoon on my own the day before, but the world just feels more right with Sunshine hanging out beside me.  I wouldn't want to be living this adventure with anyone else.


Before I know it is sunset again.  We head back to the room, clean up a bit and bring our beverages back down to see how the nightly show will unfold.  It is perfect, of course.


I am starting to feel the tension really leaving my body.  I have gotten through most of the firsts I had imagined for the trip and we are still in one piece.  We have arguably gotten more things wrong than we have right, but it hasn't mattered.  We are having a good time and heck it will only make for a better story when we get home.  Maybe, just maybe, for the last few days I can manage to leave the anxious energy behind.

We decided for dinner it is time to give this Jerk we have heard so much about a try.  We eventually wander down to security at the road and ask where he would recommend.  He is standing with a white hat.  They have a spirited debate between themselves, of which I caught nothing.  White Hat seems to win and we are directed towards the smoking cart across the road and down a bit, Original Step-a-Side Chicken.  If you are looking for him, he sets up between Montana's and The Jungle.

We follow our noses and after yet another friendly round of "Wah woh wah woh," we have chicken, sauce and bread for each of us, packaged up for the walk. Back on our balcony, we each have our first bite and I am transported straight to chicken heaven.  I don't know what these people are putting in their food, but everything just tastes so good.  The chicken wasn't too spicy, but it was really flavorful.  I had heard that chicken in jerk was often dry, but this was perfectly moist.  He had chopped the chicken up, so eating it had a similar finger-licking, bone-sucking appeal as tucking into a pile of chicken wings.  The bread was the perfect tool for sopping up the sauce, though I was still tempted to lick the foil when I was done.

Thoroughly satisfied, we head down with our beverages to the beach for a sub and a stroll in the waves.  Stroll might be an overstatement as we never stepped beyond the ropes of the swim area at night, other than to get fresh Red Stripes at Sunnyside.  We were more lingering in the waves.

I think it was that night that we discovered the bats.  Now I know that this is a sensitive subject for some boardies, but as long as I am not enclosed in a small space with the bat, I think they are pretty cool creatures.  We discovered that one of the lights on the beach area at Rooms was attracting enough bugs to have gotten the attention of some bats.  We sat for a while watching the air show as they turned it into an all you can eat buffet.

Eventually we ran out of beer and energy and headed back to the room to snuggle in for the night.

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## TizzyATX

You met one of my absolute favs.  Connie is a good woman, can't wait to see her again.

Glad to hear Sunshine is doing better today lol 

You're attitude is awesome while encountering all the firsts...and your sense of humor is great.  This TR get's better with every post.  

Thnks again Cherry always looking forward to more  :Smile:

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## Lady Jane

Can you send me some of your patience with Sunshine, please?  :Confused: 
First trip to Negril for my hubby, ( not my first by no means) and he seems happy. Then day 3 of 18 he said to me, I wasn't sure about this, but now "I see" ( thank you Jesus) that it is awesome. I never expected to hear that from him. I thought he was as happy and ready for an 18 night vacation as I. Apparently, there was some doubt that I never knew about. Sneaky things those men.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## Ktans

Naked and Eggs at the Blue Cave Castle!  Love it!

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## pine tree john

awesome writing!!!awesome you get it!

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## irie always

Well I'm certainly hoping to run into Cherry and Sunshine while vacationing at Seastar in about 18 days. I can so relate with you in, so many ways. Your trip report is so enjoyable and I almost missed it. I don't read everything and I was thinking - a trip report from a year ago - skip that - but tonight I clicked on and 1 hour later........ now waiting for the next installment.

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## mamade11

I agree Irie Always - I was just thinking I'm hoping to run into them too  :Smile:   And Irie, I think we will be there the same day too!!

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## Seveen

wow wow wow! absolutely awesome report . . . now i'm waiting for your next trip

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## CherryNorth49

Nervy of my employer to think I should actually have to work for my pay.  I would much rather be hanging out dreaming of Negril!  Today's chapter is going to come out in a few pieces, but I will get it all in there.

Iowagirl  Thanks for the encouragement.  The good news is Sunshine got there in the end! He sure is excited to be heading back.

Lovechild  Across the miles, I still got the hug, thank you!

Mavmaiden  Don't say that!  I think so much of the fun of trip reports is how each has its own style. I don't know how to quote from another thread, but in his last report, Booger commented that once you get beyond the " I don't give a $hit if people like it or not," you could write it.  That comment pushed me over the line and got me writing.   I look forward to hearing about Negril from your point of view.

Kaycee  it really was a priceless moment!

Tizzy  Connie was like a guardian angel that day.  I can't wait to go back and say hello.

Lady Jane  Why do men do that?  Sunshine did the same thing when I first introduced him to my family's style of camping.  I haven't yet figured out if he isn't saying it or if I am just not listening.  I prefer to believe it is the former.  :Wink: 

irie always and Mamade  I sure hope we do run into each!  When I finish up the telling of last year, I will lay out our plans for this year  not that we have many plans, because we are of course going to continue with mostly doing nothing  but I do know where we will be doing nothing!  Negril is not that big a place, I am sure somewhere our plans will overlap.  We are planning to be at the Seastar show Dec 1.

Ktans, pine tree john and Seveen, I am glad you are enjoying following along.  Thanks for reading!

So it's Wednesday in Negril

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 9
  Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. 
― Mark Twain
  
Wednesday started with sunshine inside and out.  I was becoming addicted to the OJ from Shamrocks.  It is just so good.

It was pub crawl day and we had though perhaps to get on board, but when we called the bus was already full.  Oh well, something to save for next time (pick up is already booked for November 30th).

We talked it over and decided to make this our 'fancy' dinner day.  Normally when we go on vacation, we aim to head out for one really nice dinner along the way.  We decided on Rockhouse and called to arrange our pickup for that evening.

The sand gravity had a strong hold on us that day.  With our dinner plans made, we got our swim suits on and headed down to the beach.
Breakfast came entirely from the vendors along the beach.  I got caught with my guard down and discovered myself holding a bag of coconut along with the pineapple I thought I was buying.  Now it is in my hands, so the negotiating gets more one-sided.  Ah, whatever might as well give it a try.  I decided afterwards that it was meant to be.  I have never really liked fresh coconut, but this stuff was addicting.  I kind of wished that I had more.  Patty man came by and then the ice cream man; you really never need to get out of your lounger if you don't want to.  Sunnyside was keeping the Red Stripes cold and Sunshine was an excellent server, never letting us run dry.  Life was really good.

When Sunshine and I vacation, we always seem to get to a point in trip when we start to talk about how the reality of the trip has been lining up with our expectations going in.  The first of these conversations I recall was while we were bobbing around in waves that day.  We certainly shared some laughs at our own expense.  If you can't laugh at yourself, what is the point?

One of the things that we were finding most remarkable was the people.  We were making our way around Negril with all the grace of a bull in a China shop and I was not especially proud of that.  What was most amazing to us was that every time we had stepped wrong on this trip, there was a Jamaican there pointing us back onto the right path.  Some were nicer about it than others, but wasn't the important part; what did matter was that without fail someone had always helped.  I have been in tough spots in strange places where I certainly wouldn't have said the same.  We are not so nave as to think that in this summer paradise all people are good people, but they certainly seemed in the majority. 

So how was the trip comparing to expectations?  In the end, I think our smiles kind of sum it up best.


This is literally the only picture I have of the two of us in Jamaica.

----------


## CherryNorth49

We got cleaned up and into our least casual clothes; the bus to Rockhouse picked us up at the hotel right on time.  It is by far the shiniest bus I have seen to date in Negril. 

There is only one other couple on board and we aren't making any other stops.  They are coming from one of the more expensive AIs, I can't recall which one.  Turns out they were, in Canadian terms, from our part of the country (i.e., within 1000 or so miles).  He had been to Negril and Red Ground some 25+ years earlier, so their trip was a return for him and an anniversary celebration for them both.

The basics of where you from covered, she gets right into what seems to be an really important question, "What time is your reservation?"

"It's for sunset."

"Well yes," she says, "but what time is your actual reservation?"

I try to clarify, "Well, we called and made a reservation for sunset, so that kind of is the time."

"Well, what time is sunset?"

I'm wondering to myself if this is an AI thing or if this woman is just a bit strange.  Sunshine's eyes meet mine and I know he is thinking the exact same thing.  

I haven't had a watch on in five days, so I dont really know what time the sun actually sets.  I have been using the old 'sun's getting low in the sky it must be almost sunset' kind of logic.  I do want to be helpful though, so I think back to the last webcast I watched from Canoe, "Umm, somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00?"

She turns to her husband, "Oh no, our reservation isn't until 7:00.  What will we do?  Will we have to wait? It's only just 5 o'clock!  Why did we reserve so late?"

I suggested to her that I am sure this would all work out fine, but she was clearly put off.

I got a strong sense that this little jaunt on this bus from their AI to the Rockhouse restaurant was a daring adventure, as they boldly ventured forth to 'see Jamaica.'  Her nose almost wrinkled at the prospect of 'staying off resort' as we were doing.  She was very interested in learning more about our trip, though her questioning felt more along the lines of someone asking for all the juicy details of some sordid, gossipy tale.

"Do you have a restaurant at your resort?" she asks.

"No, it is closed because it is low season" I reply, "though there is breakfast included."

"So where do you eat?"

Deep down, I want to give her a snarky reply, but I figured it wasn't worth my time.  Reminding myself that there is no such thing as a stupid question, I reply "Well, there are lots of restaurants around and the vendors on the beach have lots of options.  It is like an endless buffet out there."

I am sure Sunshine can sense where this conversation is going.  He is always really good at reading moments like this.  He chimes in, naming off a number of the places we have been, generally making it sound wonderful and normal all at the same time.  Eating in restaurants is of course normal, but you wouldn't know it from the look on this women's face. 

Her eyes got wide and her hand started fluttering up towards her chest.  "So you have been eating in Jamaican restaurants?" she says with some alarm, "Haven't you been sick?"

I sneak a quick glance at the bus driver.  He is clearly listening, but his face remains a neutral mask.  I feel bad that she doesn't understand the insult she has just given, since she basically just implied that Jamaican's don't understand the fundamentals of clean food preparation.  There is a vast difference between having fewer material things and being dirty; I haven't really encountered any dirty Jamaicans, it's been quite the opposite really.  I try to compensate with an extra enthusiastic reply.  "No, actually the food has been great.  It is all very fresh and prepared to order. In fact, I am starting to feel like I have spent a week at the health spa.  Given all we've been drinking, it must be something in the food."

If you ever want to feel really good about something, get Sunshine to deliver the pitch.  When inclined, he is capable delivering a message with of a level of (seemingly) sincere enthusiasm that few can equal.  He is starting to lay it on pretty thick.

She's not entirely convinced and continues on her interrogation, "Aren't you worried about your safety?"

I shrug, now actively trying not to look at the bus driver, "Not really, security at the hotel has been great.  There are certainly lots of vendors around, but we haven't felt threatened by any of them."

With a small shake of her head, she turned to her husband and started inquiring if there was much he recognized along the route.

By now we are half way up the West End Road and we seem to have hit a bit of a traffic jam.   I suspect for anyone who finds driving in Jamaica a bit harry, shuffling through a traffic jam on the West End Road ups the drama.  We come around the next corner and we are suddenly faced with a sea of people all dressed in orange.  They have noise makers, horns are honking and most everyone seems to be jumping up and down yelling.

Our traveling companion cheerfully asks the driver, "Oh, is this for a sporting event?"

"No man," he replies, "its politics, but it's no problem, yah man."

Her faces falls and she grabs for her husband, exclaiming rather loudly her concern.  I thought perhaps she might jump right into his lap.  She was most certainly wishing she had never dared to venture out of her resort.

You might recall when planning this trip that I declared to Sunshine that Jamaica was perfectly safe, with the one caveat to that being that it might not be during elections.  Where do I find myself now?  With an election called and us driving into the middle of a political rally. I'm thinking to myself, please don't let Sunshine remember I said that.

I will admit that my heart rate did go up a notch; to a foreigner, their enthusiasm was intimidating and a bit scary.  This was clearly not my best case scenario.  The driver sure didn't seem alarmed, but I suspect even if this was bad, his face wouldn't have shown it.  

I was waging a bit on an internal war.  I was scared, but I was also really annoyed by this fellow Canadian's rather rude disregard for her host's feelings.  I'm getting up on my soapbox now.  I really hate it when people treat those in the service industry like they aren't there and they have no feelings.  How friendly you choose to be is a personal choice, but everyone deserves the respect of at being treated with good manners.  Ok, I'm stepping back down.  The faces in the crowd looked enthusiastic, not menacing, so annoyed won out.

"Oh this," I said in my most nonchalant tone, "this isn't anything to worry about.  You know how at home during elections, everyone puts signs out in their yard?  This is like the Jamaica equivalent of yard signs.  Look, it is even orange like the NDP!"  It was a total lie, but I wanted this woman to stop looking at everything like it was from an alien planet and see things in a relatable way.

I saw the driver's eyes flick in my direction in the rear view mirror.  I have no doubt he knew I was full of sh*t, but I like to believe he appreciated the effort.  She relaxed her death grip on her husband and I turned to Sunshine and engaged him in inane chatter.  I was really done with this woman.

The rally slowed us up a bit, but we were still at the Rockhouse in good time, none the worse for the experience.

----------


## T&A

*Her eyes got wide and her hand started fluttering up towards her chest.  "So you have been eating in Jamaican restaurants?" she says with some alarm, "Haven't you been sick?"*

They will never know how much great food they missed out on. The AI's must be doing a great job of bull****ting their guests on the dangers that lurk outside the gates of their little community. 
Great report by the way! Keep it coming.

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## bjritz

> Connie declares she has an auntie with the same name as me. It must be a common Jamaican auntie name, as she was one of three people to say that to me that week.


Yah, "Auntie CherryNorthFortyNine" is common in Jamaica, I bumped into a few too.

The two bobbing happy heads in the wata was so delightful to see.

You're right about the food, it feels good and of course tastes even betta.

I would have thought your dinner bus buddies would have panicked at the corrogated steel walls just before getting to Rockhouse. Rough bit that.

You are keeping me in stiches, CN49, thanks for that!

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## kaycee

ughh....I hate tourists like that! I've been to Jamaica three times and I've never ate at expensive places(Kuyaba was the most expensive place I ate at which was $37USD)...I always try to eat at Jamaican owned restaurants because it helps the local economy.

My last trip I met a couple who stayed at a high end A/I and I told them about Negril...they had no clue it even existed. Don't these people know that Negril is the Capital of Casual?! LOL! :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

Now I could be justly convicted of making some less than generous judgements on the bus ride to Rockhouse.  Payback is quick though, as I must admit when we arrived at the Rockhouse, I felt a little like I was being judged.  It could be all in my imagination, but I suspect that they don't pick folks up at Rooms on the Beach all that often.    I felt as though we were being perceived to not be their 'usual crowd.'

As we were being led to our table, the waiter leaned over us and whispered in an almost conspiratorial way, "You know we don't take Discover Card."  I didn't quite know how to respond.  Is he trying to help us out early, so we don't humiliate ourselves later when we couldn't pay for dinner?  I asked him if cash would do, or perhaps they might take Visa.  He allowed as how both were fine and sat us at our table.  It was a strange start to the experience.

That said we had a beautiful table on the railing overlooking the cove.  The restaurant at Rockhouse does not have the best sunset views, at least not in December.  In a perfect world, I would have a cocktail out by their pool, watch the sunset and then head to the restaurant for dinner.  I have no idea if they would do that for a non-guest or not.  Probably depends on the season. You can see the special "Rock Table" over Sunshines shoulder.


We tried to very clear to our server that we were in absolutely no hurry.  We had all night and didn't want to be rushed.  It wasn't busy such that there was a second sitting coming in behind us, so I didn't feel any concern about occupying our table for a while.  This was our special meal out, so we weren't going to cheap out on the bill.

We had yet to sample a Dirty Banana anywhere along the way, so we thought this would be the perfect time.  As a general rule, I am not a huge fan of bananas or cream in beverages, so this was a bit of a risky proposition.  I figured the rum and coffee flavor would make it all ok and there are so many references to these in other reports; I had to give it a go.  The Dirty Banana was delicious, though it was a bit like starting a meal with dessert and a filling one at that.  I will probably order another one somewhere along the route on our next trip, but it will be as a snack instead of with a meal.

We had conch fritters and coconut shrimp to start along with some blended cocktail with Papaya.  This was the first time we had every ordered conch.  After having the fritters, I feel like I still haven't eaten conch, as I think there was a lot of dough and not a lot of conch.  There certainly were no strong identifying flavors.  The coconut shrimp were good, but I have had better.

I had ordered the Jamaican Rundown with chicken for my dinner and our server came back to explain that our food would be slower as they made it from scratch and the rundown took time.  I told him again we were in no hurry.  It was a fair comment, but I wish he would catch on to our pace.

Sunshine studied the wine list and ordered us a bottle of red to go with the meal, which was good.  He said that they had a decent wine list.  I understand why lots of places don't have a lot of wine on the menu.  I am a wine drinker at home and I didn't really ever think to order it while we were in Negril.  

I thought the mains came fairly quickly, but I was so chill it could have been an hour.  I had my rundown and Sunshine had curry chicken, which came looking like a sun, how perfect.  I think this is the only meal I managed to photograph the whole trip and I still didn't quite catch it before we started.  Both our main courses were delicious and worth having again.

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## yetta

Really beautiful presentation on your meals!  I have only eaten once at Rockhouse and it was good but the price was a little hefty.  Great picture of you and Sunshine!!  Anxious to hear more!

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## Guirigay

It's like going along with you! So personal and fearless, I really admire this. If you took as many risks on vacation as you do in your stellar writing you would put adrenaline junkies to shame. Sunshine at BCC, you can see in that pic that he has turned a corner. You can't really fake a smile like that. His pitch in the cab to Rockhouse confirms it. If you're only gonna have one photo together from the trip, sopping wet in the sea is a good one - the smiles are great. So glad you're sharing, please continue...

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## CherryNorth49

We did want to have dessert and coffee, but needed a bit of digesting time.  We also each had a glass of wine left to enjoy.  After the waiter checked back twice about our ordering dessert, I finally asked him (nicely) if we could just sit undisturbed and enjoy our wine and the view of the cove.  It is beautifully lit at night and you can actually see fish down in the water.  I told him when our wine glasses were empty, we would order dessert. He seemed to finally get the idea and left us be for the fifteen or twenty minutes it took us to finish up.

For dessert, we opted to have coffee and share a slice of rum cake.  In case we were in danger of sobering up, Sunshine suggested we each also have a 12 year old Appleton on the rocks.  It was my first taste of the vintage Appleton and I was in love.  Lucky for us both, it was a seriously generous pour.


At some point along the way, I did need to find the ladies room.  I had crossed the line over to drunken bathroom photos, which unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I seem to have deleted. 

Well fed and watered, we paid our bill without incident and headed towards to road to get a cab.  We went out a bit of a back door, so didn't end up using one of the cabs from Rockhouse.  A red plate stopped as we stepped out the gate, so we chartered him back to the hotel with a stop at Shamrocks.

We had enjoyed the rum so much that we bought a bottle of it at Shamrocks.  The fellow had to dust off the box, which had me humming a little David Lee Murphy in my head:

"There might be a little dust on the bottle
But don't let it fool ya 'bout what's inside.
There might be a little dust on the bottle
It's one of those things that gets sweeter with time."

  (here is the video, should you feel the need to sing along.  I've been mocking 80s hair for a while but yikes, the 90s are starting to feel the same way!) 

Our usual orange juice, stripe, snacks and now rum in hand, we headed back to Rooms to enjoy the rest of our evening.

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## CherryNorth49

I really fell in love with the beach area behind the wall at Rooms, especially in the evening.  Most nights, we had the whole area almost to ourselves.  There is just enough landscape lightening for there to be no dark corners, but not so much as to feel bright.  When you needed a refill, Sunnyside was just over the wall and there were plenty of loungers and picnic tables to spread out.

I was particularly fascinated by a pair of giant wooden picnic tables.  They were the usual kind of table but with one unique difference; there were actually benches on all four sides of the table, not just on the long sides of the rectangle.  It seemed clever to me especially if you had a big group.

We had been sitting at one of these tables on a couple of occasions, watching the bats and the crabs and other night creatures about.  I decided to set up the camera on the timer to get a shot with both of us.  Loving the 4-sided table, I wanted to take the photo the long way, so got Sunshine set up at one end and the camera at the other.  Our red stripes were on the table, ready to be props.  I started the shutter countdown and ran around the table to jump into place.  Sunshine is ready, arm out ready to tuck me in for the required cuddling pose.  I plunk my fluffy butt down.

Now any of you who have ever been on the short end of a bench when everyone else stands up may better appreciate what happened next.

In the blink of an eye, we discovered ourselves unwitting participants in a physics experiment, that ended with us landing flat on our backs in the sand.  It was as though the table had literally ejected us.  For those of you BBC watchers who may be familiar with Graham Norton's Red Chair, we had one of those moments.  I compiled a little video of a couple of segments to help illustrate the experience.




Three miraculous things happened in less than a second.  First, neither of was hurt in any way in way.  Second, we both held on to our Stripes, though I did end up wearing some of mine.  Finally, I actually caught the camera as it tumbled down towards us.  Sunshine swears this picture was taken while the camera was somersaulting towards the ground.  Everything I know about photography says that just can't be, but there was no other explanation.

 
Did I mention the table also had lovely big beach umbrella through the centre of it?  It must have been quite the sight when the whole thing umbrella and all momentarily flipped up and deposited us in the sand.  We certainly did get security's attention, though after a discrete walk past, our laughter seemed to assure him that no damage was done.

Not in the least dissuaded from our evening, we took ourselves down the water and captured a few shots goofing around in the surf.  The thumb up pose is a shout out to Sunshine's baby brother.  There are a good ten years of family pictures with him giving us the thumbs up in almost every shot, including at our wedding.

 



Our night was not entirely done, but this will be where the evening ends for you.  Something about time warps and showers maybe?  I don't know, use your imagination...

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## TizzyATX

Marley....dont click on the link to the song!!!!!  Cherry I love the song personally, but Marley is terrified of country music like Clarity is scared of bats....and lion fish.  And sea urchins. hahaha

Jeeeez woman do your thing!!! This is so real, I love love love it.  I agree....to have one picture of the two of you in Negril....well it couldn't be anymore perfect.

I wanna hang out with yall

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## marley9808

OMG, thanks Tizzy for the warning....that was close! (I keep hearing Tapoo saying Track 10! Track 10! over and over in my nightmares LMAO)

I agree Tiz, we should work on Cherry-shine to get their buts to Negril in April!

I am seriously loving this report, I keep refreshing throughout the day to see if there is more!

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## TizzyATX

OHHHHHHHHHH

I posted right as you were posting this last one!!! 

I literally laugh out loud at your stories...i'm just picturing you both side by side on your backs in the sand holding your redstripes steady... Good lord. hahaha

Girl those stinkin time warps are all over the place in Jamaica.....

 :Embarrassment:

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## Seveen

i'm here too cherry - i found it late - but you've got me refreshing my browser looking for more

and don't you love how Jamaica gives you that "go to your room and mess around" feeling - lol 

i hope you saved this for your memory book . . . .

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## CherryNorth49

You guys are awesome.  That is it for today - you can't find out what happens on Thursday until it actually is Thursday.  I don't want the trip to go any faster than it actually did! 

Sorry Marley, I forgot to include the country music warning - its funny because I think at some point I actually meant to - I have heard this come up amongst the turtles.  Cherry-shine, that made me giggle!

April would be nice - I feel like we would fit right in - making that work for next year will almost require devine intervention.   :Frown:

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## Flipadelphia26

Fen report. Getting me pumped for Friday.

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## Tanfastic

Cherry you have me SO sucked into your TR, loving every second of it. Did laugh about Sunshine, I can get like that during the daily grind we call life. BUT when I hit vacation I'm all about time warps, showers, zigging & zagging, subs, brownies and lots of Liquor. So looking forward to the next installment, tell you boss there are more people here counting on your skilled writing than that four letter word we call work!

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## irieworld

This report is such a great foray in a first time trip to Negril! Your humor and descriptive skills have me enthralled. I love that while we each have our unique experience of Negril, some of that great essence of the place comes through strong and flavorful in everyone's report. Your language barrier is so funny the way you describe it--but good for you for just forging on. For some reason I never had that issue, except for when patois started flying.

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## Schuttzie

Oh, my gosh this is so good, Cherry!  You had me laughing out loud with the table ejecting you both onto the sand.  That would be something I would've done, haha!

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## marley9808

> April would be nice - I feel like we would fit right in - making that work for next year will almost require devine intervention.



Oh you would definitely fit in, but funny enough with such a crazy and fun bunch, everyone fits in!
Oh....and never say never.....stranger things have happened!
 :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

T&A  - The food was a real unexpected highlight of our trip.  Negril had some of the most consistently good food that I have ever enjoyed.  If you are a fan of locally sourced, prepared fresh food, I think Negril is worth a visit for that alone. 

Bjritz – You crack me up!  I'm sure those corrugated steel did freak her out, but I was so done with her by then!  That stretch of the road has some pretty stark contrasts.  

Kaycee – it does feel good to know your dollars are going to stay local.  I can't count the number of times the first question I get after I say I'm going to Jamaica is "Oh, to which resort?"  It is like the rest of the country doesn't exist. 

Yetta – I agree, it wasn't a cheap night out and with so many great places to try in Negril, we may not be back for a while.  Pushcart next door looked interesting – same kitchen, better prices.

Guirigay – Ahhh fearless, that not a word I use to describe myself very often.  There is something about Negril that just makes me want to ditch the well crafted, neutral exterior that fronts most of my life.  It feels good to share the straight goods.  I'm glad you are enjoying traveling along.

Tizzy – I want to hang out with you girl!  I'm hoping to stumble into several more of those time warps this trip…

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## CherryNorth49

Seveen – Yes I do.  Sunshine's a big fan too!

Flip – I know I don't have much longer, but I am so jealous you will be there tomorrow.  Safe travels!

Tanfantastic – I am going to think that in my boss' direction for now – that four letter word funds my Negril habit!

Irieworld – I think New York would be a great place to train your ear for Jamaica.  Before the call centres all started moving overseas, we had a bunch here because our accent was so without an accent.  Everyone understands us, but it doesn't go both ways!  Thanks for reading.

Schuttzie – I am glad no one had a video camera, but also kind of wish they had.  I was so carefully setting the camera up for our big shot.  It would have been hilarious to watch it all go wrong.

Marley – You are right, never say never.  I need to buy a lottery ticket…

----------


## CherryNorth49

Chapter 10

  We are all ordinary. We are all boring. We are all spectacular. We are all shy. We are all bold. We are all heroes. We are all helpless. It just depends on the day. 
― Brad Meltzer
  
So Thursday dawned bright, though I wouldn't say the same for us.  For all the fun we'd had the night before, we were feeling it the next morning.  

Not to be put off by a hangover, we had what was now our ritual Shamrock's orange juice.  Starting to feeling better, we shared a sub and headed down to the beach.  I believe happy hour at our hotel beach bar (which closed at sunset) was from 12-2.  This timed well for us to be actually moving towards the beach, so using the 'but there is real fruit in there' excuse, Sunshine ordered up a couple of breakfast Purple Rain for us.  It is my fruity, blender drink of choice, though I admit I will rarely turn down a margarita.  It was good for what ailed us.

We seemed to hit a lull in the food vendors, so we strolled out to the road for lunch.  I was starting to notice that Sunshine and I we were holding hands quite a lot.  We don't do that very much at home.  It just felt natural and right as we wandered around Negril.

We hit up Montana's again.  It was still a nice shady, quiet spot to watch the world go by.  I had a fish sandwich, which was fresh, tasty and cheap.  I have no idea what Sunshine ate.

That afternoon we had the first real rain that we had seen all week.  It didn't last that long and was well timed for an afternoon canoodle.  


Though I promised not to make plans, Sunshine had agreed that the steel drums at Canoe would be worth hearing.  We chartered a taxi and we had a few stops to make on our way.  Our cash was running low, so it was time to hit up the Scotia Bank ATM.  We also wanted to pick up some more cake from C&Ds before the cab dropped us off at Canoe.

Our stop at ATM was not eventful, very much thanks to the tips I had picked up on the board.  There was a line for each ATM, so it seemed just like being at the grocery store, whichever line I pick will be the slowest.  No worries man, I am in Jamaica. I knew that I needed to know how many $JA I wanted and didn't freak out punching in such a huge number.  Also thanks to the board I knew to look for a button to let us back out of the ATM.  I do wonder how long it would have taken us to figure out that trick on our own.

----------


## Flipadelphia26

The special cake contains the same ingredients as the sandwiches right?

----------


## marley9808

Hahahahaha Flip!

And that would be a "Yea mon"

----------


## Flipadelphia26

IN!

----------


## CherryNorth49

Cold cut brownies it is Flip.  Proceed with caution, but do proceed!  :Cool:

----------


## CherryNorth49

We arrived at Canoe and the band had already started playing.  The webcast was set up, Rob was on the laptop and it looked like Lisa was chatting on some sort of net book.  There seemed to be a group of boardies having a good time.


I will ask you not to judge me too harshly.  Please keep in mind that I had found Negril.com not three weeks before we left for our trip.  Heck, as I hadn't even registered yet, I was still only looking at thumbnail sized photographs in all the trip reports.  I didn't really know who Rob and Lisa were and I didn't really have a good sense of the vibe on the board.  

So we lurked at the webcast.  Not a watching from home not signing into the chat kind of lurking, I was actually in Canoe, two tables over from Rob and Lisa and I lurked.   Have I mentioned that I am generally pretty shy?  This year, I promise I will say hi.  However, if you are at Canoe on November 29 and see me hiding in the shadows, feel free to call me out.


The band was great.  We had decided this would be our dinner stop for the evening.  Sunshine had the lobster melt; he kept making borderline inappropriate noises of joy while he chowed down.  I was carb craving and didn't want fancy, so I had the Pasta Carbonara, which was good.  The portion was so huge; it didn't look like I had even started into it by the time I was done.  It was happy hour and we certainly enjoyed the rum punch.  I can't wait to have more, though I will warn others to proceed with caution.  This stuff packs a wallop.

About half way through the two hour set, it decided to rain again.  The band started hustling to move all their stuff under the shelter.  We were disappointed that the show would be cut short, but it was totally understandable.  Next thing we know, the band is crammed in under the overhang on the porch and they have started back up.  Our table was now practically front row.  They were great, but it sure was loud.


The rain let up before it was full dark, but the band continued on inside.  They wrapped up and I was surprised they didn't pass a hat around.  No worries, Sunshine wandered up and showed our appreciation.  His understanding of the conversation?  "Wah wah who wah."  We are still not winning at this language thing.

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## max2

I'm enjoying your report very much.  

My husband hears "Wah wah wah who wah" each time a Jamaican speaks to him, too.  I find myself translating for him.  The Jamaican speaks to my husband.  I then translate what the Jamaican said to my husband.  My husband answers the Jamaican........and on and on.  My husband cannot understand how I know what is being said.  In fact, most times when the Jamaican people speak to each other, I can undrstand evem that.  

I have no idea why this is the way it is but, I just wanted you to know that it's not just the two of you that have the problem.  By the way, we have been going to Jamaica since 1989 and he is still in the dark much of the time when a Jamaican speaks to him.  I hope you two do better than he has done.

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## CherryNorth49

> I'm enjoying your report very much.  
> 
> My husband hears "Wah wah wah who wah" each time a Jamaican speaks to him, too.  I find myself translating for him.  The Jamaican speaks to my husband.  I then translate what the Jamaican said to my husband.  My husband answers the Jamaican........and on and on.  My husband cannot understand how I know what is being said.  In fact, most times when the Jamaican people speak to each other, I can undrstand evem that.  
> 
> I have no idea why this is the way it is but, I just wanted you to know that it's not just the two of you that have the problem.  By the way, we have been going to Jamaica since 1989 and he is still in the dark much of the time when a Jamaican speaks to him.  I hope you two do better than he has done.


Thanks for sharing that Max.  I can imagine that that is how it is going to evolve with Sunshine and I.  By the end of the trip I was picking up a few words here and there, but he was totally lost.  It is good to know that we have a quite a few years to practice before we need to feel behind the eight ball!

----------


## CherryNorth49

Our dinner done, we made quick pit stop to freshen up and we headed to the door only to discover it is now pouring rain.  Oh well, guess we will be getting wet.  At least it is warm out.  Our waitress grabs our attention and tells us to just wait here, that this fellow will give us a ride back to our hotel. Hmmm, I am not so sure about this.  It must have shown on my face, because she adds an extra don't worry, you will be safe.

Decision time and I quickly run the variables.  These webcast folks didn't look that scary and if the folks at Canoe weren't good people I don't think that they would have a webcast drawing tourists here.  It is pouring rain and getting a red plate in the rain in the dark may be rough.  Accepting the ride wins out.  Sunshine's only concern through all of this?  He hears the guy talking to the kitchen, telling him he will pick up his fries when he gets back.   Sunshine's already decided we are in no danger; he just doesn't want this guys fries getting cold.

Our mystery driver runs out, gets the car and pulls right up so we don't get wet, which was really kind.  We get into a vehicle that is absolutely not a red plate.  Based on other vehicles I had observed in Negril, I would go so far as to call it a luxury ride.  I asked if it would be alright to make a quick stop at Shamrocks (I need my morning OJ after all) and it is "No problem, man."

This fellow is very friendly and starts into a long tale that goes like this "Wah wah woh family wah, hill woh wah wah Jet Ski wah who wah."  I think we are making progress, as at least I picked up a few words.  To be fair, I am not sure he even said hill, but he pointed up in that direction, so I was guessing.  

I admit I felt a bit defeated.  I had been here for six days and I still didn't understand the ENGLISH that people are speaking to me.  Thankfully, it seemed not to bother our ride that the conversation was slightly one-sided.  I think at some point, I pieced together Booby Cay and tell them Kirby sent you.  So, whoever our ride might have been, sorry we weren't much on conversation.  Thank you for getting us home in the pouring rain.


After our quick stop, we were at the gates to Rooms.  I had already tucked cab fare in my pocket, so I offered it to our ride.  He shrugged like we were slightly slow, which I was beginning to believe was true, but he accepted our fare.

We dashed back to our room and waited out the storm with a sub and a good book.  As the weather seems to do in Negril, the rain didn't last all that long.

Yet again, we capped our night drinking red stripe with our feet in the water.  Sunnyside was well used to our routine by now and they were pulling nothing but the coldest Red Stripe for us.  When he boarded up, we took it as a sign that it was time to head in.

Another day in paradise, come and gone.  Tomorrow, we are will be at the dreaded last full day.

----------


## Bnewb

Hehe...Kirby is the owner of Canoe!

----------


## Clarity

Don’t feel bad about being shy. We were too shy to speak to Lisa and Rob during our first webcast too. We didn't get to know them until our second trip to Negril when we overcame that and finally introduced ourselves  :Smile: 

So glad that the dark clouds over sunshine’s head cleared and that he started having a great time. I can relate to that. Markus went through a similar mood shift during our first trip to Negril. It took him some time to adjust to it all. I love that picture of the two of you in the ocean! Those are great smiles! You both look so incredibly happy in that moment!

Omg That waiter picture had me cracking up!! :Big Grin: 

I’ve been truly enjoying every single update of this trip report! Thank you for sharing all that you have so far. I really feel like we traveled along with you every step of the way. I love your outlook on life and your sense of humor.  I’m sad that your last day is coming up because I really don’t want this trip report to ever end! It’s been such a fun ride! I’m looking forward to hearing about your upcoming trip to Negril in 13 days. Are you packed yet? I usually pull out my suitcase at the two week point lol – the week before the trip is like torture because it can’t come fast enough. Despite all that, I’m usually running around like a headless chicken 2 days before trying to pull together all the last minute stuff. 




> Marley....dont click on the link to the song!!!!!  Cherry I love the song personally, but Marley is terrified of country music like Clarity is scared of bats....and lion fish.  And sea urchins. hahaha


LOL Tizzy!! :Stick Out Tongue:

----------


## T&A

I have been reading your report and loving every minute. I just thought of a funny story that pertains to the whole language barrier deal. Our second trip to JA my nephew came along with us who is 30 and has the same problem understanding the language. We were all doing a little shopping at the Sunshine Village Plaza and my wife and I were chatting it up with one of the shop keepers (my nephew just standing there nodding his head like he new what we were taking about). She told us about her children and we offered her some candy that we had brought for such an ocassion for her to take home with her for them. She was very appreciative and asked my nephew (as we were getting our back pack open) if we were christian. My nephew replied no, Xtabi (where we were staying). She didn't know what to say as my wife and I fell apart laughing. My nephew just turned beet red and walked away and let us carry in the conversation.  :Smile:

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## marley9808

> I think at some point, I pieced together Booby Cay and tell them Kirby sent you.  So, whoever our ride might have been, sorry we weren't much on conversation.  Thank you for getting us home in the pouring rain.


If it was Kirby that drove you....he is the owner of Canoe! LOL
 :Smile: 



Oops, just saw Lisa beat me to that  :Wink:

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## treefrog

[QUOTE=T&A;72063]. She was very appreciative and asked my nephew (as we were getting our back pack open) if we were christian. My nephew replied no, Xtabi (where we were staying). 

That made me lol

Awesome report Cherry!

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## nutz4travel

:Cool: Hey Cherry - where is Shamrock's?  We'll need to get OJ for our morning mimosas and I've heard it's great juice LOL

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## HoneyBee

CherryNorth49 ; you guys eat alot of subs  :Wink: 


We were at rooms around last Christmas too.  I've been meaning to write a report long time now, but it looks like I am a good procrastinator.  I don't feel no way now though seeing your report coming in almost a year later. Bless up ...wha whoa wha

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## Lady Jane

HoneyBee, write it. Go for it.

There is fresh juice on the beach every morning. From Flex and his delicious orange, and mango and pineapple. Were the guys not offering juice on the beach?

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## Misti1

Speechless

----------


## Sam I Am

Shamrock is on the road across from Alfreds / Grand Pineapple.  It is a great place to get OJ and do some shopping for snacks.

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## groove16

I can relate to several parts of this trip...first my wife cannot understand a word...I ALWAYS have to translate...Its pretty common for someone to say somethnig and she looks directly towards me before she answers..She used to just nod, but kept finding herself ordering stuff she didnt want, agreeing to things that she didnt want to agree to, etc...very funny...

Our first trip, we didnt speak to any boardies, rob or lisa, just a few jamacians...since then we have opened up...

and the rum punches at canoe, my first trip to canoe, had a couple 2 for 1 punches on empty stomach, and well, uh.....gee, thats about all I remember about this story....Janet found me hugging the wall outside of canoe, got us home, and I woke up in the middle of the night, with no idea where I was....I tread very lightly on the punches,....hehehe

great report, cherry.....since this report is coming to an end, I am already looking forward to the next trip...you will be more comfortable with the runnings and it just gets better and better....

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## mamade11

Shamrock - I love that store and the OJ!!  Last couple of trips we were right across the street, this year it will be quite a walk, but worth it!

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## nutz4travel

More questions while we wait for today's installment - how long would it take to walk from Country Country to Shamrock's?  Can you walk up the beach and then cut over?  Is the juice that good or would we be better to buy from someone on the beach?

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## RockRobster

> Hehe...Kirby is the owner of Canoe!


I saw that and LMAO'd! You had the owner of Canoe stop for your OJ at Shamrock....!!!!!!
Kirby is a kind dude!

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## RockRobster

> HoneyBee, write it. Go for it.
> 
> There is fresh juice on the beach every morning. From Flex and his delicious orange, and mango and pineapple. Were the guys not offering juice on the beach?


Either its Kenny or Keith...one does the jerk pork and the other does the best juices on the beach....I can never keep the names straight...being around Kuyaba between 10 and noon is a sure bet for both...

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## rinakim

Cherry, I absolutely LOVE this report and relate to so many things you have said.

We definitely need to get together during our stay!

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## Lady Jane

> Either its Kenny or Keith...one does the jerk pork and the other does the best juices on the beach....I can never keep the names straight...being around Kuyaba between 10 and noon is a sure bet for both...


Dean is the jerk pork vendor. Not sure what is Flex's real name and there is another juice guy whom I have yet to meet.

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## CherryNorth49

It is interesting how as we get towards the end of the trip, your minds seem to be turning towards the return voyage.  That is very much how it went down on the trip too. 

Bnewb, Marley and RockRobster  I don't know whether to hope it was or wasn't Canoe owner Kirby who drove us home that night  I did really want that OJ and I didn't want to walk back to Shamrock's in the rain, but still   :Embarrassment: 

Clarity  Thanks for the kind words. The only reason I haven't started packing is because I have been too busy with this trip report!  Working on it has been a nice distraction from the countdown.  I said to Sunshine this morning that the suitcase was coming out this weekend; his response was that he was surprised it wasn't out already.  Regardless, I will still be shuffling things in and out at the last minute.

T&A  I am on your nephew's team on this one, but I am still LMAO!  Laughing with him, of course  :Big Grin: 

HoneyBee  there are a lot of sandwich artists in Negril, the temptation was just too great for us.   I don't want to make it sound like a free for all though.  For any newbies reading, it is worth noting we were almost exclusively enjoying them within the confines of our resort.  One doesn't need to attract unwanted attention.  Now HoneyBee, get on that trip report.

Lady Jane  they were guys selling juice on the beach, though we were often late to the beach and missed them.  I like to enjoy my OJ in bed, so we needed to get it the night before.

Groove  I am beginning to think there are more of us just smiling and nodding our way through their trips than I previously thought.  Love the Rum punch knockout story.  I am looking forward to returning, meeting more people and maybe, just maybe, understanding something of what is going on!

Mamade  we are in the same boat with the walk this year, but I am sure it is going to be worth it.  I think am going to have to find an alternative up on the cliffs though.  That is just too far!

2nutz  I imagine you could cut through from the beach at Alfred's.  I have no idea how long the walk would be.  Our experience with chartering a cab was that making quick stops along the route didn't add to the fare.  If you are heading back from the west end, it is east to stop on the way past.

Rina  We will for sure have to connect  I'm sorry that we will be arriving just a bit too late to crash the wedding!

Now, back to Friday in Negril...

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## Lady Jane

YAY, Friday!

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 11

 It's often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. Not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone. 
― Marilyn Monroe 
  
Friday started with the sun shining, which seemed to be how it went every day. This being our last day, we were determined to be willing victims of the sand gravity.  Are you still a victim if you are almost begging for it?

Shamrock's OJ in the room, along with some coffee.  Sunshine drank the stuff that came out of our in room coffee maker.  I thought it was terrible.  Down to the beach for a couple of fruity cocktails.  It counts as a good breakfast food if they blend real fruit in, IMHO.

We snacked off the vendors for a bit and then decided it was time to go for a walk down the beach.  For you dedicated beach walkers out there, you will probably be appalled by this, but it was our last full day and we had not been more than 50 feet north of Rooms on the beach side.  I had read that Niah had some of the best patties on the beach, so we set off walking to find some lunch.

Though we hadn't even left Negril yet, I already knew we would be back and I wanted to see some of the other properties beaches first hand.  I understood that the beach had been on the move last year, so there were a couple of spots along the walk that we literally had to take to the water.

We continued along the beach, up past CocoLaPalm.  I had my map and knew that I should have seen Niah's already and then the patty man appeared pushing his bike.  We grabbed some patties and coco bread from him.  Now food in hand, we realised we hadn't quite thought out how to eat this away from our own beach.  I had my flip flops in one hand and with a patty and bread in the other it was a bit of a juggling act.  Never fear, a friendly fellow at a bar waived us over and for the price of two Red Stripe, we had a table to enjoy our patties.  (I know now that it was Dennis from Sun Beach who hooked us up).

There were a couple of resorts I noted.  CCLP had a lovely wide, deep beach.  Idle Awhile had great shade and wasn't crowded.  Charela Inn had nice umbrellas and the lounge chairs looked comfy.  Nirvana on the Beach was wide, deep and shady and didn't seem to have much built up on it.  Lazy Dayz had a great porch style swing raised above the surf.

We eventually wandered back to Rooms and lazed about like sloths on our loungers or floating in the sea.  We chatted back and forth, alternately solving all the world's problems and solving none of them.  

We talked about our trip and wondered about how we were every going to describe the whole experience to our friends and family back home.  We agreed that it kind of seemed like we had been hazed by Jamaica, but not in an unpleasant way.  It felt like we had to earn our stripes before we could claim a piece of Negril for ourselves and that, like most things you have to work hard for, we would value it more in the end.  Time away has not altered this perspective.

Sunshine was walking tall.  He still had no idea what most anyone was saying to him, but he wasn't bothered by it at all.  His spirit was easy and I could see his mind was at rest.  He seemed to find some extra pep in his step on that beach, which in all honesty followed him home.  

It had been a great trip and I didn't want it to end, but that afternoon there was a part of me that was ready to go home.  I was getting tired of everything being new and was ready for a bit of the familiar.  I had stretched about as much as I was going to that week and I was getting to the end of my rope.  There was a bit of time that afternoon where the risk of my turning into thundershower was high, but Sunshine's enthusiasm was so infectious, it turned out to only be a passing cloud.

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## JaJodi

I have really mixed feelings - I don't want it to end....but I want to read the rest! Sure hope we get to hear about your upcoming November trip when you get back - it's been a fun report!

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## Tanfastic

"Tanfantastic – I am going to think that in my boss' direction for now – that four letter word funds my Negril habit!"

Unfortunately my dad did make me a trust fund baby so that four letter word pays for all our habits as well!

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## Lady Jane

Cherry, I stay at Nirvana, I love it there. We stay 3 weeks

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## Lorax2

Cherry, I'm really loving your T/R and I'm kinda sad it's coming to an end...We still have a while to go 'till our next trip so we depend on these reports to help us through (sounds like some sort of addiction doesn't it ?) so...now finish this one up, finish packing, and get to Negril and on to another adventure so you can write another T/R and feed our appetites and sooth our longing for our favorite place. :-)
~Dave~

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## CherryNorth49

Then it was sunset and it would be our last, for now.  It was a heck of a show.

Seriously, could Sunshine look any more relaxed?  I just love the light at this time to day.  It really was a golden hour.


This shot may look familiar.  It seemed like the perfect shot for my avatar; Sunshine caught me at one of my favorite passtimes, sunset.


The colors of the sunset seemed extra vivid that night, so much more red than we had previously seen.


The very last sliver of the sun dropped and just like that, we had shared our last sunset in Negril.  I had hoped all trip to catch a green flash, but no luck.  Just add that to the list of reason why we have to return.

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## CherryNorth49

I did take a video of the event.  It is nothing more than 3 minutes of sights and sounds of sunset.  I wanted to have it for those extra dark cold days of winter.




We were both so perfectly at peace at this moment and I think it shows.  I have set Sunshine's profile picture on my phone to this shot.  Every call and text from him sends a little piece of the magic of this moment back my way.

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## bjritz

> She was very appreciative and asked my nephew (as we were getting our back pack open) if we were christian. My nephew replied no, Xtabi (where we were staying). She didn't know what to say as my wife and I fell apart laughing.


 Easily one if not the funniest thing I've found on this board! T&A - Nice!




> We agreed that it kind of seemed like we had been hazed by Jamaica, but not in an unpleasant way. It felt like we had to earn our stripes before we could claim a piece of Negril for ourselves and that, like most things you have to work hard for, we would value it more in the end.


 You have zoomed in on exactly what it is like on the last day, brilliant writing, so there with ya.




> Seriously, could Sunshine look any more relaxed? I just love the light at this time to day. It really was a golden hour.


 That pic has perfect light, wow! And yeah, he's so chill.

Your sunset video is just awesome! Love it. Emailed it to all the other Negrilophiles at work.




> We were both so perfectly at peace at this moment and I think it shows.


It shows in every bit of this wonderful trip report. You've really nailed what a Negril trip is about. Thank you.

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## CherryNorth49

Having already had our big splash out dinner two nights before, we were looking for simple food on our last night and decided to head out for barrel jerk chicken.  We should have gone back to Step-a-side, but I wanted to try some place new.  It was good; it just wasn't nearly as good.

Though we were both reluctant to bring it up, in the morning we were going to have to set an alarm, pack up and leave.  Our JTL pickup time was at 9:25 am, which would seem really early.  Having skipped the hotel breakfast every morning, we decided not to ruin our streak.  We had a nice piece of brownie left and with one last bottle of Shamrock's OJ, it would be the breakfast of champions.  It would certainly make the drive to MoBay more interesting.

On the way to get our barrel chicken, we hit Shamrock's and scored the last bottle of juice he had.  There would be no more until tomorrow afternoon, so I felt extra lucky to be able to enjoy it one more time.

We also stocked up on a few of the local snacks to fill in the extra spots in our suitcases.  I don't remember exactly what all we brought back.  I know we bought St. Mary's Sweet Potato Chips, Rough Top Coconut Drops, a range of cheesy Holiday snacks (I love the chili cheese ones, and the big feet), Shirley biscuits and Jamaica ginger cookies. It wouldn't be the same once we got back home, but if we closed our eyes, for a moment at least it might take us back.

Anyone care to guess how we wrapped up our last night? You would be correct to suspect that we were drinking Red Stripe in the surf.  The waves on my feet were like a gentle balm for the soul, gently scrubbing my worries away.  I was at peace and we were already dreaming about the next time.

Tomorrow, we must journey home.

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## TizzyATX

That makes me wanna cry haha

I'm so glad that Negril affected you and Sunshine the way that it did, it's a special thing.

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## CherryNorth49

Oh Tizzy, don't cry yet, save it for the airport!  When we booked the trip is seemed like such a random destination.  Having been, maybe the choice wasn't so random.  It was more like finding a second home.

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## iowagirl

I prefer to think of it as karma, or even serendipity if that works better.  Negril really attracts and then speaks to a certain kind of people.  And we keep going back, keep connecting with Negril and each other, and keep thinking of that next trip and of how that place just gets under your skin and into your heart.  Most people I know always ask me why I keep going to the same place over and over - and it's not something you can explain.  I just know that I am a better, happier, more fulfilled person for having been there!

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## rinakim

> Oh Tizzy, don't cry yet, save it for the airport!  When we booked the trip is seemed like such a random destination.  Having been, maybe the choice wasn't so random.  It was more like finding a second home.


Amen Sistah!

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## love2travelchic

Thanks again Cherry for the TR is was a pleasure to read...I have my notes of different places to visit and tings to do from your report as I'll be stayin at Rooms (My first solo trip) soon come... Oh and the sunset pics of you and Sunshine is amazing!!!

Enjoy!

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## CherryNorth49

There is one chapter left, I will get you to the airport and slightly beyond.  I will suck every minute of joy out of Negril and Jamaica I can.   :Big Grin:     I have a few photos left, too. That is Saturday though, so I will post it tomorrow...

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## Misti1

speechlesser

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## RockRobster

> Dean is the jerk pork vendor. Not sure what is Flex's real name and there is another juice guy whom I have yet to meet.


Ya, you are correct. Dean is jerk pork guy. Keith is the juice guy. Neville is the patty guy. I don't know "Fruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuit" Lady's name.......but she makes me lift that damn heavy basket off the sand and onto her head every time I buy something!!!

There's also the baked goods guy...actually there are a couple....try the gizzada!

Last reach I saw an Ice Cream guy...first time for that since I was a kid!

----------


## HuskerJohn

Great report!  The video of the sunset with the snorkel boat passing by was off the hook!

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## Marijane

Really enjoyed this.. thanks for sharing your experience

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## signmon45

His spirit was easy and I could see his mind was at rest.  He seemed to find some extra pep in his step on that beach, which in all honesty followed him home.  

 There was a bit of time that afternoon where the risk of my turning into thundershower was high, but Sunshine's enthusiasm was so infectious, it turned out to only be a passing cloud. 

Really great perspective on your TR. 
The writing, to ones heart.

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## mn negril fan

I believe the fruit lady is Jenn and she makes me lift that #### basket also.

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## Misti1

They always do this.....suck you in and then stall with the writing.

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## CherryNorth49

I appear to be dragging my feet a bit today.  I don't really want this to come to an end either. 

Lorax  Total trip report addict here, too.  I am sure Negril will provide plenty of new material.

Iowagirl  I can so understand and appreciate that.  I am starting to get that look from people and it is only our second trip.  Negril can't be explained.  Once you go you know, right?

Lovs2travel chic  There are some pictures for you today.  Thanks coming along.

Misti1  I hope speechless is a good thing! I getting there I'm getting there.   Thanks for reading.

RockRobster  we saw an ice cream vendor on at least 3 different days down on the beach.

HuskerJohn  Thank you!  I wish I could take credit for the timing of that!  All part of the magic.

Marijane  You are very welcome  :Smile: 

Signmon  Negril brings out the love.  


Alright, enough stalling.  Time to go homeso we can return again.

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## CherryNorth49

Chapter 12
 Though the road's been rocky it sure feels good to me. 
-Bob Marley
  
What is that squawking sound?  Ugg, alarm clock.  That can only mean the party is nearly done.

Coffee brewed, orange juice poured, it is time for a brownie breakfast - after everything is packed into the suitcases.




I should have mentioned that there was actually a third member of our traveling party.  Meet Bristoe. If elephants needed passports, his would have a lot of stamps.  I do have his permission to be in the trip report.

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## CherryNorth49

We got down with our bags with 15 minutes to spare and got checked out.  We begin waiting.  After 20 minutes or so, the lady from the front desk wanders out and asks when our ride was due.  She takes our info and calls JTL for us.  Yes, they know we are there and the driver will be there shortly.  Our flight is not for another 5 or so hours, so I am not worried.  Brownies help make the worries go away.


Another 15 minutes and security wanders over and decides we should call again.  Now we hear that an earlier stop is not ready so the driver is running behind.  He pulls up shortly after and explains we have to go back for the tardy ones.  We get to their resort and after 10 more minutes, the late group decides to make alternate arrangements for their trip to the airport, which gets a collective grumble from everyone already on board.  I absolutely get not wanting to leave, but if you aren't getting on the bus, don't make the bus wait.

Our driver was clearly fussed at having his well organized day get behind so early and he took off like we were running from the law.   This was not a ride for the faint of heart.  I had a great seat up at the front and thoroughly enjoyed the dogde'em style of driving.  We made it to the airport in great time and just ahead of the Saturday rush.  There was almost no one in line to check in when we arrived and we couldn't see the end of the line by the time we were done.

Having only had OJ and brownie, we both were ready for some food.  With the only obvious choice this side of security being Burger King, we headed in to get ourselves some Whoppers.  Now we had observed throughout our visit that there was a certainly pace at which things got done in Jamaica, especially around food preparation.  Your food is made to order and that takes time. We weren't the least bit bothered by that, I think it was part of the charm of the place.  It sure made for good eats.

How ingrained this was in the culture, we didn't appreciate until we got to the airport.  There have to have been 20 people in line at Burger King.  Burger King makes and sells hamburgers, mostly.  It is fair to assume that at least one or two of the people in line would be having a burger.  The perpetual grilling of meat patties is almost a hallmark of the fast food industry.  This was not how it was being done at Sangster.  I swear, it seemed they weren't even pulling the patties out of the fridge, never mind cooking them, until the order was in and paid for. Long slow process, but it was a very fresh Whopper.

----------


## CherryNorth49

We had dragged our feet as long as possible and it was time to head into the immigration/security process.

Right ahead of us in line was a family of five with teen/tween age kids.  They were decked out in the AI's logo souvenir T-shirts.  The oldest boy had on a green wrist band (you know, the rubbery type that it seems every cause has so we can show our support).  I have seen enough green and orange in the last few days to realize it was in support of one of the main political parties.

As the family gets to the double doors leading to the immigration hall, one of the two ladies manning the door takes exception to this kid's wrist band.  For the first time all week I actually understand what is happening and this woman wants scissors.  The family is a bit lost at this point, seeming to think she is trying to remove the AI bracelet from their resort.  The father explains that no, this is his son's souvenir, one of the resort workers gave it to him. Her voice amps up a notch and there is some finger wagging coming out.  She is going too fast for my understanding and the family was clearly in the same boat.

The fuss has attracted the other women manning the door.  They start back and forth in patois.  Guard Lady #1 is clearly voting for the orange team.  Low and behold, Lady #2 pulls up her sleeve and reveals a green bracelet identical to the teenagers.  A few more loud phrases slung back and forth and Lady #2 ushers the family through the doors wristband intact and the incident is done.

Man, Jamaicans do take their politics seriously.  Should you find yourself there during elections, might I recommend avoiding the colors green and orange, unless you are really prepared to defend your stance.  Just my suggestion is all.


I was amazed how much shopping there was once we were through immigration and security.  Though it wouldn't support the locals in Negril, I can understand how folks might leave their entire souvenir shopping for when they got to the airport.

Somewhere earlier in this report, I think I mentioned that I am a bit paranoid about keeping an eye on my possessions in the airport.  For someone as paranoid as I am, I actually manage to lose things with alarming regularity.  Sunshine and I have developed a system to try and identify early when a piece is missing.  It is not complicated.  At the start of the day, we figure out how many 'detachable' bits we have (bags, cameras, items of clothing, etc) and every time we leave a place we count and make sure the number matches.

It is a simple and effective system, as long as you remember to use it.

We did a bit of shopping for others on our list and bought some Red Stripe gear for Sunshine.  I remembered that nutmeg was actually on the list on the fridge back home, so I picked up a bag.  We had a bit of time, so stopped for a last Red Stripe at their branded bar.  We wandered over to our gate and counted our bits.  One is of course missing and it has all of Sunshine's newly purchased Red Stripe gear.  Our plane is due to board in like 10 minutes, so we start the mad scramble retracing our steps.  Our third stop back, there is our shopping bag, exactly where we left it.

We rush back to the gate and they are already loading up.  It is hard to deny that this trip is coming to an end.  I am a bit choked up, but I know I'll be back.

We settle into the seats. On the way down, I had thought that the airline seats were design specifically to maximize my discomfort.  Coming home it felt like sinking into a feather bed.  One thing I will say about the places we visited in Negril, they weren't much for cushions on their chairs.

Somewhere over the mid-west, our breakfast brownie finally wore off.  Reality was setting in.  Spots on the ground beneath us were starting to be white.  Brrrrr. I looked down at my bare feet, still in sandals and wished we were already heading back to summer paradise.

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## CherryNorth49

Epilogue
  
Thank you all for joining me on this newbie journey to Negril.  It has been a real pleasure to share it with you.  I warned you at the outset that it would be long, but I'm not sure any of you were prepared for the marathon that was coming.

This has been an interesting exercise.  I haven't written for pleasure like this in a long time and it felt really good, good like a really good long stretch.  When I started the report, I hadn't planned to follow along with the days of the week.  Rather by accident I posted Saturday on Saturday and the concept kind of clicked into place from there.  I have enjoyed living it in real time.  If you caught it in the beginning, I hope it has felt a little bit like you got an extra week away in Negril.

Mine and Sunshine's story really did unfold together.  Rest assured I did have his permission to be in the report.  Though he had never really been to Negril.com, he has been lurking about since I started this report.  Your response to my efforts has left him with him with nothing but the highest praise for the community that gathers here.

If your travels to Negril correspond with ours, I sincerely hope our paths will cross.  Should you spot us on our wanderings, help a shy girl out and say hello.  PM me if you don't want to rely entirely on luck crossing our paths.

I will keep posting as our countdown gets into the single digits.  I want to tell you all about how we plan to do nothing on this trip.  The title of our next trip might be 'Brought to you by Negril.com.'  The board's influence is woven all through our plans.

Leaving Negril is no fun, but with my ticker just inches away from single digits, the long wait to return is almost done.  I can say two things about the waiting game. Red Stripe is not the same when you have to carry it through a snow bank to get it home.  Same goes for tropical fruit.

Soon come Negril, soon come.

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## Coco

What a trip report! Thanks for taking us along.

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## mamade11

awesome report!!  I'm even more excited about going.... about this time in two weeks I should be drinking my 1st or 2nd rum punch!  Will definately look for you - Seastar on the 1st?

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## justchuck

Great report, I've enjoyed it immensely.   . . .and, I envy your ticker!

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## rjonsun

Here is an airport tip for hungry people.  After you check in your luggage and before you go through the security, exit the the airport entrance and head over (maybe 50 yards away) to the area where the buses and taxis pick up people that are leaving the airport.  You can buy a few patties (beef, cheese, vegetable etc) and something cold to drink for a last taste of Jamaica.  We stop here when arriving and when leaving.

Regards,

Bob

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## nutz4travel

Thank you Cherry for the trip report!  And thank you for actually finishing it  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):   It was enjoyable to read from start to finish - I can't wait for your next one, I just hope you don't wait so long to write it!  :Smile:   We still have just under 4 weeks to go and I need something to pass the time!

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## Misti1

Bravo Bravo.... and yes it was a VERY good speechless

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## HoneyBee

Great report, it was a pleasure reading it, I'm still growing some balls to write mines.

Cherry be glad that's all you witnessed during the elections. We arrived on December 9, 2011 and got stuck behind the 'green party' caravan traveling to Lucea. Must have been 500 cars at least. We landed in MoBay around 2 pm but didn't reach Negril til 7 or so.

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## Prism

Loved the report Cherry it was one of the most enjoyable reads I have had thank you so much. We will be on the One Love Bus on the 30th and I will be sure to say hello.

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## Sam I Am

Thank you.

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## Patricia

Now, that was FUN.....

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## bjritz

CherryN49 and Sunshine (lurker), I did keep up with the day by day week long trip and that was a great way to do it. It was a fun week! Thanks again for sharing. Have fun on your next trip sponcered by Negril.com. 

This board is one of the best places on the net. Love hanging here with all the boardies. The serendipity of this past week is meeting you here, and I'm so glad I have. 

Keep writing, you're quite good.

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## groove16

clap, clap, clap...standing ovation....

i know a trip report is time consuming but in my case, so worth it, because it takes me back to when I was there. I haven't opened my notes or looked at the pics far awhile and will not look at them until time to post for the day...Janet always says not to forget this or that, but I have to respond, we haven't got there yet..it hasn;t happened yet so we cant look at it yet....she thinks I am soooo crazy!!!!!lol!!!!and I am!!!!I read all the reports on here, which also takes me back to negril....


our hangout here at negril.com rocks, doesn't it....

come on in and get your fix....

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## JitterBug

cherry, what a wonderful write you are . . . thank you for sharing . . .

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## Schuttzie

Bravo!!!  Loved your report so very much...thank you for your labors of love writing and sharing your trip with us here  :Smile:

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## Lady Jane

Wonderful report Cherry. Thank you soooo much

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## mn negril fan

Excellent Excellent Excellent Great job Cherry

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## mavmaiden

I've enjoyed every page of this report. Normally, when trip report is too long, I sorta skim through them and can easily skip pages. Not yours!! You kept my rapt attention for every sentence. I'm at the one-month mark for my first trip to Negril and I have to say, you've definitely got me all a flutter about my upcoming trip! Soon come, Negril, and mi gratitude, Cherry!

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## CherryNorth49

> awesome report!!  I'm even more excited about going.... about this time in two weeks I should be drinking my 1st or 2nd rum punch!  Will definately look for you - Seastar on the 1st?


I have already emailed about booking my tickets.  Do I remember you posting at some point that you were starting out at Catcha?  If that is the case, we will likely see you at Ivan's, as we are checking in to Catcha on the 1st.  I figured on just being able to walk up the lane to the show.

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## CherryNorth49

> Here is an airport tip for hungry people.  After you check in your luggage and before you go through the security, exit the the airport entrance and head over (maybe 50 yards away) to the area where the buses and taxis pick up people that are leaving the airport.  You can buy a few patties (beef, cheese, vegetable etc) and something cold to drink for a last taste of Jamaica.  We stop here when arriving and when leaving.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Bob


Thanks Bob, that is a great tip!  I would much rather my last meal in Jamaica be a couple of patties.  I won't mindone bit  if this was the one and only time I ate at BK on the island.  :Smile:

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## mamade11

Cherry - We get in on the 1st - to Catcha  :Smile:   I emailed also, but on facebook they said we could just get them at the gate.  I was a little worried they would sell out.

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## Jenn

Thank you so much for the time you put into your report! It was worth every moment of waiting!! Enjoy your upcoming trip~ looking forward to a 2nd edition from you!

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## iowagirl

Cherry (and Sunshine!) - thank you so very much!  Your trip report was funny, sweet, thought-provoking and just plain good!  I sincerely hope you keep stretching that writing muscle. You have a real voice!!  We hang out at Sun Beach when we are there, which isn't far from Coco. Will keep an eye out and holler if we see you two. Would love to share a Stripe or two!

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## marley9808

Fantastic!
Loved every single minute of it.
Thanks for taking us along on your trip....I can't wait to do it again in a couple of weeks! Yahoo!

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## wpyogi

*Applause*Applause*

Thanks for sharing!  Now get to packing!

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## Seveen

i devoured every word!

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## Guirigay

Awesome Cherry! First class all the way. I love the day by day bit. I tried to post day by day the first time, but write day by day for a week? Enormous effort and extremely well done. And I do mean fearless. It's not easy to put it all out there, to reveal little bits of yourself reserved for the few - if any. You do it so beautifully and in doing it through the eyes of a first time Negril visitor offer us all a reflection of ourselves and the magic of enchantment we've all experienced.

I've often quoted the Groucho Marx line - "I'd never want to belong to a club that would have someone like me as a member!" I feel a little different about the crew that hangs around this clubhouse. I hope I don't offend you by saying, "Welcome!" It's been a pleasure getting to know you...  :Smile:

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## love2travelchic

Hi Cherry! Thanks for the pictures...quick question is yalls room an Oceanview room?
I so look 4ward to following some of you and sunshine foots steps when staying at the Rooms!

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## BR Mon

I understand the woo wah woo wah and can explain it...did by chance you eat mushroom omlets or anything similar...maybe some strange tea...

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## TizzyATX

Would you be interested in writing my next Trip report?  Or maybe you could finisht the one I have going? lol

Seriously, Cherry this was unbelievably good.  Thank you very very much for sharing it with us.  I look forward to running into you and Sunshine one day and I will be sure to say HI.  I'm not shy and really loud so you wont miss me. haha

Bet your so stoked about your upcoming trip.  I'm sure looking forward to hearing about it  :Smile:

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## Ktans

When does the movie come out?  Awesome writing......Thank You!   :Big Grin:

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## CherryNorth49

> Hi Cherry! Thanks for the pictures...quick question is yalls room an Oceanview room?
> I so look 4ward to following some of you and sunshine foots steps when staying at the Rooms!


I am sure you will enjoy it!

No, we were in a gardenview room.  It turns out thoug that there are 4 gardenview rooms that just by virtue of the layout of the resort actually have a bit of an ocean view.  They are all on the second floor, facing towards the main pathway through the resort.  The actual oceanview rooms all face directly onto the beach.  There are three second floor rooms that have great big patios.  There are also 3 or 4 that have no balcony at all, just a slidding glass door that opens to a railing.  The main floor ocean view rooms have steps right down onto the sand.

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## CherryNorth49

Thank you all for reading and saying such nice things back.  There is something really special on this board.  It is a nice place, without all the nastiness that the internet can bring.

Guirigay  I knew I wanted to get it all in before we left, so  I must confess I had done a lot of work before I had even put the first post.  I also wanted Sunshine to know where I was going before I shared our story with the everyone.  This did not all get written last week.  :Embarrassment: 

BR Mon  funny, but it was not the wacky tea that had us befuddled.  Now if the brownies could be blamed, you might be on to something!  

Tizzy  I am always available for trip reporting services, as long as you can afford to bring me along.  You gotta go to know  :Stick Out Tongue: 

So as my excitement builds, I am gonna fill you in on our plans for this year...

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## CherryNorth49

Getting home from Negril last year was a bit of a shock to the system.  We woke up that Sunday with snow outside and the dawning realization that there was in fact only one full weekend left until Christmas, which we were hosting.  There was not a single decoration hung and not a meal planned.  So we got up, put on our winter gear and made our annual Christmas tree pilgrimage.  

It was February before I recovered from the season.  I had one big thing on my mind and that was getting back to Negril.  The boards at this point where starting to light up with talk of April gatherings.  There was bash, a magic bus and a flop off.  I really wanted to join in the festivities, so I set to planning our return.  It wouldn't be April, but it could be November.

I was excited to discover that Westjet had their early winter schedule out and they appeared to be adding a second direct flight on Wednesdays.  That opened up the possibility of a 10 or 11 day trip. We had gotten an early booking bonus from Westjet, which got us a 25% off promo code.  It was ironic, because the bonus was for booking our winter vacation before December 15.  We were already home from our trip at that point.  I'll still take it.

I started in on Sunshine to get his vacation approved early, because when I saw a fare in our price window, I wanted to jump on it.  Basically at the same time as he got his vacation approved, Westjet revamped their schedule - no more Wednesday direct flight.  We talked about it and decided that Negril was more than worth a connecting flight.  We would travel down through Toronto but we could still take advantage of the direct flight home.

If you are really paying attention to flights for a particular set of days, it is amazing how much the fares can fluctuate.  It is crazy even how much two flights from the same airline on the same day can have differences in the hundreds of dollars. Westjet seemed to be using fares to push people onto a flight that didn't get into MoBay until 7pm.  I wanted to be there for sunset, but I wasn't willing to pay an extra $500 to do it.

At least 2 people suggested on the board watching one way flights on multiple airlines.  They were so right.  

One Friday afternoon mid-August I was at my desk trying to kill time for before the weekend.  My work neighbor started talking about booking flights for her vacation and I popped onto Air Canada's site.  Their roundtrip was no deal, but the trip down was cheaper than any I had seen and it is scheduled to arrive with plenty of time to sunset.  Westjet actually had a seat sale on the trip home, which with the addition of our 25% off code put the whole trip into our fare window.

So I pushed the button and it was good.

The plot actually thickens a little bit.  Not only do I want a good deal, I want to know if I could have gotten a better deal, so when I have of minute, I will check back.  Within a month of our booking, Air Canada changed their schedule, moving up the Toronto flight by 30 minutes.  Not a big deal, except we didn't have much of a connection time to begin with.  In fact, you couldn't book the flight combo we were rolling with anymore.

I didn't tell Sunshine.  No need for both of us to worry about it.  I figured these things had a way of working themselves out.

So this morning my cell phone rings and who is on the other end?  Air Canada customer service, informing me that their schedule has changed and they have rebooked us on the Winnipeg-Toronto flight the night before and they will be putting us up in a hotel overnight in Toronto.

I know for some people this could be a real issue with shuffling kids and jobs and pets.  For Sunshine and I this is big woo-hoo moment.  I don't get to Negril any sooner, but my vacation starts when I get to the airport, so I just got an extra day of vacation on someone else's dime.   :Cool:

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## nutz4travel

Thanks Cherry!  I was sad that the trip report was done, but happy now that we get the lead up report!!  So wish we could meet you, it's too bad you'll be gone by the time we get there  :Frown: .  I love WestJet, they've been good to us...

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## HuskerJohn

Great report Cherry!  Have fun on the cliffs.  Go see Sexy Rexy, eat at LTU and drink a few stripes at Whoopie's.

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## irie always

Hey Cherry - Sounds like my scenario with my flights. Hubby is always anxious to get us booked and then a better deal comes along. I end up spending over an hour on the phone to cancel the booking, getting my $$$ back into my West Jet account, losing $ 50.00 each on the deal but still end of saving money by re-booking when the price drops. See you on the 1st for Luciano - maybe I should hold a table if I can, for 6 peeps - Mamade included?  Only 8 more working days - Yah Mon!

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## mamade11

Cherry - we leave the night before this year due to being able to use miles.  I like the idea of splitting the travel day and staying in Florida for the night.  Getting up in the morning and getting to JA in a couple of hours is exciting!  Irie - if you can save a table we are in  :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

Mamade - I agree, I think splitting the trip up is great.  It also means that we don't have to catch a cab at 4:00 am.  I don't expect to have a great nights sleep in Toronto, but it will be better than if I had been at home.

Irie, please do save us a seat  :Smile:   It is nice to know there will be some friendly faces there!  Are you staying at Seastar?

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## marley9808

Is it weird that I find myself getting just as excited when OTHER PEOPLE are going as I do when I am going?!?!?!

Sigh.....I have it bad
LOL

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## Delcey

Traveling solo.....can I join your table at Seastar for Luciano???

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## CherryNorth49

I think this is a more the merrier kind of party Delcey - Irie, can we make that a table for 7?  :Smile: 

Marley - I know _exactly_ what you mean.  It is how I felt when you were all getting ready to go in April!

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## bjritz

> Is it weird that I find myself getting just as excited when OTHER PEOPLE are going as I do when I am going?!?!?!


Not weird at all, Marley, joy shared is a joy made double....and I'm pretty sure CherryShine will double down on several fronts in Negril, then they'll share.

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## CherryNorth49

Long before we purchased our flights, I was making plans for where we were going to stay.  I really had two criteria, Sunshine needed AC and I needed at least a queen size bed. Of course, it also needed to be awesome, but there seems to be a lot of that in Negril.  :Smile: 

I am a big believer that moving around a little bit during a vacation makes the whole things seem much longer.  If you change the view every couple of days, home seems longer and further away each time.  I had originally though a straight cliff/beach split would be the plan, but I was having a hard time narrowing to just one of each.  I have no idea how many times I said to myself, 'That is it, this is the final plan,' but it seemed I was changing my mind every week.   With each positive trip report, the possibilities got more endless.

As last winter's trip reports unfolded, it was hard not to notice that there was a lot of love on this board for Catcha Falling Star.  I was trying to stretch my dollars to 10 days though, so most of the rooms at Catcha were just a bit out of reach.  Pisces looked great (it is my sign) and I loved the patio, but I just couldn't talk myself into the double bed.  Little Capricorn didn't have a patio and I wanted our own outside space.  Gatehouse had the bigger bed, but I was worried about being near the road.

Lucky for me at the end of April Sweetness was staying in the Gatehouse and she was reporting live.  She answered a number of questions for me and urged me to get on booking.  Though we didn't actually have the vacation approved and hadn't settled for sure on the length of our stay, before the boardie bash was done, we had booked 3 nights in the Gatehouse.  It will be stop #2 on this year's adventure.

So where to start things off?  Right where we found our groove last time, at Blue Cave Castle.  Sunshine was excited enough about returning that he actually sat down with me and we went through all the air conditioned rooms on the BCC website to pick the one we wanted.  Our first choice wasn't available, but there was a close second.  Before I pushed the button, I thought I would show him the Penthouse.  It took him about 12 seconds to decide that AC was actually not that important to him.  It was available, so we will be playing King of the Castle in the penthouse for our first 3 nights in Negril.

Our last 4 nights, we are headed down to the beach.  I had narrowed our choices down to Nirvana on the Beach and Idle Awhile.  It was a really tough choice.  Having had fun picking the penthouse, Sunshine was keen to weigh in on this choice, so we looked at pictures and videos from all over the place.  Ultimately, Idle Awhile was the winner.  Of course, after all that, they didn't have any room at the inn.

I think it was fate though, as Idle Awhile was stretching the budget.  For some reason I hadn't thought to check on what was on sale at Negril One Stop.  They had their winter sale for CocoLaPalm, which had always been a real contender.  It was going to cost of half of what Idle Awhile would have and it is right next door to Idle Awhile.  I have certainly viewed their webcams enough time.  I would have liked a junior suite, but they didn't have any available for our dates.  I am sure the superior room will do the trick nicely.  Besides, I am going to be on the beach most of the time anyway.  :Cool:

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## nutz4travel

Does deciding where to stay get any easier the more often you go?  LOL  I think you've chosen well, you're down to a week!!  Lucky girl!

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## Tanfastic

Cherry absolutely loved the report, you're a GREAT writer and I felt like I was on the journey with you and Sunshine the entire time. Have fun on this next trip and I can't wait for the next journey (trip report) you take us on!

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## marley9808

OMG, yay!
You are going to LOVE the Penthouse, nice work!
That room is so cool with all the different levels and views of the west end.....and if you enjoyed watching the (*DAISY ALERT! DAISY ALERT! DO NOT READ THIS NEXT PART* ) bats just wait until you sit out on that porch area at penthouse (across the bridge right on the water) at night the sky is soooooo clear and you can lay there and watch the millions of stars twinkling along with the millions of bats flying around. It's really cool, you are going to love it!

Great choices, I am super excited for the next installment!  :Smile:

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## irie always

okay - I'll get a table for 8 people that way we have extra space or room for 1 more!

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## mamade11

Cherry - we are moving to Coco after our first two nights also!  We will be in Pisces - I was debating that bed also...but I think we will survive - they we move to the king at Coco  lol  I'll swap you peeks if you don't mind - I'm dying to see inside Gatehouse  :Smile:     Blue Cave Castle has always had me interested.   
Irie - thanks!  We will see you at Seastar!  getting very excited!
Marley - I always get excited reading everyone's before and after trip reports!  Your not that far behind us  :Smile:

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## nutz4travel

small bed = cuddles people!  I think you can handle it!  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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## CherryNorth49

> Cherry - we are moving to Coco after our first two nights also!  We will be in Pisces - I was debating that bed also...but I think we will survive - they we move to the king at Coco  lol  I'll swap you peeks if you don't mind - I'm dying to see inside Gatehouse     Blue Cave Castle has always had me interested.   
> Irie - thanks!  We will see you at Seastar!  getting very excited!
> Marley - I always get excited reading everyone's before and after trip reports!  Your not that far behind us


For sure I want to sneak a peek!  So funny you are moving down to Coco too, reminds me of something about great minds and thinking a like, right?    It has been snowing all day here, the countdown can't go fast enough!

And thanks Irie, it should be a great evening!

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## CherryNorth49

OMG, I am glad that I finished on last year's part of this report when I did or I would have left the ending just dangling.  I can't believe how busy I have been getting ready for this trip and getting organized for Christmas when we get home.  I hardly missed a day on the board for what seemed like months and now I haven't logged in since last week!  The good news is it looks like there are lots of updates, which will be good reading at the airport.  Only an hour left until I pull the pin on my  work day.

I just got my email confirmation from Kingsley that he will be there to pick us up in MoBay TOMORROW.  When I put the counter on my phone I had 223 days to go, now it is at 1.  Yippee!

The only computer tech I am travelling with is my smartphone and I haven't ever actually made a post on the board from it.  I have visions of a posting a bit of a picture story as we go along, but I don't know how the reality will turn out.   :Confused: 

Soon come Negril!

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## marley9808

OMG!
Awesome

Have a blast!

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## iowagirl

YAY!!!  See you there!  :Smile:

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## CherryNorth49

Rooms on the Beach

It is a great location, especially if you want to be able to walk to places like Alfred's, the Jungle and Roots Bamboo.  There was music in the air every night.  Sunnyside is right next door on the beach.

I liked having the beach wall and there was nice shade to be found and it seemed enough to go around.  At high season, you might have a harder time.

There are lots of great restaurants within an easy walk.

I am a big fan of the second floor rooms, because the balconies are more private and you get this beautiful ceiling.


The closet was big enough and had a safe in it that had a 'set your own' combination lock.  I like not worrying about keys.


If you are a bit particular about your bathrooms, this would probably get a passing grade.  No tub, but the shower has a nice shower head and a second, hand-held one that is great for washing feet.  Granite (or granite like) counters and everything was really clean.  Felt like you could be in any reasonably nice hotel anywhere in the western world.


I never manage to take a picture of the room when the bed is made and our stuff isn't spread everywhere.


I always felt safe in the room and at the resort.  There were a lot of vendors, but they didn't really intrude on the trip, and they provided our breakfast and lunch on a couple of occasions.

There are no cushions on the chairs on the balcony and to be comfortable, they desperately need them.  We sat on pillows and towels when we were out there.  Speaking of pillows, Rooms had the saddest, flattest pillows I have seen in a long time.  The room came with three; we needed six to get comfortable, which the cleaning staff did provide.  Neck pain suffers beware.

The toe stubbing step was as you came into the room, not on the way to the bathroom.  Still managed to stub it, but the number of times was reduced.

The air conditioning worked great, as long as we didn't push any buttons.  Maintenance had to come twice to fix it, as it totally froze over.  Both times, though he never said it, I would guess if we hadn't touched it, we would have been fine.  We stopped playing with the controls and the room was comfortable the whole time.

I wish there had been fridges, but I have heard you can rent them.  We never inquired.

We never had any food on the resort.  Drinks were good at happy hour, but otherwise Sunnyside next door is the better bet.

The verdict on Rooms?  I would absolutely stay there again, but with so many places to try in Negril, it may be a while.  I think it is listed as a three star resort.  I think that is fair.  The room is probably more like 4 star, but there aren't many amenities on the resort, so that holds the rating down.

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## CherryNorth49

Thanks Marley!  See you soon, Iowagirl!

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## bjritz

Have a blast! You have fast become a favorite poster here, so I hope you can figure out how to post from the phone.
Just a small request, any chance we could have a few great Sunshine quotes? I just bet he's a pistol!

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## mamade11

Cherry - safe travels and we will see you Saturday!  It is sooo cold and damp here I cannot wait until Saturday - at least we didn't get snow.....

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## nutz4travel

Cherry & Sunshine - have a great trip!  I look forward to your trip reports, so I hope you get the phone figured out!

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## Seveen

just re-read the whole thing --- it was just as sweet as the first time

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