"Untitled" Trip Reprt

Well, I have had lots of titles in mind for this report...yet, none of them seem exactly right. So, untitled it is. ;)

A little background info before I begin. Please bear with my writing.

Our daughter was married at the Riu Palace in April of last year. We brought down a group of around 25, mostly newbies. It was a fabulous time, and we chose the AI option, because it was easier than playing tour guide for 10 days to all the newbies. While it was great, it wasn't super relaxing. We were busy with people coming and going on different days, wedding stuff etc. All in all, everyone LOVED the trip and Jamaica in general. Fast forward to August. My husband was conducting a training (as he does often) in Cleveland. We live in Michigan. On August 1st, he called me early in the morning and said he didn't feel well and thought he would have the hotel desk call 911. Fortunately, he did (as he isn't one who goes to the dr. EVER). He had a massive heart attack that morning, 5 hours away from home. I drove like hell to get there and he was in ICU for 5 days there. On the same day of his heart attack, our 3 year old dog (his hunting dog) had a horrid accident at the kennel and had to be put down. My now married daughter had driven 2 hours to our house to stay with her 13 year old brother until we knew what was going on with their dad. Now, I'm in Cleveland with him and my kids are putting down their beloved pet. What a horrible day. Fortunately, my husband has fully recovered and is doing better than he has done in years. We were very lucky.

Around Christmas (before the winter weather was TOO horrible) he said, find a trip and book it. I need to get out of here. Had we only known what an awful winter we were in for, we probably would have booked it sooner! Needless to say, we found a great deal to Rooms on the Beach where we had stayed previously, and booked for March.

March 21 ~ Travel day
Wake up at 3 am. Ugh...oh wait! We are leaving today!! Bright eyed and bushy tailed we jump out of bed, get ready, and await the taxi to pick us up and take us to the airport. Wake the kids, hugs and kisses, and the taxi rolls down the driveway. YAHOO!!! We leave on time and land early in Orlando. Have a couple hours, so off for a mimosa while we wait. After all....we're on vacation! Board the plane, leave a bit early, and find out that we are scheduled to arrive earlier than expected! Those first glimpses of Jamaica are my favorite. We land, taxi, and everyone gets off the plane pretty quickly. We are in the first coach, so off we go! We had booked Club MoBay service as sort of a trial. Let me say, based on the lines at immigration, it was the best decision we made. We were through the airport in 10 minutes. Considering the lines in immigration, it was a great use of our time! First rum punch and Red Stripe and I could finally breathe and feel the stress start to drift away. Our driver was unable to make it due to mechanical issues, but he had arranged for a JUTA driver to bring us to Negril. No problem...just get me there! On the way, we stopped at Biggas for some jerk and another Red Stripe, then back on the road.

Arrived at Rooms, checked in easily and Keisha (one of the servers from the restaurant/bar) sees us, remembers us, and tells us to hurry because they are giving away free margaritas at the bar. We drop off our stuff and head down. Mistake number one.

Looking forward to reading this.... you so both deserved a nice holiday :) So glad hubby is better was great to meet you both !!

Great start!

Yippee another great TR.

Can't wait for this one. A well deserved one I might add.

what? why was that a mistake? sounds perfectly reasonable.... free margaritas? I need more story please.

Dropping off your stuff was the first mistake?, margaritas first mistake?.... aaaghhhh tell us! lol

Title nomination: Cliffhanger

Oh boy! Can't wait to hear this....

Intrigue. Tell us more!!!

Now, usually upon arrival, I take a few minutes to get situated in my room. Hang up my clothes, put shower stuff in the shower etc...not this time. Literally, we dropped it and headed out. We get down to the bar and Margaritaville is there giving out samples of raspberry, mango, and strawberry margaritas. Most of the folks who had been there were drifting away as they were wrapping up. Well, he made us a sample of each and by this time we were the last two there. Keep in mind, we were running on very little sleep, had mimosas for breakfast, rum punches on arrival, Red Stripe at Biggas, and now this. The guy asked what our favorite flavors were and proceeded to make us each a giant margarita in one of their regular cups and gave them to us because we were the last ones. Bonus! Well..they sure were good. Oh, and might I add, we've only eaten at Biggas since dinner the night before. 1/4 chicken does not an alcohol absorbent make. From here, we walk out to the water. I cannot WAIT to get my feet in the water. Something about the water along Negril's shoreline therapeutic to me. It just takes the final remnants of stress and releases them.

We see Sunnyside and head over to have a beer. Seems like a good plan right? We headed back to the room for a bit to, I have no idea what. Get money maybe? From there we headed down to Alfred's for dinner. I had been dreaming of fish and chips there for the past few weeks. Maybe it was the heat...maybe the drinks...but it wasn't great like I remembered. Ah well, it certainly wasn't bad. Back to Sunnyside for a drink and then we headed back to the room. We were completely exhausted at this point and sleep was a welcome respite from our journey...and the rum. ;)

Pictures will start in the next installment. I evidently couldn't be bothered to grab a camera.

That sounds like a great start to a vacation!

great report so far!

yes!

I awoke early as I often do the next morning, in spite of the indulgence I partook in upon arrival...and continued into the evening. This may be a good time to mention that I SELDOM drink at home. After all....I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea about me. LOL Anyhow...up early, hubby still asleep. Bags are still stacked on the floor and nothing is out. I start to unpack and settle in. Hubby is still sleeping. I am noisy. He wakes and asks me what I am doing? We're on vacation...why am I up already? He just looks at me and doesn't expect an answer. He knows. I am always up early with the sun in Jamaica. At home...not so much, although I have to be. I fumble around in the semi dark and make coffee in the room and continue rattling bags, unzipping the suitcase, opening and closing the closet, putting things in the safe until he can't take it any longer and gets up. We are both feeling pretty rough this morning. Sigh. Not the best way to start the trip. Oh well...a few more things put away and off to get towels and claim our spots for the day. We met Bluez yesterday when we got in, and spent some of the day with her. What a great lady!! We sure enjoyed hanging out with her over the week.

We decide to just have breakfast at Rooms today because we don't feel like going too far (see last paragraph). Have the continental - and find our way down to the beach. Man...it is HOT HOT HOT! After the Polar Vortex winter.....the sun feels good on my skin and I embrace the sweating that commences almost immediately. We spend the day on the beach ~ in the water, over to see Maureen, in our chairs...repeat. I made it until about 2 pm. From there we headed back to our room and took a nap. Ahhh vacation. I don't have the chance to nap very often, so this was certainly a luxury!

I woke up and we decided to get ready and head down to SunBeach for dinner around 5 pm. We got there before the tables were set up, so we just hung at the bar and waited until Dennis was ready for us. He gave us the table closest to the water where we enjoyed a fantastic dinner! I had the fish and chips and hubby had the steamed grouper. We had the wings as an appetizer and they were DELISH! The sunset that night was probably one of the best I'd seen and it was directly in front of us. Nothing like having a front row seat at the show! While we were eating dinner a soccer team was out for a run on the beach. Dark was starting to settle on the shore so we finished up and headed back to Sunnyside. Are you seeing a pattern yet? A few pics ~ The next installment: Hanging with Garfield and Odie.

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My favorite was the lighting on the sign on the beach. As it started to get dark, Dennis brought out a lamp without a shad and a long extension cord and sat it on the sign.

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Thanks for the great pics. I remember that sinking feeling in the sand at SunBeach!

Loving the report and it was amazing to meet you both too, we had a lot of laughs together! Love the sunset pic ....want another dirty banana LOL

That's tomorrow, Bluez!

@dash~ one of the few good "sinking" feelings I've ever had!

Look at the size of that sub next to the chicken wings!

OMG You made me go back and look! haha It's the silverware! ;)

Gerry you one wild and crazy guy!! LOL

Great sunset, just what I needed!
Great spot Gerry, hah!

wow you were right about that sunset!!!

I'm in cold rainy Birmingham England working a trade show, you are warming me up with your trip report. PLEASE keep it going!!!

Thanks all ~ more to come tomorrow. First official day back at work today...Good Lord ~ I hate playing catch up!

Ok, sorry for the delay. The first week back to work was a little brutal and on top of it, my uncle passed after a long illness. I'll try to pick up where I left off...

Ok, I think we were heading back to Sunnyside. Let me say, that I adore Maureen, Robert, and Odie. "Odie with a smile" was always ready for us with a cold beer and a smile. However, as we hung out with him more, I renamed him..."Odie on my nerves!" All in good fun of course! He was trying his best to get hubby to go out with him after he closed the bar and I just wouldn't bite. Ok...I don't care if he goes...lol He didn't...too much sun and sand and beer...

During the day, they started building some little thatch umbrellas over in front of Myrna's store. It took a long time and there wasn't very much progress. By that night, both of the frames were up, but there was a lot of discussion on the stability of them. One of them, you could wiggle with two fingers. Lots of laughs and OSHA discussions around these two little huts. As we were sitting there, a man sat down at the picnic table across from us and introduced himself. I believe, Bluez was there as well. He introduced himself as Garfield. How could I not laugh? Where else in the world would you be sitting on a beach with Garfield and Odie? Garfield had some house plans that he wanted to show me. I explained that I wasn't looking to buy a house here...but if I changed my mind, I would find him. He stayed and hung out with us and we chatted the night away. I think my math skills deteriorate when I'm in Jamaica. We went for 1 more beer before bed....several beers later, we headed back to the hotel and off to dreamland.

Sunday morning ~ wake up and head over to Cafe Goa for breakfast. Due to my deteriorating math skills, I opted only for fruit and toast. Hubby on the other hand, enjoyed a great big breakfast! We had thought about getting there closer to the webcast, but as it often goes, the best laid plans seem to disintegrate in Negril. One of the things that we found difficult, was being early risers. It's not an easy feat to find breakfast early. Later in the week, I found that the little place towards Roots Bamboo is open 24 hours, but we never ended up there.

Back to the beach. This trip was all about relaxing for us. We had no plans and no timeline for anything. It was heavenly! We did most of what we did yesterday, except today included A LOT of water. So instead of Sunnyside, we inserted Myrnas for water. Pretty soon, hubby decided he was done for awhile and headed back to the room for a nap. Bluez and I decided to head down the beach. We walked down to SunBeach and had a dirty banana while hanging out in their fun chairs. From there we made our way to the Boat Bar and had a dirty banana there. They put a little vanilla in their dirty bananas there and they were really good. We hung out there for awhile and listened to the jazz singer for a bit. He was hysterical! We stayed for a bit then headed out in search of food. Made it back to Rooms and then next door for a box lunch. Fried chicken, rice and peas, and coleslaw for 3.50. It was GREAT! A bit later, Brian came back out. We decided the three of us would head down to Bourbon Beach for dinner tonight. We all headed back to our rooms, got ready, and walked the road down to BB. It was a Ting and Pepsi kind of drinking night with dinner. I had the jerk chicken, as did hubby. Bluez...I can't seem to recall what she had. Either way, it was a good meal. The music was good during dinner, as the DJ was getting set up for the evening. We didn't stay too late, and headed back down towards rooms, making a couple more stops along the way. I think Bluez was looking for sunscreen? Headed over to Myrna's to grab some more waters and we called it an early night.

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I know that Bluez mentioned in her report that I met Powerstrap. Indeed I did. And for the first few days ~ we saw him everywhere we went. I don't think that I mentioned that on our first night over at Sunnyside, he approached us and introduced himself. Oh...I've heard about you, I told him. Was is surprise or concern that crossed his face? Neither, I believe he was just proud of the fact that he was "known". Well...we had a long conversation about how tan I could get. He wanted me to buy a bracelet. I told him, to come find me on Tuesday (yeah yeah, I know better) but beers will do that to a girl. After some prolonged discussion about my not getting very tan (remember it was our first day) we agreed that I would talk to him again about the bracelets on Tuesday.

The next day, he tried to sell me a bracelet. Um...Tuesday, remember? I asked. Oh yeah!! I remember you now! And so it went until that fateful day, I now refer to as Tuesday. I will continue the story of Powerstrap when I get to Tuesday. Stay tuned...

Loving your report Jenn :) Garfield and Odie, so funny! I do remember Garfield asking me if I like small, medium or large bamboo, hmmm LOL :rolleyes:

Boatbar's dirty banana was delicious but Sunnyside wins cause it has Odie and gives you more (1 1/2 cups) for less $400

Powerstrap had the peacock thing going on when he found out we had heard of him...hahahaha

Monday wake up and more of the same is on the agenda. The only "have to" is to hit Canoe for dinner. When you get up at the crack of dawn...dinner is a long way off. So we get up, grab some breakfast (not sure where we ate - maybe Rooms?) and back to the beach. We are both very well rested and finally recovered from our first couple days of indulgence. Today, we moderate...water...beer...water...beer repeat as needed.

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Most of the day seems to have been spent between sitting over at Sunnyside and lazing around in the water or our chairs. We sure met some interesting people over at Sunnyside. Artie and Amy came walking by most days, Jay stopped in most days, "Jackson" was back in town as of today, and many others. Lots of great conversation over there throughout the days and nights.

On our first day, I saw a sticker on the outside of Maureen's bar that said "Muskegon Motorcycle Gang". Hmm, I thought. That's weird. I grew up in Muskegon. Wonder if it's the same?

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Sorry, it's a bit blurry...the camera must have had too many beers?!

So the day floats by, like days in Negril do, and we find ourselves heading back to the room to get cleaned up and head down to Canoe. We grab a taxi from the hotel (pretty reasonably priced for round trip) and arrive before sunset. Georgia is there and is still as lovely as ever. We find a table and start in on the rum punch. Their rum punch is tricky. It tastes so good and you really don't realize how they sneak up on you. All of the sudden...BAM! Ok, time to eat. Hubby asked if I was going to have another "punch rum" ~ and thus they were called for the rest of the week. Appropriate, given the 2 for 1s and the ease in which they quickly kick your a$$.

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We decided we needed to eat ~ and tonight, lobster it was! Let me tell you, it was the biggest lobster we have ever had in Jamaica. Grilled perfectly! We enjoyed our dinner while listening to the steel drum band play. What a great way to end a perfect day.

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Pretty soon, Patty showed up and we chatted with her for a bit. So nice to see her! Had a beer and we were ready to call it a night. Called our driver, we settled up with Georgia, told Patty we'd see her again before we left and headed back to Rooms. Then...yup. Over to Sunnyside to hang out with Odie for a bit.

These days sure are rough ones. ;) Tomorrow comes the mistake number 2 and bad bad math.

Love this report. Love the pic of the lobster..

That's one dandy looking lobster :p

Beautiful pictures, especially that sunset!! :cool:

Newbie to these boards, love reading all the trip reports and seeing the pictures and everything. Can't wait to hear the rest of this story!! :)

Love the report

so the lobster was from Canoe? how much was it?

@gerryg ~ If my memory serves me right, it was 25 US.

you got me hanging on!

loovviinnng you report!!!