Many sleeps in Ja. First trip report.

Been to Ja. many times, made many memories but never told it to more than a few friends back home. I purposely did not take many pictures as I have many that get looked at 1-2 times when you get home, but remain vividly imprinted my mind.
Much like a good book or baseball game, I find the game much more colorful and the book more imaginative when the visuals are left out. I will do my best to tell a good tale. Critics are welcome! lol.

Day 1. Packed and ready to go, I say my good byes and get dropped of at the Minneapolis airport. It is 4am and 17 degrees. My stomach is already starting to feel anxious as I wait for out my turn out of town. I am a biker, so I love the feeling of the acceleration as the plane moves forward and into the air. As fast as we come up to altitude, we are dropping down into Chicago 50 minutes later. A coffee and donut later, I am headed to my beloved Jamaica.
Last time I was there was in 2012. I had been recently been laid off and was lucky enough to go twice that year. First time with my girlfriend to Treasure Beach, the second time with a group of 5 now former co-workers to Negril. The co-workers were all female who happened to work for Sun Country Airlines. I got employee pricing on the flight cost and got to enjoy some time with co-workers who I probably will never see again. To ease my girlfriends mind and your imagination, I was a perfect gentleman.
4+ hrs later we touch down to a cloudy Mobay. I blew threw customs faster than I ever have. Even beat my driver, who was held up for a bit in Lucea and MoBay due to preliminary elections. As we all know, the first breath's one takes as they walk through and outdoors is a sensory overload. The smell of exhaust,humidity and sea air. The sounds of horns, hey boodie need ??? Plants and tree's with leaves. A couple of dollars later with a borrowed phone I hook up with my driver, who is 5 minutes out. We quickly find each other and we are out of the airport.
Being divorced and having broke up with my longtime girlfriend, this is my first time to Ja. being single and being able to sit in the front seat with the driver. This is great not having to concentrate driving and being in the front seat. Its overcast and a little cool, but I leave my window down to soak it all in. Election activities are everywhere and all are in good spirits for their favorite candidate. as we pull into Lucea, there is more of the same, heavy traffic and lots of election activities.

I am very anxious to hear how this goes. I am divorced as well and recently broke up with my gf and long time Jamaica trip partner. I already have a trip scheduled for Sept. and Feb. of next year so I will likely be going solo. I actually leave for Las Vegas in 10 days on what will be my first official solo vacation.

I am going to Negril solo for the second time in April. First time solo was last year. I LOVED IT!!! You will have a blast! You are already able to do things differently, like riding in the front with your driver... Not better or worse, just different. Enjoy your time!

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Originally Posted by LivinInThe603

I am going to Negril solo for the second time in April. First time solo was last year. I LOVED IT!!! You will have a blast! You are already able to do things differently, like riding in the front with your driver... Not better or worse, just different. Enjoy your time!

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Thats kind of what I am thinking. After having a few years of living by myself I really learned to enjoy some alone time, I was just hoping it translated to vacation.

RonMon, Vegas will be an interesting solo trip. Negril will be a breeze. I was only alone when I wanted to be. Lots of interesting people to talk to. Several other solo travelers. I loved being on my own schedule and doing whatever I wanted... It was actually very refreshing and kind of empowering. It was an excellent adventure, and one I'm looking forward to expanding upon this year :)

Not sure if I could handle Vegas solo. Jamaica no problem, Vegas (to me) seems like it would be hella depressing being solo, unless you're a serious gambler.

Been to Ja Married, Divorced (Single) and with GF, all good, all different.

Enjoy the freedom of doing what you want when you want and doing nothing if that feels right....

Word travels fast on the coconut telegraph when you are single.....

Enjoy,

VVHT

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Originally Posted by TAH

Not sure if I could handle Vegas solo. Jamaica no problem, Vegas (to me) seems like it would be hella depressing being solo, unless you're a serious gambler.

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I have been going out there so long and have been on a very active message board that I always meet up with guys I know, that is why Vegas doesn't scare me. There is so much going on there that people are always out and about. I just worry about Jamaica in the evening when it seems to be like things are winding down that I would get bored on lonely. I know you can do fun spots like Bourbon Beach, but I can't handle that every night!

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Originally Posted by VVHT

Been to Ja Married, Divorced (Single) and with GF, all good, all different.

Enjoy the freedom of doing what you want when you want and doing nothing if that feels right....

Word travels fast on the coconut telegraph when you are single.....

Enjoy,

VVHT

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haha, I have heard that single American men get plenty of attention and that the word does indeed spread quickly!

My first three trips to Jamaica were solo. I had a blast!

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Originally Posted by Jaherring

My first three trips to Jamaica were solo. I had a blast!

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This is all making me feel much better, who knows I may have another one by Sept. but not everyone is cut out for Negril!

Limeex2. Great start. Looking forward to more. Pictures are good but words are better. Rock on, you`re doing just fine.

The first night may be a little strange, but I think you'll manage fine there. Where are you staying again?

Day 1 cont. From Lucea it is a easy drive,the new road is much nicer now. I have brought some presents from home for old friends,but am unable to find them. No problem mon we try latta.I found my sleep quarters on https://www.airbnb.com/ quite by accident. Finding a sleeping room with over 50 positive reviews was intriguing. It was $20 a night so it was a little intimidating at first, but I pulled the plug. Travel is always about the adventure so why not? I stayed at Cozy Cabins near Sea Grape on the West End. It is a 2br apt above the Value Mac grocery store. It has a shared bathroom with the other br and I couldnt have been happier. Still staying away from the Red Stripes, I finally started settling in. In my 8 trips I have never been single or up to the West End. Yet another adventure...
After chatting with Rose and Dave who are the owners,I head out in search of a bite to eat. I stop at a small place with many locals. This will be perfect. After a great $5 lunch, I start my slow walk home.It is still cloudy so there will be no sunset watching tonight. A few people try selling me there wares of many types,but on the west end are so much less aggressive in there sales tactics and this is a nice change from the beach. The West end vibe keeps getting better every hour as I end up in a tiny place next the Value Mac. I meet Jimmie in what will be many interesting encounters in the next week. He introduces me to all his friends as we settle into cut log chairs out in front. As the Stripes keep going down, the stories start.
Jimmie keeps trying to get me hooked up with Ganja and someone I will call Marie. 25 years ago I used Ganja as much as the Jamaicans, but with children and work come responsibilities, so I quit. Being newly single, I really didnt come down for companionship either, but Jimmie being a good salesperson keeps trying to wear me down on both accords. I give up trying to refuse the Ganja, but keep telling him to behave and show "mooch respect mon" towards Marie. A couple rounds of Hot Dragons and a few subs later my long day needs to wind down. With the party splitting up, I notice Marie walking home alone. Sorry but I will never let a woman walk home alone at night, so I ask if I may escort her home. She obliges and we start a rather long walk.
Marie showed me her small,well kept,tidy home as we settle into more chit chat. One conversation lead to another and it was getting close to daylight. Marie asked me to please walk home before daylight, as it seems her neighbors,like ours back home really like to gossip. Marie was a very interesting person, great at conversation with many tales to tell, easy going in nature and attractive. We said our good-byes,hugged and I left for home. End of day one.

great report looking forward to more ty

Lime,

Sometimes it is best to change names and places....... :)

Respect,

VVHT

off to a great start man!

Pulling a chair up for this one. lol

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Originally Posted by VVHT

Lime,

Sometimes it is best to change names and places....... :)

Respect,

VVHT

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They have with the exception where praise in a positive manner would be helpful for those involved. If anyone thinks for a moment that this is out of line for ANY reason, I would not be offended if it was deleted or told to stop. Respect to all. Thanks!

Nice report Limeex2,
I like the way you described things.

Stop? No, no, no... Don't stop! Write on... I'm intrigued! Did you end up going on the One Love Bus Pub Crawl? I believe it was you who were supposed to go on it the Wednesday night that we were scheduled, (2/10) but unfortunately I got some sort of bug at the last minute and had to back out.

Lime,

All good, please continue....

Over the history of the board a few have traveled in your foot steps..... :cool:

VVHT

Keep it coming, man. We needs our trip reports, needs them.

Day 2. I am awoken by the sounds of pots and pans rattling for their daily use, then REALLY loud dancehall reggae music on a tired out system. Cloudy again, I check my cell for the time and its 6am. I roll with it,realizing it is yet a another Negril moment and remind myself that this is a $20 room. I toss about and finally get up and figure its time for some morning yoga that is sorely needed.
I take my vitamins and try to figure out how to do my practice on island that is all rock,and that grass seems to grow only in expensive resorts. I try my tiled room. I do fine but just cant catch my groove with all the noise and no mat. Do the best I can with what I have, but end up, tearing up the skin on one knee and elbow. After showering up, as I ready for my morning walk, I meet my roommate. His name is Mahilo. He is from one of the Soviet bloc countries that we mispronounce and now lives in Norway. Nice,well spoken young man.
I have no plans today other than trying the The Love Bus for the first time. As I get to the street, I flip a coin,Heads to right,tails to left. To the left/west it is and off I go. I pick up the pace and walk till my belly says I need to turn around, about face and off I go to my first of many mornings at Sip-a-Bites. Good simple breakfast, lots of locals and a good price. In Minnesota, I have given up on walking in the winter. To slippery. Having fallen once and getting a concussion from it and another from a motorcycle accident, its not worth the risk. walking feels good, so off I go.
I am in no hurry as I check out many vendors. Much of the same items one sees every where here, but also lots of really unique one-of items that I really like. Making mental notes of their location, I start heading west again in search of lunch knowing that the Love Bus will be a alcohol related event. More on alcohol related events later. I stop at Mango ?? again and order up. Lots of locals and this is the first time I am hit up by a very persistent haggler. As I eat, he keeps it up. Hagglers never bother me. I usually lightly shake my head 3 times and say no thank you with out eye contact. Not this time, and one of the very few things that get to me, is bothering me when I eat. Everybody in my world gets 3 strikes before their out and this was no exception. I politely shook my head two separate times, the third, I took my eyes off my meal,looked into his eyes and sternly said "no means no" and stared him down with eye to eye contact. Done deal. The meal was huge and I knew there was no way I was going to finish it. I pushed a good sized meal for myself to half of the container and polished it off. I get up, get another to-go container, fork set and giving my left overs to the haggler, set back to my place to wait for Lenbert and da Love Bus.

any barking dogs around where you slept? always looking for cheap rooms but barking dogs is a deal breaker for me . . .

more please . . .

Many barking dogs. Those are easy to sleep through! I use ear plugs at the bike rallies to drown out the Harley Davidsons. Work great. As I write this I am listening to http://www.alphaboysschoolradio.com/ This is a seriously good reggae station with no commercials and lots of roots style reggae that is really hard to sit too.

Love the sounds of the West End in the morning.... Dogs, Roosters, cars, bikes, kids & music.....

Lime, if ya on the West End Road and head West, it gets wet real quick!!!

Enjoy,

VVHT

Great radio station! Thanks! Love your reports, eager to hear more.

The bar crawl took me out and I missed dinner that particular night, even had a new friend from my hotel knocking on my door to check on me, but I couldn't move so I just caught up with her the next day with a sheepish apology :| Still, it was a blast and I'll likely doing it again this year.

:)

Day 2 cont. As I sit up on my balcony sipping a scotch n water, I assume Lenbert will be using his Jamaican watch. He must have an American version as I see him drive by looking for me 10 minutes early. We hook up and start our trip to pick up others. We hit many stops and I am having a good time as are the others, but the vibe is just not there for me. As soon as I start getting comfy, we move on. I am getting hungry again and am full of liquor, so I part ways with the bus late in its tour and head out. It gets a little foggy from here. I eat and quit drinking for a while and walk back to my apt. My roommate has made new friends and introduces me. They are 2 brothers from my home state of Minnesota. As we find out more hometown info, one of them looks strangely familiar. I enjoy live music of all types and have been trying with no luck to see a local band called Crankshaft and the Gear Grinders http://www.crankshaftmusic.com/#media.
Finally my curiosity gets the best of me and I ask him "You look like Alex Larson from Crankshaft and the Gear Grinders?" With that they both start laughing and Alex explains that he is indeed Alex from Crankshaft. At that point we are all laughing and cant believe the coincidence that has just occurred in my apt in Negril. Yet another alcohol related event! Back home I call these AARE's and have so many of them, I could make t-shirts of them... We coin a new phrase that anyone who has been to Jamaica can related to. We'll call them "Negril Moments". We share Negril Moments, Stripes, subs, scotch and laugh a lot. The party ends as they have places to be. I stumble next door to Jimmies and meet my new friends from there. Now its my turn to get Jimmie going. Last night he kept on me to try the ganja. I start on him with the scotch with the same results, he gives up and we share many bumps and more stories.
I see he has 2 new looking motorcycles over in the corner. We strike a deal for 3 days of riding, cause I am really in need of my motorcycle "fix". I am to meet him tomorrow and we will go off into the back country exploring and ridin. Perfect. We part ways due to me being over-served with party favors. I head to the apt, get the Ipod and start jammin to tunes on the head phones and checking out traffic from 2nd floor balcony. Finding my groove now, checking out passer byes, who should walk by but Marie. I smile and wonder? I flag her down and invite her up. She can tell I have been over-served and giggles. So of course its a good idea to have more. We share a sub, more stories and laughs. We both are kind of flirty, but I know I have had to many party favors to go any further than flirting. We share more stories when she notices my scrapes from yoga. We share a few more stories and as we part ways, she knows I am in no condition to walk her home and promises to stop back in the morning to nurse my scrapes before something happens to them as they are not healing well.

Clap, clap!:D

Great report, so far! We love that area of the West End and have even stayed at Sea Grape once. Value-Mac is our go-to grocery store, but I didn't realize they had rooms for rent upstairs.

I assume you also met Doctor Feelgood, who has the vendor stand next to Jimmy's place?

I had never stayed on the West End and in the past few days I am having severe withdrawal symptoms. Sorry to say but it had a better vibe than my neighborhood at home. I used /www.airbnb.com to find many more good value places. I had an incident which I will explain later and airbnb good to work with so far. I meet sooo many people, me had new nickname of "forget me". As in forget me name mon. I have issues with names. lol

Lime, I presume you are home now....

Hopefully the scraps and cuts were treated in Ja before they became infected! I let a small sore on my foot go too long without treatment once in Jamaica and paid dearly for the neglect!

Enjoying the report!

VVHT

Here's another link for The Gear Grinders, not reggae but loads of fun. http://blurtonline.com/review/alex-c...rld-behind-lp/ Off to workie....

Day 3 Awake to sound of nothing but the chorus of a few dogs, clouds, peace and quite and quite a head ache...Ok, that's enough party favors for awhile, got that part out of my system. Grabbed a snack and fruits at the Value Mac and plan my day. I had made a to do list made up from suggestions from boardies that might as well have been thrown out the plane window. All good plans seem to go to hell when there are so many distractions. While I am killing a little time, I hear slight voice. Junnie.( my real name is Jon) Junnie,yu home? Its Marie. She's brought a big piece of aloe for my arm and knee's. She plays doctor and teases me about our meeting last night. She is on her way to work so we hug and say our good byes. I am getting a late start, which is fine as I wait for Jimmie and my new ride. I had a deal but my patience is running out. I'm putting on some mileage today one way or another. I gather my goods with the intention of walking down to White Sands to see some friends from my last trip and check things out at a walking pace. I walk past many vendors. There are some extremely nice wood carvings along my way as I find my way to Sip-N-Bite. I slip on the Ipod, and get into good walking groove. The warm weather and sea breeze make aching knees feel good. Coming into town I turn off the Ipod but leave the ear buds in as I have found the hagglers seem to leave me alone.
I stay off the new sidewalk and take the beach side and find a nice little bar as my Ipod runs out of battery. Stopping to get some wadda, asking the bartender, Dana for a recharge. I get another wadda and we chat about nothing for almost an hour. Since my break-up its nice to just be able to talk to total strangers about anything that comes to your mind knowing that if they choose to gossip about me, not a soul knows me or for that matter cares. With my emotional battery and the Ipod charged back up, I meander forward, its a cloudy, windy day, Ive been to the beach many times and the vibe on the road keeps me there, checking out a familiar but drastically changed beach road.
I get to White Sands and cant seem to walk in. Its starting to get late, I'm hungry and feel like being at home. Just not in the mood, so I walk the side walk back to the round about, grab a taxi and head back to Sip-n-Bite for a great supper. I walk back to my place, with plenty of mileage put on, tired and ready for bed.

and then.....

No and then!

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Originally Posted by TAH

No and then!

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This made me lol (and want chinese food).

I'm having a hard time returning to writing. Working a lot and Firefox deleted day 4 3 times with their overnight updates. More days soon come.

Anxious to hear more!