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So Feb 24 will be the start of my 3rd year in a row trip to Negril. I realize that i have not seen even a tenth of what negril has to offer yet, but i am working on it. So the question is when should i consider myself not a newbie anymore? I am still just as excited as i was the first time i visited! I hope that never changes!!! Soon come!
I have thought about this, too. I think a person is still a newbie until they have accomplished at least 4 of the following:
1. Figure out how to stay longer then 12-13 days at a clip...
2. Have lost count of their trips...
3. Driven a car in Jamaica...
4. Left Negril proper and seen some of the countryside...
5. Eaten something else other than jerk chicken
6. Buys Qs and Pepsi at a bar
7. Knows where Red Ground and Whitehall are
8. ????
Just kidding btw. Who knows what makes someone "not a Newbie?"
I am on my 8th trip to Negril, 9th to the rock. I am still a NEWBIE for sure. The more I think I know the less I find out I really know.
Each step forward makes my actions on my last trips---on those trips I was assuming I knew the drill---look more and more idiotic. haha.
The fun is in the trying. ;)
A cab driver once told me after 7 trips you are no longer coming back to visit, you are coming back home!
I liked that, so now I always say I am going home!
Easy answer: You're no longer a newbie once you figure out the value of route taxis .....
"6. Buys Qs and Pepsi at a bar"
That's called a "set up". I learned that last year, after 29 years of coming to this place :)
I can tell you from experience leaving negril proper is a great adventure. I met a friend who lives in lucy and went to his house and he cooked us a fresh tuna that was a great experience. Now we talk all the time and plan on him showing us more this year it helps that he owns a car.
A "set up" huh? I just asked for a Q...saw a dude do it a couple times in April...and read about it here, maybe in one of your posts Rasta!
Again...I probably did it wrong...but the result was great. LOL
$400 J at a place I went in Hermitage and I bet I overpaid. (It's a half a fifth of rum--6 shots), and a 16 oz bottle of Pepsi, with as many cups and ice as ya need, made maybe about 5-6 drinks).
Also:
When Jamaican guys ask me to buy them a drink now, I say "I don't buy drinks for guys. Unless you have a poom poom."
Works like a charm, with varying degrees of blow-back LOL. I used to 1 spend tons time saying no, or 2. break down and buy one and then spend ALL NIGHT saying no. The poom poom deal? They get away from me. haha
I think I learned that one from "John Wayne" @ Seastar.
when your shoes that you bring are one, no longer new, and two, no longer white...
Our friends/family in Jamaica say that we know more about the country then they do. Some of the locals don't go far from where they grow up.
And the Jamaican's that live here say we are more Jamaican then they are.
So after 25 yrs we don't consider ourselves newbies anymore.
Jamaica here we come "Tomorrow".:cool:
Cheers.
When you can confidently hop in a route taxi and head to Sav or Lucea and not worry about getting back.
Regards,
Bob
Hmmm. you may no longer be a newbie-but will always be seen (for the most part and from the Jam locals) as an outsider-even if you been coming there your whole life on long term vacations... But not sure when you could officially take down the title of Newbie??? Traveling out into the country and staying at a place less traveled (not any of the big cities-major tourist destination) that would probably be one way-and Brasi's ways as well (esp the set-up at the bar and learning that buying a stranger/aquaintance a drink just aint worth it most the time) Your really catching on Brasi (LOL)
I've found, from observation, that even Yardies not born in an area that they choose to move to are considered "outsiders'...."ya nuh born here"
My son Linston has returned home after 15 Yrs in America ....
A newbie ???? ....said he felt that way for a bit......
dunno.......but some of us are always goin to be newbies........
right Bnewb.......lol
Cool Runnings, Marko
not a newbie,
when you appreciate the importance of being able to effectively do the '.Chicken Dance.'
.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dz_HJghwJQ
.
.
Once upon a time,Quote:
Originally Posted by captaind
i had to photograph a wedding for a Lucea/Ja-buddy
his-bride,
then-living for long-time in Canada,
return-ing to her Ja-homeland to get married, told me (paraphrased):::>>> "..Bill..... I'm a person without a country ..... Not welcomed in Canada, and looked-upon as a foreigner in Jamaica.."
You're no longer a newbie when a Jamaican refers to you and your friends as Raggamuffings.
The chicken dance ..LOL...and then doing it when its pouring down rain with all that Mud!!! I despise doing that dance-no matter how well I do it Mud still finds it way in.. What kind of chicken dance do you call that Smith when its raining buckets and the yard full of mud??? (LOL)
You're no longer a newbie when you recognize those that are. Don't need to parasail and snorkel in the same day. Don't need to get wasted and lose some or all of your money. Don't need to run out of money on day three of a seven day vacation. Don't need to go horseback riding on the beach. Don't need to go to Rick's with the rest of the newbies. Don't need to rent a scooter and come back with roadrash and a story to tell. Don't need to say yah mon to everybody you talk to. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the show! Let it come to you, because it will.
Soon come can't come soon enough!
When "Yah, mon" is a regular part of your vocabulary
When you sit quietly when you hear a travel ad for Jamaica and they say "Once you go, you know" and you say to yourself "Yah, mon".
When you plan your next trip on the plane home
When you plan your next trip 2 months before you board the plane to leave for the upcoming one
When Jamaican Customs says "welcome back"
When you step off the plane and it pretty much feels like home
When all your friends, who know you love Jamaica, bring you to a local Jamaican resto and tell you this is the BEST Jamaican food, and it you know it's not!
When your heart tells you this is your place in the sun.
(#1 sign: When you join the Negril Message board because you need to know what's happening at home!)
So ... all that said, welcome to the club, Old Timer!
For me, when you spend all day at the wharf in MoBay clearing barrels. For yourself.
When The people that you remember from your last trip remember you.
I don't know about that one. I was remembered by a number of folks on my first trip. :D
I don't know, I would think you'd always want to be a "newbie". The blessing in that is you discover something new every trip. If it gets where there is nothing new to experience, for me, I would not want to return.
I just know I love Jamaica and Negril in particular. It makes me feel excited and relaxed at the same time...if that makes sense!
"When customs says Welcome Home":D
:D:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Marko
bredren this subject often makes me laugh, a lot of people swing their cocks around. as a few others have stated some people who are 'newbies' know more about a particular area than some people born and bred in the location.Quote:
Originally Posted by takinitslow
then you got visitors who patch into one small slice of the strata that makes up a whole place and get their extra wide brush out and start painting guernica. some locals do that too lmao, which makes things truly uproarious.
bottom line is i like it when everyone just is themselves and forgets about how other people see them. besides, being a visitor to a place or a tourist is awesome, I don't understand why it seems like people want to shed that.
you got some people who swear they'd rather chop off their left arm than stay at grand palladium or riu- you wanna laugh? that was the ONLY place mavado would stay at.
HA! Good one bbcamp2....and Oh So True!Quote:
Originally Posted by bbcamp2
when all of the people that know you.....stop asking where are you going for vacation???
When going to Jamaica is not a vacation. Just a visit with the kids.
Raising RIGHT hand, LOL! (and I'm left handed)Quote:
Originally Posted by monk
what's up monk?
Ok well I have several things that may be an answer to that but personally if Lisa is a newb after all this time than I got nothing on shedding that title but some of these hints remind me I am not a first timer each trip.
When you arrive at the airport and the customs lady is the same as multiple trips before and she waves you thru and just says "stuff for the kids have a good trip".
When you walk thru the airport doors and a driver in the waiting area at the airport that isn't who you riding with yells "Shelly you back again" and you have to say hi to 3 before you get in yours.
When your Jamaican cell phone is blowing up b4 you reach Lucea with people you didn't tell you were coming that heard you were back.
When walking by the roundabout or bridge area in Negril or the Clocktower in Ochi at 3am and a shady character approaches but never gets to you cause others are yelling they know you and he to leave you alone. ( This one reminds me of some very heart warming moments).
Basically when you figure out that Jamaica is just like a really small town and word spreads like wild fire from one end of the island to the other and you are now part of that word I think some of the newbie naive innocence is lost.
JMHO
You are not a newbie, when you're not...
When you can fly down, check in, enjoy your vacation
the way you want, while respecting the people, place, and culture
that you have chosen to be a part of.
No need to check off boxes on anyone's "newbie bucket list"
Blessings & Respect
-Dave-
"You are not a newbie, when you're not...
When you can fly down, check in, enjoy your vacation
the way you want, while respecting the people, place, and culture
that you have chosen to be a part of.
No need to check off boxes on anyone's "newbie bucket list"
Blessings & Respect
-Dave- "
That is the BEST answer on these four pages. Thanks Dave.
mi think all the input from the boardies was right on point.........
there is no wrong or better answer than the next.........
Cool Runnings, Marko
I have to concur with the Lorax2.....Perfect answer....Respect
When the "chump" label comes off my forehead and the locals look at me without $$$ in their eye's...
8. Buy up the bar and then become Dominoe champion