Manda's first trip to jamaica sept 2011

[Manda81]

hahaha I did .. and I didn't realize what the hell was happening until it was over lol This was indeed my first trip to Jamaica and it was definitely memorable.\

You are correct there is just one more installment left

[Seveen]

sometimes there are sales for jamaica right after christmas and new years - everyone is optimist for a wonderful season right now - prices change depending on bookings after the holidays

very nice trip report manda! not sure i want to come in for the last installment - i already have that "last day" feeling - and it's your last day not mine

[irieworld]

yeah, it really helps to book low season when you are on a tight budget. I have done end of May, banking in on the memorial day holiday days off in the US and November (banking in on Thanksgiving days off) many years in a row. They are both nice times to go. Low season from April 16 or so to December 15th. Resort rates lower, sometimes can bargain, flights lower also.

[Manda81]

DAY 8


”Babes wake up wake up! What time is it??

“Ughhh it’s only 8am Andre”

“Ya but you have to leave today.”

“My plane doesn’t leave until 2:15 Andre shhhhh”

”But we need to check out in a couple of hours lets get up”

“Fine… (grrrr)”

We did our morning routine and I packed up again for the 4th and final time this week. We had breakfast and then spent the next couple of hours
laying together mostly in silence but when we did say something it was normally the same thing over and over again as if we weren’t sure what else
was suppose to be said.

“I’m really glad you came”

“I am too, thank you for showing me around and introducing me to your friends and having me in your home”.

”It was my pleasure Manda.”

Silence again but we’re holding on to each other tightly and again I can’t help but feel that I might never see Andre again.

“Andre why do I feel like…. “

“Shhh Manda” and he kissed me softly on my bottom lip and I closed my eyes and i wrapped my arms around him
tightly. And his lips danced across my cheek and down my neck and I could hear his breathing quicken in my ear.

”I love you Manda”

My eyes shot open and I held my breathe and I could feel his body tense on top of mine. His face still buried in my neck. I pulled back so to see his face

“What did you say Andre?”

He looked away from me and kissed my neck again “I said I love everything about you”

I know what he said and I’m sure he knows that I heard him the first time but I accept his answer anyways

“Well I love everything about you too Andre.”

He kissed me hard and I kissed him back.

By the time we had checked out and gotten to the airport to pass over the keys to Anton our car rental agent it was 1pm and there was a
very long line for check in. Once my bags were checked I was told there was 5 minutes before boarding was to begin and so Andre and I walked
quickly to the Security entrance.

”I can’t go any further than this.”

“I know, thank you so much Andre I’ve had one of the best trips ever.”

”Thank you for coming.”

He gives me a long hug and I we’re squeezing so tightly that when he pulls away I can still feel his arms around me and I hope to myself that this
feeling would stay like this for as long as possible.

“I don’t know when you’re going to come back or if you ever will but I hope you do come back and I hope it’s soon.
Please be good and I’ll tell everyone I said hello.”

“Be safe Andre and take good care of yourself.”

We had made it to the airport in just enough time that there wasn’t time for tears or long goodbyes. We didn’t profess any undying love
for each other and promise each other a relationship.

I was through security and at my gate in no time and before I could even let it settle that I was leaving this place. It wasn’t just Andre that
I was sad about and it wasn’t because we had gotten closer than I thought we were going to from the beginning. It was because before anything
else Andre was my friend and after a week he felt like a best friend and I wasn’t sure when I was going to see my best friend again. I was sad because
I wasn’t going to watch another one of the most stunning sunsets I’ve ever seen in my life. I was sad because in just one week I fell in love with this
place that I had heard others profess their love for and now I understood exactly what they meant. I had re connected with an old friend, I had rekindled
a passion for an old love, I had become a part of a new family, I had made new friendships and all of this in 7 and a half days. I think back to the moment
when I got off the plane and I could hear Andre call my name “Manda!! Manda!!” and searching for him to finally lay my eyes on him after 13 years and the
relief that came over me that he was here. I knew in that moment that everything was going to work out but I could have never expected the week that I had.
I handed my ticket to the lady at the gate and boarded the plane. I turned my phone on and texted my family.

“Leaving on time I’ll see Dad at the airport”

*Ding*

“I miss you already” – Andre

It was only then that I let myself cry quietly behind my sunglasses as I watched the island get smaller and smaller as my plane
carried me farther and farther away.

We were scheduled to land at 7:30pm and we were landed at 7:35pm. I liked this flight it would give me enough time to get
through customs and baggage and home at a decent time on a Saturday night just in case I was too restless to sit at home.
Customs was insane! I had never seen the line as long as that the line almost hit the back of the room at Customs and it took over
an hour to get up to an officer. When I walked through the doors into the baggage carousel area right at the doors were 4 officers
one of which had a dog.

This cop with a dog stops me

“Excuse me miss where are you coming from?”

“Jamaica”

He has the dog sit down in front of me and then he turns around and jumps up on my leg with his tail wagging it might have been
cute if I wasn’t standing in front of K9 Officers in the Toronto Pearson Airport.

“Wow you have a lot of marijuana on you, did a lot of smoking?”

[Manda81]

DAY 8 CONTINUED

“Actually I don't smoke but I've been around other people that were” and he tells me that the level of
scent on me is to strong with the dogs’ reaction that I must have been close to the person. So I've got 4 k9 unit customs officers around
me asking me questions and they write something on my declaration card so I go and pick up my luggage and I already knew I was screwed
so the last check out I go through she sends me to the right and the exit is to the left and I've already waited in a line of like a 100 people
to get through customs and I have to pee really bad but here I go into this other room with another line where they check all your bags.

I’ve waited patiently in line and am called up by the next officer who happens to be a woman. I hand her my declaration.

“Oh I’m sorry miss I’m not allowed to search your bag. The lead officer of the K9 Unit has requested that he search you please go down
to the end of the room and sit on the bench for him.”

The officer starts telling me that anything I tell him about what I did on vacation won’t be used against me and that he just wants the
truth and then I can go... So he starts by asking me about the weed smell on my clothes I tell him that I had met a friend down there
and that he smoked weed. They wanted his name I told him his name and he asked how I knew him so I told him the truth.

“So you're a single white solo traveler meeting up in Jamaica and you smell of drugs”

He asked me a million questions.. His birth date etc they ran his name. He asked me everywhere I stayed what date I bought my ticket.
He searched everything in my bag. Then he passes this piece of fabric to me and asks me to rub it between my hands and then he
gives it to some lady.

“So you said you don't smoke right? And that you haven't smoked on your vacation?”

“Yes”

“Well that piece of fabric is going to tell me if you're lying.”

So this machine starts beeping like crazy and he goes

“I'm sorry my dear you just failed the drug test. You're positive for Cocaine!!”

“That’s impossible sir I haven’t done any Cocaine neither have I been around it”

“Well it's on your hands so did Andre ask you to bring drugs back here?”

“No he wouldn’t do that”

“This doesn’t make sense and unless you can make me understand why you have cocaine on your hands I'm going to keep you here”

He starts asking me if it's in me ? If I have it on me? That if it's in a vaginal bag that it's dangerous and that he's protecting me.
He continues on now with my trip asking different questions. He goes through my wallet and finds my ex boyfriends health card.

“Who is this and why do you have his ID?”

****!!!

“He's my ex and I was holding it for him a while ago and just never gave it back or threw it out”

He asks me the last time I've seen him I said over a month ago but he's in jail

****!!

So now he looks at me and wants to know about my ex.

“You don’t' look like a stupid person and I'm not trying to insult your intelligence but your single young white girl and look at the
company you tend to keep?”

**** you!

“Have you done any jail time?” I said none he runs my name.

Now remember I've had to go pee now for almost an hour and I can't hold it anymore. So I tell him I really need to use the bathroom.
He tells me we can arrange that but you'll use a special toilet and you'll have two women guards with you.

“Because I still don't feel comfortable with your explanation about the cocaine after you have your bathroom break I want you to know
that I have the authority to FURTHER search you at the highest level meaning that you will be stripped searched and your cavity's searched for drugs.”

Now I'm getting upset and my voice is a little shaky and I can feel my eyes watering up but I’m determined not to cry in front of this man.

“I'm telling you the truth though there isn't anything more I can tell you.”

“Well if you have nothing to hide then what's the big deal.”

“It's an invasion of my privacy and a violation to my body but I guess you'll find out I'm not lying when you humiliate me.”

The female officers show up and she has me face the wall with my legs spread my hands on my head and my knees bent where she continues
to frisk me she even put her hands up and under the wire of my bra checked all the top of my pants along the waist band etc and then we all
went to the bathroom together. This toilet was this huge metal box like an "outhouse" type of toilet but metal and you can't flush.
When I come out of the washroom the man starts on me again.

“Amanda you are the perfect candidate to be a victim of this kind of thing. I'm only trying to help you, you put yourself here not me and if
Andre is hurting you or making you do anything against your will you can just tell me right now because if you have drugs in or on you we
will find them.”

He is staring at me and I'm keeping his eye contact as much as I can because I'm nervous and upset and tired.

“I'm not a stupid person I would never be someone's mule and jeopardize myself that way”

Some lady comes over and starts drilling me about Andre, when is he coming back Amanda??? You know tell us.. That sort of thing.
The K9 Officer radios over his walkie talkie for two female officers to conduct a search on a female passenger.

“Would you like a lawyer?”

“No but can we get this over with my father is waiting for me”

The officer plugs my phone in now and checks through my messages asking me who different people are.

“Okay Amanda this is what I'm going to do I'm going to let you go... I had the cavity search scheduled and there are definitely parts
of your story that don't make any sense to me but I'm going to let you go. Just know that this wasn't personal and that I'm only trying to
protect you. When Andre comes back to Canada like I know he will because I bet he's making moves to do just that and using you somehow
I'll be happy to pull him over through customs and grab him for anything he has and I'll tell him that "Mandy says hi"”

Mandy????

Since when had we become friends where he felt comfortable shortening my name. Somewhere between invading my privacy and threatening me?

I looked at the clock and it was 10:45pm I had been questioned, interrogated, threatened, bullied and searched for the last 3 hours.
My father and my 5 year old nephew were supposed to pick me up and my phone started ringing before I left the interrogation area.

“Amanda where the hell are you!?? Did you get on the plane?”

“Mother I was almost strip searched”

“Oh”

“I’ll talk to you later”

On the way home I recount most of the episode to my father and he’s livid that I was being held for so long

“You know when you go to Jamaica you’re red flagged now. When they pull you over again because they will,
I want you to say nothing and ask for a lawyer because when they give you your strip search you’ll want it documented”

*sigh* I suppose I could have gotten that female officers name at least.. It seems to me her and I are going to get better acquainted.

He turns to me finally when we’ve both seemed to calm down a tiny bit.

“Well was it worth it?”

“Huh?”

“The three hours of interrogation and the possible cavity search, was the trip worth it”

“Every second of it.”

[Seveen]

[Aud-A-Sea]

Woah Sh*%. My goodness Manda...you must have terrified, pissed off and stunned that this was happening. I was reading it in total disbelief. Glad they let you go without violating your privacy. We travel to Jamaica frequently and worry that we are setting off a red flag, but never dreamed of any interrogation like that would take place.

I agree, your trip was worth it though. What a Shi**ty note to end it on though.

[Gabrielle]

OMG Manda! What an ending!!!! Did you ever find out what the smell of cocaine was?

[Clarity]

whoah! That's so insane! I'm so sorry you had to go through that!

[Jamerican71]

WOW, now that's an ending we don't read about often here. I'm glad it turned out okay for you as it could have been a very different ending.