Day by Day Trip Report with Pics - February 6 - 14, 2016

[sher]

Great report! Thanks for taking the time to write it. Our last trip to Negril was less than perfect and we've decided to try somewhere else for our spring trip. After reading your report I'm remembering all the great things about Negril that bring us back every year. Thanks for letting me live vicariously through you!

[justchuck]

Thanks for a great report!

[irie always]

Nice Report - perhaps next year we may run into you - we stayed at Seastar from Feb 1st to the 19th - visited Red Dragon twice and Canoe twice and Catcha once not sure if that might be me in the background of the pic you posted of the 241 rum punch at canoe.

[Chickster]

great report

[Monty&Melo]

Travel Day #2

Sunday

It happens to everyone, leaving day. Always sucks.

Up extra early so I can get my walk in and get back to Rondel in time to watch the BPL on TV while eating breakfast. Arsenal v Leicester City. I’m a Liverpool fan, but I have taken a liking to Leicester, the surprise leaders of the league this year. They have a Jamaican as their captain, so that’s a natural reason to like them. They also just escaped relegation last year and for them to be top of the table is quite a feat. My least favorite BPL team is Arsenal, so I’m very happy when Leicester takes a 1-0 lead but then upset when Arsenal ties it and ultimately wins on a free kick on the last play of the game.

But I’m still enjoying myself, I am spending my last few minutes in Jamaica steps from the sea and even though it is 9am, the Red Stripe is already flowing. I order the French toast at Rondel. Melo comes down later and enjoys an omlette. The food at Rondel is actually pretty good, we just don’t eat there much because we really want to get out and about and enjoy all of the places that there are to enjoy. I notice that some folks never leave the property and eat all of their meals at Rondel, and that is fine, but we really like a variety of places some of which we never get to on certain trips. All of our trips are just too damn short!!!

Earlier in the trip we met with and commissioned Karl Ricketts to do a canvas for us. He was due to deliver it this morning and of course he is a man of his word and came calling at the exact time that he said he would. It is stunning, he had been sending us pics via Facebook during the trip of the progress of the work so I knew it was going to be great, but when we saw the final product I couldn’t believe the detail and the beauty that he worked into it. I’ve attached a picture below.

Pretty soon it is actually time to leave Rondel and head to the airport. We don’t like to rush at the airport or on the way over so we give ourselves plenty of time. We have a 130pm flight and we leave Rondel about 1015am. Want to make a stop at the Chineymon in Green Island and stock up on some more spices and grab a bottle of Coco Mania for a friend back home.

We load up the car and head out. Since it is Sunday morning there is not much traffic out and we make really good time getting to Green Island. I know exactly what I am after and grab the spices and request the rum from the cashier and grab a couple of Red Stripes for the road and we are out of there in no time.

The next stop is in Hopewell to empty the bladders and refill the Red Stripes. Last one before the airport. Traffic still pretty light and we arrive at the airport at 1145am, exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes after leaving Negril. Pretty good considering that we stopped to shop and at the gas station.
We empty the car and say bye to our driver. Hand him our Jamaican phone to keep until our next trip. That’s when the finality of the trip hits me. Once I don’t have my J-phone in my pocket I’m no longer on vacation. No one in line at American and we got upgraded again so we step up to the first-class line and quickly check in our bags. The security hall is empty so we quickly get through security and realize it is only 1210pm. Head to the gate, which is #19, the furthest gate away. Look outside to see a plane pulling up, which is good news. Head back to Margaritaville for a beer. Sit and drink a beer and wait for the time to go by. Head back to the gate and they start boarding. We get on plane, which for some reason is almost half empty. First Class wasn’t even full. Strange for it being busy season. I guess nobody wants to leave!!!!

Being the responsible parents and business owners that we are (I know, it sucks, but we don’t really have a choice), we had been checking on the weather at home for the last few days. It looks like for the second year in a row snow is going to greet us when we get home.

Flight to Charlotte is uneventful but we only have 1 hour and 20 minutes to clear customs and get to our next flight. Unfortunately about 20 minutes of that is eaten up on the runway in Charlotte taxiing into the gate. Traffic jam we are told. We are in the front of the plane and quickly deplane and get to immigration. Nearly empty, so we think we will be in good shape. Get through immigration and go to wait for luggage. Luggage shows up and we head to customs so they can waive us through. Re-check bags. It is now 515pm and our flight leaves at 554pm. The line to go back through security is long, but thankfully I recently invested in TSA PreCheck and we get through pretty quickly (slightly delayed by folks ahead of us that had full waterbottles in their carry ons. Seriously, this is the TSA Pre-Check line, you are supposed to know what the hell you are doing). We get to the gate before they even start boarding so all is good.

Land in Louisville on a snowy runway, and deplane and wait for our luggage. Melo’s is the 3rd or 4th bag off the belt. Mine of course, never shows. Dammit. Off to the American Airlines Luggage service to file a claim. They say it will be on the next plane and they will bring it to me, probably tomorrow due to the weather. Great. I hope my luggage makes it cause I have all of my spices in there.

I travel light, so when I leave the airport in shorts, a T-shirt and flip flops it is quite a shock back to reality. Now vacation is really over.

Good news is my bag did show up at my house the next day and I did get my spices.

I’ll post some post-trip reflections in the next couple of days. In the meantime, here are a few pics from the last day and the arrival home.

That Karl Ricketts is pretty damn good. The picture we gave him is earlier in the trip report, a view of Rondel from the sea. He did a great job.


Breakfast View from Rondel on last morning of trip


After a slight luggage delay my Jamaican Spices are safe and sound in my kitchen


Vacation is definitely over. View out the back of my house the morning after we got back.

[northerncaligurl]

nice one! thanks!

[NRV]

Thank you for the trip report! We are Rondel fans.....Delroy, Johnno, Karl, Donna are the best! Karl is amazing! Love your painting!

[jimbo]

This may be tacky... but how much did Karl charge?
I love it.

[Shaggy]

great trip report tx for sharing

[jamaicarob]

Vacation Day #7 – Last Day

Saturday

Last full day, tomorrow morning we will be taking the dreaded drive back to Montego Bay. Up early for my walk and then breakfast over at Montana’s for the last time. We both get the breakfast sandwich and our usual Ting and Water. Say our goodbyes to Tony and crew and tell them we’ll be back in October.
On to the beach, we lay there forever just soaking up the sun and the vibe for one last day. We decide to take a walk, down the beach towards Bourbon. We want to see Donovan at Woodstock one last time and can’t walk down that way without a stop to see Maureen at Sunnyside one last time.

Woodstock is rocking, the place was pretty full, fuller than it had been the rest of the week, it was Saturday after all, so I guess that is what was doing it. We hang out there for a while and then head down to Sunnyside.

I’m sort of on a mission, to find JamaicaRob at Rooms. We have almost the same tattoo, a Jamaican flag on our right shoulder. I look around, but don’t see him (we had never met before, but I didn’t see anyone with a Flag tattoo on their shoulder), so we headed on down to Sunnyside. Sure enough, JamaicaRob was there. He was chatting up a lot of people so we just sat at the bar enjoying our beer. We hung up our coozie from our business back home. Soon enough, I got my chance to meet Rob without interrupting one of his conversations. We talked for a while, and then took a picture (see below). Nice guy, really likes Jamaica (as do we), so we immediately had a lot in common.

Back to Rondel and change for dinner, head out to Canoe for the last time on the trip. Gonna miss the 241 Rum Punch when I am back home. Also going to miss the view at Mary’s Bay. I love sitting there and looking back at the beach.

Walked down to Chicken Lavish for our traditional last night’s dinner. Stopped in to say bye to Quality and tell him that we purchased one of his carvings the day before. Told him we would definitely look him up when we are there in October. On to Chicken Lavish ,a large group was there, and they had ordered ahead which is always a great idea when you take a large group to a Negril restaurant. We sit down, order our soup and ponder dinner. I’m going to change it up as I usually get Curry Goat, but I was in the mood for something different. I decide on Curry Conch. Man, was it good. Not nearly as chewy as I thought it was going to be. The curry gravy was similar to the gravy that is on the Goat. I was very happy with it.

Finish dinner, head back to Rondel, down to the bar to hang out for a while and then off to bed. I’m getting up extra early to walk tomorrow and then getting back to the bar at Rondel to enjoy the Futbol on the bar television before heading to the airport. Love sitting on the beach, eating breakfast and watching Futbol. Good times for sure.

View from the bar at Woodstock
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Sunset Spirits coozie proudly on display at Sunnyside
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Me and JamaicaRob (sun is obviously in my eyes!!!)
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Woodstock from the Beach
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i really enjoyed meeting you , great pic of us, great trip report, hope to see you again next February, soon come