Trip report: days 1&2. Tipsy ramblings, from a drinker and gormandizer for the same.

[MikeyNYC]

Admittedly, this is self indulgent but I think there's some meat on the bone.


Days 1 and 2.
Landed Saturday around 1:30 in the afternoon. I realized that when I woke up today, I had been in Negril less than 48 hours and already forgot what day it was three times. IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK!!!

Flight, arrivals and customs went without a hitch (I didn’t have my camo pants on this time����)

I’ve been hitting Club Mobay upon arrival the past few trips because t's one of my CC perks, but this time they told me “all full up.” (They have the right to deny entry if they’re at capacity with paying customers) so I hit the Grouper to wait for the man, Linston.

He shows up with his plush new ride and we’re off. Cambio, convienience store for some road sodas and the mega mart for provisions and a new SIM card (doh, forgot to recharge over the summer.)

After the requisite pit stops, we’re on then road. Always good to be back. The colors, smells and the sights on the ride to Negril always brings a tear to my eye.

Check in at Travellers was smooth. They’re becoming real pros here, kudos to them. Head to the room, get situated and chill for a little, then head to CSA sports complex for the Reggae Marathon pasta party and packet pick up. Grabbed my stuff, a small plate of pasta, and chatted with some familiar faces.

Noticed a bunch of people (locals) with to-go boxes so I decide to try and grab one for my driver. A couple of the cooks and workers were hesitant to hook me up. I eventually spotted an older gentleman that looked the part of “boss-man” and explained my situation. Bingo, he set me up with a fat plate and wrapped it nice.

I’m headed towards the exit and security said no to-go allowed. I’m looking around and it seems everyone has takeaways. So I point that out and try to explain this is not for me, it's for my driver but she gives me the same answer: “I’m sorry, no to go’s” - So I’m not gonna give her a hard time; just doing her job, and who knows, maybe her “boss man” is watching.

There's always more than one way to skin a cat, especially in Negril. So I say, “okay thanks, I understand” and turn to walk back inside thinking there’s gotta be a “back door” right? Eventually found an alternate exit with no watchers and made it out, no problem.

Met up with my driver, double checked that he wasn’t insulted that I grabbed him a plate and headed back to home base. I was really itching to go out but after running the 10k last year on about an hour sleep, decided it was best to at least get back to my hotel and start shutting it down a little bit earlier this year, but not before I walked to the corner bar for a fried two piece! So darn good.

Wake up, dressed, fueled up, and hopped the shuttlebus to Long Bay beach. Like clockwork, I got this nailed down. Haha.

Waited around, made the ceremonial prerace bathroom stop and was ready to go. 5:15 start was exactly on time the four years I’ve done it. I just do the 10k, between the heat and all the walkers that line up at the front of the corral, I’ve stopped trying to “race” it down here, so I was just looking at an easy cruise to the roundabout and back.

6:25 AM and back at the finish/start. Pro tips: after you grab your medal, water and sports drink, head right to the coconut booth because obviously they gotta chop them so if you don't get a precut, you end up having to wait, and they eventually run out.


Once you get your coconut, head to the massage line. Complementary massages for finishers, SWEET! The line is usually still pretty short at this time (I had three people in front of me.)

After that, grab your beer, take a dip in the sea, take some pics, and enjoy the people watching. And don't forget your banana and Mrs Mary's plantain / banana chips. Did I say I have this dialed in? ��
Then realize it’s not even 7 AM yet �� and you’ve still got the whole day in front of you, which is like a week and a half here.

Shuttle bus back to Travellers (didn't feel up for the long beach walk back this year,) breakfast, another quick dip in the sea, and naptime ������ cause Lenbert and the One Love bus is picking me up at 2:35! Snoozed, rallied, packed a couple roadies, then waited curbside for pickup.

Hopped on the bus and see some familiar faces from previous reggae runs and said our hellos. At first you’re “familiar strangers” meaning *I know I’ve seen that person before*...kind of like if you commute on the same subway line at the same time everyday for years, you’ll have people that you expect to see, until you don’t. And then you’ll think a few months later, that you haven’t seen “red coat and hat woman all winter.” Cool photo book on that concept: https://mymodernmet.com/peter-funch-...phs-commuters/ Hope you dont mind the link Rob. But I digress... After a few rum punch, everyone is old friends again.

Pub Crawl was a blast, as always. We made it to Somewhere West for sunset. It was my first time there and it’s amazing. Make the trek out there if you haven’t been yet.
One of Lenberts doggos:



wave action at Somewhere west


Lucky snap I got


Back at HeadQuarters and trying to decide what’s for dinner. Opted for newish Italian place at Pure Garden to see what Nonna Marilena was whipping up.
A quick five min walk and I arrive at PG. FYI, the restaurant is waaayyyy in the back, so you’d easily walk by if you weren’t looking for it.

I asked her what was good and she said she has some pasta dough ready and wants to make tagletelli with carbonara. I asked if she had any mozz cause I was craving that caprese I’ve seen pics of. Alas, she was out of mozz, so I asked what we could do for antipasto. She says she has some scamorza cheese and could make me some focaccia with that and some tomatoes on top. Yum. What I didn’t realize was that she was gonna bake the bread fresh. ��

She got the bread going, pulled the pasta dough from the fridge and hand rolled it to order. Double ����.

Enjoyed a couple red stripe under the stars by the pool while waiting for a homemade meal.

Pasta came out first which was wasn’t a big deal since the bread was actually baking and not just sitting on a countertop somewhere simply waiting to be sliced.

Personally I would have liked a little more salt on everything but I’ve come to accept that we’re real heavy handed with salt in the states.

Marilena and her daughter were gracious hosts and the conversation was enjoyable. Def check it out. Just keep in mind, this isn’t the typical American-guido red sauce on everything fare, so set expectations accordingly.

All that said, you might be thinking, why get Italian when in Negril? Well, you can’t get traditional homemade Italian just anywhere, so when the opportunity presents itself, a camel’s gotta fill his hump. And I still have the rest of the week to gorge on curry goat, oxtail and brown stew chicken ��

Back to HQ, full belly, good vibes and ready to call it a night after a loooong day.

Slept until 1:30 in the afternoon and I’m not mad at all. I used to stress out if I slept through breakfast and missed morning beach time (FOMO) but I’ve accepted that it’s vacation and you’re supposed to do whatever the hell you want. FYI, JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) is the new FOMO.

Whew. That was a lot. Thanks for reading ���� I usually start out my trips hot and heavy and by midweek, I'm like "what computer" ?

[Mysoulshines]

[Bnewb]

I used to stress out if I slept through breakfast and missed morning beach time (FOMO) but I’ve accepted that it’s vacation and you’re supposed to do whatever the hell you want. FYI, JOMO (Joy of Missing Out) is the new FOMO.

Of course I absolutely LOVE your trip report but...I LOVE the JOMO acronym!!! I hadn't heard that one until today.

[MikeyNYC]

Hi Lisa, you're too kind. Give me a shout and let me know if you guys are around at all this week for drinks. 876-337-8857

[Accompong]

Nice report.

Peace and Guidance

[mwenvlay]

great report.

i always like reading about restaurants i haven't checked out, especially if they come with fresh baked bread.

[Bnewb]

Mikey...there's a fun group of Boardies headed to Colettes & Red Dragon today...we'll be catching up with around 1-2ish...

[LivinInThe603]

love the report and love your FOMO turned JOMO.

I have serious FOMO on beach stuff, which is why I haven't been able to try the cliffs and why I try to do as much as possible in my week long trips- then I need a vacation from my vacation. I'm slowly realizing that it's the small stuff that counts. I will certainly carry JOMO in my heart next time around! Thanks!

[Irine]

Last year we took our twenty something kids with their girlfriends to Negril. Although the JOMO is not our acronym we have always lived that way in Jamaica, and are starting to live more along those lines on the mainland. It's not unheard of for us to go back to the room around 1pm to take a quick nap and not get up till after dark. No clock in JA, and we know the sun will come out tomorrow. We were really curious about our kids however, who are one with their phones. The first couple days you could see them fidget a little, then that whole need just drained out of them. They were eyes open to everything around them, and were actually playing for the first time in a long time, sand castles, water games, beer on a stick, was a joy to watch. It was really sad seeing them finally and reluctantly dig their phones out when we got to Chicago, and then quickly and silently they were gone again.

Great report, soon come to do nothing, or something, depends on how we feel that day.

love the report and love your FOMO turned JOMO.

I have serious FOMO on beach stuff, which is why I haven't been able to try the cliffs and why I try to do as much as possible in my week long trips- then I need a vacation from my vacation. I'm slowly realizing that it's the small stuff that counts. I will certainly carry JOMO in my heart next time around! Thanks!

[MikeyNYC]

Watched the sunset from the beach at Travellers. Not an ideal spot because it sets over the west end, not the sea. Still beautiful though.

Finished my beer and headed back to my room to regroup. Made a drink and started thinking about dinner. Where to go? It’s really the toughest decision of the day just behind trying to decide “left or right” for the daily beach walk.

Hopped on Moose’s FB page and scrolled through some posts and realized the choice was already made for me...Quality’s for that delicious garlic sauce. Gave the man a ring to see if he’d do a pick up. Quality said yes and that he’d be by in a little bit.

Q showed up about a half hour later which gave me time for another rum punch and to get cleaned up.

Hopped in the car and we said our hellos. Took a second but then he remembered me. Proceeded to tell me about the new beach bar he built just adjacent to Canoe.

We arrive, Kenisha is there and all smiles with menu in hand, which I didn’t even need. Told her I’d take whatever fish she has on hand, pan fried with extra garlic sauce. I dream of the day he bottles that stuff and I told him as much.

They point me towards the beach bar and asked if I’d like to sit and eat over there. It’s such a cool little spot, I couldn’t say no. She walked me over and got my drinks ready.
They really did a good job with the addition.

Not much so see facing the pitch black sea, so I turned my seat around to face the road and watch Negril go by. A local they knew comes stumbling up the road and somehow finds a perch on one of the stools. Kenisha asses the situation and decides he needs water. He sits looking at the bottle puzzled, then eventually starts to drink. He’s not there long before he disappears behind the sea side of the bar.

I have another beer and the food is ready quicker than I expected.

I sit at the bar to eat and Q comes back over and we start chatting for a minute. He gets up to head back to the restaurant and I ask him if his friend is okay or if there’s any problems, which he interpreted as me being uncomfortable. That prompted him to sit back down at the bar but I assured him, it was cool and that’s not what I meant. We shared a laugh, but it speaks volumes to the kind of host he is.

Food was delish but the company and ambiance was even better. We talked while I ate and for a good bit after.

They started closing down so I paid my check and helped with bringing the sound system and crate of booze back across the street. They locked up and we all jumped in the car. Dropped me off back at my HQ.

Had a drink at the room and contemplated if I wanted to go out or not.

By midnight I decided that I wanted to check out some of the beach bars for some music. None of my night drivers were answering so I headed out to the road.

It was really quiet out there so I asked security if he had a driver handy. He made four or five phone calls and struck out. He apologized and headed out to the road to see if he sees anyone he’s familiar with.

He eventually flaged a redplate and talked to the guy to settle on the price that he and I already discussed.

I get in and greet the driver and ask if he’ll be available all night if I need a ride back. He says yes and that’s his name is Denley. I say, wait, I know you and pull up his contact in my phone and he starts laughing. “That’s my old number man, lost that phone, good to see you again.”

Was trying to go to Bourbon but they had already shut down the music. It’s pushing 1 AM at this time. We head further up the road and pull into Roots. The band was still playing so we headed in. He chose to accompany me, which I told him he didn’t have to.

It’s late and already starting to die down but music is still on, so I was into it. I offer to get him a beer and then I head to the bar. I order a flask of Appleton, Pepsi and Red Stripe. I ask the bartender how much and he says $26, so I ask how much in J. He says 2900. I say “Huh, are you sure?” He says “uh Pepsi, rum, red stripe...1900 J.” Haha, that’s more like it.

Hung out for a about 45 mins and then the band was done. Denley drives me back to HQ.

I decide for a short beach walk to the 24 hour bar next door. All’s quiet on the beach. Have one beer next door and head down to the next 24 hr bar. Few guys hanging out but it looked mellow so I walk up. I ask for a rum and boom and of course there’s the “buy us a drink” etc, which I’ve come to expect at that time of night, so I said no problem.

Talked with those dudes for a while and decided to call it a night when they said they had planned to head to Scrub-a-dub. If I wasn’t so tired I would have gone along for the ride, but I wasn’t in the mood to rally.

Walked back to the hotel and had one (maybe two) more drinks while watching for shooting stars. Wanted to get in the pool but the air was too cold.

Time for bed. Day 3 is a wrap.