My Trip Report.... That's Been Seven Years in the Making... Dreams Do Come True

[Patty Sather]

Hahahahahaha...I shall continue this insanity when we head back there in dec/jan! come on joe maybe you can show me how this shower stuff works...WARNING...I come with flip video...lol

[Joe Trinidad]

I'm sure we can coax everyone into a shower show, it'll be for the up and coming calendar, after the Xtabi session is over.. hahahahah..

[beachgirl66]

I totally think we should do a Fun Holiday Shower Show Calendar... raise money for local charities.. I'll be the resident photographer!

[Patty Sather]

you got the job!!!!!!!

[rastagal]

No Canoe pics... but the ones from Tic's party are coming up...

Even worse...that was after up at 4am to catch my flight...drinks at Canoe...LOTS more to drink at Jungle... passed the " I've been awake for 24 hours" mark at Jungle at 4am...slept about 4 hours and ended up at Tic's party at Traveler's. But I had super duper lotsa fun!

[beachgirl66]

geez I wish life would stop getting in the way of getting this trip report done.....hope you don't mind this coming in bits and pieces....

Continued........

With the Jungle behind us from Thursday night we were looking forward to going to Alfreds on Friday night. I had never been to Alfreds before and felt like I was in heaven as I was able to listen to some fine reggae on the beach with my feet in the sand as I danced. It was a great night and would recommend to anyone to go.. the drinks are reasonable and tastey! One of the bartenders I had met the year before when I stayed at Sunset at the Palms was there and it was great catching up with him...soon Tic Toc, Rastagal, and a few others showed up and were on the dance floor. Great fun night...

[beachgirl66]

New Years Eve was the day I had been looking forward to.... I was going to see Tarrus Riley.... Now some of you know how much I love Tarrus Riley and he has been just out of reach for me with his performances many many times.... its a sad sad tale actually....

.... on one occasion I had prepurchased tickets and traveled to Ottawa ON to see him in a reggae festival only to have the festival close down on the second day (he was to play on the third day)
.... I planned a trip to Negril Jan 7 - 14 last year, just to discover he played on Dec 29th and Jan 15th...sigh...
.... I was booked to go to Montego Bay in April... when I arrived I asked if anyone knew if he was playing.. sure enough he was playing at Pier 1 ... I was on cloud nine... arrived at Pier 1 just to discover he had actually played the night before... (insert tears here)

But with Bnewb's keen eye she noticed in a local news paper that Tarrus was playing at Grand Palladium in Lucea for new years. After inquiring at the front desk and getting confirmation from GP that he was indeed going to be there... it seemed my dreams were going to finally come true. $80 US got us our evening access to the GP and it was worth every penny. It was magical.... the evening started with an amazing dinner with everything from lobster, mussels, steak, every cheese, veg, dessert you could imagine.. and the best coffee we had ever tasted. Although I wouldn't want to stay at the Grand Palladium for a vacation for one night only it was incredible! After dinner we headed to the bar and drank a number of tasty treats....

[beachgirl66]

As it came closer to midnight the anticipation was getting the better of me. Whether it was the yummy drinks, or being with some of the best women friends who had seen me through things that most friends would have ran from, in addition to the culmination of my educational endeavor I was feeling like the whole world was perfect for me that night... the count down was on and I rang in the new year with a smile so big you could have seen it all the way back to Negril.

[marley9808]

I am LOVING it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[beachgirl66]

Most people at the Grand Palladium probably didn't even know who Tarrus Riley was and that suited me quite fine. Right after the count down they began to introduce Tarrus... my heart was beating faster and I couldn't believe this was the moment that had been out of reach for me for so long. Without even telling my girlfriends i was going to the front of the stage I took off, weaving through the crowd (and had I been at any other venue to see Tarrus I probably wouldn't have even got close to the stage).... I was able to get right up to the stage no problem.. and...

THERE HE WAS... Singing for me within inches of where I was standing.. HEAVEN!!!! Dreams do come true.. I'm here and listening to him!
His sweet sweet voice that I only come through my speakers was now live and beautiful!
2012 was kicking off to be the best year ever!!!! How could it not be the best year ever when I was starting it with Tarrus!